Caudalie Huile Divine (Divine Oil) / Review

Caudalie Huile Divine was on my most recent Beauty Envies list and finally I got a small size of this little wonder everyone seems to have talked and raved about recently.

As some of you may already know, my favorites so far have been Liérac's Huile Sensorielle aux Trois Fleurs Collection Blanche and Nuxe's Huile Prodigieuse, I've mentioned both recently, here. These days I go mostly for the latter, for Summer I just love it! Now what I enjoy most about these two is the fact that they replace perfume/eau de toilette. Their respective fragrances last way over 6 hours on me when I apply them on my arms and décolleté on dry skin. I also love them for my hair. I've tried several hair products recently to give it more texture and always come back to one of these.

Caudalie Divine Oil...

At the drugstore I was pleased to find the small size, 15 ml (0.5 fl oz) which is bigger than a sample. Perfect to keep in one's purse or for someone like me, who wants to give it a try before committing to a larger size. The bottle is sleek, pretty and what is most convenient about it is the fact that even if it's small it comes with a good quality spray just like it's larger sisters.

All purpose? This dry oil is advertised as such, for body, hair and face. As with all other fragranced oils, if you wish to use it on your face do patch test first, especially if you have a tendency to have allergic reactions to skin care or have sensitive skin.

How did I use it...

As with my other fragrant oils, my frugal side makes me use them on dry skin just before getting dressed. I do this because for me they replace perfume and on dry skin less is needed and their fragrances last longer. In the shower on wet skin I prefer to use either almond oil or when I need a bit more moisture, avocado oil which are way less expensive. Arms, décolleté and of course on my hair to give it texture and tame those little fly aways.

The texture... 

Caudalie Huile Divine is very light so this makes it a nice option for Summer after shower. If I compare it to Liérac and Nuxe I would say this is the lightest and least moisturizing, Liérac being the heaviest. When it's very hot this can be a welcomed option. It penetrates fast and doesn't leave any greasy feel on the skin.

The fragrance... 

At first, well the only word that comes to my mind is "caudalieish" where there's a nice hint of green grapes. This fades quickly and with the warmth of the skin is replaced by a nice bouquet of luscious flowers which includes hibiscus. One will take center stage, the rose, accompanied with a hint of grapefruit. I must say the progression is quite lovely but unfortunately on me, it doesn't last. While some have written that Caudalie Huile Divine replaces their perfume it's not the case for me for after three hours or so I can barely smell it anymore. This is where skin's chemistry comes into play. Some have said that Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse's fragrance fades quickly on them while on me it lasts almost an entire day. Here with Caudalie Huile Divine, the opposite occurs.

Do I recommend Caudalie Huile Divine? Yes

Surprised aren't you? So far one would have thought that I would pass on this one given my comments but even if the fragrance didn't last that long as I would have hoped, this oil provides nice light moisture and I must say, for my hair, it's fantastic! Since I purchased the small size which goes for $9.99, my bottle doesn't have the nice grape details or the wooden cap but, as I've mentioned, it comes with the spray with a tight fitting gold cap and this makes it a great option go keep in my purse which I will to tame my hair. Caudalie Huile Divine doesn't weigh it down and is perfect to use during the day to give it extra definition and oomf! The fact that the fragrance is light will not make it annoying to anyone. I used to work with a lady who would spray herself three times a day with her Ferragamo and, well, my nose had a hard time to cope with it and I'm sure I wasn't the only one...

Will I repurchase? Yes

Honestly I don't know if I will commit to the large size but I will keep a small one in my purse for sure since it unfortunately is not refillable. I don't mind reapplying oil to my hair during the day and I've done it often recently due to high humidity. In Winter, with the heating, it can get so dry indoors that this becomes almost a necessity and the small size is so easy to carry in a cosmetic bag. I also find that Caudalie Huile Divine is rather nice to use on the back of my hands. During the day my skin can get a little irritated due to washing and this oil is quite soothing. Now since it's light it doesn't leave a greasy feel and doesn't make my hands slimy if inadvertently I get them wet which can happen with hand cream.

The small size, give it a try. It may well become a favorite to you as is the case for so many.



Reviews:

Makeup Alley: 4.8 / 5 lippies for 14 reviews.
Beauté-test: 4.2 / 5 stars for 200 reviews


Ingredients (from Beauté-test)

Ingredients : vitis vinifera (grape) seed oil*, sesamum indicum (sesame) seed oil*, isoamyl cocoate*, coco-caprylate*, parfum (fragrance), ethylhexyl palmitate*, butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter extract*, helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil*, hibiscus sabdariffa seed oil*, argania spinosa kernel oil*, ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate (octinoxate), butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane (avobenzone), tocopherol*, ethylhexyl salicylate(octisalate), palmitoyl grape seed extract*, solanum lycopersicum (tomato) fruit/leaf/stem extract*, citric acid*,benzyl salicylate, linalool, hydroxycitronellal, butylphenyl methylpropional, limonene, citronellol, alpha-isomethyl ionone, geraniol. (107/078) *Origine végétale

Favorite Body Oils of The Moment...

I don't know if it's because Summer is fast approaching (in some parts of the world... somewhere... I hope) but recently I've noticed several entries about oils. For hair, face or/and body, it's a fact that they are gaining in popularity, fast!

I have mentioned before that for years and years, in my teens and twenties I used baby oil (I still do from time to time) at the end of my shower on wet skin, pat dry, soft skin for the day! These days I enjoy avocado, sweet almond and argan oil for moisture, all these, except maybe for argan oil, are quite affordable and I use them freely. The others, the more pricey fragrant ones I have, I use instead of perfume.

Lierac Démaquillant Pureté Foaming Cleansing Gel / Review

In my last little entry about what was new at my little local drugstore I mentioned they had received Lierac Paris skin care. Since I go there often and buy quite a bit *hides*, I should be able to bring you several reviews since the nice ladies there can provide me with small trial size jars they can fill up with whatever I want (more about that at the end of this entry). Ain't it cool?

What Just Arrived at the Drugstore...

Two days ago I had to go get some hair products at the drugstore and as usual I spent a bit of time in the cosmetics department. Let me tell you for a small one, they do have quite a nice selection. Here's what I saw...


From Revlon, Super Lustrous Lipsticks and Glosses...

Super Lustrous Lipsticks and Glosses. Look at all the pretty colors! 

The glosses are pretty tempting.

From Covergirl...

The new Flamed Out Collection. A crazy looking new mascara, eye shadows and eye liners. 

Again, no testers which is the main reason why I rarely purchase anything from this brand. :(

And the big surprise today was that they are now selling Liérac! Yay!!!

Now I'm so sorry, I could have sworn the picture was clear. At the bottom, you see those two glass bottles on the right? Heaven!!! Huile Sensorielle aux Trois Fleurs Collection Blanche (the bottle on the left is actually the Eau de Toilette with the same fragrance). I briefly reviewed it last year (here) but will definitely have to revisit it. You can also count on the fact that I will be trying some of their offerings.

Spring Cleaning, Take a Peek...

Finally, I'm happy to say, we are done with April!!!

It started with the funerals of the man of my life, went on with my first birthday without him and then the  anniversary of our first date without him....

To top it all off, the weather was just plain horrible!

The last few days have been nice and so I do believe that even if Spring has let us down this year, Summer should make up for it. Let's hope it does. Actually it should since Jeff the Weather Man did confirm this morning that there will be a Summer! Being a weather man, he must be right! Right?

Some are done with their "Spring cleaning", an almost traditional yearly ritual. After months spent indoors due to the cold mainly, as soon as the weather warms up a bit we go nuts with cleaning, getting rid of that thick "wintery" dust, opening all windows and washing everything we can get our hands on. It sure is a nice change to shoveling.

This Winter there wasn't a lot of cleaning in my house due to what we where going through and so the result of this is a lot of stuff lying around and a lot of dust. A little overwhelmed, I had to start somewhere and so I  decided to start the process with my bathroom. I guess it makes it easy since it's the smallest room in the house.

The top shelf is not shown and the bottom one is in view when the door is shut.

Our new girls only pharmacy:

 I just realised that I should have changed the tube of toothpaste but hey, this is real life! 

Looks nice and clean doesn't it? I give this 2 days tops!

Catherine's corner. Avène Cleanance K moisturizer, La Roche Posay Anthelios SPF 60, Ombrelle Face SPF 45, Biotherm Purefect Skin Cleanser, Avène Cleanance Soapless Gel, The Body Shop face brush. On the lower shelf she also has some of her Eos lip balms, Powser brush, Clarins bronzer and Laura Mercier loose powder as seen on the top picture.

Avène Eluage Cream, Avène Eluage Firming Gel, Caudalie Vinoperfect Serum, Caudalie Vinoperfect night, Avène Redness Relief day cream, Caudalie Beauty Elixir, Nivea Cream, The Body Shop 3 in 1 mask, Nuxe Crème Fraîche, Unrefined Shea Butter, Witch hazel, a tube of Estée Lauder Vérité Eye Gel and my little jar of Keihl's Creamy Eye Treatment.

Biotherm Biosource Micellar Water, Avène Thermal Water, Avène Anti-redness Dermo-cleanser, Keihl's deodorant, Nuxe Rêve de Miel lip balm, Nivea Lip Butter, Caudalie Lip Conditioner and two samples of Clarins firming line.

Bottom shelf: Little covered basket of hair ties, Liérac oil, Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse. In the little basket, Some samples, The Body Shop's Oceanus and Pink Grapefruit Eau de Toilette, Clinique Tenderheart lipstick as well as some Mark glosses, Avène Cold Cream, Caudalie and Clinique Deep Comfort hand creams, a small Marchesa eau de toilette. In the barbotine container, more samples, cotton rounds, baby washcloths and my old Dior face brush. In the front, lipsticks/glosses of the moment, Chanel, Clinique and L'Oréal.

One thing to know about me, I am domestically challenged! This year there's just so much to take care of, to clean, I can hardly keep up with my in-box so imagine the rest... I probably won't be done until... next Spring!

At least my bathroom is done!

If you've enjoyed peeking into mine, you may enjoy the ones of famous people even more... Have a look at these:

In Vogue: Dans la salle de bain de...

http://www.vogue.fr/beaute/dans-la-salle-de-bain-de

In Harper's Bazaar: Karl Lagerfeld's

http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/fashion-articles/24-hours-with-karl-lagerfeld-0412?src=rss#slide-3

My Friend K in New York

K is my new "web friend" for lack of a better expression. Less than a month ago (I think) we started to exchange messages on MUA and she recently started to leave comments on this here blog. She lives in New York! Not only does she reside there but she knows how to enjoy what this glorious city has to offer. Arts and shopping! What else could a girl want? I don't know about you but for me it would be absolute Heaven!

So what did she do for me, my New York friend? She took pictures! Lots of great pictures!

Shopping at Bergdorf Goodman

Gorgeous!

Estée Lauder's exclusive Re-Nutriv line 

Yves St-Laurent makeup 

The new Aerin Essential Collection display

Dior 

Duane Reed

Where you can find several outstanding French skin care lines. Not as glamorous as high end stores but these products are of equal quality if not superior while being less expensive.

Among these you might want to have a closer look at Nuxe's Crème Fraîche, Rêve de Miel lip balm that comes in a little glass jar and the fabulous Huile Prodigieuse. Klorane's Blueberry eye makeup remover is a classic as are their shampoos.

100% Pure, Nuxe & Klorane

Liérac is a relatively new company for me and so I haven't tried any of their skin care but just love their all purpose oil called Huile Sensorielle aux Trois Fleurs Collection Blanche. Ma favorite so far. The fragrance is  soft, feminine and on me it lasts all day.

Liérac

Christie's

Just the name of this great auction house evokes glamour and wealth. Founded in 1766 by James Christie it has conducted some of the greatest auctions of the past 300 years. The Park Avenue salesroom which opened it's doors in 1977 has seen some beautiful collection auctioned off and so has the new American headquarters opened at 20 Rockefeller Plaza in April of 2000.

Some recent notable auctions

1997  A Charity gala auction of 79 Dresses from the Collection of Diana, Princess of Wales, are sold for a staggering $3,258,750 (£1,960,150) in Christie’s New York. The proceeds of the sale benefited the Royal Marsden Hospital Cancer Fund and AIDS Crisis Trust.

2000  The Personal Property of Marilyn Monroe goes under the hammer selling for over $13.4 million (£8.1 million). The highlight is the ‘Happy Birthday’ dress, worn by Marilyn on 19 May 1962 to sing to President John F. Kennedy, which realizes over $1.2 million, a world record for a woman’s costume and the third highest price for an item of celebrity memorabilia.

2011  The Elizabeth Taylor Collection of jewellery, fine art, fashion, decorative arts and memorabilia reaches $183.5m. It sets the new record for the most valuable jewellery single-owner collection sold at auction ($144m).

The Collection of Elisabeth Taylor, Christie's auction room

K did a fantastic job with her iPhone at Christie's! I just love to be able to see these pieces in a context other than a museum. Sadly, some will end up in private collections which means that these casual pictures may become some of the last we see of these works in a long time, actually we may not see them until they are up for auction again. This is the reason K goes to Christie's. To see and admire art that is temporarily available to the public. Of course some are purchased by museums but usually the most expensive pieces often find their way to either an Arab prince's living room or a Nouveau Riche's newly decorated office.

K took several great pictures and these below are my favorites.

Jeff Koons (b. 1955) Tulips,

mirror-polished stainless steel with transparent color coating 

80 x 180 x 205 in. (203.2 x 457.2 x 520.7 cm.) 

Executed in 1995-2004. This work is one of five unique versions. 

Price Realised, $33,682,500

Do Ho Suh (b.1962) Some/One, 

stainless steel, military dog tags, stainless steel structure, 

fiberglass resin, mirrored stainless steel sheets

Price Realized, $782,500

El Anatsui (b. 1944) Dzodze 

aluminum and copper wire 

86 x 136 in. (218.4 x 345.4 cm.) 

Executed in 2006.  

Price Realized, $722,500

This is the one that made my day! Roy Lichtenstsein. I love, love his work and K did a marvelous job in taking this picture. I enjoy the fact that it's slightly crooked. The colors are amazing and it's really fun to see floor.

Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) 

Nude with Red Shirt 

signed and dated 'rf Lichtenstein '95' (on the reverse) 

oil and Magna on canvas 

77 x 65 in. (198.1 x 167.7 cm.) 

Painted in 1995. 

Price Realised, $28,082,500

This Lichtenstein was owned by a Distinguished Private Collector since 1995. Who purchased it? If it was by another Distinguished Private Collector, well, we may not see it again for several years.

*sniff*

On a final note, if you thought that Koons Tulips reminded you of balloons, well, you're kind of right!

K holding a little blue balloon dog in front of Tulips

Thank you Lovely K! xoxo H



To learn more about the history of Christie's:
http://www.christies.com/about/company/history.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christie's



I'm again dealing with formating problems. I'm sorry for the irregularities.

Body Oils

Another way to keep your skin moisturized & comfortable

Some of you may remember a television commercial from the late 70's, early 80's, in which Johnson's & Johnson's Baby oil was used on wet skin at the end of the shower to help keep skin moisturized. This is something I did for years. It's the fastest way, in the morning, to get soft dewy skin.

I've recently rediscovered this and wonder why on earth did I ever stop. When you have to take your shower at 5:00 am, you don't necessarily feel like taking the time to apply a body lotion & then wait for it to penetrate. Using oil on wet skin & then pat dry is fast, effective & probably saves a good 10 minutes in the morning. In my case anyway.

Long ago, when I did this, I used plain baby oil, the scented one and then for a while, I used Neutrogena Sesame Body oil which is lighter and just lovely. Unfortunately, when I started using oil again recently, I wasn’t able to find any. It should be available in Canada since it's shown on their website. These days I use unscented baby oil which is in fact plain mineral oil. It's super inexpensive and does what I want it to do, which is keep my skin moisturize for the day. A word of caution, when using oil in the shower, just make sure not to spill any. The bottom of the tub, or shower, can get very slippery.


Next time you go to the grocery store you may consider one of these options for body moisture. My favorite is plain coconut oil, especially in the summer. Since it's in solid form, I take about a tablespoon of it & warm it with my hands. Sadly, the lovely smell doesn’t last but thankfully the the moisture does. Coconut oil is easily found at health food stores. Some like using extra virgin olive oil. It is very rich and high in antioxydants but I personally prefer to cook with it and have it on my salads. Even if it's very effective and quite popular and in fact has been used for thousands of years for that purpose, but I'm not a fan of the smell on me. Safflower oil is another excellent option to help to replenish loss of moisture in the skin with it's high linoleic acid content.