Congratulations to Heather H., winner of the Shu Uemura giveway!

Heather, you’ll be getting 3 Shu Uemura products: Silk Oil Camellia Smoothing Fluid, Sheer Lacquer Finishing Spray and Kaze Wave Sensual Curl Texturizing Foam.

So excited for you – I think you’ll love!

Check back soon for more contests, my peaches, or enter the Caress contest currently going on.

As you might know, there are only a few hair brands I’ve pledged undying devotion to, and Shu Uemura Art of Hair is one of them. The entire line is super glamorous and pampering, works better than Kerastase (IMO), and while the prices are hardly bargain bin, the products are worth every penny.

Shu is offering up a giveaway for 1 lucky Jolie reader, who will get Silk Oil Camellia Smoothing Fluid, Sheer Lacquer Finishing Spray and Kaze Wave Sensual Curl Texturizing Foam. The contest will be open to North American readers, and will end this Friday July 23rd.

To enter, leave a comment on my FB fan page telling me why you want to win!  Good luck!

PS: Shu Uemura Art of Hair has just partnered with V Magazine and model Coco Young for a cool video project.  Check it out here!

Say it ain’t so, L’Oreal!!  It was announced yesterday that Shu Uemura–one of the best, most innovative, highest-quality makeup and skincare brands around–will cease US sales in its 4 stateside stores and boutiques in places like Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman, and–sigh–Sephora).  According to WWD, it’s not that Shu Uemura is in financial trouble–it’s simply that L’Oreal wants to focus its energies on other luxury brands.

Carol Hamilton, president of L’Oréal USA’s Luxury Division says: “We love the brand, but it is a very small part of our portfolio…We want to focus on growing the brands which have a larger presence in the U.S. market.”

Ugh.

There’s a silver lining, at least: Shu Uemura will continue to be sold on its website, and according to an email I received today from Shu Uemura’s publicist, the brand will continue to introduce new products.  (Meanwhile, the decision doesn’t affect one of my favorite hair brands, Shu Uemura Art of Hair, which will continue to be sold at select salons around the country.)  It’s a huge bummer that L’Oreal is demonstrating less support for Shu Uemura, but a relief that the brand will at least be available in some capacity.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of trying any Shu products for yourself, let this be the time!  The Eyelash Curler and Cleansing Facial Oil are two classics worth every penny.

Related articles:
Best Haircare I’ve Ever Used: Shu Uemura Art of Hair

Beauty Question: How Long Will My Eyelash Curler Last?

First Stop on My Book Tour: UC Berkeley

Why is shampoo always the red-headed stepchild of haircare?  It’s all about conditioners, styling treatments, flat irons, heat protectors…and shampoo never gets any love.  Once again, I must sing the praises of Shu Uemura Art of Hair Moisture Velvet Nourishing Shampoo ($40), which rocks my world.  I never understood the notion of spending a lot of money on shampoo (now, conditioner is indeed another story), but this product has changed my view forever.  If you have thin hair or an oily scalp, Moisture Velvet might not be your favorite thing, as it’s extremely sleekifying; those with frizzy, thick, coarse or damaged hair, however, will probably join me at the “Let’s sing songs about how awesome it is” party.

Most beauty gals are obsessed with Kerastase haircare.  Shu Uemura Art of Hair blows it out of the water.  I wrote at length in July about my transformative Shu Uemura Art of Hair Ceremony and about how it was the most glamorous haircare I’d ever used.  Still holds true! 

My hair has been a bit unruly and hard to manage recently (I’m still trying to get to the bottom of whether it’s because of the Brazilian Blowout I had earlier in the summer), but every time I use my Shu Uemura products, the quality of my strands significantly improves: I can comb through my hair with ease, and my hair looks amazing after I blow it out.  The Moisture Velvet Nourishing Shampoo with camellia oil is, hands down, the best I’ve ever used–it doesn’t foam very well and I have to use more than I’d like, particularly considering how expensive it is, but the results are worth it.  The Moisture Velvet Nourishing Treatment for Dry Hair conditioner, meanwhile, is like buttah.  I can’t rave enough about how wonderful, intensely moisturizing, and luxurious it is.

I made this video last night while running out the door for a date — my hair was so soft, smooth and silky that I had to document it immediately!

I love getting my hair done–my mom used to blame on it on the Leo in me, though really, what girl doesn’t love going to the salon?–but dread the inevitable neck cricks and tender scalp I’ll get first while being shampooed in one of those uncomfortable chairs and then while having my tangles combed through.  Some salons are more attentive than others, but I’ve simply resigned myself to gritting my teeth and pushing through the pain of the shampoo bowl.  I assumed for years that everybody was like me, but have since learned that I have a peculiarly sensitive The Princess and the Pea scalp and neck: two seconds in the shampoo chair and I’m biting my lip, contorting my shoulders, and wondering if I should speak up for the third time about requesting less pressure, or simply grin and bear it.  Hey, no pain, no gain, right?

Then I went to Hush Up salon in Manhattan Beach and had a life changing Shu Uemura Art of Hair Ceremony treatment.  The clouds parted.  Angels floated about strumming harps.  Bluebirds chirped.  It was either seriously magical or they put something illegal in my tea.

Owner Ric Arrigoni started the first Hush salon in Manhattan Beach over 15 years ago, then expanded down the street with Hush Hush salon.  This year saw the opening of a third space, Hush Up, and it was there I had my orgasmic Shu Uemura Art of Hair Ceremony treatment.  This salon means business: they’re the proud owners of one of only four super-duper fancy shampoo chairs in the world, tricked out with more bells and whistles (and costing more) than my 1995 Camry; meanwhile, Hush was the first salon to introduce Kerastase products into the South Bay, and are now one of only 80 salons in the country to carry Shu Uemura Art of Hair products.

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