My first curlBox!

I was completely ecstatic when I came home and saw that my mail lady had left a package for me a couple of weeks ago.  I would've posted sooner about it, but I wanted to review the products first.

For those of you who don't know what the curlBox is.  It is a monthly subscription service that sends you about 5 product samples in the mail designed specifically for curly, wavy, and kinky hair.  It is a perfect way to sample products before you buy.  It is an addiction, and it is a box full of joy!

So, here's my unveiling:

I would curse the mail service, but their under fire right now. Plus, they aren't the only one's who jack up boxes!

The   opening:

Oh my...what's that on top??

My box!!

Oh! USPS!!

Open up:

Twisted Sista Curl Activator, Nothing But Cleansing Conditioner, Curl Sealer, and Pure Pudding, Palmer's Olive Oil Formula deep conditioner

So, I have already tried all of the products in the August edition of the curlBox.  And here's my review.  For, the smaller samples I received, I first tried the Palmer's Olive Oil.  There was so much product in this sample if I wanted I could have had 2 applications.  But, I loved this deep conditioner!  It only had to stay on for 5 minutes, and my hair felt extremely soft post-rinse.  Palmer's your grade is A!

I next tried the Nothing But Cleansing Conditioner, Curl Sealer, and Pudding.  Ok, at first, the smell of the cleansing conditioner was  a little strange, but I quickly got over it.  It smelled kind of like detergent.  And, it was nice.  My hair was clean and still soft when it was all over.  Then, I used the pudding first and applied the curl sealer second.  That was when the smell overwhelmed me!  I was very close to gagging!  I could barely get through putting it on my hair.  Then, I had to smell it as my hair dried.  Awful!  Then, the product didn't really do much for my hair.  It looked greasy.  F!!!!

The last thing I tried was the Twisted Sista Curl Activator.  The sample was too small for the amount of hair I have.  But, for the part I used it on, I could tell my hair was curly.  The thing I didn't like, however, was the fact that it separated my curls and made my hair kind of 'poofy'.  So, I'm going to put this one in the middle at a C.  Maybe I will try it again or maybe not.


The two full size products I received with review:

Cantu Shea Butter Coconut Curling Creme

Review:  Delightful!  The smell is divine!  Coconut is always a favorite.  It works well also.  It brings out my natural curl pattern while keeping my hair moisturized. A+









The last product, and my most favorite!

Carol's Daughter Hair Milk Pudding

Ms Lisa Price knows what she's doing.  This pudding really brought out my curls.  They were extremely defined, and I got compliments on it all night at work.  A+++

 curlBox = completely sauced!  Can't wait for my next one!!

Julep Maven August Mystery Box

So, I am passing through a nail polish addiction.  I have spent way too much money on things I will use through the fall and probably not pick up again until next spring if I ever do again!

So, now that that's to rest.  At the beginning of the month, Julep sent an email announcing a 5-day window to purchase either the American Beauty, Boho Glam, Classic with a Twist, Bombshell, and It Girl.  Well, my addiction-fueled nail-trip led me to buy 3 mystery boxes.  First, I purchased the It Girl box, then about 6 hours later I bought the American Beauty box.  I thought I was finished, but then 3 days later, I bought the Boho Glam box!  Ah!  But, here are the results of my purchases.  Because I ordered them the same day, my It Girl and American Beauty boxes arrived the same day.  Now, in the mystery boxes I can receive products worth anywhere from $60-$200, and I only pay $20 per box. 

So, let's see how I did!

My two boxes. Yay!!

American Beauty and It Girl

 

First up is the It Girl box: 

Almost there!!

Pretty colors!

Here is the breakdown: 

Sandra--pink, Megan--metallic green, Charlotte--purple, Base coat, and Diane--dark green

 Total worth: $70

Next up is the American Beauty:

Hand brightener and Glycolic Hand Scrub

Pretty pinks and reds!

What I received:

Ellen--red, Lily--fuschia, and Lynn light metallic pink

Total worth:  $106

Finally, there is the Boho Glam box:

Yes, that is my bathroom!

Oooo...more products!!

Unveiling:

Pedicure products: foot file and Pedi Prep Creme

Color Breakdown:

Blake--yellow, Alyson light grey, and Michelle--dark blue

Total worth:  $65

Here is a composite of what I received:

A pretty nice spread...plus my headphones!

And, here's what it looks like on!!

 

Pinks, reds, and purples!

And, everything else...lol

So, I like all the colors I received.  They all looked nice on me.  Now, I just have to decide which ones to use.  I think I'm going to save the darker colors for the fall!

So, the total worth of all three of my boxes, which I spent $60 on, is $241.  

Thanks Julep for keeping my sauced!!

 

Going Natural--Again! (My Hair Journey)

I love my hair!  I love my hair in all forms and all styles.  I love the texture, the thickness, and the flexibility. 

Hair is such a nuisance in the African-American community.  It makes all kinds of statements it shouldn't.  It builds all kinds of stereotypes that are completely unnecessary.  For example, the Afro, a nice-natural way for women to wear their hair has become synonymous to revolutionary thoughts and acts.  I thought it was just a hairstyle??

Another example is the relaxed and straight style.  There's always that stigma of trying to be European for chemically relaxing your hair or for wearing wigs and weaves to achieve the same outcome.  Women spend thousands of dollars for wigs and weaves, and then spend hundreds of dollars going to the beautician every 2-3 months to get their wigs re-tightened.

It's too much!  It's just too much!  This whole 20-miles of baggage that comes with how I want to wear my hair is ridiculous.  This is why India Arie will remain one of my favorite artists.  Her song, while extremely important, was extremely underrated.  It was slightly celebrated by people like Oprah, but the message just wasn't taken to heart as it should have been.  "I Am Not My Hair" is the plain and simple truth.  I wish people would not look at my hair and judge what type of Black woman I am.  I mean I'm still figuring it out1

My hair has been relaxed and natural, but mostly in between all my life.  My first trip to being natural started in 2000.  I was living in Washington, DC at the time.  For those who don't know, DC is quite an Afrocentric place if you visit the right areas.  I live there for only about 6 months before I decided to grow out my relaxer.  It was a big step for me.  It was a complete change from how I had always worn my hair.  I was ready for the challenge.  I grew my hair out for a year, then one day I got tired of my two-textured hair, went to the bathroom, and cut off all the straight strands.  It was such a dramatic change, but I love it, and that's where my first natural journey began.

Over the next couple of years, I had to really figure out how to style my hair.  There were virtually no products for natural hair, and my hair went through many different phases, which meant I had to keep relearning how to do my hair.  It was difficult, and eventually I ended up relaxing my hair again.  It was a huge decision, but I did it anyway because I wanted straight hair and bangs again.

Fast forward about five years, and I am back to where I was at the turn of the century.  I want to be a naturalista again!  Over the past year I have noticed so many different women wearing their natural hair.  It's seriously become a trend!  Where was this trend when I needed it 12 years ago?  To coincide with this trend, there are numerous websites, bloggers, and hair products dedicated to naturally curly hair.  In fact, it's completely overwhelming!  Gladly, though, there are samples sizes and trial kits, and this lovely subscription service I discovered last month called the curlBox.

My mission now is to find out which products work best for my hair.  I've bought many and with the curlBox, I'll have many more samples to test out.

I've been actively growing out my relaxer since April.  Since then I've bought and tried a variety of products.

I haven't tried them all yet, but I will post the pictures and reviews of the ones I've tried so far:

First up is Miss Jessie's. 
Overall Grade: C

Super Slip Sudsy Shampoo and Creme de la Creme Conditioner--> A+ non-drying
Stretch Silkening Creme--> C+ Heavy smell and eventually made my hair feel heavy and oily
Curly Buttercreme-->C+ Same problem as the Silkening Creme
Curly Pudding-->F My hair felt so crunchy after it dried!
Super Sweetback Deep Treatment--> B- It smells nice, it was hard to wash out, and my hair was so-so soft.

Day 1 Beautiful

Day 2; Not so much!

Miss Jessie's didn't satisfy me as much as I thought it would.  It was very disappointing.  Also, I discovered that the products have mineral oil in them which is why my hair felt crunchy.

However, I'm still planning to try the Rapid Recovery deep treatment.  I'll let you know how that goes.


I'll be sauced until I find the right products in this hair jungle.


Later!

Yay for Julep!

So, I got to try out the free polish Julep sent me.  It is called Daphne, and it is a hit.  I'm hooked.  I think my intro box was a fluke!  Doesn't matter anyway though.  After all, I only paid a penny for it.

Here's what it looks like:

Sorry the picture is so dark.  I couldn't use the flash because the bottle wouldn't show up when I did.  So, the color looks nothing like the picture on the website, which is the picture on the left.  It's described as a seafoam green, but in reality it looks more turquoise.

Regardless, the polish is nice.  I love it, and I can tell it isn't cheap, unlike the Wet N Wild which was disqualified today for chipping too soon after the app.

Here's a pic of the new manicure with Daphne:

Looks almost the same!!

Sauce-tastic!!

FYI Right now Julep is selling Mystery Boxes for $19.99 with anywhere from $60-$200 worth of items.  I bought an It Girl Box after using the Daphne.  I'm wishing on a star...for the larger box!

Follow Up: Julep Maven

So...this is a follow-up post to my review of the Julep Maven nail polishes and my total disappointment in the quality of the polish.

I contacted customer service on Thursday July 26th, and received a response on the following Monday.  I thought this was pretty swift, and the email was nice and informative.  They apologized for my polishes, gave me ideas of how to fix them (even though I already knew how and had done it, but I'll get to that later), and they offered to give me a new polish BEFORE I paid for my first Maven Box this month, which I just realized I forgot to mention in the previous post!  Whoops!

I'm waiting on my free polish.  It should be here today.  I do NOT hold the power to the mailbox, so I have to wait for someone else to get home before I can try it out.  Oh, the suspense!

Back to my 'whoopsies,' I think I mentioned in the last post that I had to put acetone in the polishes to get them to cover my nail.  Well, I decided to add more acetone and let them sit for about a week.  I checked on them a couple of days ago.  The Courtney (the green one) was perfect, but the Hayden (peach creme) was still a little chunky so I added more acetone.  We'll check back on her in a few more days.

I don't know how I forgot this, but there is an introductory coupon code for new Mavens so you can get the first month for $0.01.  Yes, that's one penny!  The coupon code is the word penny.  It works like a charm, and it made me feel thrifty for 24 hours until I spent a ridiculous amount of money on make-up.  I'm a girl trying to stay 'beautified' in this world.  What can you do?  Oh, and this single penny I paid for my first box made absolutely no difference in the customer service I received.  Go Julep!  Your C+ just turned into a B!

Saucy!

Oh, here's a picture of my most recent manicure.  It's a mixture of polishes: Essie-->No Place Like Chrome, Nicole by Opi--> Look at Me, Look at Me (part of the Kardashian collection, if you couldn't tell by the name), and Wet N Wild--> I Need a Refreshe-Mint.  FYI: The quality of Wet N Wild is horrible!  It's only been a day and a half, it's already chipping, and I'm thinking about replacing it!  Cheapster! But...it IS pretty though...