Hair Junkie Swag

Remember the disastrous hair experience I had? Well, I got it fixed. Let me tell you how that came about. I went to my stylist, Adrian, who works at Hair Junkie in Ottawa. Before I start on my story, as an aside, they recently started selling Bumble and Bumble products. I have read about this line, yet had not been able to find them in Ottawa--until now. Anyway, back to my story. The first thing he did was to admonish me for my past foolish actions. I was ashamed (my mom was there to emphasize her vehement opposition to me relaxing my hair myself in her trademark 'I told you so' recounting of events!).

Remember I wanted to colour my hair? Well, I did and ended up with a beautiful chocolate base with caramel highlights. Now onto the cut. I wanted a shorter Rihanna, Victoria Beckham, longer-at-the-front, shorter-at-the-back, spiky-at-the-ends cut. But he put a twist on the über-popular style: he made mine asymmetrical--longer on one side than on the other. The back, well that was an unnerving proposition. Because I had damage in the back, it had to be cut off. At one time when Adrian started cutting, I asked him, "What are you going to do with the back?", and he replied, "I don't know yet", and kept on snipping. It was at that time that I decided to put my faith in my stylist, after all I have been singing his praises all of this time, let's see what he's going to do. Well, he cut the back in such a way as to leave it with a little bit of length, enough to pass a small flatiron through, but succeeded in cutting off the damaged bits in the back. He then shaped the edges, so that the fact that I needed a relaxer touch-up did not impede the look of the style (now this last point is major, and anyone who relaxes their hair knows what I'm talking about!). Genious! If you are ever in Ottawa, you must visit this guy and tell him that Erica sent you, he'll be chuffed and you'll get a discount.

Needless to say, I love the style. In fact, I'm in love with my new style. When I saw it in the mirror, I looked at Adrian and I said, "I think I love you!". That's how overcome with emotion I was. It is so me--cheeky, stylish, funky, expressive and vivacious, all at the same time. Thank you Adrian for turning a hair disaster into the paradigm of swagger. **Kiss Kiss**

Now you know I'm not going to leave this story without telling you about the products that Adrian recommended to keep my style hot. Here they are:

Redken Extreme Iron Repair

I have never been impressed by Redken and their monopolistic hold on Canadian hair salons, but Adrian told me that this is great for adding protein to my hair in order to strengthen it. It's lighweight and heat activated, so it is to be used before blow drying (a device I still have to purchase).

Moroccan Oil

Well, I have written much on this product and with every passing month, I love it more. I have begun to use this more frequently during the week to keep my hair hydrated without the buildup and heaviness of hair dressing or hair grease. What makes this product so good? It is made with Argan oil, which is fast becoming the miracle cosmetic ingredient. It has properties that allows it to be absorbed into the hair shaft quickly, moisturize (it is high in fatty acids) and improve elasticity over time. Use it a few times during the week on dry hair, or on wet hair that allows it to dry faster.

Moroccan Oil Hydrating Styling Cream

Yeah, luv this to bits. It can be used as a leave-in conditioner, and along with Moroccan Oil, can be used on dry hair to add moisture, and boy does it. By the time I'm ready to shampoo my hair, I can feel the softness of the hair--it's not brittle and dry. As an added benefit, it has the ability to soften new growth to the point where I don't have to fight with the unrelaxed part of my hair in the styling process (and ladies, do I need a touch-up!). It also holds styles without stiffness and helps with frizz. I don't know what I would do without this.

Bumble & Bumble Defrizz

I use this on my ends when I style my hair. It protects against frizz and smoothes the hair shaft, while it adds moisture to those often-neglected, split-prone hair ends.

Bumble and Bumble Sumotech

I love this stuff: I love the name, I love the feel and it's perfect for piecing out my style. It provides a medium hold without the heaviness of a wax, the greasiness of a cream, nor does it dry out the hair. It is a bit sticky, but it does its job and does it well. There's also something about the name and the packaging that I can't get enough of. OK, so sometimes I'm a sucker for good marketing, but the product also lives up to the bill.

Moroccan Oil Gold Shimmer Shine

I love the way this stuff smells. It adds shine, sheen and a little bit of light oil so that your hair glistens in the sun. This completes the Moroccan Oil Quartet (I didn't mention the Moroccon Oil Intense Hydrating Mask, which is absolutely fabulous!).

Sephora Swag

Yes, I have taken some time off from writing in this blog, mainly due to alternate demands on my income. My time has been occupied with other things and I never did get the chance to browse around for new products until today. I made up for my absence in spades--I got some new stuff! My mom is visiting and we had a lovely beauty day. Let me let you know what came out of this excursion.

Bliss Fabulous Foaming Face Wash
I have heard great things about great things about this product. It is supposed to deep clean without drying out the skin. I haven't tried it yet, so stay tuned for my final decision.

Makeup Forever High Definition Powder
I have talked about this powder before and it is still as fabulous as the first time I tried it. Love this product. Pay the $34 ladies--it is well worth it.

Urban Decay Deluxe Shadow Box
Lately I've been less than impressed with the eyeshadows I own: they are boring browns, vanillas and beiges (ugh!) and they also appear chalky. They are also mostly MAC. I used to love MAC, but I've noticed lately that the colours aren't vibrant and show up, well, chalky. Then one day, I used my lunch break to experiment with a blue palette from Lise Watier and loved it. So I decided to rectify the aforementioned insipid state of my eyeshadows and buy the deluxe shadow box. Urban Decay has to make some of the best eyeshadows out there--they are soft and velvety to the touch, rich and pigmented in colour, doesn't show up as ashy and they are just fun to work with. I tried some on and got mad compliments. At $47 you get nine mini-shadows and a travel size shadow primer. I couldn't pass this one up.

Bliss All-Around Eye Cream
I needed an eye cream. When I tried this one, it made my skin feel the smoothest and softest out of all the creams. It is also cheaper than most of the eye creams around ($29).

DDF Ultra-Lite Oil-Free Moisturizing Dew
I love my Juice Beauty Green Apple Antioxidant Moisturizer, but I wanted something lightweight for the summer. I liked the way this moisturizer felt: it made my skin smooth and silky without having a heavy consistency.

Nice haul, eh? Now let me tell you the stuff I want to get!

NARS Lip Lacquer in HotWired
This stuff is awesome. It is a high shine gloss that doesn't bleed, is highly pigmented, is long-wearing and moisturizing. One of the great things about it is that when it finally does wear off, it leaves a stain that only needs a layer of Rosebud Salve, which will result in a fainter version of a beautiful colour. HotWired is a beautiful fushia, especially for women of colour. Think Rihanna pink lips with more shine.

Guerlain Le2 de Guerlain Mascara
I am surprised that Diorshow gets so much press when this greatness is out there. My lashes are short and need lots of help such as separation, lengthening and volume. This pretty much takes care of everything in one coat! The other great thing is that there is a wand for upper lashes and a wand for lower lashes in one tube. This made my eyes stand out like nobody's business. Even at the expensive price of $37 (yeah, that hurts) I am going to get it. I have never used anything like it.

NARS Powder Blush in Taos
This is the black girl's Orgasm. It is a beautiful pearly rose with vibrant pigmentation. If you haven't experienced the greatness of NARS blushes, this is a colour that is pretty safe to try. It also works well for my fairer sisters.

YSL Eyeshadows
Okay, I know I talked about Urban Decay's eyeshadows, but these are among the best eyeshadows that have ever graced my lids. The texture is phenomenal; it is soft and velvety to touch and applies smoothly. They blend like a dream and the colours are vibrant and bold without being brassy.

So here you see my haul and my wishlist. I missed the fun of discovering new makeup, the joy of opening the cute packaging and trying new techniques. Thank goodness I'm back!

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

I have a story to share with you. I ran out of my favourite leave-in conditioner, Ojon Revitalizing Mist, and elected not to replace it--big mistake. My hair started breaking. Not a good thing anytime, but especially in winter when the weather is driest. This is the first stupid thing I did: I messed with The System, one that worked.


Okay, so I then waited too long to relax my hair, which resulted in a hefty bush of undergrowth. Now, for anyone who has relaxed hair you know that if you wait too long until your next relaxer, the hair begins to break. I knew that I needed to fix that immediately. Since I couldn't get an appointment with my stylist on short notice I decided to do it myself--colossal mistake! I applied the relaxer in good time and began to smooth out the roots. I was doing well (my scalp wasn't burning) until I got the relaxer on the already relaxed part of the hair. Oops. Well, when I washed it out, I saw clumps of my hair in the sink! At first, I took it in stride, but when the clumps kept dropping into the sink, I started to panic. Shit! Yup, I lost a good deal of hair. Luckily the breakage eventually stopped and in the end, my hair does not look much different from when I started (except the roots are now relaxed), but what kills me is that my hair would have been longer had I done what my mom had told me to do (but I didn't listen) and gone to my stylist. God, that was stupid!

Anyway, what this experience has taught me is two things: never skip the leave-in conditioner and always leave the potentially dangerous stuff to the professionals. It has also expedited a decision I intended to make--to cut or not to cut. Well, ladies, I'm cuttin'! In fact I want my new hairstyle to look like this:

Sweet, eh? I'm also thinking of burgundy highlights, which I will wait at least three weeks for so that my hair can be nursed back to health. The moral of this story is don't do what I did, do what I said!

Second Skin

I've noticed something: my skin has the winter blues. It's dry, flaky and needs some TLC. Given that Spring has sprung, one needs to show off glowy, smooth skin. What should I use to accomplish this task? This is where the beauty of Lush comes in. Lush's Ocean Salt cleanser is an amazing way to exfoliate skin. It contains fine and coarse sea salt exfoliates, but is not too coarse to create irritation (the salt actually melts into the skin). Sea salt is good for cleansing and healing sores and zits. Avocado and coconut butters moisturize and soften the skin after exfoliation. This stuff is money. It leaves your skin feeling as soft as a baby's bottom without the dryness of conventional exfoliator or cleanser. Not only is it gentle enough for your face, it is effective enough for your body. Ocean Salt refreshes, nourishes, and tones, all while smelling deliciously of violet and lime. It's like Margaritaville for your face. Flawless.

For the Feet

Spring is in the air! Today I saw ducks swimming on the Rideau Canal, next to the semi-melted ice that still lined the river's banks. With spring comes open-toed shoes and strappy sandals, but before you can take advantage of said niceties, the feet must be in tip-top shape. Ladies, enter Ped Egg, the ergonomically designed pedicure pleaser. This thing is wicked! When you open it, on one side there are more than 100 microfiles that remove calluses and dead skin. The dead skin collects inside the egg, so there is no mess. Close the egg and on the underside is the emory pad that buffs the skin smooth. It is amazing after a warm shower or a hot bath. The best thing is, it only costs $15.