Sisley Eye and Lip Contour Balm

I received the Sisley Glossybox in August last year I was totally in love with the products when I first received them. I think I was a bit seduced by the fact that I got to use such expensive cosmetics.

A quick joke: My son was watching while I unpacked the Sisley products. The prices of the full size products was given on the card that came with the box. They were really expensive. I thought it would be a good math lesson to calculate the value of the samples. When we discovered that one of the really small tubes was worth R449 my son looked at it and said: ”For that price it should give you a superpowers.” I replied that it did have a superpower. He wanted to know what it was and I said: “It keeps you young.” He did not look impressed and said: “For that money it should at least make you fly.”

There was a lot of “look at the Amazing Sisley box” blog posts around at the time. I agreed with all the bloggers. It was a lovely treat and a marvelous box. I decided to use the products a bit before writing a review rather than reviewing it when I just received the boxes; hence only posting now. There will eventually be a review of each of the products. I will start with the eye and lip balm.

I quote from Sisley:  It is specifically formulated to effectively address the appearance of fine lines, skin dryness and under-eye puffiness.  Formulated to protect the most delicate, mobile parts of the face, Eye and Lip Contour Balm helps to smooth and moisturise the skin around the eyes and lips, prevent the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, fight skin dryness and provides comfort and refreshment.  Smooth on Eye and Lip Contour Balm with fingertips with light patting around the eyes and lips.

I find it hard to review whether anti-aging products actually work. To be perfectly honest, I am not sure whether I have seen any reduction in lines with anything, ever. This balm I will give the benefit of the doubt. I think the puffiness and dark circles under my eyes are better when I use it. But it is subtle. And I might be wrong. I do not think any of my fine lines are improved.

 

Sisley is available exclusively at the following Edgars Stores: Sandton, Melrose Arch, Clearwater, Woodlands, Gateway and V&A.

Here are some reviews of the Sisley eye cream.

http://www.essentialdayspa.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=33482

http://www.pinksith.com/2008/10/sisley-botanical-eye-lip-contour-balm.html

http://reviews.costco.com/2070/11123904/sisley-sisley-paris-eye-lip-contour-balm-reviews/reviews.htm

Short summary: It did not do much. And it is really really expensive. I think you can spend your money on something more worthwhile. 

Lindt- caramel intense

Today I have a non-beauty pick.  In fact it might even be called a make you ugly pick.  I love Lindt chocolate.
Although I eat the round truffels often, I do not often eat the thin slabs.
This one was interesting.  Dark chocolate with almonds and caramel.
It does not taste like caramel at all.  It tastes more like almonds.
It is very dark, very bitter and tastes a bit earthy (the nuts, I think).
Not creamy and smooth, and probably not my favourite flavour.
It was a nice experiment, but I will be sticking to the Lindt truffels

My March Rubybox

This was a great box, and I am not the only one saying so.  On Rubybox’s fan page lots of people commented on how much they liked the box.  It made it even worse for me to keep waiting for my box.  And nobody said what was in the box.  They only said how great it was.

 

My box had the following.  (There are often more than one version of the box, so someone else’s box might be different.) 

1.       Rubybox hair head bands. 

These are said to cost R29.99 and I got two.  One is purple with little glittery bits and one is turkois.  These hair bands look like oversized hair elastics and you slip then on and they function like an allice band.  It is meant to keep hair out of your face, while washing it, but could also be great for going to the gym, working in the garden, or just being lazy with your hair.

2.      Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gioia

I have previously received this perfume, but like perfumes so much that I do not complain.  I like trying new perfumes.  It has a fresh smell, but is not something I would buy. 

3.      Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gio

This is a male perfume.  My husband hates wearing perfume.  (At least he showers often!) so I will use this myself.  Some male fragrances are perfectly fine for me.  I hope this one also is.  It is great to receive two perfumes.

4.      Rimmel sexy curves mascara R110

Wow.  A full size mascara.  This is great.  I have not tried it yet, but simply receiving this mascara made me throw out two old mascaras.  One was hard and the other was very sticky.

5.      Sally Hansen complete salon manicure in Dorien Grey R130

I love nail polish as well.  At first I gave this sample a duh look.  It is a brand I would love to try and the description sounds lovely.  It is also not a cheap nail polish.  (I have recently decided life is too short for cheap nail polish that chips after one day)  But Oh my.  The colour.  It is grey!  Who wears grey nails.  I did however try the polish on.  I can happily say I am on Day 4 now and the nail polish is holding on well.  The finish is smooth and professional.  I might have a new keeper.  The grey looks OK on, better than in the bottle.  It is almost violet; which would have been just marvellous.

 

Thank you Rubybox.  This was a great box.  It was a treat; lovely things, usefull things, a perfume and a brand I have not tried before, but might just like. 

Here is an update to include a review by Becoming you.  She received a different version of the box than I did.  And yet another version of the box is reviewed here.  I also added another review a bit later.

Sinful colors professional nail polish - Gold glitter: All about you.

My sweet sister gave me a handful of different nail colours for my birthday.  One of them was this gold.  I would not have bought it for myself, but really found it quite nice.  The glitter was fairly uneven, with a lovely texture, and a kind of fleck.  It was also a fairly dull gold, not glittery at all.   It did chip fairly easily, but it worked well to just touch up the little chips. Since the glitter was uneven, it did not look funny when you just touched up the chipped bits.  You can see on my first finger what a touched up nail looks like.  I tried using a top coat over it, but that was a complete disaster.  The nail polish just jumped off in large chunks within a day;  sometimes almost the whole nail at once.  Yikes.  I have no idea why.  You need a few layers to get this kind of coverage.  One coat gave a completely see-through glitter that looked nice over other colour nail polishes.

The colour was called:  All about you (921)

This nail polish comes in a very small bottle (a plus), is really cheap (like about R10) and I have seen it in DisChem, but not in this colour.  I have no idea where my sister bought this colour. 

Get some free stuff

They have a special running at the moment where you get the above products free with the purchase of two products.  These small samples are so handy, saves you money and introduce you to products you have not tried before. 
I do not get paid by Estee Lauder.

Someone else also thinks this is a great deal and actually wrote a much better post than me about this free gift.  Even suggesting what product you should buy to qualify.

Vanilla in the room - Aroma soothz soothing spritz

 

 

This room spray smells sweetly of vanilla.  It leaves a lovely lingering smell of vanilla in the house.  I love this smell in my bathroom and bedroom - in fact all over.  I have no idea where you can get this.  It was a gift.  I am so lucky.

Tip top glitter nail polish

I recently tried Tip Top nail polish for the first time.  I also tried my very first glitter nail polish. 

 

The silver glitter pieces are a combination of small and large hexagon glitter pieces.  The largest has about a 2 mm diameter.  It reflects light in green, pink, blue, orange and yellow.  The silver glitter pieces are suspended in a colourless medium.  The glitter pieces are fairly sparse and you would not get a completely silver nail using this polish.  It needs to be applied over a background colour.  The background colour plays a large role in the final look of your nails. 

The thickness of the glitter on this nail was achieved with 6 coats of glitter. 

Only one coat of glitter looks more like this.

 This stuff is strong.  It lasts. I have worn it for a week.  Because the glitter is irregular, slight chips and imperfections are not really visible.  My only complaint:  This nail polish is really hard to remove.  This stuff sticks !   

It was my first experience with glittery nails.  I loved it.  I was popular with all girls under 10, even impressed a boy or two.  But a colleague did tell me that I would never again be taken seriously. 

Other reviews can be found here, here and here.  This is my New Years nails.
Tip top also has a very nice facebook page.