Yves Rocher Expert Repair Shea butter body lotion

I’ve mentioned some months ago Nivea smooth oil that I like to use during the summer as it is light, moisturizing and smells heavenly. As the fall approaches I usually switch to another well-loved moisturizer, the Yves Rocher Expert Repair Shea butte body lotion.

Price: you can buy the lotion in Yves Rocher stores or in their online shop, it costs 10,90€ for 150ml but it is very often sold at half price, I’ve never had to pay 11€ for it.

Aroma: it smells nutty although I wouldn’t say it is Shea butter scent as I have raw Shea butter at home (when I’m “cooking” my winter moisturizers) and it doesn’t smell the same (I actually prefer this aroma over raw butter so no complains here).

Yves Rocher Expert Repair Shea butter body lotion

Texture: it has thick cream texture (comparable to Nivea Soft hand cream, not as thick as old school Nivea). It leaves my skin satin soft and it reminds of very expensive L’Occitane Firming and smoothing milk concentrate with almond (39€ for 200ml) that I always lust for but just can’t justify to buy it. The Yves Rocher cream is a lot cheaper alternative (although one tube lasts me only one month).

Hydration: I use this body lotion when I get out of the shower and I feel like it locks the moisture in the skin and adds some smoothing texture to it. It is hydrating enough for me to use during the fall and spring but not enough for the winter (I rely then on my home made lotions). I have drier skin than most people so this moisturizer may be moisturizing enough for some of you even during the winter.

Final verdict: I really like this body lotion, I always have some in stock and I’ve purchased it many times. This and the shower gel with coffee aroma is my favorite combo for fall season. If you haven’t tried them yet, definitely do so, they are so worth it.

Yves Rocher Jardin du Monde “Coffee Beans from Brasil” shower gel

I think it’s about time I show you my most favorite shower gel ever. I went through so many bottles of this scent I can’t even remember. I always have to have it in my shower, especially for days when I take shower in the morning. The scent is amazing! If you are a coffee lover or you need to trick your brain into caffeine-like behavior this shower gel is a must.

Price: Yver Rocher has always some kind of deal, especially online, so it is possible to get this shower gel for less than 2€ for 200ml. If you can’t find it in the shop look at its online shop that was also my case. It was first sold in shops then it disappeared (to my huge disappointment) and I found it later on in the online shop when I was looking for something else.

Yves Rocher Jardin du Monde “Coffee Beans from Brasil” shower gel 

Scent: it smells like coffee with milk. If I close my eyes I wouldn’t be able to tell if I’m smelling real coffee or this shower gel. So real is this scent (I know the shower gels or other cosmetics should not be unscented to avoid skin problems but I can’t help it!).

Texture: it has creamy texture so don’t expect it to lather too much (it doesn’t contain any parabens so it may also be a reason for lack of big foam). It is nice and gentle on the skin, it doesn’t irritate it either.

Let me know, girls, what your favorite shower gel/scent is!

Nivea Smooth Oil

It is almost summer and most of us don’t like to put any moisturiser on the body as the hot weather makes the creams feel sticky and slippery. However sun dries our skin and we should use something to hydrate it. During the day a moisturiser with high SPF is a must and for the night time one without SPF is better.
My favourite for summer time is Nivea smooth oil and here is a quick overview of what you get:

Price: I bought it in Slovakia, in DM drugstore for under 4€ (unfortunately I threw away the bottle so I don’t remember how much ml you get, but I think it was 200ml).

Smell: it has nice feminine scent, hint of Nivea classic cream perfume with floral base. I love this scent, it makes me feel very relax, it’s very comforting. The scent lasts quite long when I put it on in the evening I can still smell it in the morning. The scent is not overwhelming, nobody will smell it from the distance, it is very close and personal scent that only you know about.

Nivea Smooth Oil

Texture: it is oil but not a heavy one. It has almost liquid consistency; it is transparent, so it looks like water. Still, since it is oil, you can feel it’s a bit slippery. It is ok for me as it makes the application easier.

Hydration: it is focused on very dry skin and promises 24 hours hydration. After its application my skin felt very smooth just like it promises. It soaked into the skin fairly quickly considering that it is oil. It kept my skin hydrated for at least 15 hours (all night and part of the following day). As it is not heavy oil I recommend it for normal to oily skin girls for winter time and of course for girls with dry skin, like mine, for spring and summer time (in the winter I need something more “hard core” than this oil).

Final verdict: I love this body oil, its scent and hydration properties. I already used up one bottle and I’m definitely buying another one soon.

St.Tropez Bronzed Glow set review

Here is another review on self-tanning products; a St.Tropez set that I bought on allbeauty.com, UK based internet shop. This set cost 15,56€ which is excellent price considering that you get 120 ml of St.Tropez mousse self-tanner (currently at 17, 91€), 120 ml of Body polish (a scrub, costing 7,97€) and 120 ml of Body moisturiser (200 ml costs 10,98€). Although the set is not available now, products are available separately at this website and the prices are better than in shops.

St.Tropez Bronzed Glow set

ST.TROPEZ BRONZING MOUSSE

Smell: it didn’t have strong self-tanner smell; there was a hint of floral scent when applying it but it all didn’t linger for too long.

Application: the consistency of the product is a mousse, and for me, it applied the easiest with a self-tanning mitt. First I had a drugstore mitt that wasn’t good quality, it soaked a lot of product in and it was hard to spread. I thought it might be the product itself that is faulty but when I changed the mitt (I used Vita Liberata, 6€ in French Sephora or 5€ in perfumeries in Slovakia) the product spread beautifully. It has a colour indicator so you see where you apply it and also for this reason it wasn’t streaky, even when I didn’t pay attention as much as usually. I think this self-tanner is very suitable for beginners.

Colour: it gave nice tan with hint of olive undertone so no orange tan at all. The colour looked very natural. After 1 application the skin colour went up by 1-2 shades, after 2nd application up to 3 shades (my skin colour is light warm, NW15-20 in MAC).

Longevity and shading: it lasted very long; I was actually surprised that I could still see the colour after 7 days. It started fading on 8-9th day and it wasn’t patchy. I let it fade without scrubbing just to see how it goes and after 13 days there were few patches. It was a bit extreme to let it fade for such a long time, especially since it was hard to remove it at the end. So I definitely would scrub the “leftovers” after few days of shading in order to avoid patches. One bottle will last about 10 applications which mean 5 weeks for me (2 applications to get the colour I want).

(from left to right) St.Tropez Body polish, St.Tropez Body moisturiser, St.Tropez Bronzing mousse

ST.TROPEZ BODY POLISH (TAN OPTIMISER SERIES) 

I’m usually very sceptical about scrubs as I think they are waste of money. I use loofah mitt (organic Egyptian loofah that you can buy in a drugstore for few bucks) that works well with my regular shower gel. Since the scrub was part of the kit I used it to test it out.

Scrub contains very small particles and there are densely present in the cream base. It scrubs very well, particles not being too harsh on the skin. The Scrub is not drying so even girls with dry skin can use it. It smells little bit like shaving products for men. First it didn’t bother me but by the end of the bottle I had enough of it (especially since the lotion has the same aroma). I also used this scrub on the face and it did a good job there as well, scrubbing it well and not drying it at all. Overall, it is very good scrub, although expensive one, and I may buy it again, just for my face.

ST.TROPEZ BODY MOISTURISER (TAN OPTIMISER SERIES)

Lotion has medium liquid consistency, so not too thick or thin, for me the perfect consistency for spring or autumn (if you have normal to dry skin at that period). It spreads easily on the skin and soaks quite quickly. It is not sticky or greasy, you can get dressed almost immediately after its application. Skin was very soft and silky to the touch, stayed moisturised for at least 12 hours. As I mentioned in scrub description, it has that smell that reminds me of products for men and it didn’t bother me at the beginning, later on I wasn’t a big fan anymore. I really liked this moisturiser as the skin was very soft to the touch and I think it really helped to extent the tan wear (my tan lasted 7 days before it started fading!). I may buy the lotion again but not too often as I don’t love the scent.

Final verdict: so far the St.Tropez bronzing mousse is the best self-tanner I’ve tried and I will buy it again once I test few others that I bought. I actually bought other St.Tropez products just because this self-tanner was so good (I will let you know if they are as good as this mousse). I know it is not the cheapest one and you have to order it online (if you live in Belgium) but it is high quality, it lasts quite long, it has nice colour and it is easy to apply. Scrub and lotion are also very nice. If I see this set on allbeauty.com again I will snap it right away as the ratio quality- price is unbeatable.