REVIEW: Memoire Liquide Fragrance & Body Cream

New Beauty TestTube Description:  From the Bespoke perfume line, Memoire Liquide, is the reserve collection of fragrances and body creams that utilize the powerful sense of smell to evoke memories from the past…or to create new ones for the future.

Final Word:  There were three different items from the Memoire Liquide line included in my TestTube:  Two fragrance vials in Amour and Soleil and a full-size tube of body cream in Encens.  All three scents were very sensual and I liked them a lot (I'm already keeping the Amour in my purse).  The body cream is very rich and the scent is luscious, rich, almost earthy.  It’s way too intense in both scent and texture for the summer and it’s already getting warm here in Southern California so I’ve put the body cream away until the fall.  Now for the scents themselves:

Amour:  With notes of Madagascar vanilla, tonka bean and incense, it has a burnt sugar and vanilla scent with a hint of incense.  Not in any sort of stank-masking hippy kind of way.  Just warm and earthy.  I prefer clean, light scents in the summer, but the rest of the year, I could easily see this being a fragrance I’d wear daily.

Soleil:  Fresh grapefruit, tangerine, red orange, neroli, sandlewood and white musk.  It's citrusy, candy-sweet, but cut with a hint of sultry.

Encens:  Amber, white musk, black tea and Hinoki incense.  Wow.  Definitely an evening scent.  It’s sweet, ambery, woody and smoky all at once.  I love it.

All three of these scents had good staying power, varying  anywhere from 4-12 hours.  I’m also eager to try out their counter at Fred Segal (there’s also one at Henri Bendel in NYC).  They have more than 150 notes available where you can custom blend your own, unique scent.

Eau de parfum

Full Size Price:  $95

Sample Size Value:  $1.68 x 2 = $3.35

Body Cream

Full Size Price:  $48

Rating: 3 overall.

0 – Too early to tell.

1 – If you want to gross people out for Halloween—go for it.

2 – Useless, in my humble opinion. Don’t waste your money.

3 – Like it but not worth going into debt for it.

4 – Love it. Will treat myself for Christmas, birthday, etc.

5 – OMG. I would sell my mother for the last bottle/jar/tube of this stuff.

REVIEW: Olay Regenerist Wrinkle Revolution Complex

New Beauty TestTube Description: “This comprehensive wrinkle reducer combines Olay moisture with advanced micro-fillers to visibly smooth the sink's surface immediately, while a biopeptide-B3 complex continues to reduce deep lines within 14 days.”

Final Word:  I haven't come across a single over-the-counter skin care product that lived up to it's advertising 100%, but I've always liked Olay products.  They're gentle on my skin, they're not nearly as expensive as their department store counterparts, and they do seem to make my skin look better as long as I'm taking good care of myself (exercise, good diet, lots of water, yadda, yadda).   Olay's newest product is no different.  I used it faithfully for two weeks and I did see minor improvement, though not to the degree Olay claims.  Perhaps if I had a month's worth of sample I'd continue to see further softening of my deeper lines, of which thankfully I still have few.  It's scent is hardly noticeable and the product goes on smoothly, with no greasy feel (hate that grease).  As a basic moisturizer, you can't go wrong.

Sample Size:  .23 oz

Sample Value:  $3.79

Full Size:  1.7 oz

Price: $28

Rating so far: 3 – Like it but not worth going into debt for it.

0 – Too early to tell.

1 – If you want to gross people out for Halloween—go for it.

2 – Useless, in my humble opinion. Don’t waste your money.

3 – Like it but not worth going into debt for it.

4 – Love it. Will treat myself for Christmas, birthday, etc.

5 – OMG. I would sell my mother for the last bottle/jar/tube of this stuff.

REVIEW: Perlier & Elariia Body Cream

New Beauty Description:  “Take a mini vacation to the Mediterranean with body cream formulas created by Italy’s premier manufacturer of bath and body products, where fresh ingredients are cultivated and blended into natural, functional formulas.”

First Impression:  The jar is adorable and it’s very easy to chuck in your purse.  It’s glass but it’s pretty thick and sturdy so I don’t think you’d have any issues with breakage.  Unfortunately, the full-size jars seem to be opaque white plastic from what I could tell online, which isn’t nearly as romantic and I’m trying to get away from using plastics as much as I can.   The particular scent I received in my TestTube was Frangipani (a.k.a. plumeria).  Made with sunflower oil and Vitamin E, the cream feels very rich going on but melts into your skin.  I HATE feeling greasy and this stuff turns out to be as light as a feather.  The fragrance is delightful.  It’s flowery but not cloying and it’s very subtle.  You have to get really close to the skin to smell it.  I’d love to try all the scents in this line.  Typical ingredients used in Perlier body cream, depending on the scent, are organic honey, olive oil, citrus extracts, white jasmine, etc.  P & E also operates their own 150-acre farm to grow the ingredients used in their creams.  Nice.  The price isn’t too shabby either.

Sample Size:  1.0 oz

Value of sample size:  $3.66

Full Size:  6.70 oz

Price:  $24.50

Rating so far:  4 – Love it.  Will treat myself for Christmas, birthday, etc.

0 – Too early to tell.

1 – If you want to gross people out for Halloween—go for it.

2 – Useless, in my humble opinion.  Don’t waste your money.

3 – Like it but not worth going into debt for it.

4 – Love it.  Will treat myself for Christmas, birthday, etc.

5 – OMG.  I would sell my mother for the last bottle/jar/tube of this stuff.

REVIEW: dr. brandt® signature BB Cream with Flexitone

Okay, I was pretty eager to get my first real review up.  Here you go: 

New Beauty Description:  "dr. brandt Flexitone BB Cream is a multifunctional perfecting cream that blends seamlessly with most skin tones and protects against the effects of aging."

First Impression:  I had heard good things about the dr. brandt line so I was excited to see this in my Test Tube.  It’s virtually unscented, which I love.  Essentially a tinted moisturizer but the cream requires more patience to blend it well, like a foundation.  Shouldn't something with “Flexitone” blend very easily?  I looked fine in the bathroom mirror but a bit blotchy in the bright sunlight.  And you’ll need to dust a little powder over this.  I was pretty shiny.  This isn’t going to cover imperfections (of which, thanks to a recent bout with adult chicken pox, I have quite a few) but it will even out your tone ever-so-slightly.  SPF 30.

Follow Up:  Since my initial review, I’ve learned a bit more about Asian BBs (beauty balms) that this cream is a take on:  1) The color gradually adjusts to your own skin tone (in theory); 2) you ARE supposed to blend it thoroughly; 3) the more you use, the darker the shade becomes.  It’s essentially a combo moisturizer/concealer/foundation.  After giving this a second try, I’m much happier with it.  It covered better and wasn’t blotchy, although I would still recommend a powder over this and you're still going to need your go-to concealer to cover serious flaws.  Asian BBs have a big cult following among makeup mavens and apparently this product had a lot of beauty bloggers practically wetting their pants at the prospect of a BB from such a notable company here in the US.  The reviews among them seem to range from good to mixed but no one was blown away.  Neither was I.  I’ll use up the rest of the sample happily but I can’t see myself shelling out big bucks for this.

Sample Size:  .25 oz

Value of sample size:  $10

 

Full Size:  1.0 oz

Price:  $39

Rating:  3 – Like it but not worth going into debt for.

1 – If you want to gross people out for Halloween—go for it.

2 – Useless, in my humble opinion.  Don’t waist your money.

3 – Like it but not worth going into debt for.

4 – Love it.  Will treat myself for Christmas, birthdays, etc.

5 – OMG.  I would sell my mother for the last bottle/jar/tube of this stuff.