Beauty Review: Beauty Balm FOR YOUR HAIR!

A few months ago, my then-flatmate suggested I join a site called Beauty Review because not only was it a great resource in finding out more about products that other Kiwi women were using, but occasionally they were even so generous as to send you out awesome (free!) products to trial and review that you could keep at the end.

“Beauty Review? Sounds interesting. I think I would like to be a part of that! ” I probably said a little too enthusiastically.

Ten minutes later, I was all signed up and ready to go. And, boy, has it been great being part of an NZ-based beauty community which rewards its loyal contributors so well! Quarterly, they run something called the Beauty Vault, where you can redeem points you’ve accrued through reviewing products for beauty products. Best of all, you don’t have to pay for your newfound goodies – you only have to pay for shipping! MAGIC!

A month or so ago now, I got to be a part of the Salon Snobs trial. Basically, the premise of the trial was taking women who claimed that they only bought salon brand hair products and giving them a high-end supermarket brand for them to compare and contrast. My shampoo brands of choice are Redken and Australian brand RPR, and given my intense brand loyalty to these two products, it was going to be hard to convince me that a supermarket brand could do quite as a good a job.

I was given the entire Schwarzkopf Essence Ultime Omega Repair range, which consisted of the Shampoo, Conditioner, Repair Intensive Mask and the Repair Beauty Balm. That’s a lot of product!! These products, according to the blurb, were developed with input by Claudia Schiffer and claim to “…combine her beauty insights from catwalk shows and fashion shoots, with the hair expertise of Schwarzkopf to become the reference for truly beautiful hair.”

Whilst the Shampoo was really good (much better than I expected), I wasn’t all that impressed with the Conditioner and the Hair Mask. The conditioner didn’t leave my hair feeling particularly soft or revitalised and although the mask left my hair feeling lovely and conditioned, it didnt provide anything more than the conditioner that I normally use in my hair.

But the Beauty Balm! Oh, the Beauty Balm! I know what you’re thinking: “A BB Creme? For your hair?”. Actually. For realsies.

This stuff is AMAZING. The Beauty Balm had promised me on the label that it would repair my dry, damaged hair and rebalance its hydration level, so I was really excited to give it a whirl and see what, if anything, it did to my hair.

First impressions really count and I was thrilled by both the smell and the packaging. The pump, I thought,  was a convenient way of dispensing the product and it’s not remotely messy. The smell was quite subtle but pleasant (which is exactly what I want in a hair product). The product itself wasn’t sticky and didn’t feel as though it was going to be too heavy in my hair, which is awesome because I generally hate using unnecessary products in my hair. Especially if they’ve got a slimy, sticky, or tacky texture. Yuck.

I’m really pleased with this product as it has done exactly what it promised. I used dollop of the balm the size of a 20c piece and rubbed it into the ends of my hair whilst it was still wet and then I blow dried my hair as usual. It makes such a difference to my hair each day I remember to use it, as it weighs it down without making it look limp and makes it HEAPS easier to straighten!  It has made my hair lovely and soft and works well in both damp and dry hair (though I would use this sparingly if you’re applying it to dry hair!!).

Although I usually swear by salon brand leave-in conditioners and treatments, I’m very tempted to repurchase this product once I’ve run out.

 Thanks, Beauty Review, for putting my on to a good thing!

Analiese x

PS: If you’re in NZ and want to join in on the Beauty Reviewing fun, just follow this link. You don’t have to be a blogger or anything; you just have to love beauty products. How cool is that?!?