Old Fashioned Washing- Bliss Fabulous Foaming Face Wash

Bliss Fabulous Foaming Face Wash has what might be the most schizophrenic ingredient list I've seen in a while:

Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Glycerin, Rosa Canina Leaf Extract (rose hips), Silybum Marianum Seed Extract (milk thistle), Passiflora Incarnata Extract (passion flower), Chamomilla Recutita Leaf Extract (matricaria), Acetyl Hexapeptide 3, PEG 12 Glyceryl Distearate, Cocamide DEA, Glucosamine, Pentylene Glycol, Citric Acid, Acrylates C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Polyethylene, Blue 1, Fragrance, Triethanolamine, Propylparaben, Methylparaben, Methylisothiazolinone

I'm definitely not one who is scared of old fashioned soap, and I'm well aware that the much-maligned SLS suffers from a bad rap mostly because of an urban legend, but it is still considered a skin irritant and many brands have developed more gentle products. The paraben issue is another controversy. Personally, while I'm not convinced it's going to kill me, I still prefer paraben-free products whenever possible. So, it is surprising that such an iconic product from a company that markets itself as modern and revolutionary could have just as easily be made in the 80s.

Crunchy vs. chemical debate aside, this face wash, while far less foaming than you'd expect from the name and the level of SLS it contains. Still, it cleans well, dissolving every trace of makeup and city grime while surprisingly not drying me out too badly. In two weeks of testing, I had no problem with skin irritation or extra sensitivity and have no complaints about this product, other than that those tiny exfoliating beads are quite useless. Not that it's a bad thing. I prefer to exfoliate using a warm damp washcloth rather than anything grainy.

Bottom line: it's a face soap. It cleans. Is the $22 price tag justified? Probably not. I'm pretty sure you can find more innovative cleansers at your local drugstore.

Bliss products are available from the company's web site, Beauty.com, Sephora and most department stores.
The travel size bottle I've been using for this review came as a gift with a recent order.

Image: Art.com

If I could turn back time I wouldn't buy this- TimeBalm Concealer by TheBalm

It's very rare nowadays that I get caught up in a Sephora hype over a brand, buy it and then desperately try to make it work, until finally giving up and just tossing it out. Seriously, this is a humbling experience, because I should know better, right? I have good beauty instincts that normally save me from the god-awful. Just not this time.

I bought a TheBalm concealer in Medium, based on the promises it would do away with my dark circles, cover imperfections, sleek the unsmooth and clean the litterbox. I never got to test the last one, because the concealer caked, refused to blend into either a foundation or my skin and the worst part was when it came to that under-eye issue. It set into the skin texture in an ashy color that showed what a future without botox would look like.

I tried everything: a brush, my finger and makeup sponges, including the one that came in the tin. It didn't imrove any. This concealer was the most disappointing beauty product I've tried in a very long time.

Blue Angel- Creed Angelique Encens

It seems like incense is the note du jour in fragrance, isn't it?

(Well, right along with orris, oud and lychee, that is. And I hope to never come across a perfume that combines all of them together)

But going back in time, we can find one of the most classic incense scents that dates from 1933 and back then could be considered a celebrity fragrance, because it was inspired by Marlene Dietrich, who in 1930 starred in the movie Blue Angel and established herself as an iconic, mysterious and enigmatic temptress who would lead men to their doom.


That's quite a reputation. For an actress and for a perfume.

Angelique Encens is and isn't what you might expect. Its opening, famous for the herbal angelica note, registers in my nose as tinged with lavender. It's not supposed to be there, but the feeling both of the color and of the flower can almost be tasted. It's melancholy in a sweet, nostalgic way, like a forgotten sachet in an old drawer. But that drawer is more than it seems. Some of its content is quite lacy and racy. And incensy. Don't forget that part.

The incense here is different than many of the ones we know from modern perfumes: it's not ceremonial and aloof like the CdG Incsense series and it has none of the Darth Vader darkness of Black Cashmere or YSL Nu. Instead, it's sweetened by vanilla and ambergris into a soft and tempting dry-down that while different than Shalimar, it shares a common sensibility with it.

One of the things I like best about Angelique Encens is how it shifts and changes on my skin. Sometimes I get the full vintage, black-and-white sense of a perfume from long ago and far away, while it never feels dated. A vanilla-incense combination could have come from any contemporary perfume house, though I doubt they'd make it better or prettier.

Angelic Encense is part of Creed Private Collection, which means it's only sold in huge 8.4 oz flacons with a hefty price tag ($300, but fragrancenet.com supposedly has it for $205). Here and there you might be able to find a better deal, but since Creed is prone to faking and counterfeiting, I'd personally avoid them. Besides, who even needs a lifetime plus several incarnations supply of perfume in one bottle? My personal recommendation is to go for a decant.