An Oil by Any Other Name...

Day 14: Tierra Azul Exotic Infusion Beauty Oil

Just a heads up, this is a long one. So put on you pj's, grab a tea, warm up your neck wrap, cover with a blanket and get comfy. A versatile product like this one deserves a novel-length post...

It's confession time again!!! Here it is: I have been dying to write about this product since it first came out. Every time I start a new post, I always think "ooh, but I'd rather do it on the beauty oil..." But then I realize that there are SO many more ways to use it that I haven't tried yet, and I want to have done as many of them as possible before I write about it. Then Gary published his blog, and I nearly peed my pants I was SOOOOOO excited he chose this product too!!! So I couldn't wait any longer, here it is!

In my (ever-so-humble) opinion, this product didn't receive the fanfare reception that it deserved for a few reasons. And yes I really do mean fanfare, as in when you watch a Disney princess movie and the handsome prince/royal couple/other dignitary walks on screen. Trumpets, fireworks, curtsies & bows, formal attire, and that he's-mine-no-he's-mine quarelling attitude because it's SO awesomely spectacular that everyone should be climbing over each other trying to get one first. Like soccer hooligans, at a game anywhere but in North America. Or parents at Christmas the first year Furbees came out. Or Americans on Black Friday (what is it about Canadians that we REALLY don't grasp that concept??? Another reason to love the States, obviously). I actually squeeled like a little girl meeting Cinderella when I saw that BeautiControl was releasing a Beauti Oil. "Why" you ask? Let me count the ways...

In the last year, I have lost countless sales because BC doesn't have anything for hair. I kid you not, late November I got a text from my mom asking if we had anything she could use since the product she had was running low. After shamefully answering no, I told her what I use hoping to at least help her find a really great product that would work for her. Like I've done for very client who asked this question before her. As it turns out, we used the exact same thing: Moroccan Oil. Literally, we have tried everything under the sun for frizzy hair, and nothing does the trick quite like a small serving of M Oil. Unfortunately it is INSANELY expensive, and so I buy mine once a year at the National Women's Show, because they always have a show special that puts it around the $40 mark. That said, I would never use it on my face or body, and never do more than tame fly-always after styling (I find it's just too heavy to do anything else). This sucks especially for my mint-will-kill-her mom, since the fall women's show already passed, and the spring one isn't until April. No cheap M Oil for you! (Come back 1 year?)

So now, I've told my mom "no" to face wash for combination skin, any foot creme, bath soak, refreshing mist, classic instant manicure, intensive foot salve, cuticle oil, foot spray (really anything with the word "foot" in it), and hair products. Thank goodness she's in love with anything Dark Brown Sugar and SPF20 lip balm or we'd really have a problem! (I mean it's bad enough I can't even recommend some of my favourite products - at least the makeup isn't minty, she likes that too!)

Enter December 1st and Tierra Azul Beauti Oil to the rescue! Of course I didn't tell mom about this right away, since I didn't want to get her hopes up. As anyone who lives with a family of allergies knows, you always need to read the label! And in my case, test test test too! Remember super-skeptic over here? Hi, that's me. Yeah, there's NO way this oil was ever going to replace my M Oil. It just couldn't compare. If Frizz-Ease can't work, nothing else can either (obviously, right???). 

Have I mentioned that BC sets impossibly high standards? Like the day that they launch a product that doesn't do what it claims, I might actually eat my own shorts. So 3 weeks later (I had to make sure it worked consistently, you know!) I told my mom, and a sale was born. When she runs out of her current product, of course. But remember that (incomplete) list of products that have mint? Notice anything else on there? If you guessed cuticle oil, you're right - mom can use this as cuticle oil too, since she can't use the minty one!!! Does anyone else love a product that does double-duty? It's pretty much what I live for - if I could have one soap do everything, I would!

Next use? I always loved using baby oil after a shower in the winter (it helps your skin retain more moisture, you dry off faster which means less time cold and wet, and helps prevent ingrown hairs. Says my esthician. Her word is law when it comes to my hair removal process, I just go with it). But as you know, I also hate the smell of baby. Oil. Baby oil. And babies. Never mind. Enter TA Beauti Oil to the rescue! Now I smell like a lovely spa escape, which is SOOOO much more enjoyable. Obviously. I still put lotion on after I towel dry, but I find I stay moisturized all day this way. If I use just lotion, or just the oil, it's not enough. But the two combined makes for the perfect winter barrier. Now you're ready for anything that a deep-freeze will throw at you! (Literally, it might throw something at you. The wind sounds like it's going to rip off the side of my house right now. Maybe it will throw that at you. Wind chill. Pffft.)

Now I know you're thinking "WOW!" but don't worry, it does more. Just a couple weeks ago I was laying in bed thinking "Man, my scalp is so dry and itchy but my hair is happy with the shampoo I've been using for the last year and a half, I can't switch now! What's a girl to do???" Right, obviously I was asleep & forgot who I am and what I do, since I found a solution to this problem last winter about the same time (I also had mono last winter this time, so I was feeling especially miserable. Did you know you can only get mono once in your life? And once you've had it, you're always a carrier? What a sadistic disease. Like the chickenpox. And yeah, I kind of wish I'd had it in high school the same time a bunch of my friends did. We shared food & drinks so it's a miracle I didn't catch it. Instead here I was in my late 20s, getting mono because I was overworked, overtired, already sick from strep so my immune system was compromised, and I caught it from my husband. Who like the rest of the world, had it ages ago. Lamesauce). 

Anyways, last winter's remedy was the bath soak. I massaged it into my scalp, wrapped it in a towel, and sat around the house thinking how it was the first time in 4 weeks that I could fully inhale. Refreshing for the sinuses & the scalp! Since I didn't need a sinus refresher this time around, I decided to give the Beauti Oil its true test. I call it the "How Happy Do You Make My Scalp Without Weighing Down My Fine Hair" Test. It blew the test out of the water. It's been a few weeks, and last night was the first time I felt like I needed to do it again. 

This time, I took Gary's advice from his blog, and left it on overnight. Confession time again: I don't own a shower cap. We don't get along, especially since I have to wash my hair every day or it gets really greasy by hour 34 (I can't make it the full 48 hours). Instead, I dampened my hair (no need to get worked up about running it under the tap ladies, that is soaking your hair. Since I also don't live in a hair salon & therefore don't own a spray bottle, I ran my brush under the tap & brushed my hair. Repeat until hair is damp, about 3-4 times. Easy peasy.), worked in 2 pumps of the Beauti Oil, and started my genius idea. 

Remember when you were a kid and you would get your head stuck in your shirt when you took it off? That's the idea we're going for here. I grabbed a comfy old shirt (important: it can't be too big or it won't work, since your head needs to get "stuck" in the neck hole) that I've had since high school, I wear it when painting or when dying my hair. Put it on over your head & pull up until your head is "stuck" in the neck hole. Make sure your ears aren't folded, or they will hurt in the morning! I have long hair, so I pulled the body of the shirt straight so that it covered all of my hair. Wrap loosely. Secure by pulling the sleeves together & securing with the hair elastic. TA-DA! It doesn't crinkle like a shower cap, it's as comfy to sleep with as the t-shirt that you use (since mine's ancient, it's really comfy!), and it keeps your pillowcase/bed sheets/face/husband/pyjamas/pets & children who sleep in your bed from getting all oily too! 

The next morning shower & shampoo out as usual, and DO NOT USE CONDITIONER. I was super sketched out by this step, since my hair doesn't live without conditioner. I heat style it (almost) every day and there's no way this was going to work for me. But I did it anyways just so I could say so. Joke's on me, since my hair is happier than a pig in mud & it's been hours since I blow-dried it! (Note: I didn't use any product after my shower either, not even more Beauti Oil for the flyaways!). The real test will be what happens when I do it for a week straight? I'll report back & let you know.

Even though it's a lot, this is nowhere near a complete list of every way that you can use this product. So be sure to spread the news! It's so versatile, even though when it first came out most people had no idea the potential it has! That's one reason it didn't get such a warm welcome. Other reasons include, but are not limited to, the fact that it was December )I don't know about you, but I hardly worked at all after Black Friday), and the fact that people are trained to distrust anything that says "oil". Here's a tip from someone with an "oily" face: oil is great! Olive oil, coconut oil, cuticle oil, and Beauti Oil. Just beware of anything "greasy" - yes, even bacon grease, no matter how much we love it, needs to be limited. So really I don't mind when my face is oily, but I can't stand it when I start to feel greasy (like 34 hours without washing my hair. Ugh). 

What ways have you tried to use this product so far? What's your favourite? Leave your comments on the blog below so that everyone can see it, rather than commenting on the link where you found it (Pinterest, Twitter, or Facebook are likely) where only the people in that group or on that page can see it. I try to love all of my followers equally, no matter how you found me! This is our neutral ground, so leave some love in return!

XOXO. (Yes, more Gossip Girl. Guilty as charged).