sample thoughts – Beauty Playbox

Sample Thoughts: Nivea SOS Lip Relief.

This balm has a definite tingly and cooling effect that can be easily attributed to all products containing menthol. Said to have immediate regenerative qualities, also said to protect lips in freezing temperatures.

Which is where I am a bit confused, because I cannot imagine wearing this balm in the dead of winter. The cooling properties of menthol and -16C? Minus any C, really? I think you’ll agree with me that they’re not a good match at all.

My lips were dry and a bit chapped when I tried this balm, and indeed in about 10 minutes that felt soft and smooth. I had two 1ml samples of this balm, which amounts to about 1/3 of the product size. And while I did find this balm cooling and softening, I’m not exactly sure that really cracked lips would fare well with it — once again, due to the presence of menthol. If anyone ever had anything menthol-containing interact with an even lightly scratched skin (for example, a nearly healed cat scratch that’s not too deep), they will know that the motherfucker burns. Now, imagine this on your deeply chapped lips.

This is my second (conscious) interaction with products containing panthenol – the alcohol analog of vitamin B5 – and this is the second time I’m not as impressed as I ought to be, supposedly. My first one was the use of a body lotion for very dry skin, which I didn’t find moisturising at all. Now here I am with this balm sample, and while I can’t say it’s bad, I’m not impressed enough to buy a full-size tube.

Sample Thoughts: Givenchy Le Soin Noir.

This cream has a gel-like texture, but applies buttery. It’s black/ very dark grey, with small black particles and what looks like very fine glitter. The black isn’t visible on the skin while applied, but it does leave just a touch of a… tinted greyish veil over your face to be noticeable. So I used both of my samples at night.

It’s both very light and very nourishing. Takes its jolly time to absorb. Also, it’s perfumed up the wazoo. I cannot imagine using this during my headache spells. It would slay me.

Obviously I cannot judge the packaging from my tiny magazine sample, but the photograph on Sephora looks exquisite. It better, because the darn thing costs nearly $400 US! (And it’s out of stock?!) That’s about as much as I make a month, so I think the magazine sample is as close an acquaintance as I can ever hope to have with this cream.

But would I actually buy it for this price after having used the two samples? Not sure. Perhaps over time it gives a noticeable effect that’s worth spending $400 for, but the 10 ml I had in my possession could not provide me with accurate basis for such judgement.

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