A new year of Petit Vour! This is a big improvement over the last box that wasn’t a good fit for me at all. This month’s theme is, “The New Luxury,” and the box was co-curated by Emily Nolan of MyKindofLife.com. As usual, there’s a nice mix of products from makeup to hand cream and hair care. I really love that Petit Vour makes an effort to have that kind of variety in each box – it’s never just four makeup products. Anyway, on to the contents!
- 100% Pure French Lavender Hand Buttercream – 2 oz / $8 – (Sample is 2 oz, value of $8) This smells SO good and isn’t one of those sticky sweet lavender scents, but a nice warm botanical lavender. Moisturizes well without feeling really greasy, and the blend of oils and butters in the ingredients list is awesome! This is going on my bedside table to moisturize dry winter hands overnight, plus that calming lavender scent is great for bedtime.
- EVOLVh Leave-In Conditioner – 2.5 oz / $8 – (Sample is 2.5 oz, value on website is showing $10 for the 2.5 oz travel size, and the 8.5 oz size for $26, so value of $10 as packaged) Oh man do I love a leave-in for my curls! This is basically a blend of all kinds of oils which is great – no curl-unfriendly ingredients! I’m not all that wowed by the scent (I prefer the scent of Yarok’s better) since it’s really floral which isn’t my thing. Still, the scent fades quickly anyway and it works great as a 2nd (or 3rd) day curl reviver, and on wet hair as a frizz-fighter. I detangle in the shower by finger combing my hair so I won’t really use this as a detangler. I can’t even tell you how long it’s been since my hair has seen a comb or brush – 6 years? More? Great product though, very happy to see this in the box!
- Modern Minerals Eye Shadow – 2 g / $12.50 – (Sample is Full Size, value of $12.50) The color is, “En Pointe,” and is an exclusive color for Petit Vour subscribers. It’s a shimmery coppery pink that’s great for everyday wear and of course, the ingredients are simple and clean. I found this to work really well over a white eye shadow base for an extra pop of color since it’s so light.
- RawSkinCeuticals Creme Cheek Color – 5 mL / $15 – (Sample is Full Size, value of $15) Great value, covers the cost of the box, but a totally weird product. The ingredient list contains zinc oxide and titanium dioxide which are great if the product is a sunscreen or eyeshadow or concealer or in some product that you need heavy coverage. For blush, it just doesn’t work. The texture is something like wet chalk – it goes on like a creme and then starts drying to a powder-like finish. Then there’s the color.. The color doesn’t AT ALL match what’s on the website for, “Rose,” and looks much more violety mauve. It makes my cheeks look pasty and pale and dull instead of bright and lightly flushed like a blush should do. I’ve mentioned before that my cheeks are already pretty naturally red/rosy, so a weird purpleish color just doesn’t work. I have a feeling that the zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are not the right ingredients for a blush and cover far too heavily to work well as a blush. However, what makes it fail as a blush makes it work perfectly as an eyeshadow! It actually feels a lot like Nyx’s Eye Shadow base in terms of texture and application/coverage, so I have a new eyeshadow instead of a new blush. That works for me.
Overall, I received two full size products and two travel size products for a total value of $45.50 which more than covers the $15 cost of the box! Really an incredible value this time around and I’m glad that even though the blush isn’t great as a blush, it doubles as a perfect eye shadow, so it’s still a win in my book.
EDIT 31 Jan 2015:
I keep thinking about that blush and keep trying it as a blush, but it keeps coming out dull and oddly reminiscent of zinc-oxide-wearing lifeguards with those big white stripes on their cheeks and nose (Zinka!). I was thinking about alternatives and remembered Josie Maran’s Cheek Gelee which is also vegan and cruelty free as a good example of what works in a cheek product. When I have to use blush (which is rare, because I always have rosy cheeks even when wearing foundation), my go-to favorite is the Josie Maran product because it doesn’t dry my skin out like a powder blush and sinks in well unlike the RawSkinCeuticals that lays on top and manages to miss filling in pores, highlighting them for the world to see. The Josie Maran blush feels creamy and hydrating where the RawSkinCeuticals feels drying and chalky. I wanted to show you the difference so I did a quick side-by-side on my face to show you how the RawSkinCeuticals matches up.
I’ve only corrected the white balance on the image below, no other digital manipulation. Josie Maran on the left, RawSkinCeuticals on the right. You can clearly see here how the left looks pleasantly rosy and the right looks pasty and pale. Both were applied over clean skin, no foundation. And, for the record, I have no connection to either company, just sharing what I found!
