Weekend Un-Lacquered Reviews: Battle of the Drugstore Dry Shampoos Round 1

I've been on a mission the past few months to find my HG (holy grail) drugstore dry shampoo. Dry shampoo is an absolute must for me. My hair is the type that gets greasy on the scalp, yet is dry on the ends. I don't want to wash my hair daily and dry out my ends more, but I don't want to walk around with a greasy scalp either. I need a dry shampoo!

I'm not new to dry shampoo, but over the past several years of cycling through many I haven't found a favorite. There are many I haven't tried in years and others I haven't tried at all. I decided to start with a clean slate and try as many as possible over the next few months. I figured I'd share my results with you all while I'm at it.

How It Works:

• Dry shampoo has to be able to found at a major drugstore or big box store.
• Dry shampoo has be under $10
• I will test the dry shampoo in 2 separate uses. I know this may sound like very little, but dry shampoo unlike some other beauty products doesn't seem to improve over time or with more use. 
• I will test/review 4 dry shampoos per post.
• The winner from each testing period will battle it out with other winners in a final post. 

How I'm Reviewing: 

• Scent-What the dry shampoo smells like, and my reaction to the smell.
• Application- My experience with how the dry shampoo applies. Is it easy? Is there a gray cast?Etc.
• Effectiveness- How effective the dry shampoo is upon application and after a full day of wear.
• Hair Texture After Use- How this dry shampoo made my hair feel after I used it. 
• Pros- What I liked about the dry shampoo.
• Cons- What I didn't like about the dry shampoo. 
• Paint Splatter Rating
• Ranking & Sum Up- The end of each post I'll rank them, name my favorite, and sum up my overall experience. .

How I Use Dry Shampoo: 

• When using dry shampoo, I lift the roots of my hair and spray it on my roots. I rub it in my hair and let it sit for 2-3 minutes before brushing out.
• For reference I do have medium-dark brown hair. 

*Please note that these are my own personal experiences and opinions. Some of these I may hate and you may absolutely love or vice versa.  I'm not dictating how you should feel about these products, but rather sharing my experience. 

Let's get started!

Battle Round 1:

 Suave Refresh & Renew Dry Shampoo

Batiste A Hint of Color Medium & Brunette Dry Shampoo

L'Oreal EverStyle Energizing Dry Shampoo

 Herbal Essences Color Me Happy Instant Clean Dry Shampoo

Suave Refresh & Renew- Price around $2.50-$3.00

Scent: This has a strong tropical fruit scent with a slight minty undertone. I'm not a fan of this particular scent, but I know others might like it. To me, this kind of smells like rotting fruit. It has this kind of musty smell to it. It's not horrible or revolting, but not pleasant either. I find this scent really lingers on the hair too. I would catch whiffs of it all day. 

Application: This applies easily, but it leaves a very stark white cast on your hair. This did brush out of my hair easily though. I found it blended in and didn't leave a gray cast. 

Effectiveness: I thought this dry shampoo was very effective. It absorbed the oil, and my hair felt and looked clean after use. I also found that it lasted well throughout the day.

Hair Texture: This made my hair feel a little straw-like and dry. It wasn't bad at all, but it was harder to run my hands through hair at the roots because of this. 

Pros: This dry shampoo was very effective at absorbing the oil and lasting all day. I liked how my hair looked clean and fresh after use. 

Cons: The scent as effective as it was I don't think I can get past it. The was strong scent, not  pleasant, and lingered throughout the day. The way my hair felt after application wasn't horrible, but didn't feel entirely natural either.

My Rating: 3 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Batiste A Hint of Color Medium & Brunette Dry Shampoo- Price $8.99

Scent: This had clean and powdery scent. Powdery scents are not my favorite either, but this was very neutral. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. This is lightly scented and it wasn't overpowering. 

Application: This is a colored dry shampoo. I will say even though it's colored if you do over do it, it does have a dulling effect on your hair color. This comes out as a darker brown color, but did not alter or darker the color of my hair. This applied easily too. 

Effectiveness: I thought at first this was a fail. I did not have instantaneous results with this Batiste dry shampoo. This one took about 10-15 minutes to take effect after application. This absorbed the oil well, and looked very natural in my hair. I did feel at the end of the day my hair wasn't as greasy as when I started, but the effects did wear off a bit. 

Hair Texture: This dry shampoo did not alter the texture of my hair after use at all. My hair still felt like my hair, and I could easy run my hands through it without detecting any product or change. 

Pros: Blended naturally with my hair color, did not alter the texture of my hair, and was effective and absorbed oil for majority of the day. 

Cons: It took a little longer to absorb oil than other dry shampoos, wore off a bit throughout the day, and the scent wasn't a a winner. 

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Paint Splatters

L'Oreal EverStyle Energizing Dry Shampoo- Price $6-$7

Scent: This dry shampoo had a very pleasant, clean, and fancy salon shampoo scent. This smelled like luxury shampoo. You know the shampoo that is like $30-$50 you can't afford, but smells heavenly. Needless, to say I LOVED this scent of this, and it was my favorite scent of the bunch. 

Application: This applied easy, and with zero white or gray cast. This actually sprayed on completely clear. 

Effectiveness: This is where this disappointingly goes south. I so wanted this to be the "it" dry shampoo. This had the opposite effect as the previous Batiste dry shampoo. Upon application this instantly absorbed the oil. I thought this was a winner, but 20-30 minutes after application my hair looked greasy, and I'd even say greasier than it did before I even applied it. I tried this on more than 2 occasions with the same exact result. 

Hair Texture: I don't feel this initially altered the texture or feel of my hair. It blended in naturally, but like I said before 20-30 minutes later my hair felt greasy again. 

Pros: Spectacular scent and no gray/white cast.

Cons: Everything else that makes a dry shampoo worth it. This was completely ineffective for me. My hair was greasier than it was prior to use. This dry shampoo had zero staying power, and I'm completely bummed about it. 

My Rating: 1 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Herbal Essences Color Me Happy Instant Clean Dry Shampoo- Price $5-$7

Scent: This has that classic floral and clean Herbal Essences scent. I can't describe it or put it in words really. I love this type of scent though, it's not as great as the L'Oreal dry shampoo scent, but it's good. 

Application: This applies pretty heavily. A lot of product comes out when you spray. This also does leave a slight white/gray cast, but not nearly as strong as the Suave one did.

Effectiveness: This was very effective, almost too effective, which I'll get into next. This sucked all the oil up instantly in my hair and lasted throughout the day. This sucker is strong! My hair definitely looked clean after use. This does say color protection on the bottle. I'm not sure how a dry shampoo can color protect though?

Hair Texture: This is where I found this too effective. This really made my hair feel sticky and dry. I had trouble running my hands through my hair, and overall my hair just didn't feel like my hair. 

Pros: Great scent and extremely effective at lasting oil absorption. 

Cons: Heavy handed in application and left my hair feeling straw-like and unnatural. This maybe due to how heavy this product applied. 

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Rank:

1. Batiste A Hint of Color Medium & Brunette Dry Shampoo

2. Herbal Essences Color Me Happy Instant Clean Dry Shampoo

3. Suave Refresh & Renew Dry Shampoo

4. L'Oreal EverStyle Energizing Dry Shampoo

Sum Up: 

The only one here that I really had terrible results with was the L'Oreal one, which was the most disappointing since I loved the scent. I didn't have any real winners here either. I don't feel a strong desire to repurchase any of these unless I really can't find a favorite dry shampoo after all of my tests! I did have the best results with the Batiste with the Herbal Essences coming in a close second. 

I will have Part 2 up in the next 2-3 weeks! I'll be posting a preview of Part 2's contenders on my Instagram in the next few days! 

Happy Saturday! 

L'Oreal Flashing Lilac

I have another drugstore summer neon polish for you. This is one from the L'Oreal Limited Edition neons collection. Many of these colors in this collection seemed rather "been there, done that", but the purple shade Flashing Lilac stood out me as something perhaps a bit different. Let's dive in, shall we?

Flashing Lilac

Flashing Lilac is a bright orchid crelly.

Color: I would not call this a lilac at all. This looks to me like a bright orchid. This isn't neon either, but it's a nice bright shade. That being said, I adore this color! I've found in nail polish, bright purples like this sometimes read more pink on the nails. This purple in the bottle and on your nails. This doesn't read as pink. Yes, it's a pink-toned purple, but you wouldn't mistake this for pink at all. Love this color!

Formula: Excellent 2 coat formula. This applied evenly and smoothly. I say this a crelly because it does have a bit of  that "squishy" look to it, but I'd say this is definitely 90% creme and 10% jelly.

Price: I found this in the $5-$6 range at Walgreens. This is limited edition, so if you're interested, go on the lookout now!

Overall: I love Flashing Lilac. The color, formula, and price are all on point. It ticks every box I can think of, and it's been added as a contender for my Top 25 of 2014. If you love purple shades this is a must have.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Tuesday!

L'Oreal Pop the Bubbles

I have another one of the L'Oreal Gold Dust texture polishes to show you today. I think this one has to be one of my favorites. I know I mentioned in my past reviews that I preferred these with top coat. I must say, this next one, I don't think really needs it!

Pop the Bubbles

Pop the Bubbles is a turquoise metallic glittery texture.

Color: This is sparkle city and such a beautiful color too. I can find little fault in a turquoise blue.

Formula: Excellent formula. I used 2 coats in the swatch above.

Price: I purchased this in the $5-$7 range. This can be found in the core line at most drugstores and big box stores.

Overall: This is a stunner. If you're on the fence on the textured finish, but love your sparkle, Pop the Bubbles might just do it for you. This one doesn't look flat on the nail and really sparkles without the help of top coat. The color is gorgeous and the formula is great. Awesome polish!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Friday!

L'Oreal Hidden Gems

*Have you entered my 4 year blog birthday giveaway yet?

You know how I mentioned being disappointed with mainstream brands lately? I have, but who I've been impressed with is drugstore brands. I've noticed probably in the last 6 months or so, I've been buying a lot of drugstore polishes. Granted, some of them are all time faves, but all around I've been impressed with the offerings. L'Oreal Gold Dust line is definitely one of those highlights, and I have another one of those to show you today.

Hidden Gems

Hidden Gems w/ top coat

Hidden Gems is a black sheer textured base with black and teal microglitters and silver hexes.

Color: This is a really interesting and multi-dimensional color. I love colors like this that make you take a second glance. The richness of the black and teal is gorgeous, and I love addition of the silver hexes.

Formula: This wasn't my favorite formula of the Gold Dust line. The sheer base, does require a 3-4 coats to achieve opacity. I can't stand seeing my nail underneath, and this is one where that can happen if you only do 2 coats. The formula isn't bad, but requires more attention.

Price: I bought this in the $5-$7 range at Walgreens.

Overall: Gorgeous and complex polish. I love the depth of this color, and it's unique among my other nail polishes. I will say, like the other Gold Dusts, I'm a sucker for top coat on these. I know they're are textures, but I don't love them that way personally. I find top coat really brings out the sparkle in these, but that's just me! Wear them how you please!

My Rating 4.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Tuesday!

L'Oreal Sexy in Sequins

*Announcement: I've been under a lot of stress lately, to the point where I'm experiencing consistent high blood pressure. I'm monitoring it and have had blood tests done yesterday to determine what medication would be best appropriate. I'm really terrified something is wrong with me. I have a lot of medical based anxiety, so this all is making it worse. If I happen to go MIA or be quiet on the blog or social media this is why. I don't want to be, but my anxiety is so bad right now :(. 

When I first heard about the L'Oreal Gold Dust nail polish it was the first drugstore collection I was very excited to find. It took me awhile to find it, and I pretty much picked up all colors except the orange one. This is one of my favorites of the bunch.

Sexy in Sequins 

Sexy in Sequins w/ top coat

 Sexy in Sequins is a dark purple texture glitter with, gold micro glitter, and silver hex glitters.

Color: This color is gorgeous. I love the rich deep purple, and the addition of the silver and gold glitters makes this complex and unique.

Formula: Formula is excellent used 2 coats above.

Price: I believe this is the $4-$6 range at drugstores. I also believe this is part of the core display now.

Overall: I love this Sexy in Sequins. Excellent rich color with dimension. My only thought, is to be quite honest, I prefer this top coated. I feel the same about the rest in this collection. This is just a personal preference, but I love shiny glitter polish!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Tuesday!

L'Oreal The Reign of Studs

The whole textured L'Oreal Gold Dust collection was something I thought I completely missed the boat on. I saw people posting pics of it in November, but I never found it, so I just resigned to the fact that it wasn't meant to be.

I didn't realize it was actually a January 2014 release, and the people who found it early just got lucky. I stopped by Walgreens after New Years, and was very pleased to see I really didn't miss the boat. I picked up 5 colors, and The Reign of Studs is one of them.

The Reign of Studs

The Reign of Studs with top coat

The Reign of Studs is a really stupid name that I hate lavender textured glitter.

Color: This is a beautiful sparkling lavender. This is one of those where I believe the picture speaks for itself.

Formula: Excellent, easy to apply. I'm sure some could get away with one coat, but I did two for good measure.

Price: I paid $6.99 for this at Walgreens. I'm not sure if this is standard price though? I live in a tourist area, so everything tends to be $0.50-$1.00 more for me.

Overall: The dumb name aside (I really can't stand the name), this a beautiful polish. I love it with top coat and without. I don't own a color like this and the formula is great. This polish is a win.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Thursday!

L'Oreal Miss Pixie

I have another one of the L'Oreal Miss Candy jelly polishes to share with you today. This polish has 2 things I love about it. One, it's a bright blue, and two it's a jelly. This is  a heavenly combination that makes my little polish addict heart sing!

Miss Pixie

Miss Pixie is a bright cobalt blue jelly..

Color: This blue is rich, vibrant, and totally up my bright blue obsessed alley!

Formula: I used 3 coats here. The formula on this was even and easy to apply. While, I used 4 coats, I found the formula on this to be so much better than Berry Nice.

Price: I think I paid around $5 for this at Walgreens.

Overall: Awesome possum! Gorgeous bright blue...and jelly! You cannot go wrong. Must have. You need this!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Monday!

L'Oreal Berry Nice

Sometimes, something awesome, isn't awesome. The L'Oreal Miss Candy collection was pretty awesome. Jellies are awesome, but not all jellies were created equal in this collection. This is the sad case with Berry Nice. A great idea, but a not a great result.

 Berry Nice

Berry Nice is a violet jelly.

Color: No doubt about it, this color is great. A juicy grape popsicle color is hard to beat in my book. Too bad the formula didn't match the greatness of this color.

Formula: The above swatch is wait for it...5 coats. Five coats, and it is still patchy, uneven, and streaky. Nouveau Cheap nailed it on the head in her review when she mentioned that the purple pigment is the issue here. The polish formula itself is not bad, it's really the pigment that is not dispersing evenly in the formula. I have also noticed this with other purples (i.e. China Glaze Creative Fantasy). 

Price: I believe I paid around $5-$6 for this at Walgreens. 

Overall: This is disappointing. This is such a beautiful color, but the pigment/formula issues make this not worth it in my book. This makes me sad. Womp womp. 

My Rating: 1 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Thursday!

L'Oreal Jolly Lolly

Who else freaked out over the L'Oreal Miss Candy gellie polishes? I certainly did! These are true textbook jelly polishes. These are not crellies, almost jellies, kinda jellies, or somewhat squishies. These are syrupy, squishy, and delicious (please don't eat them) jellies. I have Jolly Lolly to share with you today.

Jolly Lolly

Jolly Lolly is a candy apple red jelly.

Color: Gorgeous! This is a true red that has the finish of rock candy. It's shiny, glossy, and absolutely perfect in every way. I have some jelly-like reds, but none that are this jelly-like.

Formula: The formula on this was good. I used 4 coats here to achieve this look. These are definitely sheer, but buildable. The coats apply nicely without become goopy or hard to work with at all.

Price: I paid around $4-$5 for this at Walgreens

Overall: This is an amazing polish. You need it. Go out and get it! This is limited edition, but lately I've seen these everywhere. I don't think they should be too hard to find at this point, bu don'tt wait too long.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Thursday!

L'Oreal Not a Cloud in Sight

I am really sensitive to the weather. The past week or so we've been having on and off dreary and gloomy days here, and it really messes with my mood. I need the sun! The gloomy skies depress me and just make me feel off? Thankfully, this morning the sun was shining. This was a bad segue into this nail polish. Yes, so I spotted this new L'Oreal polish called Not a Cloud in Sight in the TRENDsetter collection. I liked the name of the color because cloudless days and sunny skies have been what I've been craving! No clouds= sun, assuming it's day time, which means I will be happy because it's not cloudy. This sounded so much better in my head!

Not a Cloud in Sight

Not a Cloud in Sight is what I'd call as a bright (not neon) aquamarine creme.

If you all were to ask what my favorite color is, it would be this one. This is not necessarily my favorite nail polish color, but in general I just love this color. This color is that perfect bright tropical ocean blue-green that makes you wish you were snorkeling on a coral reef or laying on the beach. Did I tell you my parents in Jamaica right now? Yes, I'm a little envious!

I love this color. This polish I found to be pigmented and the formula was nice. The brush, however, did not make application easy for me. I've had this problem with L'Oreal brushes in the past, but it hasn't stopped me from purchasing them. The brushes are wider and have a lot of bristles. When I apply the polish to my nail, the brush wants to go wider than my nail, so I don't always get the most even application. L'Oreal has been releasing some great polishes lately, so I'm ok with the extra fuss. If you're not a fan of a wider brush, you may have some issues with this one.

Happy Thursday!

Sparkled Out Drummer Boy

I think one of the most challenging and most first world problem-esque type things about having enough nail polish to paint the globe is not knowing what color to wear. I'll get mani ideas in mind, and what I end up doing is taking a nail wheel and trying out different layering combos, glitter gradients, and saran wrap nail art until I find something I like.

This is usually a great start, until I find out it's one of those days. I had one of those you fail at painting your nails and doing anything nail related days yesterday. I fully intended on doing a glitter gradient nail look using China Glaze Little Drummer Boy and L'Oreal Silver Sparkle when I realized that was not going to happen. I could not even paint my base of ChG Little Drummer Boy correctly. The polish flooded my cuticles. I got little dents in it. I attempted to do the glitter gradient on the accent nail, but that wasn't happening. This was a fail, so I ended up just painting coat of L'Oreal Silver Sparkle on my accent nail over the ChG. I planned just to call it a day there, but I liked the look of my accent nail so much I just layered the Silver Sparkle over the rest of my nails.

L'Oreal Silver Sparkle layered over China Glaze Little Drummer Boy

Here is a pic in dim lighting with no flash, it picked up the detail better!

I LOVE the look of this, it has this awesome metallic sheen, and the blue peeking through the silver is stunning. It looks wintery too! The best part is the Silver Sparkle covered up my nail fail base coat of dents and smudges. I did not have to redo my nails, and I found an awesome combination I would not of thought of before.

Nail fail to nail win. It can be done!

Happy Monday!

L'Oreal The Muse's Attitude

Project Runway is probably one of the more classy shows I watch. I don't have any sense of fashion, but I enjoy it. The majority of the shows I watch on TV are trashy. I watch all the Real Housewives franchises, Teen Mom(s), Dance Moms, and Judge Judy. I also watch Big Bang Theory, Once Upon a Time, Pretty Little Liars, and The Amazing Race. The latter are a little more refined shows, so I think Project Runway fits this category rather than my trashy shows I listed above. I will say that Judge Judy herself is pretty awesome, it's the people on her show that are trashy. Now, I'm rambling...

Anyways, last year L'Oreal released a Project Runway collection, and this year they did the same. I have to say last year I was really impressed with the color selection, and the same can be said for this year. Great collection. This was one of my favorites from the bunch.

The Muse's Attitude

 The Muse's Attitude is a deep blackened teal shimmer.

This is a gorgeous color. When I say blackened I don't mean it's so dark it's black in this case. It has that touch of black to the color that gives it this really beautiful sheen and depth. It looks as if on the edges the color fades to black. Very cool. Glowy. I'm terrible at describing colors lol. The formula on this was good. It was easy to work with, which is a nice surprise. I've found some L'Oreal polishes to not be the easiest to apply, but this is an exception.

What are some of your favorite TV shows?

Happy Tuesday!

L'Oreal Brit Invasion

When I first heard about L'Oreal's London Fall collection I knew I had to find it. Anything relating to London/England/British/UK sparks my interest. When I saw the collection in person I was a bit disappointed. They had cute enticing names, but a lot of the colors were not new to me. I ended up passing on all of them except one Brit Invasion.

Brit Invasion

Brit Invasion is a taupe (that leans towards purple) with a golden shimmer.

I really like this color on its own, but maybe not so much on me. I have issues with taupes, they don't tend to look great on my skin tone. This one is a little more forgiving as it leans towards purple versus browns unlike other taupes I've tried. That being said, the formula and brush on this polish were not my favorite. I'm not sure if it's the brush that's the problem or the formula, maybe it's both!  I've had this issue with other L'Oreal polishes too. I don't know how to describe it other than the brush seems to have way too many bristles and it soaks it up too much polish. It makes the polish apply dry and streaky. I'm sure that made no sense. I'm sure a not great brush and formula would of sufficed, but I had to try to explain! Nice color, not so nice everything else sadly.

Happy Tuesday!

Aqua Franken & Budget Haulage!!

This is a aqua franken I made well over a year ago. I sadly do not remember the mixture 100%, but I do believe it was Sally Hansen Lime Lights + Sally Hansen Marine Scene + Sally Hansen White Tip + Sally Hansen Dimension. I'd say it's muted medium aquamarine shimmer. It does have some green and blue glitter mixed in but it hardly never shows up on the nail which is FINE. I actually prefer it this way! I named this one Grecian Waters because it reminded me of the beautiful color of the sea off the shores of Greece.



Today I did some major budget hauling! First I got this amazing haul from Jessika aka Jbrobeck on MUA or @jbrobs on Twitter. She is having a NP sale on LiveJournal and had some pricey polishes for great prices! She also threw in some extras which was very sweet. Thank you!

L-R: OPI DS Ruby, Revlon Crimson Sparkle, Orly Goth, Sinful Colors Vacation Time, Maybelline Red Aluminum, Purple Aluminum, Funky Fingers Red Glitter, Funky Fingers Silver Glitter

I also did some hauling at CVS. Let me tell you guys if you do not have a CVS card please get one. I know CVS doesn't have the selection that Walgreens does but if you have their Extra Care Card you can really do some major saving. I bought the following things some for regular price, but some for 75% off. I also purchased some other non-beauty items and used some coupons.

L-R: Milani Buzz Worthy Gloss Bee-utiful, Milani Buzz Worhty Goss Be-Mine, Orly Wild Wisteria, Borghese Dolce Vita Fuchsia, Borghese Siena Gold, Sally Hansen Blew Me Away

I got $8 Borghese nail polish 75% off making them $2 (not all colors but quite a few) also Milani Buzz Worthy Lip Gloss originally $7 75% off making them $1.75! I also picked up the Orly reg. price, Sally Hansen reg. price, and some other non beauty products. If I paid full price for all of this plus the non beauty products I would of been paying $45, but with these sales and some CVS coupons I ended up only paying $17.50. I ended up saving $27.50! This excited me greatly! Can you tell? I am over the moon! Sales and bargains are great!

I also got these two Wet n' Wild polishes at Albertsons BOGO free!

L-R: Blue Moon & Bijou Blue


As you can see I had a good day! I really suggest looking up drugstores weekly savings, getting a CVS card and using their coupons or any other coupons for that matter. If you're interested in budget beauty buying like I mentioned before I really recommend the following bloggers..
NouveauCheap
DrugstoreDivas

That's it for today! Happy Shopping!

P.S. I just got my package of Ulta3 nail polishes I won from More Nail Polish's giveaway! Thank you so much! I will be swatching these and the ones I mentioned above this weekend.