The Body Shop Lip & Cheek Stain Review

I recently had become a new fan of lip tints and lip stains alike. I am so a late bloomer and had just discovered the joy of using lip tints and stains. It started when I was trying out Benefit's lip product over their counter in ISetan KLCC and I liked the effect of the sheer tint of red the tint gave. So, being a product junkie, I went online and did some reading on lip tint products and The Body Shop's Lip & Cheek got some nice reviews and decided to try them out.

The Body Shop Lip & Cheek Stain comes in a long and thick translucent plastic tube with a very sturdy screw-on long silver plastic cap. The The ingredients of the product is pasted over the plastic wrapping.

The list of ingredients are: aqua (water), glycerin, phenoxyethanol, panthenol, acrylates/C10-30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymer, methylparaben, aminomethyl propanol, CI 17200 (red 33).

The silver plastic cap unscrews to reveal a slanted applicator like most lip gloss tubes has.

The texture of the lip & cheek stain is jelly like and coloured a very dark cherry red. The jelly-like texture made it much easier to blend. When applied there's a brief cooling sensation (from the alcohol). Like all lip & cheek tints, the liquid must be blended over your lips before the liquid dries up and leaves a spot of dark red on where you dabbed the applicator. TBS's Lip & Cheek Stain does not really smell of anything strong. From the bottle and on the applicator, the jelly liquid looked dark red and intimidatingly pigmented but once it is blended, it gave a really nice sheer sweet red tint to the lips just as if I had been eating a red popsicle or drank strawberry soda.

 

Left: A swatch right out of the bottle, Right: Blended swatch.

I find that it did not dry my lips even though I was not wearing any lip balm at the time. Staying power of TBS' Lip & Cheek Stain is very commendable which lasted for hours even after drinking and eating. I only needed to reapply once during the day since I like the colour to be very sheer.

Here's a swatch comparison of TBS' lip & cheek stain with Benefit's Benetint:

Left: Benefit's Benetint, Right: TBS' Lip & Cheek Stain.

Benefit's Benetint has a stronger pigment when compared to TBS' stain which goes on one shade lighter. They have the same colour group and I think two swatches of TBS' stain would get almost the same shade as Benefit's tint.

Verdict: I really like the effect of the Lip & Cheek Stain on my lips as it goes on very sheer and looked very natural. It cost a fraction of Benefit Benetint which the lip tint that got me started on this lip tint madness. Would I repurchase: Yes, I believe I would.

You can get a tube of TBS' Lip & Cheek Stain for RM39 at any The Body Shop's outlets.

Bioglo Caramel Peppermint Shower Cream Review

I am a huge fan of things minty especially peppermint. Currently I am in the craze for peppermint toiletries and I just can't have enough of the sweet minty scent it gives off in the shower. When Cosway launched their new Bioglo Caramel Peppermint Shower Cream, I immediately went to a Cosway outlet in Precint 15 just to buy myself a bottle.

Packaging: The shower cream came in short and fat pet bottle in opaque white with a turquoise flip cap.  The cap cannot be unscrewed open even though. The bottle weighs 200 ml (6.8fl. oz.).

A bottle of minty shower ceam.

 The flip cap opened.

List of ingredients: deinosed water, ammonium laureth sulfate, ammonium lauryl sulfate, cocamidopropyl betaine, sodium lactate & sodium gluconate, PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate, glycol distearate, polyquaternium-7, fragrance, styrene/acrylates copolymer, cocamide MEA, glycerin, trehalose, methyl gluceth-20, acrylates/C10-30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymer, PEG-14M, allantoin, pistacia vera seed oil, hydrogenated vegetable oil, tetrasodium EDTA, methyl lactate, butylene glycol, mentha piperita (peppermint) leaf extract, lactose, hydrolyzed milk protein, glycerin & theobroma cacao (cocoa) extract, theobroma cacao (cocoa) seed butter, methylchloroisothiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone, FD&C yellow No. 5, FD&C Yellow No. 6, FD&C Blue no. 1.

The shower cream has a creamy liquid texture and lathers up very well. It did not feel minty while lathering up but it did felt a bit minty while rinsing off but not so much to make me feel cold under running water. Straight out of the bottle, the shower cream smelled full of peppermint dozed with a hint of sweetness to it. While showering, the shower cream smelled exactly like a milky butterscotch candy. I really like the candy but as a shower gel I felt it was too sweet smelling up to a point of being nauseatingly too sweet. It made me quickly rinse and wipe myself dry. The smell grew on me after several times showering with the shower cream and now I kind of enjoy the candy-ish scent.

The creamy candy scented shower cream.

 Very rich lather.

My verdict: I didn't like the scent at first but it grew on me. It is an enjoyable shower cream to use when the mood for something sweet in the shower strucks me. It did left my skin felt soft and moisturized. Would I repurchase? Only if there's a sale.

You can get the Caramel Peppermint Shower Cream from Cosway outlets for RM12.90. I got mine for RM9.90 during a promotional introductory price.

Yves Rocher Aquarelles Vegetales Fruit Jelly Hair & Body Wash Review

Yves Rocher is one of the nearest beauty outlet that can be found at the shopping mall near my home so I frequently go there to check out bath products. I got me a bottle of Aquarelles Vegetales Fruit Jelly Hair and Body Wash on my last stop at the outlet a few months back so this review is quite overdue. 

The Fruit Jelly Hair and Body Wash is botanical based product and is made from organic passion flower extract, organic witch hazel water, sweet orange and lemon essential oils, botanical glycerine and botanical cleansing base. It also have no animal ingredients and is biodegradable. The sales person told me the scent of the hair & body wash is somewhat like Yves Rocher's Flowerparty EDT which I doubted since I didn't find any similarities when I sniffed the tester bottle at the store but I gave it the benefit of the doubt with hopes that it would at least smell a bit sweet and fresh in the shower.

Just like any other Yves Rocher's shower gels, the Fruit Jelly Hair & Body Wash comes in the same translucent plastic pet bottle with a tapering large bottom. The cap is fuchsia pink with a flip top. The shair & body wash weighs  200 ml (6.7 fl oz) and have a 6 months shelf live once opened.

The label on the front of the bottle consists of red, orange, a bit of purple and yellow blobs on thin stalks of to indicate that the product is all about flowery scent. The back of the bottle is pasted with a printed label of product information and list of ingredients.

 Fruits or flowers?

List of ingredients: Aqua/water/eau, sodium laureth sulfate, hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel) water, ammonium lauryl sulfate, cocamidopropyl betaine, glycerin, sodium cocoamphoacetate, parfum/fragrance, sodium benzoate, citric acid, coco-glucoside, glyceryl oleallate, sodium chloride, polyquaternium-7, allantoin, salicylic acid, linalool, limonene, passiflora incarnata flower extract, alcohol, propylene glycol, CI 14700 (Red 4).

List of ingredients printed on the back of the bottle.

To open the flip top, there is small latch at the front end of the lid that can be lifted to help flip the lid easier.

Thumbing the small latch open.

The small hole in the cap is sufficient enough for the liquid to flow through.

Shower gel goes through here.

What intrigued me to try this out is the word 'jelly'. I was expecting the hair & body wash to come out in jelly form but I was quite mistaken. The hair & body wash actually has a very runny texture and nowhere near jelly like form at all. That was quite a let down for me but it has a nice peachy hue to it that makes it quite adorable and girly. The lather has a silky feel to it and rinses off easily.

Nice peachy tint of the hair and body liquid wash.

The silky froth for hair and body.

When used as a shampoo, I find that it cleanses my hair quite nicely. It does not dry my hair too much but neither did it moisturizes. As for it's performance as a shower gel, it delivers just the same cleaning results as any shower gels do. As for the scent, the Hair & Body Wash has this musky mixed scent of flowers and fruits, nowhere near the scent of the Flowerparty EDT at all (just as I suspected). I am not a fan of the smell because I did find it too pungent and thick. It would have fared better in terms of my rating if only the scent is much more sweeter, fruity and fresh. The scent is not that overpowering when rinsed off though.

My verdict: This is a good product to bring along on trips especially when you want to have a quickie shampoo and bath without the hassle of bringing too much bottles along. If the scent is somewhat more fresh smelling and a little bit sweeter, I would be swayed to purchase it again.

You can check out more information on the product at Yves Rocher's website.
You can grab a bottle for yourself at any Yves Rocher's outlet for RM28.