This makes my hair look like a Pantene commercial. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but even other people noticed how good my hair looks, which considering the mega frizzy state of my natural hair, I see as a big accomplishment. Funny how low my expectations were about this oil, because my first impressions were not that good. I was immediately taken aback by the mega strong masculine scent, but my impressions got better and better by the day. This whole test was partially inspired by Summer's rave about Macadamia Natural oil. I trust her judgement so I had to try it and then I thought, why not try several oils to find out which one is the best. So here we are.

Packaging: It comes in a dark glass bottle with a brown and bright green label. This provides protection from light exposure, however, the label prevents you from seeing how much product is still in there. There are several different sizes available: 10ml, 30ml and 125ml, the biggest size comes with a pump. I have the 30ml and the bottle is quite heavy, in fact the heaviest out of the three similar sizes of oils I have.

Ingredients: The first two ingredients are silicones, which are then followed by Vitamin E, macadamia and argan oil. The next seven are fragrances and last three colours. Vitamin E, macadamia and argan oil are great for dry hair. I actually use pure macadamia oil as a pre-wash treatment and it works wonders. In addition,Vitamin E helps with hair growth and prevents hair loss (argan oil by itself has a high vitamin E content).

Scent: It has a very intense, strong and heavy masculine fragrance. Definitely the heaviest out of all that I tried. It smells exactly like my grandfathers cologne. Well, it is a deodorant. The one that is/was in a dark green bottle with a black cap. I don't know the name, but probably something widely available in Slovenia.  I went round the house asking everyone if it's only me that smells grampa's cologne and they all agreed I wasn't imagining it. I'd describe it as a mix of sandalwood, patchouli and musk (basically nothing like the pure macadamia oil). The scent remains very strong on wet hair for about 20 minutes, then it disappears. Much to my delight, it doesn't last long on dry hair. It's not a bad scent, but too strong and too masculine for my taste. I think I'll grow on me, though. 

Performance and Results: The product is thick and amber colour. It has almost identical consistency as  Morocanoil. When I applied it on wet hair before blow-drying, I had difficulties getting the quantity right. The usual amount I use at other oils was not enough, so I added a few drops more and it felt like it was almost too much. I had a feeling it was easy to overdo and it could leave your hair greasy and limp, but despite the  amount my hair still felt ok. After blow-drying my hair was mega shiny and definitely less frizzy especially on the top, where I can never get completely frizz free. It didn't feel as light and bouncy, but my hair felt stronger. I curled my hair with my big barrel curler and that's when this product really shone. I got the sleekest result out of all, it was mega shiny, soft and almost frizz free. It is the best anti-frizz and my ends looked surprisingly well, moisturised and soft.  On the next day I was getting more and more impressed. Despite using a drugstore conditioner I didn't have to use Alverde Mandel Argan oil, because my ends didn't dry up at all and they stayed in great shape even on the third day. I'm definitely very impressed by it.

Where to buy: I got mine on eBay from this seller because it was the cheapest. It's available in hair salons (if you're in Slovenia try Simple) and online (Feel Unique, Beauty Bay, Cheap Smells, Fragrance Direct, Look Fantastic, ...). 

Make sure you're buying the Healing Oil Treatment and not the Healing Oil Spray. The ingredients are different : Cyclopentasiloxane, Isopropyl Myristate, Fragrance (Parfum), Tocopheryl Acetate, Argania Spinosa Oil, Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil, Benzylsalicylate, Cumarin, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Linalool, Hexyicinnamoldehyd. Judging from ingredients the spray is lighter (obviously, since it's more liquidy). It's the equivalent of Orofluido Sahara.

I'd say it's best for dry hair, but also appropriate for normal hair if you use a smaller amount. I'm loving everything but the scent, which doesn't last anyway. It gave me most shine, it's the best defrizzer and kept my ends moisturised. This gets my two thumbs up and I'll definitely try other products from this brand.

The original argan oil treatment, the one that started this argan craze and the most popular are just some things that describe the famous Moroccanoil Original. Some say this is ''the'' argan oil treatment and the rest are just poor replicas. I disagree. For one I find Orofluido not only similar in ingredients (both have argan and linseed oil), but also dupes in results. 

Packaging: A dark glass bottle with blue labels. Dark bottle protects the product from light exposure, but you can still see how much product is still in.

Ingredients: two silicones followed by argan oil, fragrance and linseed oil, the rest are more fragrances and colours (benzyl benzoate is also an insecticide, which would explain the "bug spray" note). Ingredients-wise it's similar to Orofluido, but minus the cypress oil.

Performance and Results: It has a thick texture and it's amber colour. I can put quite a lot of it on my wet hair and it doesn't feel greasy. It's easy to get a small amount out of the bottle because the texture isn't too runny. I put some product on wet hair before blow-drying and it left my hair shiny, soft and less frizzy. When I used it on dry hair it minimised the frizz even more, detangled and made my hair feel very silky and soft. I did the same technique of styling my hair with Moroccanoil and Orofluido. The results were about the same, the only difference is that Orofluido manages to keep more volume. My ends felt moisturised at first, however, on the second day some strands from the top layers (driest parts of my hair) did feel dry. As with Orofluido I have to use Alverde Mandel Argan oil on the second day to keep my ends moisturised.

Where to buy: I got it on eBay from this seller, because for some reason most online shops, which sell this product, don't send it to Slovenia. It is also sold in hair salons (Slovenia – Simple) and on click2chic (only for Slovene costumers, but the price is really high with shipping).

And the award for the most over-dramatic advertising goes to -  Kérastase (owned by L'Oreal):

“The alchemy of four precious oils to beautify hair. A new legend is born, the secret of magnificent hair is revealed.”

*Facepaw* Alchemy? Legend? Secret of magnificent hair? Give me a break. Who comes up with these things? It’s a hair product not a trailer for a fantasy blockbuster. Let’s keep it real, please. But let’s focus on the product.

Packaging: A clear plastic bottle with a pump. It's good for travelling, not only because it's plastic, but also because the bottle is light. It has a pump that dispenses the product nicely and in small amounts, so it's easy to pump out the desired amount. Because the bottle is clear, it's better to keep it stored in a dark place to protect it from sunlight.

Ingredients: First two ingredients are silicones as with all of these hair oils. They are followed by corn oil, argan oil, camelia oil and pracaxi oil. The rest six ingredients are fragrances.

Scent: It has such a gorgeous scent. It reminds me of some high-end fragrance. It's a floral-coconut-amber scent that I think is most universally appealing out of all hair oils I tried. The fragrance is not too intense or in anyway offensive and doesn't last very long on my hair. This is one of my favourite scents out of all hair products I ever tried.

Performance and Results: It's very light, runny and feels most silicone-y like. The colour is clear. It's very much like the rest of the non-argan serums. I needed to use quite a lot because of the lightness and I used four pumps before blow-drying on wet hair. During, my hair felt more unruly than with the rest I tested, but the end result was about the same. My hair felt very light and bouncy, also shiny and silky, but my ends felt a bit dry, even after I applied some more on dry hair. Because it's so light, it doesn't kill the volume, making it great for those who want a sleek result, but wish their hair to retain some volume.

Here is the end result. I know the second picture is bad quality, but it's the only one where you can see the ends, which could be better, but the rest of the hair felt really nice.

I'd say due to it's lightness, it's most appropriate for those with oily/normal hair. I have dry hair and it's not enough moisturising for me as it still leaves my ends dry. I can't guarantee you that it won't be too heavy if your hair is oily, but I'd be surprised if it would be, because it is very light, especially if you use only one pump. This is very expensive for such a light product and I can't get pass the fact that the highest oil ingredient is the cheap corn oil. I think there are a lot of cheaper drugstore dupes in terms of texture, but if you feel like splurging it's still a nice product and the scent is gorgeous. I would refrain myself from calling it legendary, though.

Links to other reviews in this series:

Depend 036 is a tomato red shade. Can be a one coater, but I do two, nonetheless. It applies like a dream and I really like the brush. I've been wearing it three days so far and it hasn't chipped yet. Depend polishes are sold in DMs for around 2.5€.

I've wanted this foundation for ages, but it wasn't available in Slovenia. The shop assistant told me it was because it was repackaged and also renamed. I found mine in Müller in BTC Ljubljana and I shelled out some serious cash for it. 

This is some major heavy duty stuff. I much prefer lighter coverage foundations and my skin is far from being in need of full coverage, however I wanted a high coverage foundation for several reasons. I mainly wanted it as a concealer. Also high coverage foundations can be sheered out with a moisturiser, therefore one tube lasts you ages. I've never owned anything with a high level of coverage. When some nasty spot appeared in need of heavy duty covering I just used my under eye concealer, which of course didn't do the job very well. I also have some redness under my eyes and I wanted something that would really cover it (I've had it since I was a child).

I picked the shade called 11 very light, which is quite neutral toned. It matches me very well, in fact better than Healthy Mix foundation which is a tiny bit too yellow and dark for me at the moment. It's quite a strange foundation when it comes to shade, namely it oxidizes really fast when I put it on my hand, but this doesn't translate on my face. See the difference in these two images. The first was taken moments after I squeezed it out of the tube and the second was taken a few minutes later. It turns darker than Healthy Mix, but still looks light on the face. You can see that on later pictures how it matches my neck.

Here is a close up where you can see how well it covers under the eyes. You can also see that it looks odd on the sides of my nose. I kept he images quite big, click on them to see them larger if you wish to.

I think this is best suited for someone with oily skin, however it's a good investment for those who want a high coverage concealer. Just make sure you use a heavy moisturiser before application. For a cheaper alternative try Vichy's Dermablend. It's the only high coverage foundation I know of that is available in Slovenia. Unfortunately, the shade range is limited and the lightest one is too dark for me. 

Thanks for reading.