#365 Days of Samples Vol. 23

Disclaimer: All of these came with purchase.

After a 2 month respite from posting about the samples I've used up (and there has a been a lot, despite the lack of posts), I'm restarting my #365 Days of Samples series. Here are the items chosen for v. 23, and the progress I've made on this batch:

1. L'Occitane Almond Milk Concentrate body lotion (foil)
2. Erno Laszlo Sensitive Skin Oil Cleanser and Cleansing Bar travel duo (deluxe samples)
3. Sol de Janiaro Brazilian Bum Bum Cream (deluxe sample)
4. Shiseido Benefiance Wrinkleresist24 Intensive Eye Contour Cream (foil)
5. Lancome Advance Genifique Youth Activating Concentrate (foil)
6. Matrix Heat Resist Blow Out Tamer (foil)
7. Dr. Jart+ Premium BB Cream in Light/Medium (foil)
8. Biolage Color Last Aqua Gel conditioner (deluxe sample)
9. Chloe Eu de Parfum (vial)

Love the smell of this Almond Milk Concentrate body lotion from L'Occitane, and paired with the body oil from the same line, my skin smelled and felt wonderful all day.  Despite the pleasant experience, I do not plan on purchasing, as I'm flush with body lotions/creams right now.  Plus, I think $50 for a body lotion is a bit excessive.

I was interested to see how this travel duo ($28) from Erno Laszlo performed, as this is a luxury brand I don't have much experience with.  The instructions say to massage a generous amount of oil on dry skin, do not rinse off, and then dampen the cleansing bar and massage the wet bar over your face, using the rounded corners to stimulate circulation.  Weirdly specific, no?  

Bottom line, the duo worked well in removing makeup and cleansing my skin and does have some interesting ingredients, but it does not make me want to replace my holy grail DHC Deep Cleansing Oil.  Plus, did I mention it's expensive?  Like $58 for the full size oil and $38 for the full size cleansing bar.  

I know the Sol de Janeiro Brazilian Bum Bum Cream is wildly popular, but.....I don't like it. I find the fragrance just too aggressive, and considering fragrance is 6th on the list of ingredients, I get why it's so in my face.

The cream itself was nice and did a good job of hydrating my skin, and if it was a bit lighter in scent, I could get on board. Obviously, I will not be purchasing and I didn't even want to finish the sample.

I was surprised at how rich/borderline oily the Shiseido Benefiance WrinkleResist24 Intensive Eye Contour Cream (gosh, that's a long name) was until I read the ingredient list, which has mineral oil, glycerin, petrolatum, paraffin and squalane in the first 10 ingredients. Yeah, I'm having a hard time getting on board with some of these ingredients (excluding squalane, which I quite like).  Factoring in the $60 price, I would not consider purchasing this one. 

The Lancome Advanced Genifique is another super expensive ($142 for 2.5 ounces) skincare item that I obviously could not get a real feel for from this small sample.  The main ingredient is Bifida Ferment Lysate (also in Estee Lauder's Advanced Night Repair), which is supposed to sooth/smooth rough skin. The Genifique does have a 5 star rating on Sephora, but there are plenty of less expensive Korean brands that feature Bifida Ferment Lysate. I can't say I've experienced much of an impact from the products containing Bifida, however, but YMMV.

Th Matrix Total Results Heat Resist Blowout Tamer Shape Enhancing Gel does indeed help hair retain the shape you mold it into, as I found out to my detriment one morning while wearing a headband while putting on my makeup.  I had to re-wet my hair to get the headband dents and weird angles out.  Now I know to use the gel and blow dry immediately.  Good, but not something I feel the need to purchase. 

Chloe's Eau de Parfum is quite appropriate for spring with it's notes of rose, peony, lychee, and freesia.  I found the initial burst of scent to be fresh, followed by a powderiness that my nose translates as soapy. Ultimately, not my kind of scent, but I did make it through 2/3 of the vial (my policy is to try a fragrance sampler a minimum of 3 times before tossing if it's not something I really like). 

The Dr. Jart+ Premium BB Cream in Light to Medium ($39 for 1.5 oz) features an impressive SPF45 and skincare ingredients such as a bio-peptide complex, adenosine, and arbutin.  It gives light to medium coverage and a moderately luminous finish that looked pretty natural. 
Overall, a nice BB cream but I'm happy with my lighter foundation options in the bareMineral's Complexion Rescue and First Aid Beauty's Tinted Moisturizer (reviewed here).

I'm still working on the Matrix Biolage Color Last Aqua Gel conditioner, so will include that with the items selected for the next installment of #365 Days of Samples. Credit for the creation of this series goes to Youtuber Elle S!  Now, for the items I'll be focusing on for the next two weeks:

1. Biolage Color Last Aqua Gel conditioner (deluxe sample)
2. Redken Frizz Dismiss Smooth Force (deluxe sample)
3. DHC Quick Film Smoother (foil)
4. Kate Sommerville Wrinkle Warrior Plumping Moisturizer and Serum (foil)
5. Ahava Hydration Cream Mask (foil)
6. Amore Pacific The Essential Creme Fluid (deluxe sample)
7. Phyto Express Conditioner (foil)
8. Tom Ford Black Orchid (deluxe sample)
9. Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Opal (card sample)
10. The Body Shop Tea Tree Facial Wash (foil)
11. DERMAdoctor KP duty High Potency Daily Body Peel (foil duo)