Buki France CM047EU - Beauty Salon

Here is a child review and an adult review. My girls would award 5 stars and I would award 3 stars - read both reviews to get a balanced family opinion!Children's review:This is a really fun set that is a mixture between lots of science experiments and a pampering kit. We like the different things that you can make and then we get to try them out afterwards. We like making all of the fun stuff with things in the kitchen - it's a nice change from cooking, but uses some of the same ingredients. We like all of the different bottles and things in the kit and we've had fun making stuff for our hair and faces so far and we are looking forward to making more. We like labelling the bottles and we are going to make something to give some to our grandma for ChristmasAdult's review:This is a box of inspiration containing lots of bottles and containers and even a little battery powered whisk (which is just like a milk frother I had many years ago) and a booklet with simple homemade beauty treatments which you can make quickly and easily with household ingredients. Whilst I applaud the idea of making these kinds of things at home with my children (as they are avid experimenters), many of the containers could be purchased in pound shops or reused from the bathroom, when conventional products run out. Many of the items made have a very short shelf life, so that although my daughters are very keen to make some concoctions for family members, we will have to make them very close to Christmas and should probably store them in the fridge as many of the ingredients won't keep well (eg bananas, avocados and yoghurt). If the kit had had just one or two unusual ingredients, like natural colouring or some interesting oil or something to make something really special, it might have been a higher score from me - but in an age of Youtube videos and pound shops, all of this is easily replicated. Having said that - having the different bottles and tools all at hand in one place and belonging especially to your child, does mean that they take personal pride in their set and their creations, which otherwise might not have been as strong with bits and pieces cobbled together from here and there. The ingredients and usage instructions are multi-lingual and the actual directions are in picture format, so don't need any language skills at all (most of them are pictures of all the ingredients being added, then stirred, then funnelled into a bottle!)So a great kit for inspiration, for children who like to create and budding scientists, who want to look good and take care of themselves (and their grandmas!) There are 14 recipes here, but my girls are already googling more options for home-made beauty products!

The concept is great. The pack provides the equipment for a child to produce basic beauty products and the equipment is of quite reasonable quality. I'm sure any child would be very pleased to receive it. However, the question is, is it worth £15? I think this price is perhaps a little high, hence only 4 stars.

Whilst by no means perfect, this is an important craft set - it teaches our children (and reminds us) that hygience and beauty products are at core very simple and can be made from natural and basic ingredients. It was certainly a revelation for my daughter who thinks everything has to come from shops and factories.The flaws in the product are that the instructions are poor, and the box opening experience is underwhelming - just a few bottles and plastic tools and an instruction booklet. It would be a better experience if a few ingredients had been included, although obviously that has a cost impact.Anyway, 9 out of 10 for its educational value, and if it does succeed in sparking a fuller interest then the internet has a near infinite amount of advice for homemade products.

This is a really cool kit. I used it with a friend's 9 year old daughter who is allergic to loads of things. This meant this kit was supper cool for her, she knew every ingredient in the products she made.The kit comes only with the actual kit, not any ingredients, so there is a lot more shopping to do to go with it. But it is a great starting place to learning how to make your own products.We found the instructions simple, but easy enough to use. We were very happy with our lip balm and facewash.

Nice little kit, although you do have to provide most of the ingredients to make the products yourself. I have seen this on sale for up to £30, so at £15 it is especially good value. Basically what you have are a series of containers and bottles, a battery operated mixer, utensils, gloves etc. I suspect what you are actually paying for more is the set of instructions that allow your child to create 15 different beauty products. My daughter has played with this set most of the weekend, and created her own shampoos (very good) and a face mask - also very good. She made a bit of a mess in the process, but no problem!! The good thing is all the ingredients can easily be replaced cheaply, and the contents of the kit can be cleaned and reused time and time again. I would have given this 5 Stars, but I suspect you could make do with pots, bottles and utensils around the house, and just look for "home made" beauty product recipes on line. Still, it's a nice looking product in an eye catching box, and at £15 you can't really gripe too much. Another winner from Buki, who seem to target their unique products carefully for young children.