Burt's Bees: Radiance Facial Cleanser Review

I took a gamble with this facial cleanser. I hadn't read any reviews beforehand but since I had had only positive experiences with Burt's Bees products, I figured I couldn't get it that wrong with this cleanser.

I'm still faithful to MuLondon's face cleansers and I've been alternating between the MuLondon Organic Fragrance-free Foaming Face Wash and Burt's Bees Radiance Facial Cleanser for the past half a year or so. The former gives instant foam and smells raw and earthy while the latter is slimy lotiony and smells milky-honey. Both are gentle, cleanse well and are not drying. To cut to the chase, I like both.

Here's what Burt's Bees says about its Radiance Facial Cleanser:

• Lightweight lotion cleanser
• Formulated with a plant-based cleansing complex to remove dirt, oil and make-up
• Exfoliates to help encourage skin cell turnover with Jojoba Beads and fruit acids

The cleanser is housed in an opaque plastic bottle (which I believe is made from 80% post-consumer recycled materials) and it has a lockable pump. For one cleansing session, you just need one quick, shallow pump to dispense a blop smaller than any typical five cent coin. That's all. When I used this cleanser for the first time, I did four (!!!) pumps. That was way, way too much. Trust me, just one shallow pump each time and this 175ml bottle will last a long time.

As mentioned earlier, it has a slimy texture. The Jojoba Beads are not that detectable as they tend to melt off quickly. It lathers okay and it rinses off fine. The face feels very clean and fresh after a wash but I wouldn't use just this cleanser to remove eye makeup. I prefer to precede that with an eye makeup remover.

I believe some ladies feel it does bring radiance to their skin. I'm on the fence about its exfolating qualities but that's okay. If it contains good ingredients (yay for royal jelly!), cleanses well, doesn't strip my skin of all its oils and doesn't break me out, I'm a happy camper already!

It's a thumbs up but that's not all I want to say though.

Firstly, the bottle packaging. Although there has been a minor change in the look of the bottle (according to the website), I don't see major changes in the list of ingredients. All the core ingredients are still present.

List of ingredients:
Water, decyl glucoside, safflower oleosomes, sodium cocoyl hydrolyzed soy protein, glycerin, royal jelly, jojoba oil, hydrogenated jojoba oil, bilberry fruit extract, sugar cane extract, sugar maple extract, orange fruit extract, lemon fruit extract, fragrance, glucose, xanthan gum, citric acid, sodium chloride, lactoperoxidase, glucose oxidase

Burt's Bees says that this product is 99% natural.

Secondly, its interesting similarity to one of Burt's Bees body care products. When I first started using the Radiance Facial Cleanser, I was surprised by how it reminded me of the Burt's Bees Radiance Exfoliating Body Wash - same colour, similar texture, similar scent and both have what Burt's Bees calls Jojoba Beads suspended in the liquid.

Of course, I had to take another look at the list of ingredients and I compared it with that of the Body Wash. Similar! All the star ingredients are there - safflower oleosomes, royal jelly, jojoba oil, hydrogenated jojoba oil, bilberry fruit extract, sugar cane extract, sugar maple extract, orange fruit extract, lemon fruit extract - listed in pretty much the same order.

At that time, I still had some of the body wash left and decided to try washing my face with that for a few days. Yup, the Exfoliating Body Wash works fine for the face too but I thought a couple of its Jojoba Beads were less subtle during lathering between the palms.

I wasn't in the laboratory when they formulated these two products, so I won't claim that the Body Wash is exactly the same as the Facial Cleanser. Burt's Bees may or may not have tweaked the basic formula here and there so that one is more suited for use on the body and the other on the face. I can only say that they are very similar and I just thought you should know.

The Radiance Exfoliating Body Wash costs USD8.00 / £9.99 for 350ml while the Radiance Facial Cleanser costs USD10 / £9.99 for 175ml. You can do the math. Over here, the facial cleanser is going for around €15-€16, depending on which store you get it from.


Burt's Bees website

Weleda: Sea Buckthorn Replenishing Body Lotion Review

Weleda is a brand that I admire a lot. It's surprising that I've ever written only one post on it - the Weleda Pomegranate Regenerating Hand Cream.

There are many things about Weleda that I find endearing - its roots, its philosophy, its holistic approach to health and skincare, its use of Biodynamic Farming methods (which encompasses much more than just organic farming), its fair trade partnerships and of course, its truly wide range of natural products. This is one brand that I think communicates very well with its consumers, which in turn has certainly helped shape my view of the brand. Is that down to fantastic marketing communications or just plainly effective propaganda? For now, I'd settle for the former.

Weleda revamped its collection of body lotions some months back. They tweaked the formula here and there and made a radical change to the packaging.

The old Weleda Sea Buckthorn Body Lotion packaging looked like this:

The new one looks like this:

The Weleda body lotions come in four variants: Citrus, Wild Rose, Sea Buckthorn and Pomegranate. I bought the Sea Buckthorn one as I had already been using this variant in the old version.

Here's what Weleda says about it:

The creamy Sea Buckthorn Replenishing Body Lotion protects dry skin from moisture loss, activates your skin’s self-regulating functions and leaves you with lasting replenishment and renewed vitality.

This unique composition contains organic sea buckthorn’s natural vitamins, carotene and unsaturated fatty acids, which support your skin’s vital barrier functions. Combined with organic mallow extracts, shea butter and macadamia seed oil it helps dry skin regain its vitality and look smoother and softer.

Price: €13.75 for 200 ml

Ingredients
Water, Sesame Seed Oil, Alcohol, Shea Butter, Glyceryl Stearate SE, Glycerin, Sea Buckthorn Oil, Fragrance*, Macadamia Oil, Mallow Extract, Xanthan Gum, Tapioca Starch, Cetearyl Alcohol, Limonene*, Linalool*, Citronellol*, Benzyl Benzoate*, Benzyl Salicylate*, Geraniol*, Citral*, Farnesol*.
* from natural essential oils

The ingredients are 100% natural and 97% organic.

Shea butter, macadamia oil and mallow extract. The old version didn't have these. It also had a more runny consistency and I went through the bottle like lightning. The new version is a tad creamier, I find.

Speaking of bottles, it's obvious that Weleda has put a lot of thought into the new packaging. The body lotion now comes in a recyclable plastic bottle that actually houses a thin, flexible bag inside. Weleda calls it "bag-in-bottle" and that together with the vacuum dispensing pump means that the contents don't get exposed to air, which works out great for Weleda's artificial preservative-free product formulations. The pump has been working fine. It makes a squishy sound sometimes but there has been no clumping or clogging so far.

Even the shape of the bottle is comment-worthy. You might have noticed that it's asymmetrical. It seems to have been designed to reflect the squiggly lines of the Weleda logo. If you're wondering what the logo represents, you can read about it here.

I'll tell you one thing that hasn't changed - the scent. I adore the smell of this body lotion. The citrus melange of mandarin, orange and grapefruit oils is a great pick-me-up in the mornings!

The body lotion goes on nicely. I didn't find the old version 'potent' enough - it was perfect for summer but it just wasn't moisturising enough for winter. Anyway, I think there has been some improvement in the moisturising efficacy of the new version. As someone with extremely dry skin when the cold season strikes, I won't call it the super ultimate body moisturiser for in the dead of winter but it's certainly a better version of its predecessor. If your skin doesn't get as dry as mine, then I think this body lotion would work very well for you in any season.

If you've never seen sea buckthorn berries before, this is what they look like:

That's the cover of an old Weleda magazine. I've been a subscriber to their magazine for a couple of years and I've learnt a lot about Weleda, its practices and its relationships with farmers through its publications. Weleda websites are chockful of information too.

Interesting fact: The sea buckthorn that Weleda uses comes from a Biodynamic farm in Tuscany, Italy. Mr. Kurt Künzi has been working with and supplying Weleda with sea buckthorn for over ten years.


Please check my first post on Weleda to read more about its history.

Weleda website

Weleda products can be purchased from your local drugstores and also through websites like Amazon US and Amazon UK.

Dr. Woods: Pure Black Soap With Organic Shea Butter Review

My first Dr. Woods product and my first ever black soap!

The full name of this product is Dr. Woods Shea Vision - Pure Black Soap with Organic Shea Butter and from what I've gleaned, Dr. Woods' forte seems to be in making castile soaps as well as black soaps. In addition to that, the US-based Dr. Woods also has a small range of lipbalms and facial cleansers.

Black Soap
If you're new to black soaps, this is how Dr. Woods explains it (excerpts from packaging and website):

"Black Soap is made from a drying and roasting process using the skin of the plaintain, and is a natural source of anti-oxidant vitamins A and E.

The roasted plantain skin is mixed with palm oil, palm kernel oil to form the soap. The roasting of the plantains determines the brownish-black color of the soap. The longer the plantains are roasted, the darker the soap."

In general, black soaps, which originate from West Africa, can also be made from the ash of other harvested plants like the leaves of palm trees and the bark of shea trees.

While Dr. Woods has a plain version of Pure Black Soap in its range, I decided to give the combi-version of black soap plus shea butter a shot first. Dr. Woods refers to this range as Shea Vision.

Ingredients
Purified water, saponified coconut, hemp & olive oils (with retained glycerin), black soap concentrate, organic shea butter*, natural fragrance oil blend, Vitamin E, sea salt, citric acid, Pro Vitamin B5, rosemary extract, natural caramel.
* certified organic by Lacon GmbH

Contents
I've enjoyed using up this bottle of black soap. Housed in a basic HDPE plastic bottle, this liquid black soap with organic shea butter is translucent and dark brown in colour. The liquid is on the runny side and it lathers okay (not a great deal of suds, yet it's not terribly disappointing either). If you're used to using run-of-the-mill SLS-containing body washes, you will find yourself reaching for the bottle more often to get more lather.

Scent
What really catches one's attention is the smell of this thing. You either love it or hate it, I think. To me, it smells earthy medicinal, like a camphor-eucalyptus mix that has been left to mellow. Frankly, the smell of this liquid soap reminds me of my late grandmother. It smells.....matronly and comforting in a strange way.

Uses
The Pure Black Soap with Organic Shea Butter is gentle, cleanses well and I found it neither drying nor moisturising on the skin. It was all right. I used it mainly in the shower but as black soaps are multipurpose, this one can also be used as a facial cleanser, for in the bath and for washing the hair. I liked it as a facial cleanser - the face feels very clean and not dried out. However, I hated it as a shampoo - my hair felt dry and was tangly after a wash.

For all-natural cleaning, Dr. Woods also recommends using "4 parts water to 1 part Dr. Woods" for dishes and floors and I am aware that many ladies do use Dr. Woods for cleaning many things at home, including washing clothes. I haven't used it for household cleaning myself but this should be interesting for those thinking of going natural all the way.

It also says on the bottle that this black soap "helps clear skin blemishes and prevent premature facial lines". In the reviews I've read, it seems to have helped people with problem skin. As a former acne-sufferer who thought she had tried everything under the sun for her acne, sigh, I just wish I had heard of black soap years ago!

Oh, I've also used it several times to clean my makeup brushes. It works fine.

Conclusion
Overall, I would rate this an above-average multi-purpose personal cleanser (and you know I love multi-purpose products!). It's pretty good but do bear in mind that there are still many other all-natural soaps and cleansers out there on the market.

It's worth noting that this Dr. Woods product:

• contains no animal ingredients
• contains no artificial ingredients
• contains no petroleum derivatives
• is paraben and phthalate free
• is lauryl/laureth sulfate free

Price/Where To Buy
Dr. Woods products aren't that easy to get hold of here in the Netherlands. You'll probably find it in certain ethnic shops.

These Dr. Woods liquid soaps are available in various bottle sizes. For a 16 fl oz / 473ml bottle like mine, the recommended retail price is US$8.19 but there are many online stores that offer it for less.

I bought mine from iHerb for US$5.89 (use coupon code QOJ683 for a US$10 discount on orders of US$40 or more, or a US$5 discount on orders less than US$40).

On Amazon, I see it going for US$5.97.


Dr. Woods website

SheerinO'kho: Uptown/Downtown Wintertime Face Cream Review

This the second face cream I've used from the SheerinO'kho line. I loved the first one - SheerinO'kho Outdoor Meetings Wintertime Face Cream - so, naturally, my expectations were high when I started on this second bottle.

Here's what SheerinO'kho says about the Uptown/Downtown Wintertime Face Cream:

Pollution, intense cold, radical temperature change, dry air, overwork, undernourishment and fragility associated with seasonal change....the skin has complex needs in confronting specific aggressions of the urban autumn and winter.

Up/Downtown Wintertime fuses the finest revitalizing and antioxidant plant extracts to protect, moisturize, restore balance, energy and glow when skin needs it most. Regular daily applications bring a real feeling of wholeness and well-being while effectively rejuvenating skin cells, counteracting loss of tissue elasticity and hyper-pigmentation.

Ingredients:
Water, glycerin, caprylic/capric triglyceride, pea extract, tamanu oil, jojoba oil, sunflower oil, cetearyl alcohol, glyceryl stearate, cupuaçu butter, shea butter extract, sucrose, faex, alcohol, parfum, tucuma kernel oil, pca, serine, arginine, benzyl alcohol, potassium palmitoyl hydrolyzed wheat protein, undecylenoyl glycine, edelweiss extract, proline, xanthan gum, alanine, baobab oil, maltitol, capryloyl glycine, indian senna seed polysaccharide, green and white tea leaf extract, threonine, tocopherol, cassia alata leaf extract, glycogen, panax ginseng root extract, dehydroacetic acid, maltodextrin, larch wood extract, mourera fluviatilis extract, sodium hydroxide, rooibos leaf extract, apple fruit extract, raspberry fruit extract, peach leaf extract, horse chestnut seed extract, linden extract, acerola fruit extract, hydrolyzed wheat protein, rose hybrid flower extract, biotin, citric acid, linalool, citronellol, geraniol, isoeugenol, limonene, benzyl salicylate, eugenol, citral.

Concentration in active ingredients of 19.03%.


Personally, I find the whole list of ingredients terribly tedious to go through (and I do read every item on the list), so it's good that SheerinO'kho has an easy-to-understand list on the box packaging, showing a breakdown of the important ingredients and highlighting what they do:


• 7 anti-pollution ingredients: white tea, green tea, rooibos, horse chestnut, small linden leaves, edelweiss, rose

• 5 nourishing and moisturising ingredients for the upper layers of the epidermis: indian senna, mourera fluviatilis, baobab, tamanu, jojoba

• 6 anti-cold ingredients: larch, pea peptides, sea glycogen, shea, cupuaçu, tucuma

• 2 revitalising ingredients: acerola, ginseng

• 3 healthy glow ingredients: peach leaves, raspberry, apple

• 1 invigorating aromatic formula: essential jasmine, shiu and rose oils

Lockable dispenser, sealed

To the senses, the Uptown/Downtown Wintertime Face Cream is similar to the Outdoor Meetings Wintertime Face Cream. The scent is similar (sweet-herbal-earthy) and the consistency is light and neither sticky nor greasy. It is the colour of Uptown/Downtown that is different - the cream is a darker shade than the yellow-beige shade of Outdoor Meetings.

Just like with the first bottle, you'll only need about four drops for each use and again, with the premium quality pump, it's easy to control how much is dispensed.

I finished this bottle a few months ago. One 40ml bottle should last about six months. I started on Uptown/Downtown Wintertime as soon as I finished Outdoor Meetings Wintertime, so in total, I had used SheerinO'kho face creams for twelve consecutive months. I quite suspect that my skin didn't notice any difference between the two. It just lapped up all the goodness and as was with the first cream, my skin remained calm, hydrated and there were still no signs of rosacea.

Even though it's meant for cold climate, I continued using Uptown/Downtown Wintertime when I was in hot and humid Kuala Lumpur. I saw no point in starting a different facial moisturiser just for a short period and fortunately, my skin was all right with this. One other thing I noticed was that my skin coped much better in long-haul flights - it wasn't as dehydrated as before in my pre-SheerinO'kho days.

This is another great facial moisturiser from SheerinO'kho but if I may be honest, I had a hard time remembering the names of the two abovementioned face creams and telling the difference between them (which one does what).

As I said, many aspects are similar and I didn't think my skin could tell the difference. Both creams are for autumn/winter and function to moisturise and protect the skin from the elements. Even though the two lists of ingredients aren't exactly the same, they do have many items in common.

If you followed what's said in the product blurps, then this is how I would put it very briefly: Outdoor Meetings Wintertime is meant for those who are often active outdoors and Uptown/Downtown Wintertime is for tired, dull skin (or for the prevention thereof). Take your pick. They're both great for the skin in the cold seasons.

Glass bottle snug inside cloth sheath

According to its website, the SheerinO'kho Uptown/Downtown Wintertime Face Cream (sometimes a.k.a. Up/Downtown Wintertime) is priced at €58 for 40ml / 1.35 fl oz. Again, the dispenser bottle comes with a matching protective cloth sheath.

I don't mean to confuse anyone further but just so you know, SheerinO'kho has two other face creams for warmer seasons: Outdoor Meetings Summertime and Uptown/Downtown Summertime.


Further reading:
Disclosure and my review of the SheerinO'kho Eye Cream
SheerinO'kho website

Le Couvent des Minimes: Smile Lip Balm Honey Review

I wrote about the Le Couvent des Minimes Nutritive Lip Balm almost two years ago. I didn't hate it then but I wasn't very impressed either. The lip balm was gritty and it didn't last long on the lips. I was stumped as I didn't find its list of ingredients offensive at all.

Well, Le Couvent des Minimes revamped its lipbalm collection early this year. The collection is now an odd composition of three lipbalms in tubes and one lipbalm in a glass jar. The three in tubes come in three different aromas - Mint, Pear and Orange Blossom - and are more like non-sticky clear lipglosses (you can read my review here).

The one in the glass jar, which is what we'll be looking at in this post, is with honey aroma and is actually a slightly reformulated version of its predecessor, the abovementioned Nutritive Lip Balm.

Le Couvent des Minimes Smile Lip Balm, L-R: Honey, Pear, Orange Blossom

The proper full name of this product is Le Couvent des Minimes Smile Lip Balm Honey Aroma, Very Rich Formula.

Le Couvent des Minimes says:

SOS care for dried out and damaged lips.

Thanks to its original recipe with a delicious aroma, the Smile Lip Balm Very Rich Formula :

• softens the lips
• nourishes deeply the lips
• repairs the lips durably

The Smile Very Rich Formula is enriched in repairing ingredients.

Paraben free. Colorant free. Mineral oil free.

Ingredients:
Castor seed oil, coconut oil, caprylic/capric triglyceride, shea butter, castor isostearate succinate, octyldodecanol, glyceryl dibehenate, beeswax, tribehenin, glyceryl behenate, honey extract, royal jelly, honey, propolis extract, aroma, hydrogenated vegetable oil, butylene glycol, sodium saccharin, water, tocopherol, glycerin, coco-glucoside, linalool

The brand highlights the following on the box packaging:

• Honey extract: softens
• Shea butter and beeswax: nourish
• Royal Jelly: repairs
• Honey : aroma

A quick comparison with the ingredients list of the previous version shows that there are minor changes in the formula but the goody ingredients remain the same.

Even though the formula hasn't changed all that much, I like this new version for some reason. The lipbalm does look smoother than the previous version. There was no grittiness when I first bought it - the contents were buttery smooth. A few months on though, the lipbalm is starting to look a bit gritty but just a tiny bit. So, I'm not complaining yet.

The lipbalm smells just like the old version i.e. gorgeously of honey and it tastes sweet too (it contains sodium saccharin). This version does seem to last longer on the lips and, with a thick layer, it's good enough for overnight use. Overall, it's a thumbs up.

One more thing. I had a reason for buying this new version, despite my meh experience with the old one. I may have had some complaints about the old one but ironically, this turned out to be a cure for the occasional red, itchy patch on my eye lid. Yeah, eye!

The last time I had this issue, it started on one lid near the brow and then, it spread to the outer corner of the eye. Some days later, the outer corner of the other eye had it too! I tried almost all the natural remedies in my cupboard, including Suvana Paw Paw & Honey Balm and the SheerinO'kho Eye Cream but nothing helped. I got panicky. Out of desperation, I applied the Le Couvent des Minimes Nutritive Lip Balm around my eyes and whatdyaknow, the awkward, red, itchy patches were gone within a couple of days! It could be the propolis and/or the royal jelly that did the trick, I suspect.

So you see, it was only right that I gave this new lipbalm a second chance. If it didn't work as a lipbalm, I could always use it as an SOS eyebalm.

Recommended retail price: €9.10 / USD12.50 for 15ml / 0.5oz

Le Couvent des Minimes website


Here are a couple of places where Le Couvent des Minimes products are sold:
Benelux - ICI Paris XL parfumeries stores in Nederland and Belgium
USA - Beauty.com

Burt's Bees: Coconut Foot Crème Review

I like Burt's Bees. I haven't been terribly disappointed with any of the Burt's Bees products I've tried.......so far, anyway.

Burt's Bees has done it again with today's featured product. There are some aspects about it that irk me but overall, the brand has come up with a good rescue product.

About the Burt's Bees Coconut Foot Crème (excerpts):

This pampering natural foot cream combines coconut oil, lanolin and vegetable glycerin to revive and rejuvenate even the driest, most neglected feet. There's also a hint of rosemary and peppermint oils to refresh tired feet.

Ingredients
Glycerin, olive fruit oil, oat kernel flour, lanolin, fragrance, coconut oil, quillaja bark extract, oat kernel oil, tocopherol, rosemary leaf extract, soybean oil, canola oil, butylphenyl methylpropional, coumarin, limonene, linalool.

It says on my tube that it's 99.51% natural.

Consistency
One thing you must know is that the foot cream is jelly-like, very thick and sits heavy on the skin. Its oily, slightly-sticky and highly-viscous consistency is what I dislike but then again, this very consistency is one of the things that makes this product a star.

Scent
It smells very strongly of coconut oil but not as scrumptious as the hunger-inducing, fragrant smell of pure coconut oil. That's because it's been 'laced' with rosemary and peppermint. I get the sense that many ladies love the smell of this foot cream. Personally, I find the perky freshness of peppermint juxtaposed against the heavy, cookie-smelling coconut oil rather, uhm, weird. But don't mind me.......

Application
You need patience when working with this foot cream. Because of its thick consistency, it does take a while to work the cream on the feet. Wait a couple of minutes and then, put on socks. You definitely need socks not just to lock in the moisture but also to avoid getting greasy stains on your floor or your bedsheets.

Burt's Bees also suggests this: For a luxurious way to treat your feet, soak feet in warm water for 10-15 minutes and rub gently with a pumice stone. Massage Coconut Foot Crème into feet, paying close attention to heels and calloused skin. Then cover your feet with cotton socks overnight.....

When to use
I prefer to use it at bedtime. In colder seasons, it's nice to have the feet kept warm and cosy with this thick foot cream plus socks. On warm summer nights, it's not so pleasant with the socks and all.

I believe some ladies also apply a thin layer of the cream on the feet before putting on socks and sneakers and then going off with their day's activities.

Efficacy
After leaving my feet to 'marinate' overnight, I would wake up to still-fragrant, softer feet. The Burt's Bees Coconut Foot Crème is certainly capable of rescuing dry, calloused feet or cracked heels. You'll notice some improvement already after just one night but you'll need to follow that up with diligent application for your feet to fully heal.

Sometimes, I use it on my hands as well, especially when I feel they need a quick overnight fix. Yes, wear gloves if you're going to sleep with this. I use my pair of Essence Nail & Hand Care Gloves.

I can't vouch for this myself but I thought I'd add this one other use that I've read about: Some ladies say it's good for preventing stretch marks during pregnancy.

Caution
When you remove your socks in the morning, there will be some residue left on your feet. It's quite hard to describe it: the feet feel kinda dry, kinda tacky, kinda waxy, kinda greasy. Just be careful if you're stepping out of the bed barefoot.You wouldn't want to leave waxy foot marks on bare flooring.

Price
USD9.00 / £12.99 / €14.95 for 120g / 4.25oz.

Here in the Netherlands, I haven't seen many stores carrying this. You can find it in places like Sephora and Biocosmetica. Over at Zalando, I see a mini version of it as part of a kit.

This tube should last quite a while. I've been using mine once-twice a week for half a year and I've still a long way to go to finishing it.

Last Words
A robust foot cream, this is. No regrets getting this.


Burt's Bees website

Mill Creek Botanicals: 99% Aloe Vera Gel Review

We had an aloe vera plant at home when I was young. I remember once having tried rubbing a small piece of raw aloe vera on my face but its yucky sliminess just didn't appeal to a girl of twelve. Encouraged by my aunt, I had tried eating it too. It was something between tasteless and bitter. I had it with some honey as well, which made the experience slightly more pleasant but that was the end of it, really. I wasn't impressed. I guess I was just too young to appreciate its simple, natural goodness.

Of course, I've learnt to see things differently now that I'm a lot older. I have used a couple of skincare products which contained a bit of aloe vera but that's not quite the same, is it? For the longest time, I had toyed with the idea of getting an aloe vera plant of my own but hey, who am I kidding? Plants always die on me! So, the next best thing was to get bottled pure aloe vera gel.

I only started a serious search on it early this year. There are many choices out there if you looked and this tube of Mill Creek Botanicals 99% Aloe Vera Gel just happens to be the first one I bought.

True, it's not 100% pure aloe vera gel but 99% is pretty good, methinks.

Ingredients:
Aloe vera gel (organic), deionized water, cucumber extract, comfrey extract, allantoin, carbomer, tetrasodium EDTA, triethanolamine, oleth-20, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, essential oils.
*Certified organic ingredient by BCS OKO - Garantie

Mill Creek Botanicals says:

All the amazing properties of pure Aloe Vera are carefully extracted from the Aloe Vera plant and are completely intact in this convenient tube. We add Cucumber to help keep the skin toned, fresh and soft. Also Comfrey and Allantoin to further assist the skin's healing process. This moisture-rich, quick-absorbing Aloe Vera Gel helps soothe and moisturize dry skin and relieve skin irritations, minor burns, insect bites and sunburn. A cooling aftershave balm for men and women.

It is pH-balanced and it contains no fragrance, no parabens and no glycols.

I gave half the contents to my Mum and frankly, she has got more to contribute to this review than I do. She loves this aloe vera gel and in fact, she finished her half within a couple of months. I got her another brand of aloe vera gel to try (and compare) after that.

Here are some uses:

• Heat rashes
In hot weather, she often has rashes on her limbs and as we all know, the more you scratch, the more it spreads. The aloe vera gel (plus the cucumber extract, I'm sure) cools and soothes the skin/itch. The rashes are gone within fifteen minutes after application of the gel.

I use it for the same purpose too. It works like a charm. Love it!

• Insect bites
She applies it on the ocassional mosquito bite. Again, it soothes the itch and after a while, the bump and the redness are gone.

• Sunburn
My husband uses it on his sunburnt arms sometimes and it really relieves the discomfort.

So, the keywords are 'soothing', 'cooling' and 'relief'. Sometimes, I apply it on my skin simply to cool down on a hot summer day. Aloe vera gels tend to be neutral in many ways - colourless and almost no smell (this one from Mill Creek has a subtle cucumber-y scent). It's just a gel minus the sliminess. The gel doesn't take very long to dry and/or evaporate and you can almost feel an unobtrusive thin film left on the skin.

I've read that some ladies use it as a facial moisturiser. I can imagine it would work great if you have oily, sensitive skin. I have tried it a few times on my face but I didn't find it moisturising enough. It won't work well if you have dry skin. Ditto for say, the hands. It just cools the skin. Period.

Mill Creek Botanicals also has a couple more aloe vera products in its range. One of them is the Aloe Vera & PABA Moisturizing Lotion, which combines the goodness of aloe vera to soothe minor skin irritations and PABA for natural protection with its UV absorption qualities. Perhaps that is something I could look into later.

Anyway, the best thing about this 99% Aloe Vera Gel is how cheap it is. The recommended retail price is US$5.99 but I paid just US$3.58 for this 180ml / 6fl. oz tube. I bought it from the US-based iHerb, which is one of my favourite places to shop on the internet.

A bit of shameless plugging here: If you're new to iHerb, my iHerb coupon code QOJ683 will get you a US$10 discount on orders of US$40 or more, or a US$5 discount on orders less than US$40. Once you're a customer of iHerb, you'll get your own coupon code too, which you can then pass on to your family and friends.

As I said, there are many brands of bottled aloe vera gel on the market these days. iHerb carries several brands of it but you can also easily get one in your local drugstore. It's such a useful multi-purpose skincare product to have.

SheerinO'kho: Outdoor Meetings Wintertime Face Cream Review

On the box, SheerinO'kho has just this simple tagline: Natural skincare for active lives.

Intelligent skincare presented in aesthetically pleasing packaging is how I see it. You've read a bit about the brand in my SheerinO'kho Eye Cream review. Briefly, it offers premium skincare solutions to address the effects the environment has on the skin, for example, temperature changes, sun exposure, pollution and air-conditioning.

Never mind the unconventional name. However it is translated, it boils down to being outdoors in winter. The SheerinO'kho Outdoor Meetings Wintertime Face Cream was developed to help protect the skin and minimise sensitivity to the rigours of winter (and autumn) weather.

SheerinO'kho says (excerpts):

.....this face cream is designed for lovers of sport, hiking or gardening in the crisp autumn and winter air, protecting their skin from the effects of wind, biting cold, rain and sun.

Concentration in active ingredients of 20.45%. A fusion of more than 20 extracts including Buriti, Candle Tree, Baobab, Larch, Pea peptide, Acerola, Tamarindus Indica, Myrothamnus Flabellifolia, Indian Senna, Tamanu, Mourera Fluviatilis, Jojoba, Cupuaçu, Tucuma and Shea.


Ingredients:
Water, glycerin,tamanu oil, sunflower oil, pea extract, buriti oil, caprylic/capric triglyceride, jojoba oil, cetearyl alcohol, glyceryl stearate, cupuaçu butter, shea butter, sucrose, astrocaryum vulgare kernel oil, pca, serine, arginine, benzyl alcohol, potassium palmitoyl hydrolyzed wheat protein, undecylenoyl glycine, proline, xanthan gum,alanine, baobab oil, cassia angustifolia seed polysaccharide, capryloyl glycine, parfum, trehalose, cassia alata leaf, threonine, tamarindus indica polysaccharide, tocopherol, glycogen, dehydroacetic acid, larch wood extract, mourera fluviatilis, sodium hydroxide, myrothamnus flabellifolia extract, acerola fruit extract, isoeugenol, linalool, geraniol, citronellol, limonene, citric acid, benzyl salicylate, eugenol, citral.

This face cream has the same gold-toned lockable dispenser as the Eye Cream.

And just like the eye cream, the texture of the SheerinO'kho Outdoor Meetings Wintertime Face Cream is light and neither oily nor sticky. Actually, it feels more like a very light lotion. It spreads easily and I typically use three-four drops for the whole face each time.

I'd gone through this bottle last year, also covering a short period in summer (40ml lasts about six months, used twice daily) and well, I have only nice things to say about it. My skin soaked up its goodness and in all the time that I used this face cream, my skin was nicely plumped and always nourished. And I love its subtle sweet herbal-earthy scent too.

In addition to that, there was another improvement to my skin. Rosacea. I haven't got severe rosacea but before, it did ocassionally rear its ugly red head cheeks, especially in winter, when entering a very warm indoor space from the biting cold outside.

Well, I haven't had any facial flushing ever since using this face cream, certainly not last autumn/winter. I thought nothing of it initially but it dawned on me some months later that SheerinO'kho may have had something to do with this.

The thing is, I checked the SheerinO'kho website afterwards and it says that this face cream has been proven effective as a daily treatment against rosacea and broken capillaries. A-hah!

Good stuff but I'll admit, it's on the pricier side: €58 for 40ml / 1.35 fl.oz (as per its website). Prices may vary when purchasing through authorised SheerinO'kho retailers. The bottle, by the way, comes with its own elegant protective sheath.

SheerinO'kho products are made in France (Provence), using fresh spring water from the Durance river that runs from the southern French Alps. Its products contain various and often uncommon botanical active ingredients sourced from all over the world. It uses no parabens, no PEG, no colouring and no artificial fragrance, preferring to have its products naturally scented with essential oils.

Oh, one more thing gleaned from its website: This face cream has even been tested in Antartica!


Further reading:
Disclosure and my review of the SheerinO'kho Eye Cream
SheerinO'kho website

Styx: Potato Hand Balm Review

I will start by saying that this is more a cream than a balm and frankly, I don't see why you should restrict its use to only the hands.

Styx is an Austrian natural skincare brand and from what I've read, it's quite a big commercial concern in its home country and is also active in Germany and Switzerland. According to its literature, it also has many retail points in Russia and has been making inroads in the US and the Far East too.

Styx is now run by Wolfgang Stix, whose grandfather, Florian Stix, began experimenting and making tinctures and ointments using new and traditional recipes in 1915. The Goat Butter Cream which Styx still sells today can be traced back to those early days. However, it was Erwin Stix (Wolfgang's father) who formally established Styx and, with his medical background, he was able to take a scientific and economic approach in steering his company.

Today, Styx produces more than 750 different types of natural skincare products under various brand names. The following are just some points of interest about Styx:

• makes use of only natural raw materials - organic or wildcrafted
• uses cold-pressed vegetable oils
• emulsifiers, preservatives and surfectants used are derived from natural raw materials
• does not use paraffin oils
• does not test on animals

The Potato Hand Balm that Styx makes is based on a traditional farmer's recipe from a region in Lower Austria called Waldviertel (Forest Quarter), where potatoes and poppies are the main crops. It is said that Austrian farmers used the juice of raw potatoes on their hands after a hard day's work in the field at the turn of the 19th century. Skincare in its simplest form!

The Potato Hand Balm is packaged in a 7-inch long aluminium tube. The cream inside is off-white in colour and is not greasy. It has a smooth and moderately thick consistency and is absorbed into the skin within a couple of minutes. The skin feels just a bit tacky (just like with most hand creams) and smelling like dessert. Pudding, I reckon. The cream smells like very sweet almond pudding. It's not indicated but I hope the added fragrance is natural.

I don't have anything bad to say about this hand cream. It keeps the hands sufficiently moisturised. I use it during the day and sometimes at bedtime together with my Essence Nail & Hand Care Gloves. If you wish, you can use it as a body cream too.

Besides potato extract, the Potato Hand Balm contains goodies like macadamia oil (great for aging skin - mine!), shea butter, marigold oil, jojoba oil, chamomile extract and sunflower seed oil.

Ingredients:
Water, Macadamia Oil, Cetearyl Wheat Straw Glycosides, Glycerin, Shea Butter*, Marigold Flower Oil, Isopropyl Myristate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, Fragrance, Jojoba Oil, Potato Extract*, Chamomile Extract*, Gluconolactone, Sunflower Seed Oil, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Beta-Carotene/ CI 75130

* from controlled organic cultivation - raw materials checked by LACON (a certification institute)

Price: €6.95 for 50ml

I bought my tube from Dille & Kamille, a Dutch chain of delightful stores selling kitchen, gardening and household utensils and necessities (my other shopping heaven). This seems to be the only Styx product sold there and Dille & Kamille is the only place in the Netherlands where I've ever seen the Potato Hand Balm being sold. I don't know if there may be other stores here selling a wider range of Styx skincare and if there are, I would guess that they are located close to the border with Germany.

I have also found the Potato Hand Balm on Amazon.


Styx website

SheerinO'kho: Eye Cream Review

SheerinO'kho. Love the name. The more I read about SheerinO'kho, the more it comes across to me as an intelligent skincare range. The French natural skincare brand oozes charm and intellectual elegance, if one can call it that. It has a relatively small collection of ten products (though one is a kit) and interestingly, six of them are face creams.

Sheerin'Okho has been around since 2005 and I think the best and most succinct way to describe it would be this phrase borrowed from its own website: "Pioneering environment responsive skin care".

With its products, SheerinO'kho aims to address the effects that the environment has on the skin. Think air pollution, long exposure to the sun, drastic temperature changes (going from outdoors to indoors and vice versa), air-conditioning, etc. Like it or not, these factors have a negative impact on our skin and SheerinO'kho products are meant to provide a response to whatever skin imbalances these environmental factors have caused.

Note: SheerinO'kho very kindly sent me some products last year. As I don't take the task of writing skincare reviews lightly, I have chosen to start writing my SheerinO'kho reviews only now, after having used SheerinO'kho on my face for more than a year.

This review focuses on the SheerinO'kho Eye Cream. In time, I will do features on a few of their other products and write more about SheerinO'kho the brand.

Sealed bottle

The following is what SheerinO'kho says about the Eye Cream (excerpts):

This skincare gives long-lasting vivacity to eyes tired by hyperactivity and downtown pollution. Active tripeptid ingredients, a product of bio-technology, work powerfully and instantaneously on wrinkles, smoothing the skin and restoring its elasticity. Marks of tiredness, pouches and shadows are attenuated by draining toxins and reinvigorating microcirculation.

Developed from medical research and advanced formulation techniques.

Ingredients

It's a long list, so this is the summary that SheerinO'kho gives on the packaging:

Anti-ageing: tripeptids, Indian senna, Chrondus crispus (Irish moss)
Moisturising: Mourera fluviatilis, Vitamin E
Detoxifying: grape polyphenols, aescin (from horse chestnut)

Contains 12.5% active ingredients.

SheerinO'kho says it uses no paraben, PEG, colouring or artificial fragrance and its products are naturally scented with essential oils.

Packaging
SheerinO'kho uses recyclable packaging. The eye cream as well as its other face creams come presented in gorgeous boxes and chic glass bottles, each fitted with a lockable dispenser.

This is indeed a quality dispenser. With it, it is easy to control just how much product you want each time, even if it's just a small drop.

Eye Cream
This drop that you see on my finger is just about what I need for both eyes. You really don't need much as the eye cream has a very light texture and it spreads easily. It is not sticky and it has a herbal, earthy scent.

Any tightness felt on the outer corners of my eyes after facial cleansing quickly diminishes when I pat on the eye cream. Once absorbed, this gentle and non-irritating cream leaves the skin around the eyes a bit tacky, warm, nourished and ever so slightly plumped. I won't tell you that the fine lines that have been developing under my eyes have voila! disappeared. I am convinced though that the cream has helped, to a certain extent, to stave off the deterioration of the skin around my eyes.

I am unable to comment on its ability to reduce puffiness and dark circles as I don't have major issues with these (I've been cursed with acne-scarred skin instead, thank you very much!).

Other Observations
This has happened before: Once in a blue moon, I get a red, itchy patch on my eye lid close to my eyebrow. For the life of me, I don't know why it's always my right eye lid. This time around, I had so hoped that this eye cream would get rid of it but sadly, it didn't.

Another thing I've noticed is that little flakes develop on my lid when I apply my eyeshadow primer over the eye cream (I use the Too Faced Shadow Insurance). Do note that after applying the eye cream, there is always a time gap of at least fifteen minutes before I use the primer. It seems to me that the flaky bits form when the primer gets in contact with whatever SheerinO'kho Eye Cream that is left on the skin. Anyway, there isn't a lot of the flaky bits, so it's easy to just wipe them away.

Final Words
A miracle eye cream it isn't but I will say it's a good eye cream. I'll tell you what I like even more: SheerinO'kho face creams.

SheerinO'kho is a premium brand and its products are made in Provence, France. According to its website, the SheerinO'kho Eye Cream is priced at €49 for 15ml / 0.50 fl oz. SheerinO'kho recommends using it up within 6 months after opening but in reality, this little bottle lasted 10 to 11 months (used twice a day). I just made sure to always keep it in a cool, dark place.

The brand offers international shipping directly from its website. The shipping rates are reasonable, from what I've checked, capped at €10. In the Netherlands, SheerinO'kho products can also be purchased in Amsterdam from C. Cosmetics & Care (prices vary), where I came across SheerinO'kho for the first time back in 2010.


More information:
SheerinO'kho website
There, you can also view its short list of authorised SheerinO'kho retailers worldwide.

MuLondon: Organic Fragrance-free Foaming Face Wash Review

You've read about the two naturally fragranced versions of MuLondon's facial cleansers - the Organic Rose and the Organic Lavender variants. Now, we'll take a quick look at the MuLondon Organic Fragrance-free Foaming Face Wash.

I finished my bottle of the Organic Rose Foaming Face Wash recently (the big bottle of 150ml should last 6 - 7 months) and as for the smaller 50ml bottle of the Organic Lavender Foaming Face Wash, I've set it aside specially for travelling.

A couple of weeks ago, I placed an order for this fragrance-free facial cleanser and the MuLondon Organic Marigold, Frankincense and Myrhh Moisturiser. I took advantage of the very timely 15% off offer that MuLondon is having for June (coupon code has been in my sidebar the whole month). Boris was as efficient as ever. I placed my order on Friday morning, Boris got the package shipped out on Friday afternoon and it arrived in the Netherlands on Wednesday. Like clockwork.

The cleanser bottle packaged in a zip-lock bag (and bubble wrap)

I actually have a couple of facial cleansers from other brands that are in the queue but I wanted to use Boris' fragrance-free version for a month or two first. And it certainly doesn't disappoint!

Note: I don't usually write reviews of skincare products after only a fortnight's use (doesn't make sense to me) but this post will be an exception as this cleanser has the same base ingredients as the other two versions I've tried. Also, this is simply a mini review of the face wash. Much of what needs to be said has already been said in my detailed review of the Organic Rose and the Organic Lavender cleansers.

I've been using this Fragrance-free version for two weeks - I literally started using it on the day it arrived. Everything about the Fragrance-free version is the same as the other two variants, except for the smell, obviously. It may be called "Fragrance-free" but it does have a scent which I associate with the unscented vegetable oil-based soaps that I've used - raw and earthy. Just like the rose and the lavender versions, this cleanser does not leave my skin tight and dry.

For more photos, please refer to my detailed review.

Ingredients:
Water, Saponified Sunflower Oil*, Saponified Coconut Oil*, Glycerin (vegetable, naturally occurring)*, Potassium Chloride, Potassium Citrate (Potassium Salts), Jojoba Oil*, Rosemary Extract*
*certified organic

As you can see, the face wash contains certified organic ingredients, but as it doesn't contain any added fragrance or perfume, I would recommend it to those who have super-sensitive skin and/or are allergic to certain essential oils. The cleanser contains no SLS, detergents, alcohol, mineral oils, parabens, sorbates, silicones, emulsifiers or other man-made chemicals and certainly no palm oil.

Boris hand-makes these cleansers in London. Price: £13 for 150ml and £6 for 50ml.


The 15% off coupon code is valid for a couple more days. It expires 30th June.

Another event that ends on 30th June is the Big MuLondon Giveaway in which the grand prize winner stands to win MuLondon prizes valued at over £300, including 6 jars of custom-made MuLondon moisturisers! Oh, I envy the winner already!

For both, please refer to the sidebar.


MuLondon website
MuLondon moisturisers are also available through Etsy and eBay.

Le Couvent des Minimes: Smile Lip Balm Review

Le Couvent des Minimes (a much smaller and lesser-known sister brand of L'Occitane's) revamped its lipbalm range some months back. Oh, wait. That lipbalm range was really just one product - the Le Couvent des Minimes Nutritive Lip Balm.

With the 'revamp', the new range called Smile Lip Balm now consists of four products: three Smile Lip Balms in tubes and one Le Couvent des Minimes Smile Lip Balm Very Rich Formula with Honey Aroma in a glass jar.

I had some issues with the old lipbalm but I was nevertheless curious about this new range. I bought two of the tube Smile Lip Balms and also the one in the glass jar. I will write a separate post on the latter. This post is on the tube lip balms:

• Le Couvent des Minimes Smile Lip Balm Pear Aroma
• Le Couvent des Minimes Smile Lip Balm Orange Blossom Aroma

What Le Couvent des Minimes says (excerpts)
Thanks to its original recipe with a delicious aroma, the Smile Lip Balm:

• softens the lips
• nourishes the lips
• protects the lips

Dermatologist tested. Paraben free. Colorant free. Mineral oil free.

Ingredients
Triisostearin, Trihydroxystearin, Shea butter extract, Silica Dimethyl Silylate, Apricot kernel oil, Jojoba seed oil, Aroma, Marshmallow root extract, Saccharin, Propylene Glycol, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Water, Linalool, Geraniol, Limonene, Eugenol.

To help you sift through the ingredients list with some complicated-sounding items, Le Couvent des Minimes highlights on the packaging the natural ingredients and their intended function:

• Marshmallow extract : softens
• Shea butter : nourishes
• Apricot seed oil: protects

My Thoughts

Application
The plastic tube has a slant-tip opening which is handy if you wish to apply directly on the lips with the tube. I like to keep the tip and the screw-on cap clean, so I prefer to squeeze the contents on my finger and then apply.

Scent
The scent is very present in the first couple of minutes of application and yeah, the aromas are dead-on. I especially like the pear variant as it's really like taking a bite of a very juicy, ripe green pear. Despite the saccharin, the Smile Lip Balm is tasteless.

Texture
This Smile Lip Balm isn't a balm in the true sense of the word. It doesn't contain any waxes - no beeswax, no candelilla wax, no carnauba wax. In fact, the 'balm' looks like a gel, like a colourless lipgloss - viscous and murky translucent - but unlike lipgloss, it has a non-sticky formula, which is great! The lips are left with a mildly glossy finish, which is why I tend not to use it at bedtime.

The gel spreads smoothly and effortlessly on the lips and it's lasting too. The lips stay smooth, cushy-soft and moisturised for several hours until it's time to eat. A thin layer applied would also work well as a lipstick base.


Final Words
I'm impressed. I wasn't expecting much when I bought these but I really like these tube Smile Lip Balms now, inaccurate the 'lip balm' name may be. If anything, I think the creators should have called it a lip gel, a lip conditioner or even a lip treatment.

Even though it doesn't look like all the ingredients are natural and I don't know if the aroma is natural or synthetic (let me know if you happen to have more information), it's great that it doesn't contain parabens and petrolatum. I like the fact that the shea butter figures quite highly on the list of ingredients and the presence of apricot kernel oil, jojoba seed oil and marshmallow extract can only mean more nourishing goodness for the lips.

Its recommended retail price in Europe is €7.50 for 15ml / 0.5oz. At the ICI Paris XL parfumerie stores here in the Netherlands, they go for €6.75 each.


More information:
For the background story on Le Couvent des Minimes the brand, please read this post here.
Le Couvent des Minimes website

I did a quick check and here are some of the places where one can buy Le Couvent des Minimes products:

Benelux - ICI Paris XL parfumeries stores in Nederland and Belgium
UK - Tesco's Beauty Halls in Bolton, Dudley and Newport
USA - Beauty.com
It says on the Beauty.com website that with a USD35 purchase of Le Couvent des Minimes products, you'll get a free full-size tube of the soap-free Rinse-Off Cleansing Cream (worth USD16) from its Beneficial Rose Skincare range. Ends 31 Dec 2012.