I'm a simple girl when it comes to beauty products - I buy the cheapest thing that works.  I'm a guy's girl in that way.  I'd rather spend my time and money on enjoying my day - not getting ready for it.  I live for my drugstore moisturizer, my 99 cent eyeliner... and whatever shampoo is on sale.

It's not that I'd never tried a high-end shampoo...  I love Biolage products, but between rent, bills and groceries, spending $15 on a bottle of it when I can get Suave for a dollar seems ridiculous.  I'd rather douse my head in AquaNet and back-comb it out in a slightly less-dramatic version of Amy Winehouse's signature ratty black mane.

About the only time I use more expensive products is when a friend leaves their high-end loot at my place, or if I happen upon a sample.  The latter happened last week when I received a sample package from Pure Bliss Essentials.

Grace of Pure Bliss Essentials sent me a package of bath & beauty products, but the products that impressed me most were her shampoo and conditioner samples.  My package included a shampoo in Lemon Sage Ginger fragrance and a conditioner in Cucumber Mint, and I'm not sure I can go back to 99 cent shampoos after this.  Her shampoo & conditioners combine quality ingredients and fantastic fragrances.  They cost more than a dollar, but don't totally break the bank.

My Lemongrass shampoo was the most fragrant shampoo I have ever used.  My boyfriend loves it as well, and it fills our small bathroom with a mood-lifting citrus scent.  The shampoo doesn't mess with my colored strands, and it's so clean I don't have to wash my hair as often - reason enough to make the switch.

PBE offers all of her products in any of her custom fragrances - my faves so far being the Lemongrass and her Lime Sugar Supreme (used in my shower scrub - I plan on ordering a whole set in this scent). Spa Bliss Shampoo is enhanced with provitamin B, multifruit extracts, silk amino acids and meadowfoam oil. It is pH balanced and paraben-free for clean, soft, shiny and healthy hair.  I definitely feel the difference, and shampoo creator Grace explains why:

Janine:  What made you want to create your own shampoo & conditioner?   

Grace of Pure Bliss Essentials: I've been coloring and heat processing my hair for more years than I can count.  I've always used very high end salon products, and have spent a fortune.  I always believed that for personal care, you just can't cut corners if you want your hair to remain healthy with all we do to it.  In all the years, I never found the one product that worked so great that I'd stick with it.  I finally decided to look into formulating my own line.  I've studied the hair and what it needs and what ingredients are beneficial to it.  I wanted to create a product that would clean the hair gently, without stripping color or drying it.  I found this formula and finally had a product that was one I could stick with, and stand behind.

J: What type of hair are your products best for?

Grace: They are good for all hair types, including color-treated.

J: What makes your shampoo and higher end products better than shampoos like Suave that you find on drugstore shelves? 

Grace:  Good question, and worth knowing the answer to!  Let's take the Suave "Naturals" shampoo for example:  the word "natural" is bandied about very loosely in the cosmetic industry.  There are no set FDA standards for what is "natural."  For most people, a product with the predominant ingredients that are botanical, herbal or essential oil would be actually natural.  You have to read labels.  Suave has a long list of pure chemicals that make up the majority of the product.  In cosmetic labeling, ingredients must be labeled from the highest percentage to the lowest.  So this will tell  you how much actual "natural" essences may be in the product.  Most all drugstore brands are bottles of chemicals, with perhaps a very small amount of something botanical tagged on the end so they can name it "natural."  Spa Bliss is predominantly aloe vera juice, pure botanicals with just enough surfactant (the thing that makes suds) and some essential oil for fragrance.  These ingredients are much, much more costly than the commercially produced chemicals.  Just like food:  read labels.  Decide what you'd rather put on your body, or in it!

J:  Why is having pH-balanced shampoo and conditioner so important?

J:  Of all your fragrances, which is your favorite?

Grace:  Toughest question of all!  Clearly I'm most drawn to the cleanest, freshest fragrances with citrus, ozone, marine tones.  I think we are bombarded with so much fragrance in our world....I long for freshness all the time.  I'd have a tough time to pick one fragrance from my line:  I love the Olive for everyday wear...never get tired of it.  Love crisp citrus in the shampoo, and the refresh in the conditioner.  I love the Mediterranean for a great spa scent.  I love them all....depending on the day and the mood!  My husband wants his soaps and shampoo/conditioner out of the Green Irish Tween...he cannot get enough of that!  After all, this is a dupe of the fragrance that was Cary Grant's....can't get better than that!
 

There are some cheapie products I still swear by - Murray's hair wax, the aforementioned AquaNet - but until I go back to short cropped hair, I plan on shelling out the extra bucks for the bottles of Pure Bliss when it comes to washing my hair, if only for the aromatherapy.

PBE products run from $5-25 currently.  Her shampoo sells at $8 for 8 ounces.