#fleekweek

Vanessa is born to hand jive this week in the Fleek Week Test Kitchen

What’s cooking, good looking? I saw these new masks at Sephora and couldn’t resist, because Sephora knows the way to my heart and wallet. The lip mask ($3) is available in Rose and Shea Butter, I went with rose (obvi). And the hand mask ($6) is available in Argan, Aloe, and Avocado. I went with aloe, because I’m an idiot and didn’t notice avocado was an option until just now. So let’s open  up…

The mask comes on a wooden stirrer, like a cake pop, and looks like a Michael Jackson-esque sparkly hand. You’re supposed to let it melt in a bowl of hot water, then slip your hands in and let them soak for about 15 minutes.

Easy enough so far…

  Now I’m beginning to understand why there are so many reviews describing it as “difficult to use”, because this sucker has been soaking for a while and nothing seems to be happening. I just kept stirring, hoping for some significant melting action.

  When Dana tried the mask at Lush, the lovely woman who helped her just soaked it for a bit and used the heat from her hands to melt it down. So we decided to speed things along by breaking it up and dipping/rubbing the block to help it along. I have to say that it smells incredible, if my entire world could smell like this (and my dog’s Frito feet) I would be over the moon.

Now we’re getting somewhere! There was no way my baby hands were going to be able to withstand the hot water for anything longer than a few seconds, so the dunk and rub technique seemed like a better option. I kept at it for a good 10-15 minutes, then rinsed off and dried my hands with a nice fluffy towel. As I type this, it’s been a few hours and my hands are still super soft. There were some comments from users who found that it dried out their skin, so I avoided using any oil/lotion after rinsing to test this and still haven’t experienced any dryness at all.

I was very happy with my Golden Handshake, and would absolutely try it again. It’s priced at just under $5, and with a test run I’m much more confident about having another go at it. My biggest piece of advice would be: be patient! If I’d let the product sit in the water a bit longer, I would have been able to use it as directed. But I don’t believe modifying the instructions made it any more or less effective. There’s also more than enough product to share a treatment. Three of us used it on our hands and there was plenty to go around. Next time I’ll probably use half on my hands and half on my feet.

The Golden Handshake is chock full of butters and oils, so it’s no wonder your skin feels so smooth and soft afterwards. The smell of the almond and rosewood oils stood out the most for me, I actually wouldn’t be opposed to using it as an all-over skin treatment. Big thumbs up from the Fleek Week crowd to Lush overall, and high marks for the Golden Handshake!

Vanessa is dating dry shampoo and will never wash her hair again!

My hair is, like, 89% dry shampoo on any given day. I’m blessed with oodles of long, thick hair (thank you, mom and dad), which is a bitch to maintain. This girl knows her way around some dry shampoo – I’ve tried ’em all, toots! My tried and true favorite has always been Pssssst! Dry Shampoo (five Ss), and I thought we would last forever and ever. But then I met Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Dry…