Damn Allure

If you are like me, and have a semi-unhealthy love of beauty magazines, you are fixated on a couple of beauty products. These are products that all the magazines rave about and are just out of the range of affordability for me. Every once in a while, I will cave and try something--with mixed results. This is how I got my T3 blow dryer, which was pretty much life changing (less boof to the hair, doesn't make it feel crunchy and takes less than half the time) but also the reason I tried Kiehl's Silk Groom which is sort of meh and I use in a couple of ways because I've found that it does several things ok for me but nothing really well. These magazines are also why I keep buying Maybelline's Great Lash which is just utter crap but they all rave about it.

So for years and years, every damn beauty article in pretty much every major magazine features one brush, the Mason Pearson. Yeah, over a hundred bucks for a brush.

I am vain and fussy about my hair. And have found that really, good shampoo and conditioner and great tools like flat irons and blow dryers make a huge difference. There are bargains to be had at the drug store but for the most part the good stuff really is better. And my last hold out has been the brush. Mine is a fairly cheap Clairol job, neon yellow, that had a plastic tag that boasted about Ions or something.

But Allure Magazine recently reviewed (rather favorably) the Sonia Kushak knock off of the Mason Pearson and at fourteen bucks that was a price I could get behind. Aesthetically, it is so much nicer looking than my Clairol it is ridiculous. The handle seemed small but I think it is meant to be more of a carry around, travel style (which meh . . .I haven't carried a brush in my purse since the seventh grade when I had one of those suckers with the hairspray pump in the handle--SHUT UP you know you had one, how else were your bangs that stiff). The brush is a mix of stiff and soft bristles. The bad? It's crap for blow drying, at least for me. The handle is too short for me and the bristles aren't long enough to really grab onto all of my hair. This might be less of a problem for some one who doesn't have as much hair. The good? A lot of brushes, including my current one, make my hair puffy and boofy when brushed dry. Which means I don't brush my hair very often (HOT LOOK). This was no big deal when I had short hair meant to be worn messy but is just sad now that my hair is past my shoulder blades. This brush detangles but keeps the hair smooth and shiny. It doesn't puff it up or fray the ends and lo and behold . . .I actually brush it now.

If I had paid over a hundred dollars for this brush, I would have been deeply disappointed. But I am thrilled with my little fourteen dollar bargain. Of course, this does feed the idea that the real thing must be so MUCH BETTER.

Damn those beauty magazines.