August Favorites 2013

Two posts in a day is definitely unheard of for me, but I'm glad I got to stay in on Labor Day and catch up.

I thought I'd start posting my favorite products of the month. And since we're already a couple days into September, figured I should hurry.

To ease into this, I don't have many products. But these are all items I highly recommend, so I want to explain them a bit. Mini reviews, basically. So the post may end up rather long.

There are some other products (mainly for my skin) that I've been loving, but I want to wait a little longer so I know I truly adore them. Sometimes, my skin doesn't show signs of breakouts or clogging until a few weeks in, so if these products continue to be great, they will most likely show up in my September Favorites.

Here are my favorites for the last month:

--Aveeno Positively Nourishing Antioxidant Infused Body Wash with White Peach and Ginger ($6.99): Wow, what a mouthful. This body wash smells so good! I've been on a huge "peach" kick for a long time now, so I'm a sucker for anything that smells like it. My usual go-to body wash is also Aveeno, so this isn't much of a surprise, but I think this is a great spring and summer product. For winter, I'll probably switch back to my usual Aveeno Skin Relief Body Wash, which is great for those of you with sensitive skin like mine!

--L'Occitane Aromachologie Soothing Shampoo ($30): This one should actually have a blog post of its own because it's that good, but I guess I'll just have to deal with putting it in my monthly favorites :) I've been looking for something to help my sensitive scalp. I never thought about my scalp too much, but it had been getting itchy lately. And it makes sense that my scalp would be sensitive since my face and the rest of my body is definitely that way. Before this shampoo, my HG product was TIGI Bed Head Urban Antidotes Level 2. That stuff makes my hair feel AMAZING. And it's still great, but lately, my scalp needed some extra lovin'. So this shampoo, with five essential oils, has been what my scalp needed! And it's treating my hair very well, too. Since I have extremely oily skin, I've always avoided oils of any kind in my products, but now I'm learning that some essential oils are ESSENTIAL for a reason. This is my new HG shampoo. It's pricey, for sure, but so worth it. And I still use the Bed Head conditioner!

--Victoria's Secret Pure Seduction Fragrance Mist ($12 but on sale often): Smells so good! What more can I say? My boyfriend loves it as well. Plus, I just found a Bath and Body Works Wallflower that smells just like it: Heirloom Pear.

--Too Faced Pretty Rebel Beauty Eye Shadow Palette ($46): These shadows are buttery! I don't have to worry about any fallout with this palette, and the shadows have great pigmentation. This is my first Too Faced purchase, and I'm excited to try more. This is a limited edition palette, I believe, so get it while you can. I may end up swatching the shadows in a future post.

--MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Creme Cup ($15): My favorite MAC baby pink lipstick for years has been Angel, but Creme Cup has taken over. This is a beautiful, everyday shade for me. My lips are very pigmented, so I tend to lean more toward these sort of shades to mute the color of my lips a bit. And I love the Cremesheen line.

--Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bold Gold ($5.94 at Target): I love Color Tattoos. I have them in Barely Branded, Bad to the Bronze, Inked in Pink and my current love... Bold Gold. This one goes well as a primer for me, under shadows like Urban Decay's Half Baked. It just brightens up my eyes really well and it's not too glittery.

--Milani Coming Up Roses Blush in Romantic Rose (about $8 at CVS): This Coming Up Roses line is limited edition, so I don't know if they're still in stores, but I was able to snag all four shades at the end of July. The packaging is just stunning. Surprisingly, my favorite one ended up being the one I almost didn't get because I thought it looked too dark for me. It's very pigmented and matte. I couldn't find a good website to link to, so it must be hard to find these at this point.

--Milani Baked Blush in Dolce Pink ($7.99): This is a Milani blush that's NOT limited edition, so I highly recommend these! I have them in four shades: Luminoso, Rose D'oro, Corallina and Dolce Pink. They're all amazing, but I've been loving Dolce Pink lately. It's such a pretty, girly pink. These are very shimmery, so a little goes a long way. They double up as a highlight that way, so I avoid additional highlighting products when wearing this blush.

--Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Caramel ($21): Wow wow wow. Love this! After hearing Holly Ann-AeRee talk about this in her YouTube videos, I decided to try it out. I've been having love/hate relationships with brow products lately, so I needed something new. I'm so glad I got this and went with the Caramel shade, which is what Holly uses. I realized that I've been using brow products that are too dark for me. Since my hair is naturally black/very dark brown, I figured I'd go with similar colored brow products, but now I know to go with lighter shades like Caramel and it makes a huge difference. Plus, the Brow Wiz pencil is so easy to use. It looks so much more natural than powder, in my opinion. I never would've thought!

So that's the end of my August Favorites. More posts soon!

For more beauty and lifestyle posts, please subscribe or "follow by email" on the top right hand corner of the page. I'm also on Instagram @erisaxo.

Back to Day 1: Shampoo, conditioner for ombre hair

After initially starting a blog with the same title in 2008, I decided to give it another go 5 years later.

The reasons for discontinuing the original blog was graduating from college and getting my first real job, which sent me to another state.

But lately I've just wanted a new place to jot down my thoughts that aren't necessarily associated with my work... and won't clog my friends' newsfeeds on Facebook.

So I'll try to update this regularly with whatever I'm loving "right now" hence the title.

To start off (again), I want to talk about my "holy grail" shampoo and conditioner, especially now that I have ombre hair. I know the ombre rage started years ago, but I finally tried it out (after months of considering it).

One of my biggest concerns was how my typically healthy hair would turn out after bleaching. "What if it starts falling out after finally growing out?" But once I found my new shampoo/conditioner obsession, I knew I'd be in the clear. More on that shortly.

I finally ombre'd myself

So for my birthday in early April, I went to my usual salon and asked for a very natural-looking ombre.

When I say natural, I mean just a few shades lighter than my dark Asian black hair, just on the bottom half... sort of a caramel tone. Like I've been out in the sun a lot (which I don't do anymore). The image to the right is the end result (though not in natural sunlight so not as obvious). And I'm loving it!

I'm writing about it right now because I'm falling more and more in love with the look (and the products I'm using) each day. That's how it should be, right? The color really brightens up my look for spring/summer, and I personally wanted a change without going too far.

My favorite celebrity who consistently rocks this look is Victoria's Secret Angel Lily Aldridge. So stunning. Hers is more blonde and obvious than mine, but she was my inspiration for this look.

Which hair products I'm loving right now

Now this is where my favorite shampoo/conditioner duo comes into play. I've been a huge fan of Bed Head Urban Antidotes Level 1 shampoo/conditioner (green bottles) for a few years now thanks to my hairstylist. It's the perfect amount of oomph my hair needs without weighing it down.

I stopped using it for a bit, thinking I can save money by using something cheaper at the drugstore but then realized how much better my hair feels when I use the Level 1 Urban Antidotes products.

THEN... I discovered the Level 2 (blue bottles) which give colored hair more love. Holy Grail! My hair feels the softest, healthiest when I use these bottles. Guaranteed. Now I break up the routine maybe once every 5 to 7 days by using the green bottles but then go back to using the blue ones. And they both smell DIVINE.

There's a 3rd level (red bottles) that are for the extremely damaged hair, for anyone who would need that extra help.

For a great deal, I purchased them at Nordstrom Rack. The 25.36 oz bottles are typically around $25 each (pricey!), but at Nordstrom Rack, I got them as a package deal Shampoo + Conditioner for $25! Amazing deal!

I can't recommend these bottles enough. I don't do much else with my hair - blow, curl and go.

More to come this week!

For more beauty and lifestyle posts, please subscribe or "follow by email" on the top right hand corner of the page. I'm also on Instagram @erisaxo.