Tuesday, November 19, 2019

12 Days of Beauty - A Curated Beauty Collection


First off, did I NEED 12 days of beauty?  I mean, that sounds like a funny question…  YES, I could definitely use some help in the “beauty” department.  But NO, I didn’t need any more random lotions and potions at the moment.  I am temporarily living with family – they made a little basement bedroom for me.  I have 3 suitcases (and a duffle) and I came prepared with soaps, lotions, etc.  I don’t have ROOM for more “beauty”.

But on the other hand…  I am at a sad point in my life, and sometimes when you are sad, there is an urge to splurge!  It’s almost as if, “Sure, I am sad now.  But maybe, just maaaybe, if I spent $20 on a ridiculous beauty countdown calendar, I would be happy!!”.
  
Awkward still photo taken from video of me (I thought) opening all 12 Days of Beauty.
 But the filming accidentally stopped at day 11...
Alas.  I have opened all 12 days (early, I know!) and I am still sad.  But that is a story for another time.  Because NOW is time to review 12 Days Of Beauty!!

I opened all 12 days at once.  This was difficult for me to do!  I am the kind of person who hates things ending.  Like, hates endings so much that I like to buy another jar of mustard before the first jar ends, so instead of the mustard “ending” it just eases into the new jar!!  My partner and I seriously have a BIG pile of UNOPENED gifts at our house that we have given each other for various holidays over the years.  They are still wrapped, gathering dust, waiting for us to open them.  I am sure some will be old moldy chocolate and pants that are too small.  But hey, that’s how we roll!!

All that is to say – opening all 12 days before the month of December even started was very NOT ME.  But I thought if I was going to sit down and review this calendar I needed to do it while stores would still have it in stock, so you could say I DID IT FOR YOU.  I tried to video opening all of the little doors and seeing the products, but my camera storage filled up before I got to day 12.  Ugh.  So, you will have to imagine what opening the doors looked like. 

The bos.  Drum roll - let's open it!!
But here is the low down of what you will find if you, too, invest in one of these puppies (if you haven’t read my reviews before, the ratings are 0 – 5, with 5 being the highest):

1.      Cranberry Cider Shimmer Body Wash – I am practically a middle-aged woman.  Ok, chances are that technically I am PAST middle age…  So, do I want to shimmer when I am done washing??  I am not so sure…  Maybe this product is like H & M stores – made for someone younger than myself.  But it was in the countdown calendar, so I had to try it, right??  It didn’t leave my skin shimmery as much as a bit SMELLY.  The cider smell overpowered the cranberry.  Honestly, it smelled like one of the body washes at Bath and Body Works that ends up being on the clearance rack on sale after the holidays 2 for $5.00.  Some people might dig this stuff.  I guess it just wasn’t my cup of (shimmery) tea.
Rating:  2.5

2.      Winter Citrus Ultra Moisturizing Hand Cream – I was conflicted about this product even before I tried it…  On one hand, I was super stoked because I love the hand lotions in little metal tubes that TJ’s normally gets every holiday season.  I secretly think they are L’Occitane brand with TJ’s labels.  I usually stock up on them at the holidays, keeping some and giving them as gifts, too (see great review of them here: Ultra Moisturizing Hand Cream Trio Review   ).  But on the other hand, the name of the scent scared me.  “Winter Citrus”.  What the heck is “Winter Citrus”??  Is it different than, oh, I don’t know, summer citrus??  I feared it might smell like potpourri, a scent I didn’t want on my hands…  But it is not as bad as I feared.  The cream is a great texture and the tube makes it really easy to apply.  And the scent is not too over-powering. 
Rating:  4.5

This is a swell hand cream

3.      All for One One for All Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Wash – products that profess to be not only shampoo but also conditioner and body wash worry me.  If one bottle can contain all 3 products, then have I been a sucker all of these years for buying them separately??  Not wanting to be found out to be a sucker, I never buy the “all in one” products.  But this one came in the kit, so I of course needed to try it.  It is fine.  I mean, it works, it is soap, right?  But it is still creepy to use it for everything.  It would be good if you were traveling and staying in a hotel that did not gave you free toiletries.  And it would be good for people who don’t like to clutter up their showers with multiple bottles.  But for me, I will stick to shampoo, conditioner, and body wash (packaged separately).
Rating:  3.75


4.      Coconut Body Butter – I like TJ’s body butters.  They are a great consistency – not too thick but not at all runny.  They moisturize well and make your skin feel good.  However, this coconut one smells a bit too sweet for my taste (for my nose actually, I swear I didn’t taste it).  It smells more like COCONUT CREAM PIE than just coconut to me.  The smell wore off after a while, but still, I don’t want to smell like a pie.  Granted, it does not smell barfy like the TJ’s PUMPKIN BODY BUTTER does (reviewed here:  Original Review of Pumpkin Body Butter   ), but it is still not a scent I would buy a whole tub of. 
Rating:  3.75

5.      Warm Vanilla Body Butter – vanilla is not normally my favorite scent.  Does adding “Warm” to it make it smell better?  It turns out it does!!  This body butter is the same lovely cream that goes on so nicely and the scent is not overpowering.  I didn’t smell like a candle when I was wearing it (and that is a good thing).  I would buy a big tub of this one (but I probably won’t need to for about 30 years because I have so many bottles of creams and lotions at the moment). 
Rating:  4.25

6.      Peel-Off Charcoal Face Mask – if you think I am posting a photo of myself wearing this mask, you are w-r-o-n-g.  But of course, I TRIED it.  I like face masks and hadn’t tried a charcoal one before.  It felt weird going on and tightened on my face very quickly.  The package said to leave it on around 20 minutes then peel it off, but after around 5 minutes I started to feel sort of “warm” under it.  Nevertheless, I persisted!  Because – BEAUTY!  When it was time to peel it off I couldn’t find any “finger holds” to start peeling.  It didn’t crack or anything – my face was just covered with it.  I had to work a bit to get it started peeling and then it came off in small-ish chunks.  And let me tell you, that mask was STUCK on my face.  It stung a bit peeling it off.  It was like a cross between a face mask and a Biore nose strip.  I think it may have cleaned out my pores from the peeling and my face felt very clean (even if a bit raw…) after I washed it.  My cheeks were rosy when I was done!  I followed up this mask with some of the Rose Facial Oil.  If you have a little mustache this might be a cheap answer to “waxing” it 😊 .  I only used part of the Charcoal Mask package, but this definitely feels like a product I wouldn’t want to do again very soon.  Also, it is messy.  If you have a white sink you are going to need to clean it after finishing your “beauty routine”.
Rating:  4
A MASK, and a WAXER, all in one!  How convenient!
7.     Enrich Moisturizing Face Lotion – I am pretty fussy about my face lotion.  I like my face lotion to be light but moisturizing, not greasy, and not to have too much scent.  I had never tried this TJ’s Enrich Face Lotion before, but I got the small tube in this calendar and I really liked it! It goes on well and did not leave my face feeling “lotion-y”.  It didn’t make me shiny.  Plus, it has sunscreen (SPF 15)!  As someone who has had skin cancer removed from their face, this is a big PLUS.  This product is a winner! 

Rating:  4.25

Winner winner chicken dinner

8.      Rose Facial Oil – I love this stuff!!!  I have a bottle of it at home and brought a bottle of it with me on this trip, too.  So I was excited to see a teeny tiny bottle of it in this kit.  The word “oil” in the title might scare you off, but I swear it doesn’t make you feel too greasy.  The scent name might scare you, too, if you (like me) associate “rose” scented beauty products with 85 year old women (not that there’s anything wrong with 85 year old women).  But this Rose Facial Oil is lightly scented and smells delightful!!  I like to put this on before bed.  I will keep this cutie patootie bottle of it in my travel kit. 

Rating:  4.75


9.      Brown Sugar Body Scrub – This was nice.  It has a nice scent and is not too abrasive.  My skin felt smooth after using it.  This one gets a thumbs up.
Rating:  4.5

10.  Blueberry and Acai Facial Scrub – Bleck.  This product gets a thumbs down from me.  I think it gave me flashbacks to my junior high school days.  First off, the scent.  It smells like one of those chunky Bonnie Bell Lip Smackers that I had in 1979.  Then the texture.  I used it on my face as instructed and it reminded me of that cheap ass peach pit facial scrub we used to get at K-Mart when I was a teenager.  Do you know the one??  It scraped your face up and felt like there were actual ground up peach pits in there??  No thank you.  I am not sure who this product is aimed it, but it ain’t me. 
Rating:  1.25
Bit and pieces scrape your skin and it leaves you stinking.
No thanks.

11. Pomegranate Moisturizing Lip Balm – This is the BEST product in the box!!  I wish TJ’s sold this sucker on its own, I would stock up.  It is not waxy and goes on smooth.  The pomegranate scent is delicate (what do pomegranates even SMELL like anyway?  I had some pomegranate seeds in yogurt for breakfast today and don’t remember a scent).  Anyway, I don’t like lip products that are too stinky, cuz my lips are right next to my NOSE and I don’t want to smell my lips all day.  So, this one fits the bill.  My only complaint about this product is that I don’t think I can pop into TJ’s at any time and pick up another one when I inevitably wash this one in the pocket of a pair of jeans. 
Rating:  5

Yes please - I would like 5 more of these.

12.  Exfoliating Sugar Cube – this one is WEIRD.  There is nothing written on the packaging.  It just looks like a squishy little pink sugar cube.  When I first opened the tiny calendar door to reveal the last day’s product, I wasn’t sure what I was looking at.  I had to read the back of the box to get an understanding of what it was.  It feels like they opened a big box of individually wrapped Exfoliating Sugar Cubes and plopped one into each calendar.  Honestly, I haven’t tried this one yet.  It looks like it is going to be tricky to open with wet fingers in the tub or shower.  And I am just feeling scrubbed out!  So, I will save this one for a later date and not give it an official rating here (sorry).
Rating:  not rated

Overall impression of the 12 Days of Beauty Curated Collection:  I like that the products are petite.  I will for sure put some of them in my toiletry bag for trips.  They would easily get thru TSA in your carry-on, too.  Three scrubs seemed a bit of overkill for my taste, I would have preferred another lip product instead of one of the scrubs. 

My favorites were the Pomegranate Lip Balm, the Rose Facial Oil, and the Winter Citrus Ultra Moisturizing Hand Cream.  I would buy all of those again.  The worst by far was the Blueberry and Acai Facial Scrub.  That won’t be on my shopping list any time soon.

I am glad I bought this countdown kit.  It is a very fun way to try new products.  I will reuse some of the containers when they are empty because they are sturdy and great sizes.

Would I buy the 12 Days of Beauty again?  Not this year.  12 items were plenty for me.  But I would purchase it again next holiday season!  It was fun to play with.  And it would be a good teacher or co-worker gift. 

Happy Holidays to you all!  And happy shopping at Trader Joe’s! 

Price:  $19.99
Average of 11 ratings:  3.5

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