Best curling iron ever?!

As I've mentioned before, I have straight hair. What those of you with straight hair know is how difficult it can be to try and hold a curl for any amount of time. Sometimes you can't even get your to curl period. Enter the Conair Curl Secret. 

It's pricey. I bought it for about $90 at Walgreens. But how many various curling irons have you purchased over the years? I promise you'll hold onto this one. Well worth the money. I have hair about the same length as the model in the picture. It only took me about 20 minutes from start to finish to curl my whole head. I did it before dinner this weekend, didn't hairspray, slept on my hair, and woke up the next morning to find I still had nice curls. I don't even know how this happened, but I'm not going to question it. 

You just grab a section of hair, the machine pulls it up, curls it and beeps multiple times when it's finished. You can change the settings based on what type of curl you're looking for. I had it on the longest time and tightest curl as my hair pretty much refuses to curl. Next time I may back off a little (which would also save a little time). I forgot to take a pic, but I promise to get one up the next time I do this. 

It's pretty foolproof since you don't have to worry about wrapping hair around an iron perfectly, burning your hands, etc. I love this for those special occasions. 

Teeth Whitening

Yes you can whiten your teeth without a ridiculous amount of sensitivity and pain. And very little time commitment. I stumbled upon this product at the recommendation of a friend. She raved about this! I went to buy it at work, but hesitated because it only cost about $7. Could something this affordable really work? If so why would the Crest Whitestrips costs $50 or more? But I figured, what a great way to try something out. If it doesn't work, I'm only out $7. 

I've actually tried a few different methods of teeth whitening. Before my wedding I used the Rembrandt 2 hour system. Didn't really work at all and caused a SERIOUS amount of sensitivity. After that my dentist made custom molds of my mouth and gave her the whitening gels they use to put in them. I now get free whitening as long as I'm a regular patient there. I love the molds, but I do not love the gel, because again, SERIOUS sensitivity. I bought a ZOOM whitening kit off of a Groupon. It didn't cause much pain, but also didn't really whiten all that much either. And who can sit there with molds and a light in your mouth for 30+ minutes? Are you kidding me? After that I gave the Crest Whitestrips a go. Loved them, they work really well. The downside? Cost, obviously. Why would I do this if I were getting free whitening from my dentist? Well I thought it wouldn't be as painful. Boy was I wrong. So I plunked down my hard earned $7 for this and never looked back.

 The tube is big, seriously it's almost as big as a tooth paste tube, much different than those dinky syringes of whitening I've been getting from the dentist. You can either apply it right to your teeth, buy the kit that has molds you can use. Or if you're like me and invested a fortune into a white smile, use the molds you already have. So I just paint this right into the molds I have, put them on my teeth for 5-10 minutes a day and away I go. I actually do this as I'm climbing into the shower. It's a perfect amount of time. I do it every day for a week or two, until I feel like I love the color, then back off until I need to do it again. I've been using it almost two weeks straight right now and haven't had a single day where my teeth have been sensitive. You also have the option to wear it longer if you have serious stains, according to the directions. It really works though! My teeth get noticeably whiter. I feel comfortable wearing red lipsticks again. :)

The best hair straightener

I know I mentioned in the last post that I don't usually straighten my hair anymore because the shampoo and conditioner I use are amazing. Before I came across my holy grail hair care products, I was straightening my hair every day just to keep it under control. When my cheapie straightener met the end of its natural life, I searched Amazon high and low for the best straightener I could buy. Boy did I find it, I just wish I used it more now. 

This little beauty is the Onei MK-I halo straightener, and right now it's about $50 cheaper than I bought it for on Amazon. It retails at $199, I got it for about $130, but right now amazon has it for $79. At that price, buy two. Seriously, it heats up in about 30 seconds, and it holds the heat. Nothing is more annoying than passing down one area of hair and seeing that the straightener has to heat up AGAIN before it's back up to the temp you want it at.  It leaves your hair feeling like silk, you can curl the ends under without having those awkward dents. The list just goes on. You also only need to pass through your hair once, and at a lower heat than you would use for a lower quality straightener, so your hair is less damaged by it. It works so well that I can pass it through my hair in about 2-3 minutes. The reviews on Amazon for our curly-haired friends are also amazing. They say it saves them significant time on straightening (one even lists she can do her whole head in less than 20 minutes and it used to take her over an hour). 

Now I've never used a Chi, but I would venture to say this is better based off of the reviews I've read of both. I've never really cared much about the quality of a straightener as my hair is fairly straight to begin with. After using this I can see why people care. I was running errands in the rain one day and my hair still looked salon-perfect. Believe me, that NEVER happens. Give it a shot. I promise you'll be back to thank me.

The Obession has grown

Hey guys! I had been writing a running blog but recently found I've been reading more of the beauty blogs I follow. I've been addicted to all things beauty related! Hair, makeup, nails, shopping, etc. It's gotten out of control! I thought I would keep you guys up to date on all the things I love (and those that I've hated too-to spare you the money!). I shop constantly for beauty products since I work in a drugstore. I also buy high end beauty products, and sample them through my ipsy subscription. (Ipsy is totally addictive, if you haven't already subscribed, I suggest you add yourself to their wait list right now!!)

So here's a run down of some of my favorite products of the moment:

I recently bought this Sensationail Starter Kit on sale at Walgreens for $39.99, plus the girls in cosmetics had $5 off coupons. They were also able to use those coupons on the bottles of nail color too. Right now I have Rose Gold Glitter on my nails and it's been a solid five days with not a single chip. This is major to me because I bite my nails and pick at my cuticles constantly, so my nails always chip. I wasn't able to "cap off" the ends like the kit suggests, because my nails were so short. Amazingly without capping them, my nails still haven't chipped once. I'll keep you updated to how long this lasts. Rose Gold Glitter is an awesome color that goes with everything though!

Mind you, this would look much better if my nails weren't completely picked at before I put this on. But take my word for it, this kit is amazing. It comes with a UV light and the second you're done, your nails are completely dry. No waiting time. No smudges. It's awesome.

This BB cream is my foundation Holy Grail. I've tried everything from Bare Minerals to every liquid foundation under the sun. I have strange combination skin and I'm very fair. My T Zone is constantly oily, but my skin looks cakey and sallow if I wear too much powder. Enter in BB cream for combination skin. It's like they made this specifically for me. I buy the Light/Medium shade and matches my skin beautifully. I put it on with just my hands and it blends in flawlessly. I can't say enough about this. It lasts all day, I know this because when I use makeup wipes at the end of the day, there's still a ton of color that comes off on them. I've tried pretty much every other drugstore BB cream and none of them provide the same amount of coverage as this one. This makes my skin look flawless without looking like I'm wearing a ton of makeup.

I've recently been addicted to this Inked in Pink cream eye shadow by Maybelline. I'm a fair skinned blonde, so I tend not to ever wear anything pink, as it makes my skin look red. This shade is amazing, though. It looks soft and goes on with a nice wash of color, not too pigmented, not too sheer. You can build it up with a couple of layers to the perfect color for you, though. It literally lasts all day, with no primer needed. You can also just apply with your finger, which I love. I wear this pretty much every single day to work. It's perfect for day time, but I also apply some thick eyeliner and make it pop for night time too. I'm obsessed with this line of eyeshadow, but specifically with this color.

This is hands down the best shampoo and conditioner I've ever used. I have long, straight blonde hair. It's very fine, but there's a ton of it. It never has volume and rarely has shine (something difficult to obtain with blonde hair). This line makes my hair feel silky soft, doesn't weigh hair down, and you don't have to use a ton of it to make the conditioner feel effective. It also smells like heaven. Well, I'm not entirely sure what Heaven smells like, but I hope it's like this. My coworker actually started using this just because she was constantly smelling my hair. Seriously. It's also insanely affordable, usually about $4 each around here. You definitely cannot beat that. I've tried Wen products, hair one by Sally beauty and many normal shampoos and conditioners. I've never been hooked on one line like I am with this one. I literally buy three or four each of shampoo and conditioner whenever these go on sale or if I have a coupon. I cannot get enough of this, and you never get used to how good it smells. It also makes my styling a cinch. If I use this, I just blow dry my hair and it comes out shiny and perfectly straight but with tons of movement. This line has cut out every other product I use (except dry shampoo sometimes). I no longer use an oil for the ends, a volumizing mousse or a flat iron spray (since I never need to flat iron anymore). This stuff is liquid gold to me.

So that's what I'm hooked on right now. What are you favorite products right now? What mascara do you guys love?