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!!”.
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| Awkward still photo taken from video of me (I thought) opening all 12 Days of Beauty. But the filming accidentally stopped at day 11... |
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.
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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
Very nice (and comprehensive!) little essay, there!
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