Review: Chanel no 5

First off, let me start this review by saying: I know, who do I think I am, reviewing the Chanel no 5 scent like it has never been done before and like I have something important to add to all the things that have already been said about this scent.

I really do not claim to be an expert on scents in any way, but I do believe scents are such an incredibly personal thing that we all think differently about them and therefore, even a review written by a total newbie on scents and all things related to them might be of interest.
After all, I am sure not everyone that wears this scent is a perfume expert either?

So now that all that has been said: what did I actually think about this scent?
(I should add that I was gifted a bottle. I know, I am so lucky to have friends who give me presents like this!)

First of all, I did expect it to be a bit of an old ladyish scent. After having tried it, I don't think it is at all, but it is a very classic scent. You can tell that it has been around for a long time, and that it is a more upscale scent compared to some others I wear. So I don't think it is a scent for the hip IT-girls, except if they go to fancier events during the evening.

For some reason this does strike me as an evening wear scent. I personally would not wear it during the day, or for regular evenings out but I do think it would suit a special event where you dress up etc.

It is also important to note that the scent completely changes after you put it on, so if you are not familiar with the Chanel no 5, you should not just smell it from the bottle in order to decide if it is your thing or not. No, you need to put it on, wait around 5 minutes and then you'll get to smell the real scent!

So all in all, I am very happy I gave Chanel no 5 a try, although I do not think I will start wearing this on a regular basis. It is a gorgeous scent though, but I feel my life and style generally is a bit more low key than this scent I guess?

Review: Caudalie Anti Wrinkle Eye Cream

Another purchase from my recent visit to France (I admit, I do tend to go a bit crazy in the pharmacies there whenever I visit!): the first Caudalie product I ever tried: their Anti Wrinkle Eye Cream.

This was actually something a pharmacist in a pharmacy in Paris picked out for me, and while anything recommended by French pharmacists has been impressive up until now, I did think the Caudalie Anti Wrinkle Eye Cream was a bit less impressive.

By no means is it a bad eye cream, in fact it has a lot of nice aspects, such as being in a smart, convenient tube and that you only need to use very little product each time. It also does not cause any problems and does seem to hydrate the skin around my eyes. However, other eye creams that I have tried in the past have provided me by more spectacular results than the ones I got using this, so I think I will prefer to go back to them.

That said, all the "better" eye creams that I prefer over the Caudalie Anti Wrinkle Eye Cream tend to cost much, much more so this is a pretty good budget buy I guess.

(Sorry about the rather wrinkled up packaging in the pics, I guess you can tell I had been using this eye cream for quite some time by the time I remember to take photos of it?)

Review: Cattier Paris Clay Mask Green Mint

One of the best things about visiting France is of course stocking up on all the amazing beauty products they have there, at their very affordable and nice pharmacies. So of course I did quite a bit of that when I visited Paris recently.

One of the products I got, without even ever having heard of the brand before was this Cattier Paris Clay Mask. It is meant for oily skin after all (check! I do have that), seemed pretty natural (check! Love that!) and had mint as an ingredient (check! Love mint!), so it sounded promising.

And now that I have had a chance to try this mask a few times I do like it, even though it is very different from most other beauty products and masks I normally use. As you may know if you read this blog on a regular basis, I like products with luxurious scents and this mask definitely does NOT have that! Instead the scent is rather... well, muddy. Not my kind of thing, really, but the mask definitely cleared up my skin and made it softer and nicer, so this was a good buy for sure!

But then again I have rarely purchased products in French supermarkets that I have not liked. Regardless, I would totally recommend this mask to anyone with oily skin like mine and if I ever run into Cattier as a brand again (sadly, I think their products are not that common outside France) I would definitely try more of their products!

Review: Biotherm Biosource Balm to Oil

Since I first read The Little Book of Skin Care, about Korean skin care routines, I have been using oil based cleansers before regular cleansers if not regularly then pretty much as often as I have been able to find a good one at least. But oil based cleansers are not as easy to find as you would think, especially not good ones, so after my Omorovicza Thermal Cleansing Balm ran out, I have actually really been struggling with finding a replacement.

I thought the Biotherm Biosource Balm to Oil cleanser could be that, and this is a really nice oil based cleansing balm I think, although for some reason my skin does not look as nice texture-wise after I use it as it did after I used the Omorovicza balm. It does cleanse really well though, as I have yet to encounter anything it did not remove and is perfect for a double cleanse routine!

It also did not make me break out and the scent and look of this balm is definitely more appealing compared to the Omorovicza one. It's white with a delicate, harmless scent basically.

So I would say the Biotherm Balm to Oil cleanser is definitely easy and pleasant to use, it's just not the best balm of its' kind that I have encountered.

Review: La Mer The Illuminating Eye Gel

I love La Mer products, even though they are as expensive as they are, as they feel really luxurious to use and I have purchased their The Moisturizing Gel Cream several times after I first discovered it. So when I saw that they had a fairly reasonably priced eye gel, I decided to give it a try.

And I do like The Illuminating Eye Gel, but not as much as The Moisturizing Gel Cream. The eye gel feels equally luxurious and the packaging is just as nice but I did not feel that the results were as spectacular as with the gel cream.

By no means is this a bad eye gel, it is definitely among the better ones I have tried but for the price you pay, you kind of expect... well, if not a miracle, then half a miracle at least. But the gel is very nice to the touch and feels silky and nice and did not cause any allergic reactions or anything (you would be surprised by how many eye creams and gels do!) and I like that a little goes a long way with it.

I do, however, dislike that the container cannot be opened so you can scoop out every last bit, feels kind of wasteful as I know how much is usually left in pump bottles when they stop pumping.

But these are all minor complaints really. This is a good eye gel, if expensive. If I would purchase it again? Sure, if I find a good deal for it, but I am not sure it will be a must have for me in the same way The Moisturizing Gel Cream is.