The awards season in Los Angeles is the perfect time to be inspired by new beauty routines and products.  I am sharing my beauty swag this month in honor of the awards season so full disclosure: This stuff is free for me to try and share, and this review, like all my reviews, are not paid. I just give you the scoop from one beauty-aholic to another so here it is.

UBUNTU HAIR Products:  Super Star Oil – Heat Protection Spray – Shampoo/Conditioner / Butter Deep Conditioner

British Hairstylist LEE STAFFORD, who has so many hair product awards he probably has to hire a Winnebago to store them all, has launched at ULTA.com a new line of hair goodies from African Oils. The word UBUNTU conveys the sense of community as the Africans have been using this collection of oils for ions of time (Baobab, Mafura, Marula, Mongongo) and the buzz is these will replace the Moroccan oils.  The healing properties of the oils were put into products for dry hair, which I have because my hair is “color treated” with blond streaks and highlights. I tried the shampoo, conditioners, oils and super butter in several shampoos over one week.  I also used the spray on product to protect my hair from heat tools.  What I found is that for me, the pure oil products were really the stand-outs. All of these products were the purest way to get the oil to my hair and I liked them the best. The Super Star Oil  made from the Mongongo was a dream for my hair; I applied it after shampoo when my hair was wet. I air dry my hair for a 30 minute period prior to blowing it out (I am a beach blow out girl) this was perfect. Then, I took the spray to protect my hair from heat and spritzed my hairbrush and this helped create the waves of true beach windblown hair. As a side note, these oils do not “tint” the color of your hair which the products using Moroccan oil will do over time.  This was told to me by a colorist who mentioned to me as a blonde, the “amber” tone alters your color.  Yikes, not what a California blonde wants to hear!  A full compliment of products made from these ancient oils is available now at the ULTA  retailers and ULTA.com.  

Now…on to some serious swag items: GLAMSQUAD is a cool service that you can book online so that the experts show up for you. Yeah, I know. Can a star thing be better than that? So feel free to book a blow out or make up job or whatever your heart desires. Lips and Lashes are huge items on the Red carpet, so I am sharing the L’OREAL (*a huge beauty sponsor at the Oscar’s ) and that means their mascara, brow gel, and other big eye items will be part of everyone’s look. When I shop for drugstore beauty, I always like to see what L’OREAL has introduced because I am convinced that a ton of French products (Chanel, Dior, etc.) are all made by the same factories.  So, you’re really getting top ingredients in a drugstore brand. I swear that the foundations are a match to those sold by Dior. The voluminous mascara is a favorite and so is the brow gel. Your red lip look starts with the L’OREAL double lipstick with lip conditioner. Prepare your lips with the conditioner, then brush on the red gloss over the top. Perfection!  On the more side, there’s two Armani products that every Hollywood girl should have: Mascara and Lipstick. The Armani #400 Rouge Ecstasy and Black Mascara in “Black Ecstasy”. Both Ultra chic and well, its ARMANI. The red lip and black lined lashes are Hollywood Girl Classics.

Special Thanks to VANITY FAIR/for the Beauty Samples.  J’adore!