Can a Hair Dryer Give You Instant Beachy Waves?

Have you seen this blow dryer yet?

Available at pretty much every drug store or big box store, this is a pretty unique blow dryer actually spins your hair around as it dries, creating waves. (See? That's my newly darker hair spinning around). The process does take a while. It takes a few minutes per "chunk" of hair, and the results are best if you use about 1" pieces at a time. Simply drop them into the chute and let it spin until mostly dry. My entire head takes about 15-20 minutes.

The end result is hair that looks like this. In person, it really looks like very loose dread locks almost. I let it finish drying on it's own, then finger comb through my hair. The result really is beachy waves that look fantastic and last for a long time!

While the initial time investment (15-20 minutes) is well over my normal time allotment in the morning to style my hair, I do like the results. I've been doing this on the weekends or if I have something I'd like wavy hair for.

Remington Emi Airwave: Dryer with Wave Attachment

The Mid-Winter Hand Ache: Barielle's Intensive Hand Treatment Cream

Continuing with my current hand cream obsession, here's a quick little review of Barielle's Intensive Hand Treatment Cream. Barielle can be a bit hard to find in stores. I've found it at places like ULTA, beauty supplies and it's nearly always at TJ Maxx (though with a not-so-stellar selection, grab what you want when you see it!). As well, you can order on-line.

This product is not your everyday hand cream. This is what to reach for when you really need moisture. Like now. STAT. This thick cream smells exactly like Nivea, Apply a coat and let it sink in. Barielle mentions enclosed cotton gloves in the directions, though I've never had them in the box when I've purchased this. I think people must steal them at TJ Maxx. In any case, they recommend putting on cotton gloves and then going to sleep. Just applying it alone I have had a dramatic increase in overall skin hydration, very similar to a paraffin hand treatment. This does leave a greasy film afterwards, so I recommend taking that into consideration before use.
Barielle's Intensive Hand Treatment Cream

Is Lumene Better than UDPP?

UDPP has long been a staple of many women. This light ivory liquid has the consistency of concealer and when applied to the eye lid is meant to make your eye shadow easier to apply, blend and then make it last much longer. However, due to the craziness of the packaging, price and somewhat limited availability (meaning, you need to go the mall or ULTA to buy it, rather than just your local drugstore or Target), many women have been looking for a replacement. Many over on Makeup Alley swear by Lumene's Eye Shadow Primer. I decided I had to try this out, so for weeks now I've been using UDPP on one lid and Lumene on the other.

What happened? While the two look pretty much identical and apply to the lid the same way, I did see differences. The UDPP side blended more easily. The UDPP side also had a bit more depth to the way the shadow looked, which really surprised me. By the end of the day the difference was pretty obvious. Consistently the UDPP side was better.

I know I'm going to get some flack for this post, however this really is what happened for me. Will it be like that for everyone? Probably not. But, I'll continue stocking up on UDPP when I'm at ULTA or Sephora.

Lumene at CVS

Perfect Liquid Eye Liner?

I'm not sure why, but for some reason I've gotten the same question about 4 or 5 times in the last month. What is my favorite liquid eyeliner? I have to remind everyone here that there's a reason the site is named 15 Minute Beauty Fanatic. I don't give myself a lot of time in the morning, and if a product requires too much time to work properly, I'm likely to either give it away or just throw it out.

For liquid eye liner I have a few requirements beyond quick and easy.
1) I want the line to be easy to control, I want the brush/pen to be thin, not bend easily and easy to get into my lash line.
2) It must last all day without smudges or other issues
3) The color must be worthwhile. None of those blacks that are not quite black.

So, here is my list of favorite liquid eyeliners. This is by no means comprehensive (yes, it is only 2 items long. Yes, I have tried most brands at your local department store or Sephora. No, this is not a mistake!), it only shows what I've tried out myself with great results. Feel free to share your finds in the comments!

Global Goddess Cairo Eyes: I love the brush on this eyeliner. It is very easy to control, gives you a great looking line and the black is "black" but there are also fun colors like their Iteru (blue) shade!

Cover Girl Line Exact: This pen is super easy to use and I like the selection of color available such as Very Black and Black Brown. Easy to find anywhere!

The Mid-Winter Hand Ache: Aveeno's Intense Relief Hand Cream

While I may live in California (for now) even I have hand issues this time of year. They are dry, cold and cracked. They quite frankly just ache. There's not a lot that actually helps, though a bit of time with a paraffin hand bath (must dig mine out) and daily use of hand cream can help quite a bit.

I've made no secret of my long time favorite hand cream, Kiehl's Ultimate Strength. However, not everyone has a Kiehl's location or counter nearby, some don't like to order on-line, etc. Some also don't really like the bit of menthol that I swear is in it, which leads to a bit of tingling with application. And can actually kinda burn if you are really cracked.

So, I thought I'd look at a few other hand lotions I have around here. Are they any good?

The first one I tried out is Aveeno's Intense Relief Hand Cream. Aveeno promises a non-greasy formula that lasts through hand washing, forms " a protective glove against the elements" and even "moisturizes skin for 24 hours."

This formula is a bit thicker than the typical lotion, though not as thick as a cream. It has a faintly oatmeal scent, which I find is pretty typical of Aveeno. The formula is really soothing without the menthol-like burn of the Kiehl's. If your hands are burning or hurting, this one really works wonders. The formula takes a few minutes to sink in completely, and I think that it leaves a slightly greasy feeling behind. It does last through 1-2 hand washings. However, I find I need to reapply every 6-8 hours or so.

Aveeno Intense Relief Hand Cream

Win! Your Best Face

Back in August I reviewed Your Best Face, a line of anti-aging skincare featuring a huge number of active ingredients, including anti-oxidants, peptides and spin traps! I loved the line, but it can be hard to find (not to mention expensive).

Lucky for us, the company has offered to sponsor a contest on 15 Minute Beauty Fanatic! I have 5 full sized bottles of the Restore to give away.

Please enter your name, e-mail and mailing address below. Only I will see the answers, open to US only please!

Relax? Crabtree and Evelyn's New Distillation

Crabtree & Evelyn is found in pretty much every mall around me (which means I likely have at least 5 stores within a 15 mile radius of my home here in Southern California), but I seem to never go in. I'm not sure why, likely it has to do with my dislike of chatting with Sales Associates. I don't really need someone to pick out which scent of lotion they think I'll like, I'd rather browse and be left alone. I have much the same issue with my local Origins store. But, I digress.

Sometimes products just find their way to my home, much like this new lotion from Crabtree & Evelyn. It promises to be a new lotion formulation featuring moisturizing items like Olive and Argan Oils, as well as a "calming essential oil blend of lavender and rosewood, tonka, chamomile, vanilla and violet leaf."

I'm not usually a girl big on having every scented lotion available, but I am finding a new addiction to this lotion! The lavender scent is just a little bit herbal and just makes me want to take a nap. The lotion is very creamy and feels amazing sinking in to my skin. While it doesn't sink in completely (it takes about 3-4 minutes for that to happen, there is a bit of residue until then), I am finding that for once I really don't care about that. I think it's the scent, it must do something to your dopamine receptors. I'm finding myself applying it every night before I go to sleep.

So, while I usually avoid their store in the mall, I do think that C&E scored big with this lotion. I may need to make a trip there sometime soon!

Aromatherapy Distillations, Relaxing - Soothing Body Lotion

Cynthia Rowley's Flower

I'm a little late reviewing this fragrance. Honestly, it's been sitting here for a few months now, I meant to include it in all of the fragrance reviews I did this fall. But, writing about perfumes is not exactly easy, so it's been sitting in a box here.

I'm a bit sad that I didn't find it earlier because this really is a great fragrance! Cynthia Rowley says she wanted this fragrance to work for all the the women she designs for. Which I'm not sure what that means, because I'm still not sure who her target audience is. (Yes, that is a bit catty, and yes, I'm ending sentences inappropriately. However, I am not a professional writer, merely a blogger, and truly I do not know a grown woman that wears Rowley's clothes. I'm just saying.)

I've seen this fragrance described as "feminine and flirty, yet sophisticated," which sounds pretty appropriate. For me, this is a fragrance much like my beloved Bond No. 9 Eau de Noho. Both feature violet leaves heavily with a light floral to balance it and a base of Cashmere Woods. This fragrance starts out with a heavy Freesia note, which burns off in about 5-10 minutes leaving behind mostly Violet Leaves and a little bit of the Cashmere Wood. The Vanilla and Jasmine are also featured, creating a great violet scent that isn't too heavy.

Top Notes: Freesia, Citruses, Violet Leaf
Middle Notes: Lily, Water Lily, Jasmine
Base Notes: Musk, Cashmere Wood, Vanilla, Sandalwood

Overall I loved this fragrance, finding it perfect to wear during my work week. I only wish that it lasted a tad bit longer as it was pretty much gone by mid-afternoon.

Flower by Cynthia Rowley

Aveda's Dry Remedy

I'm sure I'm not alone in having dry, color treated hair. I have some scalp issues too (actually, it's really just a continuation of my ezcema. Sigh.), but I really try to target the dry hair issues more than scalp. This collection from Aveda promises to do just that, most of the products promise to "instantly improves dry hair up to 63%." Sounds good to me, especially if it actually works.

So, how is this trio?

Pretty great actually! Typical of most Aveda products, this line has a lot of different organic ingredients, resulting in an herbal, slightly minty scent to all 3 products. I'm honestly not a big fan of the scent, but since it doesn't stick around in my hair I really don't care. As well, the products are all a light ivory/tan color and very thick. The shampoo has a light lather, the conditioner and hair mask are both very creamy, all three products rinse out of my hair easily.

The end result from this line was nicely hydrated hair (no "straw" in sight) that was easy to style and not at all weighed down. I used the shampoo and conditioner every day, substituting in the hair mask once a week. I would definitely use these products again.

Aveda Dry Remedy Moisturizing Treatment Masque
Aveda Dry Remedy Moisturizing Shampoo
Aveda Dry Remedy Moisturizing Conditioner

Out of Town.... Again

Yes, again a lack of posts. Because I was unable to organize myself enough to have posts running while I'm out of town. Good news.... I'm going home tomorrow night. So, more posts will be forth coming then. I promise!