Citra Mangir Body Scrub Review: From the Classic Series

One day, I was hanging out with a friend, and I stepped into a mini market, in an unfamiliar area in town. And I was lucky, because finally I found a beauty product that I thought I would never find it again:

My, my! This is one of the recently discontinued Citra products: the Mangir body scrub! This must be one of the last body scrub from the series that ever distributed before Citra came with new packaging design in all of their products... Because sadly, they stop producing this again :(

Citra Mangir series

For me, the fragrant of Citra mangir series smells authentically 'Indonesian', much more than the bengkoang variant (Indonesian name for Mexican turnip. However it's not a Mexican plant, as it's also native in Indonesia!). That's because mangir is a ancient Javanese beauty secret used by the aristocrat women for a glowing, fair yellowish-white skin (or as the Indonesian call it, kuning langsat skin tone). It's also used to make skin softer.

What is mangir actually? In the old days, Javanese princesses loved to exfoliate their skin, using a natural scrub made from crushed traditional herbs and plants, usually raw rice, turmeric and other herbs from ginger family. This powdery scrub is what they called as mangir. The orange-and-yellow colours from most of the herbs are what makes the skin fairer and more glowing. 

Goji berry in body lotion!

recently I just bought something exotic:

The latest hand and body lotion from a local brand Citra in honey and Himalayan Goji Berry!

It has the sweetest smell among the other Citra lotions, in my opinion. As sweet as a blooming virgin! Haha :P

It's so rare to find a local skincare product that contains something foreign like this, plus it's Himalayan. We know how far the Himalaya is! I thought this only suits for mature skin because it will give a youthful radiance, but I guess nothing wrong to use this when I'm still 19 *grin*. When I did a little research about what on earth goji berry is (or also known as Chinese Wolfberry), it's a common plant in China, some part of Nepal and India. Goji berry is very rich in antioxidant and I read one source that it can also clean up skin blemishes. Wonderful! I'm now trying to feed my skin as much antioxidant as possible (I have trying olive body butter and scrub, green tea lotion and scrub and vitamin E contained skincare) to avoid early aging. I hope my skin will going to like Gwen Stefani's when I reach 37, hahaha!

Also, buying this always reminds me the coolness of Himalayan atmosphere. Never been there before, but from my research I happen to fall in love with Himalaya, especially the nature ♥

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The most expensive body scrub I ever found!

 I thought it is The Body Shop that sells most expensive skincare items, but last night when I wanted to buy the coconut body scrub by Dewi Sri Spa from the nearest Martha Tilaar branch, just 10 minutes away from my home...

The shopkeeper said, the price is $30. Seriously! The packaging is not that big and they imported it here from Indonesia (for God's sake, it's only 2 hours by plane from the country where I live!) and they sell it for a $30??? What makes it so darn expensive? (haha, no, I don't sound like I'm angry). My gosh, that even beats the Body Shop body scrub prices! (Body Shop normally sell their Body Scrub, far far away from the UK for $20+, and you still have the privileges of 50% - %10 if you're a member). And I just knew apparently Dewi Sri Spa stuffs are the most expensive of all Martha Tilaar products...

I am interested to try their coconut body scrub 'cause I used to read a review it has a very delicate smell and it is long-lasting (not forget the multi-benefit of the coconut itself...). But with such expensive price, I think I'm gonna buy it next time 'cause I just spent nearly $40 after I bought some stuffs from the Body Shop just few days ago...

There are some other body scrub brands, mostly are flower smell, but I ended up buying Citra green tea scrub as an alternative. Not bad. At least I could feed my skin with antioxidant! Only $2.95 (what a big difference!)

It really smells like green tea in perfume! Very traditional, delicate and relaxing! Since I love herbalism this much, I always choose skincare products that have health benefits for skin, not just for the fragrance :D