Let me tell you this, you never know how much makeup and beauty products you actually have until you move. In my packing to move from the old apartment to our new home, hubs was absolutely shocked that I have five large boxes marked TOILETRIES alone. Five. And that does not include a large box marked MAKEUP.

The amount of makeup shown above was packed after throwing away almost half of the amount you see. Having amassed so much in the past, I didn’t realise I’ve been keeping a lot of expired lip products, mascaras and at least 6-year old eyeshadows. Yikes.

As for the five boxes of toiletries, well, my only excuse would be “err, shampoos and conditioners (and shower gels, body lotions, moisturisers, jars and bottles of lotions and potions, etc etc) are quite big in size!”

So now you know. Time to go check your makeup and beauty products. How long have you had it? If that mascara is dried out, chuck. If that eye makeup smells wonky, or if you haven’t used it in a year, either give it away or chuck. If that creamy white moisturiser has turned into a radioactive green, please throw it into the Biohazard bin. Even if it’s a La Mer.

The next time you move, don’t say I didn’t warn you if you find out you too have that many boxes marked Toiletries 😉

Ah cult products. What will we do without them? Thanks to rave (or not so good) reviews, we know all about them and we have them. NARS Orgasm? Check. Maybelline Great Lash mascara? Check, although I still think it’s quite rubbish and don’t know what the hype is all about.

The Original Moroccan Oil Treatment certainly is one of ’em hair cult products. Heard so much about it, and all very positive reviews too. It was only a matter of time before I got my mitts on it too.

Just to fill you in before I get to the review, I have very dry and coarse hair, and is very prone to split ends. Years of colouring, perming, straightening have made it a lot worse. It definitely lacks lustre.

I’ve always envied my Indian friends who have lovely, luscious, shiny black locks who never seem to have hair problems. Of course, we all know that other than their genes, it’s also the coconut oil they apply on their hair that gives it that lovely shine. Now I’m afraid I absolutely hate the smell of coconut, and couldn’t stand it on my hair or skin. So what’s a girl with shitty hair to do?

Description:

This hydrating oil has a unique quality of instant absorption into the hair, which creates an instant shine and offers long-term conditioning – without leaving any trace of residue.
Softens thick and unmanageable hair
Restores shine and softness to dull, lifeless hair
Strengthens brittle hair
Promotes healing and provides nourishment to hair damaged by colouring and styling
Protects against UV damage and other environmental factors
Reduces drying time and speeds up styling time

First off, the smell. No coconut-y smell there. 1 point.

Texture – well, it is an oil afterall, so when I poured it out onto my palm, rubbed it out between my palms to warm the oil up, it would be greasy. But when it’s applied on my damp hair, the greasiness disappeared. 10 points there.

The morning after – woke up with the oh-my-Gawd-is-that-soft-hair-mine feeling. After giving it a good straightening with my hair iron, it’s shiny and looks fantastically healthy. In fact, whenever I go to my bead lady to stock up on beads, she calls me “the girl with shiny black hair“. Ding ding ding! 10000000 points!

Suffice to say, this is awesome stuff. It comes in a brown, very apothecary-looking (if that’s the word) glass bottle. You would only need the amount of a 5-cent coin, even for long hair. Mine flows past by bra so that’s pretty long to me. It’s suitable for all hair types.

I bought this from Adore Beauty for AU$49.50. Kate, who owns Adore Beauty, is really friendly. Plus you get two good-sized samples with your order too. Not bad, not bad at all if you ask me. Initially, you could only get this from Adore Beauty, but I’ve seen several salons stocking this range now. I can’t wait to try the rest of the range.

What I like about it: Light in texture, not stinky, results in soft, shiny hair.

What I do not like about it: Nothing

Goodness gracious me. Has it been over a month since I’ve written anything here? So it has! My bad. I’ve been putting this baby aside for another, that took up so much of my time, energy and most importantly, money. Yes folks, we have officially moved into a place of our very own, and hubs and I couldn’t be happier.

A tiny abode, if I do say so myself, but quite a charming one. It’s still very bare though, and terribly messy, as you can tell from the photographs. No hurry in decorating the place I say. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and so’s interior decorating!

A favourite feature of the house, which we will probably never use. Yep, it’s an honest-to-God fireplace, that can build honest-to-God fires in winter. We haven’t tried it out just yet, although the previous owner left us the cast-iron thingy that holds firelogs. Next winter perhaps. For now, it serves more of a decorative feature in the house than anything else. I’m also on a lookout for a good ornamental clock to replace the current Kmart clock above the mantelpiece. Any ideas?

As small as the house is, I’m real glad that the kitchen is big. Ample space to store all things kitcheny 😛

So there you go, a peek into our humble abode. Next items to get would be at least three bookshelves for the many books we have, and dining chairs. Hubs and I are currently having our meals on a foldable garden chair and a tiny stool, which we take turns to sit on (no prizes for guessing which seat we prefer). We’re still on the lookout for the dining chairs, so if we do have housewarming parties, etc in our place, the invitations would state “BYO Chair”. No kidding.

Ahh … it’s great to be home 🙂