Garnier Olia, New Hair Color

I was asked to try new Garnier Olia Haircolor by BzzAgent. Since I enjoy coloring my hair, I decided I would give it a try.

So, what's different about Olia? It's oil-based, and is supposed to be more gentle on hair. What does this mean? It means no ammonia, with 60% oil, and that oil is flower-based. Sounds good, right?

I have dry, curly, fine hair. It damages easily. I look for hair products that won't hurt my hair, and haircolor is always a big variable. I usually use some of the top-end products like Excellence and Feria, although I have used Garnier's Nutrisse. My natural hair color is a light to medium golden brown with red highlights. When I color, I generally use a dark golden blonde to provide some oomph. I have tried using auburn shades in the past, but they tend to come out too red for me, and much too brassy. Sometimes I'll use light golden brown.

4 days before Olia. I had colored my hair with Excellence Light Golden Brown at the end of January.

I received my BzzKit with a coupon for a free box of Olia last week. Over the weekend I went and picked it up, but didn't have time to do any coloring. First issue: there's no dark golden blonde. The color selections for Olia aren't as varied as they are for other dyes (including their own Nutrisse line) and the Light Golden Brown looked a bit darker than I would have liked. I decided to bite the bullet and picked up 6.43, Light Natural Auburn.

I went with Light Natural Auburn!

On Monday I decided I'd color my hair when I got home from work. My friend Linda was there when I got home, and she was able to partake in the whole adventure.

Even the directions look high-tech

 I opened the box and found that the kit contained developer in a tube instead of a bottle, colorant in another tube, and the obligatory conditioner. The mixing bottle is bulb-shaped. The gloves are black plastic. There's a lot of black in this kit, on the packaging and on the directions sheet. I think it makes the directions a bit hard to read.

I mixed the developer with the colorant and proceeded to put it in my hair. I was slightly disappointed by the amount of the mixture - I would have liked a bit more product. My hair is very thin and one bottle usually does it, but I barely squeaked by this time. However, when I had finished putting the color in my hair and opened the mixing bottle to rinse it out, I discovered that there was still a lot of the mixture adhering to the inside of the wide, black applicator tip. I think that the design of the bottle doesn't allow all of the product to come out. The dye has a great, light scent! It doesn't have a harsh, chemical scent at all. It's very pleasant and kind to the nose. This was a major plus.

The process took 30 minutes. That's pretty average.  I know there are some that are quicker, and some that take longer. I was afraid that if I went any longer it would come out bright red. Years ago I colored my hair with  auburn and it came out the color of Ariel's in Disney's The Little Mermaid, so I've been auburn shy ever since.

I rinsed my hair and applied the conditioner. Not bad, it has a nice scent, too. It's a bit heavier than the scent of the dye, but still pleasant. It was reminiscent of papaya.  I rinsed, toweled my hair dry, added a slight amount of Carol's Daughter's Hair Milk to control frizz, and waited.

I have to say, I'm very happy with the color. I was afraid I wouldn't like it, but I do. It is a very natural auburn and is not brassy at all. My hair doesn't appear to be damaged and is soft to the touch. I've received a few compliments at work, and my husband says that he likes it on me. He doesn't think it's very different from the colors I normally use, but he likes it and says that it makes my skin glow.

Badly light bathroom shot, but this is my after color.

OK, my badly lit bathroom shot taken at work this morning. You can see that the hair is shiny, there's no gray and the color is even. I'm happy with it. I'm not wearing makeup in order to show just the hair.

Would I use it again? Yes. Would I recommend it? Yes. Are there others out there that do the same thing? Yes, of course, it's hair dye, but as far as boxed dyes go, this is a good one.

Cafe Escapes

Recently I was asked to try Cafe Escapes by Bzz Agent. I love my Keurig, and I recently purchased one for my staff at work, so I was eager to try the campaign.

Cafe Escapes are part of the Green Mountain family of coffee products. I buy a lot of the Green Mountain Colombian Select, but every now and again I like a flavored beverage. I don't drink a lot of flavored coffees, and won't order flavoring like hazelnut, vanilla or caramel when I'm out at say, Dunkin Donuts. I do, however, enjoy the mocha lattes and I'll always enjoy a hot cocoa. I figured that trying products that come from a reputable name in the coffee biz would be the way to go. So, bring on the Bzz Kit.

Here's a picture of the Bzz Kit that I uploaded to Twitter when I received it. The kit includes 2 each of the new Cafe Vanilla and Cafe Caramel, two Chai Lattes, a Milk Hot Chocolate and a Dark Hot Chocolate.

My daughter grabbed the Milk Hot Chocolate as soon as the box was opened. She's 9, likes her hot chocolate, and was looking forward to this. She said she liked it quite a bit.

I tried the Mocha Latte, which is one of my favorite occasional treats. Even though I used it on the standard middle setting on the Keurig, it seemed a little too watery and a bit too sweet. I like my Mocha to have a very dark chocolate taste, since I'm not into overly sweet beverages. It compares to the General Foods International Coffees more than it compares to something from Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts.


Next up for me was the Cafe Caramel. Sadly, I wasn't thrilled. It has a very sweet, fake taste to it, like an aspartame after-taste. It's also very watery, and won't be on my purchase list for the future.  I gave the second K-cup of Cafe Caramel to a coworker, who felt it tasted all right but was a bit too thin. She didn't want to add cream because she didn't want to add fat to it. I would have. It might have given it some bouyancy.

I pretty much felt the same way about the Cafe Vanilla. It's too sweet, too thin and tastes artificial. I left the second K-Cup at work in case a co-worker wishes to use it.

The Dark Hot Chocolate is good, but not spectacularly dark. It's more like a regular hot chocolate. It's best to make it on the smallest cup setting to get the most flavor, so you're not getting a lot for the price. I have a friend who, when he makes a mug of this, puts it on the least amount of water setting, and then uses 2 K-cups. It's the only way he can get enough of a mug of cocoa that's sufficiently chocolately for him. I think it's way too sweet.

That leaves the Chai Latte. You don't mind the thinness as much with the Chai Latte because it's a tea. At least that's how I feel about it. When brewing, you immediately pick up the scent of the chai spices. Great, very promising. Only problem for me is that once again this is way too sweet, and has an artificial aftertaste.

I think this product is good for a niche market, but for regular home use, I think I will pass. I know that K-cups in general aren't considered to be a cost-effective option, but these don't seem to measure up to less expensive alternatives. I can buy a box of 20 Twinings Chai teabags for 3.00 or less, add my own milk or cream, and not add sugar (since I don't like the sweetness). I can even use the Keurig without a k-cup in it to heat the water. Problem solved. I can get many more flavors of coffee, mocha and other beverages from GFIC, and pay 2.50 - 3.50 a can. They are a bit richer and even their sugar-free varieties don't have a particularly bad aftertaste.

So, the jury is out on this one. It's not my cup of coffee/tea/beverage, but it might be yours.

Pros:

Convenient
Good to have on hand for company who might want something different
Flavor Variety
Available at supermarkets and mass-merchandise places

Cons:
Too sweet (subjective, I know, but my opinion)
Too watery
not cost-effective
artificial after-taste with most of them.

A Goya Weekend

BzzAgent asked me to participate in a Goya campaign. No problem there, my pantry is usually filled with Goya products. My BzzKit arrived with a can of low-sodium black beans, a bottle of Goya Adobo, and a box of Goya Yellow Rice. So far, so good. I grew up fully aware of Goya products, since they advertise heavily in the NY area. I've been using them ever since I married way back in the dark ages of 1985. Goya has good quality products at a decent price. My BzzKit included coupons for various Goya products, so that was an added bonus.

I knew I wanted to use my crock pot on Saturday because I had a lot of running around to do. I worked 9AM - Noon, and then I had laundry, car repairs, shopping, etc. which all required me to spend time away from home. I had a pack of boneless pork ribs I wanted to make, so I started with that.

Into the crock pot went:
1 pack of boneless pork ribs
2 packets of Sazón Goya seasoning with Coriander and Annatto
2 cups of water

1 packet of Lipton Savory Herb & Garlic Soup Mix (You can use Lipton Onion but I was out of it).

I put it on low and headed out for the day's events.

When I came home I checked the pork, which smelled great, and set about making the rest of our dinner. I made the yellow rice according to directions. In 25 minutes you have perfect yellow rice. While the rice simmered, I started the beans.

Here's how I make the beans:

I get my frying pan out, put in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter.The butter won't burn if it's in the oil. I dice up some red onion (I used about a third of a large red onion) and I add a heaping tablespoon of chopped garlic. I sautee the onion and garlic in the olive oil & butter, and when the onions are clear I add the beans and a few sprinkles of Adobo. I simmer this for 10-12 minutes. Sometimes I'll add 1/4 cup of white wine but I didn't this time.

Everything came out great! It was a hearty, satisfying meal which came together in a half-hour. Having the ribs cook in the slow cooker all day helped, but the rice and beans are a stove-top staple which cooks up quickly & easily.  Both the husband and the kid were happy with the results.

On Sunday I wanted to make some fun stuff for the big game. Is there anything better in life than bacon? How about bacon wrapped beef? I ran it by the husband, who sounded very appreciative. I'd love to make it with shrimp but I'm allergic. Again I ask, why couldn't I be allergic to something else instead???? How about Brussel Sprouts? I digress.

I had some beef cubes and bacon acquired at Costco, so I seasoned the beef cubes with Goya Adobo, wrapped each with a half strip of bacon, and secured them with toothpicks. I sauteed them for 10 minutes in olive oil (flipping them frequently), drained them, and served. They were a hit.  I had trouble keeping Charlotte the cat away from us as we were trying to eat them, but she knows a good thing when she picks up the scent.

Monday is back to work day, so I try to get something ready in the crock pot the night before. I had everything I needed to make a decent pasta sauce, which I love to let simmer.

My recipe:

1 lb. ground beef
4 cans  (8 oz) Goya Tomato sauce
1 can  (6 oz) Goya Tomato paste
1/2 red onion, minced
2 tablespoons chopped garlic (we like a lot of garlic, adjust if you need to)
1 teaspoon Goya Adobo
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano

I fry the ground beef until there's no more pink. I put all ingredients into the crock pot, stir, set for low and simmer for 10 hours minimum. When I get home tonight we'll have a great sauce to put over spaghetti.

I have been a loyal Goya user for years, and I like the variety of products that they offer. When I can't find everything at Stop & Shop, I'll head over to Twin Cities, a Supermarket on the Jersey City/Bayonne border which caters more to the Spanish-speaking market. There I find a huge selection of Goya products.

The Goya website if great if you're looking for recipes, coupons and product information. Try it out.