A different kind of review today: Scünci Hot Streaks! + Giveaway

Hey ladies!  I found a loop hole in my plan :)  I was only going to blog about indie polishes for the month of May...but since this isn't POLISH I'm talking about today, I don't think I'm breaking that promise!

I've got a cool product to show you guys today!  They're called "Hot Streaks" and they're from Scünci.

 
Hot streaks are clip in colored hair extensions that come in all kinds of fun neon colors for summer: pink, blue, orange, green, and purple!  I was sent the orange one to try out and show to you ladies :)

These streaks are 18" long, and my hair is far from that long, so I cut off a nice chunk.  Probably a little too much, but I have zero idea how to cut hair (tried to cut my bangs a few months ago...bad idea)--regardless, I think it still looked okay!  I didn't want a big giant clip on top of my hair, so here's how I did it:

Using the "pick" end of a comb, gently slide it under a thin layer of hair

Hold the layer of hair up, or pin it if it's easier for you!

Clip the Hot Streak directly under the layer, at the roots.  They clip in real easily, they're one of those "bendy/snap" clips

Now here's what it looked like when I just let my hair I was holding down:

You can see my shiesty "cut" job and how it doesn't line up with my hair haha

It actually blended in much better than I thought it would!  You could barely tell since I put it under a layer of hair.  BUT I wanted it to be a little more defined without trying to get a thinner layer to pin it under, so I pulled my hair back a bit:

Yup. There's my face.  Without Makeup.  On the internet..

Outside sun makes me squinty

Bam! Orange.

I actually really liked this product!  Honestly, in the package I did not have high hopes and I probably would've overlooked it entirely in the store because it had that "fake plastic hair" look to it.  However I was VERY surprised when I took it out of the package and put it in how it ended up looking like real hair.  Since it was kind of wavy with I took it out of the package, I even used my straightener on it (very quickly) so it matched up with my super straight hair.  I would totally use these again!  It was super easy to use and added something funky to your look.

I'll probably grab a pink and purple one next time I'm out!  They sell these primarily at Kmart, but you can find them in some grocery stores too for $4.99.  Super cute, super fun for summer, re-useable...I highly recommend it! 

If you'd like to try this product for FREE, I'm giving one away to one lucky winner! Here are the rules:

1) You MUST be a GFC follower to enter.
2) You MUST have a mailing address in the U.S.A.
3) You MUST be 18+ or have your parents permission to enter as I will need your address to get the prize to you!

This is **CLOSED** open until June 16, 11:59 pm EST!  Good luck :)

Rockin Something Different Today....from Scünci!

Oh gosh! I forgot to mention that TWO lovely bloggers tagged me for the Versatile Blogger Award!  Thank you so much Connie and Nail Designs!  However, I've already received this and made my list before.  Thanks so much again, though!  I really appreciate it :)

I've got something a little different today.  I'm going to give a brief review of some new hair clips I had the opportunity to try from scünci!

They are called Linziclips and they are new form of "claw" clips with hidden springs and smoother claws!

They come in three sizes: mini, medi, and maxi!  I elected to try the mini clips.  They work like the small butterfly clips, but they're a tad bit bigger.  Here are some additional "views" of them so you can see what I mean by hidden springs:

This is what the top looks like...no more ugly "wings" or visible springs!

Underside...the clamps come together in a smooth line that doesn't dig into your scalp

The teeth hold the hair tight while being much more comfortable than a normal claw clip!  Since the bottom is flat you can even lay down with these clips in and they don't dig into your head like the old ones!  This is a biggie for me...'cause I work 10 hours a day and I can't have hair clips hurtin' my head after a few hours. 

Also what I think is cool about these is that the top is relatively flat as well.  This means that while you're pinning up your cute hair style, you don't have butterfly wings sprouting from your head ruining your style, haha.  They come in all kinds of colors and designs so you can even match them to your outfit.

Overall, I like the mini ones a lot, although they don't "open" enough for me--I think I'm going to have to go out and get some of the "medi" sized ones for the hairstyles I want!  The mini ones are perfect for pulling back a little bit of hair (like for "pinning up" the sides or your bangs), but won't work for a half-up-do like I had hoped 'cause my hair is just too thick!  

You can find these from $3.99-$5.99 at most major retailers or drug stores!  You can check out more information on their facebook page!

Have you guys tried these?  I'm glad I got to try them out--I don't normally look at new hair clips, but maybe I should stop by and see what else scunci has to offer :)

<3 Whitney

P.S. A set of these hair clips (in whatever size you want) will be up for grabs in another giveaway I'll be hosting soon along with some Softlips chapsticks and other goodies...keep your eyes open for this one coming soon!

Conair Instant Heat Hot Roller Review + GIVEAWAY *CLOSED*!!

So the surprise is here!  I'm having a GIVEAWAY for an awesome set of hot rollers by Conair!

This is going to be an extra long post due to this--I'm going to post my review of these rollers and then down at the bottom will be the giveaway rules and forms.  So check it out!

The Conair Xtreme Instant Heat Rollers heat up in just 75 seconds and come with clips instead of the traditional pins.  

Here are the hot rollers I received for review!  They come with twenty ceramic rollers in three different sizes:

Pink rollers for the win!

Here's what they look like out of the box.  The set of rollers are all in a heated compartment along with a separate heating unit for three clips at a time.  I really like the idea of clips because my old set of hot rollers uses pins that you pretty much have to dig into your scalp to get to stay in. 

Here are all of the clips that come with the set!

Three different sizes: 6 medium .75", 6 large 1", and 8 jumbo 1.25"!

Now that you've seen all there is that come with these rollers, I'm going to show you my hot roller how-to:

Here is what my natural hair looks like, dried with no product.

In desperate need of a hair fix.

Now here's how I used these hot rollers--I've actually used them twice, once I started when my hair was already dry and the next time I used them right out of the shower in a different configuration.  I'll describe that later.

First, let the curlers heat up.  When the curlers are fully heated, one of them has a heat sensor that will turn from red to white.  They only need 75 seconds to heat up fully!

Heat sensor dot in the bottom middle curler

While you wait, you can apply some product to keep the curls in.  If you're like me with my zero-natural-curly hair, you'll need it!  If your hair is dry, lift up sections of your hair and apply hair spray!

I'm so excited about hair spray.  I used cheap Suave hair spray!

OR if your hair is wet, you can follow the following three steps:

Mousse and dry completely!  I used Victoria's Secret So Sexy Mousse because it smells soooo good.

Next take small sections of your hair, put the roller at the end, wrap your hair around it, and roll towards your scalp:

My face was too weird for this picture, so I just zoomed in on the important part :)

Then clip in place!

Finish rolling up 1" to 2" sections of your hair until it's all in rollers:

Bathroom lighting was terrible...

Now, if you want looser curls, you can leave the curlers in for less time.  If you want tighter curls, leave them in for longer.  Each time I have them in I left them in for about 10-15 minutes.  The tightness of your curl also depends on the configuration of your curlers.  Obviously the smaller ones will also give you tighter curls, with the tightness decreasing as the size of your roller goes up!

Initially I tried these curlers with the smallest curlers in my top layer of hair and larger and medium ones underneath and here's what I got:

This is what it looked like relatively soon after I took out the curlers

After I brushed out the curls with my fingers, it loosened up a bit and ended up like this:

Less Bo Peep---more natural looking curls!

The next day or so, I tried these curlers again and used jumbo curlers on top and the medium ones on the bottom and ended up with looser curls in general:

Personally, I like this much better.  You just have to play around with the size of the curlers and how long you leave them in and find what best suits your hair!

Overall, I loved these curlers.  They are so much more comfortable than the traditional hot rollers with pins that I have.  Not to mention that since the clips are heated, you get heat not only from the roller, but the clip as well.  Since my hair is super layered, the clips also helped curl the stray hairs that normally stick out when I use hot rollers, so it all looked more even.  AND the clips also help keep some of the heat away from your scalp.  I don't know if I'm just a spaz or what but my old rollers got so hot and would lay on your head and just burn.  These don't do that.

My only issues with these curlers were that the clips made the rollers feel very loose.  However, since they only need to stay in for about 10 minutes, it's not a big issue.  I still could've easily applied make-up or gotten ready without a problem--just no working out or anything with them in ;)

It also would've been cool if there was a secret drawer underneath the product to store all the clips since you can only put 3 inside with the curlers, but I found a cute bag to put them in--so whatever!

Overall, not too much to complain about since they heat up so quickly and end up being so comfortable!

If you want to know more information about the curlers, you can check out their website here.  They also have a handy how-to video if you didn't like my tutorial :)

Onto the fun part!

The nice folks at Conair decided to allow me to host a giveaway for another set of these hot rollers for one lucky winner!  Here are the rules, please read them before entering!

1) You must be 18 or older to enter or else have your parents permission to give away your address if you win
2) This is open to U.S. residents only
3) Enter ONLY once, if you enter more than once you will be disqualified.  If you can't remember if you've entered, shoot me an e-mail at EStyles.WW@gmail.com and I'll let you know!
4) This is open until November 11, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. EST!
5) To enter you MUST be a follower via GFC.


You get 1 automatic entry for being a GFC follower and filling out the form!  Here are some ways you can get additional entries into the contest:


-Follow @ElementalStyles on Twitter [1 entry]
-Tweet about the giveaway (provide a direct link!) [2 entries]
-Follow Elemental Styles on Facebook (provide Facebook name) [1 entry]
-Blog about the giveaway (on sidebar, giveaway page or blog entry--provide a direct link) [2 entries for a link, 3 entries if you use one of the pictures]
-Add Elemental Styles to your blog roll (provide a link please!) [1 entry]
-Answer the extra question on the form [1 entry each]

This giveaway is now closed!  Thanks for entering :)

Also be sure to check out Conair's Facebook Page for cool product information!
 
<3 Whitney

Ojon 2 Minute Hair Mask Review!

Wowsers I feel like I haven't made a non-nail polish post in a while :)

BUT I wanted to tell you all about Ojon's 2-Minute Hair Mask!  I got this stuff from a giveaway a long time ago and have tried a few times and have been so enthralled with nail polish that I put off talking about it.  However, it's a great product and here's a couple pictures for you:

Here's what the big jar looks like

Inside you can see the consistency a bit

Hah...you can tell by the lid that it's been in my shower a while :)

Kind of lotion-looking

The consistency of the hair mask is a little thicker than lotion and feels more along the lines of body butter.  It's basically like a leave in conditioner, here's what the product claims it does:

"In just two minutes, you can transform dry, dehydrated hair into silky smooth, beautiful tresses! Specially formulated with pure Ojon oil and 9 exotic oils and butters, this replenishing mask treatment instantly restores your hair, leaving it feeling clean and refreshed, without weighing it down. " -- QVC Website

After using this product quite a few times I can vouch for it myself.  It works way better than normal conditioner and leaves your hair silky without looking greasy.  It was also silky smooth all day!  I normally leave in my conditioner while I wash or something, so this 2-minute thing wasn't an issue for me! 

Despite it working wonders I probably wouldn't buy this product again because it runs for about $30, which I think is too expensive for a leave-in conditioner!  Not to mention that the smell isn't very good (it kind of smells like old lady perfume), and I have this obsessive thing with my hair smelling nice.  Therefore I doubt I'd pay $30 for a product that didn't leave me confident in my hair smelling great! 

However, if you use other products to style your hair that would cover up the smell, and you're willing to shell out $30, this is something I'd suggest you try!  They have other formulas based on your hair type that are supposed to help restore your hair and make it smooth, so check them out!  You can buy their products at Ulta or online at their website!

That's all for now, folks :) Enjoy your weekend!

<3 Whitney