Saturday, January 7, 2017

February 2017 Pandora's Box

Press Sample

Greetings, dear readers! I hope this post finds you well and you've been enjoying the weekend thus far! For today's blog post, I have the new Pandora's Box for your perusal. For those of you unfamiliar with the box, let me fill you in! Run by Athena & Aphrodite, the Pandora Box is a new collaboration box featuring two nail polishes, a cosmetics item, two bath products, and a nail wrap. The first box available was released for January, and you can check out the first contents of the box at Cosmetic Sanctuary here. The pre-order has just begun for the February box, and I have the latest box to share today.
The February Box contains two nail polishes, a nail wrap, a lipstick, a sugar scrub, a soap sample, and a hand crelly. There is a bit to see so let's jump on in!

Aphrodite's Copper

Two coats plus top coat

Made to pair well with the Aphrodite's Wine lipstick this nail polish has a copper - wine color that has a beautiful shimmer like glitter! Great for Valentine's night or any other night you want to sport a little bold and beautiful look on your nails.

I really don't know why I don't wear these types of colours more often! This warm coppery red shade is gorgeous, and I found myself staring at my nails a lot while I was wearing this beauty! This is the first of two items by Athena & Aphrodite included in the box and my first time using any products from the brand. I was really impressed with the quality as it applied so easily for me! While I used two coats here, it is densely pigmented so you may find you only need a single coat for full opacity if you tend to paint with a slightly heavy hand. Because it has a metallic finish, it can look a little brush-strokey, so be mindful of that when painting. Alternately, you can sponge on the final coat to diminish the stroke-effect. This is my preferred method for metallic polishes, and I just need to locate where my toddler hid my sponges when he snuck into my polish area the other day.

Love Is In The Air

Two coats plus top coat

This is a glowing cranberry grape color depending on lighting. It is filled with a variety of glitters and shimmers.

With sparkled nails, love must be in the air! It's easy to describe this beautiful polish as being filled with shimmers and glitters, but just like love, there is no "one size fits all" when it comes to this baby. While there are some glitters that are more prominent, there are touches of colours such as red and blue, an occasional flake, and some iridescent beauties that I spy in my bottle. No matter what glitters or flakes choose to grace your nails, you'll definitely be feeling the love with this polish. Please note the large round glitter shown on my middle finger was not intended to be in the mix, and it decided to jump ship (bottle?) to join me as my glitter Valentine this year. This polish is a touch on the thicker side with all the shimmers and glitters, and while I still found it easy to work with, some readers may need to add a drop of thinner if you prefer to paint with a thinner polish.

Pandora's Heart Shower
Freya Wraps

I don't wear wraps on my nails often, and when I do, it's usually the occasional accent nail. Seeing these covering my swatch hand is kind of  shocking for me, but they are really cute! Since I am slowing down on swatching for a much needed blog vacation soon, I opted to actually wear these for this post. I just received my package in the mail and have only worn these for 24 hours, so I cannot attest for the longevity, I can say that these applied really easily for me. I am by no means an expert when it comes to wraps, and I did have a little bit of crinkling towards the end of one of my nails, but I'm sure that's user error. The C-curves of my nails makes application a little trickier towards the tips, but they went on easily overall. I'm not going to do anything crazy and switch over to wraps full time, but they are fun to wear as an accent of if you're traveling and don't want to have to worry about nail polish chipping.

Aphrodite's Wine

It's described as a STUNNING metallic wine red full sized lipstick that is made of only NATURAL products!

Aphrodite's Wine is the second A&A item in this box, and it pairs so perfectly with the matching nail polish, Aphrodite's Copper! This lipstick is so beautiful, and I'm currently obsessed with the colour! I've not seen a wine red this shade, and I find it to be more of a cross between a medium to light red and a metallic copper. However you want to describe it, there's no doubt this colour is lovely! I found the application to be smooth and creamy, and with my usual blot-reapply-powder technique, it lasted for about 4 hours through a light meal and my multiple glasses of water. It isn't meant to be a long-wearing shade and there is some colour transfer onto glasses or via kisses, but just a quick touch-up and you're ready to go about your day.

Eden's Garden
Exfoliating Sugar Scrub

Enjoy fresh notes of white florals, Lily, Gardenia, Narcissus with notes of orange and lemon and a soft hint of green in this exfoliating sugar scrub, which is made with luxurious and moisturizing coconut oil and avocado butter. Your skin will feel so soft and rejuvenated after use! 

Penobscot is another new to me brand, and testing this sugar scrub certainly now has the brand on my radar! I've not yet had the chance to use this in the shower, but I have used it on my hands. It is a nice combination of coarse due to the sugar and moisturizing as it contains coconut oil and avocado butter. I didn't find it to be too harsh for the occasional use, and I'm looking forward to testing this out more. It is scented a little strongly for my taste, especially since I'm not fond of most floral scents, but the scent it leaves on the skin is soft and quite enjoyable.

Lavender Handcrafted Soap Sample

A sample sized (.75oz-1oz) bar of soap, mild enough for even the most sensitive skin. Handcrafted with quality ingredients, it is both vegan-friendly and gluten-free. There are 22 bars available in the Lavender scent, which is the truest lavender we have found to date. After these 22 bars are claimed, the remaining boxes will contain a randomly selected fragrance. 

Penobscot also included a soap sample, and I actually like this one quite a bit! The lavender scent is lighter than many other lavender bath products I've been around (and believe me, I know! Lavendar is grown here for use in bath products), but it is still imparts the lightest touch of fragrance on your skin. This soap works up to a nice little lather but isn't too drying for the skin. My skin isn't particularly sensitive, but that still doesn't mean I want to be using harsh products on it either. My pre-schooler, on the other hand, has very sensitive skin so the real test is going to be at his bath time tonight. I'm crossing my fingers for us!

English Bath House
Hand Crelly

It is described as super moisturizing hand and body cream enriched with vitamin E and lightly scented with wild violets, rose and jasmine that is softened by vanilla and white musk.

Ever After has made many appearances on my blog, both for the nail polishes and the bath and beauty products created by the friends that run the brand. I love their hand crelly, so I am delighted to see this is their contribution to this box. Thick and creamy, this hand crelly is composed of the most perfect combination of betters and oils to moisturize your skin quickly without leaving an undesirable greasy residue. I also love the addition of vanilla and white musk to this particular scent as it adds the perfect accompaniment to the florals to keep them from being overpowering.

The February Pandora's Box is available for pre-order at the Athena & Aphrodite Etsy shop located here. This box only costs $39.99 plus shipping, and for all the products in the box, that's a steal! Please note that this is a pre-order, and the boxes will be shipping out to customers the beginning of February. The deadline to order this specific box is January 20th. If you're like me, you may have to use not-so-subtle hints to tell your significant other you deserve a little pampering, or you can even order it for yourself! 

If you want to try your luck, you can enter to win this box on Instagram here!

I'm really excited to have tried out this box and several new-to-me brands, and it's a fantastic gift for yourself or your favorite beauty product-loving Valentine!

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!
XO!



10 comments

  1. This sounds like a fantastic box that I actually wouldn't mind getting myself! I'm extremely interested in the hand crelly. It sounds amazing!

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  2. Both polishes looks amazing! And I also think this box sound pretty nice.

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  3. Oh man, this box has everything! Warm colors, cool colors, wraps, lips, soaps... Seriously awesome box.

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  4. That purple is so pretty, and I love that lip stick on you!

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  5. Ohh this is such a great box!

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  6. What a great box! I love those wraps on you. :)

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  7. This looks life such a fun box! I've yet to try the EA hand crelly, but I love the cuticle crellies.

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  8. Wow! This is a fantastic box!!! Perfect for Valentine's Day!!!!

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  9. Aphrodite's Copper is so pretty!

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