Oils and I have a great, long and slippery relationship. 

I was introduced to them at a very early age by my mom. She transformed to a wizard of a certain sort while she was making those mixtures for hair/skincare. Even if back then it was a struggle (all you curly/afro hair carriers know what I mean!) to manage my hair and get on the oil wagon, now, to me, it feels quite natural to use them. So thanks mum!
I will share my thoughts on some of the oils I use on my hair.

huilesmain

Nowadays, oils on the market are hi-tech and they don't have too much in common with the ones from way back when...
Not only textures are much more pleasant and practical but innovations in this domain are hitting new highs.
I will briefly talk about them now, and in another post I will get up close and personal with some of them.
Achtung! It is going to be slippery!

These last 4 to 6 years, we have been literally flooded, and spoiled with innovations and discoveries of exotic oils, each more efficient than the other. 
Obviously, they are not all the same, and they don't have the same purpose.

Gliss Kur's Every Day Oil Elixir from Schwarzkopfhuilegliss
Some of you may not know but, this Every Day Oil Elixir was on of the first (if not the first) oil of its kind on the market.
It is the first one that I bought when I was in Germany, when all the craziness around oil wasn't.
Obviously, they made changes and the formula is different now. And I still love it.
It is made with argan and sunflower oils, which are known to be nourishing, repairing, protective and anti-breakage
This one is more dense than the others, just two pumps are enough for the entire hair from top to bottom.
I use it for every day styling or before blow-drying. It helps a lot with the breakage, leaves my hair, not only nourish, soft, smooth, shiny, and all that without feeling greasy or heavy.

It costs between 7 and 9€ the 75mL

The repairing oil from L'Occitane en Provence
huile reparatrice loccitane
This one is from their really good Aromachologie line for dry and damaged hair.
This oil replaced the serum which i liked very much. At first, because I was so found of the serum i was a little bit skeptic about the efficiency of this oil version.
However, after a while, i started comparing it to other oils and now i am completely all for it.
Its patented formula is made with five essential oils (Ylang-Ylang, Sweet Orange, Lavender, Geranium, Angelica) renowned to help with breakage.

I pour a 3 to 4 pumps into the palm of my hand, warm it a little bit and work it through my hair from the ends to the roots (i have really dry hair but,  if you have greasy roots i don't think you should do that tho').
I use it on humid hair but also on a every day basis for a deep care. That's why it became my go to oil for the winter time.
I've seen tremendous changes on my hair. Not only it helps detangle my hair, it reduced the breakage for about 90% (it is the only one that had that effect on my afro), and protect against sun and heat damage. 
I also enjoy its nice and relaxing aromatic scent.
L'Occitane has really good products and this one is no exception. I will recommend this in a heartbeat.

L'Occitane sells this 20€ the 100 mL.

L'huile extraordinaire de la gamme Elseve par L'Oréalhuile extraordinaire
I think this one is called Oleo Therapy Perfecting Oil Essence in the US and Elvive Extraordinary Oil in the UK.

With all the brouhaha around this one, i was expecting a lot, and maybe too much. After using it for more than a year, i can say that my disappointment is as huge as my excitement was!
It can be used before shampoo, blow-drying, and as a on a day-to day basis to smooth ends.

I use it before the blow-drying, when my hair isn't completely dry. It helps a lot and makes my hair more manageable. My hair is both smooth and shiny.

Sometimes, I use it for a final touch to give some shine to my "do".


The best way that i can use this is before the shampoo. It brings smoothness to my hair.

I don't think that I will take the risk twice and buy this oil again not only because i cannot stand the smell, it is not nourishing, and very messy; after using it I cannot help to have it all over the place and this even if I am extremely careful. I wouldn't categorized this as been a dry oil, it is a little bit greasy.
For how much this costs, I much prefer Schwarzkopf's one (from above) which has, in my opinion, the best value for its price.

It costs between 10 and 12€ the 100mL.

The Rare Blend Total Hair Therapy from Ojonrare melange ojon
This one is the latest addition to what can be called my oily shrine.
Even if I have, in the past, used one product from Ojon; it was the pre-cleansing treatment which i really loved, I battle for a while whether or not I should splurge and try another product from the brand. With the help of Rachel Martino, I settled on this oil.

It is a total hair therapy made with rare exotic oils, which is supposed to nourish and repair, boost moisture, prevent heat damage, tame frizz and reveal shine.

It hasn't been that long that i started using this, so, I haven't seen all the greatness escape from the bottle to be trapped in my hair. The only thing that I can say for sure is that it really helps to detangle my hair and brings a subtle shine.
I like the light scent and the fact that it doesn't leave any residue on my hands or my hair.
It is a very pricey one but, you just need a little bit for each use.

The 45 mL cost 34€.

Gliss Kur's Colour Shine Tonic by Schwarzkopfgliss colour shine tonic
This one is in a spray form and that I do appreciate. It is really good to protect from the UV, preserve the color, and add shine.
I use it as a final touch after styling for a diamond-like shine!
Even if I find this practical, and a cheaper version of  the Extraordinary Oil from L'Oreal , this oil is just not for me. I want more from an oil; not just the shine, nor the UV filter. I want it to be nourishing and repairing.
The 100 mL cost between 5 and 7€.

Castor Oil from the french brand Natessance by Lea Naturehuile de ricin
I chose this oil because its formula is SLS-, paraben-, preservatives-, and paraffin-free.
Castor oil is known to bring strength. It is also a very dense oil, so, i don't need that much product. A little goes a long way. Plus, it can also be use on nails.
I use it alone or with jojoba and coconut oil for a pre-shampoo deep care.
This oil is also quite cheap: between 3 and 6€ the 100 mL.

I hope this oily post was helpful.
Have a great week. Take care!
Getting rid of my acne scars is a goal of mine as I already spoken about it when I reviewed products like the Even Better Clinical Dark Spots Corrector from Clinique, or the Dark Spots minimizing Serum from Sephora on my French blog.

Even if i want to regulate my production of sebum, I am not safe from getting some pimples here and there.
Guess what? That happened again and this time when things went sour, i decided to give the Serum Magnifica from Sanoflore (a brand specialized in organic beauty products from L'Oreal Paris) a try.
It is a high precision rescue corrector which has an action on shine, pores and imperfections.

Usually, i try to adapt my routine: I eat more healthy and change my skincare routine to suit my needs.But this time it was an emergency. 
So is It good, bad, or ugly?

Packaging and texture
The product comes in a tiny textured, and opaque plastic tube. The tip reminds me of eyes products. Even if the tip is tiny and rigid, that doesn't affect the distribution at all. I even like it because I can easily control what amount comes out.

magnificacanule
The gel-like texture makes it really easy to use. However, you must not be lazy and take your time applying it because when it dries, it leaves a film on the skin which makes it a little harder to work with.magnificademo
Ingredients
Aqua/Water•Mentha Piperita Leaf Water/Peppermint Leaf Water*•Alcohol Denat**•Glycerin•Zea Mays Starch/Corn Starch•Perlite•Dehydroxanthan Gum•Arginine•Salicylic Acid•Cymbopogon Flexuosus Oil*•Citral•Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Oil/Rosemary Leaf Oil*•Menthol•Geraniol•Limonene•Satureia Montana Oil*•Eugenol•Cymbopogon Nardus Oil/Citronella Oil*•Eugenia Caryophyllus Flower Oil/Clove Flower Oil*•Nepeta Cataria Oil*•Origanum Heracleoticum Flower Oil*•Thymus Vulgaris Oil*•Thyme Flower/ Leaf Oil*•Mentha Piperita Oil/Peppermint Oil*•Linallol•Citronellol•Melissa Officinalis Leaf Oil*•Isoeugenol•Citric Acid
*ingredient from organic farming
**ingredient transformed from an ingredient issue from organic farming

Sanoflore is an organic brand so it's not a shock to see that some of his ingredients are from organic farming.
The norms in Europe are far more strict than the ones in the US so this makes this product even better. 
This formula is paraben-, SLS-, silicone-,mineral oil-free.
The plants from which the ingredients are from, are grown without pesticide which seems pretty straightforward for organic ingredients but isn't very easy to achieve because as you may know, pesticides are volatile, so nothing can really guarantee that the plants aren't corrupt unless all the farm nearby are also organic farms. That's why Sanoflore grew their plants in a region in South East of France (Vercors) with very little pollution.

This serum contains patented essence of organic lamiaceae and mentha piperita in high concentration, as well as salicylic acid. 
They act upon bacterial proliferation, sebum oxidation, shine and the inflammatory state.

My experience
The first thing that I like with this product, before even getting into the grit of its purpose, is the versatility. It can be used in the morning, at night, or whenever you want over the course of the day.
It is a icy gel that gives a nice refreshing and calming feeling. It is very clever for those of us with sensitive skin.
It has the great smell of essential oil which is relaxing and wears off rapidly.
Even if it doesn't dry the skin, it doesn't hydrate either. So you have to make sure that your skin stays hydrated.
I applied it day and night and i saw tremendous changes in a week. My T-zone was about 60% less shiny that it was and my comedos dried very fast.
However, even if this serum is supposed to tighten pores, i didn't see much a difference on my pores.

I bought this serum because i wanted a quick fix and that is exactly what it did do.
Don't be fooled by its tiny waist; a little goes a long way.

If I compare this gel to La Roche-Posay's Effaclar K, I find that Sanoflore's corrector works faster. However, I wonder if that effect lasts.
With my sensitive skin it is almost always a double ended sword situation because I can have products that work but are too harsh for my skin or are suitable to my skin but are not that good. I am very content with this gel from Sanoflore because not only it is very gentle with my skin, but it is also very good.

The 15mL cost around 15 and 19€.

Overall, I am very satisfied with this high precision corrector. Sanoflore's Magnifica line is very complete and i am eager to test out more products.

I also wanted to thank my readers. You guys are awesome!
I didn't expect to have that many people taking the time to stop by. Your support gave me more confidence and made me want to go even further. You will definitely read more from me.
Cheers
yO

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