The Body Shop is a pretty iconic high street brand appreciated by people of all ages. Although they’re now owned by L’Oreal (boo!) the products themselves are non-animal tested and the company is hugely focused on sustainable sourcing and they do all kinds of philanthropic projects globally which is always good to know. Their rewards cards scheme is totally worthwhile and has saved me loads of money. Aaaand they currently have a sale! I’m celebrating this by reviewing my Body Shop purchases.
First I’ll start with what has come to be a cult product- Body Butters!
These are hardcore body moisturisers that come in man-size jars. They come in like 500 different flavours and The Body Shop is constantly bringing out new ones so I promise there’ll be a smell you like, even if you don’t like smelly things!
I have the Olive, Passionfruit and Satsuma ones. The Olive is nice because it’s less of an overpowering fruity smell, it just smells really fresh and clean so this is good if you’re less keen on sweet smelly things! The Passion fruit smells heavenly and almost edible, but the smell is pretty strong. Sadly it’s being discontinued 😦 This does mean that you can often find it reduced instore though! The Satsuma one is a less overpowering smell but it’s still fruity and delicious!
These are best for putting on right before bed as they are HEAVY moisturisers so you can let them sink in without having to go about feeling all greasy and sticky.
For a lighter body moisturiser I use the Body Lotions.
They come in a pump bottle and are also lighter on the wallet too! (£8 compared to the Body Butters which retail at £13)
These sink in way better than the Body Butters. The pump packaging is also way more convenient and hygienic than the Body Butters, and they’re available in all the same flavours! I have the Sweet Lemon and the new Vineyard Peach and both smell fab, I would particularly recommend the Peach one.
Other body products that I love are the Banana conditioner and the White Musk deodorant.
Both of these were pretty much chosen for smell only. The conditioner is lightweight so I slap it on after I’ve conditioned once already and then I have delicious banana-flavoured hair. Seriously it smells so good. If you have short hair or oily hair the Banana conditioner will do the job on its own.
The deodorant isn’t the best anti-antiperspirant, but again, it smells really nice so I use it with another deodorant. Is it a bit pointless to get products that don’t work as well just because they smell good? Probably. I will definitely repurchase the conditioner but not the deodorant.
Now, on to SKINCARE.
Here are my two toners: the Tea Tree and the Aloe.
I’ve only used the Tea Tree a couple of times because my skin tends to be dry rather than oily/blemish-prone. When I do have face-freak outs, this has done a pretty nice job of de-oiling and un-spotting. However, I am in two minds about this because it contains a large proportion of alcohol. Surprisingly my skin hasn’t reacted to it, which is good because I’m generally pretty intolerant to irritants. Buuuuut I would definitely advise caution on this one, as alcohol can be very irritating and drying.
The Aloe toner contains much less alcohol. I use this frequently and while it does feel nice and soothing going onto my skin, I don’t feel it’s really making a huge difference. I’m unlikely to repurchase this.
However, I am a huge fan of some of the other Aloe products!
The Mask is definitely one of my Holy Grail products. It’s neither drying nor thickly moisturising, so it’s suitable for all skin types, and it does a magic job of calming and softening tired, reactive skin. When I run out of this (which may be never seeing as it still looks full despite me using it very regularly) I will definitely repurchase. It’s gentle enough to be used everyday and it makes my skin feel incredibly soft and smooth, as well as eliminating surface redness.
The Serum is another almost-daily product. I use it before moisturising or sometimes in the morning just as an extra-care step. It has all the soothing effects but is also surprisingly moisturising for a lightweight product!
I received the Gel in a package deal. It’s very nice and it’s been useful for sunburns or times when my skin has reacted badly to another product. However, you can buy aloe vera gel for much, much cheaper. Boots offers it for here £2.21 per 100ml which makes The Body Shop’s £26.67 per 100ml seem extortionate!
In terms of the Body Shop’s skincare ranges generally, I have found the Aloe range consistently brilliant. It’s also recommended by Paula Begoun, a skincare expert who’s very hard to impress. The Vitamin E range has also been raved about (and my mum has the entire range and swears by it) but sadly it made me break out so I won’t be reviewing any of these products personally!
Finally, I have a few products that are as yet untested:
I will post reviews of these too if they impress me particularly!
Next on my list of things to try are the multi-purpose Beautifying Oils. These come in all the same flavours as the Body Butters.
muchadoaboutmascara 