the body shop | 'mango' eau de toilette

the body shop mango eau de toilette 30ml: £8.50

after harping on about the difficulty of finding cruelty free fragrances for what felt like a lifetime, my mum quite clearly became aware of my struggles and thoughtfully bought me this mango eau de toilette for christmas to try out. i'm a big fan of the body shop's various scented body butters and shower gels, so i was curious to see how i'd get on with one of their famous fruity scents in the form of an everyday fragrance. 

mango isn't at the top of my list when asked what my favourite body shop scents are, however it's pleasantly surprised me. i tend to be a lover of sickly sweet scents (ie britney spears' fantasy) which i find people tend to either love or hate, so i was surprised at just how much i've been enjoying using this product as it isn't nearly as sweet as some of my previous favourite fragrances. i'm terrible at describing scents so i'm not going to embarrass myself by attempting to describe this product's scent, however i will say that it's fruity rather than sweet and in turn i think it smells a bit more mature than my usual scents of choice.

my only slight niggle with the product is the fact that it's an eau de toilette as opposed to a perfume so it doesn't linger for as long as i'd like it to, meaning that it makes a perfect fragrance for throughout the day, but you might want to find something with a little bit more of a kick to it for a fragrance that would see you through the day and into the night. or, if you're like me, you can just simply top this product up as and when you desire to stay smelling delicious all day and night. 

for £8.50 i really don't think this is a bad little fragrance. i've been using this product daily since christmas now and i'm about a third of a way down it, and i've already been considering heading back to the body shop to pick up a vanilla and strawberry scented fragrance for when this one eventually runs out. the body shop's scents might not be the greatest cruelty free option out there, but they're certainly bridging a gap for me while i'm finding my bearings in the world of cruelty free fragrance. 

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on smelling good enough to eat

**both products now discontinued**

i feel like i've given the body shop a bit of a hard time on my blog throughout the last few months after being disappointed by their hair and skincare ranges, but here i am today with a positive review of a couple of their body products. i have to admit, i normally find vanilla scented products somewhat vanilla (please do mind the pun, i just couldn't help myself,) but when i saw these going for super cheap in a body shop sale a few months back, i thought what the hell and threw them into my shopping basket as i was in need of some new body butters and shower gels anyway. it's only recently that i've began using them, and oh my god, i wasn't expecting to love them as much as i do, and i must admit that i'm fairly sad to now discover that the products have actually been discontinued, boo!

i'll begin now by stating that if you're not a lover of sweet, somewhat overpowering scents (somewhat similar to britney spears' fantasy perfume,) these products will probably not be for you. but if you do, great, and here's why these products will probably fill you with the same amount of joy as they have me.

of the two products, i first used the shower gel, and i was really pleasantly surprised by just how delicious it smells when you lather it up between your palms. it's a somewhat warm, comforting scent that i imagine would be a fantastic product to use in a bath if you wanted to relax and wind down for the evening, however i've only ever used it on a morning and find that the smell lingers throughout the day, and when i get a whiff of it it makes my mouth water and my tummy grumble because it smells so fantastic; you know when you go into lush and some of the products smell good enough to eat? this product provokes the exact same response for me, and i can't imagine smelling sweet and delicious is a bad thing for the people around you, either. heck, you're doing everyone a favour when you lather up with this baby.

i was prompted to try the body butter after discovering how fantastic the gel's scent was, and although it's still a pretty nice product, it doesn't smell quite as good as the shower gel. if you like a more subtly sweet scent, the body butter would probably be more to your taste as it's pleasantly sweet but not at all overpowering. for me it's a little bit of a bummer (because i just love smelling like a sweet shop,) but i still think the products used together are blummin' lovely and i very much enjoy jumping out of the shower and revelling in how delicious i smell.

it's fair to say i'll be making the most of every last morsel of these products now i know that i can't get my hands on them again, but for what it's worth, the body shop, please do bring the vanilla bliss range back! i just don't think showertime will ever be the same for me again without it resulting in me smelling like a walking, talking dessert. sigh.

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used up: the body shop shampoo & conditioner

rainforest volumising shampoo: £4.50  |  rainforest radiance conditioner: £4.50

after what feels like a lifetime of using these products, i've finally managed to reach the end of both bottles. if i'd have had a positive experience using either of these products, i'd probably be a bit miffed about having to now go out and replace them both, however instead their emptiness has had me jumping for joy because i can finally move on from them. as you've probably guessed, i've not had a fantastic experience using these products, and here's why.

rainforest volumising shampoo
first things first, this product did not give me any volume. that isn't the most of the products downfalls, however. for the few months i've been using it, i found it continuously difficult to lather and work through my hair properly. with most shampoos, one pump of product is enough to create a nice, thick lather that will then work through the entirety of my hair effortlessly, however with this product i found myself having to pump out two or three lots of product to get it to cover my hair fully as the formula just wouldn't lather into anything that worked properly into my hair. then because the formula was so thin and hard to work into my hair, i found myself continuously pulling strands of hair out of my head because working it properly through my hair was such a difficult task. since using this product i've not noticed any changes in my hair, be they good or bad, i just know that the whole experience of using it is a frustrating one, and because of that (and the hefty price tag,) i'll not be purchasing this or any other body shop shampoos again because this has been enough to put me off them altogether.

rainforest radiance conditioner
i picked this conditioner up specifically because it promised to protect my coloured hair, but just like the shampoo, it failed to live up to its claims. just as i found the shampoo difficult to work with, the conditioner was also similarly difficult to work with compared to most other conditioners i've ever used. where most conditioners i've found to be thick and creamy, this one was thin and somewhat plasticy between the palms (terrible description, i know, but i didn't know how else to describe it.) when i rubbed it between my hands ready to apply to the mid and ends of my hair, it didn't feel soft and smooth like most conditioners do, and instead of going onto the hair with ease and leaving it feeling nourished, it once again somewhat pulled at my hair and left my hair feeling a little weighed down rather than conditioned. since using this, my hair's definitely not seen any improvements. in fact, a cheap £2 aldi conditioner showed better results after conditioning that this has, so i'll not be opting for other body shop conditioners in the future.

altogether, it's fair to say that i've been extremely disappointed with these two products. i initially bought these when i first decided to go cruelty free because they were an easy, readily available option, but in future i think i'll be dabbling in some cheap aldi and superdrug finds to see how i get along with them before i splash out for any more expensive haircare. if anything, this whole experience has made me less of a haircare snob, because since working with less than average products, i've not noticed much change in my hair, so i assume i can get away with not buying expensive products during my attempt to grow it out. clouds and linings, ey?

have you ever used any of the body shop's haircare products? how did you get along with them? i'd love to know!

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the body shop | grapeseed glossing serum

the body shop grapeseed glossing serum: £7

since choosing to go cruelty free back in october, i've been continually on the lookout for some products that would treat my hair as well as aussie's products had been doing for the last few years. while browsing the body shop one day i stumbled upon this glossing serum, and what sold it to me initially was its smell - it's so fresh and fruity! the serum is clear and almost gel like, and when you rub it into your hands it feels extremely greasy.

i'd previously used coconut glossing sprays on my hair and found it was easy to tread the line between reviving your hair and just greasing it up, so at first i was wary of how much to apply. i began by using two pumps, rubbing it into my hands and evenly distributing it throughout the mid and ends of my hair, and much to my delight my hair felt instantly refreshed, clean and not greasy - woohoo! i did feel that there was a lot of excess product on my hand after using it, so from then on i opted to use only one pump of product and found that that still was more than enough. obviously if you have thick or long hair you may need to use more, but unfortunately i'm not blessed with either of those things!

i now use this product twice a day, once before styling, and then again right before bed. because i wash my hair every 2 - 3 days, on the days in between washing my ends become really dry and somewhat frizzy, but one pump of this tames it instantly and, with a bit of dry shampoo at the roots, helps to give off the impression that my hair's been washed because my ends appear nourished and shiny. the product claims to also help protect split ends, however i haven't been using this product long enough to speak about its long term benefits, i just know that on a day to day basis it's an absolute god send for keeping my hair under control and manageable.

admittedly this isn't a cheap product, but if you're signed up to the body shop's mailing list they seem to be constantly sending out one offer or another, so catch them at the right time and you could get anywhere up to a 50% discount, meaning this product would set you back by £3.50 which is an absolute steal for the quality of it. heck, if i was in dire need of another of these and there were no offers on, i wouldn't begrudge paying the £7 price tag because i know it'd be worth it. i get the sense that the bottle will last me ages because i use so little every day, but i guess that'll be something to reflect on in the future.

both me and my hair are extremely pleased with this product, and if you suffer from dry, frizzy ends, i'd definitely recommend giving this product a go, even if you just nip in store and try a little bit through your ends! i'll now happily add this to my repurchase list.

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the body shop | colour crush lipstick

 the body shop colour crush lipstick, shade 225 'blushing pink': £10

i'd been looking for a bright, girly shade of lipstick to add to my extensive collection of dark red and coral lipsticks and found my solution in the body shop. i'll admit, £10 is pricey for a lipstick, however i purchased this within my birthday month and so got £5 off for that reason, and on top of that i got an extra 10% off the original price with my loyalty card, meaning i snapped this up for just £4, which is a bargain in anyone's eyes, i'm sure.

the packaging isn't great on the eyes, i'll admit, but the quality of the lipstick makes up for that. it's highly pigmented and applies beautifully while being highly moisturising, meaning you get a brilliant wash of colour without the unattractive cracks in your lips that a lot of pigmented but matt lipsticks leave behind. as for wear time, i'd say this is a pretty bog standard lipstick in that it'll last a few hours before it starts to wear off, unless of course you've eaten something, and in that case you'll need to reapply sooner. i've never encountered a 'miracle' lipstick that seems to last the day - which is probably because i never want to fork out for one - however i have tried really naff lipsticks before that rub away at the slightest bit of contact (from experience, mua lipsticks are bad for this,) so in comparison to these cheap lipsticks, the body shop lipsticks are definitely worth paying a little more for. i'd probably compare these lipsticks to the likes of the rimmel lipsticks that i've tried in the past and loved, however rimmel are sadly not cruelty free so i kind of don't want to be throwing my money in that direction anymore. all in all, i'd probably repurchase a body shop lipstick, even at the price of £10.

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the body shop haul

this haul isn't as big as my previous e.l.f. one, however i thought i'd just about bought enough for it to quality as a haul, so here i go! i'd been on the search for cruelty free hair care to replace my abundance of aussie products that currently keep my hair under control, so when i realised that the body shop sold hair products i was on the website browsing the range in a heartbeat. i know there's a lot of talk around the body shop and how they're owned by l'oreal that puts cruelty free shoppers off buying from them, however since doing my research into all their campaigns and speaking to team members in store, i personally feel safe and comfortable buying from them with the confidence that their products and ingredients are not animal tested, regardless of their parent company.

while online i stumbled across a voucher that entitled you to 50% off when purchasing 8 or more products, so i took this as the perfect opportunity to gather together a load of products that will replace my current hair care products when they run out. i only purchased 5 items, however my trusty friend who also placed the e.l.f. order with me decided to tag along and helped me out by purchasing another 6 items for himself - big spender! our basket totalled a whopping £70 before discount, but just £35 after; thank you 50% discount! my items came to £15.25 altogether which i thought was more than reasonable, i'm just crossing my fingers that the products will impress me when i eventually do start using them! if not, at least i know for a fact that they all smell damn good.

have you used any body shop haircare or any similar cruelty free products before? i'd love to hear any thoughts or recommendations to check out!

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