Shame on you for getting wet, now who will dry your eyes?

Monday, September 8, 2008

I recently heard about Milk and Mixture from a plurk by Ms. Dre. After heading out to the site, I was instantly hooked. It combined two of my favorite things in the world: soap and food (not that I eat soap-flavored food). But wait! There’s more. It’s food-flavored soap!

The site is catchy enough, and testimonials from buyers look legitimate enough. So I ordered.But first let me tell you about the grueling, EQ-testing, can-of-whoop-ass-opening task of getting my orders. In the seller’s defense, she already announced on the website that due to a play she’s doing and because of bulk orders, deliveries will most likely be delayed for the month of August. I just happened to order on that month and hurrah! It took the whole month for me to finally get my hands on these suckers.
But here’s my side. Mrs. Dre was right. The obvious lack of following up on the seller’s part is a major turn off. I’m just really trying to rationalize that maybe, MAYBE, the owner has a lot of things going on for her, being a stage actress (perhaps. I’m just assuming) amidst owning a budding beauty product company. But isn’t it SOP to AT LEAST send your costumers the tracking number of their purchases? So after 2 consecutive holidays, a storm, a mix up with my carry of addressee, on August 31, I finally bathed, washed, and moisturized with my Milk and Mixture products.

Now on to the nitpicking!

We all know that aside from hoodies and metal detectors, beauty products is one of things that we should not use especially when it’s home made. But I, being the “It’s a FIRE!!!!…sale” dunce that I am, I made the beeline into ordering Milk and Mixture stuff when I read that they are having a three for two sale on the body scrub, the product that I initially planned to buy, the product that reeled me in. But after some browsing and obsessing, my order soon included a facial scrub and a moisturizer.

I was really excited about the concept of food as scented soap (like it has never been done before, but whatevs) that I had such expectations for this product. Because I had my orders delivered to a friend’s house (and I had to painstakingly wait 2 weeks before we can meet and have her hand it to me), I even made her smell the products one by one and have her describe to me how they smell. Yes, that’s how low my EQ is.

I’m not really sure if said friend, whose sense of smell is really keen, was trying not to burst my bubble, but she never said anything to make me want to have my dirty little paws on my orders less (like 2 weeks of waiting isn’t antagonizing enough). So you can say that I am peeing with excitement when she finally gave me a white plastic bag with five plastic containers of dessert-flavored beauty products.

The products actually look smaller than they seem on the pictures on multiply. Being the Queen of Misestimations, I thought the containers would be bigger. But duh, 150 grams, that’s not too much. I am impressed though that the containers are a bit thicker than the standard-issued Star Margarine vials that home-made products usually go in. And I notice that because I am a dork.

I must say that I was planning on writing a completely different review about Milk and Mixture because of not-so-coordinated deliveries, a night coming from a sweaty rock concert, and 20 hours of operating on caffeinated drinks does not make Mara a very happy girl.

But here goes. My initial reaction to home M&M smells is this “WTF! This does not smell like food…AT ALL.” I was so ready to junk this online buying experience into my “looked good online, crap in actuality” bin, but I, being the loving and understanding person that I am, did not.

I am glad that I didn’t because it took me three separate baths to actually appreciate M&M. No, it’s not making myself believe that I just spent 500 pesos or so on crap, which won me over. M&M products do actually smell like desserts (smelling like food being the most important thing for me, as you have noticed) when used.

Crumble (body scrub): Gingerbread. Gingerbread was my and my friend’s least favorite of all three body scrubs that I ordered (Chocolate Amaretto and Appe Spice Torte were the other two). The scent was overpowering and I initially thought it smells like an ointment. But lo and behold! Gingerbread actually smells like baked goods after I used it and started scrubbing. It is as if I let my next door neighbor do her baking right beside me while I was showering (bad mental image) because it smells soooo good. I just wish the scent would last longer, even after you have washed, dried, and toweled off. I went to a mall-wide sale without applying my usual body butter, made my way through crowds, got rained on, sweated like a pig, and I still went home with skin as soft as a baby’s bum. I kid you not!

Souffle (facial scrub): Cinnamon Vanille. I concur. This facial scrub, just like its body scrub counterpart, makes your face feel softer after every wash. It did not make my skin feel tighter, which I have read means you skin is drying, after I used it. I am just not too crazy about the scent and I am not too confident on using it on the money maker.

Moist (moisturizer): Milk and Cream. I absolutely don’t care about facial moisturizers in general so I don’t know why I bought one. It’s probably because of the marketing scheme “works best when used with moisturizer” tag line that came with the facial scrub that got me. So what am I to do but gobble up the marketing ploy and buy a bottle. I swear, I am a marketing officer’s wet dream.

In conclusion, I would definitely, definitely order again from M&M (mostly just body scrubs and body butters perhaps). Would I recommend this to people? Yes. Get one. I am not exactly bananas over it (except for Gingerbread), yet, but it’s a good buy.

Because I want to know.