Review: Clairol Colour Booster Conditioner - Cool Blonde

Brand: Clairol

Product: Colour Booster

What is it? An in-shower conditioner to prevent brassy tones in blonde hair

Clairol's Colour Booster ^TM is a conditioner for cool blonde coloured hair to help keep it glossy and brassy-free. I wanted to try this as part of my seemingly never ending search for the perfect conditioner. In fact, I was hoping that it might be a replacement for my much loved and coveted, but now no longer available, Clairol Nice 'N Easy CC Plus Color Seal Conditioner, Brilliant Blondes.(image below)  Why they stopped making this, I don't know, but it was cheap and AMAZING.

So I had high expectations going into this.

Although Colour Booster seems primarily concerned with preventing brassiness, I really bought this hoping it would make my hair soft and glossy like the the Color Seal Conditioner. I only needed that once a week and my hair was happy, so happy - hard water, soft water, you name it.

Unlike the Color Seal Conditioner which was white, this is a dark purple colour as you'd probably not be surprised. 

The directions: Apply to clean, damp hair and distribute evenly. Leave for 3-5 minutes. Rinse thoroughly. Use after every wash, also for daily use.


The results?

It's worth noting my hair type and water situation. My hair is very fine and thin, but I have lots of it. I'm also currently in hard water land. (I tried hooking up a softener to my shower head, but it's not really made much difference). In soft water, I don't have any issues with shampoo and conditioners, but in hard water, I have so many hair woes. Many shampoos and conditioners are too heavy and leave my hair feeling greasy, and my hair isn't as shiny as it is in soft water.


Well, I don't know. Maybe my hair isn't brassy, or at least isn't any more brassy. So I can give Clairol that much. As for glossy and soft? Well, it's another dud for me. I wouldn't say it's a bad conditioner, but it just didn't deliver the soft silkiness I was hoping for. In fact, it didn't really make my hair nicer, or much worse. I'd have to say, personally, I won't be buying this again, but it's not a bad product. Just nothing in it for me.

Please Clairol, bring back the Nice 'N Easy CC Plus Color Seal Conditioner! Ah, that stuff was amazing.

Alice in Wonderland x Sala

When I saw this, I had to share it! My favourite Japanese brand of shampoo and conditioner has released special Disney Alice in Wonderland bottles. Aside from being incredibly cute - each bottle has a drawing from the Disney animated film on it, I love these products.

Okay, I have to admit, I've not tried all the products and the last time I was in Japan, I believe there were 3 products in pink, blue, and yellow. But hey. Anyways, there are 3 different types and all of them I suspect will be lovely as I've never had a bad experience with this shampoo brand. Kanebo produces the Sala range. Sala in Japanese means 'silky'.

Rose Repair featuring a sweet rose scent, it claims to repair your damaged hair and leave it shiny.

The classic (for which the namesake Sala comes from - Sara sara) Silky makes hair silky, smooth, and velvety. This one is my favourite.

And lastly, we have Deep Moisure which moisturizes hair as well as gives it a smooth finish.

Silky (Sara sara) is my favourite but I've also used Deep Moisture (Deepu moisuchaa) and they both were so lovely. My hair was definitely silky and light, and smooth. Ah, if only this stuff was easy to get outside of Japan. Ahem, easy and cheaper! You can get this stuff on ebay and some beauty websites, but it's ridiculously expensive. Oh well. Do you have any shampoos that you just can't find anymore?

Desperately Seeking Shampoo... and Conditioner... and Styling Products

Looking for the right shampoo and conditioner?

These websites offer interactive quizzes to help you determine the right product or products for you.

Also, they're kind of fun!

John Frieda: http://www.johnfrieda.com/en-US/Product-Advisor/

TRESemmé: http://www.tresemme.co.uk/Hair-Profiler/Question/

Dove: http://www.dove.pk/Interactive/HairProfiler/

Redken: http://www.redken.com/your-hair-profile/
Redken has 4 different experts you can have your hair profiled with!

Herbal Essences: http://www.herbalessences.com/en-US/hair-care-products


It's like a quiz for your hair :)

And if, after all that, you're still like me and can't find the right one, you're not alone!

On my last trip to the salon, I told the stylist how my hair kept feeling greasy and weighed down. I never used to have that problem, and I don't really use any product (I know I should use a heat protectant before blowdrying and/or straightening, but I often don't! Oh, I'm so guilty), so was really disappointed when lately my hair hasn't felt light and shiny as it used to. She told me that actually, a lot of the high street brands (or brands in drug stores and supermarkets) - i.e. not salon professional - have too many chemicals in them to try and make your hair look shiny. If you have really thin, fine hair, like I do, then you're much better off with a professional brand that doesn't add anything in.

So, at her recommendation, I have been using Matrix Biolage for colour treated hair and so far with really positive results. Although, it's still early days and it's hard paying twice the price for shampoo and conditioner, but my hair was really positively awful with my other shampoos :/

How about you? Have you found your hair's soulmate?

TRESemmé Split Remedy Shampoo and Conditioner

I've used a few of TRESemmé's haircare products over the years, so when they realeased a new line called Split Remedy, I thought it was worth checking out.

Split Remedy (US site/UK site) claims to reduce the number of split ends and fix 80% of split ends after 3 uses!

For someone with long locks, that's a serious claim.


So I've given these babies a spin and see if they deliever on their claims:

Less split ends - Yes, a definite reduction in split ends
just cut look - definitely not for me! My hair does not feel smooth or silky, but kind of easily knotted...
frizz-proof - uhm, my hair is pretty frizzy, and I'm not prone to frizzy hair at all

So I found that while it did improve the number of split ends I can see, my hair has been left feeling heavy and greasy. Ya know that feeling you get when you've either over-conditioned or forgot to rinse all the conditioner out? Yep, that one.

It might react differently to different hair. I have thin and fine hair that's usually pretty healthy and shiny. I do colour my hair, but at a salon about 3-4 times a year. My hair is also long, so yes, prone to split ends, but honestly, it's never really bothered me and I haven't had a problem with frizz before. It's usually shiny and sleek with no products other than just a good shampoo and conditioner.

Since my faith in TRESemmé is so high, I did think maybe I was doing something wrong. I've been trying everything with this shampoo and conditioner - including shampoo only, less conditioner, more conditioner, but all coming up with a similiar result.

This is the first time I can honestly say that I'm not sure I want even finish out the bottle on these. What a disappointment.

My hair and Split Remedy just don't seem to have a happy ending.

Syoss Treatment Mask for well-conditioned hair

So I got a sample of Syoss Treatment Mask with one of latest orders from Japan and as I've always been fairly impressed with the few hair care products I've used and tried in Japan, I thought it would be a treat.

It was.

Very lovely repair treatment. My hair felt so loved after using this. It feels shiny and soft and I'm happy. Very pleased.The next day, I loved this even more. *Must have*

Now the tricky part. Okay, so I like it, and we don't have Japanese supermarkets around here (ok, we do in London, but they don't carry cosmetics and hair products like in the US, yeah I'm looking at you, California with my green eyes!)  So the question remains, is it amazing enough to warrant paying to have it shipped from Japan? That almost always equals a big expense, so it has to be worth it.

I did a bit of hunting on the net. I'm detective, just like Kindaichi or MatsuJun in his latest drama, Lucky Seven, which I highly recommend by the way! 

Coincidentally, MatsuJun played young Kindaichi in the 3rd season of Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo.

 Yeah, but anyways, Syoss seems to be a brand name in Germany, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia here in Europe. Score! Maybe I won't have to order from Japan, if I can get something from my friendly German/Dutch/Scandinavian neighbours instead, that would be wonderful!

Syoss products on German website

While trying to find a way to get Syoss into the UK, I found quite a few sites claiming that Syoss and TRESemmé are the same brand! TRESemmé!?! Really?  Okay, that is easily available in the UK (and the US from what I recall). And yeah, okay I haven't tried it in years. Shall I get treatment mask from TRESemmé in the UK and see if it matches up?

I think I will. Will let you know the results!


Back to TV drama... 

Altho, I love MatsuJun, I have to say I remember the first two seasons of Kindaichi with Domoto Tsuyoshi back in the mid 90s with fondness. I was still a kid, but I remember these series being so good and scary! Ah, I think I have this on VCD even! Remember VCD? Now I feel like digging them out and rewatching.

Were/Are you a Kindaichi fan (any of the TV shows, anime or manga... even original novels)?

Bath & Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner Review

I've already told you about how much I love Bath & Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar Body Lotion so when I browsing online at Bath & Body Works and saw they had some Shampoo and Conditioners in the Warm Vanilla Sugar scent, I was so tempted. They have two different types: moisturizing and volumizing. Since I'm visiting the US and feeling the dryness of winter, I decided I would go with moisturizing. It also didn't hurt that they were on sale for $4 each and I was already ordering some Wild Honeysuckle Body Lotion ^.^ 

Reviews on the Bath & Body Works website were a bit split. Some people seemed to love it, and others seemed to feel it wasn't worth it. So what do these promise? 

To restore moisture and shine to dry, damaged or color-treated hair... to reveal hair that looks and feels soft, silky and healthy. 

..Smooths and protects dry, damaged or color-treated hair with shine-enhancing moisturizers that leave hair soft, manageable and strong.

Here's what I found. 

Shampoo: Bath & Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar Moisturizing Shampoo

Strong scent - love! 

Surprised by how thin the formula was. I expected it to be thicker, but a small dollop soaped up just fine in the soft water here. (Curious to see how this fairs in my super hard water at home!) 

Conditioner: Bath & Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar Moisturizing Conditioner

Again, lovely scent. Didn't seem as strong as the shampoo, but it may be that I got desensitized from the shampoo! 

Love the formula! The texture is nice and creamy, and pretty much as I expected. I didn't need to use a lot. 

Verdict: 

I've used both of these for about 4 days now in a row and I love them. Yes, I can say that in all seriousness. My hair styled beautifully after using these products. My hair smells lovely, although it's not too strong. If you don't like the scent to begin with, it might not be a good idea, but my mom says she loves it as well (on me!) My hair feels soft and silky and well conditioned and moisturized. So yes, I would say this product does deliver what it promises and I'm very happy with it! I also like that the conditioner is very light. My hair doesn't feel heavy or greasy the next day, which you can sometimes get with conditioners. 

My biggest concern now is how I am gonna get my hands on some of this stuff in the UK >_<  Please, Bath  & Body Works, we need you in the UK! 

Extra conditioning for shiny hair

There's nothing I love more than shiny, silky hair and sometimes our hair needs a bit of extra help in winter. With holiday parties non-stop, I'm sure you're all wanting to keep your locks as luxurious as possible, so I'm going to share a few of my favourite gloss and extra conditioning treatments.

Clairol ColourSeal Gloss

These little conditioning glosses by Clairol's Nice'n Easy are amazing value at 99p each, and available at Boots, Superdrug, and supermarkets across the UK. Although they claim to seal in the colour for your latest hair colouring treatment, I find they add a lovely gloss and condition to my hair regardless of when my last colour treatment was. There are 3 to choose from: radiant reds, beautiful brunettes, and brilliant blondes. I personally have used all 3, and have found as they are non-colour depositing, I'm not sure there's much harm in using the 'wrong' shade. Each 30mL tube contains 3 usages, recommended weekly. I highly recommend these if you'd like to add a bit of shine to your hair.


Schwarzkopf Professional BlondMe Shine Moisture Mask

When I had pale blonde hair, I loved to use products from Schwarzkopf Professional's BlondMe range. Shine Moisture Mask promises prism shine technology and micro nourishing ingredients and boy does it deliver! Bleach can be pretty harsh on your hair, and I found this conditioner to really make my light blonde hair shine. The only downside to this, is that it can be hard to hunt down and fairly expensive (£10-£12), but it comes in a large tube  (150mL) that will last awhile.



Fekkai Salon Glaze

This is the most expensive of my conditioners, but it's lovely when you feel like splurging on yourself! It gives the result of a professional glossing treatment at home and retails for $28.00 USD (includes S&H) or £24.00 in the UK  for 150mL of product. I love this stuff, but it is pricey, so use sparingly!

No girl should be caught with gorgeous locks! Do you use any shine treatments?