rinnah's consumer views|a straight talking, tell-it-as-it-is consumer lifestyle blog

I was uber excited at first to know that Singapore was getting a local version of the sample box trend that’s all the rage in US, UK and Australia.

Bellabox delivers the latest deluxe beauty products to your door, brand new and exclusive for you at SGD 15.00 a month. We handpick and deliver 5 of the most luxurious beauty products to hit the market. Discover new products you will love, and make new purchases with confidence.

I signed up for Bellabox about 3 months back during the preview before their official launching, but only received my first Bellabox this month after a long saga (I had multiple issues with ordering and the online payment via PayPal that resulted in my missing the cut-off date for the first edition Bellabox in October). I was pretty frustrated with the technical problems that put me on the sidelines watching other bloggers and Singapore beauty lovers tweet/blog/write about what they got last month so I guess my expectations were rather dampened by the time the November Bellabox arrived.

Nevertheless, there is always a thrill in receiving a package and opening presents.

Your Bellabox experience starts when your pink Bellabox is delivered to the doorstep via Singapore registered post.

Inside the pink Bellabox packaging sits another, smaller glossy box containing the sample products for the month, all nestled in confetti packaging. These products are custom selected for you based on the profile you fill up when you first register for the service.

Here’s what I received in November’s Bellabox:

1. Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Lip Tar in Trollop
2. Duchess Marden Damascena Anti-Wrinkle Serum
3. Korres Guava Body Butter
4. Skin Factory Eye Dream Honey Patch
5. Davines Melu Mellow Anti-Breakage Lustrous Shampoo
6. Davines Melu Mellow Anti-Breakage Lustrous Conditioner

Of all the products, I’d say that OCC’s Lip Tar and the Davines shampoo/conditioner set seem most value for money. After all, considering that 1 tube of Lip Tar normally retails at SGD 18.90, you’ve already gotten back the price of your monthly subscription. I was a mite disappointed with the size of Korres’ body butter sample sachet though – just one sachet seems rather miserly to me. Surely they could have coughed up another sachet which would allow users to better decide whether or not it works for them in more than just one or two uses.

All in, the jury is still out as I’m rather ambivalent about Bellabox at this point of time and will wait to see what’s in next month’s Bellabox before making any judgement calls.

Read other blogger reviews here :
Beetrice – October Bellabox and November Bellabox

I was first attracted to this shampoo because of the cute small bottle that reminded me of teeny wine bottles (but in plastic form). It claims to be Then I saw the label that says “Made in Israel” and got intrigued enough to buy it to try.

Having used Style Aromatherapy Pro Hair Care Natural Anti-Aging Shampoo for about a month now, I think I’ve established my thoughts enough to blog about it.

First off, I like the bottle design as a change from the usual shampoo bottle. Buying the travel sized version of this shampoo also means that it fits nicely in my hand and the flip-top cover lets me use it one-handed. I’m not sure how bulky the regular sized bottles may be, seeing that they’re also flip-top caps and not pump versions.

The scent of this shampoo is also nice although I can’t describe it. It doesn’t irritate my sinuses either, so that’s a plus point in its favor. It doesn’t lather up excessively, but enough to get the job done.

Now comes the part where I’m rather on the fence with this shampoo.

I find that it does a good job of cleaning my hair when it felt greasy and not overly drying, but it also left my hair rather static. What I mean by static is when you run your fingers through your hair, it doesn’t feel smooth and your fingers seem to meet friction even though there are no tangles? While it doesn’t leave any product behind to weigh down my hair like some other shampoos I’ve used, my hair also didn’t feel as soft nor did it have shine. For a shampoo that’s supposed to be formulated for normal to dry hair, I found that it didn’t have enough moisturizing effect for me.

I figure I’ll alternate using this shampoo with my other, regular shampoos until I finish up the bottle. Waste not, want not!

Would I repurchase? Probably not.

Yes factors : Cleans oil and grease very well, nice fragrance
No factors : Does not provide enough moisture to hair ends, hair felt ‘static’ after use

Read other blogger reviews here :
Ling Tung
Vivian

Category : Intensive repair for normal to dry hair with Dead Sea minerals, enriched with borage seed oil and burdock extract.

Description : Style Aromatherapy Shampoo with innovative “natural anti aging” technology nourishes and moisturizers your hair while leaving it feeling light and refreshed. Enriched with borage seed oil the shampoo is a natural anti aging source for your hair and scalp. The aromatherapeutic properties of burdock extract and Dead Sea minerals impart intensive nourishment to the hair resulting in increased softness and suppleness.

Directions : Apply a generous amount of shampoo to wet hair and work into a lather. Rinse well. Repeat if necessary. Suitable for daily use.

Packaging : 100ml (comes in 400ml version as well)

Recommended retail price : SGD 2.90 for 100ml

Where’s a solution to your hair woes when you need one?

I’d been experiencing some unusual hair fall of late, where if I ran my fingers through my hair I’d come away with a few strands in my hand. Washing my hair meant losing dozens of strands of hair and none of my usual shampoos were working to stem this problem. Honestly, I was getting rather worried about this situation. Not that I don’t have hair to spare – my hair is deceptive, as any of my hair stylists (past and present) will tell you. It looks rather fine and no more than a handful, but when they start to style/cut my hair, it will seem never-ending! Hahah.

Then I got invited to the Pantene blogger engagement event at Hair Atelier in Jaya One. And I will honestly say that I didn’t set any expectations overall before going. You see, I don’t have a firm opinion where Pantene products were concerned even though I’ve used variants of the shampoo/conditioner ever since I was a little girl. You could practically say I grew up in a house that was never without a bottle of Pantene shampoo/conditioner (different types) in the bathroom. And you know what they say – that you don’t fully realize the pros and cons of something just because you are so used to having it in your life. Heh.

I did hope that my poor, neglected tresses would get some TLC though. I’d say that the team was pretty confident that their product works because we were treated to a hair pampering session using nothing but the new Pantene Recharging Fluid Pro-V formulated products (after this referred to as Pantene Pro-V Total Care) – the Total Care shampoo, conditioner and the 3 minute miracle treatment.

The new Pantene Pro-V Total Care smells deliciously like honeydew, a rare departure from the rest of the fruity/floral shampoo brigade. Unlike dear Kahani, I kinda liked the fragrance and couldn’t help but sniff at my hair whenever I thought no one was watching.

After the wash and treatment, the stylists brought out their hairdryers to blow dry and style my hair and I thought “Oh no, my hair will be fried!” Luckily, I was wrong. The treatment had made my hair soft and silky straight, so much so one of the stylists asked if I had straightened my hair. LOL. And the end result of all that hair pampering?

My hair felt amazingly soft and light after and still looked great for the following week. Even better yet, the soft and light feel remained even though I’d been using other shampoos and conditioners and reminded me of far more pricier hair treatments I’d done previously. Even my scalp felt cleaner, since my hair did not get oily as quickly as it normally would. And while my hair did not miraculously stop falling, any subsequent hair fall that week was significantly reduced by as much as 70%. That was pretty amazing for me, I can tell ya.

Will I continue to use the Pantene Pro-V Total Care products? Yup, I definitely would as long as the products continue to work well for me.

You can pick up Pantene Pro-V products at the following recommended retail prices : Shampoo/conditioner @ MYR 9.30 (180ml) or MYR 14.90 (350ml); Intensive Treatment (in a jar) @ MYR 14.90 (135ml) or MYR 19.30 (300ml); Night Miracle serum @ MYR 17.90 (90ml) and Treatment 3-minute Miracle @ MYR 17.85 (3 tubes x 15ml).

Read other blogger reviews here :
Connie
Ee Von – the product and the party
Juan
Kahani – the product and the party
Pretty Beautiful
Yani

Description : Does your long, fine hair turn greasy quickly: become dull and flat – losing its shine and energy? To revive your hair’s shine, L’Oréal has created Nutri-Gloss Light shampoo with Pearl Protein+ Citrus. It helps free the hair fibres of deposits and removes impurities. After shampooing, hair feels beautifully cleansed, looks healthy and is light to the touch. Nourished and smoothed, the surface of the hair captures and better reflects the light for a mirror shine, cashmere touch… weightless feel!

Packaging : 200ml or 400ml

Recommended Retail Price : MYR 12.90 or MYR 22.90

++++++++
My review :

I seem to have been ‘infected’ by the SoLoverly gals what with my new found interest in shampoos, conditioners and hair masks. It must be the way they keep on talking about ‘happy, bouncy, shiny hair’. Whatever it is they’re using, I want that happy shiny hair too!

Anyways, my previous shampoo of choice (which is still in my growing shampoo arsenal) was Kerastase Dermo-Calm for sensitive scalps as recommended by my former stylist and I liked it well enough to use it on its own (little or no conditioner needed because it leaves my hair reasonably soft and tangle-free). As I’ve also found out by much trial and error, my scalp demands that I alternate my shampoo/conditioner combinations every few days or else it rebels like a teenager – in extremes of either dandruff that’s so bad you’d think it was snowing, or a sudden over-production of oil that leaves me looking like something the cat dragged in.

As luck would have it, I was going through an oily scalp phase where I’d wash my hair daily but still feel rather oily-ish by the end of the day. I was also dropping hair by the hand/strand-ful! Each time I ran my fingers through my hair I’d be sure to come away with a strand or two in between my fingers which is not something that happens often to me. My Kerastase Dermo-Calm held the fort capably when I had dry hair and mild dandruff, but it was no match against the oilies. I needed something stronger and clarifying (a term I learned from reading Kahani’s posts).

Since Kahani touted the clarifying properties of L’Oreal Nutri-Gloss Light Shampoo (hereinafter referred to as NG Light shampoo) as being able to strip away the grease yet gentle enough for everyday use, I grabbed me a bottle when I saw it on offer in Giant Hypermarket – retailing for MYR 9.99 (200ml) on offer. Reading beauty blogs are both good and bad for you, no?

Anyway, the million dollar question here is “Does NG Light shampoo do everything it promises to deliver?”

I’d say “Yes it does!”.

Firstly, they weren’t kidding when they say it really cleans. This is the first shampoo I’ve used that cleans so well, you practically feel as though every strand of your hair is squeaky clean after and I achieved this feel without having to go a second round as I would normally do with any other shampoo to cleanse. It also adds a little bit of noticeable volume to my hair even though I don’t blow dry my hair because my roots are no longer weighed down and greasy. Nice!

I’m not sure how the matching conditioner works with this shampoo, but when paired up with my new favorite Clairol Herbal Essences Hello Hydration conditioner, this combination leaves me with clean yet soft and tangle-free hair. And there’s one more thing that I haven’t mentioned yet. Shine! Yes, this shampoo gives me shiny hair and brings out the color of my previously done highlights in a way that even my L’Oreal Elseve Color shampoo didn’t. But that’s not the end of my raves yet. When I matched using NG Light shampoo with the hair mask from the same Nutri-Gloss range (again, thanks to the persuasive powers of Kahani’s reviews), I achieved close to 90% salon-like hair WITHOUT blow-drying! Just wash, mask, comb and air dry, which is my normal haircare routine anyway.

Yep, I am so converted to using the L’Oreal Nutri-Gloss range now. That’s the good stuff. Now, on to some not so good stuff.

I’m not one of those females who’s into scented stuff so the smell of this shampoo took some getting used to. This shampoo has a light and citrusy scent that should please citrus lovers well enough but got me wondering what it reminded me of until one day while rinsing off my hair in the shower I realized it smells like Sugus or Fruitella (a chewy, sticky sweet). That made me have second thoughts about the smell but for the sake of gorgeous locks, I shall persevere and er, try not to think about it too much. Heh. Do take a moment to check out the smell of the shampoo if scents bug you.

I also found that my hair did not take kindly to me using this shampoo everyday as I noticed my hair heading towards dry territory until I started using it exclusively with the Nutri-Gloss hair mask, which balances the shampoo to perfection. Double shampooing is a no-no for me too. So, I prefer not to use this daily despite the “light” claims and need to alternate it with my Kerastase DermoCalm every 2 – 3 days or so.

Since I’ve found the perfect balance of products to use to keep my hair happy and gorgeous, you can bet I won’t be straying from this for a long, long time. (Or at least until my scalp/hair rebels again.)

Yes factors : Cleans the oilies really well, shine intensifying properties
No factors : Can be a tad drying for daily use (depends on individual user), smell takes some getting used to

Read other blogger reviews here :
Kahani & Syen
Kahani (hair mask from the same range)
Paris B

Tagline / Description : I’m deliciously hydrating. Give your dry hair a drink with my moisturizing conditioner. I say you can never get too much of a good thing. So say “hello” to a deep dousing of lush hydration with my rich formula fused with moisturizers, orchids & coconut milk. Drink up and replenish your hair’s much needed moisture. It’s time to be reunited with manageable, silky, smooth hair.

Packaging : 160ml or 300ml

Recommended Retail Price : MYR 9.90 (160ml) or MYR 16.90 (300ml)

++++++++
My review :

Hello Hydration indeed! This Clairol conditioner has got to be my new Holy Grail (HG) conditioner for hair and it was a rather surprising find at that.

I’d finished up my trusty L’Oreal Elseve Smooth-Intense conditioner last week and was in the market for a replacement conditioner. Not that L’Oreal didn’t work well for my hair. It was doing fine, but it tended to make my hair feel just a bit limp and heavy around the 3rd wash. So I made myself what I like to call a Real Deal. I’d pick up a new conditioner but if it didn’t work out I’d go back to my L’Oreal and promise not to stray. Well, at least not until that bottle ran out! Heh.

Now the problem with reading many beauty blogs is that I end up with a very long list of “maybe” products. As in, ‘Maybe I should try this since it worked so well for so-and-so’. So off I went to the nearest pharmacy on a mission. How then did I end up with this conditioner? I blame it on reading way too many of the SoLoverly gals’ posts on shampoos and conditioners and hair masks. Did you know that I’ve never used a hair mask before? Shock, gasp, horror. Such ill-treatment I’ve given my locks but yet they don’t give me much problems. Fingers crossed that is.

So there I was in my local Guardian, walking up and down the haircare aisle, trying to figure out which brand of conditioner I’d eventually settle on. The array of choices was slightly overwhelming, not to mention that I kept on remembering various different blogposts about different brands and treatments. I was actually holding on to another brand of conditioner when I saw Clairol Herbal Essences and my mind went, ‘Oh, Kahani raved about Long Term Relationship!’ Interest piqued, it wasn’t too long before I was sniffing away between Break’s Over (anti-breakage formula) and Hello Hydration (hydration/moisturizing formula). To tell the truth, I preferred the lavender smell of Break’s Over, but the knowledge that my poor hair needed hydration won out. (I also caved and got myself a tub of hair mask from Sunsilk but that’s another story for another day.) It was the pretty light blue color and the bottle shape that won me over. Honest!

After all that yarn-spinning above, how does Clairol Herbal Essences Hello Hydration conditioner (hereafter referred to as HH conditioner) fare in my opinion? Excellently well.

Firstly, the texture of HH conditioner is creamier and thicker than what I’m used to and you can really feel the difference when applying it. You only need to use a minimal amount of conditioner (unlike a previous experience I had with Pantene anti-hairfall conditioner where I had to use up to a tablespoonful of product before my hair felt sufficiently conditioned). The moment I started to rinse my hair, I had the thought that it felt exactly as if I’d just done a salon treatment from the way that my hair slipped through my fingers. As Kahani so eloquently puts it – ‘It feels like watered silk’. I even think that the HH conditioner could be used like a hair mask because of its slightly thicker texture.

Even though my hair isn’t all that long (currently it ends just slightly below my shoulder and it takes an awfully long time to grow out) already the ends are drying up and starting to misbehave when I let them be. So it was such a glorious feel to run my fingers through my hair and think, ‘Whee! So smooth!’ And now I have perfect tangle-free hair that is so soft to touch. Yes, I am definitely sold on this product and would repurchase in a heartbeat.

The only minor flaw in my happiness is that I’m not really a big fan of the scent. It’s supposed to be a combination of orchid and coconut milk and while it’s not exactly overpowering or anything, it’s just not me! Now if only they would tone down the scent just a little bit I’ll be a happy kitty. But I’m sure it’ll grow on me in time. I hope. Would it also be too much to ask for if I wanted it to make my hair super shiny as well?

Yes factors : Leaves hair soft, smooth and tangle-free, minimal amount of product needed each time, reasonably economical drugstore product
No factors : Scent may not be pleasing to all

Read other blogger reviews here :
Beetrice (Break’s Over – same brand, different range)
Eisse J (Color Me Shiny – same brand, different range)
Kahani (Long Term Relationship – same brand, different range)
Pretty Beautiful (Long Term Relationship hair mask – same brand, different range)