Conair’s Infiniti Nano Silver Steam Straightener helps me tame the beast

I was thrilled when the kind folks at Thornley Fallis asked me if I’d be interested in learning more about Conair’s new Infiniti Nano Silver Steam Straightener.



Anyone who knows me knows I have lots of hair that naturally is neither straight nor curly but somewhere oddly in between.

I’ve been toying with the idea of buying a flat iron for a couple of years. I’ve tried a few but always found them hard to handle and I never got great results.

The Infiniti Nano Silver Steam Straightener has two steam settings, three height settings for the detangling comb and several heat settings. My hair is thick and coarse which makes it challenging to say to the least, so I’ve been using it with steam and always on the highest setting.

When I learned they were actually giving me my very own hair straightener, I was ecstatic. I couldn’t wait to try it out. For the past three weeks or so, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing:
• washing hair at night, straightening the next day
• washing hair in the morning, blow drying then straightening
• air drying my hair, straightening once it’s dry
• and so on…

It handles easily. I find it lighter than conventional flat irons but that’s probably because apart from the tourmaline ceramic-coated plates (apparently they help prevent you from damaging your hair), it’s made from lightweight plastic metal. I can straighten my hair in about 15 minutes – a bit quicker than my flat iron experiences.

Results:
It works! I find it works best if my hair is bone dry otherwise, it ends up a bit frizzy. My hair doesn’t look as good as when I’ve had it straightened at the salon but I’m pretty happy with the results regardless. I’ve been on the fence about whether or not to use a protective product at the same time. I’m not sure if it’s necessary because the steam is supposed to help condition my hair as it straightens. What do you think?

As for the price, compared to flat irons typically costing about $200 and up, Conair’s Infiniti Nano Silver Steam Straightener retails for $99. Not bad.

And now for an infomercial moment...
There’s a special offer on their website where you can get a 30-day trial and a bunch of accessories for $14.99 – the cost of shipping. If you decide to keep the goods, you can make three monthly payments of $39.99 each.

And there’s more…
Check out Tame the Beast for a chance to win one of four Grand Prizes of “Total Hair & Beauty Makeover” worth up to $1,000 PLUS a gift basket of Conair hair-related products and John Frieda styling products worth up to $500!

Update: I hope you enjoyed the video. I found it on YouTube.

The One Hundred - are you a stylish woman?

The One Hundred: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own by Nina Garcia and illustrated by Ruben Toledo.

You may remember I thoroughly enjoyed The Little Black Book of Style. So, when HarperCollins Canada told me about Nina Garcia’s latest book, The One Hundred: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own, I wasn’t shy and asked for a copy right away.

(I guess I owe them a huge apology. It took me a while to get around to reading the book and even longer to write this post, which is not to say I didn’t enjoy it – I did. I enjoyed it very much in fact. I’ve just been focusing on other things. What can I say… such is life for a hobbyist blogger. )

Unlike Garcia’s first book, there wasn’t any empowering message this time around but I found it just as valuable, if not more so.

I own a mere 36 of the one-hundred-must-have pieces. I’m not sure whether I should be disappointed because according to Garcia, I’m nowhere near being a stylish woman; or, whether I should be happy because it means I have a lot of shopping to do in order to get all the necessary classics into my closet.

Garcia’s list is wide-ranging and includes:
• Blackberry (with a list of links to er favourite websites)
• black opaque tights (one of my fave s and on this season’s “must-have” list)
• classic pearls
• little black dress
• little white dress (I can do without one of those, can you?)
• safari jackets (I didn’t know YSL made them a high fashion item 50 years ago, did you?); and,
• yoga gear (unfortunately she asks us to promise not to wear yoga pants on an airplane – was she spying on me?).

I also liked the way she organized her list – alphabetically – shares the history of specific styles via “fashion 101” sidebars and enlightens us about the designer and/or celebrity who made them famous.

Garcia does a great job of sharing where you can buy specific items, when to invest the big bucks and when you can save your hard-earned cash. If I have one criticism it’s that she could have done a better job of telling you where to buy things for less.

As always, part of the charm of her books is the wonderful illustrations throughout by Ruben Toledo. The One Hundred is a quick read and one book you’ll want to keep on hand. It also makes a perfect gift for someone who needs a new wardrobe whether she’s recently lost a lot of weight, needs an intervention from the folks at What Not to Wear or a bit of both.

Premium Retail Group featuring GUESS? Jeans warehouse sale

Premium Retail Group featuring GUESS? Jeans warehouse sale - Nov. 26-30 - International Centre, Mississauga

What?
Get ready for the winter with some hot deals on the greatest fashions from GUESS! Save from 60-90% off on denim, handbags, jackets, tops, sweaters, dresses and more! Fashions for both Men and Women!
More info

When?
Nov. 26, 12 noon - 9 p.m. (register for VIP preview)
Nov. 27, 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Nov. 28, 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Nov. 29, 10 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Nov. 30, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Where?
International Centre, Hall 4 (see map)
6900 Airport Rd.
Mississauga, Ontario
L4V 1E8

Note: This is a sponsored post. The links don’t work in the graphic above but the links are available in the “What?” section.

Bump shopping - the results

In this week’s baby bargainista column, Jenny shares her experience finding chic maternity wear...

A while ago I posted about dressing the belly – finding chic, inexpensive maternity clothes once my belly got too big for even my “fat pants”. I hit that point recently and set off downtown in search of seasonal, work-appropriate clothes.

Alas, my hope for something that would allow me to adapt my existing summer-focused maternity wardrobe was dashed; not a maternity cardigan in sight. In fact I didn’t have much luck overall at my first stop, Motherhood Maternity. It seemed like they were still in the process of turning over their inventory from summer to fall, as most of the displays featured heavily discounted summer-weight short-sleeved tops.

I did try on a number of items there but found most of them ill-fitting at my current stage, and perhaps better suited to later pregnancy; I walked out with just a couple of maternity undershirts, hoping that by layering I can continue to stretch out (literally!) my pre-pregnancy wardrobe of long- and quarter-sleeved shirts through the chilly fall.

My next stop, Thyme Maternity, was much more successful. They too had summer stock on sale, and I picked up a couple of t-shirts for layering at 2 for $29; but they also had a wide range of fall items, from casuals like maternity cords (very comfortable) and cotton turtlenecks, to work wear like suits and blouses. I jumped at the chance to pick up a few blouses at 25% off – a bit lightweight, but in lovely jewel tones appropriate for fall and winter and easily layered under a jacket for extra warmth (a sample is pictured here).

Thyme also featured some great in-store deals. With every pant purchase you got $10 off a sweater, so I picked up some lovely dress pants (pictured here) and a very flattering sweater. Both fit like a dream and I was tempted to wear them straight out of the store! The sales clerk told me that Thyme features different deals weekly, to encourage repeat visits; so I may return to see what new deals I can find on more winter-weight maternity wear.

My only complaint is that the Eaton Centre store I was at had only one sweater left in my size, in just one color. I asked the clerk if they would ship another sweater for me in the other color from another location, and they would – but they wouldn’t hold it for me for more than 24 hours. That surprised me as it’s not always convenient for customers to rush to the nearest store to pick up special orders, especially with only 5 locations scattered around the GTA, and only one (the Eaton Centre) downtown. I asked if I could order it from their website, but was informed that the site was not commerce-enabled – another disappointment for such a large and well-known chain!