Current obsessions

Let's just get the food stuff out of the way first. I haven't eaten lunch yet so I'm literally drooling right now!

Obsession #1: Buffalo Wings (preferably from Buffalo Wild Wings)

I LOVE spicy food. But, within reason. I tried the Blazin' wings last year and... big mistake. They just tasted weird. So, I'll stick to my classic mild or hot. I also like the hot BBQ.

Obsession #2: Hot bread and butter pickles

I do NOT like bread and butter pickles. But someone on Twitter told me about these and I had to try them. They are SO good! So many pickles claim to be "hot" (just like to many women) but they fall flat. These actually have quite a kick to them. The first time I bought them, I swear I ate the whole jar in one sitting. I thank whoever made these and won the State Fair contest!

Obsession #3: Philosophy Summer Grace

I've been wearing Amazing Grace, Falling in Love and other yummy Philosophy fragrances for a couple of years now. Before that I wore Burberry Summer but could never find a good winter fragrance. Now that it's summer again, I was SUPER stoked to see that Philosophy came out with a Summer Grace perfume. It smells just like I thought it would and is very close to Burberry Summer! It is light, clean and fresh with just a little bit of a floral tone. It is just perfect!

Obsession #4: Clarisonic brush

I've had mine for several months now but was slacking on using it. My face has been a bit broken out lately so I've revived my skincare routine and already see the difference!

Obsession #5: Wavy hair

It has been my life's mission for years now to figure out how the H to get Gisele waves. You know, hair that says "Oh yea, I just wake up like this. I don't have to even try." I always ended up with some kind of beauty pagent curls or Taylor Swift teenybopper weirdness. I think I finally figured out how to get these messy, effortless waves. Turns out it does take some effort! I'll post pics of my attempt soon!

Long hur, don't care: Garnier Simply Shine Clear Gloss treatment

So, it has been more than NINE weeks since I last got my hair cut/colored. That's frickin' forever in my world. There was a time when I got my hair done about every four weeks!

I finally made an appointment for this coming weekend but decided to pick up a shine gloss treatment to get me through the week. Garnier's Simply Shine Clear Gloss treatment was about $7 bucks and you can't beat that. It was easy to apply, definitely smelled like an at-home color treatment (not sure why I wasn't expecting that) and there was plenty of mix to cover my long and pretty thick hair.

The one thing I didn't like is that my hair still smelled like box o' hair color after the rinse and condition. I followed the instructions exactly and there was no mention of shampooing the treatment out, just rinse and then condition. All in all it did make my hair softer and more shiny! I also swear that it made my roots look just a bit lighter. A few days later my hair still feels softer and looks more shiny and vibrant than it did before.

Overall, I'd give it a B+ because it worked and for $7 I wasn't expecting it to compare to my beloved (now banned from my head) Brazilian Blowout!

Brazilian Blowout

Here are a couple of before and after pics from my Brazilian Blowout. I absolutely LOVE the results and can't imagine ever going back to my old hair. It's harder to tell with my hair straight but the biggest difference is the process and product. I used to have to wait and let my hair air dry before blow drying because it took so long and and use a straightening lotion and a ton of serum followed by the flat iron. Then I used serum again once it was dry. Now it takes me 1/2 the time to dry it and hardly any product at all. I just use a little bit of serum before blow drying. I am SO lucky that my stylist will do the Brazilian Blowout for me for just the product charge - $14!
Before

After

Before

After

Just call me Nicole...

I got my hair done (aka wig busted today) and while I was being shampooed my stylist mentioned that they now offer the Brazilian Blowout. I used to work at the salon during college so I am always interested in new trends and treatments.
http://nicolerichie.celebuzz.com/2009/03/you-have-to-get-a-brazilian-blow-dry/

I said it seemed cool and that it would probably be good for my stick-straight, yet coarse and frizzy hair. I didn't think too much more of it as I knew it was more money than I could ever spend on my hair!

My appointment was almost over when my stylist asked if I wanted to come in on a Sunday and have her do it for me as part of her "friends and family" list. You only pay the product charge... which is... $14! Yes, $14 for this treatment that's $300+.

How lucky am I? Bring it on Ms. Ritchie!

BANGS?

Ever since this summer, I felt like my hair was forcing me to get bangs. Sounds pretty weird, right? All of a sudden I had this weird collick or something that was forcing some of my hair down - like bangs! I had kind of tried some longer bangs earlier in the year but they were growing out and I was planning to continue to grow them out. When I got my hair done last, my stylist asked me if new hairs were growing in. Huh?? It seems some of my long (almost grown out) bangs either broke off or new hair has grown. Now I have this weird spot of shorter bangs on my head.

See what I'm talking about?!