Cake Beauty Holiday Handful Hand Creme Trio - Limited Edition Holiday 2010

I finally got my hands on the Handful after that wacky Sephora disappearing act. Man, I'm so glad I got these. They rock.

My first experience with Cake Beauty products was the Milk Made hand creme / Cake Walk foot creme duo that I reviewed recently. The scent of Milk Made did not work for me at all, so I was still slightly concerned that I may not like these. The lure of vanilla scented hand lotion overpowered my wariness. Had to have it.

This set comes with three full-sized (3.4 oz) hand cremes in a really pretty shiny metallic box. It's so pretty. Would make an excellent gift. Actually, since this comes with three very pretty tubes of lotion, you could even split it up into three gifts. Who doesn't love hand creme in the wintertime?

Anyway, the scents included in this set are Vanilla Snow, which is exclusive to this set, Desserted Island (coconut vanilla) and It's A Slice (orange vanilla).

Vanilla Snow is the richest smelling of the three. It reminds me a bit of one of my other favorites- Jaqua Buttercream Frosting. Cake's Vanilla Snow is a more realistic vanilla scent, though. All the vanillas in this set remind me more of an actual vanilla bean than an artificial vanilla. Vanilla Snow is sweet but not excessively so. I was somewhat worried that this might be a bitter vanilla like L'Occitane vanilla shea hand creme or Bath and Body Works Vanilla Noir, but it's not the least bit bitter, dry or harsh. It's buttery and smooth. I must point out, in case you can't tell by the little picture up there, that the tube for Vanilla Snow has the most adorable pink snowflakes being carried off in a swirling pink breeze and it looks really nice against the soft blue text on the tube. I adore the design of the tube. I'm a sucker for nice packages. That last sentence is not intended to sound dirty. XD

Desserted Island (get it, desserted? Ha.) has the same smooth vanilla base as Vanilla Snow but it has overtones of beachy coconut. It's not a particularly sweet smell. Some coconut scents are very sweet and candy-like - think Bath and Body Works Coco Cabana- but Desserted Island is more of an unsweetened coconut, closer to Lavanila Vanilla Coconut. Very pleasant and cozy.

It's A Slice is supposed to be an orange creamsicle scent. I'm not much of a creamsicle fan so I was really pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this scent. Same vanilla base as the others but with a hint of orange to make the scent a little brighter. It has a distinct baked goods smell to me, like orange creme cake, or better yet, my mom's Knots (the cookie- also known as biscotti d'annodare). For a while I was really into "Orange Fluff Cake"-type etailer perfumes and this would layer really well with those. The orange scent in this isn't super fresh or sour/acidic, it's a soft candy orange.

All of these have that lovely light, velvety, quick-absorbing non-greasy formula that the Milk Made hand creme has. I really like the formula of Cake's hand cremes. It sinks right in without leaving your hands oily or sticky or slippery. It makes my hands so smooth and silky feeling. It's not the most deeply hydrating creme; if your hands are extremely dry you may need to apply twice in a row. However, I think this formula is pretty close to perfect, even if it isn't super heavy duty.

My one and only complaint with this set is the price. At $32 for three hand lotions, it's really not that good of a deal. They do retail for $16 individually, so it is like you're getting one free, but still. $16 for a 3.4oz hand creme is highway robbery. You can get an entire 8 ounce tube of Bath and Body Works Triple Moisture Body Creme for only $12, and those are always buy two get one free. The only hand creme I have that's more expensive than Cake is Lippmann Rich Girl (which rocks) at $23 for 3oz, but at least that has SPF 25. Then again, no one expects Lippmann to be reasonably priced. The formula is great and I like the scent, but I still think $16 per tube is too steep. That said, I would still buy the set again if I had the choice because it smells like cupcakes.

I'm really happy with these. I would totally recommend them to anyone. Great packaging, great vanilla scents, great formula. Just all around great. And no funky sharp chemical fake raspberry headache scent to be found! Thank goodness.

I got mine from Sephora.com- apparently the Cake Beauty line is online only. Pity, because I'd love to smell the rest of the scents in person sometime. Now that I know I like these I think I want to try one of their bath and body products next. That "baked lemon sugar" I keep reading about in the descriptions is calling my name.

Cake Beauty You Deserve This Set - Milk Made hand creme and Cake Walk foot creme review

Anyone who knows me will know how much this line has my name written all over it. A line of bath and body products that smell like CAKE. I've always been a huge fan of the foody/gourmand/edible scented genre of fragrance and bath products. If it says 'vanilla' on it, I'll more than likely buy it. Probably explains why I have vanilla toothpaste, vanilla-lavender furniture polish and vanilla scented garbage bags...

Despite a theme that suits my fragrance preferences perfectly, I still had never tried Cake Beauty. Partially because no one seemed to carry it. Recently Sephora started to stock the brand online, so this summer I ordered the "You Deserve This" set for my first taste of Cake (Beauty).

The set contains a Milk Made hand creme and a Cake Walk foot creme. Description and photo from Sephora.com:

"You Deserve This Set ($32 Value)
What it is:
A high-value duo designed to indulge the hands and feet.

What it does:

Nourish overworked and underpaid hands with this rich, vitamin-packed hand crème. The lightly scented formula is luxurious and silky, and absorbs quickly into the skin, leaving your hands feeling soothed and smooth, never greasy. For the feet, try this trusted recipe that works to ease tension and swelling with extracts of spearmint, peppermint, and pure menthol. Nourishing and hydrating oils and butters lock in moisture to instantly give feet (and legs) a lasting soft feeling.

This set contains:
- 3.4 oz Milk Made™ Velveteen Hand Crème
- 3.4 oz Cake Walk™ Triplemint Foot Crème

What it is formulated WITHOUT:
- Parabens
- Sulfates
- Petrochemicals
- Phthalates
- GMOs
- Triclosan

What else you need to know:
Milk Made is infused with scents of warm vanilla and a hint of fresh raspberry. Cake Walk features the scent of energizing spearmint with a pinch of peppermint."

The bottles are really attractive. They're white squeeze tubes with a flat flip-top cap which is nice because the tube can stand up and it's also neater than a screw-top cap. The color schemes are cute- pink and white and pink, white and green. The tubes are a generous size but not too big to easily carry in your purse or to keep in your desk.

I was most looking forward to the scent of Milk Made, and at first I loved it. When it first comes out of the tube is has this strong burnt-sugar creme brulee baked goods type of scent. There's not much of a raspberry smell straight from the tube. Sadly, the scent turned really bad on me. The "raspberry" scent came out when I started to rub in the lotion and the whole thing morphed into this sharp, artificial burned sugar chemical type of scent. The kind of scent that makes the bridge of my nose hurt and gives me a headache. The scent is long-lasting, which would be awesome if I liked the scent. It really lingers with you all day.

The Cake Walk foot creme turned out to be my favorite. The scent can easily be described as "mouthwash." I don't normally like mint scents- they end up smelling like gum or toothpaste and that grosses me out. This one, while it does smell like an oral hygiene product, is quite pleasant once it dries down a bit. It's not super strong, it's more of a soft, sweet peppermint and spearmint scent. It is definitely pleasant and even a bit relaxing. It says it contains menthol for a cooling effect, but the cooling effect on me is very minimal. It may be worth mentioning that I seem to be immune to almost every type of cooling/menthol product- I can't even feel Icy Hot- so it may be stronger on someone else. Though, Bath and Body Works Twisted Peppermint lotion still makes me freezing cold and tingly for almost an hour after I apply it. Maybe it's the type of oil or amount of menthol used? Straight mint oil versus oil plus menthol? Who knows.

The formula on both of these was excellent. The hand creme is light and quickly absorbed- not greasy at all. It's not super moisturizing like a heavier hand cream (Neuotrogena or L'Occitane come to mind) but it is still quite moisturizing. The foot creme is even better. It's so light and fresh and leaves such a wonderful feeling on my feet (and hands!) and it leaves my skin smooth for quite a long time. Another thing I really liked about the Cake Walk foot creme is that it also isn't greasy- it's not one of those foot cremes you apply and then try to stand up and end up sliding across the room on greasy feet... It absorbs/dries quickly and doesn't leave a layer of greasiness. It's best applied after a shower, but I like to apply it before bed.

So... my first experience with Cake Beauty. How do I feel? I wish I had liked the Milk Made scent more because I really like the formula of the lotion and the style of the tube. I would definitely buy another hand or foot creme from them if it came in a different scent. I'd really like to try more of their products and scents- the lemon vanilla one has me especially curious because that's one of my favorite combinations (still mourning the loss of Bath and Body Works Hello Sugar). I ordered the Holiday Hand Creme trio that contains It's A Slice, Vanilla Snow and Desserted Island. I was going to get it during Friends and Family but the set mysteriously disappeared completely from the site and didn't reappear until yesterday morning. I was baffled when it was removed from my shopping list and I searched high and low for it. Very mysterious...

On a related note, I've just learned that Cake Beauty is doing a Black Friday special! Starting Friday, if you place an order of $40 or more on their website they'll automatically include a mini Satin Sugar Hair and Body Refreshing Powder. I was looking at that last night, I'm very curious about it... it's a dry shampoo scented with lemon vanilla but it comes in a darker shade that might not be so obvious and white on my dark hair. I kinda want to try it...