So far all of my experiences with KMS California have been really positive so when their PR rep offered to send me the new improved range I was pretty excited. New and improved is a always a little nerve racking when you love a product range, I can’t tell you how many times I have products I love then the company “improves” them and they just start sucking.
Funnily enough this time they actually took on board some of my feedback and gave the ugly plain packaging a make over! Seriously my biggest complaints with the products I’ve reviewed from KMS was that even though they are in the higher price range, the packaging and design didn’t reflect that. They’ve been given a complete make over and now have bright and prettier packaging.
So I was sent 5 items (and received one more in the bags from ABBW which I’ll review later), here are my thoughts.
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Free Shape, Quick Blow Dry. This is actually my favorite out of all of the products. The idea is that it cuts down the time you spend blow drying, conditions the hair while also protecting it from heat. The best part? It actually works! I HATE blow drying my hair, I will do anything possible to avoid it. My hair dryer is heavy and with how long and thick my hair is it takes forever to do. Using this spray cut my drying time in half. After using it my hair felt silkier as well which is a big plus in my books. The formula is a two part thing which you shake to activate and then spray all over towel dried hair. It also smells quite nice, there’s a little hint of alcohol to it but mostly it’s just a nice floral- ish smell. Definitely DO WANT.
Free Shape, Hot Flex Spray
This is your basic heat activated hair spray. No alcohol scent at all in this one, just a sweet fresh smell and it’s another pump action spray. I found this to be a medium hold with heat and worked on pin curls fairly well without heat too. It worked nicely in conjunction with my straightener and I noticed that my hair stayed in place longer with it. While it didn’t take care of or smooth down fly aways like regular hair spray it kept the actual styles in place longer and felt light and non- crunchy. Kind of like not wearing anything at all. So I think the best use for this one would be for natural styles that involve heat styling but need to have movement. The kind of styles that take you a while to do but look like you just woke up with awesome hair 😉 I’m now using this instead of my regular heat protector spray because it does double duty.
Hair Play, Dry Touch Up
This is a bit of an odd product. I was pretty much expecting a dry shampoo, it looks like a dry shampoo with the aerosol looking bottle etc but it’s not actually an aerosol and it’s not actually a dry shampoo. Generally with dry shampoos you spray at the roots to soak up oil and grossness, this one suggests that you spray around the middle and ends of the hair to give it new life. It was a bit hard for me to test it because generally I have more problems with oily roots than ends so it didn’t do much for me. Again this one has a very nice sweet smell with a tiny bit of an alcohol too. So while this one wasn’t any good for me it still left a nice finish and smelled good so I think it would probably suit someone who did have problems with limp ends.
Add Volume, Volumizing Spray
This is another of my personal favorites of this range. Volumizing spray 😀 James has been bugging me to try Volumizing spray for years because when he had hair he used to swear by it. I complain about my lack of top volume all the time but I’m also very lazy so I ignored him until now XD So yes this smells just as nice as the rest of the range but does it work? Well yes. It works ridiculously well. Here is a terrible phone shot of me after I used it and blow dried for the first time.
Results speak for themselves I think! Once it’s in I was expecting it to make my hair feel dirtier but it just felt grippy not dirty which was a nice surprise. Big plus one. The ability to use wet and also dry for touch ups was great and the volume lasted for me pretty much until the next wash, very happy with this one!
Curl Up, Wave Foam Mousse
This reminds me so much of that gel shaving cream that James uses! It comes out as a gel which you then lather into a kind of foam and run through towel dried hair then blow dry on a diffuse setting or air dry. Like pretty much all of these products it has heat protector in it which is awesome. I chose to diffuse dry but my fickle hair couldn’t keep a curl that way. I had more success scrunching it with my fingers and then letting it air dry, the result was more like beachy waves. Quite a nice effect considering how little effort was involved! The smell of this one is kind of like the pink flavor of that Vitamin Water which is my favorite haha. My personal taste is for more heavily styled hair but I think this is nice for casual days.
So overall as a collection I loved it. There were 2 stand outs for me, the Volumizing spray and the Quick Blow Dry spray, they have both made it into my every day routine and I would purchase them again. The others were good too but these two were personal favorites. The bottles are all nice and big so it makes me feel better about spending more for a higher end hair brand as a treat for myself. The whole range is definitely worth checking out and I love the new packaging, it’s really nice when brands listen to feedback!
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