Product Review: ErucA 3D Volume Up, Moist & Repair, Scalp & Volume

Disclaimer: Products are kindly sent by samplestore.com, but reviews are based entirely on my own experience.

Hi guys! I'm really excited to be sharing this post today because I think I've officially found my favourite hair product! To be honest, I've never really been 'big on' hair. My beauty concerns goes in this order: 1) Skin care 2) Base makeup 3) Hair

I'm picky about my hair salons but not too much about what hair products I use to maintain my hair. I'll just grab whatever shampoo and conditioner I feel like buying when I'm at Watsons/Guardian, heck I don't even use hair mask or treatment any more these days. I did buy an expensive hair oil that I rarely use, but I do use a night care milk before I go to bed. If you have read my post a while back, you'd know that my hair is generally quite tame except for dry ends and what I find to be a lack of volume especially at my crown. I like my hair to have that airy feel to it, the more voluminous the better hehe.

It's going to be a long post ahead, but trust me it is worth reading :)

Presenting to you the ErucA's hair products, the next generation Japanese botanical oil haircare! ErucA utilises 12 different types of botanical oils that provides a luxurious and thorough clean while being skin-friendly. The focus has been on seed oils, which provides nature's 'silicon-like' effects without the harmful effect of silicon itself!

Seed oils from broccoli, cowberry, bilberry, milk thistle etc. are the hallmark of these moisturising and shine-inducing formulas, while the blends also contain other rich botanically-sourced oils such as argan, virgin prune and marula oil, which helps rejuvenate tired tresses.

Most importantly, ALL of ErucA's hair products DO NOT contain SURFACTANTS, MINERAL OILS and ARTIFICIAL COLOURS!

ErucA and samplestore very kindly sent the whole range over, thank you!

L-R: Scalp & Volume Shampoo, S & V Conditioner, Moist & Repair Shampoo, M & R Conditioner, 3D Volume Up Shampoo, 3D VU Foam, S & V Hair Mask

^ This.

With three different product lines, I can't decide which to try first so I took a whiff of all the bottles and chose the one with the fragrance I liked the most.

JENG JENG JENG... It's the ErucA Scalp & Volume series!

With its girly pink packaging, you can hardly miss these in the bathroom. It smells like white grapes! Very fruity scent heh.

Here's a look at their textures:

Here is a little tip you can use when using the scalp treatment :)

Source

Scalp & Volume range:

• Botanical oil extracted from specially selected seed oils help to restore balance to your scalp
• Moisturising hyaluronic acid repair the scalp and alleviate common scalp problems
• All-natural botanical oil extracted from cowberry seeds and billberry seeds help to revive and restore your hair and scalp

Verdict:
I love the smell!! I would say this range is very suitable for girls who experience oily scalp problems. I now only use this range once a week because my scalp isn't that oily. Also, with a less oily scalp, your hair will definitely have more volume at the roots! Win-win situation.

My favourite out of the lot is the scalp treatment!! My scalp feels really clean and refreshed after using it. Two thumbs up.

The next product line I tried was the 3D Volume Up.

It only has 2 products: An all-in-one volume up shampoo and the after care volume-up foam. I'm really excited about the 3D Volume Up foam!

Source

3D Volume Up range:

• Silicon-free formula cares for hair and scalp
• Volumnising ingredient creates volume from roots without use of harmful hair products
• Botanical oil extracted from broccoli seed and cranberry seed moisturise and cleanse hair and scalp
• Clarifies hair without stripping essential oils from scalp

Verdict:
I can never complain about having more volume hahaha. The all-in-one shampoo cleans the hair well, and gives it just enough moisture so even without using a conditioner, your hair wouldn't feel stripped. It does seem targeted at aging ladies but ANYONE who feels that they need more volume should try this. The 3D Volume Up foam is very handy and just a full pump gives me the right volume I need. No more using styling products that are hard to wash off, or are full of chemicals to achieve that!

Lastly, my FAVOURITE product series is *drumrolls* Moist & Repair!!

I'm guilty, for judging a book by its cover. The two bottles pale in comparison to the other two ranges because it doesn't look as eye-catching but it's my favourite range of the three AND my favourite shampoo & conditioner thus far. It doesn't have a sweet fruity scent, but the floral scent kinda grows on you. It also keeps your hair smelling SUPER NICE the whole day. I love smelling my hair now hahaha.

Textures:

Source 

Moist & Repair range:

• Hair defining formula restores water and oil balances in your hair and scalp for frizz-free hair
• Luxurious argan oil, virgin prune oil and marula oil help to make hair more manageable while being gentle
• Does not strip natural oil from your hair

Verdict:
This was an unexpected winner but I really love it. I hightly recommend this to girls who have dry and damaged hair, because it made my hair so shiny and smooth! A hair product formulated with 'oils' might scare a lot of people but don't worry because a well-formulated one wouldn't. None of ErucA's hair products FEEL or LOOK oily. It lathers well and you need to use only a small amount each time.

Tip: If you have short hair, use only small amount of shampoo (about the size of a 10 cents coin). 50 cents coin size for average length and two 20 cents coins size if your hair is past your shoulders.

This is my hair right after washing! See how shiny and non frizzy it is!

And this is the next morning, still looking good!

Head over now to samplestore to redeem your FREE ErucA hair sample and show some love to ErucA on Facebook by liking them to participate in weekly contests in WIN prizes!

Till next time,
A

ErucA hair products ranges from S$18.90 - S$22.90 and is available at Guardian and Tokyu Hands outlets. Online purchases can be made at Maimee's Corner (www.maimeescorner.com)

Product Review: Essential CC Oil & Night Care Milk

Disclaimer: Products are kindly sent to me by samplestore.com, but reviews are based entirely on my own experience.

I'm sure many of us are familiar with 'Essential', which is under Kao's umbrella of brands. I used to swear by their Essential Hair Mask (in pink) many years back but I got too lazy to use it oops. Fast forward this year, I bought their travel sized volumising conditioner to bring to China and I really liked it! So when I samplestore sent me the campaign invite for Essential's new products, I knew I really wanted to try it!

Ok I know I rarely talk about haircare stuff, because yeah... my main obsession is with skincare products. But I still take care of my tresses and my hair stylist has been telling me that my hair is really dry recently:(

I USED to have really frizzy and wiry hair that had to be rebonded every year or so. My dad even had an embarrassing nickname for me back then... but somehow my stars aligned and God decided that I should have straight hair again. (YAY!) My hair now is slightly wavy, very thick BUT it's definitely damaged from colouring and flat irons. (I use flat irons to curl the ends of my hair) I think I'm really quite happy with the state of my hair except that it's slightly dry and I find that it lacks volume and shine.. Although I know many people beg to differ, because they think my hair has enough volume. Sorray I love voluminous hair, it's NEVER enough volume.

Of course by now, with beauty articles and magazines shoving tons of information in our faces, we know that perming, heat styling and dyeing (yes crazy hair colours I'm lookin' at ya) can be really detrimental to our hair condition but we sometimes forget that some of our everyday habits and the external environmental factors can also put stress on our hair and affect its appearance and health!

JENG JENG JENG. The 5 evil hair stress brothers....

Omg... see how crazy they look. 

Who deals with more than one, if not all of the above evil brothers? 

For me, it's definitely brazen blow-drying and despicable dryness! No spiteful split ends because I've chopped them all away but I used to have crazy amount of split ends when I kept my hair long.

Here are the 5 hair stresses we constantly have to deal with:

1. Blow drying 

This is one that I'm pretty sure eveyone has to deal with... It's so conflicting because hello, my hair is dripping wet I gotta dry it, but the process of drying it actually removes moisture from my hair, BOTH inside and outside the hair. Er logic??! But really, blow drying your hair, especially at the max temperature setting actually dries the hair out, causing it to be brittle and susceptible to further damage. I'm definitely guilty of this because sometimes my thick hair takes soooo long to dry, so I just blast the max temperature to shorten the drying time.

2. Combing

Combing through wet hair actually damages our hair follicles as they are at the most fragile state. Likewise, the friction caused by combing through dry hair can form hair knots which makes our hair more prone to unnecessary breakage. Also, frequent combing causes fly aways~~ as static charge is produced when there is constant rubbing between individual strands of hair, which makes you look messy!

3. Split Ends

The ends of our hair are the oldest and driest... when the protective hair cuticle is destroyed at the end of our hair, the hair splits into two or more parts. 

4. Hair Breakage

Many seemingly harmless actions like tying your hair into a tight ponytail or twirling your hair with your fingers exert excessive stress on your hair, resulting in hair breakage.

5. Dryness

Which I think is the most evil of all! Exposure to the sun, wind or even air-conditioning can result in hair dryness. Sleeping in an ac room does not help much either, for both our skin and hair :(

The hair cuticles that protect the hair are weakened and therefore unable to retain moisture within the cuticles of the hair.

To combat the above problems, Essential is releasing TWO NEW PRODUCTS - ESSENTIAL CC OIL & NIGHT CARE MILK.

You must be thinking.. WHAT CC OIL? You mean like BB and CC creams not enough, now comes another CC oil? Yes, the CC in Essential CC Oil (60ml) actually refers to 'Cuticle Care'! It is formulated with the same 'multi-functional' concept of BB and CC creams — 1 oil is all you need to protect your hair from 5 different hair stresses. What the CC Oil does is that it forms a protective coat around each hair strand, leaving it smooth and manageable  

What's really cool is that it contains Hair Supplement Oil (lanolin acid) which is similar to our hair's natural oil to help repair, moisturise and protect your hair. It is also light and non-greasy, thus suitable even for applying it throughout the day. You can use it on both damp or towel-dried hair, concentrating on the mid-length to tip! 

My verdict: 

I've put off using hair oils for a REALLY long time because I had one bad experience with a particular brand. It was really thick and greasy, my hair just couldn't absorb the oil. It actually caused the pores along my jawline to become clogged and I broke out. Ughs gross. 

But this CC Oil really lives up to its claim of being lightweight and non-greasy. I've tried it and it is really instantly absorbed by my hair. It is also not sticky at all! YASSS DRINK UP THE GOODNESS MY HAIR. It has a light floral scent which I really appreciate because I hate hair products that have an overpowering scent. I am actually really impressed because my hair ends feels really smooth now and I can't stop touching it. 

SEE! It really is smooth and shiny~

Have you ever felt like this? 

Fret not! Introducing to you the next product that Essential has, the Essential Night Care Milk (100ml)!

I'm really intrigued by this product because it is supposed to protect your hair from pillow friction by leaving a protective coat around each hair strand and prevent misaligned cuticles when hair rubs against the pillowcase, leaving hair more manageable the next morning. I love the idea of an overnight treatment!

When we toss and turn at night, there is friction between our hair and the pillow, causing the cuticles to be misaligned. This creates frizz, resulting in the fabulous lion's mane hair the next morning 

To deal with that, many of us ladies have to wake up much earlier to wash our hair, dry it then style it (phew), on top of skincare products and makeup before heading to work or school. Heck, ain't nobody got time fo' dat. Beauty sleep is more important!

As you can see, the Essential Night Care Milk has a much thicker, richer and gel-like consistency as compared to the oil. Like the CC oil, you can apply this on both damp and towel-dried hair. For better results, ensure that your hair is completely dry before going to bed. And please please please do not sleep with wet hair girls, it is really bad.

My verdict: 

I actually really like this product! Yesterday before heading to bed, I applied it on my damp hair before blow drying. Even though this has a richer texture, it's still not greasy or heavy at all, so two thumbs up for Essential. I actually found the scent to be slightly different from the CC oil but no complaints as both are really subtle. I wasn't really expecting much, but I was gladly surprised this morning when I woke up. My hair was still very soft and smooth!  Of course I still had to comb and style my hair, but my fly aways are very much tamed. Now I don't have to spend so much time doing my hair routine before going out! I can foresee myself using this on a daily basis heh.

Good news for you girls! 

Head over to Essential's Facebook Page to play the Essential Mane Hero game to win attractive prizes weekly! 

All you have to do is help Mane Hero catch the Essential products by moving the Essential basket left and right to catch the powerful hair treatments to gain points. At the same time, you have to try avoiding the Evil Stress Brothers and Pesky Pillow King! One word of caution, don't try to grab all the Essential hair products if you can't because you'll end up catching one of those nasties instead 

Go try it for yourself!

Have a good long weekend everyone! Thanks for reading!

Both Essential CC Oil (60ml) and Night Care Milk (100ml) retails at S$11.90 each and can be found at all local supermarkets and leading pharmacies.

With love,

A