Thursday, November 10, 2011

Haul and Review: Ophelia's Apothecary

Have you heard about Heartsy, lovelies? It's a voucher website that features handmade goodies, from jewelery, stationery, home decor to bath and body products; I found out about it at the beginning of September, got super excited (who doesn't love an awesome deal?) and prompty purchased my first voucher ($19 for $41) to Ophelia's Apothecary, an Etsy shop with bath, body and cosmetic products - my Haus of Gloi stash was running low and I wanted to give a chance to another company.

I placed my order on Sep 2 and the shop clearly stated their turnaround time was 'at least' 14 days - I didn't mind waiting a bit longer, I still had other things to use up. On Sep 28 I received a copy and paste convo saying they were aware that they'd surpassed the stated turnaround time, but that 'all orders through the 7th (Sep) would be shipped out by the 1st (Oct)'. By this time I had to go and purchase something else to use in the shower. Finally, my order shipped out on Oct 15, with a note apologizing for the delay and thanking me for my patience. What I'm trying to say is that this is a REALLY long TAT; while I understand the shop owners had their difficulties (there were so many of them that they started to seem more like excuses) due to the move to a different state, I don't understand why they'd decided to run a Heartsy deal at such a time when obviously they would be getting slammed with orders. All right, rant over; you probably want to know whether the products were worth the wait...

I purchased a Whipped Cream Soap (4 oz) in the Vanilla Noir fragrance ($8.25), a No 9 Sea Salt and Sugar Body Buff (4 oz for $18) and a Caramel Chai Latte Lip Tint ($7.75). I'll start with my least favorite product - the salt & sugar body scrub. I've used it once so far, and won't be able to use it again for quite a while; basically, it really hurts my eczema covered hands. It's more of an oily formulation compared to other scrubs I tried and it's also rather abrasive, I guess way too abrasive for my tastes. The scent is a strong rose with a touch of glycerin; more on the grandma-ish than the sexy side.

The whipped soap is a nice, smooth, creamy consistency, it doesn't feel drying on the skin and I was quite pleased with my choice of scent, although I suspect Ophelia's Apothecary uses readymade fragrance oils instead of their own in-house blends (like most sellers on Etsy). The soap is definitely comparable to Haus of Gloi's whipped soap formulation.

My favorite from the bunch is definitely the Lip Tint - it's a silky smooth moisturizing formula that melts onto the lips, with a very fine and delicate gold shimmer running throughout. The shade 'Caramel' is a reddish brown, very natural and a perfect everyday color for the season. It hasn't left my purse since I got it and I live under the impression it just goes with everything :) The scent is subtle vanilla, maybe with a touch of spice - I wish it was a bit more like chai latte, but I still really like it.

Overall, I'm not sure whether my order with Ophelia's Apothecary was worth the looong wait; there was just one product that I'm really loving, and the price points are significantly higher than other sellers', including my beloved Haus of Gloi. Have you ever tried anything from Ophelia's Apothecary? What are your favorite indie bath & body companies?

11 comments:

  1. Can I be an odd-ball and state that the thing that bothers me more than anything about these products is the complete disregard for cohesive branding! I know it's a weird, nit-picky thing, but even the font is different on every single package!

    Considering the long TAT and assumption that these are likely stock scents mixed w/ pre-made bases, with a higher than average price point, i'd at least expect some well put together branding! Silly, I know, but...

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  2. (Also echoing Jessica's comment on cohesive branding - LOL!) ;)

    I've never heard of them but thanks for the review! This kind of stuff is why I shy away from indie brands, though I know there are many great ones out there as well. But it does sound like the wait definitely wasn't worth it. I'm sorry for your suffering hands. :(

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  3. @Jessica: I agree with you completely; I think the packaging has a similar vibe (which I'm not a fan of), but there's a distinct lack of cohesion for sure.

    @Liz: Indie brands are for sure hit and miss - I'm now lemming a Haus of Gloi haul ;( Thank you, dear xxx

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  4. I agree with the above comments on brand cohesion! ;)

    And I think I will stay away from this one. I tend to avoid companies with excessive TATs, because I'm impatient. Which is why I've never ordered from Fyrinnae, lol. Haus of Gloi is next on my list, anyway, and I really need to get that done!

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  5. I purchased the voucher as well and had the exact same inordinately long TAT. I also was not impressed with really any of the products I received and find their prices to be quite high compared to some of my favorites like Haus of Gloi and OHWTO. I will not be purchasing from them again in the future.

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  6. @Larie: Well, I thought 2 weeks was ok, never expected to wait over a month... Do order from Haus, it's fantastic! x

    @Amanda: Thanks for sharing your experience, I'm happy to know my opinion is not isolated! I think I might try OHWTO next - what are your favorite products from them?

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  7. I bought a lip scrub from them ages ago - it was pretty reasonably priced and I liked it, but from memory I think it took ages to ship even then, and it was at least a year ago. I think that's why I never bothered buying anything else.

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  8. At first, I thought the products were from three different brands, they really should think over their packaging.
    One month would irrtate me a lot, I'm too impatient. If You didn't love any of their products, the wait was not worth it, I'm afraid.

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  9. i bought a couple of lip balms and lip scrubs from them a year or so ago. like you said they took forever to send and the branding bothers me too, even though they are an 'indie' company.

    they were decent products, just not sure they were worth the wait/price point. xx

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  10. @Dee: My lip tint is fine as well, but no, there's no way I can wait for over a month for my order...

    @Annathea: LOL, their packaging is not getting much love from us :)

    @Meg: I agree 100%, okay products, but not worth the hussle x

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  11. I think these kind of indie brands are worth a little extra wait but as long as this. Okay I have bazillion scrubs at any one time but when I order something I expect to get in the agreed time.

    This definitely doesn't sound as nice as the Haus who have become my crack! lol

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