ellixi Vegas Perfume Review

Press Sample (Unaffiliated Links)

ellixi Vegas Perfume is a cruelty-free, limited ingredient natural fragrance that is calming and comforting. The scent, which is aptly described as an amalgam of floral and herbal aromas, is a wonderfully peaceful scent that is the perfect antidote to the hustle and bustle of a busy city. It is sweet, but not too sweet, and the convenient roll-on makes it very easy to carry and reapply. I like this perfume so much that I want to try their other fragrances. ellixi products, which are made in the US, are sustainable, eco-friendly and a joy to use. The aroma is neither cloying, nor too assertive, and it will not enter the room before you do!

According to ellixi,

Ellixi’s Vegas Perfume features a calming blend of chamomile and valerian essential oils, offering a soothing contrast to the excitement of the city that never sleeps. The warm, herbal notes of chamomile mix beautifully with the grounding essence of valerian, creating a relaxing and tranquil scent. Perfect for those seeking a moment of serenity amidst the hustle and bustle, Vegas Perfume provides a sense of calm and balance with its comforting and restorative fragrance.

Ingredients: Chamomile Essential Oil, Valerian Essential Oil, Coconut Oil.

Select Ingredients and Their Attributes:

Chamomile Essential Oil: Gentle and calming with a soft floral aroma, it creates a soothing and tranquil top note that promotes relaxation.

Valerian Essential Oil: Earthy and grounding, it adds a deep, herbal base note that enhances the sense of calm and balance in the fragrance.

Coconut Oil: A lightweight, nourishing carrier oil that ensures the soothing blend adheres to the skin, allowing the calming notes to linger softly throughout the day.

Directions: Before applying the perfume, ensure your skin is completely dry, especially if you’re applying it post-shower. Avoid moist areas to prevent water from diluting the fragrance or getting into the roller ball mechanism. Apply to Pulse Points: wrists, neck, and behind the ears. After each use, wipe the roller ball with a clean, dry tissue to remove any residue or moisture, ensuring the perfume stays fresh and uncontaminated.

Store in a Cool, Dry Place: After use, store the perfume in a cool, dry place.

Overall Assessment: This is such a nice fragrance, and I constantly sniff my wrists when I am wearing it. What a wonderful discovery!

Discount code for Lola's Secret Beauty Blog Readers: LOLASSECRET10

They always offer free shipping on orders over $59!

$22.00 for 10 ml from ellixi (Unaffiliated Links). Press Sample. All views expressed are categorically my own. 

Copyright © 2025 www.lolassecretbeautyblog.com All Rights Reserved.

Aftelier Perfumes Gift Guide Extraordinaire

All Images Courtesy of Mandy Aftel (Unaffiliated Link)

My dear friend, Mandy Aftel (shown above), has put together a lovely gift guide of her amazing Aftelier Perfumes creations, and I just had to share them with you!

☞ For the person who looks forward to cleansing their face with a gentle balm: Our luxurious and nourishing facial cleanser: Berry Cleansing Balm ($60.00. Reviewed HERE).

☞ For the person who would enjoy applying perfume from a sumptuous Sterling flask: Silver Perfume Flask ($300). 

According to Mandy Aftel, "Everything about perfume should be beautiful, including its vessel, which led me to design this sterling silver flask complete with a silver dauber. The flask holds a little less than a quarter-ounce of perfume and is handmade by a silversmith in Mexico. Carried in a bag or pocket and refilled over the years, it will become part of your daily ritual and part of your history." Refills available starting at $140.

☞ For the person who likes to keep their options open: Mini Trio of perfumes ($155) Select 3 perfumes in the most irresistible tiny bottles, nestled in a purple or orange silk pouch. 

☞ For the person who wants to learn how to make natural perfume: Natural Perfume Workbook and Essence Kit ($700).

☞ For the person who loves scent but may not want to wear it on their skin:
Perfume Pomander ($75). Choose from any of our 20 liquid perfumes. 

☞ For the person who can't decide which one of our solid perfumes is their favorite: Let them pick two! Double Solid Perfume in Sterling Case ($550).

☞ For the budding alchemist: Our newly revised edition of Essence and Alchemy: A Natural History of Perfume ($18. Featured HERE).

☞ For that special person (including you): A one-of-a-kind antique case filled with solid perfume: Antique Cases ($310-500). 

Visit: www.aftelier.com

Aftelier Perfumes Cuir de Gardenia Perfume: A Sublime and Covet-Worthy Aroma to Behold

Press Samples (Unaffiliated Links)

When the Makeup Wars! team decided to feature signature, or favorite, perfumes– I immediately knew that I wanted to sing the praises of Aftelier Perfumes Cuir de Gardenia Perfume, which I reviewed several years ago (#repost). This is such a special perfume that you really must smell and wear it to allow its complexity to unfurl. Replete with the intoxicating aroma of gardenia, this sophisticated floral merges with leather in what can only be described as an unachievable ethereal wonderment for anyone other than Mandy Aftel. 

Aftelier Perfumes is an extraordinary atelier perfumer, and everything created by Mandy Aftel is magical. Her deftly created masterpieces often feature unexpected combinations, and surprising juxtapositions of scents that are so wondrous and sublime that love quickly gives way to unmitigated obsession. Her scents are utterly captivating, and these creations are at once evocative and penetratingly visceral. When one slowly and deeply inhales her perfumes and elixirs one is quickly enveloped and enraptured by their complexity. Each of the individual elements slowly unfurls as they undergo metamorphosis against warm skin. The inevitable result, with Mandy's creations, is a perfectly balanced intoxicating scent that is far more than the sum of its parts. As any fan of Aftelier Perfumes will surely attest, everything that Mandy creates has an ethereal quality that inspires profound wonderment. Her creations are so masterfully articulated that they are truly works of art.

Aftelier Cuir de Gardenia, which is available in solid and liquid forms, features the beautiful, and albeit unexpected, combination of the most intoxicating exotic gardenia accentuated by the warmth, depth and richness of leather. There is an undeniable sensual earthiness that is offset by the rich floral, and the intersection of these commingled scents is otherworldly. The leather modifies and softens the edges of the gardenia, and the gardenia itself is modified by the presence of the jasmine grandiflorum absolute. This combination is inexplicably rich, warm and complex. At times, one detects the emergence of what can only be likened to a rich and creamy ylang-ylang that immediately soothes the senses and quiets the mind. This is no ordinary or predictable gardenia, but instead a very sensual and rich permutation brought to life by Mandy's visionary approach to perfume-making. This is at once an intensely elegant, uncompromisingly decadent fragrance, and it is unequivocally the most strikingly sexy scent imagined. Cuir de Gardenia is one of those rare scents that I could wear everyday for the rest of my life and never tire of its aroma. Cuir de Gardenia is a true artistic masterpiece, and most assuredly the most decadent and sensual gardenia conceived.

According to Aftelier Perfumes,

Cuir de Gardenia retains the unique beauty of the tiare flower, not allowing it to morph into the hundreds of petals of a floral bouquet. I had been incredibly fortunate to find an artisanal grower and distiller of the ultra-rare, costly, precious gardenia. In Cuir de Gardenia, I wanted to retain the pure loveliness of the creamy sweet and singular gardenia fragrance, and knew that the rounded warmth of an oil-based perfume (solid and extrait) would be the perfect format.

Cuir de Gardenia is unusual in that it has no top notes; I created it in such a way that the gardenia appears immediately, unimpeded from the opening of the perfume onward, merging seamlessly with the leather. The natural isolates ethyl phenyl acetate (reminiscent of a bunch of sweet peas) and the candy-like maltol contribute sweet and floral notes to the animalic base of the perfume.

Scent Family: Floral
Featured Notes:
Middle: tiare (gardenia) absolute, jasmine grandiflorum absolute, benzyl acetate.
Base: castoreum, ethyl phenyl acetate, maltol.

Liquid 0.25 ml $7.00

2 ml. $50.00
8 ml. $185.00

Available from Aftelier Perfumes 

Solid 0.25 ml $7.00

1/4 oz. $240.00

Available from Aftelier Perfumes

According to Aftelier Perfumes, 

Our compact, designed by Mandy Aftel, is handmade from one ounce of sterling silver and is presented in your choice of an orange or purple silk pouch.

Overall Assessment: If I had to choose but one scent to wear from here until the end of time, it would be the infinitely mesmerizing Cuir de Gardenia. Cuir de Gardenia is a hauntingly beautiful and bewitching scent, and if you buy one perfume this year– this should be the one! It is truly sublime.

Please click on the badges below o see which fragrances were selected by the other Makeup Wars! eam members.

Press Sample. All views expressed are categorically my own. Stock images courtesy of Aftelier Perfumes. (Unaffiliated Links).

Copyright © 2018 www.lolassecretbeautyblog.com All Rights Reserved.

An InLinkz Link-up

Introducing Valentina's Naturals: Natural & Organic Skincare Picks

Press Sample (Unaffiliated Links)

I am very pleased to introduce you to Valentina's Naturals, a new-to-me organic skincare line, that is made with all natural and organic plant-based ingredients that are non-toxic, beautifully aromatic and a true pleasure to use. The new year always represents new beginnings, and it is therefore the perfect time to add a few healthy skincare products into your beauty routine.

About Valentina’s Naturals:

When formulating our products and sourcing raw materials, we look for 100% Natural, Certified Organic, Ecocert, GMO-Free, Vegan, Cruelty-Free, Conflict-Free, Sustainably-Harvested ingredients whenever possible. We reject ingredients which are pre-preserved with synthetics such as Phenoxyethanol, or suspended in Propylene Glycol, or which contain synthetic chemicals.

Unlike the majority of beauty companies today, we are committed to a 100% full disclosure labeling policy, believing that our customers have a right to make fully-informed decisions on what they choose to use on their skin.

Our first priority in sourcing any ingredient is our constant commitment to finding the highest quality and the purest source of that ingredient available in the world.

Valentina's Naturals Balancing Act Facial Oil ($24.00 for 2 oz. from Valentina's Naturals): If you have oily, combination or breakout-prone skin and have been seeking a beauty oil that can address the needs of your skin, then say hello to this superb balancing facial oil. Rather than using a drying acne treatment, this oil gives skin much-needed hydration while healing breakouts. It is lightweight, non-greasy and fast absorbing with a Tea Tree aroma. When my normal/combination breaks out, I can use this oil as a spot treatment, and it heals the breakout very quickly. Furthermore, it leaves my skin soft, supple and hydrated.

Skin Type: Oily or Combination skin

According to Valentina's Naturals,

We start with a base of Organic Grapeseed Oil, a mild, nongreasy oil that quickly soaks into skin without clogging or overwhelming the pores. We add Organic Australian Tea Tree Oil, an antimicrobial miracle treatment made famous by the Australian Army. We finish with Organic Camphor Bark Oil, long used for its ability to to treat skin irritation and chronic acne.    

Ingredients: Organic Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Organic Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba Seed) Oil, Organic Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Tocopherol (Non-GMO Sources Natural Vitamin E), Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Leaf Oil, Cinnamomum Camphora (Camphor) Bark Oil.

Valentina's Naturals Hydraboost Toning Mist ($22.00 for 4 oz. from Valentina's Naturals): This antioxidant-rich toner is formulated to speed up skin cell turnover, heal breakouts and reduce inflammation and redness. Skin is left soft, smooth, hydrated and balanced. Furthermore, it offers skin a refreshing pick-me-up.

Skin Type: Oily or Combination skin.

According to Valentina's Naturals,

Your grandmother was right: Organic Apple Cider Vinegar works wonders on your complexion — clarifying and rebalancing your skin’s pH to make it less susceptible to invasive bacteria. We blend ours with Organic Witch Hazel Extract, a natural astringent and anti-inflammatory used medicinally in hospitals today to calm angry, swollen, irritated skin.

Your grandmother was right: Organic Apple Cider Vinegar works wonders on your complexion — clarifying and rebalancing your skin’s pH to make it less susceptible to invasive bacteria. We blend ours with Organic Witch Hazel Extract, a natural astringent and anti-inflammatory used medicinally in hospitals today to calm angry, swollen, irritated skin.

Ingredients: Distilled Water, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Leaf Water, Organic Pyrus Malus (Apple) Cider Vinegar, Organic Glycerin, Organic Aloe Vera, Organic Grape Alcohol, Lonicera Caprifolium (Honeysuckle) Extract**, Lonicera Japonica (Japanese Honeysuckle) Extract**, Glyceryl Caprylate**, Sodium Levulinate**, Sodium Anisate**. **Ecocert approved, naturally-derived preservative.

Valentina’s Naturals Hydrating Body & Massage Oil in Pure Serenity ($14.00 for 4 oz. from Valentina's Naturals): This is a delectable body and massage oil that is described as "Deeply moisturizing blend with Sweet Orange, Lavender and Cedarwood"– but the Sweet Orange is the most prominent note, but its edges are softened by the Cedarwood, and I don't detect the Lavender. It is lightweight enough to absorb quickly on damp skin, but doesn't absorb so quickly on dry skin so as to be ineffective as a massage oil.

According to Valentina's Naturals,

Deeply moisturizing and yet quickly absorbed, our body oil is a great post-bath or shower ritual for morning or night.

The sense of smell is inexorably linked with a habit and memory. From the smell of coffee in the morning to the lemon-limey fizz of gin and tonic, from fast food french fries to the oddly exhilarating sent of a shopping bag full of new clothes, our noses subconsciously lead us down many unwanted paths. This is your chance to even the playing field.

Ingredients: Organic Sunflower Oil, Proprietary Blend of 100% Natural Essential Oils.

Available Fragrances: True Love, Sunny Outlook, Soul Detox, Sweet Dreams, Sacred Incense, Pure Serenity and Prosperity.

Valentina’s Naturals True Love Perfume Oil ($14.00 for .33 oz. from Valentina's Naturals): True Love is an organic and natural perfume oil that is free from all harmful chemicals. Valentina's Naturals does not give a breakdown of its notes, but I detect a beautiful, rich rose. The convenient roller ball applicator makes this a perfect travel companion.

According to Valentina's Naturals,

Whether you are a single person looking to boost your love energy or a couple celebrating an anniversary or patching a rough spot in your relationship, this intoxicating natural scent blend can help set the mood.

Naturally free from harmful chemicals, petroleum-based artificial fragrances and drying alcohol, this little perfume roller lets you stay focused on your highest intentions all day long.

Ingredients: Organic Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower Oil) Seed Oil, Organic Simmondsia Chinesis (Jojoba) Seed Extract, Proprietary Blend of 100% Natural Essential Oils, Tocopherol (Natural Vitamin E).

Overall Assessment: I am very impressed by my first introduction to Valentina's Naturals, and look forward to further investigating their lovely products.

Press Sample. All views expressed are categorically my own.
Copyright © 2017 www.lolassecretbeautyblog.com All Rights Reserved.