Skincare - Face -Unlisted Brand - Green Clay
MellyHelly 5/25/2009 8:22:00 AM
This is one of those raw material I will always buy when I run out of, because it's natural, effective and multi-purpose! It's well known among herbal-care lovers as a mask powder to mix with warm water and whatelse you need for a deep pore cleansing mask. This was a classic among girls at school! I bought a big pack of the finest quality for 8 euro and it will last a long while, even if I use it everyday! I don't make a big facepack everyday of course! I discovered that green clay is wonderful as a cleanser for both face and body! I especially use it in my morning shower to wash off sweat and oil from the night production without stripping my skin with harsh soap (I do that at night!). I just LOVE to shower with this during summer! It's very refreshing, it cleanses fine and I have an impression that it helps keeping fresh smelling during the day. I use it as a powder soap. I enter my tub and then massage my wet skin with the powder mixed with warm water in a very liquid mix. I massage my whole body and face then rinse away: happy clean and soft skin! I also mix just a few drops of EO and use it on my body, mint is great when the weather becomes very hot, but I still wash my face with plain clay. I have combo/sensitive skin and I react to many commercial products, never to this.
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Blush -BeneFit Cosmetics - Benetint
MellyHelly 5/19/2009 4:27:00 AM
Another hyped half-crap from Benefit. It's half good in the idea, half bad in the outcome. I bught the doubled packaging with clear lipgloss. I use it both as cheek and lip stain. The colour is nice. I need to use it sparingly because it shows up on my pale skin. It's quite blendable if you blend quick! it's easier to use it on lips. The smell is very nice, but the taste is bitter and lasts! What left me very doubtful is the fact the Benetint doesn't go away when you take your makeup off at night! I wake up the morning after with rosy stained cheeks and not in a nice way! Is it normal? Also my skin had some breakouts but it's more likely that Hello Flawless made the mess... So for my experience Benefit cosmetics are just over marketed and over hyped expensive products that don't hold all the promises they make. I don't even like the beating, boring '50s with the Fuccon Family-like scaring mannequins! I think that Benefit should care more about long-term effects of its cosmetics and keep prices lower.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Powder -BeneFit Cosmetics - Hello Flawless!
MellyHelly 5/15/2009 6:39:00 AM
I bought this powder a few days ago and I have mixed feelings about it... I bought it in Shell and the colour matches nicely. It wears easily and smoothly with both brush and sponge, it covers nicely, it's great in the morning when I need to rush out! But... is this meant to be long-lasting? If I wear it with light moisturising it shows dry lines on the side of my face when I go into sunlight. I put more moisture cream before putting it on and it doesn't last long. It becomes shiny after only few hours. It covers in a perfect way for first 2 hours than it morphs to a slick pore-showing layer. It becomes paler and I wear it with Beneift which also looks perfect for first 2 hours. After 2 hours my face looks like I got a fever (well, worse) or like a baroque dame with extra-pale skin colour and red-pink stained cheeks. Hello Flawless contains Oxybenzone! I got some breakouts I didn't have before close to hair lines (?!?). It also has a very weird smell! It smells fresh in the beginning and I'm sure it's not gone bad, but after a while on skin it has a strange oily smell. It smells like sunflowers oil and it makes me gag. Too bad! Once I matched a perfect shade and silky texture... These products are sooo expensive, but I don't think they beat Dior, Chanel, Lancome and the alikes. I will go on for a while and see what I can do with these products. There is no return for wrong cosmetics in Italy!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Guerlain - Aqua Allegoria Mandarine-Basilic
MellyHelly 5/5/2009 4:25:00 AM
I sprayed this scent on my wrist while flying to another town, just before getting into the aircraft and I was happy with it. It was a risk-action since I could feel sick if I sprayed the wrong scent, but had no problem with this one. I actually like it very much. Maybe not signature scent (I'm a devotee of Samsara and the alikes and like Floral-oriental) but absolutely pleasant for summer and working days. It's very refreshing and stimulating at the beginning, like a burst of sweet citrus mixed with aromatics herbs, very Mediterranean vegetable plot under the sun. I love those smells! The mandarine is sweeter than other citrus smells and the basil is one of my fave smell in kitchen. I smell both in this Aqua Allegoria. After a while it settles down to a half-way between Eau de Toilette and refreshing splash cologne. It's stable and doesn't morph into strange things as many citrusy scents do on my skin. I had a worry that it could become a plastic weird smell like Clinique Happy, but it didn't. I would say it's quite an elegant smell for daytime and it gives some relief from city stinks (dirty, pollution, unclean people...) and it also provides mental awakening in the morning :-) Lovely scent!
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Unlisted Brand - Heartbreaker by Jenna Jameson
MellyHelly 4/30/2009 4:34:00 AM
Soooo... didn't expect to like this! I found it in a dept store on the cheap scents shelf in Italy. 20 euro. Very cheap for me. I usually go for Guerlains and the alike. I bought it unsniffed and couldn't remember who Jenna Jameson is or does. I would have been influenced if I could remember she's pornstar. Being the curious little animal I am I browsed Wikipedia for Jenna Jameson! Well... her filmography is impressive and totally gross and silly. Nothing about what I mean for "sex" but apparently what so many people think sex is. IMHO these women are one of the ways patriarchal mentality sees women: either demure controlled spouses or whores you don't need to respect. Anyway...all other scents on the shelf had testers and smelled awful or vile. This one had no tester. I bought it anyway. Why??? Who knows? Maybe I was looking for a little heartbreaking or somethingelse breaking... I got into my car and couldn't wait to open the box and sniff! woh! I expected to smell a very cheap, awful, bad raw material stuff. Instead first notes were fresh/sweet/fruity and absolutely bearable. I said "yes, wait for a while, it will surely morphe into a vile concoction or artificial stinks" No, it didn't. It turned into a soft, captivating soft-vanillic mix, very attractive and happy. I can't say this is a classy,refined, over the top exquisitely crafted, hand-blended, best harvest of the year, sophisticated, royal family, you know what I mean, scent! No old Guerlains, no Creed, not even Chanel or Dior. None of that. Not even original, simple, probably better and immediately understood by the mass of people who enjoy a nice smell, but are not interested in the incredible poetical mystical meanders of olfactive research. It is cheap. This is the way a clean brothel in Las Vegas could smell (at least in my imagery, never been to a brothel or even in Las Vegas). Still I like it and it makes me feel pretty (and cheap!), the juice is a stable floral-vanillic with some fruit at the beginning. It reminds me of old Realm for Women. I'm wearing it these days and enjoy. The bottle is nice but cheap, could have been better carved but who cares?
4 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Chanel - No 5 Eau Premiere
MellyHelly 4/29/2009 5:13:00 AM
I really like Eau Premiere! I don't own it, but I wear it from testers and samples and enjoy! It smells quite different from classic n°5. They have a lot in common on the floral notes and some aldehydes, but then Eau Premiere works in a different way on my skin. It starts very jasmin (and Baby Shampoo Johnson's!) and in 30 or more it becomes sweetly powdery and lemony. The klemon cut off the typical musty smell. It actually smells like lemon powdery vanilla which is exactly what Shalimar Light smells on me! Almost exactly the same evolution and drydown, eau Premiere being more floral and Shalimar Light more lemony. I would say it's kind of sexy smell for me, a skin scent with some sweet vanilla. I'm not sure it is sexy for everyone. My best friend, who is almost the only man commenting my scents, doesn't care for these kind of scents.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Cleansers -Weleda - Wild Rose Cleansing Lotion 
MellyHelly 4/28/2009 10:06:00 AM
HG cleanser right now! I will re-purchase for sure. I love the Almond cleanser which is very soothing and effective and the whole almond line is lovely for my combo/sensitive skin in winter. That also take off eye makeup very easily without stinging. In spring I wanted to switch to something more stimulant and anti-age so I went for the whole Wild Rose line and I did good! I only use this type of cosmetics, Weleda or Lavera or great Dr.Hauschka, sometimes Nuxe or Aveene. The Wild Rose Cleansing Lotion is a very liquid milk, it smells very good and cleanses nicely, even long-lasting foundation, but I don't use it on eyes as it contains alcohol and stings eyes! I use a damp cotton pad with a few pure almond oil drops to remove eye makeup, then I use the cleansing lotion. I pour a small quantity in my hand and massage all over my face avoiding eyes while I run hot water in the sink. I then put a clean thick cotton facecloth into the hot water, squeeze and put to steam over my face for a few seconds until it cools down, then wipe away with clean face of the cloth: clean and radiant skin! It's a variation on Oil Cleansing Method made with an emulsified product which avoids OCM cons. In spite of being quite alcoholic it never gives me problems! The same applies to the matching toner I use with a damp cotton pads afterwards. I also use the Moisture Cream. I do this everynight since 3-4 weeks and my skin is alright and recovering. Sometimes I repeat the same in the morning if my skin is not too oily, otherwise I wash with a drop of Weleda Shower Creamwash. My skin is very sensitive and it breaks out in big whiteheads due to harsh cosmetics, stress and nervous unbalance, conservatives, petrolatum, silicones, wrong food, antibiotics (if any), nearly everything. People who don't have reactive skin can't understand how frustrating it can be. Finding good products that don't irritate while keeping clean and moistened is a real comfort! I know many people think that these products are greasy and full of alcohol, but for me it was just a matter of habit to switch from regular mainstreet cosmetics. The heavy glass bottle is very pleasant in the bathroom, while for traveling purpose I put milk, toner, cream and evrything I need in small plastic bottles I can tote in handbaggage on flights or for weekends out.
7 out of 8 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Gucci - Flora by Gucci EDT
MellyHelly 4/24/2009 5:34:00 AM
Woooooooohhooooo!!! Total swoon at first sniff!! This is not a sign of further success for me, but it happens so rarely to swoon at a scent! Once every long while it happens to smell a good floral, fresh yet powerful, extremely feminine, classy and cheeky. Daring. I don't usually like Gucci scents, but this one was so appealing! Flora is a true floral beauty that open a window on a warm late Spring/early Summer garden, full of flowers and fruit trees. It's very fresh in the beginning and not really my winter type fragrance, still it's a perfect scent for spring and summer, especially if you're not into citrusy/green tea watered waters. This is a real perfume for a real young classy woman, very romantic! Floral notes are very strong and always entwined with peachy/apricot notes that make Flora recalling Tresor, Spring Flower, and scents with accords between flowers and fruits, so well blended you don't know where the flowers start and fruits end. A joy for the heart. What's funny in Flora is game it plays between daring notes and cheap effects. Peachy notes remind me of drugstore "peach" bath foam in big bottles, while the burst of flowers is reminiscent of the good "auntie's" scent. You'll all have a lovely sticky auntie in her 50s dressed in floral fabrics that hugs you and squeeze you crying: "Ooohh, my beloved child!" Of both drugstore bath foam and sticky aunties seem to say: "Whatever! I don't care less. This is the way I am!" but it says laughing with a soft smile in the end. On the blade edge between cheap and refined it surely would fall on the classy side with a soft flight like a young goddess followed by tons of flowers! Never angry, never envious and so necessarily ironical, sincerely affectionate and not hypocrite. If that's your type, you can wear Flora and feel beautiful and free. Maybe not the kind of artificial "sexy" fake blond plastic doll the stirs up men's hormones showing large shares of her body with a purpose and look similar to so many other fakes. Not the frilly woman of any age that pretends to be a stupid creature so that men are not scared and treat her like an inferior being that needs guidance. Flora possesses the elegance of freedom. The freedom to be romantic head to toe without any shame. The bottle is beautiful, simple elegance, warm without being tacky. The ad is suitable but I don't like the face of the model!
9 out of 17 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Kenzo - Amour by Kenzo
MellyHelly 4/16/2009 10:14:00 AM
I'm still on the verge if I like it this or not. Anyway I don't need a new perfume for sure. The problem with this frag is I like it at first but not the drydown. It works ok with my chemistry but it becomes like a vanillic-almondy punch in my nose, very fake, very plasticky. Kenzo has shifted to this kind of smells in teh last years... Where is beautiful first Kenzo? Also Parfum d'Ete.. never crazy about but better than latest ones. Even cloying Kenzo Jungle L'elephant was better. Kenzo Amour is like a good idea made bad. It reminds me of Hypnotique Poison, the same extra-cloying fake almond-vanillin.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Kenzo - Kenzo Amour Indian Holi (Limited Edition)
MellyHelly 4/16/2009 10:06:00 AM
All in all a nice scent, spicy, exotic, playful, not so cheap. The spice is what comes on my skin more. It becomes a little masculin on me. I like it more than regular Kenzo Amour, but don't like EL as a rule. Nice bottle. No re-purchase. edit 22/05: it's growing on me...
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Fragrances -Kenzo - Flower
MellyHelly 4/16/2009 10:03:00 AM
I can't stand this scent at all! It's sickly revolting, because it smells very fake like oil/petrol and plasticky. It's very powdery but not subtle at all! Of course it smells "clean" but it's a very fake clean. It's like a chemical bomb masked with an innocent look.
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Fragrances -Cacharel - Eden
MellyHelly 4/9/2009 8:23:00 AM
Awful smell! This has been quite popular where I live many years ago and I couldn't bear it both on me and on others. I liked the ad and the idea behind, but the juice reeked of musty pungent pond plants. Not even a scent IMO, more of a weird annoying smell like rotten sweet water seaweed. Very tenacious.
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Fragrances -Narciso Rodriguez - essence
MellyHelly 4/8/2009 4:59:00 AM
Disapponting. I was very curious about this one, since I loved the EdT of NR. After that, NR EdP was already a no-go for me, too pungent floral. Now this "essence" is nothing I would like to smell on myself. It's very powerful, you can smell it for hours with a single spray. It's not so original or complex or elegant. It's basically white musk and I get nervous with white musk... Of course, it's not your usual white musk drugstore deospray, because it's more refined. Actually it smells fake clean, like expensive soap, piercing your nostrils with concentrated laundry powder and that eternal white musk that never seems to disappear from this world. It smells powdery too, iris-like, but the rest of the blend is unnoticeable. The bottle is just nice.
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Fragrances -Yves Saint Laurent - Paris Pont des Amours LE EDT
MellyHelly 4/7/2009 10:16:00 AM
I like this new Springtime Paris very much. I like all of them actually and I don't mind so much thei're LE. YSL Paris classic is a well-loved memory of the past and these flankers are all very similar to main accord, the beauty heart of Paris. Pont des Amours is so light and lovely I can imagine wearing it in warm/hot weather still feeling drenched in exquisite roses, but definetely not a cheap rose cologne blast from old-lady's dresser! It's subtle and last only a couple of hours on skin, like a fresh rose rain. The drydown is woody, maybe cedar or sandalwood, very subtle, not musty at all and that's what stays on fabrics once Pont des Amours has left your skin. Feminine, light, elegant and gentle. It may seems a bit too understated ina word of loud, screaming scents (and people). Gentleness in a bottle, the joy of a garden, no vulgarity, maybe not something a man would call "sexy" these days. Pure feminine self-balance. It needs intimacy and quietness to be loved. A smooth neck would be the perfect place to find Pont des Amours, just so uncomplicated but not poor. If it makes sense, it could be simple complexity, like also classic Paris is. A scent to feel fine. The bottle is lovely and happy!
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Fragrances -Christian Dior - Escale á Portofino
MellyHelly 4/7/2009 6:45:00 AM
Eventually a non-cloying, non-plasticky new Dior! Not my kind of scents usually, as I go for big florientals and floral-ambery, but I find it very uplifting, refreshing, yet complex and extremely elegant in a very Portofino's way (not the rich old tacky yacht's owner stereotype, more of a vibrant girl wandering free). It's very citrusy in the start, maybe mainly bergamot and lemon, it has an herbal heart blending seamlessy with a delicate woodsy drydrown which stays long like a vibrant background and not it's never stiff. It bears a far resemblance to Chanel's Cristalle, but less crisp and less floral. Assertive and respectful at the same time, elegantly playful, summer skinscent.
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No