The Cleansing Conditioner Conundrum: A review on Herbal Essences Naked and Macadamia Flawless Cleansing Conditioner

There is something contradictory about a conditioner that also cleanses. But it's a real thing! And it's now a staple in my hair care routine.

I have two right now in my shower. I have a higher priced one and a cheap drugstore option. Here are the deets:

The Macadamia Professional Flawless Cleansing Conditioner is my favorite at the moment. I discovered it thanks to my Birchbox when I had it a few months ago. I just have the travel size version that I got half off at Ulta for $7.50 when it's normally $15.00. The full size is around $33 for 8 oz. And I would totally pay full price for it. One day. When I'm not feeling poor.

It's basically a shampoo/conditioner product done the right way to save time in the shower without completely stripping your hair of necessary oils yet still moisturizing your strands. It's especially great for curly haired girls! It comes out like a clear, gel mousse and doesn't produce suds. Which kind of freaked me out at first because I didn't know what to expect. I left it in for a few minutes on my wet hair and it really left a thick coating. You definitely need less than you think since it kind of thickens as it's worked into your hair.

It's supposedly a 6-in-1 product; it cleanses, conditions, volumizes and cuts down on tangles, blow dry time, and frizziness. In reality, I don't really notice it doing all these things since I use other hair products when I style it too. But it does in fact shave off a few minutes of blow dry time for me and leaves my hair soft, moisturized and still feeling clean.


It was the first cleansing conditioner I've used, and so far it's my favorite! It gives my hair the "I woke up like this" vibe (because it's flawless. Get it? A Beyonce joke! hehe)

I also have been trying the Herbal Essences Naked Cleansing Conditioner. It's about $4.99 and is double the product of the full size Flawless Cleansing Conditioner at 16.9 oz. However, you do have to use more product to really coat the hair. It comes in a pump bottle, and is more like a thick lotion. It has no sulfates or parabens either so it's safe on color treated hair. It has a light mint scent which I really like. I have heard that it is a dupe for the Wen Sweet Almond Mint Cleansing Conditioner, so I might check out the Wen version to find out!

This is nice to have and works pretty well, but it's not my absolute favorite. It feels a little heavy on my hair, and I feel like it would give me major product build up if I were to use it back to back days. I don't, so I'm not too worried about it. But for the price, It's one of the cheapest cleansing conditioner I've come across and I'll continue to buy it.

I typically use my cleansing conditioners in between shampoos to help cut down on product buildup and to prevent my scalp from becoming a grease ball. I have curly/wavy hair that's dry and frizzy while having an oily, itchy scalp. It's the worst. But now I've discovered the glory that is cleansing conditioners!

I've just gotten into cleansing conditioners and I want to try to find a mid priced one to compare. So I will continue on my quest to find the perfect, decently priced cleansing conditioner!

Recommend a good cleansing conditioner? I want to hear it! Comments are welcome. :)

New at Walmart! Rimmel and Wet N' Wild

I picked up a few new products (or at least new to me) to try.

Rimmel Keep Calm and Lip Balm. Wet N' Wild Contouring Palette, Rimmel Clean Finish Matte foundation, Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 Hour foundation

Rimmel had a new display of their Keep Calm and Lip Balm lip balms, and I thought I would try one! I always lose need lip balm so I just got the clear one called Keep Calm and Love. They did have a few tinted shades that had different names that looked super cute too. But after first using it, it tasted straight up like plastic. I don't know if the others taste differently but it's a bummer because it actually feels nice on my lips once you get past the taste. I might try the others to see if they are any different. 

I was most excited about the Wet N' Wild Contouring Palette in Caramel Toffee that I FINALLY got my hands on. It's been out of stock every time I've gone to Walmart. There is another contour palette that has a more yellow highlight shade instead of the more cool toned pink one that I saw online but it wasn't in the store I went to.

It's a large amount of product for under $4! I swatched it and it feels silky smooth, but just a little powdery and the pigmentation isn't great. But I've found that especially for contouring, having less pigmentation and being more buildable leads to less disastrous results (aka tiger stripes).  Both the contour and highlight shades are matte.

I also picked up two new foundations to experiement with! Because God knows I need more foundation.

This foundation was also under 4 bucks at Walmart! A super cheap matte foundation? It basically jumped into my shopping basket. I'll test it out to see how it wears and feels on my skin, and to see if the shade I picked up will match. The only other Rimmel foundation I've tried is the Stay Matte mousse foundation and I hated that stuff. So I'm excited/nervous to try this!

I also got the Rimmel Lasting Finish foundation. It claims you can wear it for 25 hours, which is silly to me that they had to tack on an extra hour to "beat out" other foundations that supposedly last 24 hours. Foundations typically last about 9 hours on my skin anyways, but whatever. Jessica Murphy on YouTube also made me buy this product because she loves it so much. Those damn YouTubers!

 So I decided I would give it a try. I'm a little nervous because I do have oily to combo skin and she has dry skin. It also has "comfort serum" in it, which I don't even know what that means but I'm assuming it's more hydrating. This foundation does have SPF though, which is an added bonus. This one retails for about 7 dollars.

I thought I controlled myself quite well at Walmart! Considering I went to pick up organizers for my new vanity I picked up last week. It's still a work in progress, but I'll have pictures up once the mirror is mounted. So keep your eye out for that post if you're interested in a DIY vanity from Ikea for under $150. :)

Again, I'll probably post a review once I've tried out these foundations and contouring palette for a while.

Love or Hate these products? Comment down below!

April Boxycharm Unboxing! #AprilBloom

I've looked at sneekpeaks for this months box, and I knew I was going to be a little disappointed just because I already have one of the products. Take a peak at my box for the month of April 2015!

Here is the description card I got along with my products that has product details, sizes and retail value:

The big disappointment for me was the Coastal Scents Revealed 2 Palette just because I already own it! It's a fantastic, cheap alternative to the Naked 3 palette with more eyeshadows and a bigger shade range. I gave the new one to my sister-in-law, so I took a picture of my old, well loved one. :)

There are some hits and misses, which I find is common in almost every palette. Some of the more shimmery shades have quite a bit of fallout, especially the copper one in the right hand corner on the top row. Which sucks because the color is super gorgeous and metallic but I have to be extra careful with it. My favorite shade out of the whole palette is the matte burgundy on the bottom row, 3 shades down from the left. SO PRETTY. I got a sample that had this shade in it and I bought the whole damn palette just because of that one shadow I loved so much!

Here are a few random swatches:

I also had to take a double take of the Jing Ai Velvet Lip Jewel, in the shade Red Rascal because I was certain I already recieved this product in my February box. The formula is smooth and hydrating, and is in crayon form.

 The shade I got in February is Raspberry Ice. It looked so suspiciously similar that I swatched the two side by side and you can hardly tell the difference.

Left:Raspberry Ice, Right: Rascal Red

As you can see, Raspberry Ice is a hair pinker. This was also sort of a disappointment for me because again, I feel like I already had this.

The OFRA Illuminating Blush was pretty much the saving grace of this box for me. It definitely reminded me of the Balm Hot Mama blush because it's almost like a peachy, pink highlighter when I swirl all the colors together. Individually these would make great eye shadows too! It's very pigmented and silky feeling.

Colors swirled together

I've gotten samples of Harvey Prince Hello fragrances in other subscription boxes so I know I like the scent, which leans more floral for sure. It's not my favorite scent, but I'll use it.The roller ball form is more convienant and purse friendly, so that's a bonus.

Lastly, I got a Coolway Smoothing Lotion. I'm excited to test it out to see if it smoothes out my frizzies while not completely weighing down my hair, which some smoothing lotions tend to do.

If I do end up liking it, at least I get 30% off and a free brush with this bonus coupon which I'm happy to share! 

Promo code: BOXY4U

This box wasn't that great for me, mainly because I already had a few of the products. If I didn't though, I think I would be way more stoked about the products I got. 

Thoughts on this months box? Tell me in the comments!

Simple Micellar Water Review + Quick Tip

I've been envying drugstore micellar waters that are not availabe in the States. Until I discovered that the brand Simple just launched one recently! Yay!

For those who don't know what the heck a micellar water is, it's a gentle make-up remover and cleanser all in one that does not need to be rinsed off. A dream com true for lazy girls like me!

You pour some of the magical water onto a cotton pad and apply it to your face to remove make up and cleanse at the same time. However, I found that it took a number of cotton pads to remove my make up and after toning my face still saw some leftover foundation on my cotton pad. It does do a fairly good job at removing eye make up though.

I still cleansed my face anyways afterwards just because I felt like it didn't "cleanse" enough. I found that this product really shines at cleansing my face in the morning and removing left over make up before or after I get in the shower. No matter how hard I try to completely remove my eye make up at night, there still is smudges from my mascara in the morning under my eye. So this is great for removing that!

Other than that, I think girls that wear LIGHT make up and great skin to begin with would find just using this to cleanse and remove make up would do the job just fine. I have repurchased it because I think it's a great cleanser for when I'm not wearing make up that day or in the morning to remove the last traces of my make up.

It's priced between 6-8 bucks, but there are always coupons available.

QUICK TIP!

I also have make up removing wipes in my arsenal because let's be honest, sometimes I'm just too lazy to use anything else or after a night out and stumbling in at 2 AM, going through my skin care routine is just not possible.

But when you go to grab a wipe and it seems dry and not soaked through with cleanser it really bums me out. No one enjoys using a dry cloth to remove a full face of heavy make up.

Good news is I have a really simple solution!

Most people store make up right side up, like a normal person. But I found if you alternate storing right side up and upside down the cleanser can soak through all the wipes instead of collecting at the bottom and having the last two wipes dripping with product.

Enjoy! :)

Accidental April Drugstore Haul! Swatches and First Impressions

Welp. I did another drugstore haul today unintentially. I went into Ulta and Target to get a few products I was running out of and of course came out with more than I needed. Target gets me EVERYTIME. To my credit though, it was Ulta's big sale on drugstore make up in addition so I just had to stock up!

I also had my eye on a few products for a while I've wanted to try! :)

I got quite a few skin and hair care products...

I use the Up & Up Body Wash, the generic for the Neutrogena Body Clear Body Wash in Pink Grapefruit, religiously. This is great for helping to treat body acne because it contains salicylic acid. It has exfoliating beads and has a great grapefruit scent too.

I tried the travel size version of the Shea Moisture Curl & Shine Shampoo, and LOVED it. My hair felt so soft and it helped tame my frizzy curls. The full size was on sale so I snatched it up!

The Up & Up Exfoliating Scrub is the generic of the Clean and Clear Deep Action Exfoliating Scrub that I use every morning. I haven't seen the generic version before so I'm stoked that I can get this scrub a little cheaper. It's a gentle daily exfoliating face wash that has a great cooling, tingling sensation. Your face feels sqeauky clean afterwards!

The brand Formula 10.0.6 is new to me, and I saw that it was on sale at Ulta so I decided to try the Keep Your Cool skin calming gel mask. It's supposed to help calm and cool breakouts, so I'm excited to try it! I also got the Down To The Pore pore strips because the blackheads on my nose are getting ridiculous.

I also picked up the smaller version of the Macadamia Natural Oil Volumizing Dry Shampoo. I go through dry shampoo like none other so I'm always in need of dry shampoo. I usually use Batiste, so I'm curious to see how I like this one.

Let's get into the other things I bought:

I got two nail polishes, a Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Coral Reef and Sinful Colors in Supernova. Both are under $3 and I just love both of these colors! Coral Reef is a neon coral and Supernova is a metallic taupe color.

I have always wanted to try the Maybelline Dream Wonder powder because I've heard great things about it, but just haven't gotten around to it. I got the shade Ivory, and seems like a silky smooth powder with a surprising amount of coverage. I also got the NYC Smooth Skin loose face powder in Translucent because Jessica Murphy or JAMbeauty89 on Youtube raves about it (I love watching her videos!). It's like under 3 bucks too!

I am almost out of my E.L.F HD Undereye Setting Powder so I picked up another. I like it for setting my concealer because it is a light powder that also brightens. There is specks of visible glitter that scared me at first, but it doesn't show up on your face.

These two concealers are my holy grail combo! The Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser for Dark Circles in Brightening and the DreamLumi Touch in Radiant. I don't have hardcore undereye bags but I do like the brightening effect that these concealers give me. The Age Rewind has great coverage and is more pink toned and the DreamLumi is more yellow and kicks up the brightening power. Love 'em both.

The Maybelline VolumExpress Rocket is a favorite I always come back to when I want a great volumizing mascara that I can rely on. The L'oreal Voluminous Original mascara is one I hear mentioned constantly so I finally bought it. Hope it's as good as everyone says!

This eyeshdaow quad, the Maybelline Eyestudio in Copper Chic is one I've seen swatched on Pinterest and it looked INCREDIBLE. I had to try it myself. Yup, they are as gorgeous as I imagined. Very pigmented, metallic and buttery. These shadows are what I hoped the E.L.F Prismatic Shadows would be. I will definitely go back and purchase more!

I had a coupon for a Revlon HD lipstick, so I got the shade HD Rose which looked like the most wearable everyday color. The formula is very soft and has some gloss to it.

I pretty much collect the Revlon Colorburst Matte Balms, Stains and Glosses like it's my job. I've had my eye on this shade for a minute and it was on sale at Ulta! It's a great vampy purple to add to my collection. Not great for spring but it will be aweosme in the fall. Or whenever. Let's be real, you can wear any makeup anytime you want.

Lastly, I wanted to share these super awesome ram earrings I got from Feugo for a $1.80!!! WIN. I mean they are just so cool.

Maybe next time I'll include some of my clothing purchases. :)

That pretty much sums up everything I got. I always go in with the intention of buying itmes I truly need and end up coming out with a mountain of make up.

Score anything at the Ulta or Sephora sale? Thoughts on my purchases? I want to hear from ya in the comments!

April Ipsy Bag 2015 #BeautifullyBohemian

When I opened my Ipsy bag this month I was immediately in love with the bag. SO CUTE. This months theme is Beautifully Bohemian, in honor of festival season I imagine.

Let's take a look in what's inside:

I received what looks like a full size Hikari blush in Tango, an oval concealer brush from Crown Brush, Nude Dude eye shadow sample in the shade Fit, Mica Beauty Cosmetics eye primer and Mullien & Sparrow Mini Lip and Cheek Tint.

So far I am in love with ALL the products I got. This might be the best bag yet!

The Mica eye primer is a very dry formula. Like desert dry. But I prefer drier eye primers and bases to wetter ones. I find they set a lot better and tend to have better staying power for my eyeshadow. I used it today and it worked really well at concealing any weird veins on my eye lids and keeping my shadows in place all day.

I actually used this Crown Oval Concealer brush with the Mica eye primer! I prefer to use brushes with potted products so I don't have to stick my finger in and get a bunch of product under my nails.

High maintenance, I know.

Oh man this blush from Hikari in Tango is BRIGHT! I love it though. It's silky smooth, has good pigmentation and is a beautiful neon pink coral color.

It's funny that I got a sample from the Nude Dude palette from the Balm because I was thinking of ordering the full palette! I got the shade in Fit, and it's a shimmery bronze copper, which is pretty much my go to shade for my whole lid. Like all products from the Balm, the packaging is fantastic and so damn cute. The Nude Dude palette is sequel to the Nude 'Tude palette which I also own. The quality of these shadows are great and blend like a dream, but I have found that they do kick up a bunch of powder.

The Lip and Cheek Tint from Mullien & Sparrow is in a cute mini tin, and has a faint citrus smell. It's a nice lip balm to throw in my purse or overnight bag for sure. It looks really dark in the tin but leaves a nice sheer, almost peachy pink tint to the lips.

I wouldn't ever use this on my cheeks though, it's pretty much just a lip balm.

This months bag was kick ass! You jelly?! I'm extremely happy with what I got. If you don't have Ipsy, it's only $10 a month for a cute bag and 4-5 beauty samples with usually one full size product inside.

What did you get in your bag? Do tell in the comments!

It's that time...

Cleaning my brushes annoys me like none other. I hate standing over the sink for half an hour and getting my hands pruned up. I also hate having to strategically plan when I do it because nothing is worse than going to do your make up and your brushes are still wet!

Usually I clean mine on Sunday, along with doing my laundry and weekly grocery shopping as part of my Sunday ritual.

Oh RyGo, I wish.

What do you do on Sunday's? Have any suggestions on the best way to clean your brushes?