Before I dive into details about why this is a fabulous product, I’ll go ahead and list the pros and cons so you’re aware of what’s going on in my InStyler journey… I also apologize ahead of time for any weird typos, my new kitten keeps walking across the keyboard.

Pros:

• Leaves your hair bouncy (or bouncier compared to other irons)
• No flat iron dents
• Can create serious body
• Softer hair than traditional styling irons
• Makes your hair appear healthier than with other irons
• Buttons are in a very good location

Cons:

• Only rotates in one direction
• Takes practice/getting used to
• You need to be somewhat ambidextrous with hair tools

Neutral:

• Makes noise
• Gets hot
• Not ideal for everyone

Now I’ll elaborate… This is by far superior if you’re looking for more natural appearance and sexy hair… if you enjoy the flat, stick straight, doesn’t move, damaged looking hair, then you’ll prefer your flat iron…This tool is especially fabulous if you have a friend to do your hair.

I have relatively straight hair, BUT, it’s very fluffy due to damaging chemical processes (aka: lots of bleaching/dying).  My hair is also baby fine while at the same time having a ton of it.  Where the worst of the damage is in my hair, it’s not very soft and feels dried out.  When I style my hair, I have to use a flat iron to smooth it out, and even then, my hair looks damaged because it just doesn’t move like it should.  My only remedy for that is the Ojon restorative treatment, but that only lasts about 2 shampoos if that (that’s how damaged my hair is)… and that’s too expensive to use that often. The only upside to my hair, is that it holds styling like you would not believe… and that by some miracle hasn’t fallen out yet.

Cue the InStyler.

This gave me the results that I have only been able to get with the Ojon restorative treatment. One time with this device, and my hair felt soft, it moved, and looked healthy. That alone is worth everything.

Let’s get to the actual device.  The button is located at the bottom of the InStyler, right near where the cord connects.  I can’t tell you how many styling tools I’ve despised simply because of button location. They’re always in the way and I hit them while styling, either changing the setting or turning them off completely. I don’t have that issue with the InStyler. It’s button is perfectly out of the way.  The curling iron part of it rotates, but only when you clamp it down.

It has 4 settings. Low, medium, high, and off.  I find that low doesn’t work well for me, unless I want to spend an hour getting through my hair, so I use medium.  I can ‘straighten’ my hair in 5-10 minutes.  I also found after a few not-so-great attempts that I had to squeeze the InStyler a lot harder than I originally thought, which might be partially because I am using it on larger chunks of hair than instructed… but I thought I’d throw that tidbit out there so that maybe before switching over to the highest setting, you can try a little more pressure. Now, with that said, keep in mind that if you’re planning to get this, it does get hot, just like any other flat iron or curling iron, so there is a burn risk involved.  I’ve seen a lot of people complain about burning themselves, but that’s not the iron’s fault, that’s just user error, so I’m not going to take that out on the InStyler. In that same sentence though, the InStyler can be very awkward and definitely takes some practice and getting used to, so I can see why people burn themselves, especially if they’re treating it like a flat iron (since flat irons usually have covers on the outside of the plates to minimize burning risks).

It also has a heat guard thing you can clip onto it.  I advise you to use it, at least until you get the hang of it… it won’t eliminate the risk, but you’ll be less likely to burn yourself and more aware of the device.  I actually like the heat guard, and use it in creating volume as a sort of space holder between the iron and my scalp… basically I put the heat guard against my scalp to ensure the stability and distance of the InStyler.

It also comes with a wide tooth comb with a double pronged handle… that appears to measure out the recommended half inch sections perfectly, although I don’t follow those rules.  As long as we’re on the topic of ‘what’s in the box’ I’ll go ahead and list.  In the box I got the InStyler, a heat resistant bag for the InStyler, a comb, clip on heat guard, an instruction booklet, and a quick start sort of laminated card with pictures and tips…

In said instructions, it says that you should avoid, but can use this on wet hair. Don’t do that.  *gets on soapbox* Do not put extremely high heat directly on wet hair no matter the tool unless you want fried hair. I don’t care if you bought one of those wet/dry flat irons… it ruins your hair.  Scientifically proven.  Google ‘bubble hair’ and you’ll see why. Don’t want to google? Fine, I’ll tell you here.  Too much heat + water = boiling, and that will severely damage your hair and make it brittle, especially if the boiling happens to the moisture within the hair shaft… This can happen even with a blow dryer. Now, if you like that sort of ‘my hair’s breaking off all over’ look, then go for it, but there’s no way to reverse the damage.  I’ll elaborate on this with simple to understand analogies in a future article… but back to the InStyler…

I see a lot of reviews about the InStyler claiming that it’s LOUD.  And that’s a lie.  Makes noise, yes… Loud, no.  I have a blow dryer that I consider quiet, and my blow dryer is louder than the InStyler.  But in defense of all the people whining about how loud it is, compared to a traditional flat iron or curling iron, the InStyler *is* loud… and compared to my brush, it’s a rock concert.  Again, I think people’s complains lie in comparing to their old styling tools (that and possibly having it rotate by your ear)… My InStyler is about as loud as my microwave, which is a pretty quiet microwave (and it’s awesome at heating hot pockets… I <3 you microwave)…

Now onto the biggest con… it only goes in one direction… and I want to make this a big con, because it’s a simple fix that I don’t understand WHY it isn’t an option… a button to switch the direction of the rotating iron…. because that doesn’t exist, it only goes in one direction, and if you get this product, you’ll find out why that’s a problem.  Unless you’re capable of curling/flat ironing with both your left and right hand, you’re going to risk burning yourself , dropping the InStyler, and flat out being pissed off.  The InStyler takes practice… so don’t give up.

On that same note, if you are wanting pin straight ends, the InStyler is going to be a little difficult.  you can get flips, curls, and even the most subtle curve pretty easily, but pin-straight is a little harder… my suggestion for that would be to take a flat iron on a low setting to just flatten the very ends after using the InStyler just to insure uniform ends.

I have also read that a lot of people have problems with their InStyler not working, or only working for a short amount of time.  I can’t contest to that, since mine has been working fine, and I’ve had it a month.  I’m only bringing this up so that you can be aware of this possibility.  I don’t know the reason behind these product failures but I’ve seen many a styling tool go out simply from leaving it plugged in an outlet that has power surges, as well as being burnt out from being left on all the time… so my advise to you is to make sure you turn off and unplug your InStyler (as well as all of your other electric styling tools) to help extend its life, and also check into all warranty and return policies… it’s kind of an expensive device to replace, and it sucks that there seem to be some defective ones out there.

I also advise you to not buy from non-licensed sellers… there are knock offs that are very dangerous and can possibly catch fire or explode etc etc… there’s a supposed ‘official’ ebay seller whom I’m not going to mention, solely because I attempted to contact InStyler to verify if they were authorized to sell the InStyler on ebay, and couldn’t get a hold of them to find out, so I wouldn’t take the risk unless you can personally get in contact with the company to verify that.

But all of that aside, the cons are worth the pros in my book…. I think with a few adjustments, this could be the best styling tool out there…. I think right now it’s a fabulous product, but it’s not for everyone.

They actually had a gorgeous assortment of colors limited only by the rainbow (or a variation of)… very bright and very happy looking colors.  When I finally made my way to a store during daylight hours, I picked up Hi-Def (the green) and Cyber (the purple)… I assure you I wanted to grab up the whole lot, but 1) I’m not much of a nail polish wearer since I can’t go without picking it off for more than a few hours and 2) I had no idea if I would even like this product.

Before you really take my review for anymore than a personal experience, I have to warn you… I’m not a nail person… I’ve never had a manicure or pedicure, I keep my nails short because I type a LOT, and I pick at my nails when I’m thinking.  I also don’t keep my nails in mind when doing ANYTHING… so they get destroyed very quickly.

That in mind, the only true pro I can say about these polishes are the colors.  They *ARE* gorgeous, but in my experience, the formula SUCKS.

First off, I never use top coats or base coats.  It’s not worth my time.  These polishes at minimum I would say need a topcoat.  It took 2 entire days before they nail polish was as hard as a nail polish is supposed to be… meaning it was easily dented and knicked and that was without my interference.

It also took forever to dry for me. Now that might just be me, because I’ve read many reviews saying it dried pretty instantly.  Personally, I put on a thin coat (as I always do) waited about 5 minutes, then took a blow dryer on cool to them for another 10 minutes and I could still scratch off the polish if I tried.

Another thing that irked me was it took too many coats to get bottle color.  In the green, it took 3 to 4 coats.  in the purple, I could kind of get away with 2 coats, but a third was desired.  This in combination with the slooooow drying? Not fun for me.

My first attempt at putting on the polishes, I did one coat at a time (obviously) and waited then blow dried as I said above.  After I finally finished, I waited about 2 hours before I hopped into the shower. Since I’m a very messy nail painter I just let the polish come off my cuticles after they’ve soaked in the shower.  Anyway, in the shower (remember, 2 hours after I finished painting them which took forever to begin with) the polish pretty much just came right off.  I’m not sure if I did something wrong so I surely didn’t want to write a review without giving them a second go.

The next day I tried again, and it came out better. I’m not sure if I did anything differently, but it stuck to the nail better.  Still soft, and still a long wait for drying, but didn’t wash off in the shower… got a little dented up by the scrub-puff… but still wearable.  A good 48 hours after the painting, they seemed much more solid. Although I can’t give you any definitive review on how long they can last, because as I said wayyyy at the beginning, I pick at my polish… it’s like therapy for me… takes my mind off the world.  And with my total disregard for my nails, it probably wouldn’t have lasted long anyway…

The colors are great… they’re very frosted, almost metallic… I don’t see anything special that would scream HD though… The colors are even more gorgeous in the sun.

So pros:  Awesome color

Cons:  formula is very thin and sheer, took a ridiculous amout of time to dry (for me), dents easy

Again, this was without basecoat or topcoat… I would probably highly recommend using both, then again a basecoat + 3 or 4 layers of polish + topcoat would be 5-6 layers of polish… so maybe not.

I’d buy this again if I found a unique color that I had to have… otherwise I’d stick to finding something similar in a different formula or brand. I’m fairly disappointed in them, but the colors will probably cause me to use them again… although I won’t be purchasing more.

I’d show you pictures, but I didn’t bother taking any of my nails themselves… the color really does come out true to the bottle if you get enough on… if you really want to see my nails you can check out my last two videos on YouTube.com/makeupanarchist.  Speaking of which, I uploaded another video about a week ago, I haven’t posted it here yet because I’m testing something out, but I’ll post it soon… feel free to go look in the meantime.

I love the colors…  That hasn’t changed… The gorgeous shades outweigh any problems…

Now onto the cons, because I’m not going to pretend everything is perfect if it isn’t… I want to be as informative as I can about any products I talk about.

The four MAC shadows I got (I can only say this for the ones I got, and not all of the ones in the collection) have a smell… a weird smell… I can’t say it’s bad necessarily, but it isn’t pleasant… And none of my other Mac shadows smell like this or anywhere near this strongly…. and as far as I know, you can only smell it if you take the shadow up to your nose… it’s not like wearing this is going to make you stink…. just an odd smell for the Starflash shadows… especially One Off and Rated R… the colors are gorgeous though.

Actually, now that I think about it, the shadows remind me of the scent of my Too Faced Shadow Insurance… not exactly the same, but similar…

The MAKE UP FOR EVER Star Powder in Iridescent Fuschia stains the skin.  I used a base so it really wasn’t too horribly noticeable… but it was there if you knew where to look…  I don’t know if the other ones stain, I’ve heard the really pigmented ones do, but I can’t say that for sure since I haven’t tried them.  This will not stop me from using this or buying more in the future, because the color is too fabulous not to, and I can always cover it up with my Full Cover concealer of the same brand… no biggie…. I also have very light skin (MAC liquid NW15 foundations are actually darker than my skin) so I might be a high-risk for staining shadows anyway.

Not a huge update, but something I thought I should share since I did praise them so much in the last blog.  They’re still fabulous products in my opinion, and I know the Iridescent Fuschia Star Powder is right up there as one of my favorites of all time.

We were sleepy, and that’s a long drive only to find that your Sephora doesn’t have their shipment in… I knew I should have called. But I did pick up the Iridescent Fuschia Star Powder, which is indescribable and the camera doesn’t do it justice.  Before you ask why I don’t order things online, I refuse to waste that much money on something that I haven’t seen in person, but I’ve been dying for a good red and the Pure Pigments come in a rainbow of colors… literally.  Maybe next trip… but here’s a swatch of the star powder I did pick up:

MAKE UP FOR EVER STAR POWDER 951

Huh… just played with the captions… don’t know if I like that yet…

Anyway, on to the MAC eyeshadows.  I had seen some swatches online (like 2) and wasn’t sure if I’d like them. Let me tell you, they’re so much prettier in person.  I picked up Fashion Groupie, Rated R, Strike a Pose, and One Off.  I looked at the Rave and Fly-By-Blu liners, and wasn’t really impressed, the blue was nice, but I’m not a blue liner kind of person. I really wish the Rave had been prettier.  The other eyeshadows were nice, but I’m a sucker for color, if I were to have gotten any others though, I kind of didn’t hate Style Snob or Fashion. Speaking of, the lady actually grabbed Fashion instead of Fashion Groupie… simple mistake (although not the color I wanted to buy)… I don’t know why they’d have two colors named so similarly anyway. I’m glad I caught it before I left. Here’s the best swatches I could get on camera… but seriously, go check them out in person before you make a final decision.

MAC Love That Look Swatches

So, I truly love all I got yesterday.  The colors are awesome, the MAC shadows are nice and creamy kind of feeling, and not to mention metallic kind of finish (which I love).. My Star Powder looks like it glows it’s so bright… so I’m really happy.  I wish I could have gotten the MUFE pigments I wanted as well as tried out the concealer… but that just gives me a reason to go there again…

Other things that happened that day, went to fix my fiance’s brother’s wife’s computer that morning, hit up the bookstore for some Starbucks, got a pink lemonade smoothie from them that they completely messed up my name on.. by the way, my new nickname is Chevy, as deemed by the barista at Barnes and Noble… if they’re gonna write what they want for my name, I’d rather not have them ask me what it is… it’s kind of pointless.  And finished off the day purchasing a new Toshiba netbook and some accessories.  It’s adorable… it should be pink… but since the fiance was the one that actually wanted it, it’s not pink… not until I buy some paint anyway.

If I can get some better pictures later, I’ll redo the swatch images… I need to get a palette for my MAC shadows, I also want to press some pigments… that’s on my to do list for this month… I’m debating getting a real MAC Palette or ordering a larger one on Ebay… I supposed I could DIY a palette… we’ll see…

I’d played with the Lorac Sheer Wash stains before, but was paranoid that they’d end up like the Revlon Just Bitten stains that didn’t work for me. The liquid was more watery and seemed to dry fairly instantly (not quite as instantly as felt tip marker stains, but close) so I thought it might work… I checked out the three colors on my hand and decided to go with Sheer Luck.  The only reason I hadn’t tried it before was that the Sheer Luck shade appeared really light on the Sephora website… It’s actually a dark earthy rose color… buildable color since it’s a very thin liquid.

The Good: I have to say I absolutely LOVE this color… I love this stain which is strange since it’s a liquid. I would much prefer it in marker form, but it’s still pretty awesome. It dries/absorbs quickly and the color is beautiful.

The Bad: I hate hate HATE rollerball applicators for any makeup, and especially liquid. They never roll right, and you don’t have a lot of control over how much comes out or where it comes out and where it lands… I work out some liquid and spread with my fingers, although a lip brush might be better. And like any lip stain, it’s drying to the lips, so you need something to put over it for moisture, but that’s just a con that we lip-stain wearers put up with… I’m a Carmex-junkie anyway… another downside might be the shade range being limited to three, but I believe the three are a good set, a rose color (Sheer Luck), a raspberry color (Sheer Emotion), and a bronze color (Sheer Magic).

The Verdict: Aside from the rollerball packaging (hey, some of you guys might like that), the actual product is AWESOME. For me anyway. It’s all about personal preference, but if 90% of the stains don’t work for me, and I find one that does, chances are it’ll work for you too… just beware the rollerball.

Pictures:

Before                                                                   After

The colors are a bit off, it’s not quite that bright red, but more of a dark dusty rose red color…

If you’re interested, check out your closest Sephora or Ulta or get it online at Sephora.com.