Umberto Giannini Glam Hair Morning After Dry Shampoo - A Review

Umberto Giannini products have long been a staple in Boots, but this new "Glam Hair" range was launched fairly recently.  It's got the same (slightly naughty looking) packaging as the main line, but I think its more aimed and getting dolled up for a night out, rather than your everyday hair washing and styling.  

I've got a few products, but keeping in line with the Dry Shampoo review series I promised, I'm only going to talk about one - Umberto Giannini Glam Hair Morning After Dry Shampoo:

This product has given me a major problem.  Not a bad problem.  More like a "well actually, this is really flippin' good and I don't know if I'm going to bother with the other reviews" sort of problem. Obviously, I will do the other reviews because I do have a couple of products that I haven't yet tested, but they're going to have a job to top this one in my books.

For starters; LOVE the packaging.  It's black.  It's shiny.  It's classy. Or as classy as a product can be when its aimed at people who haven't washed their hair that morning.  And when it implies that you haven't been home.

Second up, it smells lovely.  Not too floral or too sweet or too hairspray-y (not a word, I know, but you get the drift).  It smells quite sexy.  Not overly so, but you do feel a little bit sultry when you catch a shiff.  Again, as sultry as one can feel when they haven't washed their hair / been home.

I guinea pigged this on a work day when I was in the office (not out at a client meeting, the boss likes me to wash my hair before those) to see how I got on. In short, really quite well.  

It's your typical spray dry shampoo, so none of the foam craziness that I had with the Tresemme one, which was fun but scary.  This, you just spray onto the roots, leave for a few minutes and then rub through with your fingers.

This product was actually good enough that I wore my hair down all day, without looking oil-slicked up.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't freshly washed hair - but it was a brilliant alternative.  I couldn't honestly say that I had "Glam Hair" but I had hair that was somewhat cleaner looking - for the whole day too (I made regular loo checks to see how it was going).

It's slightly more expensive than the old classic, Batiste or the Superdrug ones (reviews coming soon) and about the same price as the Tresemme Foam and the Lee Stafford version (review also coming soon!) - it's in the £5 region.  

To have a product allow me to go another day without a wash and without blatantly looking like I've tried to use dry shampoo is definitely worth the extra couple of quid and there's a good chance I'll repurchase this as my standard dry shampoo from now on.

Based on that, I'm giving this one

Four and a half Glossies out of Five, which is about as good as it gets here.  I'm not sure I'll ever find a 5 Glossie product...perfection is elusive!

I'll get a post up about the other products I've tried in the range as I'm really liking them so far.  Also, more dry shampoo reviews to come!

Guest Blogging!

Today, I'm guest blogging over at Edible Glitter.


If you've not visited the site before, its awesome and you should go now:


 http://edible-glitter.com/?p=1631


If you have been before...go anyway!  You know how awesome it is and you'll get to see me, looking like a bit of an idiot and talking about a Lush product!

Tresemme Waterless Foam Shampoo - Dry Shampoo Review

Right then, as promised here's the first of my dry shampoo reviews - Tresemme Waterless Foam Shampoo.

Sounds odd doesn't it?  A dry shampoo that's a foam, because logically foam is wet and "how on earth is that going to work?".

The product is aimed at people with dry, frizzy hair - which I don't have, but I was too curious not to try it and in all fairness, all the other dry shampoo products I have are the usual powder sprays, so its nice to have something a bit different in the arsenal.

The product dispenses as a foam (if you've ever used a foam cleanser, its the same style of bottle) and you run it through your hair.  The idea is it removes oil from the roots and moisturises the mid-lengths and ends.

It smells the same as all the other styling products in the Tresemme range, so if you've used any of those then you know what you're in for.  It's citrusy but quite light - not too overpowering.

I wasn't that sure how much of the foam I'd really need to do a good job, so I played safe and used two pumps.  When I first put the foam into my hair and rubbed it through, it did make it look a bit damp.  Scarily so.  I'd decided to use this one of those mornings where if it all went wrong it was going to be a total disaster because I didn't have time to wash my hair before going to work (for future tests I'll start earlier) so all my hopes were riding on it actually working.

I watched anxiously in the mirror praying to all the gods that it was going to dry and within a few minutes, it did.  My roots looked clean and the ends were, well, the way my ends usually are - its my roots that tend to look greasy.

Throughout the day I kept nipping into the loos at work to check on its progress.  I have a feeling that this entire reviewing project is going to have people thinking I'm pregnant or something!  I would say that it lasted quite well until the early afternoon, at which point the tell-tale greasiness started to creep back in and my ends started to look a little bit lank and lifeless.

I'm not sure whether this is partly because my hair isn't that dry and by putting it through the ends too, it meant that I was overdoing it for them, or whether its just that the product only works for a short time.

One other thing about this product is that because its a foam and not a powder it doesn't give you the same kind of volume boost that the powders do, presumably because the product isn't coating your hair in the same way.

So, here's the lowdown on the product:

The Good Stuff

• Its a light textured foam which is moisturising - great for dry hair
• It smells good - citrusy and light
• You only need a couple of pumps, so it should last a while
• It's in the mid-price range.  I got mine from Tesco for about £4-£5.

The Not So Good Stuff

• It doesn't give you the same volumising effect that a powder based dry shampoo does.
• It's a bit too moisturising if you have normal/oily hair as I do - it made the ends a bit lank after a few hours.

Overall

I liked the texture of the product, it smells good and its reasonably priced.  I think its better suited for people with drier hair than mine, but its definitely worth a look. 

Based on all that, I'm giving this one...

Three and a half Glossies out of a possible five.

Stay tuned for more reviews....I've got tons coming up!

Sunscreen Love! Simple Sun Sensitive Protecting Facial Hydrolotion SPF25

I hate sunscreen.  It’s one of the things I hate most about the whole summer.  I hate how it’s sticky and it leaves a white caste, even on my deathly pale skin.  I hate how it makes my neck feel grimy and gets on the neckline of my clothes and makes insects stick to me if I’m walking around outside.  HATE!

Being very pale, I have no choice but to wear some or I’ll take on a very sexy shade of lobster, mixed with a general demeanor of “ouch”.  Not hot.

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine had been given some Simple sunscreen which he had no use for and so he, kind soul that he is, gave it to me.

Simple is probably the first brand I think of when I think of skincare that won’t irritate my skin and so I had really high hopes for the sunscreen.  I figured their principles would be the same for their suncare as for their main skincare line.  I was right too.

I’ve tried all sorts of different facial sun creams from the cheapest, to some of the high end ones and they were all the same – sticky, sticky, sticky.  This one is totally different.  It absorbs really nicely into my skin and there isn’t even a hint of a mime-style white mask left behind.  It vanishes.

It’s oil free and the light lotion is perfect on my combination skin, which doesn’t need any extra shine.  I’m not sure if it would work as well on drier skin types, but I think the majority of people moisturise before putting sunscreen on so I don’t think it’d be much of a problem.

As you’d expect with a product from Simple, there’s no perfume or colour in it.  It’s also got a few goodies to help with anti-aging; sunflower extract which apparently enhances the skin’s natural defences and also some Pro-Vitamin B5 in there too.

It’s absolutely fine underneath makeup too, which is a bonus because I’ve found a lot of sunscreens make my liquid foundation ball up but there’s none of that here.

The only thing I’ve really found which isn’t so great is that it’s only 3 star UVA protection, compared say to the Boots Soltan 5 star UVA/UVB.  Having used both (and being a teensy bit reckless) I’d take this, lighter and better absorbed product over the one with wider spectrum protection that is much greasier.

It seems to last quite well, as I’ve been using this tube for about a week and there’s loads left.  Its about £10 per 75ml tube, so I think its pretty reasonably priced too.

I think that for a little while at least, my quest for the perfect facial sunscreen is over!

Which facial sunscreen are you using at the moment?  Do you rely on your usual moisturiser or foundation for your SPF, or do you religiously wear extra protection?

Let me know in the comments!

Coming Up on GlossGalore - Dry Shampoo Review Series

I don’t really know how, but over the last couple of weeks I’ve ended up buying what can only be described as an utterly ridiculous number of different dry shampoos.

It may be because I hate blow drying my hair and so my subconscious is looking for ways to avoid that.  It may also be that I have very poor self control when I'm near beauty products things.  Its probably the latter.

So they don’t end up all sitting in my “hair stuff” box not getting used, I’m going to do a little series of reviews.  I usually wash my hair every day, but the plan here is I’ll wash my hair every other day and use one of the dry shampoos on the inbetween days.

The ones I’ll be reviewing are:

• Lee Stafford Dry Shampoo
• Superdrug Dry Shampoo 
• Tresemme Instant Refresh Waterless Foam Shampoo
• Umberto Giannini Morning After Dry Shampoo

EDITED:  I was originally going to review Batiste's Dry Shampoo too, but everyone and their grandma has tried it so I'm just leaving it to the 4 above, which people may not have tried.

In theory it should take me 10 days, but the reviews will be up over the next couple of weeks to allow for hair emergencies, nights out etc.  I’ll probably intersperse them with some other posts too, or I’ll end up being “dryshampoogalore.com” and that’s sorta boring.

Stay tuned!

Blot, Blot, Blot - The Body Shop Tea Tree Blotting Tissues

I'm not much of a summer person.

I'm uber-pale, I prefer winter clothes and to make matter worse, I hate the heat.  It makes my make up slide off my face, turns my hair into limp, lanky straw and makes my combination skin oilier than a very oily thing.

Various places used to sell the blotting sheets for a couple of quid, but it seems that lots of them have stopped selling them.  I was almost resigned to having to buy myself some MAC Blot Sheets (which I'm sure are fab, but at £10 for 30 are a little pricey for my liking) when I found these Tea Tree Blotting Tissues from The Body Shop:

(apologies for the picture quality - I'm out and about today!)

And..quite frankly they're brilliant.

Part of the Tea Tree range, which is aimed at blemished skin, these are thin sheets of tissue paper which absorb excess oil from the skin's surface - great for quick touch ups throughout the day as you don't need a mirror (there is no powder on these, so no risk of overdoing it and leaving a powdery mark on your face).

They also contain tamanu oil, which I've found (after a bit of research) is used to help with elasticity, tone and firmness of the skin and nappy rash too.  I'm not sure whether the amount in these sheets will give me enough of the stuff to give me a gorgeous, toned, firm, nappy-rash-free nose but it's always nice to know when there are good things in the products.

They're around £3.50 for 65 (so that's about 5.5p each versus 33p each for the MAC ones) and really do the job, so I think they're excellent value for money.  I'll definitely be keeping a pack in my handbag throughout the summer to help keep my schnozz shine free!

Available at The Body Shop (although not on the website it seems?)