The Body Shop Frosted Plum Review and Ingredients Analysis: Sugar Scrub, Body Lotion, Shower Gel

The Body Shop's Frosted Plum range is new for Christmas 2015, and this is a limited edition range. As with previous scents, you can get this in the full range of products - body butter, body lotion, shower gel, fragrance, bath fizzers, lipbalm, and the list goes on. The Frosted Plum range seems to be really, really popular here - I've walked by local The Body Shop stores where barely any of the range is in stock, so I hope this review isn't a little too late!

The Body Shop Frosted Plum Collection: A sophisticated scent that is limited edition

Frosted Plum, as the name implies, is a sweet, fruity scent. Although The Body Shop's website states that it is meant to be a "truly sophisticated indulgence", this is really, to my nose anyway, more girly-fruity than grown-up musk. Nevertheless, the scent is appealing, and you can smell some of the plum. In that sense, it's in the same family of other The Body Shop scents, where they are mostly sweet, fruit-based concoctions. If you've tried and liked the other The Body Shop scents, then you'll probably like this too. The smell of the range is gorgeous, and really nice to luxuriate in. And there are many ways to bask in the scent, since the product range is so vast.


The Body Shop Frosted Plum Collection: A sweet, fruity scent complemented by its purple packaging
I have quite a few products from this range - the Sugar Scrub, Body Butter, Body Lotion, Shower Gel, Shimmer Mist, Bath Fizzers, and Lip Balm. Since reviewing all of them in one post would result in a super long post (especially given my style or review - what with that ingredients geekery and other nerdiness, so I've decided to just do this in two parts. For part 1, we'll be looking at the Sugar Scrub, Body Lotion, and Shower Gel, while Part 2 will look at the rest of the products. So I hope you're settled in, and let's get started!

The Body Shop Fuji Green Tea Review and Ingredients Analysis: Bath Tea, Body Butter, Body Scrub, Eau de Cologne

The Body Shop's Fuji Green Tea Collection, consisting of a Body Butter, Body Scrub, Eau de Cologne, and Bath Tea, has been getting quite a bit of raves from both bloggers and customers alike. I'm pretty late to the party (considering that this collection was launched here in April-ish?), but I figure better late than never, right? Right?

The Body Shop Fuji Green Tea Body Butter, Body Scrub, Eau de Cologne, and Bath Tea

The Fuji Green Tea collection consists of some old favourites, such as the Body Butter and Body Scrub, as well as the Eau de Cologne, but also has a new product called Bath Tea, which is essentially a form of bath salts, but packaged like tea. Super cute! I've always been a pretty big fan of The Body Shop since my days as a University student in the US and UK - their Body Butters were my favourite thing to combat the rough, dry skin that I got as a result of the cold weather, so I was quite pleased to see that a new Body Butter scent has been released. (For the record, my favourite scent back then was the Cocoa Butter one, just because it smelled so comforting and yummy!)


The Body Shop Fuji Green Tea: Some old favourites like the Body Butter, and something new, like the Bath Tea
Anyway, let's skip the preliminaries and get to the review. There are 4 products I have to review, so it's going to be a long post! Buckle up and let's go!

Kiehl's Vetiver and Black Tea Aromatic Blends Review: EDT, Body Lotion, Body Cleanser

Kiehl's Vetiver and Black Tea Aromatic Blends collection is finally here, and, like the previous Patchouli and Rose Aromatic Blends set of products, this consists of a body wash, a body lotion, and a fragrance - the Vetiver and Black tea Skin-Softening Body Lotion (SGD$43), the Vetiver and Black Tea Skin-Softening Body Cleanser (SGD$33), and the Vetiver and Black Tea Eau de Toilette Natural Spray (SGD$45). I was a fan of the previous Patchouli and Rose Aromatic Blend, so I was definitely keen to check out the Vetiver and Black Tea!

Kiehl's Vetiver and Black Tea Aromatic Blends: Body Cleanser, Body Lotion, and Eau de Toilette

Vetiver and Black Tea sounds pretty exciting, and if you've seen some of my instagram posts (like this photo of my perfume stash), you'll know I'm something of a fragrance-nerd - I love being able to sniff a fragrance and try to discern the various notes in it, so of course this piqued my interest. (And yes, those black things in the background of the photos are tea leaves!)


Kiehl's Vetiver and Black Tea: This year's addition to Kiehl's Aromatic Blends range
As you might expect, the Vetiver and Black Tea scent is present in all three products, but all three products have a slightly different take on the same scent, perhaps due to the nature of the product. You can tell they are in the same scent range, but each is slightly different. Like I did with last year's Patchouli and Rose Aromatic Blends review, I'll start by looking at the Body Cleanser and Body Lotion, and then looking at the fragrance! And yes, we will start off, as you might expect, with some ingredients analysis!

Kiehl's Patchouli and Fresh Rose Aromatic Blends: EDT, Body Lotion, Body Cleanser

Kiehl's has added Patchouli and Fresh Rose to its Aromatic Blends range of products, and now, you can enjoy the scent of patchouli and rose when you shower with the Body Cleanser, moisturize your skin with the Body Lotion, and spritz on the Patchouli and Fresh Rose EDT (Eau de Toilette). Awesome! A whole bathroom and scent range, and boy, do I get excited by things that make my fragrance-nerd senses tingle with joy!

Kiehl's Patchouli and Fresh Rose: Perfect for Winter!

I realized that the Patchouli and Fresh Rose range covers two product classes, skincare, and perfume, so I'm just going to dive into both the Body Cleanser and the Body Lotion for my typical skincare ingredient analysis (which you guys like, right?), and then I'm going to totally switch modes and put on my perfume-loving hat to review the Eau de Toilette! So if it sounds like I'm switching gears halfway through the post, you guys know why! But I figured it's the best way for me to proceed with this post, because I certainly don't want to either skimp on the skincare analysis, or write less about my thoughts on the perfume, just because I'm dealing with multiple product types in one review. So buckle up, and let's get on with the review!

Liz Earle Orange Flower Botanical Body Wash Review

I haven't done a bodycare product review in awhile, so I thought maybe I'd start again with one of my favourite bodycare brands - Liz Earle. Orange flower is one of my favourite all-time scents (almost all the perfumes I like have some derivative of the orange flower scent inside, like Annick Goutal's Neroli), so I was pretty excited to be able to take it one step further and not just spray the orange flower scent on myself, but bathe in it too!

The Liz Earle Orange Flower Botanical Body Wash is a body wash that toutes itself as being naturally-formulated and free of sodium lauryl/laureth sulphates, and gets a lot of raves from people with sensitive body skin who can't stand SLS. While I myself don't personally have sensitive body skin (facial skin? Oh yeah. But not body.), I appreciate that this is a viable alternative for those who want an alternative. It comes in the standard Liz Earle packaging - fuss-free blue bottle with a flip cap.

The Orange Flower Body Wash seriously smells heavenly, and is very aromatic. The moment you pour it out of the bottle, you are met with a very intense, heady orange flower fragrance - and I mean that in a good way. This isn't your average drugstore artificial-flowers-and-fruits type of scent, this is a little bit more special than that - there are a number of essential oils in the product, and they contribute to the scent. For those who don't like strong scents, it may be a turn-off, but for me personally, I love the scent, and it makes me feel like I'm being treated to a spa experience rather than just a shower, you know?



One of the things I really liked about the Liz Earle Orange Flower Body Wash is the ability to lather. Of course, being free of SLS, it doesn't lather as much as your average drugstore body wash. However, even with me just using my hands and some water, you can see soapy bubbles. I imagine that if you really want a greater lather, a washing mitt or glove would help greatly.



All in all, I really like the Orange Flower Botanical Body Wash. It isn't the cheapest body wash around, but I can see why someone would want to buy it over cheaper alternatives. If you generally like Liz Earle products, then this is pretty much in the same vein, so you'd probably like it too. If you are looking for a SLS-free body wash, or a body wash with a gorgeous, aromatherapeutic fragrance, or if you like essential oils in your skincare, then this is just the body wash for you.

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Liz Earle Energising Body Wash and Scrub: The Perfect Bath Combination

Liz Earle is quickly making waves for its quality skin and body care, and I can see why. While I can't personally claim to like all their products, even when they haven't worked for me I coudn't fault the quality of the products. The last time I reviewed their products, I looked at the Energising Body Lotion, and guess what - there's a complementary body wash and body scrub to go with that too!

The Energising Body Wash and Energising Body Scrub all come in the same pastel sky blue plastic container packaging. Once again, as with the Energising Body Lotion, these were sensibly packaged products with flip-top caps for easy access in the shower. And like the body lotions, these come in packages that aren't actually that big - 200ml is a decent amount of body scrub if you don't use it everyday, but I can imagine 200ml of body wash being gone quite soon.



As with the Energising Body Lotion, the accompanying Body Scrub and Wash are both scented with the same herbal scent that's actually quite strong. However, while the scent seems to linger around more with the body lotion, with the scrub and the wash, the scent didn't seem to last as long - which could be a good or a bad thing, depending on your preferences.

The Body Wash is in a gel form, and comes with all these cute litte bubbles inside the gel, that I think are actually pretty cute!



It's not creamy or liquid-y like most other body washes that I've used in the past, so I found it rather refreshing to use, tying in very nicely with the "energising" portion of things. Also, I found that this did not lather as well as some of the more commericial brands of body wash, probably due to the fact that with natural ingredients, it can be hard to find something that causes lather. It does seem to me that, as a general rule, natural skin and body care products don't seem to foam as much as conventional products. Still, I was quite impressed with the lather that was there:



I found the Energising Body Wash to be pretty moisturizing, and it rinsed off well without leaving any residue on the skin. And I actually also quite liked the faint scent it left behind, so I have no complaints about this product at all.

The Energising Body Scrub is also in gel form, but this one has little brown bits that are meant to scrub and exfoliate your body. The little brown bits are actually ground up olive stones! Cool, right?



The scrub also smells like the body wash and body lotion, and I really enjoyed the scent wafting up as I scrubbed my skin. One of the things I also liked very much was that the olive stones weren't harsh on my skin at all, but at the same time, I could feel the exfoliating going on. It's a fine balance to strike, and I think this was well acheived in the product.

I was also quite surprised to see that this one lathered very well - in fact, I think it lathers almost like a conventional product! I have no idea what natural ingredients were used to acheive this, or perhaps it could have been my scrubbing motions, but this one produced quite a nice amount of foam and bubbles.



Like the body wash, it also washed off well, and didn't dry out my skin, or leave it sensitive and red. I actually really like this product.

So do you need this? If bathcare products are one of the things you treat yourself to, or if you are a bath junkie, then this would be worth your while. But of course, body washes are available cheaply and can be picked up anywhere for cheap, so if you'd like to try just one, I'd probably spring for the Body Scrub.

(Product was sent to me for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with the company.)