Hair Quest: The Results!

Last June was just horrible in Montreal! Rain, humidity, more rain!!! If only we could have a refund for it but apparently that's not the way it works. So now we're left with twenty days of Summer and we'll probably have a few more hot and sticky ones as was the case this past week.

Saturday I did my hair color and it was perfect! I mean the color was great and styling was a breeze. I ended up with beautiful sleek shiny hair. The weather was just amazing! Sunny, a bit of a breeze and most importantly, no humidity!

Notable Reads, Vol. 19...

To discover, Lee Miller...

This week I stumbled upon this picture below, Lee Miller in Hitler's bath tub!

Lee Miller in Hitler's tub, photographed by David E. Scherman.

Who was she and why did this happen?

Lee Miller (1907-1977) was a fashion photographer and war correspondent for... Vogue! Reading this startled me. To think that Vogue had such a collaborator during World War II is somewhat surprising. Fashion and war?

Lee Miller started off as a model then became Man Ray's muse and mistress after moving to Paris in 1929, before embarking on a photographer's journey herself opening her own studio in the City of Lights. Active in the Surrealist movement in Paris, she had in her circle of friends, Picasso and Cocteau.

At the start of the war, Miller who was then living in England, was accredited into the U.S. Army as a war correspondent for Condé Nast Publications in 1942. She teamed up with LIFE photographer David E. Scherman on several assignments. The picture in Hitler's bath tub is the most iconic of their collaboration.

This article below is worth reading to learn more about this extremely talented woman. Studying Man Ray I knew of her but never took the time to read about her extraordinary life.

Lee Miller: Light on Her Fashion, The New York Times Fashion & Style. Article by Cathy Horyn.


August 19, Coco Chanel's birthday...

She was born 130 years ago on that date and I thought it would be interesting to bring you this short film about her beginnings. Starring Kiera Knightly in the role of the designer it was directed by Karl Lagerfeld. Clearely not a masterpiece but still fun to watch...

"Once Upon A Time..." by Karl Lagerfeld 

"A woman can be overdressed, never over-elegant." Coco Chanel

This one I enjoyed when it came out and this is my second time posting it. The first was last year just before that "interesting" Chanel N° 5 ad campaign with Brad Pitt.

Chanel N° 5 - For the first time - Inside Chanel

Controversy, speculations about Chanel's role during World War II. Nazi collaborator or not? Here are a few links including the only interview she gave about the war to someone who clearly didn't like her...

September of 1944 interviewed by Malcolm Muggeridge, The Unpublished Interview. Here's an insert...

Muggeridge: If you were to write your memoirs, what wartime revelations would you make? 

Chanel: This is such a difficult question, isn't it? 

Muggeridge: Well, let me make it easier for you. Which side were you on? 

Chanel: On neither side, of course. I stood up for myself as I always have done. Nobody has                  ever told Coco Chanel what to think.

Was Coco Chanel a Nazi? The New York Times, by Judith Warner. A review of Hal Vaughans' book, Sleeping With The Enemy: Coco Chanel's Secret War, published September 2, 2011.

A Vindication of Chanel, showing a letter co-signed by Isée St. John Knowles, president Société Beaudelaire and Gabrielle Labrunie, great niece of Coco Chanel, which announces the intention to publish some sort of vindication as the title implies.

Interview with Isée St. John Knowles, Président of Société Beaudelaire. Read what he thinks of Hal Vaughans, book. Should the book be read as fiction targeting desperate American housewives? The aversion of Muggeridge for Chanel.

Clearly, a woman can be boring but never too interesting... Chanel is definitely the later.

What caught my attention this week...

I'm sorry but I only have a few this week since I was rather busy with other things, including, life! Still, I do hope you will enjoy them!

Mascara Movers: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Vivianna does Makeup, Anna tells us which eye makeup remover really does the job for her when it comes to waterproof mascara. Also, have a look at her list of The Best Beauty Instagrammers. If you're not on Instagram yet here's an excellent reason to register.

Home Hair Color 101: The Pro Secret to Avoiding those Dreaded Hot Roots, BeautyGeeks. Janine shows us two celebrity examples of this weird phenomenon and a pro tells us how to avoid this. Now of course this has never happened to me....

What If You Bought Everything Fashion Magazines Told You To? A Huffington Post Graphic. First off I wouldn't but for the fashion victim well, she'll indeed be broke! That's unless she's got a nice trust fund.


Icaria's Food Blog...

One of our favorite seasonal recipe, Ratatouille, traditional or with a twist. See how you can make it your own.

Starting to enjoy tea again, I stopped this week to David's Tea for the first time. Tea Heaven is what it is. One recently opened in my area and I couldn't be more pleased, These guys below made the experience super enjoyable and believe me, I'll likely be a regular customer!

Love this! They give new meaning to "Service with a smile!"

By the way I got the Californian Lemon black tea (Citron Californien biologique), which is lovely to make iced tea!


Have a great week every one! xoxo Hélène

Garnier Fructis Style Thermo Sleek-Spray / Review

In my Quest to find the perfect anti-frizz styling products, I recently purchased a few Garnier Fructis products. I've already reviewed the Triple Nutrition Miracle Oil, here. This week I've been experimenting with the Thermo-Sleek Spray.

How did I use it?

I'm not going by the first two times I tried it since on those days we ended up with rain and it was extremely humid. I don't think anything would have made much difference on my type of hair.

Yesterday...

On towel dried hair. The spray is not that great so I sprayed about ten times in my hand to apply to the length and another seven times or so close to the roots, about one inch from them. Using a comb at this point is a good idea to help spread this gel like liquid evenly. I let my hair air dry about 30 minutes or so before using the blow dryer and honestly, I don't know how this product would fair with a regular blow dryer, I have a pro version that gives a lot of heat and this does make a huge difference as far a end results are concerned, especially for me since as I've mentioned before I have super thick hair.

Blow drying my hair I was a little annoyed by the steam the product caused. It was as if my hair was catching fire! It was not but still a bit scary. Once I was done I did have perfectly straight hair so I figured I'd skip the flat iron. One hour later my hair didn't look so sleek. It was starting to do it's own thing, again! Normally I would have dragged my feet back in the bathroom to plug in the flat iron but yesterday was one of those super hot days so my hair ended up in a bun.

This morning...

My hair feels a bit dry, almost "staticky" which is a little weird for Summer. I do have some frizzes but it's not as bad as with Frizz-Ease reviewed, here. Because of that dry sensation I will not use the flat iron today. It's Saturday anyway and I don't want to damage my hair. I'll simply use a bit of oil to tame it and will likely wear it up again.

Would I recommend Garnier Fructis Style Thermo Sleek-Spray? It's a no for me but yes for some.

It didn't give me the outstanding results I was looking for. If you have thick/coarse hair, I don't think you'll fair much better than I did. If you have medium to thin hair that's already on the "straitish" side then I believe you will likely end up with good looking straight hair. I paid under $4.00 for this but if you have long hair you will find the bottle to be on the small side. It's only 150 ml so if you wash your hair every two days on average you will use this product pretty quickly. I've used it three times and already a fifth of it is gone.

The fragrance is on the strong side when you apply it but fades nicely after an hour or so which is a good thing since I'm not that much of a fan of the "Fructis" smell.

This product seems to have been on the marked for a while in Australia (maybe in other parts of the world as well) but it's not showing on Garnier's Canadian, American or French websites. There aren't many reviews of it either but from the ones I've read Gariner Fructis Style Thermo Sleek-Spray appears to get an average of 3 out of 5.

I will not repurchase but again, it's not because it didn't work for me that it won't for you.

John Frieda Frizz-Ease Straight Fixation / Review

On my Quest to find the perfect hair styling products to combat the frizzes, I decided to give John Frieda Frizz-Ease Straight Fixation Smoothing Crème a try. With a name like that one would expect great results, right?

L'Oréal Nutri-Sleek Precious Oils / Review

If you follow Icaria's you probably already know that at the beginning of the month I embarked on a Quest! I'm looking for products that will help me get perfect non frizzy hair for 48 hours straight!

L'Oréal Nutri-Sleek Precious Oils is the first one to take the boot!

Favorite Body Oils of The Moment...

I don't know if it's because Summer is fast approaching (in some parts of the world... somewhere... I hope) but recently I've noticed several entries about oils. For hair, face or/and body, it's a fact that they are gaining in popularity, fast!

I have mentioned before that for years and years, in my teens and twenties I used baby oil (I still do from time to time) at the end of my shower on wet skin, pat dry, soft skin for the day! These days I enjoy avocado, sweet almond and argan oil for moisture, all these, except maybe for argan oil, are quite affordable and I use them freely. The others, the more pricey fragrant ones I have, I use instead of perfume.

Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition Miracle Dry Oil / Review

What can I say about this other than Wow? What a cheap thrill!

When I go to the drugstore I usually spend most of my time in the cosmetics department and when I roam  through the other sections it's mainly for something specific, an essential that has to be replaced. The other day I spent a little more time in the hair products section in search of hair styling items and stumbled upon this oil. On special at $3.99 I figured why not give it a try.

Embarking On A New Quest For Perfect Hair...

I was blessed with a full head of hair that is thick, in fact thicker than most. I'm not complaining about that, far from it. I'm one of those who can really have it below the waist and it has reached that length a few times in my life. On a good hair day, I love it and I won't lie, it does make me feel more confident. On a bad hair day, well, let's just say I'd rather not get out of the house. Ok maybe not that bad but still I don't like it when I hate my hair.

So my hair is thick and full and gorgeous, blah blah blah and.... it frizzes!!!

You'll think, she's at it again with the weather... Let me tell ya, the weather in Montreal these days is enough for me to start wearing a wig!!!

One day it's freezing cold, like today and the next can be super humidly hot! Last Sunday was cold and humid! What kind of weather will we have this weekend? Damned if I know! Sorry about that but again, it's been crazy!

So, I am now embarking on a new Quest (note the capital letter) to find the perfect combination of hair products that will tame my mane for 48 hours straight! I am looking for nothing other than the Holy Grail of hair products.

Oh and they have to be from the drugstore, readily available! Am I asking for too much? I sure hope not!

Here are some products I've been using and new purchases...

L'Oréal Elnet is a staple for me. TRESemmé I've been using a while now so I'll be bringing you reviews of these soon. Frizz-Ease and L'Oréal Oil have been used only a few times and the Garnier products have not been tried yet. I also apply oils on the lengths at the end of my shower, either avocado or sweet almond.

Now for some mysterious reason, even though I do love my hair, on a good hair day, I hate spending money on it. Weird of me and I have no idea why. So I will give drugstore brands one more go and if I keep failing then maybe I'll look at salon options.

I sincerely hope my Quest will end before Summer does so if you have any suggestions, they will be sooo welcome! :)

The Body Shop Brazil Nut Define & No Frizz / Review

I'll admit, I'm one of the lucky ones! I have super thick hair.

This has been said to my by several hairdressers, every time I go to a new one in fact. When I used to have my hair color done professionally it would always take 2x the usual amount of dye if not 3 depending on the lenght. When they blow dry it, they end up with quite a work out! 

So ok, I'm lucky! 

I do have one major issue! It's curly! Not in the nice way! It's in between, mid straight and mid curly. This means I have frizzy hair if I let it dry naturally. Even if I try to give it definition it doesn't look polished in any way. It only looks like I haven't made the effort to make myself more presentable. Good for when you know you're staying home for a few days but not good if you have to go out there in the world!

Blow dryer and flat iron are not enough to give my hair that chic sleek look. I need to put something in it (or is it on it? sorry, French got in the way here), otherwise, a few hours later it starts to frizz. It's very stubborn!

Le Sigh

I guess my hair has always been important to me but for whatever reason I've never really invested in hair products and I've never been faithful to any I've purchased through the years, except for shampoo. I cannot, will not live without Head and Shoulders! I've tried to replace it a few times and always end up with an itchy, uncomfortable scalp. Going crazy, not an option!

On the look out for a cream to help tame my mane I've stumbled upon a post from my friend Gingy (Gingerrama) about The Body Shop Brazil Nut Define & No Frizz.

It smells so delicious one has to refrain from tasting it. It's light and applies like a dream. The nice thing about it is it doesn't leave any chemical scent on my hands.

If only it performed better I would be in Brazil Nut Heaven!

Unfortunately, this product alone doesn't cut it. I've used it on damp hair, blow dried, flat ironed and a few hours later I could see some frizzies! The next morning, I had to use my flat iron all over. I noticed that it also made my hair a little greasy even though I was careful about the amount I used.

I also tried it on dry hair to give it definition. It barely lasted an hour.

Sadly, this product isn't made for my type of hair.

*Sniff*

I really wanted it to be THE one. Like I said, the smell alone is so dreamy!

To read Gingy's review click here.

All excited for a... Comb???

This is truly one of the greatest invention since sliced bread!

Ok maybe I'm exaggerating a little but this comb is amazing!

I first read about it on Daily Beauty and was more than intrigued. I have long super thick hair and the drying process is such a bore. After reading Jane's entry describing her experience with Goody Quick Style Comb, I wrote it down on my list of things to try and mentioned it on my Notable Reads of the Week vol. 3. A few days later I found it at my local drugstore. I don't remember how much I payed for it but I'm quite sure it was under $10.00

Does it work? A big resounding YES!

Usually after I wash my hair I let it air dry as much as possible so that I waste less energy, both electrical and physical. If I don't do this, it takes in average of 25 minutes to dry my hair with both the blow dryer and the brush to straighten it. I was blessed with not only super thick hair but also super frizzy hair. I'm so lucky!

Today, instead of waiting a good hour and a half before going into the torture chamber that is my bathroom to finish off with the blow dryer, I was able to start exercising my arms 30 minutes after my shower. Not only that but it did cut down on the time it took. A little over 10 minutes and I was done.

Wow!

Do go have a look at Daily Beauty's review.

Thank you Jane for a great find!