My November Essence Beauty Box arrived after Thanksgiving with even more goodies for me to try.

This months box included the following items:

DevaCurl No-Poo Decadence and DevaCurl One Condition Decadence

Suave Professionals Moroccan Infusion Body Lotion

Fekkai Hair Fragrance Mist

Black Opal Color Splurge Matte Lipstick

Smashbox Full Exposure Mascara

I’ve now tried all five products so let’s get to the reviews!

DevaCurl No-Poo Decadence: I have heard great things about this product. This sulfate free no-poo shampoo cleanser says that it will clean your hair without the suds. I followed the directions according to the back of the container. Perhaps I am just conditioned to the suds because I couldn’t really tell if my hair was clean. I washed twice to make sure. However, once I got out of the shower I found that there was still some residue left behind. I followed up with the

DevaCurl One Condition Decadence: I left it in my hair as one of the beauty editors suggested. The conditioner made most of my curls more defined. I say “most” because There is one part of my hair that won’t curl no matter what I do. 

I used the Cleanser again this time within a week and found that my scalp was cleaned better. I think this is a product that works best when you have a shorter wash window. When my hair is straightened, I tend to wash my hair in a 2-3 week time frame. I would like to try this product once more when I get my hair flat ironed by my stylists to see how it does. So for now, I like it but I don’t love it. 

Suave Professionals Moroccan Infusion Body Lotion: I have had Moroccan oil put on my hair before. Initially it smelled pretty good, but then the smell would linger and began to annoy me. Remember, I am a little sensitive to most fragrances. I found this lotion to be moisturizing but I could not stand the smell of it on my hands. I was really hoping I would like it. If you have ever used Moroccan oil on your hair, this is what this lotion smells like. If you like the hair oil, then you will like the lotion. Never smelled Moroccan oil? It has sweet smell-in my opinion-not quite vanilla-ish. In all honesty I don’t know how to describe the smell. This is one you will have to try. Luckily Suave products are usually on the affordable side. It is $4.74 for an 18 oz bottle on Amazon.com. All in all it was an ok product. One thumb up.

Fekkai Hair Fragrance Mist: I have very rarely had to use a fragrance mist on my hair. Sometimes if I have been in a smoky place and I need to freshen up my hair so I don’t go around smelling like smoke, then I would use some body splash in my hair. However, the alcohol in body splashes supposedly are not good for hair which makes the Fekkai fragrance mist just right. It is supposed to add shine and control frizz. I noticed none of that in my hair. The fragrance I received was the Rose Fraiche.  I was under the impression it would smell like Rose…um…it didn’t. This product did nothing for me except give a light, non-rose smell for about 5 seconds. Thumbs down.

Black Opal Color Splurge: This is the featured product from a black owned business in this month’s box. If you haven’t heard about Black Opal, they’ve been around since 1994 and have developed a collection of  beauty and skin care products that service the unique needs of skin of color for both men and women. The sample was a very tiny but cute lipstick. I would have loved to carry this in my purse…if I were a lipstick person. I usually wear clear or nearly nude lip glosses. I have recently started wearing a wine colored lip crayon and love the darker color on my lips. So jumping back to this very bright red lipstick in the beauty box this month, I could tell from looking at it, that it was not going to go well with my skin color. I tried it on anyway. It was a pretty color but it seemed really bright on me. I did not think it looked well. Perhaps I needed to be dressed like I was going somewhere other than Walgreen’s. It felt nice on and had some pretty good moisture for a lipstick. You can see in the pictures how it looked. Perhaps me disliking this lipstick had more to do with my comfort level of wearing red lipsticks. I am sure that I could pull it off at a snazzy party but for now, I am not feeling it. Thumbs in my pocket.

Smashbox Full Exposure Mascara: What I liked about this mascara was that the sample brush was the same as the full size brush and the mascara didn’t give me crunchy lashes. I did not care for then round, big brush though. I struggle with big brushes, always getting the mascara on my eyelids. I have a mascara routine that I feel gives me a good length and volume. I found that Smashbox Full Exposure gave me the length but not the volume I already had. I am glad I got to try it. It’s got great reviews on Amazon. It just was not for me. One thumb up.

As you can tell I didn’t have as great of an experience with beauty box products for November as I did in October but that is OK. That’s what sampling products is all about. You win some, you lose some. I am looking forward to the December Beauty Box!

Oh and just to speak on Essence’s customer service, they sent a cute beauty bag to keep all my sample products in. Apparently, my box had arrived late and this was a gift to make-up for it. I did not even realize it was late. So thank you to Essence for considering your consumers.