Josie Maran Bear Naked Nail Wipes and Whipped Argain Oil Intensive Hand Cream review

Part of my Black Friday Haul was the Josie Maran Argan Hand Healers Set which came with 20 Bear Naked Nail Wipes and a 30 mL tube of their Whipped Argan Oil Intensive Hand Cream. Although the set is no longer available, the individual products are so here’s my review on them!

First up is the Bear Naked Nail Wipes: These portable three-in-one nail wipes remove nail polish, repair dry cuticles, and promote healthy nails—naturally. Acetone free and grapefruit-scented, Bear Naked Nail Wipes are infused with organic Argan oil to moisturize cuticles and support nail growth. They are small circular wipes that are a little smaller than a cotton pad. They are grapefruit scented which I really love but I remember they had peppermint around Christmas time!

(compared to a cotton round for size)

These wipes seem pretty effective in removing nail polish despite them being acetone free. I don’t use them often but when I do, it only takes one nail wipe to remove all the nail polish from both my hands. I think it takes the same amount of rubbing as acetone nail polish remover does. A downside of it is that I have only used them on dark polish so far and when I do, the polish ends up staining my fingers because I think it gets transferred off the wipes. The stains wash off though and my fingers are still left moisturized from the argan oil. I don’t think I use them often enough to see if it improves nail growth but it has kept my cuticles looking a bit healthier :) They are sold at Sephora for $11 for 20 wipes and 40 wipes for $19.

Next, the Whipped Argain Oil Intensive Hand Cream: This rich, never greasy, super hydrating cream keeps hands looking and feeling good. Josie's signature ingredient, argan oil, is spun into a creamy butter to revitalize skin and restore softness while improving skin's texture. Lightly scented with natural essences of vanilla and apricot and infused with shea butter, it's nature's most luxurious moisturizer—hands down. This is labelled as ‘vanilla apricot’ scented but I can only smell the apricot part of it. It was also a somewhat light scent that seemed to disappear after 30 minutes or so.

Unlike the description says, this is a little bit greasy at the beginning but it is quite hydrating so that makes up for it. It is not my favourite hand cream but I think it is still pretty awesome. It was a great deal in the set but on it's own, I would prefer another hand cream for that price. This can only be bought in the 2.37 oz. size and is $26 at Sephora.

Black Friday 2013 Haul!

This is quite delayed but here is my Black Friday Haul for this year. Since we live in Canada, this is still a new concept for us so the deals are not as great as the States, but it's still better than nothing. I'm not sure when we first got Black Friday, but I remember a few stores having sales last year. I was waiting until my Sephora online order came in to make a post and it did last week so here's my Black Friday haul:

From Sephora:
- Josie Maran Argan Hand Healer
- Lorac Fan Favourite Duo
- Clean Rollerball Set (bought in store)
- Philosophy's purity made simple (bought in store)
- Boscia Pore Perfection Set

These were $12 CAD each and using the VIB 10% off code (V436CB), I got them for $10.80 woohoo! I took this opportunity to buy some gifts for my friend and to let other friends get in on the discount too but most of those are wrapped so no pictures, sorry! The purity was sold out online before I could get on so I went to get it in the store. It was advertised as 12 oz. for $12 so I didn't look at the bottle when I grabbed it. Turns out, I only got 8 oz.! My friend managed to get 12 oz. so it seems like they just ran out of that size. Since they will probably have it again during Boxing Day, I'm going to try to get the 12 oz. then ;) They gave me a sample of Benefit's Hello Flawless foundation, which was nice, but it was in a light shade even though I'm a medium...

This is my haul from other stores (sorry for the Sephora repeats):

- Aritzia's TNA Verbier Parka 10% off
- 3 tops from aerie 40% off entire store + free tote
- Nano Vidal Sassoon hair dryer $10 (returned this because it wasn't hot enough)
- WD Elements 1 TB External Hardrive $59.99 Future Shop door crasher
- Hollister sweater 40% off entire store

Oh I also got about $50 in Lindt chocolate! oops. They were having 50% off boxed chocolate so I got 2 boxes of specialty truffles, a small box each of the snowman truffles and regular milk truffles, as well as 2 boxes of assorted truffles :D

All in all, this seemed like a great haul since I managed to get some clothes and a new winter jacket! Aerie was also giving out a free blanket along with the tote for purchases over $45 but they ran out by the time I got there :( It actually looked like a nice blanket too, which makes me kind of regret not going to the mall at lunch, but at least I got a tote right?