One of my favourite body lotions this winter was the Dove Winter Care body lotion so I was happy to see that they have brought out a new one for the summer – Beauty Blossom body lotion. 
It smells really lovely, kind of fruity but flowery at the same time. It absorbs really quickly into your skin and is a great moisturiser. And the best bit is that it’s just £3.99 for 250ml! You can buy it from Boots from now until the end of the summer.
I won a little 25g tube of Burt’s Bees Naturally Nourishing Milk & Honey Body Lotion in my cracker at Christmas. It’s a really lovely body lotion, very moisturising but not sticky and it smells good too. I don’t use Burt’s Bees products very often but every time I do I ask myself why I don’t use it more! The full size version of this is now on my list of things to buy!
Hand cream: I think hand cream is an all year round essential but I find that I especially need to use it during the winter. Neutrogena have some really intense but affordable hand creams which are perfect for protecting your hands against the cold. The Nourishing Hand Cream (£4.09 for 75ml) is light enough for everyday use and the classic hand cream (£3.85 for 50ml) gives extra moisture.
Body Lotion: I am always looking for good body lotions. I like to use the Body Shop body butters – I had the Coco Butter for Christmas which is gorgeous – but they are quite expensive. I tend to swap between using my fancy moisturisers and more everyday ones. I think the Vaseline range are great and are really affordable at £4.49 for 400ml from Boots. I’ve also used the Aveeno Skin Relief Shea Butter (£5.49 for 200ml at Boots) a few times as well. This winter though my favourite has to be the Dove Winter Care Cream (£3.29 for 150ml) which smells amazing and makes my skin feel really soft. They also have a body lotion version which costs £3.99 for 250ml.
Lip balm: This winter my favourite lip balm has been the Lanolips 101 Ointment which costs £11.22 for 17.5g. It’s so good at repairing chapped lips. The Qsilica Paw Paw Rescue Ointment is a similar but is cheaper at £8.95 for 25ml.
Hair care: My hair gets really, really dry in cold weather if I don’t use a good leave in conditioner. Over the years I’ve tried so many different leave in conditioners but the best by far is the Advanced Techniques Quick Touch Leave In Conditioner from Avon. It is really light so doesn’t weigh down your hair or make it look greasy and it is really cheap! I use it almost every day to control my frizz and stop my hair drying out. Another brilliant product which I’ve only found in the last few months is the Carino Miracle Oil from Aldi. It contains argan oil which is very moisturising and it good for keeping hair looking healthy. It is also much cheaper than proper argan oil!
What are your winter essentials? I would love to know!
I think I’m a bit obsessed with skin care at the moment. I’ve got a few moisturisers on the go at the moment and have also found a really lovely aftersun to take on holiday.
I think this may be the most hydrating body butter I’ve ever used. It doesn’t leave any sort of greasiness but it does take a little while to sink in, especially if you’re still not completely dry from a shower. It has a sweet scent, I would have said it was kind of floral but according to the website it is sweet almond oil, cocoa butter and shea butter. I love it! The Nurture Body Butter costs £8.45 for 200ml.
Living Nature Ultra Rich Body Cream
Some of the Living Nature products I’ve tried from MyPure have had a bit of an odd smell but this one is gorgeous. It contains active manuka honey so the scent is very, very sweet. It has a really thick texture but only takes a bit of rubbing to get it to sink in and once it’s sunk in it doesn’t feel greasy at all. It is actually quite similar to the Nurture Body Butter except that all of the ingredients are completely natural. However, it is quite a lot more expensive – £27 for 150ml!
Lovea Organic After Sun Lotion
I don’t think I really get the difference between after sun and just general body lotion – does anyone know?! I always buy after sun for holidays even though I don’t tend to burn much. I love the smell of this after sun! Again it sinks in really well and doesn’t feel greasy. I’m taking this to Thailand but it’s only 125ml which doesn’t seem like it will last for 3 weeks so I’ve got a little Boots after sun as well! The Lovea After Sun is entirely natural which I think is brilliant and it costs £8.99 for 125ml (currently on offer for £6.75) which is more than I’d usually pay but I wanted to try out a natural after sun.
The Comvita Replenishing Body Lotion is suitable for all skin types and contains Manuka Honey which is great for skin. It has a unique scent with notes of cinnamon which I really like. It is a brilliant moisturiser but does take a bit of rubbing to make it sink in properly.
All Comvita products are free from parabens and other nasty chemicals. You can buy this body lotion from MyPure and it costs £16 for 200ml.
In case you didn’t know, Mother’s Day is on the 18th of March this year! I’ve put together a few ideas for you……
1. Paperblanks sell a range of gorgeous notebooks which are way prettier than your average Staples notepad! This flowery design costs £10.99 and, I think, would make a wonderful gift.
2. I’ve stumbled across some really lovely National Trust beauty products. The packaging is smart and the scents are unique – I love Countryside: Cowslip & Meadowsweet and Coast: Rock, Samphire and Driftwood which have nice fresh, not overpowering smells and remind me of summer! I’m very surprised at how good the products I’ve tried are and I think they’d make a great Mother’s Day gift.
Coast Hand & Body Wash, £7.50
Countryside Hand & Body Lotion, 9.50
3. Blue Nun sparkling wine with pieces of 22-caret gold leaf! At £9.59 a bottle I think this would make a really fun gift!
4. St Ives products are always brilliant and this Apricot Invigorating Scrub is no different! £5.10
5. Aromatherapy Associates have lots of luxurious products. I’m in love with this mini set of bath oils, but be warned, it’s not cheap at £28.50. (Worth it though!)
6. Love Hearts, £1.39 – A quirky little gift!
7. You’ll always be able to find something in Thorntons! TheseI Love Mum Cups, £2.50 are cute and I love the idea of getting a bouquet of flowers at the same time as a box of chocolates!
Palmer’s are best known for their Cocoa Butter Formula but they have now brought out a new Olive Butter Formula and I’ve been trying out body lotion over the past couple of days. It is brilliant! It’s made with olive oil so I was a bit worried that it wouldn’t smell very good but I can tell you now that it doesn’t in any way smell like olive oil. The body lotion works really well as an everyday moisturiser as it is not overly greasy but still manages to keep even elbows nice and soft. You don’t need to use too much as the lotion is quite thick so I think the price of £3.59 for 250ml is really good. As well as moisturising, the body lotion is supposed to fight the signs of aging and skin tone. I don’t think I can really comment on this though until I’m older!
There are other products in the Olive Butter Formula range including a body butter and a more intensive concentrated cream. I would definitely look at buying the body lotion or some of the other products in the future. You can buy them from Boots or ChemistDirect.
Melvita is a company which produces natural, organic beauty products. All of their packaging is completely recyclable and they have long-standing relationships with growers in both their local area and in underprivileged parts of the world. In 2002, it was one of the first companies to get the ECOCERT certificate which certifies organic products. Melvita was formed in 1983 in the Ardèche in France where they have an eco-factory complete with solar panels as well as a living ‘green’ roof to help it camouflage into its surroundings.
The first UK Melvita store has opened in the new St Martin’s Courtyard development in Covent Garden and you can also buy the products from some John Lewis stores or online.
I will definitely be buying more Melvita products after trying out the Moisturising Body Lotion. It contains rosehip seed oil, cotton extract and olive squalane and you can read about what each of these does here. I really love the smell – I can’t work out what it is but it smells very tropical and reminds me of holidays! The lotion is quite runny but it absorbs quickly and works so well. The pump is handy for getting the right amount of lotion out of the bottle. Although the products are more expensive than your average high street beauty products, I think it’s worth it as there are no nasty chemicals and it is a really eco friendly company so you feel as though you’re doing your bit for the planet!
This month with MyPure I was able to choose which products I tested. I decided to go for a brand which I’d never used before so I chose the Milk and Honey Body Lotion by Alva Naturkosmetik.
Alva is a German brand and their products are made in Osnabrück which is in northern Germany. Like all of the other brands sold by MyPure, their products contain no sulphates, parabens or phthalates. The Alva brand is split up into a few different sections with the Naturkosmetik part including essential skin care items such as deodorant, shower gel and body lotion. Other sections of the brand are more specialised, for example Alva Rhassoul has been created for people with oily skin and acne.
So, back to the Milk and Honey Body Lotion….. 
The packaging is nothing special but is nice enough and I like the fact that the lid is on the bottom as it is easy to get out. The body lotion has quite a sweet smell (although you’d probably guessed that, what with the honey!) which I really like. The body lotion itself is quite thin and runny but not so runny that it gets everywhere when you try to apply it. I have been finding that it takes quite a while to rub in but once it’s done, it leaves my skin soft so I don’t really mind! The only downside to this body lotion is that it doesn’t say what sort of skin type it is supposed to be used on so I would guess that it can be used by everyone, otherwise it should say. It’s been really good for my skin which is normal/dry so I would buy this body lotion again.
