Yves Rocher Lavande Essentielle Good-As-New Foot Scrub Review

Ever since I had tried Yves Rocher's Lavande Anti-Fatique Feet Massage Iced Gel, I was itching to try the rest of the Lavande Essentielle's line of feet pampering products. On a fine afternoon when I was window shopping, I saw that Yves Rocher is having a sale on the Lavande Essentielle line which is offering a trio of Good-As-New Foot Scrub with Pumice Stone, Super-Comfort Cream for Dry Feet and 12hr Deodorant Foot Cream. If bought individually, the foot scrub costs RM30, the foot cream RM32 and the deodorant foot cream RM45. The total of all three should be RM107 but I bought the trio for only RM70 which is way way cheaper!

The Lavande Essentielle trio of feet-pampering products.

For this post, I am going to do a review on the Lavande Essentielle Good-As-New Foot Scrub with Pumice Stone.

The Good-As-New foot scrub is made with essential oil of organic lavender and mixed with crushed pumice stone. It is an effective beauty treatment for dry, rough feet which will become smoother with regular exfoliation. All you have to to is apply on damp feet once or twice a week, the rinse with water.

The foot scrub comes in a see-trough plastic tube with a flip tab cap. The tube weighs 50 ml and can last for 6 months after it has been opened. I think the cap can be unscrewed but since I am a weakling, I could not twist it open. From the transparent body of the tube, you can see how much product is left inside. The logo of Lavande Essentielle and product name is printed directly onto the body of the tube. The back of the tube is printed with product information and list of ingredients.

Product info and ingredients list on the back of the tube.

List of ingredients: Glycerin, Aqua, Pumice, Lavandula Angustifolia Water, Pentylene Glycol, Cococaprylate/caprate, Prunis Armeniaca Seed Powder, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/VP Copolymer, Cetearyl Alcohol, Parrfum, Linalool, Ceteareth-33, Xanthan Gum, Lavandula Angustifolia Oil, Allantoin, Tetrasodium Edta.

The opening of the cap is small but just enough to get the foot scrub out of the tube.

The foot scrub has a lotion like texture and is actually colourless. The mixture of the pumice stone is the culprit of giving the foot scrub a muddy colour. Upon application, the foot scrub felt cool against my feet but it goes away while scrubbing and the pumice stone felt very coarse which gives a nice scrubbing effect on rough skin. I find that the essential oil that binds the pumice stone together gets absorbed into the skin while I was scrubbing my feet making them feel softer. Since the scrubbing particles is made from crushed pumice stone, they do not melt and lasts while I was scrubbing my feet. The foot scrub rinses off easily with water leaving my skin baby smooth. It did not slough off the thick and hardened patches on the balls of my feet as well as my very dry heels though but I guess with time and regular use, it will help to soften them.

Here's what a dollop of foot scrub looks like:

Here's what the foot scrub looks like scrubbed against my skin:

The foot scrub smells quite strongly of lavender mixed with some essential oils I could not detect. But the scent is really pungent if smelled directly. Lucky it is for the feet which is way far from my nose. After it had been rinsed off, the pungent scent turned subtler which is more tolerable.

My verdict: I really liked the Good-As-New Foot Scrub which left my feet very smooth and soft. I love the fact that the essential oils help soften my feet plus the coarse pumice stone really does help smoothen my skin leaving them baby smooth. The only problem I had with this product is the smell. I would have loved it even more if it smelled more sweetly or minty lavender which could help sooth my senses as I scrub. i would definitely purchase this again once I run out.

You can check out Good-As-New Foot Scrub with Pumice Stone at Yves Rochers' official website.
You can purchase the foot scrub at any Yves Rocher's outlet for RM30 individually or as a part of Foot Care Trio for RM70.

Ayudya Lulur Pengantin Body Scrub Review

Body scrub is one of the compulsory beauty routines that every woman has (and should never never never ever be skipped if you ask me!) I am a big fan of body scrubs because it's a great method to keep my skin healthy and clean through exfoliation. Over the weekend, I received a couple of body scrubs, body butter (read the review here!) and lotion (read the review here!) plus a request to do a review on those products from dear Jacqualine (thanks Jac!) who's retailing Ayudya Lulur Pengantin and Bali Ratih products in Malaysia. You can check out Jac's website here!

First off, I am going to do an honest, unpaid and unbiased review on the Ayudya Lulur Pengantin Body Scrub.

Ayudya Lulur Pengantin is a brand from Jakarta, Indonesia and has been around for almost 10 years. Some spas and beauty saloons in Malaysia do retail them and the scrubs are a favourite amongst brides to be (hence the name Lulur Pengantin which means Bridal Scrub!).

There are eight types of body scrubs from Ayudya that you can choose from:

1. Mutiara (Pearl) - to soften and brighten skin like a pearl (this one is the best seller and comes highly recommended!).
2. Bengkoang - for whitening and moisturizing (also one of the hot selling scrubs!).
3. Herbal Spa - to heal body pimples, mosquito & insect bite-marks and rashes, great for polishing dull skin.
4. Green Tea - calming, enhances mind concentration, prevention of skin infection and improves skin elasticity & firmness.
5. Avocado + Vitamin E - anti-aging.
6. Milk Bath (Mandi Susu) - to soften and moisten dry skin.
7. Aromatherapy Spa - relaxes the mind and body, improves mind concentration and removes flaky skin and other impurities.
8. Coffee Scrub + Lavender - has a de-stress effect, helps reduce cellulite & tiredness of joints, improves blood circulation.

These body scrubs comes in 300 gm refill packs, 1 kg refill packs, 150 gm jars and 300 gm jars.

For my reviewing purposes, Jac had supplied me with two 150 gm jars of body scrubs which are the Mutiara (Pearl) and the Bengkoang scrubs. The Mutiara scrub is said to be great for skin refining & whitening and skin will become softened and brightened like a pearl. It has seaweed extract plus vitamin E for anti-aging effects. It also contains the combination of squalene and olive oil to make your skin supple.

The ingredients printed on the jar label for Mutiara Body Scrub is: whitening milk, seaweed extract, olive oil, vitamin C & E, squalene, natural oils and minerals.

The other jar of scrub is the Bengkoang Body Scrub which is supposed to be great for body whitening especially areas like your neck, armpit, folds of your thigh and black nodes/spots on your skin. It also contains Vitamin E which is good for skin moisturization and protection.

The ingredients printed on the jar label for Bengkoang Body Scrub is: whitening milk, bengkoang extract, olive oil, vitamin C & E, natural oils and minerals.

The two jars of body scrubs: the left is Mutiara Scrub and the right is Bengkoang Scrub.

The jar is made of durable plastic with screw-on lids. An unopened jar is sealed safely and has to be twisted counter-clockwise to break the safety seal and open the jar.

The jar with the safety seal still intact.

The mouth of the jar is wide enough which makes it easy for me to scoop out the scrub paste. This is how the two opened jars looks like:

Two opened jars of body scrubs.

The colour of the Mutiara Scrub is off-white and the Bengkoang Scrub is purely white.

Can  you see the difference?

To use the scrub, you would have to take a shower/bath (shower for me!) and then pat yourself dry with a towel. Then, you can spread the scrub onto your dry/damp skin, then scrub the creamy scrub paste on your skin in circular motions until the creamy substance turns into dry particles that will drop off easily. The circular motion is very effective in helping the natural ingredients seep into your skin (no circular motion but more unorganized pattern of motion if I am in a hurry! Hehe!). Then you would have to rinse yourself clean with water (no need to use soap). It is advisable to use the scrub once in three days or once a week.

The texture of the Bengkoang scrub is creamy with fine granules in them:

 Oops! Scooped out a little bit too much!
The fine granules is almost invisible to the naked eyes.. (my naked eyes, I guess!).

The texture felt light against my skin and the lotion-like cream made it easier for me to spread the scrub all over my skin. This is what the paste looked like before I put my scrubbing action into gear:

Had to reduce the quantity of the too much portion scooped out for this scrubbing test on the back of my palm.

Here's what the scrub looked like after I started scrubbing in circular motion for about 10-15 seconds:

The scrubbing action took about 30 seconds to turn the fine granules and creamy substance into dry particles. 

 The creamy and fine-granuled texture had turned into dry particles. 

Can almost see a lighter patch of skin underneath.

The smell of the Bengkoang Scrub reminded me a lot of Lux Bar Soap (the white one) that I used to use when I was a little girl. The smell of the Mutiara Scrub is a little bit more subtle and has that light flowery note that I can't pinpoint (lavender plus some other sweet smelling flowers perhaps?). Both the scrubs have fine granules but the Mutiara Scrub has a slightly coarser granules in them. I can actually feel the difference between both scrub granules when I was doing the side to side scrub test with my arms.

The result: Soft and smooth skin. Love it! The scrub really made my skin felt supple and it left a nice subtle & soothing smell that lingers. Hmm.. nice!

Can't really tell from the picture but my skin did felt smooth and smelled nice after rinsing it with water.

My verdict: I find that both these Bridal Scrubs are great scrubs and can be used by everyone, not just for brides to be, including men! (I'm not a bride and I did enjoy using them!). They did make my skin felt smoother and clean after using them and the lingering smell is nice and subtle without being too overpowering. The best part is that these scrubs are highly affordable. I would definitely recommend these scrubs for those who want to try them out.

For more information or if you want to purchase these scrubs, you can visit Jac at her website.

The Lip Scrub By Sarah Happ (Peppermint)

Exfoliating and scrubbing those dead skin cells off are one of those beauty routines that just can't be skipped. Most people will usually scrub their skin squeaky clean at least once a week but most also forget that the lips also need some of the scrubbing action to get rid of those dry flaky skin. I had been hunting around for a lip peel or lip exfoliator since my SkinFood Cocoa Lip Butter is finishing (which is my all time favourite lip peel but sadly it is discontinued), so I decided to try The Lip Scrub by Sara Happ (Peppermint).

The Lip Scrub by Sara Happ comes in six yummy flavours:

- almond creme

- peppermint

- vanilla bean

- brown sugar

- cinnamon sugar

- cocoa

The Lip Scrub costs $24. It's quite pricey but raving reviews about this products made me really really want to try it. Unfortunately it is not sold in Malaysia so I had to buy it via online and had to pay about RM130++ plus shipping. Ouch! 

It comes in a little brown box tied with a white ribbon. Very cute!

The cute little brown box

Inside the box is a small round container that holds the 30g sugar lip scrub.

 

 The 30g container

The ingredients of the lip scrub: sucrose, petrolatum, flavour, simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) seed oil, vitis vinifera (grape) seed oil.

This is how the scrub looks like inside the round container

The directions on the box (and also on the container's label) says that you need to massage a generous amount of the sugar scrub onto your lips using a firm circular motion, wipe away with a tissue, and then wonder how you ever lived without it. Haha.. yes, the statement was printed on the box and label.

Scooping out a generous amount of scrub

This is how the scrub looks like spread onto my skin:

The texture of the scrub is quite coarse thanks to the granules of the sugar. Once applied on my lips I can actually taste the sweetness of the minty sugary paste (hence the peppermint). Yummy! I wonder what the other flavours taste like.. Massaging the sugar scrub is easy since the scrub is not dry and you can actually feel your lips getting softer while scrubbing thanks to the petrolatum, jojoba and grape seed oil. 

After you feel satisfied by the amount of time spent scrubbing your lips, you just wipe away the sugary mess off your lips. Voila! Your lips will feel softer and those dry flaky skin is gone. In my case, after wiping it off with a tissue, my lips definitely felt softer but I had to apply lip balm because it usually gets a bit dry after some time after scrubbing.

My verdict on this sugar lip scrub is that it is actually a good scrub for lips but some people might say that you can actually whip up your own sugar scrub at home on your own. That is absolutely true but hey, I am quite lazy so I just opted to buy the sugar lip scrub that comes in a cute little brown box. Hehe.. A repeat buy? I'd think about it if it's easily obtained in Malaysia. But I'd still miss my SkinFood Cocoa Lip Butter. Huhu.. Hope it will make a comeback..

Here's the link to the official Sara Happ website: http://www.sarahapp.com

p/s There's also The Lip Slip by Sara Happ, which is a lip balm. Hmm.. quite interesting.. ;)