Friday, September 12, 2014

By Unknown
Although most of what I've tried from Blooddrop has been their perfumes, as I mentioned in the Company Overview we posted about them, they do dabble in other areas such as bath and beauty products and corsetry. I received an order of one of their facial care products, Eau Douce Floral & Herbal Facial Mist ($18 for a 4 oz amber spray bottle), with an order I placed recently, and thought I'd let you know what my impressions are.

The product description reads as follows:

"Eau Douce (translation: soft water) is a floral and herbal facial mist. It contains a natural and beneficial blend of organic hydrosols aimed to refresh, sooth, heal and pamper your skin! Eau Douce is a blend of rose, calendula, chamomile and rose geranium hydrosols. It has been tested on a variety of skin types with lovely results. Psoriasis and rosacea test bunnies reported quieter skin. Also, wonderful for soothing break-out prone skin and preempting further breakouts. Equally suited for a simple refreshing treat to the face on hot days or during travel where the skin tends to dehydrate.

Because this product does not contain any preservatives (which is a good thing), the suggested shelf life for Eau Douce is approximately 12 months from date of purchase. Keeping it in the refrigerator will help prolong the life and add a zing when using it! Eau Douce has a light, natural herbal scent that passes when the spray has dried. Eau Douce is available in an amber 4oz. bottle with a fine mist spray cap.

This is a vegan product and cruelty-free.

Eau Douce Ingredients: Rosa damascena (rose) hydrosol, Pelargonium graveolens (rose geranium) hydrosol., Matricaria recutita (chamomile) hydrosol, Calendula officinalis (calendula) hydrosol."

The sample comes in a small plastic spray bottle with a non-waterproof label (so mine is already water-spotted). Unfortunately, it seems to jet out the facial mist very powerfully, as though it were pepper spray. My arms weren't long enough to get the bottle at a comfortable distance from my face, so I wound up with the mist kind of dripping off my skin. I'm sure the packaging for the full size product is different, but unfortunately, I can't speak to how well or poorly it sprays--which I think is an important aspect of a product like this.

One of the main reasons I would use a facial mist is to "melt" powder into the skin and take down the cakey appearance if I've applied too much powder. I usually use a setting spray for this purpose, like Urban Decay De-Slick, but I think Eau Douce could serve this purpose as well.

It could also be a nice refreshing treat in the summertime (which, here in the Northern Hemisphere, we're sadly moving out of) and that is a great advantage over using a setting spray--I wouldn't feel comfortable spritzing my face repeatedly with a setting spray just for funzies; I'd prefer to use it just once, right after putting on makeup. Though conversely, this probably has no advantages for making makeup last--it most likely does the opposite.

I did enjoy the smell, which is light and pleasant and mostly like rosewater, with some more bitter herbal elements from the chamomile and calendula.

Since I don't have psoriasis or rosacea, I can't speak to how well it soothes those conditions. On my normal skin, it feels nice but not exceptional.

Price-wise: given that this has 4 ingredients that are most likely just mixed raw with no further steps, it seems easy to duplicate to a greater or lesser degree. On the Mountain Rose Herbs site, you can get rose hydrosol for $4.50 for 3 oz, rose geranium for $7.25 for 3 oz, chamomile hydrosol for $8.25 for 3 oz, and calendula hydrosol for $8.50 for 3 oz. An equal mixture of these would average out to $2.38 per oz, so it would cost around $9.50 (plus packaging) to create your own version with minimal fuss. People's tolerance for DIY projects varies, so it may be worth it to you to pay $18 for someone else to mix and package the hydrosols. I'm not sure it is for me.

And OK, real talk: the lack of preservatives alarms me.  I read this fairly horrifying post recently, about someone opening a bottle of setting spray to discover they'd been misting moldy water all over their face. I guess Urban Decay removed preservatives from the reformulation of their setting spray (I've only used the old formula) and MOLD ENSUED. Which could potentially happen here as well, and that is really the main thing that would keep me from purchasing this product.

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