A New Fragrance

When Burberry Body was released a few years ago, I only wore fruity body mists. It's only in the last few months that I've started wearing perfume on a daily basis, actually. So, when I received a sample of this, I was surprised by how much I liked it. It's not light and floral like my Marc Jacobs or Nina Ricci fragrances. It's more sophisticated and has top notes of green absinthe, peach, and freesia, heart notes of natural rose absolute, iris, and sandalwood, and base notes of woody cashmeran, creamy vanilla, sensual amber, and musk. It's warm, slightly sweet, and lasts for hours on the skin. I love it the most when the softer base notes come through because it's quite strong at first. Some have labelled it as an 'old' scent, but I don't think it is, and have read many comments from twenty-somethings sharing my opinion. Although I love my other fragrances, they don't last that long, so I'm definitely going to be looking at eau de parfums over eau de toilettes in the future.

I wanted to buy this perfume when it was first released, but it was a lot of money, and then I forgot about it. Then, about a week ago, I was browsing allbeauty.com when I came across it again. They have the eau de toilettes, eau de parfums, body milk, body spray, limited edition packaging, Intense, and Tender versions. I went for the original eau de parfum 85ml for £36.95 instead of £75 (they've now increased the price to £39.95). It's also available in rose gold packaging, but the bottle is opaque metal rather than glass, and I don't like it as much. I'm happy with the original packaging because it's simply beautiful!

I've bought a couple fragrances and makeup products from All Beauty now (formerly known as Cheap Smells), and I'd definitely recommend them. They've been cheaper than Fragrance Direct for the perfumes I've wanted, so it's worth comparing both sites before purchasing from one!

Have you bought anything from All Beauty before?

Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau So Fresh Sunshine Edition

I was intrigued by this perfume the moment I saw the promotional images. The bottle is just so pretty! I've heard some say it looks a little childish, but I really like it. Being Limited Edition and me not being a perfume fanatic like some, I didn't think I'd ever try it, but Fragrance Direct invited me to choose a few products to review. Like I said, I'm not usually the perfume kind of girl, and normally lean towards fruity body sprays. I think this is because I prefer simple scents rather than notes on top of notes (on top of even more notes). I also find a lot perfumes too musky and 'old'. I actually own a small bottle of the Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau So Fresh (which I also bought from Fragrance Direct), which I wear, but not as often as I should. The Sunshine Edition* is one of the better designer perfumes I've smelt. It's light, fruity floral, and reminds me of Spring/Summer. It also reminds me of pink lemonade, for some reason. To get a better idea, the top notes are strawberry, pink grapefruit and apple blossom, the heart notes are jasmine, rose and violet leaf, and the base notes are oakmoss and amber.

Compared to the original Daisy Eau So Fresh, it's fruitier. The original is a little heavier and grown up.

And here's a photo of the bottle lids swapped because it amused me. 

Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau So Fresh Sunshine Edition retails for £48, but Fragrance Direct is selling it for £43.99 here.

*PR sample

H&M perfumes

Whilst shopping in H&M today, I came across these perfumes. They smell delicious and are only £3.99 each, so I just had to share them with you! I don't know what notes they have, because they don't come with a description, but I'll try my best to describe them for you. Wildwood Flower is comforting to me, so I'm sure it has some vanilla notes in there. I also think it has some woody undertones (I'm probably getting that from the name!). Rising Sun is a lot more Summery, having a sweet, citrus scent to it. It reminds me of grapefruit. I find that some citrusy perfumes can smell too alcoholic, but this one doesn't. These perfumes come in cheap, plastic boxes, so I threw them away. 50ml of great smelling perfume (or eau de toilette, to be precise) for £3.99 - What's not to love?!

Liz Earle Botanical Essence No.1

Price: £40.35 for 50ml

I'm not at all cultured in the perfume department. I've never had a 'proper' one - I've only ever had bottles under £10 that are very sweet/fruity. This product is completely different to anything I've had. Not only is the scent different, but the ingredients too, with them being natural.

I like the packaging a lot. It's simple, elegant and represents the perfume perfectly.

The scent is strong and the first thing I smell is lavender, which I absolutely hate. Lavender makes me feel sick. On the skin, this scent dies down and begins to smell more citrusy (from the beragmot and mandarin), but not enough for me to say I enjoy it.

When my sister smelt it, she said "that smells of old people" and when my mum had a sniffle, she said "eeww lavender". We are all used to sweet/fruity fragrances and have never had anything like this, so it's hard to get used to. Also, we all hate the smell of lavender and unfortunately, we cannot get past that.

I love that the perfume is packed full of natural ingredients and hope that my nose will start to appreciate the scent.

This would make a great gift for those ladies who do prefer more complex scents, as it combines floral, herbal and citrus notes. 

x

Avon Haul & Review

Arabian Glow Clearly Shadowed Eye Pencil - Vivacious Turquoise. The pictures are from the internet as I couldn't get the right lighting!
The pigmentation of this pencil is amazing. It glides on so smooth, is very creamy and when I rubbed my finger over it, the colour didn't just disappear. So far I am in love with this pencil and want to buy the others!

Make Me Wonder & Fire Me Up perfumes. These are my two new favourite fragrances.

Make Me Wonder is a harmony of floral and fruity notes including raspberry, blackberry, violet & vanilla. Avon describe this perfume as "Discover the secrets of Californian berries entwined with violet and rich vanilla bean...totally captivating. Oriental, fruity."

Avon describe Fire Me Up as being fruity and gourmand which is very accurate. They also describe using this scent as "Experience luscious ruby red pomegranate spiked with bold black cherry and the sensuality of amber..."

^ Sound scrumptious don't they? Oh they are.
(The packaging of these bottles are so cute! I love the colours)

Joanna bag. I love this bag as I'm an organised moo & this has so many cute pockets! You can just fit A4 sized things into the bag without the zip doing up so that should give you a clue on how big it is.