Echo by Davidoff

Davidoff Echo, an aftershave for men was originally an impulsive purchase by yours truly when firmly in the mindset that spending $35 for a 100ml bottle wasn't too much if it was nasty once I got my sniffing tackle around it. If you want to buy a bottle after reading this, then you can for under £20 from places like Fragrance Direct. Before you rush over to buy a bottle, read on.....

The first thing that attracted me to this on the shelf was the stylish bottle, it has to be the funkiest aftershave bottle. Made from clear glass it is more of a sculpture than a bottle. On deeper research it comes to light that a designer was commissioned to actually make the bottle! A bit over the top for an aftershave, but a nice touch all the same. A work of art? No? 

To this day I've never seen Echo advertised in the UK so you really have to do some digging to find the marketing blurb, or as I shall now call it 'garbage':

'Dynamic, cool and masculine Echo is an urban trendsetter'

The notes to Echo build it up as an airy innovative fragrance that contains:

Head: Suede, musk, liquid air.

Heart: Sandalwood, cedar wood, nutmeg.

Dry-down: Chilli pepper, black pepper.

From reading the notes I would be inclined to think from the notes that the fragrance would be very dry and heavy on the nose and the combination of suede, musk and sandalwood would make this strong providing a very hard wearing masculine fragrance.

Actually applying the fragrance is a bit tricky due to the size and shape of the bottle. The smooth ridged glass combined with wet hands is not an option and I found that I had to use two hands. One to hold the bottle and the second hand to actually press the atomiser! The first thing to strike me was that large amounts of the aftershave are dispensed with one press of the atomiser, meaning that three squirts are more than enough.

My initial thoughts about this fragrance were correct, heavy suede with a warm musk was the first smell to strike me and it was far from cool. After shaving this stings, it stings a lot and in my case inflamed the area around my neck when I applied it after shaving. I am not a big fan of heavy fragrances and as such I wasn't happy when I first applied this, but to its credit, the head notes do fade very quickly, however the woody and spicy notes are equally as strong as the head notes and again, these seem far too heavy on the nose. 

Thankfully within 10 minutes of application the head and heart notes do become lighter and less evident, however there remains a warm, woody spicy fragrance and the dry down notes to me were at no time evident. This doesn't mean that they weren't lingering though. An hour after applying Echo my better half would not come within 50 yards of me, due to the "awful pepper smell". 

In the interests of seeing if the fragrance altered over time, and indeed how long it would last I persevered - I even tried changing my moisturiser, tried it with a beard, tried it shaved all to no avail. Unfortunately the fragrance does not calm down. 

Overall, I was drawn in by the cool bottle and cheap price but was left disappointed by the heavy fragrance. To this day Echo sits on the shelf in the bathroom and is never used. Although some people would like this sort of fragrance (Davidoff themselves do say that it is for a more mature audience - that rules me right out). 

I personally prefer light fragrances that have a citrus base and personally would never ever buy this for myself or as a gift for others. It simply is not refreshing enough and lacks that certain something that would make people stand back and say "wow, that smells lovely".

Davidoff Echo in my opinion would appeal to those who like Christian Dior Fahrenheit, Polo by Ralph Lauren and Diesel Zero Plus. I could also only see it suitable for daywear due to the heavy nature of the fragrance.

If you like your fragrances to be light, citrus based and easy on the nose you should avoid this at all costs.

NOT RECOMMENDED

Like what you see? You can keep up to date and follow Beautykinguk.co.uk using the various social media below:

Twitter

Instagram

Pinterest

Google+

Bloglovin

Facebook

View Post

Lord of Misrule Bath Bomb by Lush

Bath bombs are not my thing; in fact until a couple of months ago I would have openly laughed in your face if you had said I would be sharing my thoughts on one here on the Internet.

The Lord of Misrule Bath Bomb by Lush however looked too good to turn down and will aching bones and joints I decided to give one a whirl and see if there were any benefits to be gained by literally launching £3.50 into the bath.

This is what Lush have to say about the Lord of Misrule:

‘Revel in your bath with this mischievous bomb that features a spicy herbal blend of patchouli and black pepper oil. Inspired by the ruler of the pagan Feast of Fools, Lord Of Misrule has a deep green exterior that slowly froths away to reveal a rich wine-coloured centre. Just like at the Feast of Fools, when the wine starts to flow, the popping candy crackles and the festivities begin…’

You can watch a cool video of the bomb fizzing away in the bath and read more about the product here.

Needless to say I wanted to toss this into the bath like a hand grenade but was stopped seconds before doing so. My childish giggling being pushed to one side as I was shown how to use it properly.

A little hot water drawn the bomb was placed into the water and the taps turned to hot. The fizzing and popping was instantaneous - the water changing to a lovely emerald green in a way not too dissimilar to an oil slick spreading. As I remain transfixed by the changing colour I noticed an oily film on the surface of the water and then blam, the beautiful fragrance of patchouli hit me and started to fill the bathroom.

After a few minutes the bomb had halved in size and the water started to become a deep red, and just as claimed, it looked like I was about to dip a toe into a massive bath of red wine (all my dreams come true).

Once completed dissolved the fragrance of patchouli and pepper was so clear it was almost hypnotic. The oily film remained and I was a little concerned that this would leave my skin oily after finishing, but alas this was not to be.

After soaking happily for 30 minutes yes my skin felt softer and much smoother, but would it feel the same after drying off? Well, yes, and what is even better is that the lovely fragrance had been absorbed by my skin leaving the faintest hints of patchouli, not too masculine but far from being feminine.

Is £3.50 too much for one? Well I’m inclined to say yes yet again, I think £3.50 for every bath is too much but the beauty of this bomb is that it is easy to break into two and at that price, effectively £1.75 I think its good value for money and would buy and use again.

To a bloke this has a fascinating wow factor watching it bubble and fizz away, smells lovely and leaves skin so much softer and smoother. You can’t say fairer than that in my opinion.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Thank you for taking the time to sneak a peek at my musings, why not tell me your favourite bath products in the comments below?

View Post