Vanitytrove Nov 2012 – Dream Girl Edition

The November edition of Vanity trove arrived the night I was in the hospital having my baby… so it’s taken me some time to open it up and post this review. This month’s theme is Dream Girl, and I had been looking forward to all kinds of cosmetics, but I received a bunch of skincare items instead, which worked out for me!

The item that caught my eye was the full-sized Ujene Collagen Eye Gel.

I’m normally hesitant to try products on my delicate eye area from brands that I’m not familiar with, but I have a soft spot for eye gels, and after doing some research, I was really intrigued.  Ujene uses the purest grade of ingredients, in particular, the eye gel is formulated with its trademark ingredient – oviluxe.  Oviluxe is a pure form of collagen that is biocompatible.  This baby is supposed to help reduce eye bags in 14 days (something i really need right now!!).  More importantly, Ujene products are free from Phthalates, Parabens, Formaldehydes, Propylene Glycol, PEGs, Volatile Alcohols, Mineral Oil, Petrolatum, Paraffin Wax, Synthetic Dyes, Synthetic Fragrance, Essential Oils and Cruelty!  I’m really into products that practice these standards these days!  This item retails regularly for $80, which makes this trove especially worth it at only $25!

I’ve actually taken the eye gel out for a test run, and it’s as good as my SKII eye gel (which is saying a lot as i’ve been in a committed relationship with SKII for the past 5 years)!  Common eye gels tend to be too light, leaving my eye area crepey looking by mid-afternoon.  So I was pleasantly surprised when my eye area remained smooth and bright (despite having zero sleep) all day.  It is light weight, and absorbed instantly, making it great for morning mad dashes.

There was also the Ichikami hair treatment full sized single-use tube (although a full course of 5 tubes used over 2 weeks is recommended).

This is a leave-in treatment made with black rice extract, soy bean/ black bean extract, and helps to repair and protect damaged hair. My dry tresses live on hair masks and leave-in conditioners / serums on a daily basis, so this got tested immediately.  The scent is nicely floral, and it helps detangle.  Nonetheless, i’ve tried better, though pricier, products.  The texture is a little thick so it’s better used on freshly shampoo-ed wet hair instead of dried.  Also, the twist-off cap doesn’t cap back on, but i found the entire tube too much for a single use.

The rest of the items were a little blah to me.  They were all drugstore samples, many of which I already have by the dozens.  The only other sample sized item that piqued my curiosity is the Neogence Extremely Off Heads Serum.  This is a new brand / product range carried by Sasa.  The problem is, I don’t have oily skin or acne, so this item is not suitable for me.  But, I may just try a teeny tiny bit of it on my nose to see if it clears up my black heads and maybe a dab on pimples (the next time they pop up) to see if it’ll help zap them off!  The full size is 15ml and retails for $29, so this 5ml sample size is worth just under $10.

There is also a good sample-sized tube of Mekhala Soothing Tamarind Facial Cleanser.  I took a sniff and liked the scent, but it’s just too difficult for me to deviate from my basic routine as I have really sensitive skin and I prefer to stick with tried and tested basics.  Regardless, I will probably give this a shot in a couple of weeks after my post-pregnancy hormones stabilize, and post my review then.

This month’s Dream Girl Vanitytrove was in overall, a fun experience, where I got to try new interesting products, some of which I loved.  I would have preferred getting the SkinC hand dew and the BRTC BB cream… but i guess we can’t all win all the time!  ;P