Sample Saturday: Acqua di Parma, Aesop, R&Co

As I <s>threatened</s> promised recently, my recent acquisition of a bushel of samples in that GWP tote from Saks leaves me with plenty of stuff to blog about. 

So even though--like the Bostonian matron who, when asked by a recent transplant from New York City where Bostonian ladies buy their hats, replied "We have our hats"--I am perfectly happy with the products I already have, I tried out the following new things:

Acqua di Parma Magnolia Infinita

Available here for $309/3.4 oz

Mind you, I received one of those tiny spritzers packaged in a cardboard matchbook, so I haven't been able to douse myself with the stuff, but I used three or four spritzes every day this week.

I like it! My first impression was that it was stupendously floral. This is not to everyone's taste, of course, but we have entered into the time of year when I crave flowers and fresh greenery and basically any indication that the winter of my discontent is drawing to a close. 

Also, I have tried one supposedly Magnolia-centered fragrance, the Estee Lauder Beautiful flanker that came out last year, and I hated. it. so. much. So I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I don't dislike the scent of magnolias, just Estée Lauder's version of them.

The longevity isn't the greatest, but it was longer than I expected from a company that is primarily known for its eau de cologne. I mean, obviously, they've branched out from the original product, but I was still expecting a certain citrusy lightness. This was not the case. Also, I was aware from the get-go of both the citrus topnote and the musky base. The impression was a bouquet of summer flowers with an airy effect and a bit of skin-like warmth. 

(This is me trying to talk like someone who is knowledgeable about perfume, and I am well aware that it's the equivalent of a child with a big box of crayons trying to draw the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.) 

But for $309? I think not. Let's move on, shall we?

Aesop Geranium Leaf shower gel

This one I didn't care for that much. It's a very gender-neutral fragrance, if that's important to you. I mean, if Mr. Buxom used shower gels, he wouldn't complain about it. 

And yes, it's leafy, but not in what I would consider to be a pleasant way ... more of a not-quite-compost, aging-bouquet-that-could-stand-to-have-its-water-changed sort of way. Not horrible, but not pleasant. 

When I use it with my usual scrubby gloves

Be gone, dead skin, BE GONE.

 

it doesn't foam up all that much, but it does when I use a bath poof. I suppose this means it's not drying out my skin as much as the cheaper shower gels that are loaded with sodium laurel sulfate and that foam and foam ... but give me a bar of super-fatted soap any day. This stuff won't replace my beloved Caswell Massey Almond soap. 

 Not to mention that plain Jane packaging. Thank you, next!

R&Co Park Avenue Blow Out Balm

Available here for $34/5 oz.

This stuff has been around for years, and got a glowing review on Into the Gloss and on Makeup Alley. Having tried it, I can definitely see why. 

My hair used to be incredibly thick and a bit coarse. When I was in my teens and twenties, I couldn't fit it into those big barrettes designed to hold a ponytail.  My mother used to wonder whether I might be better off having my hair thinned. (I refused to let her try it after seeing what she did to my bangs.) 

I have always heard that gray hairs are coarser and wirier, but in my case, that hasn't been the case at all.  Now that I've grown out my gray, my hair is much softer (which is nice) but finer, which ... mostly puzzles me. I mean, the weight of my hair used to hold it in place; now all of a sudden I feel like Albert Einstein or maybe a dandelion gone to seed. I've been suffering from an insane amount of flyaways and just general floatiness, and because I am the Marcia Brady generation, I am product-challenged. How many to use? How much of each? WHO KNOWS????

Which leads me to the blow-out balm. I used more than half the entire packet, which maybe was overkill? The reviews stress using just a little bit. 

OK, but. Pardon my cynicism, but I notice saleswomen will tell me "you only need to use a little bit" when they're trying to sell me something super-expensive. Honestly, Blue Mercury sales associate? That $75 tub of La Mer lip balm is LIP BALM. I'm not going to be doling it out as though I were garnishing a pastry with 24 karat gold flakes. Even though it's almost as expensive. 

At any rate, only time will tell whether my hair gets oily faster. 

Right now, my hair feels thicker and more substantial. It's already pretty healthy, so I don't notice any additional shine, but the texture feels about 20 years younger.

I've blown it out and will be using hot rollers in a little while--as sure as I'm sure it's 100 percent dry. The goal is to have bouncing and behaving hair for four days. We'll see if this happens. Fingers crossed!