Summer 2015 Haul

I thought I had completely lose interest in beauty-blogging since I'm getting reluctant to update about whatever the new stuff that had gone through, under my skin... Oh wait, how long has it been? *checking the archives*

Doesn't matter. Long story short, I found inspiration to write again. I have always been a lazy blogger, I know, my hands and brain only want to synchronize when I'm in the real mood to write. 

But anyway, since this blog is about showcasing things... I'm going to show you some of my latest, favourite purchases this July (it's a month of Summer, right? You tell me, I live in a tropical country). To add new twist, I'm not just going to include beauty product, but food/drink related, such as my new favourite...

 It's Eid Mubarak here, so someone gave my family a parcel full of junk food and drink, but this one really caught my attention since I'm a chocolate lover; Swiss Miss Classics in Rich Chocolate Flavour. Says it has hot cocoa mix and added with real milk from Wisconsin. 

The sachet inside. It's quite large, I have to serve it in a big mug! It comes in paper sachet (not plastic!) so I can tear it off easily... Nice print-out, the graphic has some sort of classic looking. Best thing about this cocoa drink? Unlike Milo or Cadbury or Hersey's, it tastes less sweet which I love most, since I don't like sugary drinks. 

I got another product from cocoa... In lotion bottle. Found this is in Guardian drugstore:

Fruit of the Earth Cocoa Butter lotion, made in USA. It's surprisingly cheap... I got this around $3. Thought I need this for my stretchmarks. 

The back side of the bottle: Cocoa Butter, Aloe Vera, wheat germ and sunflower seed oil... Right. Full of natural bliss, minus the paraben and mineral oil, though; but still I would like to give this a try! Love the smell, it's very subtle, almost unscented (currently I'm into unscented skin-care products, but I shall write about that in different post).

Kleenex tissue special edition. Yea... I only bought this for the pretty vintage design (I LOVE vintage and I'm a huge of Victorian era!). Three packs in one plastic, comes with different design. I think they also got this special edition in box package, which could be a better display to cheer your working desk, dining table or your grandmother's grooming table. The texture is ultra soft, quite feather-like on your skin :)

Kleenex vintage edition also comes in pocket size, 8 sheets per sachet.  Do you know what the graphics remind me of? The Victorian silhouette images! 

Next, I also bought a couple of my favourite fragrance from The Body Shop:

  

Red Musk perfume. Been planning to buy this avant-garde creation since last year... Composed with tobacco, pepper, cinnamon and musk notes. No flower or fruity notes at all. Some say this could be a men perfume based from the note composition. Well, it does smell like a men perfume, but it's more subtle and I found it rebelliously feminine, I guess because of the musk note, so... it's much more suitable for ladies ;) 

I bought Red Musk in oil (30 ml). This is the first perfume I got in oil form; contains no alcohol so the fragrant doesn't smell that strong and sharp, and the best thing -- lasts longer.

Also bought Smoky Rose fragrance in 10 ml EDT (so I could carry it in my purse). Before the Red Musk was out, I was eyeing on Smoky Rose. The rose and tobacco note make it smell seductive, mysterious... It's beautiful. It reminds you with rose and tobacco. The best from White Musk series IMHO. 

Well, actually I think The Body Shop is the best big name perfume and skin care, because they dare to explore beyond the limit. They got products from absinthe and hemp, and perfumes composed with tobacco... Like you see -- alcohol, cannabis and smoking are the things your parents never want to let you try, but The Body Shop creatively infuse those three composition in their products. Genius.

Last but not least... I tried something new for my hair:

These are hair capsules, if you're not familiar with these beads... Well, you don't crush it to your hair and wipe it off, you have to cut it to extract the liquid within: hair oil (so the term hair capsule is not really accurate, huh?). 

I bought black Miranda hair capsules (eucalyptus alba + argan oil), perfect for my thick, black hair... And oh my, argan oil smells damn amazing. I use it about one hour after I wash my hair in damp condition.

Sure, the smell is great but having the oil in sealed latex capsule is so impractical, but I guess they've packed it in right amount for one-time use. Well, I prefer to purchase a bottle of hair oil anyway. You don't need cutter or scissors to open, or worry the precious hair elixir would spill off your hands *grin*

The Body Shop Morrocan Rose fragrance

A part of consumerism is proudly wearing top designer's perfumes. But not many people know that the rose note in most branded perfumes are concocted from the roses in Kelaa ait M'Gouna valley in the Kingdom of Morocco, North Africa. 

[image]

Morocco is known for its roses. Don't you believe me? Try to type ''Roses of Morocco" in your search engine, and you'll be in amazement if it's your first time discovery :). Morocco is dearly called as 'the land of red and pink', and the country even holds the festival of rose annually (read the latest 2013 Moroccan Rose Festival here). Inspired with this fact, The Body Shop used to launch one of its annual fragrance range, Moroccan Rose:

 

I know it has already been around since a few couples of years ago. But in some stores worldwide, this limited edition is still in stock. I was just registered as The Body shop member last year, and I'M SO LUCKY to have some Moroccan Rose products before they really vanish from the stores!

The exotic new range from The Body Shop: ABSINTHE!

So this morning, when I was about to browse about Chocomania skincare range (yeah, I'm looking for skincare made with chocolate; but maybe I'm gonna blog about it next time), I found out from the official US The Body Shop website there's a set of new products in the store, made with ABSINTHE!

MY GOSH, HOW EXOTIC IT IS! I want to try these so bad! But I doubt this range would pass the shipping to my home country in Indonesia, and even Brunei (where I currently live now), because absinthe is a kind of alcoholic substance (and it's illegal in most countries!). But skincare products made with absinthe? I don't think it can make us drunk when we use it, haha!

To be specific, this new absinthe range is actually a set of hand care products, consisted of hand cream, hand wash, hand gel and hand butter. The Body Shop claims this specifically to 'purifying' your hands (I don't really get what it means, by "purifying your hands". Like... Purify the hands? How? But maybe it means, 'to make your hands fresher and moisturised, as if you're just finish taking a bath, hahaha!). It doesn't state what kind of skin this suits best, so I guess it can be used for normal to very dry skin. One reviewer said, the texture is lighter than the hemp, so I guess the quality is also as better as hemp hand care (for very dry skin).

What is absinthe, actually?

"Absinthe is historically described as a distilled, highly alcoholic beverage. It is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from botanicals, including the flowers and leaves of Artemisia absinthium (a.k.a. "grand wormwood"), together with green anise, sweet fennel, and other medicinal and culinary herbs. Absinthe traditionally has a natural green colour but may also be colourless. It is commonly referred to in historical literature as "la fée verte" (the green fairy)." -- Wikipedia

The Body Shop always prioritises that all of their products are using natural ingredients as the main ingredient for their products. But as for absinthe, hmm... I don't think they're using real absinthe, as in alcoholic substance for this. And, yes! After I checked about the ingredients, it's the extracts of Artemisia Absinthium plants (which consist of grand wormwood, green anise and fennel) that they use for this range. Perhaps if they put 'green anise', or 'wormwood', it doesn't really really accurate to state the main ingredient, so they still label this range as 'absinthe'! (Yeah, now I get it :D)

The Body Shop Moringa Gift Cube review // about the moringa plant

Bought this last December during Christmas sale! There was a 30% discount for purchasing any packaged stuffs, and I picked this one up, plus -- I wanted to try the moring flavour because I've discovered that it has many benefits for skin, and health in overall.

So, just like any other cube packaged products in The Body Shop, this lovely box consists of mini shower gel, milk lotion and a bath lily. There's nothing change in what it consists, only the box colours, and due to the Christmas festival The Body Shop made over the box appearance with new yellow and tiny white snowflake pattern! ♥

some closer looks inside...

An eco-friendly message on the box, just as I opened it.

White Musk Libertine review

The Body Shop has always been generous to me! (I think it's an advantage of being an active member, hehehe) This is the third perfume sample I recently got, as a bonus when I bought some items there recently (but I just want to review this perfume). Let's take a look inside:

Unlike Dreams Unlimited and Love etc... samples which come in ordinary tiny test tube (where you only open the cap, and dab an amount on your fingertip) this one is a spray perfume:

You can see there's something like a straw and spring on it, it's actually for spraying. It's much easier to apply, as you just spray it on your skin! :)

I've seen the full bottle version of the perfume, for real (as printed on the picture above), and I think the design is quite classy and cute. Also, the packaging -- the fading colour from white to baby pink makes it looks pretty, very attractive, particularly to young women. It's like, when I see at the Body Shop store the perfume bottles itself whispering: "buy me, try me," -- haha, it sounds seductive!

And yes, I've tried wearing this perfume, and seductive is the very first thing I must say about the smell. Traditionally, a musk perfume is made from a substance obtained from a gland of the male musk deer. The odour, was believed, has something that can attract the opposite sex in deers, and apparently, in humans too! While a modern musk perfume, is made from flowers (just like this one :), that has almost similar odour with the one from deers.That's why it's seductive ;)

The Body Shop describes it as, "Sensual, playful and feminine," -- I agree. I think the musks aroma dominating the overall smell, through the top, middle and base notes.

There are also notes of Chantilly cream (a type of whipped cream that you often find on cakes!)

and Turkish delight (sweetened starch and sugar, often used as main ingredients in sweets and candies):

and I can't help but thinking about cakes, because those notes sound delicious for a perfume fragrant, hahaha! But indeed, this is such a perfume that smells sweet and delightful (no wonder, The Body Shop says it's playful. Just think about children who love to play and eat sweet cakes and candies!). And to make it "sensual and feminine", there's also a floral note added: baby orchid.

This is something that you're perfect to wear to a party or whenever you attend something glamorous and lively, because the overall fragrant is strong and bold, and in my experience, it lasts long. However, in my own opinion... Despite the pretty peachy pink bottle and the 'delicious' notes , I think this perfume is not suitable for young girls (I mean teenagers, and I'm talking only about the perfume. There are also eau de toilette and body mist in lighter fragrant). The fragrant is too strong! Sometimes it also reminds me a kind of fragrant that old ladies like to wear, it smells something like... A vintage perfume that your grandmother likes to wear.

Short review: Love etc... Solid Perfume

Packaging is lovely. Small and thick in heart shape. Very girly... The perfume comes in slightly oily light pink cream, and to wear it, you just apply like how you normally apply the liquid perfume: at your pulse points.

I won't go describing about the smell, because I already wrote about it earlier (click the link above). But basically, it is similar like the eau de parfum, it's just I don't find it long-lasting. And the smell is less sharp than the liquid one; it smells much sweeter I think, the vanilla note is quite dominant than the sandalwood, making it smells less exotic than the water perfume one.

I don't know much about solid perfumes, I don't know if it's really a modern, modified form of fragrance, but I think a good perfume always traditionally comes in liquid, because that's how a perfume used to be created centuries ago :-)

Dreams Unlimited fragrance review

Dreams Unlimited is a fragrance by The Body Shop launched in 2010. I just had my try on this fragrance when I got a free 1.8 ml sample from one of the stores. Here it is:

(if you notice there's a torn on the paper, that's because I had to re-take the photo after some months using this perfume, because the old photo couldn't load in this entry...)

Love etc... eau de parfum review

  When I bought something from The Body Shop this morning, I got a little sweet surprise from the staff who assisted me:

 The 'LOVE ETC...' perfume sample, wow! I'm just so happy to receive this, although I found out later that this fragrance has been released in 2009, but hey! It's something new for me! The staff lady gave me just like that after I paid what I bought. There was no special promotion or whatsoever and it's not even my birthday! She gave me along with 20% voucher for that perfume, in case I'm really interested to buy it, I can buy it with 20% off with that voucher. I'm just soooo lucky! (:

Now, let's see about this perfume. It has vanilla and sandalwood notes with jasmine. The Body Shop describes it as 'a perfume that creates magnetism and spontaneity, sensual, radiant and irresistible.' Actually I'm not a fan of anything that contains vanilla in fragrance, but since it's combined with sandalwood and jasmine, so overall it creates a fresh, sweet and energising smell -- something like when you just finished taking a bath, LOL! Yet it's a bit strong at the same time (I guess it's because of the sandalwood), but I think that's what makes the smell sensual too. And since The Body Shop is an earth-friendly brand, this perfume specially using alcohol of organic sugar cane from Ecuador.

Part of the promotional poster of LOVE ETC... I like the smell, so I would likely to buy this. ;)

The Body Shop White Gardenia body cream review!

This is what I bought in last April:

The Body Shop limited edition White Gardenia Body Cream.

From the old limited edition, White Gardenia

A beautiful fragrance The Body Shop ever created ♥

Apparently it had been released out back in 2007. I think there is no more stock for this range in most The Body Shop stores around the world. Also available in perfume and body mist, but since I'm not into anything sprayed onto the body, so the body moisturiser form is just a perfect one for me! =)

Strangely, when I tried to look up on the net for a review, I don't found any beauty blog that posted about this body cream, except on the review page on The Body Shop USA. Hmm... I wonder why it is. It's not a bad product, for me it's one of the nicest scents that The Body Shop ever created. Really ♥

I LOVE the smell! It's a nice flowery smell but it's not strong. Very feminine. It's also soothing... I can have a deep night sleep when I apply this on my skin before I go to bed. What I feel about the scent is exactly described in the notes they printed at the backside of the cover:

Made with PASS!ON

Beautiful, feminine and exotically fragranced, the blooming gardenia is the inspiration behind our luxurious scent White Gardenia. We've combined its dreamy essence with sweet floral notes of lotus flower and heady musk to create a fresh luminous fragrance that's blissfully enticing.

White Gardenia - The dreamy fragrance

Lotus! Oh my god, this is the first time I'm using a beauty product that contains lotus.
I like that flower =)

...I wonder if this is really a recent limited edition from The Body Shop, because the smell kinda remind me of the perfume my primary teacher used to wear. Although it's been a long time ago (circa 2002) but I remember the delicate smell is almost similar! And my teacher bought her perfume from The Body Shop as well =)

But hmm, nevermind I'm glad I had chose what I bought wisely! I'm considering to buy the perfume too, as long as they still have the stock here =)

The texture is thick and creamy, hence the name! Since the texture is thick, I just apply it a little on my skin, just in a very little amount and the body cream already works wonder; otherwise if I put it too much, my skin became greasy as the body cream doesn't 'sink' well under my skin, hahaha!

Also, The Body Shop never claimed this as a whitening product, I notice a visible brighter skin tone after two months using it! Yes, I'm being honest, because as long as I haven't finish this one, I don't use any whitening skincare product, be it in bath or in other body moisturiser. 

With my little knowledge in herbalism, I checked out the ingredients, and wow -- apparently it contains wonderful stuffs that work as skin softener and brightener.

Some of the skin softening ingredients include:

• Babassu oil (has same properties like coconut oil)
• Olive oil
• Lanolin (the key ingredient used in Nivea cream, that makes it known as the World's best skin moisturiser)
• Cocoa butter
• Shea butter

While some of the skin brightening ingredients:

• Babassu and olive oil (yes, these two can be both as skin softening and skin brightening!)
• Citric acid (perhaps extracted from lemons. Lemons have skin brightening properties too)

Also,  this new body cream will going to replace my current body butter:

 I used from olive (zaitun) extracts from Mustika Ratu. It also has a memory! Although Mustika Ratu products are also distributed outside Indonesia, but I bought the olive body butter in Bandung when I spent my holiday in last December there, and the weather was cold at that time. It's one of the BEST olive scents in a body butter I ever found, and up until now it's incomparable.

But the White Gardenia body cream also has its very own feminine specialty, and makes your skin beautiful as well. Best use after morning bath to make you fresher, and before the overnight sleep. I rate this 5 out of 5, and totally didn't regret of purchasing it and have a try of this limited product ♥ 

Gifts and Product-tests from The Body Shop beauty workshop!

Last Friday, a girl friend and I attended a one-day beauty workshop organised by The Body Shop. It was a wonderful experience!

Now I'm a member of Body Shop! ♥

There were many things happened yesterday, I was tired but I'm so happy! A friend asked me to go out with her, in the same time I supposed to do a field work interview with my group; I knew it was so unethical of me to cancel it. Well, the interview can be run on the next, next days, but to go out with a busy best friend like her is a rare chance, so of course I chose to hang out with her!

Ahhh I've been waiting to go out with a girl friend! It sucks having nobody that can send you somewhere, or totally having transport problem. I've been thinking to buy something special for myself, and, luckily I just received my allowance last night!

So my friend picked me up at almost 11 am, and we're straightly heading to the mall. And guess what which store I intended to go? THE BODY SHOP! (again!)

Seriously, I longed to become it's member. Since I bought my first Body Shop stuffs, I looked up on the net about their products and I just fell in LOVE with most of them. The main reason is because they're mostly using natural ingredients in their products.

So I've been so selective in choosing what I wanted to buy (usually to apply membership we have to shop until $60+, but at the moment they have special promotion to give discount 28% on any items purchased above $90, and in the end we still pay $60+. The more items bought, the luckier!), I even let my friend buy something just to sum up the items until they added up to $90+. Ah, also I've to pay additional $5 for the membership card...

Yes, I bought a lot. Kinda felt bad to let go the money from my wallet, lol... But I didn't regret it, though, because I already looked up the products on their website, on what I wanted to buy and I really need for my skin care.

I bought...

For my eyes from The Body Shop

Went to The Body Shop again yesterday at a different branch, and I just bought...

Vitamin E eye cream from Body Shop! $24.90, but since I was with a friend who is a Body Shop member, so I got special discount for this (25%). I didn't intend to buy at first, because I only wanted to buy concealer for my eyes, but since I think I seriously have to take care of my eyes, why not I bought this cutely packaged eye cream as well?

The odour is quite strange but I like it. Contains shea butter and rose hip oil :)

Just try using it last night, so there's still no noticeable change yet under my eyes. I have dark circles! And to cover it when I go out from home, I use concealer:




Lightning touch concealer! It comes with brush so it adds a suitable value for it's price (normally costs $22.90), but I only paid $17+ (15% for members).

Now I don't mind to pay for their products everytime I shop there, 'cause I believe they offer a finest quality too ;)

First Body Shop items!

Never been a fan of Body Shop until I really needed to buy a blusher 'cause my face was so pale... I couldn't think of anywhere to buy. I was at the airport, and lucky there was a Body Shop store, so taking the chance I bought one that suits for daily use:

From cheek colour series. It costs $19.90 (discount 10%), so I bought it like, almost $18. Still too expensive for a blusher without mirror and brush inside! The package is very simple, but the colour is fine to me (this one is the old Cheek Colour collection, so it didn't have a name for each shade... But this one was shade number 4).

And, I have to buy the brush as well, because, you see, the blusher doesn't include the brush inside. I bought...

(photo taken from mykikaystuff.blogspot.com -- the blogger did a nice job taking the blusher picture all in such perspectives! Cap-closed, cap-opened, and when she retracted down the brush upper shield, to see how the brush exactly looked like).

This super elegant and handy blusher brush. I love the lipstick-like packaging. It's retractable, large and ultra-soft so it can shade the colour on your cheeks fairly. $25.90 (discount 10%). SO OVERPRICED, even when they cut up to 50% it's still too expensive for this item.

I didn't have any choice but to let go $41+ from my wallet just to pay these two, sweet little things. Sigh. But I'm not regret at all! 'cause yes, it has a very fine quality. Later I browsed up in the Body Shop website, and hmm... I fell in love with most of their products. Natural resources are the biggest appeal of all. I guess I will apply for the membership next time :-)