I just bought a basic sewing machine yesterday. I haven't taken pictures yet since I was busy tinkering with it all day (and all of last night), but I'll share with you what I've done with it once I have something! Anyway, for today, I'd like to talk about this Purederm hair mask.

I'll make this review short: I love it. It smells super minty, and feels minty on my hair. Come to think of it, it's like I put toothpaste on my head! The white cream itself feels heavy and luxurious yet easy to rinse off.

Hi Liz! First off, lemme just say that I am a BIG fan of Projectvanity.com and I always make it a point to check for updates when I go online. I really admire your sense of style and enjoy your no-nonsense reviews.

Now pardon my presumption in emailing you, but since I admire and trust your fashion and beauty sense, I thought I'd ask your advice. My thirteen-year-old sister has wavy hair much like yours, but it's very thick, dry and frizzy, and she's been getting quite self-conscious about it. My question is simple, what salon or home treatment have you tried that you would recommend as a remedy? Bearing in mind that she's still quite young and I wouldn't let her try anything that might potentially damage it. That's all, really. I'm sure you're a very busy person, but I would really appreciate a response. Thanks and keep up the good work!

Hi Paola! My gosh! Thanks so much for following Project Vanity! :D I always love hearing from readers.

Now about your question. You hit the mark - hair is something I'm really conscious about. Your sister and I seem to have the same hair and same problems. I was so bothered about my hair that when I was 15 I had my hair chemically straightened every six months until I was 17. I am still suffering the effects; now my hair is thinning and hair fall is a major problem. So if you or your sister is considering it - even when she's 20 or 25 - try not to. The cost, side effects, and maintenance is not worth it.

I think the key to having great hair is to adjust one's view of what great hair is. Right now, I am loving my wavy hair. I always wear it up (for convenience, also because I try not to apply any product on it as much as possible), but when I wear it as it is with only minimal styling, everyone thinks I had it digipermed or something! I'm sure the same goes for your sister. It's a matter of looking at things differently. Perhaps you guys can look online for pictures of glamorous women with thick wavy hair - there are lots!

Vanessa of Gossip Girl

Now that's out of the way, we can go on to products. For my hair, I like using a clear hair serum while it's damp. This manages the frizz and adds extra shine to the hair. I love Citre Shine (~P400)

Watsons is a paradise for the makeup and skincare junkie. They carry dirt cheap to high end products that address specific needs - and actually do a good job of it! I heard from a person who markets a brand exclusive to Watsons that its difficult to get the personal care store to carry your product. Their staff tests it rigorously, and it may take months before it gets approved, if at all!

This is not to say that every single thing in Watsons is gold. It's just that I've observed that this year, the store has brought out a lot of new, unique products for every budget - quite uncommon for competitors and even some department store beauty aisles.

I've reviewed a lot of Watsons products in the past so I thought to compile my best finds from the personal care store. It's this thread in GirlTalk that inspired me to write this post! Take note, most of the products featured here are exclusive to Watsons.

Himalaya Herbals Protein Shampoo with Conditioner

This is my Holy Grail shampoo/conditioner. I am already on my second bottle of this! I love how it makes my hair feel soft and moisturized while minimizing hair fall. 

Finally, my review of Eyliplex-2

Eyliplex-2 claims to lessen your eyebags and wrinkles. Does it work? YEAH! Check out my before and after photos in my review. You have to regularly use it though, like everyday. My bags are bothering me again so I'm using it again. Recently discovered trivia: the day gel is amazing as an eyeshadow primer! It really makes the eyeshadows pop and blend better! However it's too expensive to use as just a primer. ;)

What does this photo make you think of?

Floating before my eyes are apparitions of sticky sweet pudding, icing on top of cupcakes, whipped cream, ice cream, flavored yogurt - you get the idea! Now I want dessert! Anyway, seriously now. The good-looking stuff on top can't actually be eaten (sadly) since they're for your hair.

Lorys Hair Cream just landed on the shelves of Watsons two months ago. It's big in Brazil, which is what compelled the Filipino distributors to bring it to the Philippines. They contacted me and asked me to try Lorys.

So what is it exactly? It's a product that you can use for a quick n' cheap hair spa at home. You can use it two ways: as a conditioner and as a treatment (hot oil). The five variants (Ceramidas, Duo Chocolate, Snake Oil, Shea Butter, and Fruit Cocktail) are designed to target specific hair problems. I only tried one that seemed the most applicable to my topmost hair concern -  Shea Butter, which is supposed to nourish and shine curly, dry hair.

What I love about the product

• As promised, it really moisturized my curly hair. It's more bouncy and soft to the touch.
• The texture is very creamy. Half a handful is enough for my whole head of hair.

I was super duper duper bored with my hair. All I can do with it before is just wash it and tie it up. My last hair cut was at a Korean salon called Beauty Brick, way back in March, so obviously my hair has grown a lot since then. I craved for something new, something I haven't tried yet! But what?

The answer was clear as day. I had to dye my hair for the first time. And get bangs! Now, if you have wavy hair like me, you know that bangs are slightly equivalent to having hell on your head. Okay, that's over the top. But you see, when I last had bangs (a decade ago) it was something I hated dealing with everyday so I just stopped having them. That's until last week, when I wanted to be challenged by my hair for a change.

The result, blow-dried:

Here is my hair washed (sorry for the yellow tinge, forgot to adjust my camera's settings):

I had a voucher to try L'Oreal INOA for free, so off I went to Regine's Salon at The Link, Makati to claim the free treatment. It was Karina Mantolino, the head stylist, who accommodated me. I asked her to give me a hair cut first before we got on to the dyeing session. The whole thing was pretty quick at less than 15 minutes since she just gave me layers, and it only cost me P450.

I've never had my hair colored, ever. Whenever I go to salons to get a cut, I always smell the distinctive stink of hair dye. It's the kind of odor that goes straight inside your nasal passage and stays there, painfully. That's a huge deterrent for me! My hair is really thin plus I suffer from hair fall so I've been staying away from any sort of chemical treatment for years now.

And then came L'Oreal INOA. A play on the words "Innovation No Ammonia", L'Oreal's revolutionary hair coloration system promises optimal scalp comfort and the absence of smell. It's because there is zero ammonia in the formula. At the heart of INOA is the ODS (Oil Delivery System) which is supposed to optimize the hair penetration of the coloring active ingredients.

Robbie discussing the system

Demoing. The system has three major components just manually mixed with each other.

Pureology is well-known for its line of hair color care shampoos and conditioners. Their products has Anti-Fade and ZeroSulfate properties to ensure that colored hair is always in top notch condition. Now, the popular brand has branched off to provide not only products, but hair care and styling services!

Alex Carbonell of Studio Fix by Alex Carbonell and Chrissy Calderon-Uy of Hairworks Salon attended the Pureologist Certification Training held last April 27-29, 2010 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Ms. Lynna Choi, the Asia Regional Education Manager of Pureology, facilitated the three-day training and certification.

The beauty writers with Alex Carbonell (photo grabbed from Nikki)

I was overdue for my yearly haircut so I decided, quite spontaneously, that I wanted to get my hair chopped last Friday. I was at home, bored, procrastinating when suddenly, poof! I shot off to get a cut. Not before Googling salons, of course! I asked Lauren about Beauty Brick, since it's well-reviewed online. She got her lovely digiperm there. She was so happy with the service so she enthusiastically referred Beauty Brick to me.

The salon is located in Dona Consolacion Bldng, Jupiter St. Makati, near the corner of Makati Avenue. The place looks quite cozy and homey. As soon as I got in, all the salon people greeted me good afternoon! They were very warm and friendly. They greeted my by name since I called in for an appointment and hour before.

The whole time I was there I didn't have to wait for anything. After greeting me, they herded me to the shampoo area where they oohed about my naturally wavy hair. I think they're so used to getting customers who are sick of their straight hair! After all Beauty Brick is really known for their digiperm, not haircuts per se. 

After shampooing, they seated me in front of the huge mirror and proceeded to blow dry my hair. Once they're done with that, they gave me three ring-bound books full of pictures of hairdos specifically for wavy hair. I super appreciate that little gesture because when I went there I didn't have a specific style in mind. While I was browsing, they asked if I wanted coffee, tea, or iced tea. How nice, eh?

Once I picked a cut, Mr. Shin, the owner of the salon, went over to study my hair and make suggestions based on the style I wanted. He spoke mainly in Korean and knew a little English. We didn't have a problem with communicating though since some of his staff were fluent in Korean and translated quite well.

Snip, snip, snip...the whole haircut was done in under 30 minutes. Wanna see?