Bath Treatments -Kneipp - Herbal Bath
truffles1 3/4/2013 12:59:00 PM
I mis-bought these really, because I expected something more oily and definitely something more natural. I purchased the little set of 6 20ml bottles of different 'herbal bath treatments', from a website that purports to specialise in 'natural' products. Well.... these bath liquids contain SOOOO much artificial colourings - FD&C Yellow, Blue etc.. that I was actually gobsmacked by just setting eyes on the bottles! I've never seen a toiletries/body product so deeply and concentratedly coloured in my life, EVER! I'm telling you, they look very pretty because of the colours but they are basically like bottles of ink or food colouring. If you're after 'low-chemical' products, these are NOT for you. Also a bit confused by the 'no artificial fragrance' tag on the website but noticably not on the actual product or packaging - 'parfum (fragrance)' is listed on those, with no explanation of what that actually is. (?) Apparently they have 'approx 30%' natural essential oils - great. All I know is that my hands started itching in the bath (2 little capfuls used in full bath, 1 each of the poppy/hemp one and the stress one) and I could literally HEAR how drying to the skin this stuff is, in the thin layer of foam on the water around me. The bottles say each one does 1 or 2 baths. What??!! I intend to get maybe 15 out of each of these if I continue using them, due partly to the high concentration of the colours and because of how drying the stuff is. The smell is strong enough to do that anyway. Sitting here now, after my bath and applying handcream, the ends of my fingers feel so DRY! The products actually carry instructions about how hot the water can be and how long you should stay in it. You are advised to 'rinse with warm water to remove residue' - I'm not sure if this means the bath (which 'may be slippery' - really? these aren't oily!) or the body. With all these frankly scary instructions, I made sure to rinse myself off with clean water afterwards! So - any positives? They smell strong, and hopefully that's from the essential oils. They were relatively cheap - just under £9 for the set of 6. They ARE very pretty to look at - all those lovely deep colours! The little bottles are good quality glass ones with screw tops and that's why I've said I would buy these again - I intend to use them to make my own natural bath oil mixtures once they're empty - for myself and for presents. I'm not sure if I'll end up using the products they presently contain or if I'll just tip them out and rinse the bottles to make my own. Incidentally, the 'Lavender' Kneipp bath for instance - it's got approx. 30% lavender oil in it? Well, a 10ml bottle of pure essential lavender oil is cheap - 6 drops in the bath and you'll get the same effect and it's all natural! Substance over marketing.... ;) It probably costs not much less than what I paid to buy these kinds of glass bottles on their own, so I haven't really lost out monetarily. I see that Kneipp is highly thought of and lots of good reviews, this is just all my own experience and opinion for what it's worth! Happy bathing whatever you use! :)
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Gels/Soaps -Unlisted Brand - Sen - Stress Relief Bath & Shower Gel
truffles1 2/7/2013 1:21:00 PM
This stuff is awful. Had high hopes - 'stress relief', a supposed abundance of 'sandalwood oil' that you could inhale the aroma of. Supposed to be therapeutic in a traditional Chinese sense. Rather than sandalwood, this stuff smells of MINT?! Mint with perhaps a tinge of geranium (geranium and rosewood are supposedly in there too). In fact, it smells a lot like Simple mint-scented shower gel that you can pick up for about a quid, except this stuff costs about £6 (marked down from normal price as seems to be the norm with it). It's also BRIGHT green which speaks to me of 'fake' rather than anything natural or medicinal. Bought from an Ebay seller who seems genuine and sold me other genuine products. Quality of the product seems very bad, very drying on the skin too. Looking at the bottle/box/Sen website, these folks seem very reticent about listing their ingredients anywhere. Strange huh? If this is the quality of the stuff they have been producing, no wonder they've closed their London store down. I'll not be buying any of their stuff again, waste of money. :(
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Fragrances -Unlisted Brand - Dolma - BUAV approved perfumes
truffles1 1/10/2013 1:04:00 PM
I requested and received a sample set from Dolma for Christmas. I opted for the 12-piece set so I could try the whole range of womens perfumes and I was not disappointed - pleasantly surprised to find no real 'stinkers' among them (well, 'Cushie B' is my least favourite) and absolutely love at least one of them! These perfumes are long lasting and totally cruelty free, I will be buying a large bottle of 'Andromeda' some time! 'Compassion' would be my next favourite. 'Prelude' is very similar (to my nose) to both Clinique Aromatics Elixir and to Tweed by Lentheric. My Mum can't wear Aromatics any more as it gives her headaches and she loves the Prelude so she got that one! I highly recommend Dolma - check out their website (UK based) - and well done Dolma! xx
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Moisturizers -Yes To Carrots - Yes to Cucumbers Complete Care Facial Hydrating Lotion
truffles1 6/25/2012 8:38:00 PM
Have just started using this and I absolutely love it, especially as I've found it after wasting money on other, chemically, creams that were horrible for my skin. I love the cucumber fresh smell and the consistency. My skin looks amazing after using this for a week, younger and more even tone. Seems perfect for my (combination, sensitive, early 40s, rosacea) skin. Even better, the company appears to be Peta endorsed so even better, they just need that leaping bunny symbol.. Highly recommend it.
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Lips -Vaseline - Vaseline
truffles1 6/21/2012 9:35:00 AM
This stuff is a MUST HAVE. Great for lips, so cheap you can buy a big tub and just decant it into little containers. I also discovered years ago that it is GREAT for under eyes and for wrinkles, it has a really plumping effect - better than any expensive 'miracle' creams!
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Treatments (Eye) -Superdrug - Superdrug Vitamin E SPF15 Radiance Eye Cream
truffles1 6/15/2012 9:19:00 AM
This is for the OPTIMUM GRAPE eye cream, I'll change this when I can work out how to add the review as there's no existing category! I've been using this for a few weeks and my verdict is: AWFUL. My eyes have more wrinkles underneath than ever before and are even baggy there for the very first time!!! I'm sticking to all-natural next time.
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Lipstick -Revlon - ColorBurst Sienna 055
truffles1 6/11/2012 7:20:00 AM
Pink! Well, a sort of dark reddish pink. Another lippy I bought online, searching for the elusive 'terracotta' type colour. If you use it lightly, it's a similar effect on the lips to Benefit Benetint, the original one. It's not what I was looking for but is nice enough, it reminds me very much of one I wore throughout my teenage years, that is long gone - Charlie, Goldfrost Brown. The packaging on these Colorburst lippies is really nice too.
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Shampoo -Jason Natural Cosmetics - Kids Only Shampoo Mild Formula
truffles1 6/11/2012 7:15:00 AM
I bought this for my husband as it is entitled 'All Natural' - he has an allergy to synthetic fragrances and I thought that due to the title and the fact that it is for kids, that it would be good for him. It in fact smells quite synthetic - a fruity smell that I can't recall smelling in nature. I have contacted Jason about this, asking for clarification on what exactly the listed 'fragrance' ingredient is - both through their site and on Facebook, weeks and weeks ago - they have never got back to me with an answer through either avenue so I won't be buying this product again and will think twice about any of Jason's ingredient claims based on this experience. Update, they did get back to their UK staff who passed on their avoiding-the-point and evasive message to me via Facebook - they get top perfumers to make the fragrance for them or something. No mention of 'natural' at all though...hmm....
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Lipstick -Revlon - Matte Lipstick - Cocoa Craving
truffles1 6/7/2012 12:43:00 PM
At last! I've found my colour! I've been looking for a browny orange forever, remembering an Mary Quant lippie my Mum had lying around when I was a teen in the 80s. It was called 'terra firma' and it really suited me, she wasn't wearing it so I nicked it for myself. If you apply cocoa craving really lightly, by patting it and cover with a bit of lip balm to moisturise, it's sooo pretty! (Being 'matte', it's quite dry just on it's own). Definitely a beautiful colour for paleskins/redheads/to bring out green eyes. Highly recommended!
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Pressed Powders -Unlisted Brand - Barbara Daly for Tesco Ultra-Light Pressed Powder
truffles1 5/31/2012 10:49:00 AM
I bought this powder, in 'Fair' on the strength of the review below and it has YELLOW undertones, not pink which my skin requires. :( Really disappointed at having wasted my money, DON'T buy this if you are looking for pink undertones!
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Lipstick -Beauty Without Cruelty - Moisturising Lipstick
truffles1 5/30/2012 9:25:00 AM
I bought the 'Tangerine' colour from Ebay. It sounds Orange, it looked orange but it's .... PINK. I am sick of lipsticks that are meant to be some kind of orange turning out to be a strange lurid shade of pink. Gah! Another one bites the dust.
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Deodorants -Tom's of Maine - Natural Deodorant
truffles1 9/8/2011 2:50:00 PM
I'm commenting on the Honeysuckle Rose version of this deodorant. First of all, where's the honeysuckle? We have a honeysuckle bush in the garden and the flowers smell dee-vine - this deodorant doesn't smell anything like honeysuckle and I bought it because I thought it would do. OK - performance: Has anyone else noticed that a few minutes after applying this stuff to a clean dry armpit that it changes smell and absolutely STINKS? I wonder if maybe it's the hops in it but it smells kind of vomity - euuchh! Luckily, that smell wears away after a while and I'll give this 4 stars as I would buy it again as, for a 'natural' deodorant, it performs comparitively well in BO staving off terms. Think I'd try a different smell version though....
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Crème -Lacura - Beauty Foundation
truffles1 8/10/2011 1:50:00 PM
Bought the 20 (beige) shade of this yesterday and wore it today. I'm afraid it's too much of a 'paler shade of orange' for me. You also need to make sure your face is thoroughly exfoliated and moisturised before applying this because it will cake on every imperfect bit no matter how much you blend it. In my local Aldi there's loads and loads of the 10 - palest - shade left (lots of orange women round here heehee) so I might get one of those and blend it with this one or try it on its own and see if I can get a better colour. I actually like the packaging, it's quite sleek. The smell is floral and strong but not offensive to my nose and doesn't pervade when you've got it on. My skin is weird as my facial skin is paler and has pinkier tone to it than my body skin but the best foundation I've ever found and my tip is to use the Boots No. 7 tinted moisturiser in medium (for summer) - it's glowing, dewy and totally natural and non-cakey looking. I would wear the pale in winter but it's a bit chalky unfortunately.
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Moisturizers -Neal's Yard - Power Berry Moisturiser
truffles1 7/9/2010 10:46:00 AM
Got this free in a magazine. Effects seem OK but I find the smell unpleasant (spearmint that quickly turns to cooking oil). Because of this, I use it as a handcream (felt like I was walking around smelling like a chippy with it on my face) and bought another copy of the magazine to get some more of the cream for this purpose. The smell is probably actually a sign of the good quality of the product, most creams you can buy have so many horrible chemicals in, partly to make them smell nice, and Neal's yard thankfully are not like this. However, I'd rather find something natural to use on my face that doesn't smell like this!
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