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.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, this sounds great. I need to have something like this at home for sunburns and mosquito bites. I'll definitely be on the look out for it. Lovely review, thanks hun. "KTee"xx

Witoxicity said...

@KTee
Thanks so much, KTee. Yeah, do look around for one like this. Just like the paw paw ointment, this is one of those things that is always handy to have at home. :)

Anonymous said...

This sounds great. Good products are not always expensive, just like this one. I think (after reading your review) we all should have this at home. Take care, Nicole x

Witoxicity said...

@Nicole
So true! There are also many cheap and simple things in your kitchen that you can also use as skincare and you can make some things yourself, provided you have the time. I hope your week is going well, Nicole. :)