For Sleek Mane that Smells Delicious, Try Kerastase Elixir Ultime & Kerastase Elixir Ultime with Imperial Tea!

First thing first: happy Thanksgiving to my American peeps! I hope you all have great family gatherings and yummy food to look forward to! I’m going over to an American girlfriend’s this Saturday for a belated celebration. We did this two years ago and my memory of the evening is a bit blurred, because I definitely fell into a food coma way too soon!

Dry oil has pretty much become a trend recently. With the face and multi-purpose oils I’ve reviewed here, it only makes sense if something that specifically targets hair gets some mention. Today we’re looking at Kerastase Elixir Ultime and the new member of the Elixir Ultime family, Elixir Ultime with Imperial Tea.

Packaging-wise, Elixir Ultime is pretty and practical. The pump functions really well. I haven’t had the oil dripping everywhere and getting sticky. The bottle shown here is the special limited edition designed by Jade Jagger (that last name alone should give you a pretty good idea who she is). She chose a red lip as it is glamorous.

Kerastase Elixir Ultime has a warm and powdery scent, like amber and vanilla. The consistency is between liquid and gel. A little goes a long way. The instructions specify one to two pumps, and even with the amount of hair I have I find one pump sufficient. It can be easily worked into the hair, and it leaves no greasy residue.

You can use this oil in a number of ways, including as pre-shampoo treatment, leave-in conditioner, or between washes when your hair feels a little dry and brittle. I still use my Caudalie Divine Oil (I’m actually on my second bottle already) as pre-shampoo treatment, so I haven’t tried Elixir Ultime for this purpose. It performs well as a leave-in conditioner. My hair is always silky soft, and it stays that way for a couple of days. I use another pump when it starts feeling a bit rough again, and that usually lasts till the next time I shampoo my hair.

If you look at the ingredient list, you will know that there is no miracle. This, like most hair “oils,” is a silicone-based product. In other words, I wouldn’t count on it to really change my dry and damaged hair for the better. However, this is not to say I don’t appreciate it. Corn germ oil is listed as the third ingredient, which makes this the mass market hair “oil” I’ve seen that contains the most oil (some basically contain traces of oil if you read the ingredient list). I like the fact that it can instantly, however superficially, solve the problem. When everything that could possibly tackle the root of the problem fails, I know I can still reach for this. On top of that, this can be used on dry hair, which makes it great for between two washes. Most leave-in conditioners cannot be used in the same way.

Because the original Elixir Ultime is pretty successful, Kerastase added three new products to the family a while ago. The one here is the version with Imperial Tea Extract, which is supposed to be good for color-treated hair. The scent is inspired by Chanel Coco Mademoiselle, and I can definitely make out the resemblance!

This is actually the Elixir Ultime I got to test out for much longer, though I accidentally threw the box away and therefore couldn’t photograph the ingredient list. I did find it on the Internet, and the ingredients are the same all the way till the 6th one with Elixir Ultime, so I doubt they would be very different.

Bottom line: While Kerastase Elixir Ultime has an abundant amount of silicone, it does also contain more real oil than most similar products. If your hair is not averse to silicone and you’re looking for something that will make a good leave-in conditioner as well as a between-wash pick-me-up, I still think it should be taken into consideration.

Have you tried any hair oil? What is your favorite? Is your hair OK with silicone?

Sunny, your beauty culture translator xx