Scentsual Pleasure with Herbal Essences

Who remembers Herbal Essences or mostly known as Clairol? Yes yes yes that’s the one! I remember this shampoo years back even in high school! I remember its scent and wonderful effect on my hair. So when I heard that they were back, I was ecstatic!

Let's welcome back HERBAL ESSENCES (mostly known as "Clairol" for you oldtimers.. hehe) as they give a scentsual comeback to the Philippine market! :) 

Just last month, Herbal Essences made a comeback and quite in a provocative and scentsual way. They held a stimulating and exciting event at the 71 Gramercy (my first time there! Woohoo! I think that's the highest floor in a building that I've ever been to. J ) It was reserved exclusively for the event where Herbal Essences was able to launch its bold campaign to encourage the pursuit of shameless pleasure. 

Erika Paredes' shares her shameless confession that she's... a selfie addict! :) 

The event was marked with some attention-grabbing, thought-provoking monologues about unapologetically admitting and seeking one’s own definition of shameless pleasure. 

Kat Alano shares her confession in freestyle poetry

The segment, Shameless Talk, featured Kat Alano and writer Erika Paredes as they shared their “shameless” pleasure and encouraged the rest of the audience to do so.

Of course the highlight of the event was when TV host/celebrity blogger Divine Less was revealed as the ambassador of Herbal Essences. 

Miss Divine Lee looking absolutely fantastic as the Herbal Essences Ambassador

She gamely confessed her very own shameless pleasure: “I love taking a shower with Herbal Essences lalo na after a very long day. Sobrang scentsual! When I’m in the shower, I look forward to the refreshing scent of the shampoo. Sarap na sarap ako sa shower experience,” Divine candidly admitted.

We were also encouraged to share our own shameless pleasures publicly.  There were several activities like a “confession” wall, a photo booth at the “Shameless Shower” featuring the Herbal Essences Shampoo, some sampling of sinful food selections, and even exciting admissions on stage about their shameless pleasure. Of course you guys could pretty much guess what my confession was –

Reading Books, Drinking Coffee, and having a massage are my shameless pleasures. :)
It wasn't visible in the earlier photo.. so I took a closeup pic of what I wrote.. :P 

LOL. Its definitely NOT a secret how much I love my coffee! Seriously, you can lock me up in a room full of books of my fave authors, food, free flowing coffee, a bed, with a bath and toilet. I WILL SURVIVE! hahahaha! When I'm stressed out, depressed, or just wanna indulge.. I trot off to my favorite massage/spa place. Yeah yeah I know, nothing thrilling about that.. pagbigyan. It's mababaw but it sooo works for me. Hahaha.

So there you have it, the scentsual comeback of one of my favourite shampoos. I swear, it IS scentsual! I LOOOOOOOOVE the scent of both the pink and blue ones. I’ve been using the pink Dangerously Straight shampoo and conditioner daily and love its effect on my hair. Once dried, I barely have to comb my hair anymore! And its honeysuckle scent is simply.. Divine! (Pun not intended. Hehe!) Ang bango bango bango!

Yep, I think Ms. Divine Lee is perfect to be the Herbal Essences ambassador. Name pa lang diba? Hehe. So Coffeeholics, if you haven’t tried the latest Herbal Essences Shampoo.. I strongly suggest you do and experience for yourself to this yes yes yes scentsual pleasure. Promise you won't regret it!  

Retouch Resexify Right Away with Vitress

Retouch. Resexify. Right Away. VITRESS!

Hey Coffeeholics! Just colored my hair last weekend! Watcha think? It became lighter than what I'm used to but it has grown on me and I like it. :) BUT hair color plus frizzy hair with all the weather changes lately? Oh noooo.. not good! Plus with work (and school for you guys!) - who has the time to really pamper your hair to get that shiny healthy hair look? So over some time (months na.. huhu sorry hair!) my hair became dry and frizzy and lost its shine. huhuhu. 

I'm so glad that VITRESS has come up with these as a solution to make you hair shiny! I have used Vitress like years ago but I haven't been regular. If I had only been a consistent Vitress user, maybe my hair would be more awesome as it is. 

I've tried all their hair cuticle coats. Ever since they started this product I got curious and tried it out. The Vitress Hair Cuticle Coat wraps and seals each strand to protect it from damage and break. Also, it gives hair instant and intense shine, softness, smoothness, protection, and manageability.

I first fell in love with Vitress Instant Relax Cuticle Coat. I've always wanted super straight hair  (my hair is straight but I wanted that "relaxed" look.. hehe) so I used this. If you have unruly and wavy hair that you want to "flatten", this product is for you! 

 

I love experimenting with my hair! Though having it super straight is an easy way to wear your hair, sometimes I dress it up by curling my hair using a flat iron. Constant curling of hair or straightening of hair can cause great damage to your hair cuticle. Ever since my sister Laura discovered Vitress Heat Protect Cuticle Coat, she would always use it before curling her hair. Thanks to thermo-shield complex, Vitress Heat Protect Cuticle Coat protects hair from the harmful effects of frequent curling, ironing, or blow-drying! Just place a few drops of the product to your hand, rub and finger comb your hair with the product BEFORE using your curling iron, hair iron, or hair blower. I strongly suggest you use this if you curl or straighten your hair frequently.

 

So you just found out about the Vitress Heat Protect Cuticle Coat. Now what about damaged hair already? Yeah this was my dilemma as well. I color my hair a lot now and before I always had relaxed hair treatments twice a year. These caused my hair to have the tendency to be brittle, break easily, and have split ends. It came to the point that the split ends were not on the ends -- split mids na! I had hair breakage in the upper part of my hair which horrified me and resulted in me having a short hair cut which I hope will never ever happen again. Now with Vitress Hair Repair Cuticle Coat, the tendency of that happening can be reduced. Vitress Hair Repair Cuticle Coat has a hydro-restore system that helps resist the ill effects of chemicals used in perming, dyeing, and other hair treatments.  This is the product to use if you want to restore healthy, satin-smooth hair!

I remember Vitress and its old Hair Polish products (packaging) and I couldn't quite understand its use what with the Hair Cuticle Coat already there. But when I tried Vitress Hair Polish and then fully understood its use, I'm now addicted to it!!! Vitress also has three variants in their Hair Polish collection.

1. Vitress Hair Polish Long-Lasting Fragrance - with Scent-Infinity Complex. this smells heavenly! Perfect for commuters. Say goodbye to amoy usok ng traffic hair!
2. Vitress Hair Polish Sun Protect - with Sun Defense System. This is for awesome fun in the sun time! It protects hair from over sun exposure.
3. Vitress Hair Polish Strengthening - with Vita Strength Formula. I LOVE THIS PRODUCT! It's now my current favorite. I wear it almost every day! I love its fantastic scent as well. I super recommend this if you want to prevent split ends and breakage (haha like me!) and want to have strong shiny hair (me! ME! hehe).

So yeah, you should definitely try the Vitress Hair Polish products. What's amazing about it is that it's a light non-greasy styling cream, it prevents tangles and keeps hair silky soft, smooth, & manageable, and tames frizz and smoothens fly-away hair without sticky feeling! Kung feeling mo magiging sticky ang hair mo, PROMISE IT WON'T! One of my friends didn't want to try it coz she said that she doesn't want her hair to be sticky. I convinced her that it doesn't have that effect and when she finally tried it nagulat siya talaga! It's definitely light and doesn't make you feel as if your hair is limp or weighted down by the hair product. When I apply the Vitress Hair Polish, I end up sniffing my hair a lot coz it smells soooooo good! (haha parang adik lang ba.. hehe).

Hello Shiny Fragrant Hair! Yay

So Coffeeholics, I challenge you with Solenn's words - RETOUCH. RESEXIFY. RIGHT AWAY. VITRESS. :) <3 Have you tried any Vitress products already? Which one do you like best? Did it work out for you? Comment below and let me know! I'd love to hear your Retouch Resexify Moments with Vitress! Have a great weekend!

For promos and updates, check them out here:

Follow them on Facebook (www.facebook.com/vitress)

Follow them on Twitter @OfficialVitress

Hair Makeover - Novelina Professional Hair Color

Before summer ended, I got one of my wishes granted - which was to have a new look by changing my hair color. I received an invite to have a HAIR MAKEOVER by Tritan Ventures that distributes Novelina Hair Colors. Novelina Cosmetics Co. was formerly known Yamahatsu Sangyo K.K. of Osaka Japan and was acquired by Tritan Ventures from its parent companies Schwarzkopf & Henkel KK. It is also being marketed in countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, China, USA as well as the Middle East. This intrigued me enough to go visit them indeed and try out this Novelina Professional Hair Color that produces high end results at an affordable price!

This is my previous hair color. My real hair is very dark brown. Last March I had it dyed Burgundy.

But I wanted a new look so I asked Ms. Jas, the in-house Hair Stylist of Novelina to help me choose what color would help improve my hair color. I wanted it to be "obvious" that I had dyed my hair. So she recommended Novelina's Cream Hair Color "ZEELKE" in Brown.

Zeelke is available in the market at the very affordable price of Php 150

Novelina Zeelke Cream Hair Color is the brand of cream hair color of Novelina Cosmetics Co. Ltd. It uses the technologies and formulation originally developed and improved upon by Yamahatsu Sangyo K.K., of Osaka, Japan, one of Japan's oldest and most prestigious hair colorants manufacturers with over 75 years experience in the industry.

Photo from Novelina Press Kit

Novelina Zeelke Cream Hair Color will not only provide you with rich, vibrant and natural colors -- it will also provide users with 100% grey hair coverage. Here are the colors available:

My photo of the color chart. It does somewhat look different from the chart above.
Since the resulting hair color produced on my hair looks more like the one above, I would advise you to check out this chart as well before choosing final color.

Miss Jas explained that even though we choose a particular color to dye our hair, the effect is not always the same for everyone. It depends on the texture of your hair (kung makapit ba ang color or not) and also the color your hair was before you had it dyed. Zeelke is a DIY hair colorant so I think that's a fair enough warning for those who would be trying it out for themselves. The color chart above doesn't do justice to the actual hair color effect it will have on you. With the help of Miss Jas, we decided to try out Brown. Remember that my hair color at that time was Burgundy. So check out later what effect Zeelke Brown had on my hair!

A box of Novelina's Zeelke Cream Hair Color has everything you need for your DIY hair color project!

Anyway, once you buy a box of Novelina Zeelke Cream Hair Color, you will get the following items:

1. 60 grams tube of cream colorant
2. 60 ml applicator bottle of developer
3. an applicator brush
4. a pair of gloves
5. a pair of ear covers (ha! that's a cool idea)
6. and a satchet of conditioning shampoo

Picture instructions!

Don't forget to carefully read the instructions!

No worries - Novelina is US FDA approved! 

Each box also had picture instructions and written instructions that will help guide anyone who would like to apply hair color to themselves. Personally, I prefer a friend to help me out here. But Ms Jas said that she applies the hair color on herself and its easy peasy!

Mixing the hair color is easy!
First, squeeze the contents of the tube of cream colorant in the  60 ml  bottle of developer.
Next, put on the gloves provided.
Then shake shake shake the bottle until the color has been evenly mixed in the bottle.
Miss Jas tapped the bottom of the bottle while pointing it downwards so that the mixture will distribute properly. And there you have it! Color is now ready to be applied!

Since Miss Jas, a Senior Stylist, will be applying it to me herself, she didn't use the ear covers any more (awww.. and I wanted to try it out myself. LOL!). So if you are going to color your hair yourself, don't forget to wear an apron so that the color won't get on your clothes.

Make sure you also have a lot of big hair clips handy coz you need to partition your hair so that the color will be evenly distributed in your hair. Ms Jas started at the back and the lower part of my hair. She advised to NOT put any hair color yet on the roots coz if you start with that, the hair color won't be even.

Miss Jas, being a professional, did not use the brush anymore and just used her hands and fingers. She said that using just one's hands in applying the hair color will be more effective coz most of the color will go directly to the hair instead of the brush. But then again, its a technique that professionals use coz if you use this method, you also have to learn and gauge the amount of hair color to apply on each batch of strands so that the color will be evenly distributed.

Then don't forget to apply color very near the roots (not SCALP ha!). Then using cling wrap, my hair was neatly wrapped in plastic so the natural warmth of the head will help "encourage" the color to take effect. According to the instructions, it should be like this for 20-30 minutes before rinsing and using the Novelina Conditioning Shampoo. While waiting for the color to completely saturate my hair, I checked out some other stuff that Novelina has to offer. Check it out:

• Zeelke Cream Hair Color -  provides you with rich, vibrant and natural colors; provide users with 100% grey hair coverage P 150
• Zeelke Powder Hair Color 6g Bottle - covers gray hair P 45
• Zeelke Powder Hair Color 4g Satchet - covers gray hair P 19
• Zeelke Herbal Powder Hair Color 4g Satchets (2) - covers gray hair and enhanced with herbal extracts like ginseng, aloe, silk powder and pearl powder P 55
• Zeelke Herbal Powder Hair Color 6g Bottle - covers gray hair and enhanced with herbal extracts like ginseng, aloe, silk powder and pearl powder P 55
• Men Cream Hair Color - permanent hair color especially made for men P170
• Professional Hair Products and Items for the Salon

After rinsing, Ms. Jas put some of their Novelina Hair and Scalp Treatment to make my Hair "Zeelke" smooth! :) And after blow drying my hair, I finally was able to see the end result.

Yay I love my new hair! Its not too light nor too dark but vibrant and definitely noticeable. Ms Jas said that as time goes by, the color on one's hair will really stand out and become more pronounced. The effect of the BROWN dye on my hair is kinda like Chestnut Brown (no. 5) on the chart! So I was really pleased when Miss Wella Tan of Tritan Ventures let me take home another Zeelke box in Chestnut brown once my hair grows out the color again.

THANK YOU SO MUCH Miss Tan and Tritan Ventures for inviting me over!

Thank you also to Miss Jas for doing an awesome job on my hair!
I love her hair color! She's using Zeelke Golden Brown.

UPDATE: Like I mentioned before, the hair color becomes more vibrant and pronounced after some time. This was like 2 or more weeks after I had my hair dyed using Novelina's Zeelke. I SUPER LOVE LOVE IT! :)

So Coffeeholics, if you plan to dye your hair by yourself - you must definitely try out Novelina's Professional Hair Color - ZEELKE! Wanna try it out for yourself? Then don't forget to drop by these sale bazaars where Novelina will be on display.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

June 15‐17, 2013

BaragatanFestival Sale

New City Commercial Center Palawan

June 15‐17, 2013

Love My Man Sale

New City Commercial Center Davao

Also, check them out in the following stores:


METRO MANILA

• Waltermart Supermarket
• RB Hortaleza
• Emmaflor Drugstore
• Gaisano

LUZON

• TiongSan Supermarket
• New City Commercial Center
• Waltermart Supermarket 

VISAYAS

• Demille
• NU Consumer
• Gaisano 
• Alturas
• Colonnade
• Cang's Inc.

MINDANAO

• Storezone Inc.
• South Seas
• Marbel Era Commercial

To learn more about Novelina and be updated by their promos, do visit their Facebook and website for more details. 

My Hair Loss Treatment - Minoxidil Regroe

To accomplish one of my goals for this year, I went out and bought Regroe Minoxidil hair regrowth treatment. Yes, its been one of my wishes since last year which is to stop my hair fall and get hair regrowth treatment. I'm turning 30 this year (and you bet your gonna hear a lot about that from me in my blog this 2012) and well it got me seriously thinking that I should really get to take care of myself which definitely includes my hair! My hair has been my pride and joy for a long time now. I haven't had it professionally cut last year because I've been growing it out and I want it to be long. Yes, I cut my own hair which actually just means that I only trim it so that there won't be any split ends. Anyway, the split ends is not my main problem. Hair fall and thinning hair has really concerned me recently.

Lil Kai Sensei
Better and Thicker Hair
And no, that's not a wig that I'm wearing! 

I used to have awesome thick hair. Seriously. Yes that's me in the photo above. I think I was 8 at that time. And look at my glorious thick hair. Mukang wig. Haha! But ever since 2008-2009, I have noticed a drastic increase in hair fall. I know that this is mainly due to stress. I was at an "emo/depressed" state at that period of my life PLUS I was balancing work AND my grad studies which really took its toll on me (6 case studies = stress to the highest max). I ended up doing bad things to my hair to remove stress. Like having a haircut. SHORT. Like real short.

Emo Moment Days = Haircut. This was one of the better pictures. haha!

Once upon a Christmas.. hehe. This was 2008 or 2009
No hair loss yet, but I kept my hair short to relieve me from some stress..

It was kinda cool at the beginning but since I had low self-esteem at that time, I ended up hating my hair and myself. Not good vibes definitely coz my hair started to fall more than it used to be. Whenever I take a shower, I see a lot of my hair on the floor. The most horrifying moment for me was after I squeezed the water out of my hair and the next thing I knew there was a bunch of hair strands on my hand. It really freaked me out! I knew then I really had to do something about it. I've tried changing shampoos and even switched to herbal shampoos last year.

Recently I've been using this Marietha's GUGO Tropical Herbal Extract for Thicker Fuller Hair. In fairness, the hair fall has lessened a lot. Which is good news for me. But I just don't need thicker and fuller hair. I need my hair to regrow. I've checked out the advertised hair growers out there and finally I was able to stumble upon REGROE Hair Regrowth Treatment.

Regroe has Minoxidil which works to stimulate the hair follicles into growth. I've read up on it and I'm glad to know that it is US and Philippines' FDA approved. Regroe claims that Hair Growth will start on the third week and visible hair growth on the second month. PLUS, with a price of almost Php 600 for a 60 ml bottle of 3% concentration of Minoxidil, it isn't as expensive as the other hair loss treatments out there. Believe me I've asked and looked around!

Minoxidil Regroe at 3% (for women) and 5% (for men)

Does it work? Well hopefully it will live up to its testimonials and reviews. I just bought it last Friday so I've been using it for four days already. I bought Regroe 3% Topical Lotion which is advised for first time users and for women. I'm supposed to use it 2x a day. The  60ml Regroe at 3% is supposed to last me for a month. When I bought it, I was able to get a promo! They gave me two small sampler bottles of the 5% one which I will use once I've used up the 3% one. Hopefully by this time, I will be able to see improvement. I'm excited to see the results and I will definitely give a more updated review about this product around February.

Right now all I can share to you is that I've been following the instructions on how to apply it. One thing that was constantly advised by the saleslady, the instruction manual, and the other websites about Minoxidil is that one must wash one's hair before application, make sure the scalp is dry before spraying, and rub it in the scalp in circular motions.  If you are interested in trying this out, well you should make sure though that you read up on it. I'm not promoting this product yet coz I have yet to see the results. One definite warning that I can give to you right now though is that it ITCHES. But it goes away after a while. I'd just like to think that its working. hehe.

My "BEFORE" picture. hehe.
According to research, hair loss usually starts at the crown area.
As you can see, my hair is thinning at the crown area especially where I parted my hair.
So I'm praying real hard that this will work!

So has any of you coffeeholics experiencing these hair loss problems as well? What hair loss treatments have you used and which have found effective? Do please share and let me know!