SHU UEMURA Art of Hair Essence Absolue has pretty much taken the hair product world by storm. It’s sold out three times since it made its debut last fall and celebrity hair stylist like Chris McMillan are pretty gaga for it too. The secret ingredient to it is the Camellia Oil, which they call “liquid gold.” I knew this had to contain more than just Camellia Oil and I couldn’t seem to find the ingredient list on the packaging or their website so I trolled the Internet and finally found one it on makeupalley.com, go figure. Basically, it contains two common silicones (cyclopentsiloxane and dimethiconol) and ethylhexylmethoxycinnamate (sunscreen) and then fragrance ingredients (it does smell really nice. Maybe they’ll bottle it and sell it??) Like these, it seems like this is how these hair oils are put together – a majorly hair beneficial oil sandwiched between, so to speak, a few silicones. Now some peoples’ hair does not react well to silicones, like those with thin or fine strands. Mine reacts more than ok with it and it won't build up on hair.

Use this one as a pre-shampoo treatment, a finishing serum to add luster and shiner to hair or even to protect the hair from the sun this summer. And to answer the title, yes, it really is as great as they say it is. $65/5oz @ shuuemuraartofhair.com.

Disclosure: A sample of the following item was provided to Cybelesays.com for review purposes.