Vice and Velvet Little Velvet Gift Box Review

I can't remember how I first found Vice & Velvet, an Etsy creator of handmade soaps and bath products. I think one of my friends on facebook liked their page, and then I saw it on a couple of blogs... It was one of the first shops that came to mind when I was trying to think of a mother's day gift. So a couple of weeks ago, I bought a "You're a Gem" jewel soap for my mum, and ended up also buying a Little Velvet gift box for myself. (To make the postage more worthwhile, of course.)

I'll start off by mentioning that Mei's customer service is fantastic. I forgot to enter a discount code when I placed my order, so I sent her a message on etsy. Within minutes, she'd replied, refunded my original purchase, and invited me to reprocess it with the discount code in place. My package was in the post and delivered by courier a few days later. I couldn't have asked for a smoother transaction.

The Little Velvet gift box contains an Envy Soap, Rockpool Bathing Whip, Driftwood Body Polish and Siren Body Mousse. You can choose the type of box and string, which I think adds a nice personal touch.

The first thing I noticed when I unboxed it was that the packaging is simply top notch. The soap was individually wrapped with a professional looking label, and the tubs were all individually sealed. Having bought a number of hand- and home-made bath products before, this was a totally unexpected, yet pleasant, surprise.

Envy Handmade Soap

"Turn green with the clean, fresh scent of pine, cedarwood, rosemary, grapefruit and litsea, finished a touch of earthy patchouli. Black poppy seeds are scattered throughout to scrub away those bad feelings."

I love everything about this soap - the swirled texture on top, the delicate brown lines running through it, and the smell. Oh, the smell. It has a really fresh, strong scent, perfect for waking you up in the morning. It lathers up nicely, and leaves a squeaky clean feeling.

Rockpool Bathing Whip 100ml

"Close your eyes as you sink into this fresh, ocean like blend of lavender, rosemary, bergamot, pine and litsea."

Now don't try and ask me what litsea is, but apparently that's what I have to thank for the distinctive lemongrass scent of this bathing whip. I've heard some inventive names for bath products - shower jelly, body conditioner - but bathing whip is a new concept to me.

It has a fairly dry and crumbly texture, but upon contact with water it becomes quite runny. I found that it worked best when used with a shower pouf. I used a couple of pea sized chunks, and it lathered up really quickly and easily.

The instructions say it can be used as a shampoo as well, but I'm reluctant to try it on my blue-dyed hair. It's an interesting concept though. According to Mei, the best way to use it as a shampoo is to start with a tiny amount and make a paste by rubbing it between your hands, then adding more water until it lathers up before applying to hair. Add more water or Whip as needed and just rinse and condition as normal. This sounds like a great multipurpose product for taking on holiday.

Driftwood Body Polish 130g

"A calming blend of lavender, cedarwood and rose geranium, with the added warmth of ginger and sandalwood."

This is your classic sugar scrub. The sugar granules are big, and don't melt straight away unlike other scrubs I've tried. This gives you time to really scrub away any dry skin. You do need to use quite a lot for your entire body, but because it's so effective you only need to use it occasionally.

The instructions say to allow time for the butters and oils to soak in, but I didn't feel very buttered up or oily afterwards. On one hand, this is a good thing because I wasn't greasy and slippery, but on the other hand I didn't feel like it was particularly moisturising.

It has a mellow woody scent, which is the mildest out of all the products in this box.

Siren Body Mousse 100ml

"A bold, captivating blend of ylang ylang, rose geranium, litsea, sweet orange and patchouli to bring out your inner siren."

I really like the look of this one. Mousse is the perfect word to describe it. The texture is light and fluffy, like whipped cream, but it's rich and thick upon application. It has a strange texture after being rubbed in though - it becomes somewhat tacky, and the thickness makes it a bit difficult to work with. However, it does its job as a moisturiser really well, and there is no greasy feeling afterwards. It has a mild, pleasant citrus scent.

Overall, I'm really happy with this gift box. The products are indulgent and they smell amazing. The packaging is so professional that you'll quickly forget that they are created by one woman in her Melbourne apartment. The only downside is that they are expensive for such small sizes, which will inevitably get used up quickly - if not by yourself, then by your boyfriend who keeps using them while you're not looking, because they smell so good!

The gift box is $45.55, and individually the soap is $8, bathing whip $9.50, body polish $12.50 and body mousse $12.50. All these products are available from the Vice and Velvet etsy store, with international shipping. 

Lilypad Lacquer Colour My World Holographic Collection Part 2 - Swatches & Review

I posted part 1 of my swatches of the Lilypad Lacquer Colour My World collection last week. I have 15 polishes in total from this collection to show you, so here is part 2.

As with last time, all of these swatches are 2 coats with no base or top coat. The formula was easy to apply, self leveling and quick drying.

Wink of Pink is a pretty mid pink.

Blooming Violets is a vibrant violet pink.

Ruby Slippers is an intense red.

Dripping in Gold is a dusty, buttery gold.

O-live for this Colour is olive green.

Chocollo is a rich chocolate brown.

Ashes to Ashes is a deep charcoal grey.

True Blood is an intense deep burgundy.

There's such a huge range in this single collection. It's a great starting point for anyone who loves holographic polishes and is looking to build their collection. My favourites are True Blood, Ashes to Ashes, Ruby Slippers, Purple People Eater and Steeling Blue.

The bottles are a large 14ml, and cost $11 each from the Lilypad Lacquer etsy store.

These products were provided for review, which did not affect my opinion. For more information, see Disclosure Policy.

Manicare Cuticle Therapy Oil Review

I received the Manicare Cuticle Therapy oil recently as part of a free goodie bag during a Priceline promotion. I've been using it for almost two weeks now, and it's found an invaluable place in my hand and nail care regime.

Manicare Cuticle Therapy is a cuticle oil with an "organic formula enriched with natural kernel oil, coconut oil, wheat germ and aloe vera extract to nourish, strengthen and hydrate nails and cuticles". It comes in a standard 12ml nail polish bottle, and you brush the oil onto your cuticles with the brush.

I don't use cuticle oils consistently, because I find them too, well, oily. They tend to get on my fingertips when I rub the oil into my cuticles, making it too messy to touch anything for a while afterwards. However, I find that Cuticle Therapy absorbs really quickly, allowing me to return to work faster.

While it's still a bit too oily for using during the day, I use it during swatching. I use pure acetone to remove my nail polish, and during the swatching process this means my cuticles can get incredibly dry and ragged. I dab a tiny bit of oil onto my cuticles in between swatches, and rub it in. It absorbs quickly enough that my fingers aren't shiny by the time I'm photographing the next swatch, and my cuticles look hydrated and good as new.

I've also been using this overnight as well. So far, the results are good. I haven't noticed any degradation in my cuticles compared to using my usual Lush Lemony Flutter. It has a strong, distinctive citrus scent which takes a bit of getting used to, but it disappears pretty quickly.

After using this multiple times a day for almost two weeks, I've barely made a dent in the amount of oil in the bottle. I can imagine that even with consistent usage, it will last for months.

Manicare Cuticle Therapy has an RRP of of $13.50, and is available from Priceline, Target, K-Mart, Big W and leading pharmacies.

Toya-Jade Polish Swatches & Review

Toya-Jade is a new Aussie indie brand that just launched in March this year. I have 5 of them to show you today.

These are all mini bottles. The first thing I noticed is that the brushes are a good size, and are generally quite firm and splay well, making application easy.

Black Star is black with a fine, scattered holographic finish. This is 3 coats for full opacity.

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Silver Lights is silver foil. In the bottle it has some fine multi-coloured particles, but they're not noticeable on the nail. This is 3 coats, but there is still some VNL.

Shandy is my favourite out of all of these. It's a pale taupe with a gold to pink shift. It was quite thick and gloopy, but it levelled out nicely. It also dries somewhat matte. This is 3 coats with top coat.

Mystic is a shimmery purple with a very scattered, fine holographic shimmer, and what looks like small holographic glitter. It's hard to tell because the base is so pigmented, it tends to cover up the glitter. This is 2 coats.

Direct light to show the holo. Not colour accurate.

Christine is another favourite. It's a super bright fluro pink with a foily, shimmery finish. It reminds me of Pretty Serious The Pink One, but with more particles. The brush on this one was really stiff, and combined with a thick formula, it made the application difficult and streaky. I found I had to dab, rather than brush, it on. This one dries a bit matte as well, so this is 3 coats with top coat.

Toya-Jade polishes are available from the Toya-Jade etsy store, and cost $5.50 for an 8ml mini bottle. It doesn't look like there are full size bottles available. All Toya-Jade polishes are 3 free.

Soap & Glory Hand Food Review

As you probably know, my cuticles are sorted with LUSH Lemony Flutter. But I've been searching for the perfect hand cream for a while now, and I think I've finally found a close contender.

Soap & Glory is a fun brand with really cute product names like One Night Tanned (bronzing lotion) and Night in Shining Armour (night cream). I'm such a sucker for pretty packaging as well, so I really stood no chance in resisting picking up this hand cream as I was passing the Soap & Glory display at Myer the other week.

Whoever said you shouldn't judge a book by its cover is a complete liar.

Soap & Glory Hand Food claims to be a "non-greasy hand cream with shea butter, macadamia oil and marshmallow." Marshmallow, huh? Looking through the ingredients, I can't find anything that resembles marshmallows, but I can see a bunch of other great ingredients like the aforementioned shea butter, macadamia oil, grape seed oil and sweet almond oil. They're right at the top of the list too, which is always good.

The best thing about this hand cream is that it's non-greasy. It's rich and moisturising, so you only need a small amount, but it sinks in very quickly without leaving behind any residue. I can stop at a red traffic light, whack this on, and have my hands dry and on the steering wheel ready to go by the time the light turns green. That's like, 60 seconds! This fact alone propels it to almost HG status for me.

The scent is probably the closest claim to marshmallow this hand cream has. It's a sweet scent, but not overpowering, with a bit of a fruity edge as well. It's hard to describe, but it's so yummy I could eat it.

I picked this up from Kit Cosmetics in the travel size for $5.95, and it's also available in a full size tube for $11.95.

Lilypad Lacquer Colour My World Holographic Collection Part 1 - Swatches & Review

I was recently sent some of the new holographic nail polishes from Lilypad Lacquer's Colour My World collection. There are a huge number of polishes in this collection, so I'm splitting my swatches into two posts.

I will start off by saying that I think these colours are stunning. The formula on all of them were fantastic - all of the swatches below are 2 coats, with no base or top coat. They are all intensely holographic, although some are more than others. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

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Nature Calling is an earthy green.

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Aquadisiac is a cool aqua mint.

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Seascape is a bright sky blue.

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Periwinkle Twinkle is a periwinkle blue.

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Steeling Blue is a deep steel blue.

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Lilac Lovely is a soft lilac.

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Purple People Eater is a vivid juicy purple.

Phwoar, I think that's enough blinding holo for one day! You can pick these beauties up from Lilypad Lacquer's etsy store, for $11 each. Keep an eye out for part 2 of this collection's swatches!

These products were provided for review, which did not affect my opinion. For more information, see Disclosure Policy.

Paint it Blue! for Autism Awareness Month: Week 4

As April draws to a close, so does the gorgeous multitude of blue manicures we've seen throughout the month. I know this is a day late and it's actually May now... But I wanted my last blue mani in support of Autism Awareness month to be a memorable one, so I've chosen to combine my three favourite things - a gradient, flakies, and matte top coat.

I used a base colour of Estee Lauder Blue Blood. In the bottle it's a gorgeous midnight blue with a deep shimmer, but on the nail it basically looks black. The flakies are Nfu Oh 53, the prettiest flakie polish I ever did see. Isn't the bright blue shimmer under the matte top coat beautiful?

I love blue so much, I even dyed my hair!