Decleor Gift Set Review

If you read my Birthday and Christmas present post, then you may have noticed I was just a little excited to have received this Decleor Gift Set! :) I've decided in the past few months that I really should try to stick to brands that use natural ingredients so my incredibly sensitive skin hopefully won't react. Decleor is one of a just a few big brands that use 100% natural, preservative free ingredients. With their strong ethos on the benefits of using aromatherapy and essentials oils for the skin I was really intrigued to try their products out.

The Price

Unfortunately one big downside already to Decleor is the price. I was lucky enough to receive this as a present, but ordinarily I doubt I could afford their products. Having said that, their packaging is gorgeous and I love how all the products are presented.

Inside the box. . .

The gift set included: 

Aromessence Angelique – 5ml 

Nutridivine Nutriboost Soft Cream – 50ml 

Aromessence Lip Balm – 10ml 

Angelique Night Balm – 2.5ml

The part I'm a little annoyed about...  

In choosing this set, I was given a lovely consultation by a Decleor woman who was actually a trained aromatherapist herself and seemed to know quite a bit about the ingredients that go into the products. On her recommendation I decided to try Decleor's Hydration Gift Set. However, I did stress to her how sensitive and reactive my skin can be and so was a little puzzled as to why she was quite insistent I try this instead of their 'soothing' set for sensitive skin. Later I realised she had actually given me the Nourishing Set! I'm guessing this was by mistake, but at this stage I was beginning to wonder if Decleor were simply trying to get rid of their Christmas box sets and this was one of the last they had?
Still, I decided to try the products, which promised on the label to 'offer extreme comfort and protection' . . .

Decleor Nutriboost Soft Cream

As with all the products I tried from this gift set, I have to say that this moisturiser has a lovely natural fragrance and the quality of the product was clear. It has a velvety light feeling, even though it's a rich cream, that felt lovely on my skin.
I really did absolutely love this product at first. . . . but about a week later dry patches had formed all over my skin, which also began to feel extremely raw. It was clear that I was having a bad reaction to the product, which only stopped when I finally gave up on using it.

Aromessence Angelique

This lovely oil came in a sweet glass container that I really was excited to try. Oils are heaven for my dry skin, which I've come to love using at night. Again I used this for a week and whilst at first I loved the smoothing effect it had, a week later I was left with raw, red skin on my cheeks and in addition I had broken out quite a bit on my chin (not very pleasant at all!). I was so perplexed by my reaction to these products as I really thought the natural ingredients and consultation would have ensured that I would be suited to them... or at least not have a full on reaction to them!

After a little research I have actually discovered that the essential oil, Angelique, can often cause reactions in very sensitive skin.

Angelique Night Balm

No surprise, the night balm also caused a reaction, which again I think I have to put down to the ingredient, Angelique. Other than that, the balm felt quite nice and was of quite a thick consistency, but actually made my skin a little greasy. Unlike the other products I wasn't really sure about the smell either or the yellow colouring, and I have to say that if I hadn't reacted to it I still doubt this would be a product I would have bought again. The balm in this set is also just a mere 2.5ml! So that was also another factor making me a little unhappy....it was barely more, perhaps even less, than you'd be given as a sample.

Aromessence Lip Balm

Ah finally, I can write something positive! This lip balm is absolutely lovely. It has a calming, herbal scent and moisturises the lips to an extent that my Carmex or Vaseline never have. It honestly leaves your lips soft and supple, and I really do recommend it! I also again love the packaging and there seems to be no sign of it running out anytime soon.

All in all, whilst Decleor do produce lovely products with exquisite packaging, out of this whole box set the only item I've been able to carry on using is the lip balm. Rather than being an angry at the whole situation, I guess I really have to put this experience down to my ultra sensitive skin becoming increasingly intolerant to a lot of different ingredients. However, I still do wonder why I wasn't given the set for sensitive skin.

Now I've been debating whether I should take the set back (even though its used)? I'm not sure on brands policies on this, so I'd really love a bit of advice girls!

What's your experience been with Decleor? Any similar stories?