The Spa Sample Series (7) : Le Masque Hazelia's Rose Hydro Whitening Renewal Facial Scrub Gel

It's time for another Le Masque Hazelia outing! By the way, I am finally able to blog a bit more because my training at work has ended. Previously, I'd get home and still have to finish the exercises and test cases. Hallelujah, it's all over. I was also struck by this thought recently - if I keep looking forward to the weekends, that's only 2 days a week that I look forward to. Poor statistics... let's try to look forward to EVERY SINGLE DAY OF OUR LIFE.

**this message has been brought to you by Drug Store Beauty. Free of charge. ;) **

Anyway. Since I had time to thoroughly "enjoy" my experience with LMH, I picked out the Rose Hydro Whitening Renewal Facial Scrub Gel to wash my face after work today. One thing I have to say --- why does Le Masque Hazelia need such long and overtly descriptive names for their products? They seem to find no middle ground. It's either something long like this, or something like "Ultra Gel" that has me wondering what the heck is it for. My face? My body? My teeth?

Straight out from the packet, the facial gel actually smells quite good. Like, a very light rose scent. The gel is.. really like a gel, which I found weird for a face wash. I don't think I've actually ever used a sticky gel kinda face wash before. They are usually cream like... I think the closest I've used is my Simple face wash... but even that wasn't a sticky kinda gel like this one. Le Masque Hazelia is definitely pushing boundaries and innovations with this creation. Lol.

I don't know if you can see it, but the face gel is also a very light pink rose in color. In terms of looks, I would have to say this is pretty interesting. I was also curious -- why is this a scrub, but there are no exfoliating beads whatsoever? How is it going to "scrub" when they have nothing to scrub with? I was actually sorely disappointed by this.

As usual (for Le Masque Hazelia standards)... what smells ok from afar smells like a chemical factory on your face. I tell you... I nearly choked on the rose stench when I was ACTUALLY washing my face with this. ~_~ Why couldn't they have make it less .... odorific. Is this product actually for people who can't smell properly? So they have to make everything super strong?

Oh, and this gel was really weird. Like, once I rubbed it between my hands (trying to get a good lather), it started BALLING up. Then I realised that this was one of those "scrubs" which so-call ball the dirt on your face up. As you keep rubbing the gel on your face, you will see these little balls forming. However, I don't know if those balls are actually the dirt coming off your face or just the gel naturally turning into gel balls. Lol. I don't know how to explain this further, and the following pictures just don't show in full glory what this gel does :


The gel also leaves a rather strange sensation on my face and fingers. I really don't know how to explain it. Maybe.... why are my fingers all pruned up from washing my face with this gel? Maybe that's the strange sensation. I don't know. It's not like it didn't feel cleansed, (though I had the urge to wash my face again after using this) it just felt like something wasn't right...

Though not scandalously bad, and its weirdness intrigues me, I don't think I could bring myself to buy this and continuously use it over a period of time.

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The Spa Sample Series (6) : Le Masque Hazelia's Foot Massage Cream

There's just something about having a lack of things to review that will bring me to torture myself with Le Masque Hazelia stuff. ;) Anyway, I misread the packet and thought it was a foot SCRUB cream. Thinking I was due for a foot scrub anyway, why not use an LMH one even though I'm used to luxury like Lush. :P Clearly, my mistake --- it says foot MASSAGE cream. Slightly disappointed, but hey --- it's still a form of pampering the footsies, right?

This is how it looks like inside the packet --- I actually thought that it looks like marjerine. Do you agree? In fact, the texture and how it feels on my skin is also like marjerine. Hmmm... *suspicious*

It attempts to have a floral scent that I have to admit is one of the more "acceptable" smells from Le Masque Hazelia. It also smells really familiar... maybe some cheap spa had used this foot massage cream on me before! Grr.. anyway, it smoothens your feet and doesn't leave it feeling TOO oily (but of course slightly oily so you can rub your feet better). It actually DOES feel quite nice, so once again - an alright product from Le Masque Hazelia!! (My friend who reads my reviews says that it's so funny that as long as this product doesn't burn me, I seem to like it, lol).

Would I re-buy it? Well... no, because aside from the fact that this brand is really not very trustable, I think that foot massage creams should be used on a masseuse on me, not me on myself. ;) After all, it's all about pampering right? I wouldn't feel very pampered if I had to massage my own gnarly feet, that's for sure.

Oh, and guess what? The first LMH sample I got that is actually good for TWO usages. You really don't need a lot of this to get a good rub going on your feet. :) Maybe they could make it smell a bit nicer?

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The Spa Sample Series (5) : Le Masque Hazelia's Aloe G5 Essence Gel

I was telling my friend about Le Masque Hazelia, and he asked me what does the name even mean. I reckoned that there was a girl called Hazel and she wanted to start a beauty line selling masks. She reckoned that nobody would buy stuff from her if she called it "Hazel's Masks" so she decided to go Frenchy and came up with the name "Le Masque Hazelia". He said it was a bunch of crap, so I decided to use Babelfish to translate it for me :

Then my friend said that it actually sounds more Spanish than French. Omg, he is so right! This is what Le Masque Hazelia *really* means :

Now that we've gotten that outta the way, let me tell you about the next product from them that I tried : The Aloe G5 Essence Gel! Why a G5? I suppose it is not good enough to be "like a G6"! Muwahahha. At first, I thought of using this as a face cream after the aloe-vera face scrub cream, but then I decided that with my previous (un)happy experiences with this brand, the condition of my skin was way to precious to be compromised. I decided to use it as a body moisturiser. You might think my body is a way more vast expanse of skin to risk compared to my face, but hey --- if my skin gets an awful reaction from the cream, it can still be hidden with trousers and sweaters. What can I use to hide my face? A burqa?!

Surprisingly, the jelly-like texture of this gel was not at all unpleasant. It also had a very "green" type of scent, totally different from the chemical-like face scrub. I'm always confused by Le Masque Hazelia because although products seem to belong in the same "range" (e.g: previously the 'whitening' series, and now the 'aloe' series), they don't smell anything like each other. The gel also felt cool against my hand, and very inviting.

After spreading the gel all over my limbs, I was impressed that there were no unpleasant side effects of any kind! Finally, a usable product from LMH? It also felt cooling against my skin, I suppose it's actually something like an after-sun skin care kinda gel. Hahaha. But aside from the cooling sensation (that didn't last long), there were no moisturising effects WHATSOEVER for this gel, which kinda makes me question its purpose.

It also isn't quickly absorbed, so later in the day, I was wondering why there were sticky patches on parts of my limb. Oh say WHAT? The gel is still there??? How much more do I need to rub it in?

All in all, I suppose if you HAD to buy something from LMH, I would say that this is your safest bet so far. ;)

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The Spa Sample Series (4) : Le Masque Hazelia's Aloe-Vera Face Scrub Cream

Have no idea why aloe vera is described as "aloe-vera" with the dash in between for Le Masque Hazelia, but then again this is the brand that gave me a greasy mask, burning skin and acidic whitening facial wash, so I shouldn't be surprised by anything by now. Spelling problems are hardly an issue.

I really had to brave myself up to try something from their range again, and I comforted myself by saying that I would use this "scrub" to wash off my make-up after work, and then after dinner out with my boyfriend, I would wash my face again with normal cleanser. So the "effects" of this scrub will not be for long. Hahaha!

The sample provided enough "face scrub cream" for one usage. Once I had squeezed the contents out of the packet, I was quite horrified by the smell. Nothing like the soothing, cooling aloe that I was expecting, but something that smelled VERY clinical and chemical-y. Thankfully, it was not too overpowering, or maybe I just got over the initial shock. It is still usable.. hahaha.

The first thing that caught my attention was : "Crap! Those are some big ass buffing beads!" Usually, the exfoliation beads are very small because it's supposed to be gentle on your skin. It's also better because it is exfoliating you on a micro-level. Remember when you were doing living skills back in high school? You would use the "rough" sand paper to do the inital sanding on a piece of wood, but you would use the "fine" sand paper to give it a smooth finish. I suppose Le Masque Hazelia reckons my face is at the roughest stage right now, so they need to do some macro-level sloughing.

Holding my nose, I proceeded to wash my face with this product... and gradually, I started to quite like it. I mean, yeah, the exfoliation beads are rough against my face.... but I quite like the feeling of being scratched all over my face, lol. Ok, "scratch" is a very harsh term, but I guess I have some sado-masochistic tendencies and I *like* an exfoliating face wash to feel like it's exfoliating me??

After a while though, I didn't like it again.. because it was starting to feel greasy against my face. Lol, I don't know how LMH does it. Their products always make me feel like as greasy as KFC. Also got some of it in my eye and boy is it painful.

Rinsed off, and I don't know why, but though I had just been exfoliated, I didn't feel CLEAN. In fact, I had a feeling like my eye make-up wasn't thoroughly removed. It was so disconcerting that I just had to wash my eye area again with a different face wash.

Thus ends my review of this face scrub. Worth buying? I would say no. :)

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The Spa Sample Series (3) : Le Masque Hazelia's Super Extra 150% Firming Shaping Cream

This. Is. A. Product. From. Hell.
Seriously!!
Worst thing I have ever used in my life.

If you think it's incredulous for me to say that a cream can spoil my entire day, BELIEVE IT WHEN I SAY THAT THIS CREAM CAN DO JUST THAT.

I just thank God that I didn't get any allergic reactions from using this, else my life would truly be effed. As it is, I am just thankful that the burning sensations have finally stopped --- approximately 10 hours from when I first started using it.

I'm surprised there aren't any other reviews online damning this product, because seriously... this is the most dangerous shit ever. WTF. This is what the product claims to be able to do :

• Effective for shaping the body (HOW? WTF!)
• Fat burning (HOW? WTF!)
• Combat stubborn cellulites (HOW? WTF!)
• Contours & firms body to give you a desired body (HOW? WTF!)
• DIY and wrap with Bengkung for a home session. (HOW? WTF!)

I've used one of those "shaping" / "firming" creams before from Marie France and later, I had a friend tell me that it truly works by helping you "sweat" more. I dont' know the science behind it. To me, the Marie France didn't work, so I wasn't expecting anything much from this sample. I actually thought it would be similar to my Boot's Botanics firming cream, which leaves a "tightening" sensation to fool you into thinking some miracles are happening in your body, but the "tightening" sensation fades away and you realise you still have underarm dingle-dangle.

When I first squeezed out the contents from that little packet, I was delighted at how "cute" and "inviting" it looked. The light green gel looked and felt cooling on my hand, and it came out like bits of konnyaku jelly. :) Again, as with all the other samples from this brand, it seemed like too much for one usage, but too little for two usages. I spread a generous amount all over my tummy area and the rest I put it on my upper thighs. I expected a light burning sensation as is typical with "fat burning" creams. After waiting a while (for the cream to absorb), it still didn't feel like anything. Disappointed, I continued dressing up.

However, once I got my dress on.. omg, that's when the burning sensations really started. It was tingly, at first, so when my bf picked me up, I was kinda enjoying the burning sensations. Only... they never stopped. FML. In fact, it got more and more intense until there were points where I felt like I couldn't even walk properly. When my bf asked me what was wrong, I told him about the fat burning cream.

"Where did you put it?"
"My stomach"
"Eh, you shouldn't simply use stuff just because it's free you know."
"I knoooowwowowowowowww..."
"Cos the stomach is near your uterus... it's harmful."
"Wtf!"

I don't think it penetrated that deeply, my dear. I would seriously compare the feeling of the burning sensations to the time I got chilli oil on my fingers when trying to make aglio olio. Of course, that time was worse because I was using birds eye chilli which is REALLY intense. My fingers were swollen. Strangely, though my stomach was burning up, my upper thighs were feeling relatively normal. I wondered why. At first I reckoned it was because I put a majority of the cream on my stomach, but the more I thought about it, it's not like the upper thighs didn't get any cream at all.

Then, I was vain and decided that this cream was really smart and it was targetting FAT. Therefore, my upper thighs didn't have any fat! This idea lingered for about 0.0001 seconds in my brain. Obviously my upper thighs have fat, this was not a logical explanation. Then I reckoned it must be due to the "wrapping". I started feeling the burning sensation when my dress enveloped my stomach. Therefore, I pressed my thighs together and waited for the burning sensation to start. After a while, it did... ~_~

Finally, what really made me think that this product has chilli oil inside it --- though I washed my hands after putting on the cream ... like chilli oil, washing with water doesn't get rid of the sensation so easily. At one point in the day, I had to take off my contact lenses... and holy crap, when I put it back in ... I was in a hell lot of pain. Imagine someone squirting chilli into your eye. You like that, huh? It was totally horrific. My eye / contact lens kept acting up the rest of the day. Thanks a lot Le'masque Hazelia.

And having burning sensations over your thighs and stomach for more than 10 hours is no joke. Just like chilli oil, bathing and trying to wash off the cream seemed to reactivate the cream again instead of lessening the pain. Just when I thought it was all over... after a bath... everything started tingling again.

For people who think that this would work --- I'm so sure that there's no fat burning involved that I would smear this cream over my breasts. That's how willing I am to show that there won't be any fat loss at all. If you like burning sensations that much, why don't you just rub some chillis over yourself, you will be dancing like the devil.

Definitely the worst product from Le Masque Hazelia that I've tried out so far, but then again this is only the 3rd item and I have a long way to go. *sigh* If I hadn't been frightened off by the whitening mask, this 150% shaping firming cream does quite a good job of detering me. Who *are* these people who buy this products? Which spas would put this cream on their customers and risk them being in pain for the next 10 hours? Lol...

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The Spa Sample Series (2) : Le'masque Hazelia Whitening Mask

Since I used the whitening cleanser, it made sense to try the Le'masque Hazelia Whitening Mask after that, no? I expected the product to be similar to the whitening foam in smell and texture (since they are part of the same range??), but it was quite different. By the way, once again, there are no directions or ingredients listed on the sample, so I just winged it. I told myself that I would have the mask on for 15 minutes, but because I got so engrossed with a program that I was tracing, I wound up having it on for 30 minutes. By then, I felt like my face was getting SUPER oily...


The amount of product inside the sample packet was weird. Like, too much for one usage, but too little for 2 usages... so I just smeared everything all over my face. The texture of the product was like... face paint. SERIOUSLY. It goes on your face like face paint too! I suppose if you had to be a mime for some costume party, you could use this instead of face paint. =p

The smell of the product was (thankfully) not as acidic as the whitening cleansing foam (I'm now super convinced there's bleach inside, lol). It smells strongly of ... vanilla essence and something light and fruity. But STRONGLY of the vanilla essence. It made me think of how it's like when I'm baking, so it was good. =)

Got darn a lot of bad points about this mask though. First of all, I don't like the texture and the feeling of the mask on my face. Like I said --- it feels like face paint. You put it on too long (I reckon the 30 minutes was too long?) and you will feel your face getting super oily. It's a pain to remove the mask too! Though at the end of 30 minutes it feels like it's "tightening up" on your skin, in fact it's not dried and cannot be peeled off. I suppose that if this is a product to be used in spas, they won't want the therapist to rip something off the customer's skin, haha.

So you gotta wet the mask a bit with water and just ... wash it off. Only, it takes DARN DARN long to wash everything off and things can get a little bit messy. Of course, since this is just one usage, I didn't expect my face to become miraculously whiter. I think that would scare anyone. The only good bit (I suppose) is that my skin felt a wee bit softer after that.

Anyway, I guess I'm biased because I really prefer the ease of paper masks... but this is really quite bad in my books for cream masks too. I cannot describe to you fully how GREASY this thing feels on my skin. Euchh!

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The Spa Sample Series : Le'masque Hazelia

Finally got started on the "spa samples" that my friend got from me from some roadshow. As mentioned, I got a whole stack of samples from Le'masque Hazelia, and I was very, very, very scared of starting to use the products because there are no ingredient listings and no directions on how to use them! I decided to get started on the whitening cleansing foam because --- hey, how much directions do you need to use a facial cleanser, eh?

So this is the "Whitening Cleansing Foam" from LE'masque Hazelia (it's actually a Malaysian brand, but "Doesn't it sound so French" <--- my friend who got me the samples). Each packet is good for ONE use, so I don't think that I can really give a good GUESStimate on how effective the product is for my skin.

Upon opening the packet, this is the sight that greeted me :
The smell from the lotion was... zomg, so strong! It smelled REALLY citrusy, so at first I was really excited to use it. Except that when it was ACTUALLY ON MY FACE, it smelled more ACIDIC and less CITRUSY. Hahaha. I was really scared that the "whitening" was by bleaching my dang face!

Aside from that, mmm... yeah, it foams up nicely, but the strong acidic / citrus smell was a bit distracting. Also didn't like the initial texture, and my skin felt a bit "tight" after everything was washed off. Would probably not buy again, but then again, I don't know where to repurchase it either. :\\

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