Feel Unique Pick and Mix Sample Service #1

Hello Everyone! If you haven't already heard Feel Unique offers a Pick and Mix Sample Service. It works like this - you can choose 5 beauty samples for free and you just pay the postage and packaging which is £3.95. Then Feel Unique will send you a voucher for £3.95 which you can use on any future purchase (but not the Pick n Mix.) It's almost like you get to choose what you want in a free beauty box!

So you can only use this once a month and it's limited to UK customers for now. If you order on the 8th the next time you can use it will be the 9th of following month. It's not a subscription service so you can dip in and out whenever you want and choose whatever you want! Items are mostly high end and mainly skincare, body care and perfumes. There is a search function that can search by sample type (vial, sachet, tube, card and pot) which is really helpful as then you know what size sample you've chosen which helps you to get the most product for your money. You can also search by brand or by department (e.g. make up/ fragrance) which may save you time as there are around 300+ samples to choose from. Just so you know the Pick and Mix system doesn't let you buy two of the same product. There is also a selection of products for men- mainly aftershave, cologne, shower gel and moisturisers although some products are unisex. The products do change throughout the month but I've also seen products that I've  missed out on come back. Brands that are currently in stock include Caudalie, Elemis, Isadora, Charlotte Tilbury (foundation), Kiehls, Dr Hauschka, Emma Hardie and many more.

Here are the items I picked up....

Elemis Nourishing Omega Rich Cleansing Oil 2ml
This cleansing oil is 90%  jam packed with oils that include sunflower seed oil, castor seed oil, rosemary leaf oil and patchouli leaf oil. The Omega 3, which nourishes and calms the skin comes from the rose of winter oil and chia seed oil. The pomegranate extract is rich in Vitamin C which helps detoxify the skin and boost collagen.

This is the first cleansing oil I've tried. You apply it to dry skin, add water to emulsify the oil so it becomes a milk and then rise away with warm water. I've used it three times at night and once as a wake me up morning cleanser. It smells like essential oils and in particular of grapefruit which is very refreshing. Elemis describes their cleansing oil as a 'non stripping, gentle formula.' It did not irritate my sensitive skin and made my skin feel soft. However it wasn't great at removing makeup but this might be because I didn't use enough. I'm a bit on the fence with this one- however I will say that although Elemis is a luxury brand, the amount of product in the full sized bottle for the price is very generous with 195ml for £31.

Caudalie Moisture Recovery Cream 2ml
I added this to my basket as my skin felt a little tight and dehydrated. Caudalie Moisture Recovery cream aims to restore the hydrolipidic film and strengthen the skin barrier function, leaving skin soft and moisturised. The grape and borage oils, grape-seed polyphenols and sodium hyaluronate all hydrate the skin.This also has matte finish to the skin. I wasn't keen on the smell, it smelt a bit like cinnamon mixed with other essential oils but the smell isn't overwhelming so it's OK. I have sensitive skin and this didn't irritate my skin and I felt it did a good job of moisturising my skin.

Caudalie Vine Body Butter 7ml

This body butter contains Caudalie's trademarked Vinolevure which is extracted from wine yeast and helps to keep the skin moisturised while reinforcing the skin's immune defenses. Other key moisturising ingredients are shea butter and grape seed oil. The orange blossom and orange wood smells fresh and invigorating (although it smells a little like grapefruit to me.) The texture is like a lightweight cream rather than an heavy balm or butter and absorbs very quickly into the skin. Caudalie claims that this body butter offers 32% hydration after 8 hours. While it mositurised pretty well, I didn't find that that the hydration lasted 8 hours later. To be honest I found that The Body Shop's Mango Body Butter much better and it keeps the dry skin on my elbows moisturised for much longer.

Isadora Nude Sensation Fluid Foundation in 16 Nude Almond 3.5ml 
This is a yellow based foundation but actually looked peach/orange on me which was a shame. It is fragrance free and smells neutral or a little bit like water paint. It gives medium coverage.

Nars Laguna bronzing Powder 1g

I saw the words Nars and Laguna so I popped this into my basket without realising the sample was on a card. The powder is long wearing and very pigmented and needs some blending.  It suits my tan/olive skin tone but  I think it may be too dark for those with pale skin tones. It also contains glitter but this is not noticeable when applied onto the face. I can see why it's so coveted and it's something I will probably buy in the future.

This post is Not Sponsored by Feel Unique and I bought the products with my own money.  

Empties: Sample Edition

Garnier Moisture Match for Dull Skin (Wake Me Up)
This moisturiser is a clear gel which has a cooling effect that is very similar to anti cellulite creams. The gel actually smells like a perfume because it's so heavily fragranced and also has a strong alcoholic scent. The fragrance is fruity and fresh due to the grapefruit fruit extract and lemon fruit extract to energise you and wake you up. However the scent doesn't completely mask the strong alcoholic smell which irritated my eyes and stung a little on application probably due to the fact that alcohol denat is listed as the third ingredient. It does absorb quickly but I'm not sure how moisturising it is. It did wear well under my foundation (sleek oil free compact foundation.) It's also paraban free but does contain silicone (Dimethicone.)
Purchase? No. I like the concept behind this range- having moisturisers targeting different skin conditions but did not like the fact this has so much alcohol in it.

Merumuya Melting Cleansing Balm

This is probably the only negative review of  Merumaya's Melting cleansing balm which is such as shame as I was so excited and wanted to like it so much and it does seem to work for a lot of people. It smells like grapefruit (although there's no grapefruit instead it's citronelol: lemon.) It contains Echium Seed Oil (RevitElix ™) and Mangosteen extract too. The smell reminded me of Neals Yard's essential oil beauty products. The texture is very oily thanks to the almond oil and it's easy to massage onto dry skin while it emulsifies make up (the 'melting' part.) It then turns milky on contact with water. Then you're supposed to remove the balm with a cloth, I used one of the Liz Earle's muslin cloths. Merumaya recommend normal skins to repeat the cleanse and oiler skins to follow with Merumaya's Luxury Facial wash. Since this easily removed all of my Estée Lauder Double Wear Light foundation,  I can imagine that it would remove a much heavier foundation (i.e. Estee Lauder's Double wear foundation) without any trouble. It doesn't sting when gets into eyes. It can be used to remove eye makeup and I've read several reviews saying its fine but one who woke up with puffy eyes afterwards so I decided to err on the side of caution and to use a separate eye makeup remover instead (as I do with Liz Earle's Cleanse and Polish.) The next day the red patches on my cheeks got bigger and became sore (they weren't before) and I also got six painful under the skin spots. I did actually test this on half my face and was fine so I then used it all over on a different occasion thinking I would be fine. I think those with sensitive skin or dry skin should not apply this twice in order to prevent dryness and irritation. While it's cheaper than Liz Earle's Cleanse and Polish and Eve Lom, it is on the more expensive side compared to drugstore/high street cleansers, it retails at £16.50 for 100ml.

Purchase? No. It made my skin worse!

Body Lotions - These both lasted 2 weeks.

Aveeno body Lotion makes your skin feel so incredibly soft, however I didn't really like the smell (It's supposed to smell like oats, and although I eat porridge I couldn't really get with the smell) Purchase? I don't know. Maybe if it was on offer and if my skin was very dry- I would have to mix it with something that smelt nicer!

Garnier Body Intensive 7 days lotion  I absolutely loved the scent, it smells like Shea butter (which is one of the ingredients) sweet without being sickly. However it does contain alcohol and mineral oil which could irritate some skin types. This lotion does leave skin feeling soft  but I think Aveeno pips it to the post in the skin softening stakes and the softening effect lasts longer with Aveeno despite not having a 7 day claim. 
Purchase? Maybe if it's on offer.

Sunscreen 

Hawaiian Tropic Satin Protection Ultra Radiance SPF 15
Hawaiian Tropic Satin Protection Ultra radiance SP30 has received a lot of criticism for not actually protecting up to SPF 30 according to the Which? study testing sun lotion in 2014. This makes me a little wary of the SPF15. More confusing is that both products seem to be recommended by the Skin Cancer Foundation judging by the stamp on the packaging. Anyway it smells so nice and summery, a floral scent combined with coconut and cocoa. The smell isn't overwhelming which is good as I'm sensitive to strongly perfumed cosmetics. The 'Ultra Radiance' effect is gold glitter which is noticeable in sunlight. This maybe a bit too bling/disco ball for some but it would give a glistening highlight when applied to the legs. However SPF15 is pretty low so I'd avoid this if you're pale or are going to be on the beach all day.
Purchase? Probably not, the sun protection factor is too low I usually buy SPF30-35.

L'Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream
This is L'occitane's best seller and has even been in Vogue's Top 100 beauty products as well as wining a Bella Beauty award in 2015. This is their original 20% Shea formula, and while it does make your hands feel soft and moisturised with minimal grease, I really don't like the smell, it's sort of like baby talc powder. I prefer their Jasmine version.
Purchase? This one, no, but I would buy others in the range.

Perfume

Kenzo Flower in the Air EDP
This perfume smells floral and sweet, however there is a hint of fruit (raspberries) and pink pepper that stop it being too sweet. I tend to go for fruity scents and steer away from sweet floral scents. The raspberries gives it a fruity feel, but more in a sweet way rather than the fresh, light feel of apples in DKNY Be Delicious or other citrus-y perfumes. The top notes are raspberry and pink pepper, the middle notes are floral including rose, magnolia and gardenia. The base note is white musk. This sample is actually a EDP which is unusual since most perfume samples are more often EDT. The scent was strong for the first hour but it did fade through the day. Around 8 hours later I could just about smell the scent on my wrists but no-none else would be able to.
Purchase? I haven't fallen in love with this scent and I would have to in order to spend £51+ on it for the EDP. The EDT is cheaper at around the £30 mark but again this is not a 'must have' for me.

Makeup

Everyday Minerals Face Soft Bronzer 
I got this free with a brush I bought from Everyday Minerals. I think the 'soft' in the name refers to a soft, subtle warming bronzer for light skin tones. It's a pinky orange shade that probably won't show on medium and dark skin tones. On my hand it's close to my skin tone  but on my face it is a very subtle and more orange than brown (I'm roughly Mac NC25/BB warm sand/Estee Lauder intensity one.)  I applied it over liquid foundation and again on moisturised bare skin but it didn't look good either way.
Purchase? No. It's too orange and doesn't really show up. To be honest I'd suit a darker shade.

Shampoos

L'oreal Elvive Nutrigloss Luminiser High Shine Shampoo
I have fallen in love the scent of this shampoo, it's very fresh and floral. This shampoo is labelled as a 'high shine shampoo' that uses glycogel shine sealer technology to resurface the hair fibres of impurities that disrupt light reflection and help seal the cuticles, coating hair with a weightless gloss. Typically for a shampoo that promises smooth (and therefore shiny) hair it does contain silicon (dimethicone) but is is free of MI (Methylchloroisothiazolinone)  MCI (Methylisothiazoline) preservatives that can cause an contact dermatitis allergic reaction and nerve damage. My hair was shiny after using this shampoo but because I have straight thick dark hair almost all shampoos make my hair shiny. As promised it didn't weight my hair down but I still needed to wash my hair the next day as it didn't control my oily hair.

Purchase? Probably not because it didn't control my greasy hair as well as my regular Pantene shampoo. But it would be good for other hair types- such as normal or dry hair.

L'oreal Elvive Smooth & Polish perfecting Shampoo
This shampoo contains Keratin-polish to make hair smooth, control flyaways and calm static. The camellia extract also makes hair soft. As well as keratin it contains Silicon (Amodimethicone) but is MI (methylisothiazolinone) and MCI (Methylchloroisothiazolinone) free. The shampoo has a pleasant fresh floral scent (although I preferred the nutri gloss the most.) It left my hair smooth and shiny but as I said earlier that often happens with most shampoos. My hair does feel a little softer and did not get greasy until the evening of second day hair which is as good as my current Pantene shampoo. It does benefit from using a conditioner with it though as I noticed some frizz and my hair was a little drier using this.
Purchase? Yes. I would say it's best for oily hair, this is going on my shopping list, paired with a good conditioner this should be great.