SEACRET… haul? Is this big enough to be a haul?

Hello again!

Today I’m going to do a review on a few SEACRET products I ended up purchasing when a charming French salesman by the name of Kobi pulled my friend and I into the booth whilst inquiring about the condition of our nails. It’s a move most SEACRET representatives use to get customers to try their products (I know my mother has been approached multiple times). In our case – it worked, mainly because we had time to kill and partially because earlier on my friend was complaining about the state of her nails (she works damn hard and deserves nice nails).

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** THE FOLLOWING IS A RECAP OF THE PRODUCTS MY FRIEND AND I WERE INTRODUCED TO – FOR REVIEWS OF THE ITEMS I ACTUALLY PURCHASED PLEASE READ BELOW THE FIRST IMAGE.

We were introduced to the SEACRET Buffing Block first off and my god we were blown away. [I’ll post a photo when I next buff my nails with it.] I own a few buffing blocks but none, and I mean NONE yielded results as amazing as this one. The nail was SO glossy – even more so than top coat finishes! The next product we tried was the SEACRET salt scrub which was great! At first I felt as though it was a bit too abrasive but when it was washed off, my hands felt baby smooth. It was great and all but it wasn’t a definitive WOW for me because I don’t do manual labour or anything that would make my hands really rough, but if you are one of these people with rough skin you might like to try this product. It also works well on other parts of your body (below the shoulders – it’s too rough for your delicate face) – particularly the heel on the soles of your feet. At this point Kobi asked us what our major concern was and we both answered our faces. He introduced us to the SEACRET Purifying Peeling Milk. We tried this on our forearms and what was scrubbed off shocked us both. A combination of dead skin cells and pollutants were gently wiped off. Kobi made a point that this was our arms which are usually covered up under layers of clothes – imagine how effective this would be on your face which is always exposed. I think he mentioned a few other things but I was too amazed at how gentle yet effective this product was. I had been gunning for a gentle exfoliating lotion for my sensitive skin and fell in love with this. We then had our faces inspected where our combination skin type was identified. He then introduced us to the fourth and final product, the SEACRET Essential Moisture Face Cream. When first applied, the cream felt a bit thick, but it thinned out and applied quite nicely. The silky smooth finish was quite amazing and I feel like this product would have done wonders for my skin in the long run however, I had too many products at home and opted not to buy this.

At the end of his sales pitch and harmless flirting, Kobi asked us what two products we were most interested in purchasing. We both instantly grabbed the SEACRET Purifying Peeling Milk w/ Apricot Seeds for All Skin Types while I grabbed the SEACRET Essential Moisture Face Cream and my friend grabbed the SEACRET Nail Kit. From here we battled to haggle the prices down. He was quite generous with his discounts, offering to apply the staff discount, but after a long day of shopping and some post – boxing day sale purchases we were pretty broke so we haggled down to the following prices:

SEACRET Purifying Peeling Milk ($75) + SEACRET Essential Moisture Face Cream ($100) = Originally $175 – discounted to $135 AUD
SEACRET Purifying Peeling Milk ($75) + SEACRET Nail Kit ($70) = Originally: $145 – discounted to $115 AUD

Now woah at the prices! And nawwwe at the discounts. I decided that the Essential Moisture Face Cream was too much and decided that I would get the Purifying Peeling Milk – not without throwing in how impressed I was with the buffing block and how much I wanted it. Kobi decided to humour me and said he would do the 150 mL SEACRET Purifying Peeling Milk ($75) and the SEACRET Nail Kit ($70) for $100 AUD. SCORE. Now, people might think that’s a ridiculous amount to pay for the Nail Kit but it includes 30 mL cuticle oil, buffing block, nail file and a full sized 200 mL Milk & Honey Body Lotion which would otherwise cost an additional $30. On top of that, they offer one year of unlimited replacements of the buffing block – which I will use soon!

Bottom line? If you guys live in Adelaide and are interested in any of these products (or any others depending on your age and skin type), and you just so happen to see Kobi – a French looking guy at the counter outside of MYER in Rundle Mall, approach him and he’ll do you a great deal!

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ONTO THE REVIEW!

From Left to Right:  SEACRET Purifying Peeling Milk w/ Apricot Seeds for All Skin Types (150 mL),  SEACRET Nail File, SEACRET Milk & Honey Body Lotion (200 mL), SEACRET Cuticle Oil (30 mL) and the SEACRET Buffing Block w/ one year unlimited replacements.

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SEACRET Purifying Peeling Milk w/ Apricot Seeds for All Skin Types (150 mL)

SEACRET™’s Purifying Peeling Milk is enriched with Dead Sea Minerals, Vitamin E, Jojoba, Orange, Sesame, Grape and Sunflower Oils. This unique product thoroughly cleans the skin, leaving it free from oils, dirt and other clogging substances while providing a gentle peeling effect. With this Dead Sea treatment, your skin is refreshed, moisturized, smooth and glowing.

Absolutely amazingly delicate exfoliator for people with sensitive skin! Seriously. I love this thing so much! It does exactly as described! It doesn’t have a definitive scent but there is a subtle refreshing smell… Something I can’t quite put my finger on. You are supposed to use this 2-3 times a week but I have very sensitive skin so I choose to use this once a week.

To apply:

On damp skin lather a small amount of SEACRET’s Dead Sea Purifying Peeling Milk in circular motions for a full Dead Sea Minerals absorption, rinse thoroughly with warm water.

The apricot seeds are not abrasive to the point of pain but you do feel it work when you’re applying and massaging this peeling milk into your face. Unlike a few products in this category that I have tried, the SEACRET purifying peeling milk does not dry out my skin. After washing it off, my face feels significantly softer, appears so much smoother and leaves a refreshing sensation. There are alcohol products and fragrance in the ingredients list however, I believe it is a small portion (do not quote me on this) because my skin usually dries out pretty badly when exposed to alcohol products. I highly recommend this product for people with sensitive skin where drugstore brand exfoliators are too abrasive, dry your skin out or break you out. It is on the pricier side unfortunately, so purchase it if you’re willing to fork out the full price of $75 or even if you haggle your way down to x amount, just be aware of your skin sensitivity as it may not yield the same results for you as it does for me.

I don’t know if you can see the apricot seeds in the image below clearly – but they are there and offer gentle yet effective exfoliation:

The creamy part actually goes transparent when rubbed but I took a photo before it was completely absorbed (apricot seeds are more visible in this image):

And all washed off! Leaving baby soft skin:

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SEACRET Nail Kit including the SEACRET Nail File, SEACRET Milk & Honey Body Lotion (200 mL), SEACRET Cuticle Oil and the SEACRET Buffing Block w/ one year unlimited replacements.

I’m just going to say that overall, the Nail file sucks. It is only borderline acceptable if you want to do very fine and minute filing. You can get nail files for $2 – $3 that have a very abrasive side and a very fine side that will do a much better job than this one.

The Cuticle Oil (30 mL) is used for:

…moisturising fingernail area, softening the skin and helping to prevent dryness.

All you need to do is rub the oil on the surrounding skin of your fingernails for it to absorb.
I have mixed feelings about this product. When I apply it, there’s nothing overly moisturizing about it but after some consistent use I notice that my cuticles aren’t as dried out. This could have to do with my constant use of hand cream or the Milk and Honey Body Lotion. There is a generous amount of cuticle oil in the bottle which does last a while – depending on how frequently you choose to apply it. 

The Buffing Block – the star of this little show bag – or is it? I still think it’s pretty amazing. It’s got 3 main sides:

Step 1: Use blue coarse side
Step 2: Use grey soft side
Step 3: Use white side

I have this habit of always having my nails painted because I dislike the look of my natural nails. As a result, my nails have or should I say – had a yellow stain (?) to them. Since then I’ve been using a nail whitening base coat for all my nails. But after using this buffing block, most of the yellow that was so prominent in daylight, was gone. I have also gotten into the habit of using this buffing block before applying my nail polish for a much smoother even finish. It is also interesting to note that some people (including my mother)  believe that buffing your nails will make it easier for the nail polish to peel off and chip but I have found the opposite to be true.
The one downside to this is that the sides of the buffer are most effective in the first couple of uses and after some time, much more effort is required to achieve the same results as earlier on. I believe SEACRET feel the same way, therefore offering the 1 year unlimited replacement guarantee.

Last and certainly not least is the Milk and Honey Body Lotion (200 mL) ($30 AUD if purchased separately).

SEACRET™’s Body Lotion is a lighter hydrating balm of our Dead Sea products that is instantly absorbed by the skin and provides a smooth, healthy look. This unique combination of Dead Sea Minerals together with natural ingredients immediately replenishes the skin’s hydration to its optimum level and leaves the skin relaxed, supple, silky soft and radiant all day. Seacret’s Body Lotion is a great Dead Sea lotion.

This body lotion has worked wonders for me. I’ve always had problems with uneven dry skin on my arms and legs but after applying this, my skin has improved so much! This has replaced my Aveeno Skin Relief Moisturizing Lotion which was good but not overly great. (I try to use up the skin care products I have before purchasing new items.) After one application, there is a noticeable improvement. I have tried to take a photo of this but have failed miserably – oh well, you’re stuck looking at them /posts below.
After application, my skin feels super smooth and hydrated. It is an easy to work with consistency and there is matte/dewy finish – no oily residues. I really love the Milk and Honey scent too. It’s not exactly subtle but not overwhelming. With 200 mL of product in this tube, this will last me a while because I tend to use small amount at each application. As amazing as this product is and as much as I love it, I believe that there are more hydrating and cheaper products out there but for now I will continue to use and abuse this product!

What the body lotion looks like straight out of the tube:

After the lotion has been applied – I don’t know if you can see a noticeable difference in photos but it’s pretty obvious in real life:

If anyone uses products from the SEACRET Range that they would like to recommend, I would be interested in hearing about it. They have a few ranges (including Age Defying and for men) but those don’t apply to me haha.

It be bed time! Why do I always finish doing these posts so late at night?

Night blogosphere!

Signing off`

Rayne.

• 2013
• almond
• body
• buffer
• buffing block
• cuticle
• exfoliate
• honey
• lotion
• milk
• nail
• nail buffer
• nail file
• oil
• SEACRET
• seeds
• spa