The next part to our Alphabet Game series is focusing on all things body beautiful.
We’ve tried and tested body lotions, bathing products, body creams, body exfoliators, stretch mark creams, contouring products, tints and tans!
You may well recognise some of the names of our testers, they featured in our A is for Anti-Ageing article, and are featuring here again, with a few new names to the group!
As before, there are no marks ‘out of 10′ these are simply their thoughts and findings.
I would also like to take this moment to introduce Nic, AKA @Strawbry_Blonde and also the force that is the beautiful Irish blogger at StrawberryBlondeBeauty
When I told Nic my plans for the new series, and that I’d like to get bloggers involved this time, I hoped that she’d say yes and let me know a few of her favourite products beginning with B. Well Nic has set the bar quite high, as she not only told me a few of her favourite things, but she went out and sourced all the links too!
She tells us;
“In the past I’ve been guilty of neglecting the skin on my body, but I’m making a real effort to rectify this, especially in Winter when my skin can get quite dry. The products I’m using at the moment are…
Exfoliator
Neom Organics Body Scrub, with Lavender, Jasmine & Brazilian Rosewood – an organic anti ageing scrub with jojoba and vitamin E, which makes that skin super soft
A more budget friendly favourite is Sanctuary Hot Sugar Scrub, a thermal heating product that warms on contact with the skin. It has lovely fine grains – which I much prefer as they’re more gentle than coarse scrubs – and leaves my skin baby soft.
Shower Gel
Savar Energising Body Wash with New Zealand Lemon Balm and organic sugar cane that leaves my skin smelling amazing and doesn’t dry it out at all.
Body Lotion
The Body Shop Shea Body Butter is one of my favourites – it leaves my skin feeling so nourished and with a lovely sheen. The smell is gorgeous too – not too overpowering or sweet.
I sometimes suffer from little dry patches of eczema in the winter (I blame the central heating!) and when this happens I stick to something really simple and richly moisturising like Aveeno Skin Relief Moisturising Lotion with Shea Butter.
Beauty Favourites that start with ‘B’:
Bourjois Rose D’Or - one of my all time favourite blushers – mid pink with a subtle gold sheen
Bioderma Crealine H20 - the ultimate skin friendly cleanser when I’m in a hurry and can’t be bothered to use a separate eye makeup remover!
Babyliss Big Hair - favourite hair tool ever for defrizzing and adding volume for that just out of the salon look!
Bulgari Jasmine Noir - gorgeously sexy winter perfume
Benefit They’re Real - for the fattest lashes ever!
Becca – makeup brand I’d most like to try!”
And now, over to the testing panel for their thoughts on all things Body Beautiful!
Nurture Daily Spa Nourishing Body Moisturiser
Gill K – 40s
A soft moisturiser, but it left my skin feeling very moisturised and very smooth for pretty much all day. I like to make sure my skin feels nice, it’s not just about my face for me and I like that this feels luxurious but light.
Rachel 30s
I love this. It’s gorgeously scented, and really did make me feel like I had a bit of lift to my day, particularly after a rather heavy night out or three at Christmas. Never heard of Sranrom before, but I will definitely look for more products, particularly if they smell like this!
Sranrom Sleep Tight Body Cream
Jennifer D 30s
I’m a 3rd time mother as of 6 months ago, and I’ve got out of the habit of sleeping deeply since my baby daughter was born. She’s not a bad sleeper, but I’m now programmed to wake 3 or 4 times a night, even though she only wakes once. I felt that this helped me sleep deeper, even though I do still wake up, I just reach out and touch her to make sure she’s okay, and go back to sleep straight away. I don’t feel so drained in the morning any more, and while it would be lovely to sleep the whole night through, a body cream won’t do that, but it’s certainly helping me a great deal.
Jennifer D 30s
I neglected my body when I was pregnant this time around. With my first daughter, I had all the time in the world to apply creams and lotions to keep the dreaded stretch marks at bay, but by the 2nd and now 3rd baby, I’d given up on looking after my body and decided that stretch marks were the only way forward. I’ve only been using this cream for a few weeks, but I can see signs of improvement already. The scar marks aren’t as red and angry anymore, and the older silvery ones are fading quite rapidly. I haven’t shown my belly to my husband for a while, there are things that even a married woman keeps hidden, but I asked his opinion recently and after the instant ‘you look great’ that all men come out with, I made him properly look and give me an opinion. He too can notice the difference. He rather likes it too…!
Glenda 60+
I have never used a body cream in my life. I’ve never needed to. I’m of the soap and water generation and talc after a bath. It has taken me quite a few weeks to get used to the feel of this on my skin instead of talc. I didn’t feel dry enough to put clothes on, but to give Sam her due, she does seem to know the right product to recommend for me to use because now that I’m converted to it, I love that my skin doesn’t feel dry! Daft I know, but I’m a bit daft and a bit old fashioned and now that I know what nice skin feels like, I wish I’d done this earlier, and that I had a man to appreciate it!
E45 Endless Moisture Derma Restore
Joan W early 60s
This is lovely. It’s rich and moisturising, nourishing and leaves my skin really smooth. A little on the greasy side if I apply too much, but that’s operator error, and can’t be put down to E45′s product. It does take some time to sink in, I definitely do need to keep the heater on in the bathroom for a while as I sit waiting for it to sink in. It’s worth it though.
Marks & Spencer Advanced Body Formula Breast Firming Serum
Joan W early 60s
My bosom hasn’t been upright for many years. It’s not a saggy affair, it just headed south rather a long time ago. Fortunately I’m not of the deflated bosom variety, and just need a bit of lift rather than surgical skin reduction. The best result I had from this was smoothing out the crepey skin on my upper chest area. It means that I can wear slightly lower necklines now without being conscious of the wrinkles there. I haven’t seen an uplift in my bosom, that may be age, but as a crepey skin reducer, it’s definitely done that.
Caudalie Contouring Concentrate and Firming Concentrate
Helen R 30s
Sam asked me to review these 2 products and asked that I look at them impartially and from a point of view of a mother with 2 children and a slightly wobbly body. I added the phrase ‘wobbly body’, Sam’s was a bit more delicate, but in a search for truth, let’s be honest, I’ve got a wobbly body with saggy bits that I wish I hadn’t. I know that creams and lotions won’t fix things for me, exercise and better eating is the answer to that. Having said that, I found that after using these 2 for the last month, my boobs aren’t quite as wobbly and jiggly, the firming concentrate seems to have really helped firm them up. And my thighs don’t seem quite as wobbly either. My hips do still need some work, but with my New Year’s Resolution to exercise more, I hope the contouring concentrate will work on them too.
Lush Dream Cream and Lustre Body Powder
Jane T late 30s
I was somewhat surprised when Sam asked me to test these 2 products. I’m trying to come out of my 30s gracefully rather than kicking and screaming, and have always seen Lush as being fun for kids rather than serious skincare. I did use the lustre powder twice over the Christmas season. I’m not convinced that it’s for me, I did feel a bit mutton dressed as lamb, but my children thought I looked great, and I did like the appearance on my skin when I looked at it as a product rather than the whole package of me dressed up with shimmer powder on! The dream cream I loved though. I am a bit of a hand cream fanatic and have taken to using this at night after my bath, then bringing it downstairs in the morning to use all day on my hands as a dual purpose product.
Along Came Betty Hey Sugar Sugar
Sarah P 20s
I use a mitt normally to scrub my skin, no reason other than I was bought one once and have used it ever since. I do get a decent exfoliation with this sugar scrub. It’s not as deep a clean as a mitt, but it is more gentle and does leave my skin feeling softer afterwards.
Sarah P 20s
Sam knows me well enough to know that I am very experienced in self tanners and buildable tan creams. I haven’t used this one before, but it does give a nice tan that does build up slowly. I like that it has good moisturising capabilities too, and I didn’t feel tight and dry after using this. A thumbs up for me.
Clinique Sparkle Skin Body Exfoliator
Nicola T 40s
I use body exfoliators once in a while. When my skin needs it rather than to keep bobbly bits at bay. I could see myself using this on a regular basis as it gave a decent scrub in a short space of time, and didn’t make my feel like I’d had a brillo pad on my skin. Very nice and I’d recommend it as a regular treatment as well as an a fast fix.
Thea Age Revival Rooibos Shea Body Butter
Ellen 40s
I like the texture of this body butter, it looks like whipped up butter and feels like thick cream. I’m not over struck on the smell, it has a hint of tea tree about it, but I can overcome that, as it really has made my skin feel incredible. It says to apply generously, but I went with a lighter hand and still have a great result. At night I have been more generous with my hands though, and they look a lot better. My cuticles are smoother and don’t need trimming regularly and the age spots aren’t as dark as before.
Angela J late 20s
I was a bit suprised when I received my tin of steam cream. Sam had said this was a test for body products and when the little tin fell out of the jiffy bag, I was sure I’d got the wrong trials! Steam Cream isn’t the biggest tin around, it holds a rather meagre 75g, however, I took Sam at her word, and am pleasantly surprised. A little goes a long way, and while this isn’t a month’s worth, it definitely would give you a good few treatments for your whole body, including face and hands. I’d suggest this is probably a holiday product if you want to use it all over, a travel product if you will.
Decleor Aroma Cleanse for Bath and Shower
Sian J
This has a nice smell and does leave my skin feeling very clean and fresh. The bathroom smells lovely for hours afterwards and my general mental state is uplifted! I’m not convinced that I can personally justify a high price tag to clean my body, but if you have a bigger budget than me, then this is a definite must have. I did like that for once, I was the one with the posh products for a change!
Elemis Skin Nourishing Milk Bath
Sam
I’m a huge Elemis fan, and now have to fight my Mum for products when she comes to see me at the office. I did manage to hang onto this though, and am very pleased that I have! This is more than just a product to stick in your bath and make it smell nice, it really does nourish your body and skin, but also your mind. As directed, I’ve used it in the bath every other day for 9 days, and have deeply inhaled whilst bathing to really nourish from the inside out. My skin feels better, and I feel more relaxed at bedtime.
On the ‘inbetween’ days from the above Milk Bath, I’ve been using this peppy and zingy body wash all the way from New Zealand. Made with almost 100 natural extracts, and free from parabens and harmful chemicals, this clever pump action bottle of lemon balm and sugarcane extract leaves your skin feeling sharply tingly and super clean. My husband quite likes it too!
About 15 years ago, I was lucky enough to go to Israel and visit the Dead Sea. I took the opportunity to float on it, and despite it’s amazing reputation, my family and I had the whole of it to ourselves! All the other visitors were clearly baking their bodies by their hotel pools. Not us though, we wanted to take full advantage of the amazing salts and minerals found there. Having this pot of minerals, (21 of them, hence the name!) is not unlike being there. We brought back with us many sachets and tubs and pots of dead sea products, all made by hand there in Israel, and this is just as good, and just as luxurious.
And what else do we love that begins with B?
BeautyBay.com for a huge selection of products that might not be available to you otherwise
BeautyUK for purse friendly cosmetics that have remarkable colour intensity and longevity
Black Honey by Clinique
Brow Zings by Benefit
Balm Balm multipurpose lip balm
Body Glitter by W7
Batiste Dry Shampoos
Burts Bees Lemon and Vitamin E Bath and Body Oil
Boomerang Powder Eyeshadow by Il
Bronze Dunes 5 colour palette by Estee Lauder
Big Hair Volume Mousse by Umberto Giannini
Beetle Juice collection by Models Own
Bath Oil by Abahna – White Grapefruit and May Chang for a lift, or Lilac Rose and Geranium to relax
Biomimetic Intense Hydration by Functionalab
Bohemia Eau de Toilette from Marks and Spencers
Beauty-Boxes.com’s Sahar Fabric Trolley
Brilliantine Spray Glaze from JOICO
Botanicals Natural Face Serum: rose & camellia
Body Lotion B by Paul & Joe
Black Chicken Remedies Love Your Body Oil
Body Sorbet by Ahava
Brazened Honey by Lush
Body Milk from Korres