Wella Oil Reflections Luminous Reveal Shampoo & Conditioner Review

Sometimes Topbox is such a tease with the product it sends out. A couple months ago it sent me two good size samples of a shampoo and conditioner from Wella's Oil Reflections Luminous Reveal line. Within one use I was in love.

Wella states that the "light moisturizing shampoo leaves the hair deeply cleansed" with "instant luminosity" while the "30-second smoothening conditioner locks moisture in, leaving the hair luminous and smooth." Both products contain camellia oil and white tea extract, which Wella says helps to leave you with noticeably smoother hair.

Avon Advance Techniques 360 Nourish Moroccan Argan Oil Shampoo & Conditioner Review

I've had some good luck with Avon products in the past so when I was given a bottle of Avon Advance Techniques 360 Nourish Moroccan Argan Oil Shampoo and a bottle of the line's conditioner, I had high hopes.

According to Avon, these products use "argan oil, provitamin B5 and vitamin E" to "instantly improve hair’s health and shine." Each one also supposedly, "fights frizz; instantly detangles hair" and "Cleanses and conditions hair." And as a nice bonus, these products are also supposed to have a "creamy, luxurious lather."

They do lather up nicely, I'll give them that. And they washed out easily, leaving me with light, clean hair that was pretty tangle-free. However, the shine that I wanted just wasn't there. And this duo had pretty much no impact on my frizz and flyaways.

Nexxus City Shield Shampoo, Conditioner & Damage Defense Hair Crème Review

Back in June, I attended a Today's Parent-sponsored event at the Joe Fresh on Queen W. that gave me a 25% discount on my purchases, free wine and a swag bag. This wasn't an exclusive event, anyone could go, and because of that I didn't have high hopes for the swag bag. So I was quite surprised to discover that the bag contained, among other goodies, full-sized bottles of Nexxus' City Shield shampoo, conditioner and a leave-in product called Damage Defense Hair Crème.

Even better was discovering that this line is basically designed for me. According to Nexxus, this line "offers a reinvigorating veil of protection against the environment, controlling frizz, making your hair manageable and giving it a natural-looking healthy shine," with the Damage Defense Hair Crème having a "... Salon crafted formula (that) smoothes and defends fine to medium hair " As a city-dweller with frizz-prone fine hair, this line sounded perfect to me.

Pantene Daily Moisture Renewal Shampoo & 3 Minute Miracle Moisture Renewal Deep Conditioner Review

Here's one benefit print magazines can deliver that digital just can't touch: Physical samples. Over late May and early June, I ended up with three different magazines that all contained samples of Pantene's Daily Moisture Renewal shampoo and . It was enough product to get me through a couple weeks' worth of hair washing and gave me the chance to really test out these two products.

According to Pantene, the shampoo creates a "nutrient-rich lather" that "visibly replenishes dry and lifeless hair." It "nourishes and moisturizes for effortless detangling" while also making hair "silky softness from root to tip." Meanwhile the conditioner uses its "Powerful conditioning formula" to "deliver healthy hydration to transform every strand into pure silk."

Cake The 'Do Gooder Volumizing Dry Shampoo Spray Review

My go-to dry shampoo is Cake's Satin Sugar Hair & Body Refreshing Powder because it's easy to use, it smells absolutely fantastic and it works to absorb oil and liven up my hair. So when a container of Cake's The 'Do Gooder Volumizing Dry Shampoo Spray arrived in my Topbox a few months ago, I was thrilled. Could this product be even better than the powder? And since it's a spray, could it be even more convenient to use?

According to Cake, this is, "The best dry shampoo for dark hair to platinum blonde locks" because it cleans your roots with "no white residue." Using its "bestselling lightweight formula" it "add(s) volume to fine hair and lift flat hair" with "no sticky hairspray feel."

John Frieda Frizz Ease Miraculous Recovery Deep Conditioner Review

I received my full-size jar of John Frieda's Frizz Ease Miraculous Recovery Deep Conditioner as a freebie from... Shoppers Drug Mart maybe? I can't remember; it showed up at my house a couple months ago but I only cracked it open just before Easter.

John Frieda describes this product "...is an intense weekly treatment..." that will "visibly repair and fortify dry, heat-damaged, frizzy hair and help protect against breakage." Using "our Amino Repair Complex" it "...leaves hair moisturised, silky, and shiny."

My Marca College Hair Cut Experience

Yeah, those layers didn't turn out

I've been lucky when it comes to hair cuts. I've never had a truly bad cut and the ones I have had that I didn't love were the result of me either requesting something that turned out not to be flattering on me or because I didn't speak up and say, "Hey, let's not do that." Unfortunately that streak ended on Saturday.

Husband and I had to run some errands Saturday morning at Dufferin Mall and while we were there I figured that I'd get a long overdue hair cut. I decided to try my luck at Marca College, a hair and esthetics school located right there in the mall.

I know, I know, what I did sounds crazy but I've had my hair cut before by students at the Aveda Institute and I've always been happy with the results. Yeah, it took twice as long as a regular hair cut but it also cost way less. Marca turned out to be even cheaper: A woman's cut was a mere $12 plus tax.

Dove Quench Absolute Supreme Crème Serum Review

Dove's Quench Absolute Supreme Crème Serum is part of that beauty brand's latest three-step system to hydrate and tame wavy and curly hair. On Tuesday, I reviewed the first two parts of the systems, the shampoo and the conditioner, and today it's time to look at the third and final part: The leave-in "crème serum."

As I mentioned on Tuesday, I don't have curly or particularly wavy hair, so I can't comment on whether or not this product, "helps give natural curls 4X more definition" or if it, "leaves curls touchably soft and amazingly strong against breakage." But I can comment on whether or not this "...nourishing ‘on-the-go’ leave-in treatment with a creamy formula.." left my hair soft, shiny, manageable and frizz-free.

In addition to using this product with the Quench Absolute shampoo and conditioner, I also used it with a couple of non-Dove products. I found that regardless of what shampoo and conditioner I paired it with, the results were always the same. My hair was manageable, soft and shiny, though not as shiny as it's been in the past.

Harvey Prince Organics Keravegan Hair Masque Review

My hair is normally fairly shiny and manageable (though it does suffer from split-ends) and I like to that those qualities are purely genetic. But then I use a product like Harvey Prince Organics Keravegan Hair Masque and I'm reminded that actually, the right products play a big role in giving me great hair.

Unfortunately, this mask is not one of those products. According to Harvey Prince, this "...hair smoothing therapy" "...moisturizes and softens your hair, bringing out its natural brilliance from root to tip." It's made with "...the best organic argan, coconut and sweet almond oils" and "blended with Shea Butter, Papaya, Lemon and Mandarin extracts" and is sulfate and paraben free.

Orofluido Beauty Elixir Review

My favourite part of being a Topbox subscriber is being introduced to brand new products like today's subject: Orofluido Beauty Elixir.

Made with a blend of argan, cyperus and linseed oils, the elixir is basically a leave-in hair serum that can be used on wet or dry strands. On wet hair, this product supposedly speeds up drying time, enhances shine, adds in body and movement and "leaves hair light, silky and easy to comb." Then on dry hair it supposedly provides shine

 while making "combing easier
" and "leaves hair soft, disciplined and flexible."

I don't know what "disciplined" hair is so I can't comment on that. But I can say that this elixir left my hair, whether it was wet or dry, soft, light and manageable. I do wish that it fought frizzies a bit better but hey, it doesn't make any claims about that. Instead, the claims are all about shine and there this serum delivers. My hair was packed with shine and looked (and felt) very silky.

Boo Bamboo Strengthening Shampoo and Strengthen & Shine Conditioner Review

My sample tubes of Boo Bamboo Strengthening Shampoo and Boo Bamboo Strengthen and Shine Conditioner only provided me with enough product for three hair washing sessions so if these items need four (or more) uses to work their magic, well, I guess I'll never experience that outcome. Instead, what I did experience were decent though not spectacular results.

According to Boo Bamboo, both of these products contain bamboo extract and "organic proteins" to fight "....dry brittle hair..." The shampoo also contains silica "...to help strengthen your hair and create brilliant shine." While suitable for all hair types, it's supposedly an extra-good match for dyed hair as, "it gently cleanses without stripping away your colour, leaving you with incredibly soft healthier looking hair."

Novex Brazilian Keratin Deep Conditioning Hair Mask Review

August has not been a good hair month for me. My highlights need retouching, the heat and humidity have been sapping the moisturize from my strands and my post-baby-hair-loss regrowth means an explosion of flyaways. In other words, I definitely have the "...dull, dry and frizzy hair" that Novex's Brazilian Keratin Deep Conditioning Hair Mask is designed for.

Novex is a "...leading brand of value in Brazil..." and according to it, this product is, "....an enhanced treatment to restore smoothness and deep repair all types of hair." Using vitamin E and Brazilian Keratin Protein, this mask was to leave my hair "...with an intense shine and compliments from everyone around."

North American Hemp Co. Soak It Up Shampoo & Conditioner Review

My July Topbox arrived a couple of weeks ago packed with makeup items and one small tube of shampoo and a matching tube of conditioner. I'd never heard of North American Hemp Co. until then but I was curious to give it a shot.

As the company name suggests, hemp is the star ingredient in these two products, specifically certified organic hemp seed oil. But unlike any other hemp product I've used before, these ones smell lovely. Both the shampoo and the conditioner had a light, almost sweet vanilla fragrance to them, making the scent my favourite aspect of these items.

Orofluido Beauty Elixir For Hair Review

I had high hopes for this hair oil. For one thing, every hair oil I've tried lately has been at least semi-successful, leaving me with shiny, soft hair that was never gross or greasy. I figured that this product would, at minimum, be similar but with the added benefit of a great scent. I will give this product that, it's vanilla scent is excellent, noticeable but not too strong or too sweet.

Made with argan, cyperus and linseed oils, and designed to work on both wet and dry hair, this oil sounded like it had it all. Then I tried it.

Hask Monoi Coconut Oil Nourishing Deep Conditioner Review

I love sunny, beach-y destinations so a product that claims to "give your hair a tropical vacation" sounds perfect to me. I'm also a sucker for anything to do with French Polynesia so I was intrigued by the fact that this "ultra-restorative treatment" contains Monoi oil, a Tahitian ingredient that "is known for its re-hydrating and softening qualities."

Hask states that this product will leave, "your hair nourished, moisturized and revived." Suitable for all hair types, it is "formulated to bring life back into your luscious-looking locks." This item is essentially a hair mask that you apply after washing your hair, in lieu of your usual conditioner. Hask instructs users to use this hair mask one-two times a week, leaving it on for at least 10 minutes.

Dove Regenerative Nourishment Shampoo, Conditioner & Serum-in-Oil

Dove's new Regenerative Nourishment line arrived on my doorsteps courtesy of Influenster, a program that sends out, at no charge, new products to people who supposedly have some degree of online influence. In exchange for these free items, I need to try them and then post my honest opinions on each item's product page. So because of that, this review is formatted a little different than my regular posts.

Regenerative Nourishment Shampoo
Using the power of Red Algae and something called Keratin NutriComplex, Dove claims that this shampoo, "repairs the internal structure of damaged hair, helping it resist breakage and leaving it smooth and manageable." This shampoo also supposedly leaves hair strong with a "healthy look and feel."

My First Glam Sense Box

Last month beauty subscription service Topbox launched its Glam Sense program, which sends selected subscribers a free box of goodies to try out and review. I was lucky enough to be included as a reviewer and today my first Glam Sense box arrived.

This initial campaign is for Tresemmé's new Beauty-Full Volume line, which I hadn't heard of until now (so look, the campaign is already raising awareness). My box contained three products, all designed to deliver "soft, touchable voluminous hair." But they weren't the usual shampoo/conditioner/styling products that I expected.

While this line makes some very familiar promises, its approach to delivering on those promises is quite different. Beauty-Full Volume uses a process that it calls the "Reverse Wash System." Instead of starting with your usual shampoo, the first step is something called the "pre-wash conditioner." It's then followed by a shampoo and the whole processed is finished off with a styling product that Tresemmé calls "Maximizer" (that sounds a bit intense).

It's an interesting approach and one that I'm looking forward to trying out. Glam Sense smartly sent out full-sized containers, which means I have enough product to properly test this line out. Because of that, I'm going to use this product for at least two weeks before I type up my reviews.

Colorsmash Hair Shadow

Fun hair colours are super-trendy now but they require a lot of maintenance and what looks great in a magazine doesn't always translate well in real life. So a product like Colorsmash Hair Shadow, which can be thought of as eye shadow for your hair, sounds really appealing: it's temporary, affordable and available in dozens of colours that range from a metallic silver to jet black to a lime/blue colour that's supposed to create an ombre effect.

The colour I tried out is called Je New Sais Quoi and it's a bright pink. It's not the colour I would have picked but it is what showed up in my Topbox so it's what I ended up trying out. While this was my first time trying out Colorsmash hair shadow, I have tried out a similar product before and was impressed with how easy it was to use and that its colourful but temporary results. So because of that past positive experience, I thought this product would also be great.

Curl Keeper Leave-in Conditioner

I'm not sure why I received this product in my Topbox since my profile states that I have straight hair. But since I did end up with it, I decided to give it a shot. After all, it did promise to leave my hair "...feeling clean, shiny and soft" and who doesn't want that?

Unfortunately, that's not exactly what I got. Curl Keeper claims that this conditioner, "...smoothes rough cuticles that are responsible for frizzy flyaway hair" but I didn't notice any change in my hair's frizziness. Maybe if I had actual curls, the results would have been different but when it came to my straight-hair frizz, this product had zero impact.

What I did get was hair that seemed a bit weighed and almost dirty looking. I did a few split-head tests, where half of my hair received the leave-in conditioner and the other half got a few sprays of OGX's Anti-Frizz Hydrating Oil, and the results were pretty clear: This product isn't for me.

Got2B Beach Trippin' Salt Waving Spray

Sprays that promise to deliver "beach waves" are everywhere now but until recently, I was skeptical of them. These types of products were quite trendy a few years ago and while they were available at a range of price points, they all had one thing in common: They didn't work for me.

So until a few weeks ago, I'd been ignoring the latest wave of these products. Then, while browsing one day at Rexall, I saw Got2B's Beach Trippin' Salt Waving Spray for sale for around $7. At that price, I decided to give it a try.

According to Got2B, this spray uses "natural salts" to "infuse a deliciously rough texture and piecey waves." It's also, "Formulated with moisturizing ingredients so there’s no crunch."