Are you not a morning person? Do you find general haircare a pain in the neck? Do you seek to simplify something as mundane as shampooing your hair? Do you travel alot?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above than I have quite a simple solution for you!

Look no further your wish is my command!

A shampoo puck.

Yes, yes I am already hearing you say to yourself, “What’s she on about now?”
Well..occasionally…the Muse is a bit lazy in the morning or just wants to keep things a bit on the simple side so she uses a nifty little shampoo puck to get her locks cleansed, shining, and happy in the shower!

Lush Cosmetics offers several kinds of these multitasking demons!

I generally use shampoo pucks when I’m being a bit lazy but they are also quite a nice little bit to have when you are traveling! Reason being with airline security being so tight these are a simple little treat to stow in your train case without the drama of large bottles! They also double as a bar of soap! Wash your hair and your body with one puck! Cool eh?

You’re probably curious how these work aren’t you? Easy as pie! Wet your hair, swipe the bar across your head a few times, lather, rinse, repeat, and smile! Simple as 1-2-3!

Not only are these easy to use and easy to travel with but they last for ages! If you’re currently being frugal with your money and don’t want to shell out for expensive shampoos this is a good way to go! One puck will last as long as 3-4 months!

If you aren’t happy enough at the idea of a cute little shampoo puck you will be at the fact that they have cute little tins to hold ’em in too! Excited yet? I knew you would be! And since Lush likes it’s customers so much, if you buy two bars you’ll get a free tin! Yay!

At the moment their are 9 different bars to choose from! I’ve tried most of them so I can give you a brief review of each! As I said above I generally use these when I travel or when I am feeling a bit on the lazy side in the morning! My hair is dry and tangles easily so I can use only some of these without conditioner! You may very well be able to get away with using the puck alone but I can’t with most of them. I’d recommend a good condition afterwards! Lush also offers solid conditioners (I recommend trying Jungle) to compliment it’s solid shampoo bars so that’s something you might like to try as well!

Sadly Lush has discounted a few of my favorite shampoo bars such as Doctor Peppermint! But they have since replaced it with another of my favorites which is called New!

New! smells like red hot candies and feels quite refreshing and tingly when lathering up my hair! I actually use it once a week as a clarifying shampoo to cleanse my hair! It clarifies really well, maybe too well as it does seem to dry my hair out a bit more than I’d like! But it does a great job of making my hair shiny clean!

New! Shampoo Bar

Godiva is a very popular shampoo bar and ends up on the bestseller list quite alot! It’s not not my favorite but I do like it! I can easily use it as a multitasking shampoo bar and don’t need conditioner very much afterwards as the bar is loaded with chunks of cocoa butter which my hair seems to really like thus causing it to behave and remain tangle free! Godiva has the strong scent of jasmines and after one use I guarantee your hair will smell delightfully floral all day long!

Godiva Shampoo Bar

Lush offers two distinct shampoo bars which are used according to your water! If you’re in an area where your water is soft they present the Soft Shampoo bar and if you live in an area where the water is hard they offer the Hard Shampoo bar. I personally do not like either! They tangle my hair up badly, aren’t the best smelling, and dry my locks out to a straw like texture! These you can pass up in my humble opinion! If you by some chance live in the UK or are traveling there you may want to pick up a Hard Shampoo bar because in cases of harsh water as England’s this works a treat even though I’m not a huge fan of it!

Soft Shampoo Bar

Hard Shampoo Bar

Karma Komba a Shampoo Bar that is most loathed for this girl! To my nose this smells like oranges and dirt! Yes, oranges and dirt. You heard me right. Patchouli is a very hardcore note in this Shampoo Bar so if you enjoy a deep green, herbal scent this be for you! As for me I can’t stand it!

Karma Komba

Soak and Float is a bar for problem scalps! If you suffer from dandruff or oily locks this be the bar for you! The scent is quite overpowering and just terrible. I’ve never actually used this on my hair as I suffer from neither dandruff or oily bits but from what I’ve heard it’s a miracle cure all for a troubled scalp! I guess if you can get pass the scent you’ll be on squeaky clean scalp street with this bar!

Soak and Float Shampoo Bar

Seanick is the type of bar that will give your hair that just out of the ocean look! I’m serious, tis true! If you like the way windblown, full hair looks this be the bar for you! Seanick gives great volume and bounce and it simply makes your hair shine! It has quite a nice scent, like fresh ocean air! This is an overall lovely Shampoo bar that comes with a healthy recommendation!

Seanick

Now Hybrid is a friend of the Muse’s hair! When my hair begins to grow down my back once again (I cut it, shoulder length, not so long ago) this is the bar I reach for! If you have long hair you realize how much weight that is and how it feels so heavy on your back and product just seems to stay “glued” in it! Hybrid makes your long locks feel airy and light, it clarifies and cleans too! It has a strong smell of black licorice that’s quite appealing to my little nose! And best of all I don’t have to worry overmuch about conditioning afterwards because my hair behaves very well after a lather up with Hybrid!

Hybrid Shampoo Bar

The Ultimate Shine promises shine, bounce and condition. It does none of the above. It smells quite strong of Ylang Ylang which makes my nose wrinkle up in dismay! It tangles my hair awfully and causes generally havoc with my locks! This one I’d avoid at all costs!

Ultimate Shine Shampoo bar

Remember prior to putting your puck in your tin, dry it out fully otherwise you’ll end up with a mushy shampoo bar when next you use it!

Shampoo Tin

These are great little multitasking tools when traveling abroad or just for those really quick Monday morning showers!

The Muse likes to simplify life sometimes and these shampoo bars help that along! And if you happen to be a guy these might just be an offering from the Gods (Think we didn’t know you’ve been washing your hair with a bar of soap? We girls know everything! Now you can use a bar of soap to wash your hair and guilt free too!)

Some of my Shampoo Bars

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Well girls it’s the weekend which can only mean one thing….SHOPPING!

Here’s some deals you might want to nab during your weekend online sprees!

Select Bath and Beauty Works Temptations 3 in 1 16oz Shower Gels on Sale:

Melon Cooler $6
Ice Tea Twist $6
Orange Freeze $6

Free shipping on your order of $55 or more using coupon code FREESHIP55.

Cherriflip has 20% off your total order cost! Sale ends today so stock up and save on Perfumes, Shower Gels, Haircare, and other Bath and Body goodies! Use coupon code beach to get your 20% discount!

Sephora Collection Make-Up Brushes are discounted up to 75%

The Muse’s Favorite Brush Buys:
Contour Eyeshadow Brush $14
Blush Brush $8
Large Eyeshadow Brush $5.60
Flat Blush Brush $10
Crease Brush $5.60

Get these while the getting is good! They are selling out uber fast!

Majolica Majorca Beauty in Black Fall Collection Eyeshadows are $6.49 at BoboDave This offer is good till August 11th! Price is a bit jacked up but you won’t find a better deal on any e-bay shop in my opinion!

Have a great weekend and Happy Shopping!

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The Edo Komon collection is now available on Shu Uemura’s website.

Another ho-hum collection that I probably won’t bother any time with! I adore Shu but I can’t get excited about navy blue eyeshadow. Sorry Shu the wallet is remaining in the pocket this time around!

Is it me or do none of these colors work together? And by the very way the model on the left hand side is wearing a lovely cranberry color…where is that being offered? Did I miss something? And where’s the makeup video?

Is everyone out to disappoint me this Fall Season or am I total grouch?

Sigh.

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It’s here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sephora’s Catalog should be winging it’s way into your mailbox shortly but if you can’t wait you can hop on over to Sephora’s website and see the catalog in all it’s glory from first to last page!

Are you excited or what?

Don’t be.

Sorry don’t mean to burst your bubble there! It appears this year’s catalog blows!

This is my “I’m not excited” at all attitude. Sheesh you know the world may very well be coming to an end if I’m not squealing at the prospect of a new Sephora catalog! Best look outside your window and make sure hell hasn’t frozen over or large drops of fiery rain are falling from the skies!

Ok..so maybe I’m being dramatic but geez the catalog just stinks! I don’t see much of anything that I can remotely get my panties twisted in a bunch over aside from items I have previously mentioned in my blog!

Thanks alot Sephora it’s almost as if it’s Christmas morning minus the presents! Wasn’t it enough to disappoint me with the Summer Catalog? You had to go and ruin the Fall Catalog for me too? It’s not fair I tell you! God I’m already in a state of panic about the possibility of the Winter Catalog sucking too! That’d make an entire year of shitty catalogs! That’s wrong on so many levels!

Sigh….

I’m going to bed utterly depressed and devastated tonight!

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As I sit here and type this I can hear the crickets outside my bedroom window. This can sadly mean one thing, Summer is soon coming to an end.

I always get kinda melancholy when the season changes and a new one begins. It’s almost as if I am saying goodbye to friend that I won’t see for an entire year!

The good news is that soon the weather will get cooler, the leaves will start to fall from the trees, and the nights will become longer. All this adds up to the upcoming holiday that I may very much like more than Christmas. Some of you may guess what Holiday I am speaking of but some of you may well not be familiar with it in your part of the world. Halloween 🙂

Halloween holds a spot near and dear to my heart not only because it’s my birthday but because it’s just a generally awesome Holiday! I love everything about it! Candy, costumes, nutty (like me) caramel apples, kids….!

I think one of the best things about Halloween is when the beauty industry takes a step into it and store shelves not only line up with candy and decorations but Halloween themed bath goodies, perfumes, and an assortment of bits that any girl will love!

I’m particularly partial to heading into Bath and Body Works when they start loading their shelves with body lotions, shower gels, and body sprays in an array of funky Halloween blends like Spicy Pumpkin, Apple, etc….! I’m quite curious what they’ll be introducing in the Temptations line for Halloween/Fall!

Many smaller shops online take part in the festivities of Halloween and theme many products for the Holiday!

One particular shop that I know and love dedicates an entire line of perfume oil to the Halloween holiday!

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab or BPAL to it’s diseased, addicted fans (Hey I can call them diseased because I’m one of the club with a gold membership card!) releases anywhere from 10 to 15 limited edition perfume oils every year for Halloween! This is truly an eagerly anticipated event for fans everywhere!

If you aren’t familiar with the Lab let me give you a very brief introduction to it.

The Lab started out as a very small operation that sprung up into a pretty huge full time online shop! It’s immensely popular and has an order wait time of 20-45 days!!!!!!!!!!! They sell 5ML bottles of highly concentrated perfume oil in a variety of scents. Perfume Oil is very potent and strong, a dab will last all day and into the evening too! 5ML seems small but it will last you a long time since you’ll be applying so sparely. The Lab, sadly, isn’t particularly a great place for people like me. Reason being is because they lack fruity, food, and sweet blends. A majority of the catalog are earthy, herbal, dark blends which I can’t stand. These have a huge cult following and many girls absolutely love them. Personally they aren’t for me. The good news is that if you dig deep enough you’ll find quite a few gems in the catalog! They release limited edition scents quite often and with every new moon they release a fragrance dedicated to that particular moon! I find that the limited edition scents are where the real treasures lay! They do Halloweenies during the Fall and Yule blends during the winter and Christmas Holiday! They also have themes for Valentine’s Day but those are normally too dark for me! They even went so far as to release some very silly Paris Hilton in Jail themed oils! Now if you are weary and just want to try they offer what they call “imps” of catalog blends. Imps are tiny vials of oil for you to test and see if you’d love a larger bottle! 6 are $19.50 plus shipping! They also include imps with any full size bottle purchase as an extra little gift for purchasing!

Well that’s a bit of background info on the lab….

Mostly I’m excited because shortly towards the middle or end of the month (Depending on Beth’s, the owner, schedule) the Halloweenies will pop up and be available for purchase!

Each year I really get excited to see which blends will make a come back from the year before and which new blends will be available! If you LOVE Halloween as much as I do you’re in for a real treat if you do decide to order from the Lab! The past few years I’ve collected many a fantastic perfume oil! Spicy Pumpkin, Candy scents, and so many other interesting bits and bobs have popped up! I’m especially a huge fan of the Pumpkin Patch oils which are released in a set of 5 and consist of 5 different blends of pumpkin mixed with different notes such as cocoa, pomegranate, and more!

These are actually a good investment. Sounds weird doesn’t it? Perfume Oil an investment. But actually they are. Bottles have ranged, over the course of a few years, from $14 to $17.50 and $20-22 for Limited Edition. Now if you hang onto a particular blend long enough you can fetch triple or more your money back! Not that I’d sell ANY of my rare blends EVER but it’s an interesting little fact of information to share! I’ve seen bottles of Pumpkin King go for $300 on E-bay! I’ve also seen many bottles from the Carnival Series go for $90-$120! I’ve even heard rumors of unreleased blends going for $500!!!!!!!

Occasionally with the Limited Edition blends the Lab’s Trading Post shop will release special oils that are a bit more costly! Last year they released 4 blends entitled Trick or Treat. It consisted of 4 oils, 2 Trick and 2 Treat. In order to get the oils you had to plea your case of which you wanted and why! It was all in good fun and made your purchase interesting and fun 🙂 I got all 4 of the bottles! They cost $50 each and came with a cute little T-Shirt! The oils are well up in price now on E-bay but I refuse to part with them 😉

Soon the new blends will be released and again the yearning for a new scent will fall upon me and others like me!

If you’ve never purchased from the Lab before now is a good time as any to start checking it out and see which Halloween blends will pop up that you might be interested in!

If you need any help deciding on a particular scent do let me know as I’ve tried plenty!!!!

Happy Shopping!

I leave you with some pictures from my collection!

Trick or Treat Oil Blends from Halloween 2006

Pumpkin Patch Oil Blends from Halloween 2005

A few of the Halloweenies from Halloween 2006

A few Halloweenies from Halloween 2005 (As you can Sugar Skull is in both this picture and the one above! Sometimes oils get a reprieve and make a reappearance from year to year! I always buy the reruns because the blend is sometimes slightly different from the year before and it’s delightful to pick apart how they differ from year to year!)

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