A moment with OFRA’s Dew the Dew Shimmer body Lotion

This OFRA’s Dew The Dew Shimmer body Lotion came in my February Cohorted box. I can honestly say I would not have picked this up on my own. In general I like OFRA products, however I always find Shimmer body lotion a little of a strange thing. I know it is used to highlight collarbones and that sort of thing, but honestly I don’t wear a lot of collarbone revealing items in my daily life.

So I just treated this as a body lotion.

Which was quite interesting.

According to OFRA…

A translucent with silver and pearl flecks

Douse yourself in our most tempting glow for year-round vacay vibes with this body shimmer lotion. Drape this ultimate glow on your shoulders, chest, legs, and arms to shine with the intensity of the pearl pigments of our scene-stealing highlighters without the skin becoming too oily or slippery.

The shade I have is moonstone. There are Coppery and topaz shades as well which I think have more of a bronze glow. I suspect I would have more issues using those as all over body lotion. This is translucent and so there is no color to it. The cream is white and the white disappears into the skin like regular body lotion. There are sparkles that remain. It is a subtle sparkle though. What i find interesting is that it does catch the light thorough out the day, but doesn’t wear off like glitter would, And it rinses clean off with no issue in the shower. If it doesn’t catch the light there is no sign of it.

Getting a pic of the shine was interesting because It really depends on light shifting over the skin to shine so it has to be in motion to see.

When the cream goes on it goes on wet and at first I thought, oh no I am going to be a shiny grease ball all day. The wet look faded fairly quickly though and there was no slickness, or greasy feel. It is also really hydrating.

All in all it is a really good body lotion that they put shimmer into.

And did I mention the scent?

dried with subtle shimmer catching the light

It is delectable. There is a light peachy but clean rather than sweet scent to the lotion. It is strongest when first applied but the scent fades back after a minute. You can sort of still smell it if you put your nose to your arm, but that’s it. It is not a lotion scent that travels. So you can enjoy the scent without worrying about causing issues to the scent sensitive around you.

I am not a huge fan of the shimmer but this is a good enough body lotion with such a fantastic scent that i am willing to use it and ignore the shimmer. As it is a light shimmer it is relatively easy to ignore. It will catch the light and glimmer occasionally but it isn’t something I have a problem with. The only draw back I have is the cap to the bottle.

It is a small complaint. The bottle is a square bottle and looks quite elegant. The silver pump is nice as well. The square plastic cap feels a little cheap in the hands. It has the feel of something that is going to crack soon. And to be honest, I will probably deliberately lose it soon because I think it cheapens the look of the product.

As far as complaints go though, it is a minor one. OFRA’s Dew the Dew Shimmer Body Lotion is not a product i would have purchased on my own but I love it and will certainly be purchasing it again.

Using the Ancient Clay Earthy Soap

I have seen advertisements for this Ancient Clay Earthy Soap for a while now. I don’t know if I am on some list or if an algorithm caught me in it’s web or what. But it seems like they are stalking me. It is a light stalking though more IG stalking and less every available media outlet. It was certainly not the intense version that the Sauvage campaign did. That one appeared so often I started having dreams where Johnny Depp and a pack of wolves were lurking on the edge of my dreams. They were not part of any of the dreams just sort of lurking in the background.

But I digress. I have seen quite a number of ads for this Ancient Clay Soap and then received a bar in the Kinder Beauty Box. I will say that I did put off trying it for a while. Not because of the commercials, but because of the scent. This sample of the Soap is in the scent Rover spring and the scent that wafts off of it is quite intense.

Delight your day with splashes of River Spring, a blend of Coconut and Green Tea of essential oils, and let the fresh aromas of earth and ocean lead your day. Ingredient Benefits: Ionic Minerals (Pure Calcium Montmorillonite Clay) contains more than 57 trace minerals to help stimulate skin cell renewal. Shea Butter is full of vitamins and fatty acids to help nourish and moisturize the skin. Coconut oil helps remove dead skin cells and dirt away from the body. Its anti-inflammatory properties can help calm down and prevent redness, swelling, and irritation • 100% Vegan• No Sulfates• No Paraben • Gluten Free
Ancient Clay

I do not get the scent of coconut or green tea from the bar when it is sealed in the wrapper. I did get a heavily perfumed scent that reminded me of my grandmother’s scented soap dish. You know those soaps that were in little shapes that you are always told are for guests and that you were never ever to touch? Yeah that is what it smells like. Not entirely what the official term for that scent is because as soon as I smell it, it is the fancy soap dish smell in my head. Heavy perfume leaning in the floral direction with no individual flowers that can be picked out.

I will admit that the scent caused me to put it to the side and not use it for a while. Finally I decided it was time to go. Mostly because I ran out of soap and had this to hand. Once the wrapper was off there was a brief burst of scent from the soap and then it settled down. After the soap was wet, there was even less scent. I lifted my hands to my face (I always try soaps on my hands instead yo faking them straight to the shower, I figure if i have a reaction, isolating the reaction rather than have it cover my whole body is a better plan.)

I had no reaction to the soap so it has been moved to the shower. A it is a sample size, it disappeared very quickly. The scent that remained after the soap started to be used as a very light floral It was still the floral that was overpowering in the package, but it was like once it was allowed to air out most of the scent dissipated.

What remained was a really good bar of soap. The lather was not it’s strong point, but it did get a little sudsy. more importantly it rinsed off clean and left my skin feeling really soft and hydrated. Which I am thinking is the shea butter effect. I know this is a bath and body soap but I think I would rather use this as a hand soap. It felt really good on dry over worked hands. While my hands still suffer from the hand sanitizer dry out, I am also soon to begin the spring garden work. That always takes such a massive toll on my hands. I think having a bar of soap like this around in the bathroom where i wash up post garden activities would not be a bad addition to my spring routine. I am glad I finally tried out this Ancient Clay Earthy Soap. I am even happier that the intense scent of it faded to something barely noticeable while still leaving my skin soft and fabulous. For me this is a definite repurchase.

Delicious Hands with L’Occitane

I know L’Occitane makes many fabulous products but for me, I will always think of them as first a hand cream specialist. I have used their various hand creams off and on for years. The one ounce size is almost always the version I get. In some scents/types it is listed as a mini and for other creams it doesn’t have the word mini attached to it even though it is the same size.

Whether they are actually called mini or not, this is the size I prefer as it fits perfectly into my bag and is easy to grab on the run. For me I almost always get the shea butter version of this hand cream so I am thrilled to try out another version of the hand cream. I tend to get into a routine with buying replacement products. If I know I like one a lot I tend to buy that version and forget to try out other things from the brand. It is one of the reasons I love subscription boxes. The boxes don’t always send the one item from the brand I always buy bit others I have never tried. This Delicious Hands Amande from L’Occitane came in a Cohorted Box.

So what is Delicious hands supposed to do?

This silky-smooth cream melts into your hands leaving them soft, moisturized, and scented with the most mouthwatering aroma. Cuticles feel softer and nails look shinier. Enriched with almond milk and sweet almond oil, this fast-absorbing hand cream offers delicious 24-hour hydration* without any greasy residue. Enjoy the unforgettable scent of fresh almonds and warm vanilla as it fills the air and envelops your skin in the most indulgent experience.

And wow does it deliver. The scent is lightly almond. And it is a more natural almond scent, very light and not artificial smelling. Personally I love the scent of almonds so that is a big draw for me. even better is the speed at which it absorbs into the skin and the non-greasy feeling.

This is a cream you can put in your bag and when you are running around splashing hand sanitizer all over your hands in an effort to decontaminate yourself you can use without worrying about your hands being too greasy to drive. A little peas sized amount covers both my hands and my forearms. I have this tendency to pour out too much hand sanitizer and then use it on not just my hands but my wrists and arms so it will dry faster and not pool on my hands. And then i have to rehydrate that skin as well. if you don’t go crazy with the hand sanitizer then you will need a little less cream.

one thing i really noticed about this cream is that it is really hydrating on my cuticles. It is listed as a hand and nail care item, so I shouldn’t be surprised but I just found it especially good on my cuticle areas. For me once my cuticles start drying i will absently pick at them. i know I shouldn’t but I will. hence my eternal love affair with cuticle oils. Admittedly when using this, I didn’t feel the need for cuticle oil.

I really liked this hand cream and to be honest, i like it better than the shea butter version. I think it was the scent that got me, but even without that, The speed that this absorbs and the fantastic hydration it provides means I will be purchasing this Amande Delicious Hands cream from L’Occitane in the future.

Getting clean with Fur

Every time I have gone on the search for clean body products the brand fur has come up. It is a brand I have always meant to look into but somehow always had a product on hand I needed to use up first. However this fur All Body Wash Cleansing and Balancing cleansing oil came in my February Dermstore Beauty Fix and I was thrilled to give it a try.

According to the product page…

Fur’s All Body Wash is a daily, pH-balanced oil wash formulated to provide a luxurious cleansing experience to the entire body. The rich formula when lathered, turns into a velvety soft, milky wash while sweet almond oil and vitamin E help cleanse, hydrate, soften and restore the skin’s barrier.

At first, because it was a body oil, I was concerned about the lid. I saw the round cap and knew that once my hands were wet it would become problematic. I envisioned dropping it into the shower and going on a hunt while the body oil spilled. As such has happened before (many times in fact), it is an understandable fear. However the lid is not a twist off lid. You have to remove it to take off the safety seal underneath, but then you put it back on and it is just a pull up to dispense and push down to close mechanism.

Quite honestly it is a fabulous choice. The round knob is easy to grasp and pull up and push down. i was quite impressed.

With almond oil being mentioned, I thought there would be an almond sort of scent. There isn’t. It is a scentless body wash. I will admit I found that slightly disappointing as I do like the scent of almond oil. Thee is also vitamin E in the mix and both elements combine to make this a fantastic skin softening blend. My skin did feel soft and cleansed. It wasn’t especially hydrating so I did need to follow with a body wash after my shower. I don’t find that to be a problem though. For me a lot of the moisturizing body washes tend to leave me feeling less than clean.

I am sure I am just as clean, but I feel more clean if the body wash doesn’t try to overly hydrate. I like going for the products that clean without stripping the skin. Which this does really well. It is not an overly hydrating formula but it is not a skin stripping one either.

The biggest problem I had with this fur All Body wash was that because it is an oil it has a thin consistency coming out of the bottle. Because of the dispensing mechanism it is very easy to squeeze a little too hard and dispensed far more product than is needed. It took a little adjustment but I got there. The all Body cleanser is supposed to be usable for your hair as well.. It worked okay as a shampoo but to be honest it wasn’t that great. It is a formula I would use it I was traveling and found out I left my shampoo behind but not one I would use on a regular basis. In all fairness I should point out that my babydoll loves it. In fact he tried it out once while I was testing and has now asked me twice when i will be finished testing it. He will occasionally try the things I put in the shower but he tries not to use them more than once if he knows I need to test them out. When he asks me about them, I know he likes the product. Since he is very scent sensitive, I know he will appreciate the scentless formula far more than I will and so with this post I will pass the remaining product on to him. It will be used and probably will be purchased again. It is a good body wash, even if I prefer something with a little more lather and a little more scent. But I think fur’s All Body wash is a good product and it has earned its place on a repeat purchase bathing products list. And I am glad I finally got to try something from the brand.

A Post Workout friend…

If you have followed my posts for any length of time you will know that Elemis is one of my favorite skincare brands. It is rare though that I will branch out of face products. I have used the muscle relaxion oil, which I really liked. It was an oil that you basically used as a massage oil. I enjoyed it because it reminded me to take the time to massage my legs and arms after a hot post workout shower.

And yes after a workout I really give the water heater a work out. I love hot water on sore muscles and will run out the hot water. Following with the oil was great.

Somehow I thought this would be similar, just in cream form. And it sort of is. This Elemis Instant Refreshing Gel is designed to be massaged into sore muscles. which as I am slowly increasing my workout every week or so I thought this was a great product to try out.

Somehow I didn’t expect it to actually work like a sports cream.

In retrospect, when i look over the description I can sort of see it.

A revitalising body gel formulated with soothing Arnica and Camphor that delivers relief to tired and tense muscles in seconds.

I know, it seems obvious, but somehow I thought it was just like a refreshing body lotion. It isn’t. It is moisturizing and it is hydrating on the skin. However it is very much like putting on a sports cream like BenGay or IcyHot onto your skin. Which you might want to know before applying it. I had a very surprising first application. After the first application, I was expecting the intense cool and tingling of the gel.

It is a clear gel that absorbs very quickly and starts relieving muscle ache almost instantly, just as it claims. It is also hydrating without being greasy. I didn’t need to apply a moisturizer over it. Which was nice. Typically with something like Icy hot, after I apply it my skin dries out a little. the muscles are relieved, but the skin needs some back up. With this Elemis Instant Refreshing Gel I didn’t need a follow up body cream.

It is intensely scented. As you may expect from the inclusion of camphor in the description, it has a scent that I think of as Vicks Adjacent. It is very medicinal. Now in my house we have the great Vicks Vapor Rub debate. Growing up my mother loved it and now my Babydoll adores it. I will tolerate it when i have to. For me this gel works well enough that I will put up with the scent. It also smells very Vicks like so I actually found it disappearing faster than I was using it. My babydoll has been dipping into the tube. I caught him at it when i found the Elemis Instant Refreshing Gel disappeared from my collection of products and was put into his collection. I like this gel, but i have the feeling that I will have to hunt for it when I want to use it and that it will be one of his regular products.

For me the scent is not my favorite. But it works well enough that I am willing to over look the scent in order to get the benefits of the product. My babydoll likes the muscle relief, but he also adores the scent. I suspect this Elemis Instant Refreshing Gel will be around our house for a while.

Getting into the guts of things…

They say beauty comes from within. And so today, it is inside we are going. One of the things I have always had issues with are my guts. I have a very slow metabolism. I like to thing that as my tastebutds like to savor flavors, my innards like to savor neutrients.

As amusing as that image is, it is less amusing when you have to feel the effects of it. And as we are talking about the inside, I will have to admit that my body does not like releasing gas either. In either direction although when it does release it tends to go up rather than down. Admittedly that does mean that I often feel as though there is a giant softball sized bundle of gas trapped just behind my sternum. Which is just as uncomfortable as it sounds.

And so I tend to try all sorts of different products to sort of settle things down. The item I am trying now is the OLLY Metabolism Gummy Rings.

According to the website…

he secret to a mighty metabolism? Here’s the in’cider scoop. These delicious gummies help boost digestive health, improve metabolism and rev energy production. The best part: our Apple Cider Vinegar contains the “mother” (strands of protein packed with gut-friendly probiotics) so you can get all the benefits of ACV without having to drink it.*

I know the thought of eating a gummy to lose weight is a very appealing one. However I did choose to try these out because of the apple cider vinegar. When I was little constipation was a routine feature of my life. It is actually less so as an adult. One of the things I was given to drink then, and still make now when I need it, is a homemade remedy.

The homemade version we used for a constipation cure is One tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar, Two tablespoons of lemon juice and eight ounces of water. It is not the most pleasant of tasting drinks so I always put in a straw and just suck it back as fast as I can. About half an hour later, the bathroom is my best friend. This is not a concoction to drink when you have to be away from a restroom. It is my emergency constipation cure.

When I saw that this Metabolism Gummy had Apple Cider vinegar in it I figured it was possible it could help me out. The container (retail $19.95) has a thirty day supply and today I am taking my last gummy in the jar. For the past month i have taken one each day. with my mind thinking about my constipation cure, I started the thirty days on a day where I knew i wasn’t going to be leaving the house for a meeting. It was a day, I would be home and I am glad I did.

The first one worked a bit like a slow acting version of my homemade concoction. After about an hour, I found myself visiting the restroom. So i was very glad that I scheduled my start at home. I did have some concerns about a daily dose. The second day there was a need to be near the bathroom, but it was less than the day before. By the third day a more normal course had been resumed. I think that was my body purging and getting used to the gummies.

Taking them regularly sort of regulated my insides. It was just the first that blasted through like human Drain-o.

Once I adjusted, I did find that I was also a bit more regular and I felt less bloated and my guts less cramped. I also had a lot less trouble with trapped gas. So I burped more this month than usual, which wouldn’t normally be something to be happy about. But for me is a very good thing. I had fewer problems this month with my guts than I have for a while.

As for the taste…much better than my homemade concoction. It still has the vinegary tang I would expect, but the sugar of the gummies brings out the apple. They are sweet but not quite candy sweet. They are pleasant to eat, but i would never mistake them for a candy gummy ring, which is perfectly fine with me. The jar tells you not to eat more than one a day and I can say while I am fine with eating one a day, I don’t find myself wanting to reach for a second.

While i will probably still try other items, This is definitely a repeat purchase item for me. I will continue to take it as long as it continues to work. I’m sure i will try other things, but for now, I think this is going to be my standard. I don’t think it helped with any weight loss this month, but it certainly made me feel better, and when I feel better, i am more inclined to exercise. It isn’t a magic weight loss pill, because such a thing doesn’t exist. But it does help me feel a lot better. The OLLY Metabolism Gummy Rings get two thumbs up from me.

Trying out the Ouai Body Creme

I love trial sized samples of body cream. I think it is because I am a little bit picky. I will try and use most any creme but what I am willing to purchase is a very narrow window of products.

There are several things I look at. One is the speed of absorption. This oddly enough used to not be one of my top priorities. I think because of the rise of hand sanitizer while running errands it has risen to become more important. I noticed, as I’m sure most of you have, that hand sanitizer dries out my hands horribly. It especially does a number on my cuticles. And dry and cracked cuticles are very painful. I type and use my hands way too much for this to be acceptable. So In my purse I always carry both hand sanitizer and some form of hand or body lotion.

I then hit my hands with the one two munch of hand sanitizer and then hand or body lotion. Often I do this just as I reach my car post shopping. Which means if I have a cream that takes a while to sink in then I have to wait so that my hands aren’t slick on the wheel.

The second thing I look for is hydration of course. When it sinks in to my skin how does it feel. Are my hands soft and hydrated or do they feel greasy? If the cream leaves my hands greasy then i will wash off my hands, and the cream, making applying the cream rather pointless.

And finally I look for scent. While I enjoy a lot of scents, I am well aware that others around me have a sensitivity. So I like something that has a softer scent, or if it has a stronger scent (which I personally don’t mind) I want to know how long the scent lasts and how far it travels.

If I am alone or if it is just me and my babydoll, I can go all out with scent and there is no problem. if we have scent sensitive company or I am going to a meeting, I need to know that I will not cause a scent offensive.

This is one of the reasons I adore sample sizes. i can test them out to see if a full jar is something I want to look at purchasing or if the sample needs to be used up and sent on it’s way.

I had high hopes for this OUAI Body Creme sample. It is in the scent Melrose Place. I have tried this scent from Ouai in a shampoo, conditioner, body wash and scalp scrub. It is a rose scent, but it is a very upscale rose infused scent. It is more reminiscent of French skincare than it is of most rose scented products. In the shampoo and conditioner, the scent lasted as long as the product was in use and then washed down the drain. It lasted a little longer with the scrub and the body wash, but the scent was still rather mild after I toweled off post shower. It did stay in my hair a little longer, but it was a very subtle scent that I think only I noticed. No one else seemed to notice.

I will also say that all of the products from this line performed really well and are ones I would repurchase. The shampoo and conditioner set especially. My hair really loved it. So I was very excited by the body creme.

The container has both an outer and an interior lid, which I always find helps keep the product fresher longer. It was less necessary in the trial size, but still appreciated. The cream is not an overly thick one. But it is a standard body cream texture and consistency.

It smoothed onto the skin beautifully and melted in. The consistency was fantastic. There was no harsh rubbing or massaging to get the cream to absorb. My skin was left hydrated but not greasy in anyway. My skin simply felt soft and hydrated.

So on the first two points this cream gets two thumbs way up.

The issue is the scent. I still enjoy the Melrose Place scent. It is a lovely scent. It is far more intense of a scent in the Body cream than in any other product. I enjoyed it when I used it post shower. It made the entire bathroom smell very expensive and luxurious. The fact that the cream absorbed so well leaving my skin so soft made me feel extra pampered.

The problem is that the scent didn’t fade. It is a scent that lasted. Noticeably. Part of this I think is that as a body cream it goes over a larger area than just a shampoo. Plus it is also not rinsed off in the shower. The scent lasted for several hours. While this was fine when I was at home it was less so when I went out. Some people didn’t mind it and in fact I was asked what perfume I was wearing as someone else liked it.

When I used this cream I didn’t add a perfume, so it was just the scent of the cream they noticed. The scent does soften a little after about half an hour, but it is a noticeable scent for quite a while. It is something to be aware of. It performs beautifully though. It absorbs well and quickly leaving no greasy residue and really soft skin. It is however highly fragranced and something that you need to keep in mind. For me, the performance makes it something that I will repurchase. The scent means that I will apply it only at night when I get out of the shower and not something I will wear when I have meetings or am visiting with scent sensitive family members. It is a luxurious feel and scent to the bathroom, but it does lean into the rose realm. If you have issues with rose, this might not be for you. I think they do make an unscented one you might want to look into. For me, I enjoyed using it. I also enjoyed seeing how the same scent performed differently in a variety of products. I somehow hadn’t expected Ouai’s body cream scent to be so much stronger than the other products from the Melrose Place line up.

Making water just a bit Sassy…

Everyone knows that drinking water is good for you. It keeps you hydrated, makes your skin look good and is excellent when you are trying to lose weight.

One of the first things I found out when i started working out and trying to live healthier is that sometimes I mistake being thirsty for being hungry. Sometimes just having a little bit pf water makes me realize that I wasn’t actually hungry at all. Which means I consume less in the way of calories, which I find really nice.

The trick is convincing myself to drink more water. I use several tactics. One is that I find water to sit less heavily on my belly if it is carbonated. As I don’t want to run out and get a bottle of sparkling water every time I need a drink, I purchased a Soda Stream. I’ve actually been using it for years and it is one of my favorite items in the house. It is a purchase I will never regret making.

But I don’t like drinking from the large water bottles that the machine takes. They are great for making the water fizz, but not so much for drinking. I can drink from them but I find that if I just use the bottle to carbonate the water, the bottles last longer.

To drink I will often use a glass. I am quite fond of a stemless champagne flute as my glass actually since it makes my water feel far fancier than it it. To this I will often add a twist of lemon or lime to the glass so the water seems almost cocktail like.

However when I make my water in this fashion I tend to sip the water. So I reserve the champagne flute for evening water consumption. I have also found recently that my water consumption has been slipping and I am trying to get uit back to where it needs to be.

Enter Smartass and Sass. They are a subscription service and do have a monthly box. They also have an on-line store where you can purchase various item, usually from one of the boxes. Recently I took advantage of one of their sales to puck up this water botte/glass.

I am sure it is listed as a water bottle, but i think of it as a glass. The container itself is made of glass and it dishwasher safe. I really prefer glass bottles as they are not only easier to clean but they last longer because they don’t retain off flavors and scents over time. Sometimes I add flavors to my water, other times I don’t. I like that to be my choice rather than the water bottle’s.

Over the glass is a silicone sheath so the glass will not become slippery. The lid is wood, bamboo with a silicone band to keep it in place and a silicon liner for the hole for the straw. I love that the straw hole is lined with silicone as it will help keep the lid lasting longer. The hole in the wood for the straw is often the weak point and I have had several unlined wooden lids for bottles that simply took a beating from everyday use. With the lining I think it will last longer.

The lid fits in snuggly, although I wouldn’t pick the bottle/cup up by the lid. The straw is also a reusable plastic. I love that the lid comes all the way off. It not only aids in cleaning (while I will send the bottle through the dishwasher I won’t put the lid in as it will last longer if I just wash that by hand.) It also lets me add thongs from Ice to fruit if I want.

The bottle/cup itself holds 17.5 ounces of fluid. I think this is a fantastic size. It means that it will not only hold a lot of water, but it fits my hand well. It is quite comfortable to use. All in all it is a very well thought out design.

And for me, it is good to look at and good to hold, both of which encourage me to continue drinking from it throughout the day. For me though the straw is the key to getting me to drink more water. I find that when I drink through a straw I tend to drink more. I don’t know if there is some sort of physics involved, if it is the memory of fountain sodas needing to be drunk before the ice melts or if it is just how I drink liquids, but I will drink more, faster with a straw.

Which means that with the purchase and use of this Smartass and Sass Water Bottle/cup my daily water consumption is back where it needs to be. This is going to be a favorite for quite a while.

A FAB Duo…

I’ll be honest, I have received several items from First Aid Beauty that were labeled KP. For those of you who have seen KP on things and wondered what on earth it was, according to the May clinic the official definition is….

Keratosis pilaris (ker-uh-TOE-sis pih-LAIR-is) is a harmless skin condition that causes dry, rough patches and tiny bumps, often on the upper arms, thighs, cheeks or buttocks. The bumps usually don’t hurt or itch. Keratosis pilaris is often considered a common variant of skin. It can’t be cured or prevented.
Mayo Clinic

They have sample images to show what it looks like in case you are wondering if you have it. I don’t which is why I always passed on anything labeled KP on to someone else. When I looked at the FAB website though The Bump Eraser Body scrub just looked like a body scrub and the Smoothing Body Lotion looked like a body lotion. And after a brief walk through the ingredients list I decided to give it a try. The Bump Eraser Body Scrub is described as…

A body scrub that sweeps away dry, rough bumps associated with KP, strawberry skin and booty bumps to reveal healthier looking skin that feels exceptionally smooth. Safe for sensitive skin, this fast-acting body scrub uses Glycolic & Lactic acids, at a combined level of 10% AHAs, to help resurface skin’s top layer + Pumice to physically exfoliate, helping improve skin’s texture and smooth away bumps, roughness, and scaly areas, also known as chicken skin + buttne.
FAB

I took the Body scrub into the shower with me. The Tube contained enough for three showers worth of body scrubbing. I went with an every other day approach which is what I generally do with body scrubs unless they are intensive, then I go once a week or even once a month depending. This was designed for sensitive skin so the every other day approach worked well.

The scrub itself is like a very fine grained sand. It scrubs well and rinses off clean. It does leave a scrim of sandy matter on the bottom of the shower. It actually feels a bit like you have just jumped into the showier after spending a day at the beach. it does a good job exfoliating your feet during the rest of the shower, but I did have to rinse out the rest from the shower floor after I was finished showering as there was some that didn’t get swept down the drain. That could be because of my drain, but the end result is that these are not dissolving particles. They remain once the scrub is washed away.

Personally I really liked the scrub and I felt it did a good job. It is not a moisturizing scrub so I knew I was going to have to have a moisturizer after using it. Luckily I had the First Aid Beauty Smoothing Body Lotion to go with it.

I decided to use it after my shower as I would any body lotion. It is a thinner white cream that takes a little bit to absorb, but absorbs tolerably well. It is an okay body lotion. There was nothing I noticed about ti that was special or really memorable aside from it’s scent.

And the scent wasn’t pleasant. To be honest it had a scent that was a little like standing water. That sort of slightly musty scent that standing water gets. That is the closest thing I can think of as a description. The tube was sealed and it has no expiration date on it. I don’t think it has gone off. I think that is the scent.

The body scrub has the exact same scent, but the difference is that the scrub does not remain on the skin. It is there and the scent is lighter, but it also leaves as the scrub is rinsed off. The Body lotion remains. It is not a strong scent, it is very light. It is just no pleasant. If the body lotion were spectacular, then I would be able to get over the scent as it does fade away after about an hour. But the body lotion is just a general body lotion. it is fine, but not really something I would reach for or get excited about. And so the scent doesn’t make me want to reach for it.

The scrub on the other hand, I don’t mind the scent so much, partially because it does wash away pretty quickly, but partially because it is a really good body scrub. If you do suffer from KP then you might have different thoughts. If you are just looking for a really good, gentle body scrub I think this First Aid Beauty Bump eraser is a really good one to reach for, And while you will need a moisturizer after a good scrub down. I would recommend getting a body lotion other than the First Aid Beauty Smoothing Body Lotion. There are much better ones out there that you could pair with this fantastic FAB Body Scrub.

Using the Soothing Universal Repair Cream by Aroma Active

This Aroma Active Soothing Universal Repair cream was one of the first items in my Look Fantastic Advent Calendar this year and I was very much looking forward to trying it out. I have heard good things about the brand but never gotten to try anything from them. Personally I love that it is a light cream as I had high hopes that it would absorb more readily into the skin. I also really like Blue Tansy. In the winter I tend to have very dry skin and go through a lot of products to stay hydrated. I am oddly picky about my body lotions though. For me the lotions have to absorb fairly quickly with little greasiness remaining, especially if I am going to use it as hand lotion.

With hand lotion I often keep it in my purse to use post hand sanitizing while I am out and no not want slick greasy hands while driving. For me the other main component is scent. I am a very scent oriented person, but I work with and have family members who are very scent sensitive so I try to corral my scented products into places where they will not trouble others.

Beyond moisturizing, these are the two things that I really evaluate body lotion on. which made this a difficult product for me to review.

According to the description…

Dry skin got you down? This cream’s got you covered from your nose to your toes. It’s the lightweight version of Repair Cream Rich, but still packs a punch. This formula is great for skin that’s on the oily side but still needs a trusted moisturizer. Smooth over skin that needs a hydration boost

So I tried the cream. It is a fantastic cream. It absorbs well, it moisturizes fantastically and I loved the way it made my skin feel.

It is in the scent department where it all falls down. If you look on the tube it claims that Blue Tansy, Immortelle, Lavender and Patchouli are the scent making components. In reality it is a lavender/Patchouli mix. It is intensly strong and it is a lasting scent. I applied the cream first to my arm to make sure there was no reaction and the scent was trong. Still I wanted to test it and I used it first as a hand cream and then later as a full on body cream, luckily using up most of the tube in the process. The test strip on my arm should have let me know that the scent would be too strong. It was a tiny amount and it was a strong scent that lingered.

When I tried it on my hands I kept hoping the scent would fade. It was only because the cream was so good on the skin that I expanded the use.

My nose regretted it, even though my skin loved it.

This is a fantastic cream. I just can’t take the scent. if you love the scent of lavender and patchouli then this is an excellent cream and i say go for it. For me it is an excellent cream that I will never use again. The scent is too strong and I just do not enjoy it. Unfortunately for me, the scent seems to be the one the brand has committed to as all of the product on the site have the same four Aroma markers on their packaging. I suspect that they too are dominated by the lavender and patchouli combo. I understand having a singular scent t unify all of the body products but for me, this is a great disappointment. I was hoping that the site had different scents to choose from. Alas, they do not. I will however dip into the website periodically to check for expansions. The cream was fantastic and if they ever come out with a scent I enjoy, I will be all over it. For now though, as well as it performs, the scent makes the Aroma Active Soothing Universal Repair cream a pass for me.