A Belated Haul and Product Review

  

I have returned! With a bit of a Sephora haul and my opinions on the products I purchased.

Boxycharm 07.15

   So even though we're in August, I wanted to share my thoughts on what I received in my Boxycharm subscription last month. My box arrived around the 20th of July, so I've been able to try a few of the products out and have some well-formulated opinions.

    Let's get into it, shall we?

Good-Bye to You 01: Beauty Edition

   I decided to start this new series, "Good-Bye to You," on my blog. It will focus on my decluttering efforts and my review of used/empty products, without being the generic "empties" type of post. I plan to hopefully have an edition up once a month. As I'd mentioned previously, one of my goals this Spring/Summer was to make a concerted effort to declutter my life. I've diligently been rooting out items that just are no longer useful to me and sorting them out into groups of things to sell, give-away, or toss.

   This month, I'll be focusing on the beauty products that didn't make the cut when it comes to staying in my collection. Or the ones that I've completely used up and have some opinions on. Let's take a look at and talk about the good, the meh, and the downright ugly...or just useless.

Boxycharm 04.15

   
   This month's Boxycharm was packed full of amazingness, and I am very excited to share it with you. So let's dive in and check out the goods! 

Shorty Styles File 03

   
   My hair has been so dry and frizzy lately because of the weather, and the fact that it hadn't been cut for over eight months was not helping either. So I was really rocking this messy bun "look" a lot. 

#shorthairdontcare

September Mini-Haul/Reviews

   It's been so long since I wrote and posted anything. There's been quite a lot going on. The most exciting recent development is that my husband and I found a new place to rent, and (here's the best part) it's a little house! I am beyond thrilled and excited to go from living in a tiny one bedroom apartment in a loud and not-so-safe area, to a cute and tiny little two bedroom back house in a really nice part of town, and within walking distance to the local library! It's more than we ever imagined we could find, so we are elated to say the least. 

   We'll be moving in to the new place at the end of October, so I have been busy simultaneously cleaning the new place and packing up the current apartment. Hence, the absence here. As annoying as the whole moving process is, it hasn't been too great a burden since I really love where we'll soon be living. I'm so ecstatic about it that packing feels like it's actually worth it this time around. I'll probably document the process, or I will at least attempt to, because I have a lot of DIY's planned for utilizing/decorating the space in our new home. 

   On another, and not quite as exciting note, I did a little bit of shopping at Sephora and Target during September and thought I'd share some of what I got. I actually got quite a bit at Target but when I collected everything together to take the photos for today's post, I realized that half of it was already moved to our new place. So that was a bit of a bummer because I was really excited about those purchases. I guess it just gives me an excuse to share them in a later post.

   Without further ado, here is my haul, click the read more link below to see photos of each item and mini-reviews...

Shorty Styles File 02

My hair is fairly thin, very fine, and stick straight. There's not a whole lot of body and texture to it, so I have to use a lot of product and a touch of backcombing at my crown to achieve the fluffy, textured, piece-y hair styles I prefer. 

These are the products I've been using lately. It may seem like a lot, but the combination doesn't weigh down my hair or make it stiff. The Argan oil spray protects my hair from heat and keeps my ends from splitting. I use it whenever I'm going to use any heating tools, and it leaves my hair really soft and shiny. The Rusk thick spray combined with the Sexy Hair root pump mousse gives my roots more body and lift. The Sexy Hair spray clay and Bed Head manipulator pomade adds texture to my ends, and I LOVE a lot of texture. I quite like the final result.

Love, Little Mouse

Shorty Styles File 01

I've had very long hair, I've had extremely short hair, and everything in between. That being said, I would have to say that my personal favorite length is right about where my hair is at now. I love having a little bit of length to play with and style. 

My favorite thing to do with my hair lately has been to style it into loose, textured waves, which requires a little bit of work being that my hair is naturally stick straight. First, I use a heat protecting spray throughout my hair. Then, using a 1" curling iron, I separate my hair into small section and curl each little section in the opposite direction of the piece before it. This is so that none of the curls settle in to each other. Lastly, I give it a good shake out, a few generous spritzes of hairspray, followed by sea salt spray for a little extra texture. 

I love this style because it makes me really happy when my hair is piece-y and (purposely) messy looking. Anything too polished and perfect makes me feel like I'm done up way too much for what my day entails. Till next time.

Love, Little Mouse

When You're in a Pinch...

We've all experienced the anxiety that comes with running out of a much needed product when we absolutely need it the most. For me, nine times out of ten, that product is dry shampoo. A few times it happened to be a brand new bottle of the aerosol dry shampoo that went flat after only four or five uses. It was exceedingly frustrating, especially when I was in a hurry. 

I made a dry shampoo mixture out of products I had around the house to keep on hand in case of future emergencies. I really love the way it turned out, especially the way it smells. The only downside to a DIY dry shampoo is that it's not in the convenient form of a spray can. Despite that, it is quite handy to keep around and use in place of the aerosol versions when I want to give my hair a break from chemicals.

This is what I used:

• 2 Tablespoons baking soda
• 2 Tablespoons baby powder
• 1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (for dark hair)
• 3-5 drops Lavender essential oil (for scent, not a necessary step)
• measuring and mixing spoons

I mixed all my dry ingredients in first, then add the few drops of Lavender oil (this was in order to minimize the strong scent of baby powder) then stirred and mixed some more until there were no clumps. I keep my mixture in a little Tupperware container, and it's stayed well over the last three months. 

In order to apply this, I use a fluffy makeup brush to press and dust the powder into my roots. I allow it to sit for two or three minutes, then I brush it through my hair until it's distributed well. 

I feel like this does a fabulous job of absorbing oil, and the combination of scents is surprisingly refreshing! Till next time...

Love, Little Mouse