Grounded Coffee Body Scrub

This week I received a lovely little packet of the new Grounded Coffee Body Scrub in the post after I signed up for a product tester sample a few weeks back.  I was delighted to find that they had sent me a sample of the Chocolate Orange scrub, as chocolate orange is my all-time favourite flavour/scent.  Chocolate orange chocolate, chocolate orange candles, chocolate orange Beanies, you name it, I’ve probably had it.  I have read a lot of good things about the Coconut Grounded Scrub, as that one was specifically designed to cater for eczema prone skin, however seeing as my flare up has calmed down after a trip to the docs and a nutritionist (more to follow later) – I was still keen to give myself a good scrubbing with this bad boy!

The Chocolate Orange Scrub smells absolutely delicious before you even open up the pack, surprisingly stronger notes of chocolate orange rather than coffee itself.  Upon opening, the scrub was extra fine coffee graduals, which I was absolutely delighted to find as I knew that it wouldn’t be too harsh on my skin. This scrub is packed with lots of anti-oxidants too which helps the skin to restore itself, which is perfect for my skin right now as it is recovering from a breakout. 

On reading the packet prior to use, I noticed that it was advised to use a generous amount, scrub in circular motions for several minutes and then leave on for approx. ten minutes for best results.  I’m not crazy about the whole jumping in the shower, applying a product and then jumping back out of the shower to chill thing.  It’s cold out there.  I dry up like a prune.  I don’t enjoy it.  I think I managed about five minutes before I gave up, long enough to take a semi decent photograph anyways.  The results were still great none the less.  I used around half of this sample pack on the first use, as I found that a little went a long way with the scrub.  Although very loose and messy, I didn’t think that there was a lot of wastage as I applied it, which of course is great news!  The scrub kind of sticks to your skin when it’s wet, making it easier to apply evenly too.  After rubbing in the scrub, I washed my hands of the excess coffee and jumped out the shower for the five minutes.  My hands felt amazingly smooth straight away, which I guess would make sense because scrubbing away at my hands isn’t something that I do very often, if ever really. 

Five minutes later, I got back in the shower and washed away the excess scrub from myself, which actually wasn’t as messy as I thought it was going to be.  It pretty much washed away with next to no effort, leaving behind fresh and super smooth buffed skin!  The scent of the chocolate orange didn’t stick around much longer after this point, but as the scent was so prominent at the time of use, I guess we can let them off!

Grounded Coffee Scrubs now retail in Boots stores for £15 a bag, which from what I’ve seen is definitely a bargain for your money!  The sample pack that I received was enough for two decent uses, and the standard bags contain a LOT more.  I think I’ll be treating myself to the Coconut scrub sometime in the near future!

Have you tried out any of the Grounded range yet? 

Until the next one,

Sky's Body Shop at Home

So last week, an old friend of mine got in touch with me after having come across my blog on Instagram.  Sky is a Body Shop Consultant, and has been representing the brand for a little under a year now.  She asked me a few questions about my skin type, and wanted to know if I had ever tried any of the Body Shop products for sensitive and dry skin.  I had never been aware that the Body Shop catered for my skin type. I’ve always been a fan of their body butters, however over the years as my skin has gotten worse, I’ve chosen to stay away from them – simply to avoid any unnecessary irritation... even though they all smell good enough to eat!  She asked if I would be interested in trying out some of the products on a trial basis, and to give feedback on the products designed to look after dry and irritated skin like mine – and so of course I said yes!  She dropped off a large selection of products for me to try out: face, body and even foot products – and then left me to try them all out!  This week, I’ve been making my way through the bundle and I am glad to report only good things from the selection she left me…

Just a select few of the items Sky dropped off last week

Vitamin E Body Butter

As I said before, the Body Shop body butters have always been a favourite of mine for as long as I can remember, and so I was super excited to see that there was a body butter for dry skin which states it would moisturise without irritating.  To look at, the butter was a beautiful pink colour, which I’m not going to lie kind of worried me a little as I’ve found coloured products to be really irritating in the past!  However I chose to ignore this thought as Sky had provided me with a little notebook with some information about each product she had dropped off.  I loved how thick the mixture is, yet how light it felt on my skin.  I don’t feel caked in moisturiser when I wear this, unlike some of the other moisturisers I’ve used in the past.  Because my skin is so dry, I do find myself applying more of this throughout the day – however it is not a lot that I need to use to top up and I don’t imagine that this would be necessary for normal skin types.  The butter has worked wonders on my elbows over the last week, which is amazing because I have yet to come across a product that actually works on this part of my skin.  Overall, I would totally recommend this product to everyone and anyone despite their skin type.  This is a product that I will be treating myself to in the future – the only thing stopping me from doing it now is my funds!

 

The difference in my skin (right to left) using the body butter from last Friday - Wednesday!

Peppermint Cooling Foot Cream

To start with, I love the smell!  It’s not overly minty – but it does give a nice and refreshing scent as you apply it.  The smell does tend to linger throughout the day too, which is fab because when I’m on my feet all day doing a nine hour shift – my feet don’t smell fresh like roses by the end of the day!  This is not a product that I’ve used every day since it was dropped off, however I have actually noticed that my feet feel softer to touch around my heel which was an unexpected bonus.  Overall, my feet just generally don’t look quite so gross to look at, which was nice to see after just a few uses.  I’m not normally one to fuss about buying products for my feet, however after seeing how easy it was to use this product and see results – it is something that I would consider purchasing.

Rose Body Wash

I’m not crazy about the smell of flowers ever really, and if I’m being perfectly honest – rose scented anything is something that I would normally go out of my way to try and avoid.  However, with that being said, I didn’t actually hate the scent of this new body wash range.  It lathered up amazingly, which I was very surprised by as I used very little of it.   This is not something that I would rush out to purchase for myself I don’t think – however for a rose scented shower gel, it did smell pretty good and very fresh!

Moringa Body Scrub

I love Love LOVE this product!  I’m totally amazed by just how gentle it is yet how effective.  I was feeling brave and so I applied this directly onto my irritated skin (normally I would avoid these areas until they were a little less red and sore).  You can feel that the seeds have scrubbed away at the dead skin, and yet the cream has coated the area to give it moisture and TLC.  I’m also amazed at how well treated my skin feels after each use, there is no irritation, just smooth and great feeling skin.  This is another product that I will be buying as soon as my funds permit! (Damn student life!)

Aloe Body Butter

Much in the same as the Vitamin E Body Butter, this product was great for use straight out of the shower.  I only needed a small amount each use to give my skin a good moisturise, and it didn’t take long for it to soak in at all.  I really liked that this one gave a cooling effect when it was rubbed in, I don’t know if this is simply because my skin tends to be super-hot after I shower or what, but this made my skin feel super nice and cold which I adored!  Although I’m not crazy about the scent, I would probably pick this product up if I was browsing or there was a special offer on! 

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of all of the body care products, and that’s not to mention the face care ones Sky left for me to try also!  I’ll fill you in on those ones later…

If you feel like treating yourself to a couple of the products mentioned above, or anything for that matter, you can order directly from Sky here: 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1402703613387143/?fref=ts

Until the next one,

Lauren x