The Body Shop: Wild Argan Oil Body Butter

A 200 ml (6.75 oz/192 g) tub retails for $20 CDN. The Body Shop body butters are also sold in 50 ml travel size tubs for $6 CDN.

Photo credit: www.thebodyshop.ca

Now, I'm not a Body Shop girl. Never have been. Any time someone would gift me a lip balm or lotion set, I just couldn't get into it. That being said, the lotions never did anything for my skin. I might as well have been bathing myself in air. So maybe that's why I always had such an aversion to their products. Alternatively, those little tubs of body butter from Walmart that are the knock-off versions of The Body Shop scents... those probably also left a sour taste in my mouth for anything from the Shop.

Recently, my sister and I were out and about, shopping for Christmas presents, as we do. I needed to stop in The Body Shop to peruse their stock for some gifts, and I stumbled upon a colorful display with 'NEW' splayed across it. It took me a second to process that this collection was made with argan oil; which immediately peaked my interest. Let's just say, I opened the tester, took one whiff, and I was sold.

I bought a gift set for $29, which contained a 200 ml tub of the body butter, a 200 ml tub of the body scrub, and a full size massage soap. I deemed it appropriate to gift the body scrub and soap bar, but felt it completely necessary to keep the body butter for myself to give it a test run.

The packaging is... well, The Body Shop. This particular tub is a satin bronze color, with a vibrant cerulean blue label that catches your attention immediately. It has a twist off lid, and the product inside is a very thick 'butter' consistency. I am not typically a fan of this packaging; however, I don't really see a better alternative seeing as though the thick texture of this product would not allow it to be dispensed via a pump or squeeze-tube, so I think I'll get over it.

The website claims that this product provides "24 hour hydration," as well as being enriched with Community Fair Trade argan oil from Morocco.

The scent is the most divine aroma - clean and fresh, yet subtly sweet and intensely nutty with a hint of vanilla. I told my sister that I want this Wild Argan Oil scent to be my 'signature scent,' just as The Body Shop's Vanilla fragrance has been my mom's signature scent for as long as I can remember. Anytime I smell The Body Shop's Vanilla perfume, I think of my mom. Well, step aside ballers, because Argan Oil is now MY scent, haha.

As someone who's never really indulged in products from The Body Shop, I never really knew what I was missing out on as far as body butters were concerned. As most of you may know, I have severe chronically dry skin - like not just, a flake here, or only-dry-in-the-winter-months, but full on scaly-mama-beast-mode 365 days of the year. Nasty. So I'm always on the hunt for the next best moisturizer for my cray-cray epidermis.

This butter is SO luxurious on my skin - it's thick, but begins to melt with the heat from your body. It spreads into a thin, spreadable balm. It sinks into your skin quickly, but leaves an oily residue behind on your skin. I know that most people are probably like, "An oily residue!?!? HELL NO, girlfriend..." but this isn't the kind of residue that keeps you from opening doors or having objects squirt out of your grasp... it's a thin residue that keeps your skin feeling supple and looking healthy and radiant.

I love this body butter for my hands and arms, as well as my legs post-shaving. Not only do I smell like a freaking Mediterranean goddess, but my skin looks vibrant and radiant. I will definitely be purchasing a mini tub to throw in my purse on the go.

Unfortunately, my skin seems to get acclimated to new lotions and creams fairly quickly (about as long as it takes me to work my way through an entire container of product) and then they'll stop working for me. I hope that this isn't the case with this product, as it is simply too fantastic to not repurchase in the long run. I figure, even if I can't keep using it on my hands forever, I will still pick it up and use it on my legs and body after showering. 

I give this product a heaping 5 out of 5 stars. The body butter alone has me itching to try the Miracle Solid Oil for Body & Hair, as well as the Solid Lip Oil and the Radiant Oil for Body and Hair. Eeeek! If they had a fragrance mist, I'd snatch that bad boy up in less than a heartbeat. I'm pleasantly surprised and ecstatic with my purchase, and highly recommend you guys to go check it out if you happen to be passing by The Body Shop. Maybe you're not a Body Shop regular, but I encourage you to stop in and at least smell the tester...

Let me know, what are your favorite products/scents from The Body Shop? Any other product recommendations for me?

Live Clean Exotic Nectar Argan Oil Restorative Conditioning Mask

This retails for approximately $5-$8 CDN anywhere Live Clean products are sold. I pick mine up from London Drugs or WalMart. The bottle holds 200 mL (or 6.7 US fl oz) of product.

I bought this after falling head over heels in love with the Live Clean Exotic Nectar Argan Oil Restorative Conditioner, and wanted to see if the rest of the products in the line were as good as the conditioner was.

This conditioning mask is supposed to revitalize hair and restore shine, softness and manageability. According to Live Clean, regular use can help restore elasticity to hair and re-build strength. The argan oil enhances the product for long-term conditioning, shine and UV protection. The mask contains certified organic grape seed and olive oils, as well as 100% pure argan oil. It is 97% plant derived, phthalate and paraben free.

The product is a thick white cream - not so much as paste, like other hair masks are. It has the consistency of a thick (regular) conditioner. If you've tried the Live Clean Exotice Nectar Argan Oil Restorative Conditioner, this is significantly more thick than that.  This product has a similar scent to that of the other Argan Oil products from Live Clean - a nutty, vanilla scent that I cannot get enough of.

It comes in a squeeze tube, with a cap that snaps open and shut. This makes it incredibly easy to dispense the amount of product you want. It's also extremely convenient to use in the shower.

One bottle of this lasted me about 10-15 uses, I'd say, depending on how much you use. You're not supposed to use it every day, but rather one to three times a week (though it doesn't explicitly say on the bottle what the most effective timeline for use would be). I'd use it off and on when I felt like treating my hair to something extra special.

The directions on the bottle explain that the conditioning mask should be liberally applied to damp/wet hair and left to sit for 15 minutes, to allow the product to absorb and condition the hair. I applied this mask from roots to ends, making sure my hair was covered in a very thick coat of the product.

Most frequently, I'd use this while I was taking a bath and shaving my legs - I'd shampoo my hair first and rinse it out, and then apply the mask to my hair and let it sit for 15-30ish minutes while I shaved my legs and soaked in the tub. Sometimes I'd just do it as a special hair treatment, and would wash my hair in the bathroom sink, then apply the conditioning mask to my hair and put a plastic shopping bag over top to seal in the heat and humidity. After 15 minutes (or so) you're supposed to rinse out the product, and style your hair as usual.

Like I said earlier, I'd usually leave this in longer than 15 minutes, because I felt that my hair was better conditioned the longer I left it on for. I'd let my hair air dry after rinsing the mask out and towel drying my hair. I'd usually use this mask on days when I wasn't going out or needing to style my hair, because I wanted the benefits of the mask to better penetrate my hair and last longer, than by immediately applying heat and styling products to it.

After my hair was dry, you could immediately sense the enormous benefits of this mask. The results included touchably smooth hair, less frizz, beautiful shine (not to be confused with greasy or oily shine), and a feeling of weightlessness. My hair wasn't necessarily weighed down or plastered to my head by the conditioning nature of the mask, but my roots did lack considerable volume from the hydration, and the lack of heat to dry my hair. Usually, I didn't care about this, since I wasn't going to style my hair anyways.

I don't know if this is necessarily the 'best' mask you can get from the drugstore, but it's certainly one of my favorite hair products. I used my entire first bottle, and am waiting for a sale to pick up a new tube. I feel like this product significantly improves the condition of my hair, and I love the way my hair is so smooth and soft afterwards.

I would highly recommend this to anyone noticing that their hair needs an extra boost of conditioning. It's a great, affordable product that I think everyone should try!

Definitely 5 out of 5 stars.
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Have you tried any of the Live Clean products? What do you think of this "Exotic Nectar Argan Oil" collection??