Curiously Carmen

Roger & Gallet Boutique Opening

A couple weeks ago, I was invited to the opening of the Roger & Gallet boutique. Roger & Gallet is a classic Paris-based company that has been around since 1862. This boutique marks the launch of their first store in Canada. The boutique is located inside The Bay by Pacific Center, in the beauty department. RG3I loved how bright and happy everything was inside the store. Seriously, their decor, design, and branding is on point.
RG4Apart from all the lovely and glorious scents, one thing that was new to me was the way that customers are able to sample the scents. Instead of spraying the scent on a sample sheet, you pick up the glass funnel to inhale the scent. By using the glass funnel, the perfume is desaturated, which helps to smell the entire aroma and scent.

My favourite scent that day was red ginger, pictured on the bottom left. Although the smell of ginger is usually associated with sickness (ginger tea for colds work wonders, everyone) or food, their red ginger scent also included sweet pomegranate, making it not as spicy smelling.
RG5I love soap walls, or soap in general. What a beautiful and colourful soap wall they had! Each colour is a different scent.

The 100g soaps are $10 CAD each, and come with a travel box as well. Roger & Gallet soaps are 100% vegetable based and enriched with essential oils.
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More products! I brought home the Fleur de Figuier ($40 CAD) scented hair/body oil on the bottom. It smelled amazing and consisted of grape, pomegranate, black currant, apricot and sweet almond oils.

I used it as a body moisturizer and conditioner for the ends of my hair. I could smell the product the whole evening, and it left a wonderful scent in my bedroom afterwards.
rg7Soft pinks, so girly! This was an assortment of body lotions, soap, shower gel, and perfume. They do not carry any makeup products for now, rather focusing on body care products.
RG1To end the post, here is a photo of a cute little wall decoration they have. Also, let’s take a moment to appreciate their wallpaper.

I had a lovely evening learning about the products! They are a lovely gift option, as the packaging is great while the products & scents are even better. You can also check out the products online at The Bay.

Thanks for reading!

Carmen

Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Line

These new Palmer’s products could not have arrived at a better time to relieve my skin. These three super products help combat dry skin caused by the dry and cold air, and leave you smelling like chocolate.

Keep reading to find out how to enter the giveaway – full sized bottles of Palmer’s Cocoa Butter line! (Update: Giveaway ended)

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Did you know that hot water actually dries out your skin? After a cold day, I want to do nothing but take a nice, hot shower to warm up.. but my skin has been insanely itchy and dry afterwards. I never knew this since I don’t ever suffer from dry skin but now I’m forced to take colder showers so I don’t become ridiculously itchy and dry after.

With the harsh winter air coming, my skin has not been drier. I constantly find myself having to moisturize many times a day, which is unusual for me! In particular, my face has been super, super, super dry compared to my usual oily skin… I’m finding myself looking for masks that help dry skin- something I never thought I would do.

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I could not wait to try these products out as my itchy skin was becoming so frustratingly uncomfortable. Trying to relieve an itch that won’t go away does not look good in public… and I might have scratched too hard because certain parts of my skin are raw and red now… UGH.

To fully moisturize your skin, I recommend using all three products during and after your shower routine. While you’re in the shower or bath, use the moisturizing body oil on your skin after your soap. Be careful though! As this is an oil, your bathtub may become slippery so take extra caution.
Palmers2After the shower, follow up with the skin therapy oil. I find that the spray bottle is better because there is less mess, and you have better control to the amount of oil that spray. The soothing oil, compared to the body oil, was not as thick but still did an amazing job in moisturizing my skin.

Sometimes, I’ll just use the soothing oil on its own on extra dry areas.
Palmers5Once your skin has soaked up all the soothing oil goodness, finish with the classic Cocoa Butter Formula Lotion with Vitamin E. As you can see from the photo, the lotion has an off-white colour to it.

I love how all three products smell like chocolate! I just recently finished my Halloween chocolate stash but I’m able to still be surrounded by the wonderful chocolate scent with these products. The scent is not too overwhelming either.

Giveaway Guidelines, Rules, and Conditions

I am giving away two sets of the Palmer’s Cocoa Butter line and hope that you and a friend will enjoy them as much as I did!

To enter:

  1. Visit my Instagram & follow me
  2. On the photo, like & tag a friend who would love a set as well and use #Palmers
  3. By entering, participant is agreeing to the rules & conditions

Rules:

  • Contest open to Canadians of legal age only
  • Must provide CuriouslyCarmen & Palmer’s with a Canadian shipping address
  • If winner does not respond in 7 days, CuriouslyCarmen will select a new winner

Conditions:

  • The two sets will be shipped to the winner.
  • CuriouslyCarmen & Palmer’s are not responsible for any injury or harm that may occur. This which would be super unlikely, but the oils may be slippery so take caution of your surroundings when using them!
  • CuriouslyCarmen & Palmer’s are not responsible for any allergic or health reactions that may occur. It is up to the individual to consult product ingredients and acknowledge ingredients are right for them.
  • Winner will be drawn on December 8, 2015

Good luck and thanks for reading!

Carmen

The Body Shop – Shea Body Whip

I have been a fan of The Body Shop lotions since high school, although I prefer the bottled body lotions over the tub body butter. I find that the bottled body lotions moisturize better, and I believe they are slightly more expensive since the amount you get is less than the tub for the same price. In the past couple of years, I’ve noticed that they’ve changed the name to a ‘body whip’ instead!

I’ve probably tried most of the scents from the body whip line, as it has been my go-to body moisturizer for many years now! I actually talked about the mango body whip two summers ago as well.

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Compared to the other products I’ve used in their body whip lotion line, I find that the shea butter is my least favourite. Although it smells really good, I prefer their fruit-scented lotions more, such as the mango, satsuma, grapefruit, strawberry, cranberry, and raspberry. Wow, listing them out has made me realize how many I’ve used already!

This may sound a bit strange, but I also find that if I moisturize my hands with this lotion and then eat a snack with my hands twenty minutes afterwards, I can taste the lotion in my mouth. It tastes like soap.

I’ve found that this only happens with the shea butter, and not with the other TBS lotions I’ve tried. The same thing happened with Bath and Body Works lotions, which is why I tend to avoid buying their hand creams.
The Body Shop - Shea Body Whip

In terms of absorption, I find that it takes longer to absorb, which explains why I can taste it on my food as I said above. I haven’t had a problem with most other creams, so now I’m just careful to not eat oranges or other things that usually require your hands to eat after I put this lotion on.

Although the shea butter body whip lotion isn’t my favourite, I don’t mind using it up but I’ll be sticking with the other fruit lotions at The Body Shop instead next time. In fact, I bought the raspberry body whip lotion last month and I am quite excited to use it.

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

ACI Beauty Fall/Holiday 2015 Media Preview – Part 2/2

In early August, I was invited to the ACI Beauty event to experience their Fall/Holiday 2015 collection! I already mentioned this in part 1, but just in case you haven’t read that yet, ACI Beauty is one of the biggest beauty distributors in Canada. ACI Beauty works with many reputable beauty companies to help their products get on the shelves for us beauty lovers.

At the event, we were guided throughout some of their newest products for next season. Welcome to part 2/2!

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I have seen some CLEAN products in Sephora before, but never had the chance to learn or test them out until that day. We got to smell some of the perfumes that day, and I enjoyed all of the different scents.  If you’re someone who likes light and neutral scents, then this is the line for you.

I had a few friends that came over and played with the samples, and all of them said that the perfumes smelled like ‘clean laundry’.

I currently keep one of the rollerball minis in my purse,the light blue one in the middle of the box named ‘cool cotton’. It smells very refreshing and wakes me up a bit when I first put it on. The size is very convenient, and good to use on-the-go.

I also found that the CLEAN products are very gender neutral, maybe it’s just moi?? By that, I mean they don’t have a distinct ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’ scent – it just smells like very clean soap! Although these products are catered towards women, I think that men would be able to wear this as well.
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This product was highly raved about with the ACI ladies, they use this almost every day at home!

The Bliss triple oxygen instant energizing mask initially goes on your skin as a gel, but slowly turns into a foam as you rub it on your face. The foam expands on your face depending on much dirt or oil you have, so the foam size can vary each day. It also has a very nice grapefruit smell to it.

I posted this on my Instagram already, but am I ever in love with this Paul and Joe lipstick! This lipstick is part of Paul and Joe’s Fall 2015 ‘Cafe Parisien’ line.

To make this cute cat lipstick, Paul and Joe uses a Japanese candy-making technique called Kintaro-ame, which depends on two separate tubes – one columnar and one cat-shaped. This ensures that the cute cat faces remain visible until the lipstick is used up, so you don’t have to worry about the cute cat print going away!
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Also on the topic of lipstick, here are the new shades for Anna Sui. I called these the ‘shooting star’ lipstick because of the way the lipstick is shaped inside the tube! The colours are very rich and make a good transition for the Fall season.

The Anna Sui loose powder, which comes in a new beautiful design, is pictured in the back. It comes with a fluffy purple puff, and looks so classic and elegant. I could picture a princess using this powder on her vanity table. Beside it is the Anna Sui BB Cream.
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I showed this picture in my Anna Sui nail colour review post already, but here are the new nail colours and a new bottle design! It features a birdie on the top of the brush, while the bottle has an intricate ball gown design to it.

All of the Anna Sui nail products also have an amazing scent to them! The one I received smelled like lemons, and other scents include rose and lychee.
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I also really adored the mini ‘latte’ eyeshadow pods that Paul & Joe had, featured on the left. The swirl and creaminess of the colours, coupled with a cute little foam tip brush is reminiscent of that a perfect, smooth latte on a chilly afternoon. I am a big fan of champagne/gold shades, so the eyeshadow pod is right up my alley.

Also featured are the pressed powder pods, which are purchased separately from the packaging. Beside the pressed powder pods are the moisturizing foundation and makeup primer.
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The last station we were introduced to was Bliss’s regular collection (not the holiday gift set collection as featured in part 1). For myself, the most interesting product here was the ingrown eliminating pads, I am very curious to see if they will help with my ingrown hairs.

I mentioned this above already, but try to get a chance to try their body butter and soap, which are pictured in the back! The smell is absolutely amazing and will make you feel happy =)

I also did a review of the Bliss fabulous gel to oil cleanser, pictured in the middle beside the Fat Girl Slim products. You can read that post here.

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I had a great time at the ACI Beauty event, thank you for having me. I learned about a plethora of new products and am very excited to try them out! Keep your eyes posted for upcoming reviews on some of the products that I have mentioned here.

Which product was your favourite from this post? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

ACI Beauty Fall/Holiday 2015 Media Preview – Part 1/2

Following Stila’s fall media preview event, I had the pleasure of attending the ACI Beauty fall collection preview event as well. After doing some research, I found out that ACI Beauty is one of the biggest beauty distributors in Canada and work with big beauty brands such as Anna Sui, Ardell, Bliss, Ceramic Glaze, Clean, Paul & Joe, Stila, and more.

As a result, I was able to see a variety of different products from all the brands that ACI works with. I left the event with a lot more knowledge about these different brands, and am excited to see the 2015 Fall/Holiday collection in stores.IMG_5140

All the different brands were beautifully placed inside the room, I will be discussing the products in the order that they were presented to us in by the wonderful ACI ladies.

The first product we were introduced to were the new holiday collection line from Bliss. The gift sets come in different sizes, which is convenient if you are just looking for a stocking stuffer or a larger present. You can either get a set of lotion or skincare products, which are the two bigger boxes.

We sampled the grapefruit body butter, shown in the big blue box in the middle, which smelled amazing.

IMG_5141I’ve only recently seen Paul & Joe products on social media and other beauty blogs, but this was the first time I’ve seen their products in person. I am absolutely smitten by Paul & Joe’s packaging. It is a mix of classic elegance, with a touch of cuteness.

Pictured here is a makeup bag, with all the contents spread out. This would make a good gift to someone over the holidays, or a great way to be introduced to the brand as it comes with a few of their different products.
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All of us beauty bloggers were in awe with the elegant and innovate packaging for their eyeshadow samples. I’ve never seen them be presented like this before so it was definitely really cool. There is a definite cat theme going on this season – this is for all you cat lovers out there! Meow =)
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The next table featured some of the Fall 2015 Anna Sui products. Starting on the left is the limited edition miniature fragrance gift set. The fragrance set includes the new perfume, ‘Romantica’ along with other returning favourites. All of the bottles are so beautiful!

Beside the fragrance set is the limited edition moisturizing set. This comes with nail care oil, rose hand cream, and moisturizing balm.

On top of these two is the customizable makeup box, available exclusively at Hudson’s Bay. It comes free with any cosmetic purchase of $80 and you are able to choose from Anna Sui favourites.

All of these products will be available in stores in October 2015!
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Following, we were introduced to Cargo Cosmetic’s eyeshadow palette. I love the darker shades of this palette, and it feels very romantic to me. This palette would be great for holiday parties – look at all the shimmery gold tones! The pinks would look nice as a office day time look as well.

Behind the palette are some Fall 2015 nail colours from Ceramic Glaze. Just like Cargo’s eyeshadow palette, the rich and darker shades would pair very well with an evening party dress for holiday parties. I can’t believe I am talking about the holiday season already! =P
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Ending off part 1, we were also introduced to Paul and Joe’s bath & body collection as well! There are two bath & body collections – Arlequin and Columbine. Both smelled very luxurious and feminine – I would love to take a bath with these bath salts!

Which products are you most excited for?

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for part 2 of the ACI Beauty Fall/Holiday 2015 Media Preview!

-Carmen

Press samples featured, all opinions are my own.