More Hair Product Wars & Sneak Peek: In2it Light Reflecting Liquid Eyeliner in Caribbean

Okay so today I went to MBK and hunted for Palty but I could only see one box of Juicy Peach left among the dodgy-looking shops. Then I looked again at the Beauteen in both Watsons outlets. I decided that if I was ever going to use Beauteen instead of Palty to darken my hair, I'd use Caramel Chocolate instead of Natural Brown because they're about the same colour and I don't want to look completely dull. What really decided me against buying Beauteen was the fact that it clearly states that it cotains Hydrogen Peroxide. Some websites claim that Palty does not, but I can't know that because all the writing on the boxes is in Japanese.

If I can be bothered, I'll go to Platinum and see if I have better luck finding Bitter Cappuccino or Ganache Tart this time.

While I was at Watsons, I also had a good look at the potential replacement shampoos and conditioners that I might buy after Asience and Elseve Royal Jelly are gone. Asience remains the only product on the shelf that contains Camellia/Tsubaki (if you don't count the old versions of Herbal Essences, which I'm sick of). Elseve is more expensive. But there was something else: Herbal Essences now has a new shampoo, conditioner and treatment trio called Long-Term Relationship -- it's a formula for long hair! I sniffed it; it's nice. It's got raspberry and satin, apparently. It's supposed to strengthen your hair against split ends. I might be interested, but next I might be more interested in protecting the colour of my hair, in which case I'd better get the Elseve for colour-treated hair. However, Asience conditioner is cheaper. Or maybe I'll throw caution to the winds and just get those huge bottles of Shiseido Golden Repair??

Nah, when I'm abroad, I won't be able to get Asience, so I may as well use it while I'm here. However, some places sell Elseve shampoo for 99 baht and you get 250ml as opposed to 138 baht for Asience's 220ml. I still want to try the Asience shampoo though! ... All right, all right, I'll try the Asience shampoo and leave the Elseve until I get overseas :D

Phew.

I also finally gave in to curiosity and bought In2it's Light Reflecting Liquid Eyeliner in Caribbean RL 03 -- a pearly deep sea blue-green that looks darker or lighter depending on the angle of the light. I've read good things about In2it eye makeup so I'm confident this will be a winner. It should be better than its cousin, the Navy eyeliner, anyway. That's so dry I'm giving up on it.

Speaking of dry, I think my MM Lash Enamel Glamour Neo is finally drying up :-( It definitely feels more congealed than it used to and I can see more clumps. It's still good, though, but it won't stay good for long if it's drying up. I'm using it past its advised shelf life anyway.

Can't wait to try this eyeliner out.

Oh today (Tuesday) I wore the Sheene Oil Free on my cleansed, toned and moisturised face. It's a pretty good match for my skin colour, not too light at all, but not too dark either.

I can't wait to dye my hair! When I tie it up I can really see the black roots on the underside and the back where I didn't put enough cream! And the difference between the red-brown roots and the lighter orangey-red of most of my hair is much more noticeable now than when I first dyed it.

I just remembered something. I have to look for the new MM Summer 2009 collection. I want to get that solid perfume if it's nice. I didn't look at the MM stand at MBK today because the BAs were in the way, waiting for victims to come along. Brrr.

If I ever really need a light nude lip gloss, I'm gonna get one of MM's beige ones.

OMFG I just remembered at Watsons today I saw Palgantong's Zebra Eyes Mascara or whatever it's called in a paper tube at the counter! Must search!

Cosmetic Rant

First of all, let's address a problem, albeit a small one, that popped up a while ago (this is long overdue): the Mistine Diamond -- the glue that holds the refill in the case seems to have melted a bit and seeped out so that it makes the plastic film that came with it sticky! How yucky and annoying. I would quite like Mistine Diamond if it didn't have this problem -- and if it didn't have that overpowering perfume!

Today (read: Saturday) I went out to Platinum, hoping to get my hands on Palty Bitter Cappuccino and get a look at the three new Palty colours, especially Maple Donut and Ganache Tart. However, Rabbo only had the bleach colours and, I think, Honey Brown. Even the upstairs one only had the bleach ones and I think Orange Biscuit. The shop next to the downstairs Rabbo had more colours. They even had Maple Donut, but that was the only new colour they had. No Ganache Tart. And no Bitter Cappuccino. And the last time I checked MBK, they only had like two boxes of Palty left -- one a bleach and the other one, I think, Caramel Brown or Juicy Peach. I guess I should have bought Bitter Cappuccino when they still had it T^T

Watsons also didn't have the new Majolica Majorca collection. I wanted the solid perfume. It's lucky they didn't release a new mascara because I still have so much to go through.

I want that Palty! I don't want to use the semi-permanent L'Oreal Creme Gloss because I don't have the equipment for it. And I'm reluctant to use Beauteen because apparently the colour isn't as even or as long-lasting as Palty.

I'm impatient, I really want to get my hands on it really soon, but I guess I'd better not buy anything I'll regret later. I'll keep my eyes open. Hopefully the colour(s) I want will turn up later, perhaps closer to the time I actually want to use them.

Oh and still no Mistine Debutant around. And I bought that Axe limited scent -- yay :D

Palty DIY Part One etc.

Another point I forgot to add about In2it Oil Control & Oil Free 2-way foundation powder. When I touch my face with it on, a bit of sheer powder comes off on my fingers. This does not happen with Fasio, which feels completely matte -- almost like I have on a rubber mask, if that doesn't sound too weird. In2it also comes off a lot when I remove excess oil, as I think Mistine Diamond does. I think the Diamond is a lighter colour when it comes off though. In2it, like some other foundation powders I've tried (I don't remember which ones), tends to look thick and old after you apply it a second time on top of the first and your face has become oily. So from now on, after applying foundation powders, it's powders only for retouching!

Today I dyed my hair with Palty all by myself! A first for me! I ended up using a bit too much of the cream on the top and front part of my hair because I thought I'd have enough -- the cashier told me so (though in retrospect she probably thought I was only going to use it for my roots). So I didn't leave enough cream for the rest of my hair although I tried to put a lot of cream on the more obscure parts. The roots at the top, then, were completely covered in cream and turned out a light shade of brown that blends in with the rest of the hair -- which has turned a more vibrant shade of the colour I already had. The more obscure bits turned slightly lighter maybe but the underside of the roots on the back of my head are especially noticeably dark.

All in all, not bad for a first-time DIYer. Now I know that I should get two boxes next time for hair of this length (just past shoulders). That way I'll be sure to have enough cream to completely saturate all of my hair, which I think is the trick to get an even colour throughout with Palty.

I know from experience, and confirmation by other people's webboard and blog posts, that the roots of your hair will change colour faster than the rest of your hair -- that's why instructions on DIY hair colours say you have to leave the roots alone first, which is exactly what hairdressers do (yet my roots always turn out lighter anyway -- maybe because they have to leave the cream in my hair for longer than they expected, as my hair is very thick -- every hairdresser remarks upon this, every one). With Palty this time, however, I knew that my priority was my roots, so I simply covered the roots at the same time as the rest of my hair. That turned out well in the case of the top/front part of my hair, and I think it would have turned out fine for the rest too if I'd had enough cream for it.

After reading the forums, I now know why the tips of my hair never turn out quite as light as the middle or near the roots of my hair. It's because my hair used to be dyed a darker colour. Perhaps with more cream I would have fixed this, but maybe we'll know next time. (I did try and put my tips into the bottle to get at the last residue of cream in there, however.)

Next time I might try mixing the colours in a bowl instead of in a bottle so that the cream is easier to reach. A brush would also be easier to use than a squeeze tube and comb applicator.

I'm impressed with the results of my first ever completely DIY hair colour (I've had mostly salon dyed hair and before that I got Mum or someone else to do my hair) but apart from the fact that it covered up most of my noticeable roots and intensified my existing colour -- and I was right about my choice of colour while the cashier was wrong -- I find myself kind of wishing I'd got a different colour. I mean, the red is awesome and brings out the playfulness in me, but I think it's almost time for a change.

Damn. I just found some English instructions online and it says you have to use conditioner too before rinsing and then using the included leave-on treatment.

Anyway for graduation I'll have to dye it a dark colour. I'm kind of interested in trying more Palty in Bitter Cappuccino, but I'm not sure what kind of results I'll get with my red hair. I'll have to check the swatches next time I'm near a shop that sells Palty.

The swatches on the Beauteen website don't appeal to me, and besides, Palty's supposed to be more accurate with their swatches and the actual colour you get. (Beauteen's instructions also says you should shampoo twice, but I thought shampooing just once produced enough foam -- or maybe that's just because of the colour cream?)

When I first washed Palty from my hair, my hair felt dry, just like it felt last night when I washed my hair with the remains of my Sunsilk damage care shampoo without conditioning. (When I woke up, however, my hair felt soft as if I'd conditioned with Asience. Weird.) But as soon as I put shampoo in it, it immediately felt super soft!

So maybe now I haven't washed all the chemicals out of my hair because I only shampooed once.

The colour will change once I shampoo more, inevitably. Some have said that the colour gets even brighter, golder. Interesting.

I think my hair now feels a tiny bit stiffer than it did before dying with Palty, but that could just be because of the chemical residue.

I might wash it soon, when I do the washing. Doing my washing is always a good time to condition my hair. It's also an excuse to use up the Sunsilk as I'm eager to try out the new L'Oreal Elseve with Royal Jelly. It's supposed to be a new deep conditioning formula. I really had a hard time finally buying this as the other formulas were tempting as well. A veteran hair coloring lady on Jeban recommended using shampoo for dyed hair, like the red Elseve. If Royal Jelly doesn't do it for me I might switch to the red. But I'm pretty happy with the Asience conditioner. So indecisive ...

I'm really looking forward to a nice deep dark chocolate hair colour so I hope the Palty does it for me!

Anyway, about makeup ...

Today I wore Lash Enamel Glamour Neo. Still slightly clumpy. I'm pretty sure it's partly its brush (forgive the pun) with Fasio and partly its shelf life. The second brushing helped things. Still, I think the whole problem could be avoided with the help of Lash Bone.

Speaking of which, my renewed red hair colour gives me an excuse to use the golden brown Lash Gorgeous Wing more! *cringes at the thought of fibres in my eye*

Oh -- about the Revlon lip gloss I mentioned earlier -- I read some reviews and found that it doesn't have that see-through look of normal lip glosses. So I felt a bit discouraged. I want a gloss that is see-through but not too shiny or too glittery.

Today I tried a Maybelline lipstick tester -- one of their Water Shine lipsticks, I think. The cream texture collected in the lines of my lips. I'm really craving that Bloom lip collagen!

Today I also tried putting the coral orange Body Shop gloss on with the Liplife gloss on top. This time, the Liplife glided on much more easily! And the two colours blended gave a lovely pale peach colour, almost nude, very nice on me with my current curiosity about peach tones!

New Year, New Hair ... and other guilty pleasures...

Yesterday I went to MBK. My intention was to get some toothpaste cos I'm seriously running out. But I also kind of wanted to do something with my hair -- a colour and maybe a trim too.

First I had lunch at Sizzler, ordering the new spicy chicken steak. It turned out to be quite salty. I couldn't eat very much and actually left my plates and bowl not as clean as usual.

Then I went to the Watson's on the sixth floor to get my toothpaste ... and what should I find but discounted ZA products! The oil-control foundation powder refills were only about 267 baht, down from their usual 300-something. Without thinking of how much powder I already have, I decided to buy it, telling myself that when my Fasio powder runs out, I'll put the new ZA into the Majolica Majorca case in its place.

I got the ZA powder in number 22 because 20 is their whitest and neither of the two Watsons at MBK had number 21 which I think would have matched me perfectly! Afterwards I tried the ZA powder on top of what I was wearing that day (if I remember correctly: Mistine BB cream, Maybelline mineral powder foundation, and a re-do with Etude Dream On) so I couldn't really tell if the colour was all right or not.

Anyway, while at Watson's I got the Fasio eyebrow mascara. They had two colours, brown and light brown, and I got the brown because I was afraid light brown would be too light. That was before I had my hair dyed, however. But the brown doesn't do a bad job: it lightens my brows just enough to not look really black compared to my hair. And it's easy to wash off with my Ziiit Milk makeup cleanser.

Now, after getting the cosmetics (and the toothpaste of course) I went to the Neo hair stylist at Bonanza across the road. But I didn't stay. There were at least two people waiting in the queue and I think I needed to have a coupon to get the cheap prices they advertised. So I had to go back to my staple, Big Cut, at MBK.

This time, Big Cut did a great job with my colour. I'm very happy with it. It's sort of copper. And I got a slight trim and a treatment done while I was there. I did spend 1900 baht but I think it was worth it.

I don't think I'll be doing a colour like this again soon. I think I need to dye my hair a natural dark brown for graduation. After that I might stop dying it for a while. I'm not keen on enduring the stinging sensation the chemicals cause on my scalp again soon.

Today I wore Mistine Number One Platinum. It looks great with my new copper hair. However, at the end of the day, it seems to be coming off with the excess sebum. Or maybe all foundation powders are like that.

And I think soon I'm gonna have to get the L'Oreal De-Maq makeup removing cleanser -- the most expensive one -- it's about 200 baht.