Category Archives: Haircare

[SR] Essential CC Oil and Night Care Milk

This is quite an overdued post as I’ve been rather busy with the last few weeks of my pregnancy. It is probably also my last entry before I pop and I expect it to be some time before I will have time again to do reviews.

I’ve always been using Essential’s leave in serum/milk since it first appeared on the shelf. After the first update, the pink and orange bottles became a day and night use serum/milk. I continued using the orange bottle (night milk) because the formulation was closer to the previous version. Essential has improved the formulation again and I was invited to try the new products. Thanks Essential and The Sample Store!

Introducing Essential’s new CC Oil and Night Care Milk! I’m quite sure you’ve heard of how heat styling, perming and dyeing your hair too much can damage it, but I’m not sure if you’re aware that there are external environmental factors and some everyday habits that can affect your hair’s health as well. That’s where Essential’s CC Oil and Night Care Milk come in to help protect your hair from these nasty factors.

The Five Hair Stresses:

  1. Blow-drying — This process removes moisture from both inside and outside of the hair leaving it dry, brittle and susceptible to further damage.
  2. Combing — Combing through wet hair causes damage to hair follicles as they are in their most fragile state. Friction from combing through dry hair can form hair knots and make hair prone to breakage.
  3. Split Ends — Fraying of hair shaft particularly at the ends which are the oldest and driest parts.
  4. Hair Breakage — Daily actions such as tying your hair into a tight ponytail or twirling your hair round your finger can exert excessive stress on your hair, resulting in breakage.
  5. Dryness — Hair cuticles that are weakened from excessive exposure to sun, wind or even air conditioning can cause dryness.

Essential’s CC (Cuticle Care) Oil is meant to protect your hair from these five stresses. It shares the same ‘multi-functional’ concept of BB or CC cream in cosmetic products. What the CC Oil does is to form a protective layer around each hair strand, leaving you with less tangly and more manageable hair.

Use the CC Oil on towel-dried or damp hair. Spread it evenly in your hair, concentrating on the mid-length to the tips. There is no need to rinse the oil off.

There’s also another factor which can harm your hair that you might be unaware of. Every night while you sleep, your hair rubs against your pillow. The friction can cause damage to your hair. You know how sometimes you wake up with your hair all frizzy, looking like a lion’s mane? Pillow friction causes misaligned cuticles which creates that frizz. While washing your hair can get rid of that ‘big hair’, why go through the hassle every morning when you can have more beauty sleep?

That’s where Essential’s Night Care Milk comes in. It is formulated to protect your hair against pillow friction by forming a protective coat around each hair strand and preventing misaligned cuticles when your hair rubs against the pillow.

Use the Night Care Milk on towel-dried or damp hair, or before blow-drying. It can also be used on dry hair. Spread and apply the milk evenly onto your hair, concentrating on the mid-length to the tips. There is no need to rinse the product off. For better results, do make sure that your hair is completely dry before going to sleep.

Both products come with Cuticle Care Protection that leaves hair smooth and tangle free all day. They also contain hair supplement oil which is similar to your hair’s natural oil.

I’ve always had great faith in Essential’s leave-in products. Wasn’t disappointed this time as well. Because I couldn’t go rebond my hair while pregnant, I’ve been relying a lot on leave-in products to ‘cure’ my dry and frizzy ends. I found the CC Oil a little too light but definitely didn’t leave an oily, clumpy feel after usage. Much preferred the Night Care Milk which is rich yet non-greasy. Definitely saw a difference in the morning.

Both products are retailing at $11.90.

Remember I mentioned the five hair stresses earlier? Essential has created five characters to represent the hair stresses…

There’s Badass Breakage Stress, Brazen Blow-drying Stress, Despicable Dryness Stress, Spiteful Split Ends Stress and Cruel Combing Stress.

Essential even created a Facebook game featuring the five stress brothers, the Pesky Pillow King and Mane Hero. Play the game and stand to win attractive prizes!

[SR] Essential Combination Haircare Range

I introduced and reviewed Essential’s combination haircare range some time back in October 2014, so I won’t be going too deep into it in this entry. Do check that entry out too!

But just a quick recap of what this range can do for you…

If you’re aware of what ‘combination skin’ is (a combination of dry and oily zones on your face), then ‘combination hair’ is exactly the same concept — oily scalp with dry ends. Essential has a range of shampoos and conditioners to help combat this problem.

If you scalp is just a little oily but you have dry ends, you can try the Light Finish Volumizing (yellow) range. If you have a very oily scalp and dry ends, you can try the Deep Cleansing Care (blue) range.

These two ranges are optimised with a combination of Smart Cuticle Care and Sebum Cleansing Technology to clarify the oily roots and moisturise the dry ends at the same time.

And for a limited time only, Essential will be giving out a massage shampoo brush with every purchase of a shampoo and conditioner set. They come in two colours: pink and green. The kind people at Essential and The Sample Store sent the products for me to try out, so I’m going to tell you a little more about this cute round massage brush.

The massage shampoo brush is commonly used in Japan to help remove dirt and sebum effectively from the scalp. The massaging action on the scalp also helps to improve blood circulation and promote relaxation.

To use it effectively, first, you wet and shampoo your hair as usual. Then you hold the brush between your index and middle fingers. Rub the bristles onto your scalp gently from side to side with small movements. Do not move the brush in circular motions as it will cause your hair to tangle. The rubber tips of the massage shampoo brush are firm yet not too hard, so it’ll give your scalp a good “scratch” but not hurt you.

The brush is great especially for people who are go for regular manicures. Who wants to spoil their nicely painted nails from shampooing their hair? Using a massage shampoo brush will help to prolong your fancy nails.

To properly store the brush, rinse it with water and place it upside down or hung from a string in a well-ventilated place. Do not place the brush with its bristles in direct contact to the surface as it may damage the bristles over time.

The haircare sets will be available from mid-May 2015 at leading supermarkets and personal care stores. Each pack retails at $19.60 and comes with a 750ml bottle of shampoo and conditioner and a free massage shampoo brush.

If you’re not too sure about the Deep Cleansing Care range and would like to try it out, you can grab a free sample of it at Essential’s Facebook page.

To get more updates on Essential’s range of products, do follow them on Instagram too! (@essentialsingapore)

[SR] Asience Haircare Range

If you don’t already know it, Asience haircare range is formulated based on the Asian beauty philosophy — to restore the beauty of Asian hair from root to tip. As such, they are introducing an innovative haircare concept: the brand new power Beauty Serum.

The reformulated Beauty Serum contains the concentrated infusion of Argan Oil, Camelia Oil, Pomegranate extracts, and Rose, White Pearl and Lemongrass essences. The serum is designed to penetrate deep into the hair shaft, repairing it from within to give your hair three key signs of youthful vitality — softness, shine and smoothness.

The improved Asience haircare range comes in two variants:

  1. Inner Rich (yellow bottles) — for dry, frizzy and unmanageable hair
  2. Nature Smooth (blue bottles) — for oily scalp and tangled ends

No hesitation as to which variant I went for, which the kind people at Asience and The Sample Store gave me…

Asience Nature Smooth shampoo and conditioner

Yup, I have combination hair — oily scalp and super dry ends, so the Nature Smooth variant suited me best. The rich formula of this variant cleanses and repairs from deep within, hydrating hair for a light and smooth finish.

When I received the shampoo and conditioner, I was immediately struck by the shape and design on the bottles. They had this exquisite jewel-y feel…a bit princess-y? When I pumped out the formula, I was even more in love with it. The light fruity-floral fragrance lingers in your hair even until the next day.

I have used another brand of shampoo before that is supposed to combat my oily scalp. It worked too well in stripping off the oil that it ended up stripping off the moisture as well. With the Asience Nature Smooth shampoo, I got that sala sala (smooth) feel even while rinsing off the shampoo. That’s how I know my hair is being protected and moisturised. The conditioner also left the same sala sala feel at the ends — not as strong as I’ll like it to be but good enough nonetheless.

Dry and tangly ends before, smooth tame ends after.

After a couple of days of using Asience Nature Smooth, my hair ends improved much from the tangly sort to the tamer sort. Instead of a dry mess, each hair strand became more defined. The ends are still a little dry but I guess it should improve further with longer use the shampoo and conditioner.

My scalp is also less oily with the hair more light and airy.

The new and improved Asience haircare range is available at all leading supermarkets, western pharmacies and personal care stores. The shampoo and conditioner comes in two sizes: 200ml at $7.95 each and 480ml at $14.90 each. There’s also a treatment care 180ml tube for each variant and it retails at $12.90.

If you’re not too sure about purchasing it yet, you can get a free sample at The Sample Store to try it out first.

Black Box Beauty Boxes

Haha, I like how the title works out to be an alliteration.

As promised, I’ll tell you a little about the beauty boxes I got from Black Box. Yes, I have itchy fingers when it comes to beauty boxes (whether or not I actually use the contents of it), but my self-control is pretty good. So I end up with boxes of contents that I’ll use at least 70% if not all.

Black Box launched three exclusive beauty boxes for Christmas 2014 after their revamp, and I purchased two of them. Each box comes with a snazzy name.

The first one is ‘Bare my Soul, Sweetheart’. It was the cheapest at $9.90 and came in a plastic pack.

As usual, a card is included to tell you more about the products enclosed.

  • Biore Micellar Cleansing Water (1 sachet)
  • Klarity Lasertox CC Miracle White Lotion (5ml)
  • Nivea Fruity Shine Pink Guava Lip Balm (1 stick)
  • Ocean Health Buffered C-500 Chewable Tablets (60 tablets)
  • Nivea In-shower Skin Conditioner Body Lotion (1 sachet)
  • L’oreal Extraordinary Oil Sublime Hair Enhancer (3 sachets)

I thought the contents of this pack were pretty worth it for the price since two of the items are retail sized.

If you’re interested, I did a review of the Biore Miceller Cleansing Water earlier.

On to the next beauty box, ‘Hey Betty, I’m on a Vacay!’ This box costs $19.90 and comes in a neat little shoebox.

  • Za x Betty Boop Killer Volume Mascara (1 tube)
  • Aqualabel White Up Emulsion (20ml)
  • Aqualabel Aqua Enhancer (20ml)
  • Aqualabel Reset White Mask (1 sheet)
  • Ma Cherie Moisture Shampoo (50ml)
  • Ma Cherie Moisture Conditioner (50ml)

At first glance, I was thinking “The contents of this box is really little. That’s pretty expensive.” But after careful consideration, it really isn’t so. The mascara is retail sized and worth almost the cost of the box.

A note about Aqualabel. I’ve been using their enhancer for a few years now and love how it keeps my face moist. Aqualabel has two (or more) series. The common ones are the whitening (blue) series and the moisturising (red) series. I have been using the enhancer in the moisturising series, but lately they don’t seem to be on the shelves anymore. Maybe they have discontinued it. Oh well, I might as well try the enhancer in the whitening series since I have the sample now.

Another tidbit about Ma Cherie. People probably don’t remember or don’t know this, but Takki (Hideaki Takizawa) used to endorse Ma Cherie when it wasn’t available on our shores yet. I still remember a friend going gaga over it and all set to buy home the shampoo and conditioner when she went to Japan.

The third exclusive beauty box is ‘Love, The Alter Ego’ and is priced at $29.90. The last one is ‘I Kissed the Knight Goodbye’ and is priced at $39.90. I didn’t purchase these two as I didn’t fancy the contents and felt they were a bit too pricey.

The second, third and fourth boxes are still available at Black Box. Do check them out.

[SR] Essential Haircare Range

Essential is a popular haircare brand from Japan and if you’re not aware of it, they have improved and extended their range of products! Many should recognise the older orange and pink variants, and maybe the newer yellow variant. But the new kid on the block is the blue variant. Well, the question is: how do you know which variant would suit you?

Essential has made it pretty simple by classifying each variant:

  1. Orange: Nourishing Breakage Defense — for weak and damaged hair
  2. Pink: Moisturising Frizz Free — for dull and rough hair
  3. Yellow: Light Finish Volumising — for limp and flat hair
  4. Blue: Deep Cleansing Care — for oily scalp and dry ends

The orange and pink variants are of a richer formula for dry hair, whereas the cream and blue variants are of a lighter formula for oily roots/scalp and dry ends.

So yes, if you have oily roots/scalp and dry ends like me, you have COMBINATION HAIR!

And all along, I thought I was the weird one with such hair. People like me end up having to mix and match shampoo and conditioner because using the same rich, moisturising products to combat the dry ends leaves us with product build up on the scalp that results in an oily scalp. The reverse is true as well. Using the same light, clarifying products to combat the oily roots leaves us with drier ends. Apparently, Essential understands this problem and has developed a solution to it. The new and improved yellow and blue variants have the optimum combination of SMART CUTICLE CARE AND SEBUM CLEANSING TECHNOLOGY to target both problems of oily roots and dry ends. Yup, so no more mixing and matching products. Hooray!

By just looking at the product descriptions, I was all ready to try out the new blue variant. BUT WAIT! Essential has made it even easier to choose the right variant with a rather nifty matrix.

Do you have oily hair roots/scalp? Yes, a little. (Used to be very oily but after learning about mixing and matching shampoo and conditioner, my hair condition got slightly better. The fringe remains super oily but that’s because it rubs against my forehead which is super oily. Another skin problem to talk about another time…)

Do you have dry/damaged hair ends? OMG…YES, VERY. PLEASE DO SOME MAGIC ON IT.

The good people at Essential and The Sample Store decided that I should try the yellow variant of shampoo and conditioner, and the orange variant for treatment and mask. (Note: There’s only orange and pink variants for treatment and mask.)

I’ve used the older orange variant for shampoo, conditioner, treatment and hair mask in the past and it really helped at one point when my hair was super duper dry from constant colouring with no treatment sessions at the hairdresser. Can’t remember now why I switched to something else after that. *shrugs* Anyway, I was a little puzzled with the choice of variant. Hmmmm…I don’t have limp and flat hair that needs volumising. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. But then again, it’s a tough call now since I have rebonded my hair so I don’t look like a puffball. So I guess volumising here means to have fuwa fuwa hair instead of regular limp hair? Oh well, no harm trying the cream variant since according to the matrix, it seems the blue variant is for people with VERY oily roots/scalp.

My haircare regime goes like this: Shampoo and conditioner for daily use when not using treatment and hair mask. Once with treatment mid-week. Mask in the weekend.

Before I go into the results, you should know more about the new and improved Essential range. It has MICROFINE ALL SMOOTH ESSENCE which delivers nutrients to repair damaged hair surface from root to tip. Conventional technology contributes mainly to the roots only. Therefore, your hair is supposed to feel surprisingly smooth when you comb your fingers through whether wet or dry. With the absence of tangles, water does not get trapped between the tangles and blow-drying your hair should be faster.

Now, for the results…

Not going to comment too much on the treatment and mask since I’ve used them before. All you need to know is that that orange variant hair mask is DA BOMB. Worked like magic before so no doubt that it would work this time. Oh and DO NOT apply treatment and mask on your scalp. Apply them to your ends only!

The shampoo and conditioner have a very pleasant honey fragrance that clings to your hair throughout the day. Nice! After using the products for about a week, I must say that it does help combat the slightly oily roots. As for the dry ends, not too much improvement when my hair is dry. But I must comment that it did somehow work when my hair is wet. What do I mean by that? How I tell if a product is doing its moisturising magic is when I get this sala sala (smooth) feel even after I wash off the product. It irritates me when I don’t get that feel. Like I can’t comb my fingers through my wet hair smoothly. Not with this shampoo and conditioner. I could feel this film over my hair as I washed off the products. Oh well. I will continue to use leave-in conditioner after my bath (wet hair) and hair oil when my hair is dry. Just got the new and improved Essential Treatment Milk. Haven’t started using it as I just finished using another brand of leave-in conditioner today. Hope it is good.

Do try the new range of Essential products because who knows, it might work like magic for you. The new range of products are already selling at leading supermarkets, hypermarkets, western pharmacies and personal care stores.

If you need a little more convincing before you use the full-size products, you can get a free sample of the variants for combination hair here. And if you think Essential is really good (like I do!), don’t forget to “LIKE” them on Facebook and follow @essentialsingapore on Instagram.

[SR] Tsubaki Hair Oil

Another review of a sponsored product! Thanks Tsubaki and The Sample Store!

This time it’s a hair care product — Tsubaki Hair Oil.

Tsubaki is a hair care product line by Shiseido Japan. If you’re not familiar with the language, “tsubaki” is “camellia” in Japanese which is also the main ingredient in the products. This new product is to be used as a leave-in hair treatment. It is richly formulated with selected camellia oil to give a long-lasting shine to hair by penetrating deeply. It improves lustre, moisturises, as well as prevents and repairs damage to your hair. It is made to penetrate your hair instantly to give a light, non-greasy, and silky smooth feel. It also protects your hair against UV damage and blow-dry heat, and prevents split ends and breakage.

Here are some charts to see the results of using camellia oil on your hair:

Looks like I definitely could use some camellia oil. For those who know me, my hair is unlike most people’s. I always describe it as having a life of its own. I would love to have straight long dolly hair, but unfortunately I don’t. Instead, my hair is frizzy, damaged, and unruly. I have tried countless products at all ends of the price scale. Some work a little, some work for awhile and then don’t (I suspect my hair gets used to it), and some don’t even seem to work at all. I was rather skeptical about this hair oil and the wonders it could do to my hair. I’ll be happy even if it seems to work a little.

The product comes in a cute red bottle. Reminds me of those vintage perfume bottles. The oil itself has a very pleasant flowery scent.

So how do you apply it evenly to your hair? Here are the steps:

First, pour out the oil amounting to the size of a 20 cent coin (about 5-6 drops of oil from the bottle). That is the recommended amount for people with mid-length hair. I used more than that amount as my hair is really unruly and damaged. I divided my hair to two parts and used about the recommended amount for each side.

After pouring out the oil on your palm, rub both your palms together so that the oil is spread evenly on both palms.

Then, start spreading the oil by using a combination of these movements:
1) Combing your fingers through your hair
2) Scrunching sections of your hair (like in the picture above)
3) Sandwiching your hair in between your palms and sliding your hands down (like in the picture)

You should focus on the areas that require more care. For me, my scalp usually gets oily towards the end of the day but the ends of my hair remain dry and damaged. So, I don’t apply the oil at the roots but focus on the middle and especially the ends. Be careful not to use too much of the oil at one spot. I’ve had this experience with other leave-in conditioning products. I put too much at one area and it kinda caked up like as if I used hair gel or hair spray. It’s really gross.

There are two scenarios that you should take note of:

How to prevent flat hair (especially for those with soft and fine hair)
Refrain from applying a large amount of the oil. Start applying from the damaged tips and gradually work upwards to the roots to avoid flat hair.

How to reduce volume or prevent dry hair (especially those with thick and voluminous hair)
Apply an appropriate amount of oil to wet hair and dry it with a hair dryer. Then, spread a small amount of oil onto your palms and apply it to the bottom half of your hair to reduce the volume.

So what’s the verdict? Here’s the result of using the product on my (unruly) hair:

Tadaa! Omg…can you see the difference? Yes, that was my shitty dry and damaged hair before. After applying the hair oil, you can see that my hair has become a lot tamer and smoother. There’s also a shine to it. The ends are more defined and not lost in a ball of…erm…hair. I know this is not some miracle potion, so of course I didn’t expect it to permanently and suddenly transform my hair to the dolly smooth locks I wish for. But, it definitely did smoothen my hair and made it look a lot more manageable. What I really loved about the product is that it’s light-weight as it claims to be. It’s not like super greasy and gross. I also super love the smell. It’s like putting perfume in your hair. I really couldn’t stop smelling my hair after application.

So where can you buy the Tsubaki Hair Oil? It will be exclusively available at Watsons from Thursday, 11 September 2014 onwards! (That’s just two days from now!)

But wait! There’s more! Tsubaki will be holding a contest on Friday, 12 September 2014, so do keep a look out for it on their Facebook page. To participate in the contest, all you need to do is…