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: ybf Eye Liner in Plum Noir

New Beauty TestTube Description:  Rich plum hues are all the rage and ybf has converted this look into one supreme silky stick. The decadent hue of this “plum noir” eye liner emulates a deep burgundy to merlot color that defines and refines eyes any time of day or night.

Final Word:  First, the positives:  The color goes on smoothly and lasts a good while.  I LOVE the built-in sharpener in the cap.  I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to use a makeup pencil--whether eye, lip or brow--the tip has broken off, and I'm without a sharpener.  This is genius in it's simplicity.  The negative:  The color is awful.  Too much plum and not enough noir makes a color that gives me "pink eye."  Either that, I look like I've been on a crying jag.  I would definitely buy this pencil in some shade of brown or black or maybe even some other funky color like green, but I honestly don't know what they were thinking with this color.  It was nice of New Beauty to give me a full-size item, but since I'll never use it, it's kinda useless.  Oh, but wait--there's always Halloween...

Full size
Price:  $14.5

Rating: 1 for the color, 3 for the pencil in ANY other color but this.

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: Mally Evercolor Shadow Stick

New Beauty TestTube description: A creamy, glide-on shadow Evercolor Shadow Stick won't crease or wear away, leaving you with gorgeous color all day--right where you put it. The innovative silicone system seals color in place while the creamy formula helps smooth away fine lines.

Final Word:  This was one of the full-size products included in the Tube and while I was initially sceptical that the color (one of three--silver) I received would be something I'd wear, I was pleasantly surprised.  In a nutshell, it lives up to it's description and the twist-up stick form makes it very convenient to use.

Full size
Price:  $25

Rating: 4.

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: 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.

Beauty Sample Programs

Since costuming-related posts are slow coming, I've decided to make this a combo blog--I've recently signed up for my first beauty sample programs and since most ask that you post reviews in exchange for high-end product samples, well stayed tuned.