AFTERSHAVE: Secret Scent Box - April 2017

The Secret Scent Box isn't a new one on me, I received their box back in September 2016 and given my obsession with aftershaves I just couldn't pass up the chance to try their offering for April. So, a subscription aftershave box that always has me intrigued with what will arrive and what I'll make of the three sample scents dropping through my letterbox.  

‘Secret Scent Box is a monthly UK fragrance box subscription that lets you discover new designer & branded perfumes or colognes. Get a 30 day supply of three fragrances delivered through your letterbox every month for just £15.’

For just £15 you receive a box through the post that contains three different fragrances - aftershave and cologne if you choose the male box and perfumes if you choose the female box. 

With the samples comes handy note cards for each fragrance. As always, I use these cards to sit back and imagine how the notes will combine, how long it will take to dry down and what the underlying notes will smell like for the rest of the day. 

In my first box I received three aftershaves that I hadn’t smelt before, in this second one it contain one that I own a bottle of and two that I had been dying to try. Given my extensive aftershave collection (it isn't normal to have over 50 bottles at any one time I know) it would be foolish of me not to expect some crossover between what I already have and the service.

So what is in the April Secret Scent Box?

The Dreamer - Versace 

Head: Juniper, Mugwort and Tarragon

Heart: Ambered Lily, Flax Flowers and Iris

Dry-down: Amber and Tobacco Flower

I've reviewed The Dreamer before on the blog - you can read my full review here. I managed to pick up a bottle for just £20 and it stands as one of my best beauty buys since I started writing this blog. Its a lovely fragrance, and as I've said before, it has depth and warmth but the fragrance almost evolves through a series of stages. The ambered lily and iris blend with the juniper after around an hour to make this less fruity on the nose and actually it’s like a mild floral explosion for around thirty minutes until it moves into the dry down. The amber and tobacco flower provide an excellent base that compliments the tarragon and lily to make this well worth a look.

Wow - Joop

Head: Bergamot, Cardamom and Violet

Heart: Geranium, Fir Balsam and Vetiver

Dry-down: Cashmeran, Tonka Bean and Vanilla

First impressions literally are "wow" - this has a strength that defies how light it actually is on the nose. It's instant spice at first that fades gently into a slightly heavier floral earthy note. It's almost as if the vetiver is battling the heart notes to keep this smelling masculine. As it starts to progress through the heart it gets lighter and lighter on the nose as the sweetness from the tonka bean and vanilla give hints of sweetness that linger on the nose and remain evident to those around you for hour after hour.

I expected something of a teenage fragrance when looking through the notes but actually it's so incredibly refined. This would make an excellent aftershave for daywear or nights out on the town. It's unique, I really can't say "it reminds me of......" because it doesn't, and that's rare nowadays. After five hours of being on it finally settled and stayed evident to me and those around me for another eight hours. It's got legs people, it has legs.

Lush

Only the Brave Tattoo - Diesel

Head: Red Apple and Mandarin Orange

Heart: Sage and Bourbon Pepper

Dry-down: Ambery Wood, Tobacco and Patchouli

I have something of a hate hate relationship with Diesel. I tried Zero Plus a number of years back and it left me gagging and feeling nasueaous. With that in mind I had low expectations that were blown away by OTBT (I'm lazy, sue me). The sweetness that comes from the red apple is so amazing and fills the room with just two to three sprays. It's apple all the way for the first five minutes, in fact the orange doesn't even become noticeable at all until the heart notes start to take the edge of the sweet apple. 

The apple blends with the orange and pepper to give a spiced blend that still stays light on the nose. At this point it became almost addictive, I just couldn't stopped sniffing this on my wrist. 

The dry down notes thankfully don't take anything away from this fragrance. I feared that the tobacco and woods would make it too warm and heavy but alas those fears were unfounded. It remains so subtle on the skin for well over ten hours making this again perfect for daywear or nights out on the town. 

Even after fully drying down the head notes of apple remain and that sweetness makes this another top notch fragrance. It's balanced out my expeirences with Diesel and I never thought that was going to happen.

Miracle worker.

The April Secret Scent Box has opened my eyes on two fronts. I now must try Wow by Joop and my hatred of Diesel has been put in a box, with OTBT firmly on my 'next to buy' list. 

My box popped through the letterbox just a few days ago and once again I feel compelled to write about the contents and share my experience of this cracking service. For £15 a month you receive 27ml of fragrance, three 9ml testers with atomisers that should, with frugal use keep you going for a whole month. 

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

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Get 15% off your first Secret Scent Box when you sign up here by using the code:

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Aftershaves under £20 - Father’s Day 2016

For Father’s Day in the past I have pulled together a series of recommendations of aftershaves depending upon what type of dad you have - back in 2014, yes that long ago, I broke down my recommendations based on sporty, trendy and earthy dads. You can read that post here and I stand by the recommendations I made then. Today however I’m highlighting three aftershaves that are affordable on a tight budget and available for under £20. 

1770 by Yardley London

Notes: Rich woody amber fragrance with citrus, fig and spicy black pepper top notes complemented by a floral, cocoa bean and woody heart with a warm base of patchouli, vetiver, moss and musk.

My take: Bizarrely, this starts off for the first minute with a smell that would make your mother weep, but that first blast is so wildly different from how it settles you would be out of your mind to cast this to one side, it is actually one of the nicest and cheapest fragrances I've had the pleasure of smelling in my many years of collecting aftershave. It does have a slight chemical aroma for thirty to sixty seconds and it masks the notes. I can't put my finger on what it reminds me of, but thankfully you really get a melting pot of notes that blend beautifully. 

The top notes of citrus remain for a good thirty minutes and while it starts off warm it does get deeper and warmer as it starts to dry down. For me personally I like this after an hour when it has fully dried down and you can pick out the vetiver and musk. 

The wood amber provides a solid base that means this isn't an aftershave you spray and forget about. You can throughout the day smell this on yourself, well I can and I love it. More than eight hours after a few sprays and you can still pick up hints of this. I've worn it consistently to work over the last few weeks and it has attracted positive comments. Hardwearing with a great blend of notes.

Cost: £14.99 for 50ml

Buy from: Yardley London

The Dreamer by Versace

First of all, congratulations to Ness who won the 100ml bottle of The Dreamer in my giveaway. 

Notes: Head: Juniper, Mugwort, Tarragon, Heart: Ambered Lily, Flax Flowers, Iris, Dry-down: Amber, Tobacco Flower

My take: This starts off light with a slightly fruity twist that comes from the juniper. It fades yet gets warmer and last for ages. 

It has depth and warmth but the fragrance almost evolves through a series of stages. The ambered lily and iris blend with the juniper after around an hour to make this less fruity on the nose and actually it’s like a mild floral explosion for around thirty minutes until it moves into the dry down. The amber and tobacco flower provide an excellent base that compliments the tarragon and lily to make this well worth a look.

Cost: £19.50 for 100ml

Buy from: Allbeauty

Ambre Noir by Yves Rocher

Notes: Essential oils of patchouli, vetiver, bergamot, cardamom seed, mandarin, cedarwood, elemi and lavender, violet leaves and tonka bean absolutes.

My take: First impressions were good, it is very light and fresh. To me, I was sure that the main top note was a light and very subtle lavender which blended with the mandarin to give a rather fruity citrus aroma (if you really do keep sniffing away you can pull out the sharpness of the mandarin just momentarily).

Within fifteen minutes the top notes die down yet the aftershave becomes sweeter on the nose - weird, but a good kind of weird. This sweetness remains for moments, less than five minutes. 

At this stage, the amber and tonka beans blend beautifully. It’s almost a weird union of the warmth of the amber and the sweetness of the tonka bean. Without the amber this would probably have the same sweetness as Versace Eros, Joop or Valentino Uomo, instead it starts to dry down to a lovely warm reliable fragrance very much on a par with Fahrenheit by Dior. 

As I have said, the fragrance on dry down has the warmth of Dior’s Fahrenheit, it has a depth of both spice and wood to make this probably a bit too earthy and masculine for me to wear out and about at night, but perfect for daywear on a regular basis. That depth and the dry down base keeps Ambre Noir sitting on the skin really well and for over ten hours which is always a plus. 

At every stage of wearing this what I found was a series of ingredients that blended so well it was a pleasure to wear Ambre Noir, and I rarely say that.

Cost: £17.90 for 50ml

Buy from: Yves Rocher

All three sit in my collection and while I have bottles that cost in excess of £100 for the most minute amount these all come in good quantities (over 50ml) for under £25 notes and have above average lasting power, lovely fresh and consistent fragrances and in the value for money stakes rank highly in my opinion. While I received the Yardley and Yves Rocher aftershaves as PR samples they are staples in my collection and all are perfect for daywear. You won’t repulse people wearing any one of the three and in my view these would make perfect gifts this Father’s Day for people who don’t want to or can’t break the bank.

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Do you think any of these three aftershaves would be a good pick for your dad?

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Versace The Dreamer EDT

Wandering around Westfield London this afternoon doing something completely unrelated I ventured into a lovely shop and immediately my eyes were drawn to the special offer they had on Versace The Dreamer EDT, a fragrance my brother used to wear in his late teens and one I really used to like. As I have said, this was on offer so after buying myself a bottle I thought, what the hell, and bought another and I’m offering it here as a giveaway to one of my readers. Father’ Day is coming up, so why not enter below. 

Unlike my recent blast from the past disasters with Davidoff Echo and Obsession by Calvin Klein I tested this in the shop, was immediately transported back in time. It’s lovely! 

The notes to The Dreamer are:

• Head: Juniper, Mugwort, Tarragon
• Heart: Ambered Lily, Flax Flowers, Iris
• Dry-down: Amber, Tobacco Flower

It’s now seven hours after spraying myself in the shop with the tester and it’s still so very noticeable after using just a little of it. This would make the perfect gift for a man who likes his aftershave to start off light with a slightly fruity twist that comes from the juniper but who likes them to fade, get warmer and last for ages. 

It has depth and warmth but the fragrance almost evolves through a series of stages. The ambered lily and iris blend with the juniper after around an hour to make this less fruity on the nose and actually it’s like a mild floral explosion for around thirty minutes until it moves into the dry down. The amber and tobacco flower provide an excellent base that compliments the tarragon and lily to make this well worth a look.

This really does fall into the affordable aftershave category, especially when on special offer - it has a gorgeous fragrance that would be out of place in the office or on a night out. Great value for money.

RECOMMENDED

So what is on offer? It is a 100ml bottle of The Dreamer by Versace

• How long will the giveaway last for? 23 days
• Will I get it in time for Father’s Day? Yes, the winner will be drawn on 1 June 2016, the winner notified and posted First Class.
• I don’t live in Great Britain, can I enter? Yes, yes you can.
• There are some mandatory entries which MUST be completed otherwise your entry will be null and void
• If you are under 16, you will need parental consent to enter because I will need your full name and address.

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Ambre Noir by Yves Rocher

If I told you that you could pick up a hard-wearing and lovely smelling fragrance (and a 50ml bottle of it at that) for just £16 you would probably be calling for the men in white coats. No, I haven’t fallen for Old Spice (although a bottle of that is nearly £10). I have fallen for Ambre Noir by Yves Rocher.

Read on into my insanity....

When I was told by my other half (affectionately known as the ball & chain or Beautyqueenuk) that one of her PR contacts was going to send me an aftershave to sample from Yves Rocher my response was quite blunt (the expletives have been removed) - “who are Yves Rocher”.

Fast forward (weird flashback to my last job there) a couple weeks and a 50ml bottle of Ambre Noir popped through the letterbox. After looking for the aftershave online to do a bit of research and seeing that the same bottle could be picked up for £16 here my expectations were low - lower than a world champion limbo dancer in fact.

This is what the Yves Rocher folk have to say about Ambre Noir:

‘The intensity of dark woods, the sensuality of amber.

Assert your seductiveness with AMBRE NOIR, which combines the intense and woody character of patchouli and vetiver with the sensuality of tonka bean. At the heart of this fragrance, the subtlety of cedar and lavender accentuates its elegance.’ 

The main ingredients to Ambre Noir are botanically based: essential oils of patchouli, vetiver, bergamot, cardamom seed, mandarin, cedarwood, elemi and lavender, violet leaves and tonka bean absolutes.

First impressions were good, it was very light and fresh. To me, I was sure that the main top note was a light and very subtle lavender which blended with the mandarin to give a rather fruity citrus aroma (if you really do keep sniffing away you can pull out the sharpness of the mandarin just momentarily).

Within fifteen minutes the top notes die down yet the aftershave becomes sweeter on the nose - weird, but a good kind of weird. This sweetness remains for moments, less than five minutes. 

At this stage, the amber and tonka beans blend beautifully. It’s almost a weird union of the warmth of the amber and the sweetness of the tonka bean. Without the amber this would probably have the same sweetness as Versace Eros, Joop or Valentino Uomo, instead it starts to dry down to a lovely warm reliable fragrance very much on a par with Fahrenheit by Dior. 

As I have said, the fragrance on dry down has the warmth of Dior’s Fahrenheit, it has a depth of both spice and wood to make this probably a bit too earthy and masculine for me to wear out and about at night, but perfect for daywear on a regular basis. That depth and the dry down base keeps Ambre Noir sitting on the skin really well and for over ten hours which is always a plus. 

At every stage of wearing this what I found was a series of ingredients that blended so well it was a pleasure to wear Ambre Noir, and I rarely say that. Take into account the excellent, and I mean astounding value for money and the lack of burn when applying after shaving then I can’t sing it’s praises enough. Top notch stuff - one does doth ones cap to the perfumer who came up with this baby (sorry, I think I added this line after a night out).

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

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Eros by Versace

Aftershave finds its way into my collection in a number of ways - PR companies send me samples, I buy some or they arrive from the other half in an attempt to cheer me up. In the case of Eros by Versace I had just been foiled in an attempt to have a go in a dune buggy while on holiday.

To avoid the risk of me tripping over my bottom lip we stepped into a perfume store and I left loaded down like a pack donkey but with a huge smile on my face.

After testing everything in the store, and I mean everything I had nailed it down to four that I really wanted. 

What was surprising was that I fell head of heels in love with the new fragrance from Karl Lagerfield but chose not to buy it, instead opting for Eros, the subject of today’s post a bottle of Uomo by Valentino.

I had seen the bottle to Eros in the past and thought “not for me” and gone on to instantly forget about it. My favourite Versace fragrance had always been Dreamer and that was what I was looking for without success. 

One glance at the notes to Eros however and I couldn’t wait to give it a blast, hey I even started to like the dark blue frosted bottle with bling-tastic Versace emblem on the cap.

The marketing blurb to Eros as outlined by Versace is:

‘Love, Passion, Beauty and Desire: these are the key concepts of the men’s fragrance by Versace. Eros, God of Love, able to make people fall in love with his bow and arrow. A luminous aura with an intense, vibrant and glowing freshness obtained from the combination of mint leaves, Italian lemon zest and green apple.

An addictive sensuality delivered by oriental, intriguing and enveloping notes like Tonka beans, Ambroxan (amber), Geranium flower and vanilla.

A racy virility symbolised by woods such as cedarwood from Atlas and Virginia, vetyver and oak moss, providing intensity and power.’

The official notes are:

• Head: Tonka Bean, Ambraxan, Geranium Flower
• Heart: Mint, Lemon, Apple
• Dry-down: Vanilla, Vetyver, Oak Moss, Cedarwood

As a fairly new fragrance on the market (it was launched in 2013) I had moderate expectations but was immediately blown away, so much so that Eros now sits as one of my favourite aftershaves, bumping old favourites like Acqua di Gio out of contention.

So, does it live up the marketing blurb and what does it actually smell like I hear you demand?

In short, yes it does and I love it.

The head notes of Tonka bean combined with hints of Geranium explodes out of the bottle and has an immense strength and depth which I found quite heavy on my nose, not because it is earthy, but just so evident - it is so sweet that I was actually scratching around to see if there was anything being used in the ingredients to do this artificially. There isn’t. The Tonka bean smashes out light hints of vanilla and it becomes lighter and lighter the longer it stays on.

After the initial head notes the citrus and fruity elements of the heart notes shone through making what was on first application a rather heavy fragrance so light and fresh. The apple is to thank for this but it blend with subtler notes of mint beautifully.

After about an hour the head and heart notes dry down, but rather than leaving the top notes to be dominated by the dry down they remain and flawlessly blend. Yes, vanilla becomes more evident as the Tonka bean and vanilla mix but it becomes much warmer as the oak moss provides depth.

At £46 for a 50ml bottle and just a few squirts from the atomiser to keep this lingering on and around you for well over 10 hours then this represents an aftershave excellent value for money. Throw into the mix that people around you both male and female will love it and actually enquire as to what you are wearing then you have the perfect mix of an aftershave that sits head and shoulders above the rest.

Perfect for daywear, special occasions and those romantic nights out I promise you that this would make an excellent addition to any collection either for yourself or as a gift for a loved one.

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The five aftershaves I couldn’t be without!

I’m fairly new to blogging about my beauty experiences. I only set up www.beautykinguk.co.uk in January. Today's post is a Guest Post I have written for Beautyqueenuk who asked me to guest for her. With the guidance that I could write about anything I wanted I put aside thoughts that made me grin wildly, things like ‘top 10 limericks’ and ‘top ten bars I’ve lost nights in’ and instead plumped for something close to my heart, well close to my skin – aftershave.

Over the years I’ve spent an absolute fortune on the stuff – I’ve tried discount brands, I’ve paid through the nose for luxury brands, been pleased, dazzled and repulsed in equal measure. Today however, I’m going to look at my 5 favourites.

The first that I can’t live without is Bvlgari Extreme – it is by far the best aftershave I’ve ever had the pleasure of owning and my collection is never without a bottle.

Extreme is the concentrate of Bvlgari Pour Homme which means that a little goes a long way. With a fresh citrus fragrance the notes of Darjeeling tea, rosewood and pepper blend beautifully to create a fragrance that has people swooning as you pass by.

A 100ml bottle costs around £30 and it is worth every penny. It oozes class and gives the wearer confidence.

The second is another aftershave from the Bvlgari stable, Bvlgari Man. This is fairly new fragrance launched in 2010 and, and has quickly become a personal favourite.

Again, a 100ml bottle is just £30 and a bottle lasts for ages. The oriental woody fragrance has notes of lotus and bergamot. The heart notes of honey really stand out after dry down and while it’s heavier than aftershaves I normally go for the sheer volume of positive comments mean that it is a must have.

In third place I was torn between choosing either Ralph Lauren Polo black or the blue version. In the end I’ve opted for blue.

While not the cheapest aftershave on the market, it can cost up to £50 for a 125ml bottle the fragrance is divine. It’s been around for over a decade and is more in line with aftershaves I go for.

It’s cool and refreshing while it has warm dry down notes that linger for well over 10 years. With a blend of cucumber and tangerine this is a fresh scent that is fruity on the nose.

Wear this and you will get noticed.

In fourth place is Acqua Di Gio by Georgio Armani which comes in at £35 for a 50ml bottle. Again, it isn’t cheap but it’s worth every penny.

Approaching 20 years since it was launched this fell into my collection after I smelt it on my dad.Crisp and cool it's sold as a bracing oceanic fragrance for men. It has an almost citrus tang to it and I’ve written about it on my blog.

The fragrance has a fresh and almost uplifting property to it and the light nature of it means that while you won’t be able to smell it those around you will – and they will adore it.

My final choice was really difficult, but after much consideration I had to pick Dreamer by Versace. A 100ml bottle is just £25 making it good value for money.

This first came into my collection when I was 16 – it was one of the first I owned and as the marketing blurb says, it does combine being fresh with warmth.

It is light, has a citrus aroma that completely disappears on dry down to an almost sensual spicy fragrance. If you haven’t tried it, you really should.

Just thinking about these fragrances evokes some very fond memories and bottles are replaced before they are even two thirds empty.

I hope you enjoyed my choices and thanks for reading - what are your favourites?

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