My Body Shop Shop!

Hello!

How are you?  I'm relaxing at home after a bit of a whirlwind day at work.  I'm feeling less anxious today because my rehearsals at work went a bit better than they did the previous two days of this week.  I had a little bit more time at home than usual so I managed to have a little bath pampering session using my new chocolate and clay face mask by a brand called Joik.  I also managed to get two loads of washing on which never happens.

I recently used up all my Body Shop Blueberry Body Butter which bothered me because it really was the best moisturiser I've found for my eczema.  I find oils don't really work on eczema as well and other moisturisers that have a more waxy like quality don't sink into my skin as well as this body butter does.  

The body butters are really expensive over here so I waited until sale time and found two that I was interested in; the Mango one and the Passion Fruit one.  I held off until I had had time to look at the ingredients online (it really annoys me that you can't easily see the ingredients on some Body Shop products on the packaging).  I found out that the Mango one had parabens in it and the Passion Fruit one didn't so that decision was easy.

 I also ended up getting the sweet lemon beautifying oil because I had it in the summer and I really loved using it.  My normal skin drinks it up and it feels gorgeous to use.  I love the fruity fresh scent too it's not too subtle but also not too heavy.

The body butter has a subtle sweet fruity scent to it and I find the consistency to be really similar to the blueberry one which I also liked.
I'm really looking forward to snuggling in bed soon.  Have a nice evening!

Twirlybirdie :)

Body Shop Blueberry Body Butter: Review

Hello there!

This blog is fast becoming a beauty product review blog.  It's just the way things have been going lately with me having to try to find new products for my skin.  I love the Body Shop Body Butters but don't often buy them because of the price.  I spotted the blueberry one on sale at half price.and as it was paraben free (not all of them are)  I decided to get it.

Yum yum yum!  It smells amazing.  By the time I bought this I was too scared to use anything with fragrance added to it on my arms where my eczema was, especially now that I had discovered the natural Shea Oil.  I used this on other parts of my body instead.  It is in my opinion quite a light body butter.  It has a light fruity scent that's not too heavy but definitely yummy.  I like fruity scents.  Maybe it's my imagination but it feels cool on the skin and absorbs pretty quickly.  I have no complaints, I really like using this.

I really like the colour of the tub too!  Very wintery.

Do you have a favourite Body Shop Body Butter?  I'm also enjoying trying out my Virgin Coconut Oil which I recently bought.  I'm trying to use it on my scalp which has also been a bit irritated recently.  I will let you know the results further down the line!

Till next time :)

Twirlybirdie

Natural Moisturisers, Burt's Bees Body Lotion and Pure Shea Oil

Hello!

I hope your week has started well.  Mine has started with a new apartment to move in to.  We have the keys to the new place and are in the process of moving.  It is a lovely but much smaller flat so we have a lot of sorting and figuring out what to do with our things.

My skin has calmed down loads since my eczema flared up and the eczema is pretty much gone now although the skin still looks a bit red.  I was in such discomfort and such a panic about it when it was bad that I threw money at plenty of different products in the hope that something would calm it down.  I discovered some great moisturisers and some that really didn't work for me in the process so now it's all calmed down I'm going to blog about some of my experiences.

Two moisturisers that really were great were these ones by Burt's Bees .  The first one I bought was the fragrance free body lotion with Shea Butter and Vitamin E.  It was great to use because it was the first moisturiser I bought which didn't sting my inflamed skin when I put it on.  It is a lotion so it was lighter than a body butter but it still left a bit of a waxy covering on the skin after I used it which is a good thing when you have to try to keep skin constantly moist.
The second one I bought was the soothingly sensitive lotion with Aloe and Buttermilk.  I bought this because I read someone's review on-line which said it was good for their eczema.  It was a milkier consistency than the fragrance free one but seemed to absorb in to the skin faster without leaving a greasy coating.  I really enjoy using this as well.  My skin seemed to soak it up.  I found the milky fragrance quite pleasant as well.
These moisturisers were more expensive than I would normally pay for body lotion but I've really enjoyed using them and they were very good for my skin when it was so sensitised.
I did also feel like I needed something heavier than a lotion to use when I was at home or during the night.  Anything less than 100% natural seemed to sting my skin like crazy so I was excited to come across this 100% natural Shea oil in the shops.

I was right to be excited.  This pure oil felt amazing to use on my skin.  I felt absolutely no irritation what so ever.  I wanted to use it on everything and reading up on it on the company website it sounds like it can be used for anything.  It was slightly thicker than normal oil which made it slightly hard to get out of the pump but it was worth the effort.  After using this it made me want to try everything else from this brands range of 100% natural products.  I'm not sure this brand is readily available abroad but I'm sure any range of 100% natural products would be the same.

Now I wonder why I would pay money to use anything else when the product in it's pure natural form seems to be so effective.  I don't have to worry about parabens or any other irritants hidden within.  I want to try out other pure oils such as jojoba and sweet almond oil on my skin.  It reminds me of the Body Shop's sweet lemon body oil which I loved using in the summer but was put off buying again because it was so expensive.  I loved that you could use it on body, face and hair and I feel the same way about the natural Shea oil I bought.  I want to use it everywhere!
This inspired me to buy the Virgin Coconut Oil that recently went on sale in the food stores here and I plan to review it soon.

As promised here is a clearer picture of the Lumene Lip Sorbet I reviewed earlier this week in action.

Nice and bright for winter!

It's time to get back to my herbal tea.  I need to try to get to bed a bit earlier these days as I feel I'm looking a bit tired!

Till next time :)

Twirlybirdie

Body Butter Review: Body Shop Hemp and Dr. Organic Vitamin E

Hi there!

I'm so relieved the weekend is finally here.  It's been a hard week again at work.  Not so much because of the workload but mostly because of how run down I've been feeling.  When I get run down my eczema often flares up which is unpleasant.  I've had much worse flare ups in the past with patches up and down my arms and on my neck and face but luckily it hasn't been that bad for about 7 years now.  I just tend to get it on the inside creases of my arms which is still incredibly irritating especially when I exercise for a living which tends to make it bright red.  I can't cover it up in a leotard so I try not to get self conscious about it and hope it calms down again ASAP.  I get asked questions about what it is all the time and although I know people are well meaning it just makes me even more self-conscious of it.
One thing I rely on is using a moisturiser constantly as the patches get extremely dry.  I've recently been trying to avoid using products containing parabens and one of my recent purchases was the Hemp Body Butter by the Body Shop.

This is a really nice product.  It's rich, thick and creamy and suitable for very dry skin.  Importantly it didn't irritate my skin which is very sensitive at the moment.  It has a slight green colouring to it which would be fine if you're just using it normally but for my eczema I have to really slather it on thickly and leave it to soak in and it did end up leaving the skin and any parts of my clothing which came in to contact with it a little green coloured.  So this wasn't an option for me to use for my skin outside of the home.   Because of this once the tub was almost used up I decided to seek out a colourless moisturiser for my next body butter.

My most recent purchase was the Dr. Organic Vitamin E Body Butter.  It is labelled as being a super rich moisturiser with Aloe Vera, Shea Butter and Jojoba.  It is a rich and creamy butter like the body shop one and feels really nice on most of my skin but....it did sting my eczema ever so slightly when I put it on.  It wasn't terrible though and I've had this before but then it's fine after the first application has sunk in.  I'm going to persevere with this body butter because I've had this before with a moisturiser and once the eczema starts to get better the irritated feeling goes away.  In fact it's only ever the first time I apply it that there's a slight tingling sensation and then my skin relaxes and it's fine the second time I put it on.

I'll probably let you know how I get on with it in the future.  I find both these Body Butters are really nice consistency for use on normal dry skin.  My eczema is already getting better since work ended and I've had a nap.  It's definitely related to my body and immune system being stressed out.  I know I've got to get over this flu bug first and then relax as much as possible and my skin will heal.  I've really cut down my dairy intake just in case and today I bought some probiotics.  I just want to heal my body as much as I can from the inside out.

Do any of you have any moisturisers that work well for your skin?

Till next time :)

Nivea Face Care Pure and Natural Moisturising Day Care Review

Recently I have been trying to use products with more natural ingredients.  These ranges tend to be a bit pricier than what I'd normally buy so I was happy to come across this new Pure and Natural range by Nivea.  My experience of Nivea moisturiser in the past is that it stung my sensitive skin so I've avoided using any of it's products.  I liked the sound of this new moisturisers's 95% natural ingredients.  It's free from Parabens and an affordable price which convinced me to give it a go.

I got the day cream for normal to combination skin.  I found it was a very rich cream.  I don't need to use much of it at all to cover all of my face.  There was no stinging feeling!  I've been using this as a night cream as it is a little too heavy maybe for day for my skin and there's no sunscreen protection in it.  It is good in the cold weather though when I do need something a bit richer.  I've nearly used it all up so that is a good sign that it has been useful!

Overall I would say it is a nice rich cream with more natural ingredients at a good price.  I would bear in mind though that this cream is rich and if you have naturally greasy skin it might be too heavy for it.

Having used this I definitely will be checking out the rest of the Pure and Natural range.  I'd buy this again to use when my skin is feeling dry and need of more moisture.

Hope you found this review useful!

xxxx