Hair Oils Series: Macadamia Natural Oil Healing Oil Treatment

This makes my hair look like a Pantene commercial. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but even other people noticed how good my hair looks, which considering the mega frizzy state of my natural hair, I see as a big accomplishment. Funny how low my expectations were about this oil, because my first impressions were not that good. I was immediately taken aback by the mega strong masculine scent, but my impressions got better and better by the day. This whole test was partially inspired by Summer's rave about Macadamia Natural oil. I trust her judgement so I had to try it and then I thought, why not try several oils to find out which one is the best. So here we are.

Packaging: It comes in a dark glass bottle with a brown and bright green label. This provides protection from light exposure, however, the label prevents you from seeing how much product is still in there. There are several different sizes available: 10ml, 30ml and 125ml, the biggest size comes with a pump. I have the 30ml and the bottle is quite heavy, in fact the heaviest out of the three similar sizes of oils I have.

Ingredients: The first two ingredients are silicones, which are then followed by Vitamin E, macadamia and argan oil. The next seven are fragrances and last three colours. Vitamin E, macadamia and argan oil are great for dry hair. I actually use pure macadamia oil as a pre-wash treatment and it works wonders. In addition,Vitamin E helps with hair growth and prevents hair loss (argan oil by itself has a high vitamin E content).

Scent: It has a very intense, strong and heavy masculine fragrance. Definitely the heaviest out of all that I tried. It smells exactly like my grandfathers cologne. Well, it is a deodorant. The one that is/was in a dark green bottle with a black cap. I don't know the name, but probably something widely available in Slovenia.  I went round the house asking everyone if it's only me that smells grampa's cologne and they all agreed I wasn't imagining it. I'd describe it as a mix of sandalwood, patchouli and musk (basically nothing like the pure macadamia oil). The scent remains very strong on wet hair for about 20 minutes, then it disappears. Much to my delight, it doesn't last long on dry hair. It's not a bad scent, but too strong and too masculine for my taste. I think I'll grow on me, though. 

Performance and Results: The product is thick and amber colour. It has almost identical consistency as  Morocanoil. When I applied it on wet hair before blow-drying, I had difficulties getting the quantity right. The usual amount I use at other oils was not enough, so I added a few drops more and it felt like it was almost too much. I had a feeling it was easy to overdo and it could leave your hair greasy and limp, but despite the  amount my hair still felt ok. After blow-drying my hair was mega shiny and definitely less frizzy especially on the top, where I can never get completely frizz free. It didn't feel as light and bouncy, but my hair felt stronger. I curled my hair with my big barrel curler and that's when this product really shone. I got the sleekest result out of all, it was mega shiny, soft and almost frizz free. It is the best anti-frizz and my ends looked surprisingly well, moisturised and soft.  On the next day I was getting more and more impressed. Despite using a drugstore conditioner I didn't have to use Alverde Mandel Argan oil, because my ends didn't dry up at all and they stayed in great shape even on the third day. I'm definitely very impressed by it.

Where to buy: I got mine on eBay from this seller because it was the cheapest. It's available in hair salons (if you're in Slovenia try Simple) and online (Feel Unique, Beauty Bay, Cheap Smells, Fragrance Direct, Look Fantastic, ...). 

Make sure you're buying the Healing Oil Treatment and not the Healing Oil Spray. The ingredients are different : Cyclopentasiloxane, Isopropyl Myristate, Fragrance (Parfum), Tocopheryl Acetate, Argania Spinosa Oil, Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil, Benzylsalicylate, Cumarin, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Linalool, Hexyicinnamoldehyd. Judging from ingredients the spray is lighter (obviously, since it's more liquidy). It's the equivalent of Orofluido Sahara.

I'd say it's best for dry hair, but also appropriate for normal hair if you use a smaller amount. I'm loving everything but the scent, which doesn't last anyway. It gave me most shine, it's the best defrizzer and kept my ends moisturised. This gets my two thumbs up and I'll definitely try other products from this brand.

Links:

Hair Oils Series: Moroccanoil Treatment Original

The original argan oil treatment, the one that started this argan craze and the most popular are just some things that describe the famous Moroccanoil Original. Some say this is ''the'' argan oil treatment and the rest are just poor replicas. I disagree. For one I find Orofluido not only similar in ingredients (both have argan and linseed oil), but also dupes in results. 

Packaging: A dark glass bottle with blue labels. Dark bottle protects the product from light exposure, but you can still see how much product is still in.

Ingredients: two silicones followed by argan oil, fragrance and linseed oil, the rest are more fragrances and colours (benzyl benzoate is also an insecticide, which would explain the "bug spray" note). Ingredients-wise it's similar to Orofluido, but minus the cypress oil.

Scent: For me a very disappointing scent. It's very boring, like a laundry detergent mixed with some bug spray. I get mostly aldehyde notes with musk. It's doesn't last on wet nor dry hair, in fact, I can only smell my conditioner.

Performance and Results: It has a thick texture and it's amber colour. I can put quite a lot of it on my wet hair and it doesn't feel greasy. It's easy to get a small amount out of the bottle because the texture isn't too runny. I put some product on wet hair before blow-drying and it left my hair shiny, soft and less frizzy. When I used it on dry hair it minimised the frizz even more, detangled and made my hair feel very silky and soft. I did the same technique of styling my hair with Moroccanoil and Orofluido. The results were about the same, the only difference is that Orofluido manages to keep more volume. My ends felt moisturised at first, however, on the second day some strands from the top layers (driest parts of my hair) did feel dry. As with Orofluido I have to use Alverde Mandel Argan oil on the second day to keep my ends moisturised.

Where to buy: I got it on eBay from this seller, because for some reason most online shops, which sell this product, don't send it to Slovenia. It is also sold in hair salons (Slovenia – Simple) and on click2chic (only for Slovene costumers, but the price is really high with shipping).

Honestly, I wasn't blown away by it, especially considering such high price tag. The result are too similar to Orofluido, which is cheaper and smells a lot better. Just like Orofluido it makes my hair shiny and less frizzy, but it doesn't manage to keep my ends moisturised that long. I can understand the hype, since it's mostly caused by people who tried only this hair treatment and perhaps never used silicone serums before (I'd be raving about it if it was the only one I tried), but it's really nothing special compared to some other serums with argan oil. Of course, it was the first on the market. I hear a lot of people are fooled by the name and believe that moroccan (argan) oil is the only ingredient. I blame the advertising and possibly also because their not-so-savvy-with-ingredients-list hairdresser told them so. It's a really good product, you'll love the results no matter your hair type (if your hair is oily try a small amount concentrating on your ends only), however, it's way over-priced considering the cheaper competition is so good.

Links to other reviews in this series:

Hair Oils Series: Kérastase Elixir Ultime

And the award for the most over-dramatic advertising goes to -  Kérastase (owned by L'Oreal):

“The alchemy of four precious oils to beautify hair. A new legend is born, the secret of magnificent hair is revealed.”

*Facepaw* Alchemy? Legend? Secret of magnificent hair? Give me a break. Who comes up with these things? It’s a hair product not a trailer for a fantasy blockbuster. Let’s keep it real, please. But let’s focus on the product.

Packaging: A clear plastic bottle with a pump. It's good for travelling, not only because it's plastic, but also because the bottle is light. It has a pump that dispenses the product nicely and in small amounts, so it's easy to pump out the desired amount. Because the bottle is clear, it's better to keep it stored in a dark place to protect it from sunlight.

Ingredients: First two ingredients are silicones as with all of these hair oils. They are followed by corn oil, argan oil, camelia oil and pracaxi oil. The rest six ingredients are fragrances.

Scent: It has such a gorgeous scent. It reminds me of some high-end fragrance. It's a floral-coconut-amber scent that I think is most universally appealing out of all hair oils I tried. The fragrance is not too intense or in anyway offensive and doesn't last very long on my hair. This is one of my favourite scents out of all hair products I ever tried.

Performance and Results: It's very light, runny and feels most silicone-y like. The colour is clear. It's very much like the rest of the non-argan serums. I needed to use quite a lot because of the lightness and I used four pumps before blow-drying on wet hair. During, my hair felt more unruly than with the rest I tested, but the end result was about the same. My hair felt very light and bouncy, also shiny and silky, but my ends felt a bit dry, even after I applied some more on dry hair. Because it's so light, it doesn't kill the volume, making it great for those who want a sleek result, but wish their hair to retain some volume.

Here is the end result. I know the second picture is bad quality, but it's the only one where you can see the ends, which could be better, but the rest of the hair felt really nice.

Where to buy: I bought my travel version on Feel Unique. It's available in 50 and 125ml version. You can buy it in selected hair salons and online (eBay, HqHair,  Look Fantastic, ...)

I'd say due to it's lightness, it's most appropriate for those with oily/normal hair. I have dry hair and it's not enough moisturising for me as it still leaves my ends dry. I can't guarantee you that it won't be too heavy if your hair is oily, but I'd be surprised if it would be, because it is very light, especially if you use only one pump. This is very expensive for such a light product and I can't get pass the fact that the highest oil ingredient is the cheap corn oil. I think there are a lot of cheaper drugstore dupes in terms of texture, but if you feel like splurging it's still a nice product and the scent is gorgeous. I would refrain myself from calling it legendary, though.

Links to other reviews in this series:

Hair Oils Series: Introduction

Hair oils have flooded the market in the past years, particularly those containing the ''new'' wonderful argan oil. Words like elixir, miraculous and extraordinary are very freely used by brands. All promise you the ultimate hair care product that is going to transform your hair into silky heaven. Exaggerations just pour from the lips of advertisers, with such extravagant descriptions, I wouldn't be surprised if they claimed it also cures cancer. Almost every brand came out with their version, each with a more dazzling name. Just add the new marvelous argan oil and maybe mix in a few other oils to the cheap silicone based serums that have been around for years, include words like miraculous, elixir or mythic and sell it for a hefty price tag. A bit cheeky if you ask me.

Here are some of them in the 20€+ range: (from the left): Marrakesh Oil, Agadir Argan Oil, Osmo Berber Oil, Macadamia Natural Oil, Kérastase Elixir Ultime, Shu Uemura Essence Absolue, Redken All Soft Argan-6 Oil, L'Oreal Professional Mythic Oil and Orofluido Beauty Elixir.

And some cheaper drugstore versions: Lee Stafford Arganoil, Klas Argan, L'Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil (ingredients), Fructis Miraculous Oil (ingredients), Gliss Kur Daily Oil Elixir (ingredients), Balea Oil Repair Haaröl, Avon Advance Techniques Moroccan Argan Oil, Syoss Beauty Elixir (ingredients).

Are you  familiar with these?:

These are all silicone based hair serums that have been on the market for years. Sure they don't contain argan oil, however some of them contain other oils, like grape seed, jojoba, avocado etc. I don't recall anyone advertising them as miraculous oils.

It sounds like I all over this argan craze, but I'm not. I'm just fed up with the over-the-top advertisement. It's all about the luxurious oils and making it sound like they're the only ingredients, but they conveniently forget to include it also contains a bunch of cones, fragrances and dyes. But the truth is: Silicone serums with argan oil are brilliant. Of course, nowhere near miraculous, but really, really good (at least for my hair). I've had a lot of silicone based serums (actually all apart from two in the upper picture) and honesty, they leave much to be desired. My hair is very dry and it needs that little bit of extra help to keep it moisturised. I guess that few drops of added argan oil does the trick.

I've been using Ororfluido for two years now and I still love it. However, there is so much talk about Moroccanoil, Macadamia Natural oil, Kérastase Elixir Ultime and others that I started to wonder: Is the grass really greener over there? I ordered small bottles of the most popular brands to compare. I will do a post on each individually and then do a short recap post as a conclusion There will be seven posts in including this one and I'll post one review per day, so keep your eyes peeled. I'll have links in every review to keep it organised. I used the same hair care routine with all of them - shampoo, conditioner (drugstore one, Dove Oil Care) and heat protection- to really see the difference.
Reviews will be posted in the following order:

1. Kérastase Elixir Ultime, 2. Moroccanoil Treatment Original, 3. Macadamia Natural Oil Healing Oil Treatment, 4. Osmo Berber Oil, 5. Orofluido Beauty Elixir.

Links:

What is the deal with argan oil? (feel free to skip this part if you dislike geography and sciency stuff)

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard of argan oil. If you're anything like me, you found it at least a bit curious how this argan oil craze came to be. I mean, until two years ago I've never even heard of this ''groundbreaking'' oil. It's like it just dropped out of the sky and now is added to almost every cosmetic product. Here are some benefits of using this oil on your hair:  

Argan oil penetrates into the hair pores or shafts and enhances the elasticity of hair. It restores the smoothness of hair and makes them manageable again. Vitamin E present in argan oil is very useful in restoring the natural hair and renewing and repairing the damage caused by destructive agents. It is an additional benefit of argan oil that it cures the brittle hair and increases the life of color treated hair. In this job it even surpasses in competitiveness from Jojoba oil. 

Argan tree is native to North Africa, the Atlas region to be precise. It is now an endangered species and under protection of Unesco. It grows wild in semi-arid areas, is adapted to drought conditions and has a deep root system, making it the perfect tree to protect from soil erosion and desertification (I hope you know about the problem of the advancing Sahara desert). Because argan oil's popularity is increasing, these trees became valuable and more effort is given to protecting them. Not to mention the social impact of oil production on local communities, with new jobs and a steady income. So every time you buy argan oil based product don't feel too bad. At least something good came out of trying to satisfy human vanity. 

Thanks for reading!

NOTD: Depend 036

Depend 036 is a tomato red shade. Can be a one coater, but I do two, nonetheless. It applies like a dream and I really like the brush. I've been wearing it three days so far and it hasn't chipped yet. Depend polishes are sold in DMs for around 2.5€.

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Estee Lauder Double Wear Maximum Cover

I've wanted this foundation for ages, but it wasn't available in Slovenia. The shop assistant told me it was because it was repackaged and also renamed. I found mine in Müller in BTC Ljubljana and I shelled out some serious cash for it. 

This is some major heavy duty stuff. I much prefer lighter coverage foundations and my skin is far from being in need of full coverage, however I wanted a high coverage foundation for several reasons. I mainly wanted it as a concealer. Also high coverage foundations can be sheered out with a moisturiser, therefore one tube lasts you ages. I've never owned anything with a high level of coverage. When some nasty spot appeared in need of heavy duty covering I just used my under eye concealer, which of course didn't do the job very well. I also have some redness under my eyes and I wanted something that would really cover it (I've had it since I was a child).

I picked the shade called 11 very light, which is quite neutral toned. It matches me very well, in fact better than Healthy Mix foundation which is a tiny bit too yellow and dark for me at the moment. It's quite a strange foundation when it comes to shade, namely it oxidizes really fast when I put it on my hand, but this doesn't translate on my face. See the difference in these two images. The first was taken moments after I squeezed it out of the tube and the second was taken a few minutes later. It turns darker than Healthy Mix, but still looks light on the face. You can see that on later pictures how it matches my neck.

The texture is very thick and quite difficult to blend, especially without anything underneath. I tried several moisturisers and came to a conclusion that Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse works best for me. Other nice options are La Roche Posay Cicaplast and the original Nivea. It is very, very pigmented. Seriously. That dot of product in the upper picture is enough for the entire face, you literally need the smallest amount. It also sets very fast, so I apply it in segments. I do a small dot on my cheek and blend fast, then continue with the other cheek, forehead, nose and chin. Of course, I rarely wear it all over the face, I tend to use it as a concealer for spots and under the eyes.

I like it best applied with fingers, however I have tried several brushes for application. I like the Real Techniques Expert brush the most, but again you have to work fast and in segments. For under the eyes I like to use E.l.f. Flawless concealer brush and for pinpoint concealing the Real Techniques detailer brush. It's a heavy foundation with a matte finish, so you need to use blush and bronzer to get some more dimension in the face. I also like to use L'Oreal's Lumi Magique primer under it to keep it from looking too matte and flat. It's also quite dry and does settle in lines and emphasises them without a heavy moisturiser underneath. It is smudgeproof and waterproof, it stays put all day. I find that it starts to look odd and uneven on my cheeks, which are the driest part on my face.

Packaging is a dark dark blue tube with a gold lid. It has a small opening which enables you to squeeze out the precise amount needed. It's a very expensive foundation. I paid 40.96€ for it in Müller. I've had mine since November and I can already see it will last me forever.

As you can see here it covers very well. It covers my circles, redness, imperfections and most of my freckles.

Here is a close up where you can see how well it covers under the eyes. You can also see that it looks odd on the sides of my nose. I kept he images quite big, click on them to see them larger if you wish to.

I think this is best suited for someone with oily skin, however it's a good investment for those who want a high coverage concealer. Just make sure you use a heavy moisturiser before application. For a cheaper alternative try Vichy's Dermablend. It's the only high coverage foundation I know of that is available in Slovenia. Unfortunately, the shade range is limited and the lightest one is too dark for me. 

Thanks for reading.