May Lindstrom Pendulum Potion - first impressions

So this came in my Caroline Hirons Box of Dreams II. A 30mls size. I was delighted with this box. I bought it for myself and have sat on my hands until the New Year to open.

So this is a cleansing oil, in the introductory video the advice was not to use it as a first cleanse, so I didn't.

I used it for the first time yesterday evening, I removed my makeup with my makeup remover of choice as per current regime (Eve Lom incase you are wondering) , removed, reapplied and removed and then applied Pendulum. 

There are no instructions, it is housed in a dark glass bottle with a dropper which suggests a few drops. I shook for good measure and dripped out about 8 drops, about a 5 pence piece, maybe slightly more. It is an oil coloured oil, in that it is straw coloured, slightly green, but some darker brown oil was slicked through it. I rubbed it between my hands and the oil became a reddish brown and I massaged in and nipped in the shower as is my wont of a pm. 

It massages in well, and sinks in to a certain extent, it is not a light fluid oil, but neither is it thick and sticky. It has a distinctive scent, somewhat incense stick like. And this is my problem with May Lindstrom products, the scents are, well scenty, fine if one likes a distinctive smell in one's products, but scent really is so very personal and it is a bit too much for me, as it was with Blue Cocoon, there is too much scent, it sort of got in the way with me and so it is with this product, maybe.

Still unlike Blue Cocoon, I know where I am with Pendulum for it is a cleansing oil. And cleanse it bloody well did, it remove a blackhead from my nose which has been there for a good 5 years - amazed? I bloody am.

Of course I need to continue to use this longer than once, but so far, so intrigued. I will keep you posted, probably in about a month's time.

An example of an inability to follow through

Firstly I have to say that this post is more about me than the following product. It is about my delight in beauty products but about my delight in owning them as opposed to using them - I am a piss-poor consumer of beauty products. I delight in the chase, the ability to secure something rare, and then I relax and admire my purchase and occasionally stroke it - idiot woman.

May Lindstrom The Blue Cocoon is a prime example. I own this. I purchased it last December as part of the Caroline Hirons/Cult Beauty beauty box collaboration. I posted about it briefly here 

I was looking forward to using it, more than that, I was excited.

As you can see this product was "made fresh" in October 2015. I received this in December 2015, it is now September 2016 and I have used all of this much....

See? Total epic fail at consuming. I have looked at it, I have admired the heavy glass jar, I have opening it, I have dipped a finger or two in, but I have not used to any great extent.

Now in my defense, I do not like the scent and that is a purely personal observation, I can smell the slightly chocolatey cocoa butter scent and the myrrh and lavender and it is all a bit strong for me.

I struggled to fit it into a routine; I used it post cleansing, seruming, oiling and moisturising as a sort of pre-bed facial massage, I tried it as the sole moisturiser/treatment post cleanse but it did not sit happily on my skin but I think that was more to do with the scent than any texture, because it is a balm which quickly melts into an oil and gives a slip which more than allows for a good massage. And it is an exceptionally good texture for massage, there is no sudden slippyness resulting in skidding fingers up the nose and into the eyes, just a singular reliable texture. It does sink in but after a time, and that is no bad thing in my mind.

The ingredients are lovely, the packaging is lovely, the texture is sublime, but it is not for me sadly. I think the moral is "be careful what you wish for." 

Blue Copper, Moon, Cocoon

Looking around in my current routine, I realised that several products are blue, from the delicate faded chambray blue of NIOD Copper Amino Isolate Serum, to the pale turquoise of Sunday Riley Blue Moon Tranquility Cleansing Balm, to the deep petroly teal of Sunday Riley Luna Sleeping Oil.

Maybe even five years ago I would have been suspicious about such a distinctive shade in a skin care product, when all I wanted was a neutral cream, maybe with a hint of buttery yellow, but now looking at the ingredients, this distinction is due to the ingredients, I think that Luna has colour added but it is the final ingredient in the list.

I cannot comment on NIOD having only just started to use this watery blue treatment, and Sunday Riley Blue Moon Tranquility Balm, whilst having worked my way through a third of a jar, is too beautiful a product to dismiss its worth with a sentence or two here, and Luna deserves an update all of its own.

Of course missing from this plethora of blue is May Lindstrom's The Blue Cocoon, but that is housed in my very special box.

And I don't even want to disturb it until 25th December.