Black Violet was another shop that chose to do their big holiday sale this year on November 14th, instead of Black Friday. There was a discount code, as well as a gift with purchase from Glamour Doll Eyes! I couldn't pass up the gift with purchase, which was a little gift pack of some exclusive and regular items from Glamour Doll Eyes. And I grabbed a few things from the Yule Collection, as well as some of the other products I've been dying to try, that was recently introduced in smaller mini sizes.
About - Black Violet is owned by Leilani, and they are an indie perfumery and bath and body shop based out of Maryland. Black Violet offers perfume oils in sample sizes and full size rollerballs, body butters, creme soap, detangling mists, facial cleansers, and a few other kinds of products.
Shipping - There has always been a 14 business day turnaround time for major sales from Black Violet, so it can take a while to get your order. However, Leilani had some personal issues come up and it did take a little longer for some. My order went out after 15 business days, if you don't include Thanksgiving or the day after. It was sent via USPS Priority 2-Day, and arrived 2 days later from Maryland to California.
Product Size - Black Violet recently introduced some smaller mini sizes of some of the products that come in jars, so there are now 2 and 4 oz options for things like the creme soap, the creme cleanser, and the body butter has 2 and 4.5 oz sizes available. The perfumes come in 1 dram sample sizes, or 10ml rollerballs for full size.
Free Samples - I've always received 2 free samples with my orders, but they can vary what they are. You can request a certain scent as a sample in the order notes, but sometimes I receive perfumes, sometimes a body butter, and others have received other products as samples.
Body Butter in Yule Nog - "Fluffy white bites of marshmallow goodness immersed in eggnog & buttercream."
This was one of my free samples, you can see when you get a body butter sample it comes in a little clamshell. There's just a dot of product inside, just about enough for your hands, for a few uses. The body butter itself isn't really thick or really thin, kind of a whipped light buttercream sort of texture. The scent in this form does really smell like the buttercream. I think this scent smells much better as a body butter than a perfume.
Creme Soap in Cacao Bean - "Just beyond the pass, nestled among the towering pines is a campy Inn with a retro red fireplace. Take in the mountain hideaway with your mug of steamed cream, curls of Alpine chocolate over vanilla bean infused hot cocoa."
This creme soap lathers really well with a loofah, and the vanilla beans in it add a yummy bonus to the scent. I mostly smelled the vanilla, and not as much cacao. But it felt moisturizing, the scent didn't immediately disappear. I would recommend trying this if you're looking for indie soap alternatives.
Here is the texture of the creme soap. You can see the little black vanilla beans in there.
Detangler Mist in Cacao Bean - "Petit fours of eclairs covered in powdered sugar filled with vanilla custard, lemon meringue tarts in a buttery short dough shell brimming with lemon curd, a swirl of baked meringue & finished in a light dusting of confectioners sugar."
I thought at first the bottle was just mislabelled, because it did smell like Patisserie out of the bottle, but after using it I think it is actually Cacao Bean. I ordered Patisserie, so I'll have to email Leilani about it. The scent didn't last long once it was in my hair. It detangled well, I sprayed it in my wet hair after showering, combed through, and it worked well. But the scent is gone after a few minutes. I wish that lasted longer, but maybe it does with some of the other detangler scents. I'll just have to try a few others!
Here are the few perfumes I got with this order, mostly Yule scents since I own quite a bit of the general catalog stuff.
Cacao Bean - "Just beyond the pass, nestled among the towering pines is a campy Inn with a retro red fireplace. Take in the mountain hideaway with your mug of steamed cream, curls of Alpine chocolate over vanilla bean infused hot cocoa."
I put this on and immediately it smells like you have your nose directly over a cup of hot cocoa. You get the chocolate, and the milk notes as well. The milkiness dissipates quickly though, and then you're left with a chocolate and vanilla bean scent. It reminds me a little of Affogato, just without the coffee note.
Oscuro - "He briskly passes as you draw in the exotic aroma from his trench coat. You await his return only to brush against his side briefly. A mysterious blend of agarwood (oudh), amber, dried tobacco leaves, white musk, a hint of patchouli, ebony."
When I smelled this in the bottle, I was kind of dreading testing it. I was waiting for a day when my head didn't feel like it would immediately get a headache when I wore it. But it's just beautiful on the skin, mostly unisex, with a slight lean towards a feminine scent. I get the agarwood, the amber, tobacco, musk, and I can smell the little bit of patchouli. I think it mostly smells of the white musk though, and it's just lovely. It reminds me of a fancy perfume, something a very sophisticated woman would wear. Love this one, I'll definitely be wearing it often.
Patisserie - "Petit fours of eclairs covered in powdered sugar filled with vanilla custard, lemon meringue tarts in a buttery short dough shell brimming with lemon curd, a swirl of baked meringue & finished in a light dusting of confectioners sugar."
This smells like lemon cookies or lemon bars. So good! I love lemon scents, and lemon foods. This might be my favorite perfume of the bunch, I can't decide. I definitely get the powdered sugar, the lemon curd, yum. This would be great as a body butter too, since I love lemon lotions.
Yule Nog - "Fluffy white bites of marshmallow goodness immersed in eggnog & buttercream."
I don't know what it is, but at first sniff this is really cloying and spicy. I can't put my finger on what it is making it smell that way, but it's not eggnog, or marshmallow. In the bottle it smells really delicious, so I don't know if it's just me, or my skin chemistry disagreed with it. But I don't like it, it smells really artificial on my skin. After about half an hour, it becomes more tolerable and you start to smell the marshmallow and buttercream.
Superfruit Creme Cleanser -
This is the regular basic cleanser, and it smells amazing. Exactly like Fruit Loops. I haven't eaten Fruit Loops in years, but as soon as I smelled it, I knew that's what it was. It cleansed my face well, it didn't feel drying in the least. Not really bubbly though if you like that in a face cleanser.
Superfruit Buff Cream Cleanser -
This is basically the same cleanser, but it contains bamboo powder to give it some exfoliating texture. I didn't notice much difference between this and the regular cleanser, the powder is so fine you can hardly feel it. That does mean that it's not harsh or really abrasive for your sensitive skin on your face, so I guess that's a good thing.
Here's what the Superfruit Cleanser looks like when you open the jar. It's so pretty! It looks like it's some kind of dried flower on the top there, and these did settle a bit in the jars from shipping.
Glamour Doll Eyes Bella Rose Hydraglaze -
I couldn't pick up much tint to this gloss on my lips, and I couldn't see the shimmer either. The Hydraglazes have a texture kind of like a really thick gloss, so they stay in place well, and coat your lips instead of slipping around. But I was sad I couldn't see much of the color! It did taste like vanilla, so that was a bonus.
Glamour Doll Eyes Stardust -
It's hard to see from the swatch but there was what looked like blue and pink glitter in this shadow. Very small, very hard to see as the shadow just mostly looks like a cool gray matte with a slight pinkish sheen? Hard to say, since I can't find the official description of this. I just swatched this over my Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer, but in the gift with purchase bag, we also got a Glitter Fix mini, which I should have swatched this over. But since you can't buy this shadow separately, I figured I'd just do primer.
Overall, I think I enjoyed the other skin and hair care products I ordered this time around, more than the perfumes. I think the Superfruit Cleanser is great for anyone looking for an indie alternative facial cleanser. And for the perfumes, my favorites were Patisserie and Oscuro in that order. I will definitely be ordering more of the detanglers because I thought it worked great in my hair, and didn't make it crunchy. It was very light, but did the job well. And the creme soap also worked well, but I think I enjoy other indie soaps better.
Customer Service - I just emailed Leilani about the detangler mistake, and I have no doubt she will make it right, since I have received excellent customer service before. Hopefully, if I receive a response soon, I can update this review with that. Leilani already replied and is sending the replacement with my second order I made a few days ago. I have always received great customer service from Leilani.
Availability - Black Violet is currently closed for the holidays and to catch up on orders, but as far as I know, when she reopens most of these products will still be available. I'm not sure how long the Yule Collection items will be up for sale though.
Overall Satisfaction - My favorite scents were Patisserie and Oscuro. I would buy more detangler, but probably not more Superfruit Cleanser and Creme Soap, only because I have alternative products that I already like and have a ton of. I have already made another purchase since this order, so it's safe to say I will be shopping at Black Violet again.
No comments :
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.