Hello my divas! Yes yes I know….you can stop rubbing your eyes now….yes I’m really late with this post but like I promised I will only bring you these once I have tested the products out in each box. So even though I’m like really late with I present to you my Feb Velvette box and my 2 bits on it.
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Being the Feb box it was dedicated to Valentine’s day where it came tied with a cute red with white dots ribbon and a heart shaped fridge magnet. This has been a trend with them and I like the thought that they put into the theme each month. The touches bring that little extra to a box and add to the experience of us buyers. There were 3 products in the box this month – Fig & Rouge Aloe and Mint Balm (full size), Purely Pro Blush (full size) and Ofra Vitamin C Cream. Lets a take a look at these products one by one.
Figs & Rouge Aloe and Mint Balm:
There was a lot of buzz created for this product before it was sent out to everyone. Apparently this brand is from the UK and Emma Watson endorses it. The company mainly makes balms and is well known for it. It has 3 separate product lines – Lip balm tins, Lip Balm tubes and the recently introduced Hand creams. They boast of 100% organic products and claim that they are free of petroleum, mineral oil and synthetics.
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The product has a tin packaging and has a very classic looking design on it. Being small in size it makes it highly travel friendly. And it is a multi purpose product – from healing dry skin (lips, elbows, knees, feet, etc) to taming unruly hair/brows this little thing does it all for you. I did use it quite often when I first got it in the box. Kolkata was still under the cold spell and dry lips/elbows were a common thing. This product helped me a lot and within few applications actually healed my lips and made my elbows smooth.
It had a fresh mint smell which was nice. On looking at for the first time I thought that it is a solid product and I would need to swipe my finger on the surface (imagine a cream blush in a pan). But when I touched it I was surprised to find it soft and semi liquid like….sort of how ghee looks and feels with the graininess (sorry but that is the best way to describe it). A little spreads quite a bit and you are left feeling soothed.
Ok now I come to something that I discovered recently rather in course of me writing this post. When I went and opened my tin (had stored it away once the heat came in) I found that the surface looked very weird. How you get that white spores on something that gets spoiled. I thought that it developed that and it smelled really off. I decided to feel it and see but found that it was not fungus. Rather it was something very grainy and felt hard to touch when I rolled it between my fingers. I’m guessing it is a component of the product.
Bear in mind that these products are not really meant for our kind of climate. They are made by people and for people who live in countries much cooler than ours like UK, Europe, USA, etc. This baby didn’t have half a chance to survive in our tropical weather. Added to the fact that it is all natural and I’m guessing does not have any preservative in it this became the way it is in 4 months time. If you intend to buy this (it is a very good and effective product) I suggest that you store in the fridge to increase its shelf life. Rather you should store all your expensive creams in the fridge to keep them from going bad and/or separating. Price is Rs. 695/- on the Velvette site and $8.17 (Rs. 465/- approx) on Feel Unique.
Purely Pro Blush in Strawberry:
This is a makeup brand from the US. Started by the owner of a talent agency this line of makeup is meant for models who have to look fresh under hot lights and other tough conditions. The products are meant to be highly pigmented. I went through their product line on the site but surprisingly could not find this blush. This color was not listed (strange don’t you think).
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Comes in a round pan plastic box painted a metallic silver color. The texture of the blush is smooth and the color is very pigmented. It is a light pink shade with a silver sheen and minute silver shimmer to it. You need to apply this with a light hand coz of the pigmentation that this has. Just a little much and it ends up looking OTT. But then you can always tone it down by wiping it gently with a tissue paper. Just stroke on it in the direction of application ie from the cheek bone in a slanted way near the eyebrow end till you get the color that you desire.
This color should suit the fair to medium toned people. I feel it is a little light for the darker toned people but if you like the shade then be very light handed with it. I really like the intensity of the pigmentation. I would like to try out some of the other products from this line. The prices given on the site a little strange. Since this particular color is not listed it becomes kinda hard to figure things out especially since they have not given any details about each product.
Blushes have 2 price – $6.20 (Rs. 354/- approx) & $20 (Rs. 1140/- approx). No reason given for this price difference and all the pics are of the shade in the pan so you are not even clear if the difference is due to it being a refill or pan. Price on the Velvette site is Rs. 1650/-. I think that the price is a little steep especially for a brand that is not so well known by everyone. Personally I would rather by something from MAC or pay a little more and get something from either Elizabeth Arden or Dior. But hey that is just me,
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| The one on the left and middle is taken in natural light. The right is taken in flash |
Ofra Vitamin C Cream:
This another one of those brands that created a lot of buzz. Ofra is supposed to be a very famous brand and is supposed to be used by a lot of Hollywood celebrities. I had not heard about it before but a lot of others had. I got the Vitamin C cream sample.
Ok I’m gonna get a little goofy here. The texture is like that of a creamy moisturizer or a moisturizing cream 😛 aka it is somewhere in the middle. It has this orange juice smell to it with a sweet under note to it which to me smelt like aniseed or what we call saunf. Quite refreshing and for someone who likes a citrus smell this would be ideal. The product is meant for dry skin people. I have a dry/combination skin when I’m in Kolkata so this gives me more than the required moisture that I need.
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To put it simply my skin gets this light oily film to it. I have even used it in Mumbai where my skin is actually oily and I need very little like about 2 dots of it to cover my entire face or sometimes I would skip this completely. Given the extra oiliness to it I have not used it very regularly. I have about 10-15 times but not on a very regular basis. I still have a whole lot left of it and am storing it away for the winter months.
As for its effects, I did not see any increase in breakouts or anything. Rather my skin had become quite smooth and glowing in the middle. Now I’m not sure if this was the cause for it as I was using atleast 2 other products along with this. Not sure if it was one of those products that did the trick for me or a combination of all 3. So I’m waiting for the winters to set in again and then I will do a proper testing for this and bring to you my detailed findings if this products is worth it. This is more of a first impressions type of review for this. Price on Velvette is Rs. 3900/- and on Ofra’s site it is given as $39 (approx Rs. 2223/-).
Once again I’m really sorry about the lateness of the review. But I just wanted to present my experience with the products in the box. And since some of the products were really good and worked for me I just could not do avoid doing a review on it for you. I’m trying to catch up with the other boxes and hopefully will be up to speed by the end of this month (fingers crossed).
Hope this was useful to you on some level. Did you like anything from these products? How was your experience with the products that you got? Are you looking to repurchase something from it? Do let me know your thoughts and suggestions in the comments below. I always look forward to reading what you have to say. See you next time – Take care 🙂
