Fauxcation Reviews

You may recall that I had plans to leave the area and travel to see my in-laws. We had plans to fly out Wednesday morning which was cancelled Tuesday afternoon due to the snow storm that never materialized (at least in the immediate area). It was rebooked for Wednesday afternoon and then cancelled again Wednesday morning. At that point, our airline said the earliest they could fly us out was Friday, cutting severely into our vacation and we decided to cancel and postpone our plans. Generally, I would have kept around the bits I had brought with me and share what I used versus what I brought but I was just so down in the dumps about the whole experience that I quickly unpacked everything. I will say that even though I won't be showing the full bounty, I was fairly restrained this faux-cation. And I will remark that staying in a swanky hotel for a couple of nights is a nice departure from suburban living (we booked a hotel close to the airport in preparation for the predicted snowstorm). Nonetheless, I have tried a few new things and I thought I'd share my thoughts!

The Vasanti BrightenUp! Enzymatic Face Rejuvenator came in the February Birchbox. It's a nice scrub as the exfoliating particles are very fine (reminds me of the MAC Microfine Refinisher, now discontinued) and it has the added benefit of chemical exfoliants from the papaya enzymes. The best part about this is it also cleanses the face so there's no residue and it doesn't take a crazy amount of effort to get the exfoliating particles off. Years ago, the Vasanti line used to be carried at ULTA. It's good stuff and I'm going to be enjoying this scrub.

If you stay at one of the Hilton hotels as we tend to do, they offer a nice array of complimentary products. We went out for a nice dinner Wednesday evening and I wore a full face of makeup and this La Fresh Makeup remover wipe did a decent job of getting the majority of my face makeup off before a more thorough cleanse. The La Fresh wipes are a bit on the expensive side but I'd consider purchasing them in the future, especially the individually packaged ones for travel and short stays!

I know I said in my review that I was never going to repurchase the eve lom due to the price point, but during the recent spacenk sale, I managed to snag a gift set at 50% off which was good enough for me to get more of this cleanser. The set also came with the Morning Time Cleanser which is actually pretty similar to the consistency of the Elemental Herbology Purify & Soothe Facial Cleansing Balm as it lacks the granules in the regular cleanser. The 1.6oz size and neat twist cap is also perfect for travel. Honestly, while I'm a bit annoyed that I was introduced to these products due to their price point, I'm so happy that I was able to score them for a great price as they are both lovely.

The Lancome LaBase Perfecting Makeup Primer also came in the February Birchbox. I honestly was expecting to hate this as I'm not a fan of silicone based products; however, I was pleasantly surprised by this one. It doesn't have near the amount of velvety feel as some of the other silicone primers on the market and seemed to do pretty well with my dry skin. I don't think I'd go out of my way to buy this, but I'll certainly use it up.