Travel: Bath & Body Works Toiletries

Another hotel toiletry brand I love is Bath & Body Works. I got some from Villa Montes, a boutique hotel in San Bruno, California. It was near enough San Francisco, and we needed an affordable and spacious hotel that was within our budget. Hotels in the city are so expensive and tiny, so Villa Montes really fit the bill. Free internet and printing too!

Okay, back to the toiletries. They were in tiny 1 fl. oz. bottles, even smaller than Bath & Body Work's retail-available travel sized 3 fl. oz. The hotel had it in Rainkissed Leaves scent, except the mouthwash, which was in mint. Rainkissed Leaves has this crisp and refreshing scent that smells really good. It really reminded me of the rain.

We stayed for about 5 days in the hotel, and just imagine how many sets I got. I am set for all my travel needs. <Insert evil laugh here> I will definitely come back.

Note to hotel management: Take it as a good sign if your guests take home your toiletries with them. :) It's a sign of good service. Well, at least for me.

Other hotels that carry this toiletry brand are Marriott and Wyndham hotels.

Wanna know what the best looking toiletry brand for me is? I wrote about it here.

Hair: Nature's Answer to Hair Loss

My hair has always been wavy, and only a few of my closest friends when I was a kid knew I had ringlets near my nape. The ringlets are gone now, because I think I may have had subjected my hair to too much chemicals -- from rebonding to dyeing it. I try not to do it often because I feel my hair is very weak, but a few years in a stressful environment of a job I once loved brought out the worst -- white hair and falling hair.

Yes, falling hair. That has been a major problem for me during the past year. I have very fine hair strands, and seeing lots of hair strands on my hands while I shampoo is terrifying. I tried using a couple of hair fall shampoos -- the more popular ones. One particular brand I tried didn't help at all. The other one promised less hair fall and it did make my hair fall situation better. So much better that this has been my go-to brand since last year.

A week ago, I got invited to the media launch of a local product that boasts a remedy to hair loss, I happily went. My uncle swears by it, and I got curious. This was the launch of Novuhair 3-in-1 package. They used to only have topical scalp lotion and shampoo, and now, they added conditioner to their list.

Love: Sample Room and Kerastase Oleo Relax

I'm sure by now you've heard about Sample Room. It's an online website where you can order samples for free. You just pay for shipping.

The first product I ordered from Sample Room was the Kerastase Oleo-Relax Fluide. I've been a fan of Kerastase Oleo-Relax because of my frizzy wavy hair, but I don't usually buy because it's very expensive. I've tried their shampoo and conditioner before, and I had a very good experience. This time, Sample Room was offering samples of Kerastase Oleo-Relax Fluide.

Ordering was an easy breezy process -- probably the easiest one I've encountered next to Amazon. I kid you not.

The package was delivered via courier, which is the service of choice in the Philippines. The postal service here sucks, but I don't want to rant about that now.

The package came in a postal stock packaging, Inside was a brown paper bag with the Sample Room  logo. The kraft paper used was thick, probably around 100 gsm or so.

It was sealed on the back flap with their pink sticker.

The sample was even bubble wrapped. They charge about P100 for shipping (I feel it's a bit overpriced because it should only be P50), and I think it's not that bad considering that they took their time wrapping it nicely and securely.

Now for the product itself. I was surprised that the sample they were offering was 50ml of this good stuff! Galing for P100 diba? It was really worth it, size palang.

The Kerastase Oleo-Relax line is for dry, unruly, and frizzy hair. I have all those albeit not extremely bad. The technology behind this product is Nutri-Huille + Anti-Frizz, which reduces frizz and adds softness, shine and reduces volume.

So now, let's put it to the test. This is me with towel-dried hair, ready to use the Kerastase Oleo-Relax Fluide.

I applied 2 pumps on my hair, and I blow dried it quickly.

This is my hair before. Major frizz to the nth power. Eek.

This is it after. See? This product really works for me. So, thank you Sample Room for having this sample for me to try. My hair is less frizzy, softer and shinier.