Neal's Yard Remedies Bee Lovely Hand Cream £10.00
If you're in England, you may know that this hand cream came with the April issue of Marie Claire UK. I was impressed to know that it's actually sold for £10.00 because that's not a cheap product to give away for free! It never EVER happens in Japan! I'm not a huge Neal's Yard fan but of course I'm interested in the brand and their products, so I was pretty excited to try out this hand cream especially after staying in a country where the air is super dry! It made my whole body itchy and it took more than 10 days for my skin to get back to the normal condition. Of course my hands were so dry as well, and my Caudalie Hand Cream didn't work at all, which made me quite desperate to find a better hand cream.
This creamy and thick hand cream nourishes my hands with rich plant oils such as sunflower oil and brazil nut oil. Of course this product contains honey that moisturizes the skin. I realized that my hands feel softer since I started using this cream, which could be another effect of honey. It has a really refreshing scent of orange which I love, it's more like orange candies than a squeeze of a fresh orange! The scent isn't overpowering at all which makes it easier for me to apply whenever wherever my hands feel dry, even before a meal or in the train.
Overall, I really like this hand cream. It's very moisturizing yet it doesn't make my hands sticky or greasy or slippery. And also I can tell you that it's definitely working, at least for me! Because when I came back from England, my hands were miserable. They were so dry that I'd never seen my hands in that kind of condition before. But once I started using this hand cream a few times a day, they got much better and are not itching anymore.
It will be out in Japan on the 24th of April for 2980yen (about £20) which is ridiculously pricy. I am working in the beauty industry in Japan and used to work for an imported organic skincare brand before, so I know that they cannot sell the product for the same price range as in England. But in my opinion Neal's Yard Japan is not a distributor which means that they can import the products with the cost price, not the wholesale price. Though they have some costs they have to cover, it's hard for me to find the right reason of them doubling the price. I would never buy it in Japan, no matter how I liked this product. But if you're in the UK, I recommend you getting your hands on this good-smelling rich hand cream! :)
Although I was away for 2 weeks, I used up quite a few products during the month of March. Some of the products are talked about here in the past, some of them aren't, but anyway I'm going to get started!
Giovanni Smooth As Silk Deep Moisture Shampoo
Giovanni Smooth As Silk Deeper Moisture Conditioner
These are the samples which came with a book which was sent to my company. I wasn't interested in Giovanni though I have heard of many good reviews, but decided to give it a try. Although they're supposed to be "Deep(er) Moisture", they didn't feel like moisturizing at all. Maybe just because my hair was too dry and fine, but they tangled my hair and didn't give shine to it. The scent was OK but wasn't strong enough to stay on my hair which was disappointing. I didn't understand why people are raving about them, but please let me know if you know any other series of Giovanni which might be suitable for my dry, damaged and fine hair!
Leivy Double Moisturising Body Shampoo ( full review)
I loved this shower gel so much that I used it every day. At first I thought the scent was too old-fashioned as it reminded me of my grandma's makeup table. But once I was used to it, I was in love with it. Especially the scent left on my skin after having a shower was amazing. It smells fresh and clean yet powdery and feminine. Also it's pretty moisturizing which is perfect for winter. I got it as a PR sample and thought of purchasing it but I don't think I would any time soon just because I've got many other shower gels waiting to be opened.
Foot Scrub
I don't even remember the brand of this foot scrub but I'm sure I got it as a PR sample as well. I didn't like it at all as the texture was just weird. I can't be bothered to describe how weird it was because it was such a terrible product which is not worth talking about. I don't mean to be rude but it didn't do anything to my feet and didn't smell nice either. What's the point of using a body scrub which doesn't work?
Balance me Radiance Face Oil
The best face oil ever. Full stop. I got this sample when I purchased their body cream and eye cream on lookfantastic.com. It's such a light oil which sinks into the skin really quickly without making my whole face greasy. It's very moisturizing and makes my skin soft and smooth. Obviously I don't recommend using it in the morning before putting makeup on but it's a perfect oil to use at night. When my skin felt dry, I put one pump of the oil on my palm and gently patted on my skin and I could see the difference the next morning. Another good point of this product is that it doesn't have a weird smell. The actual product is 30pound for 30ml which isn't the cheapest in the world but I don't think it's overpriced as a little goes a long way. The bottle could last almost a year (only if it allows you to)! Now they have a special offer on lookfantastic.com where I put the link above, check it out!
"Balance Me Radiance Face Oil is a light, absorbent 100% natural radiance
enhancer with powerful Amazonian buriti nut oil. Combats congested
skin with conditioning moringa and camellia oils that work with calming
Roman chamomile, yarrow and benzoin to enhance the radiance of skin of
all ages and types. The perfect skin pick me up, this highly
concentrated formula has a delicious orange blossom aroma, skin is left
calmed and balanced."
Liz Earle Instant Boost Skin Tonic
I loved this toner so much! I kept this small bottle for special occasions as it was kind of like my secret weapon! Whenever I felt my skin was dehydrated I put about a tea spoon of this toner on my organic cotton wool pad from The Body Shop and wiped my skin gently. Once I wipe the whole face, I place the cotton pad on the dry areas and gently push the cotton pad so that the toner seeps through it and skins into my skin. I usually keep doing it for more than 5 minutes, I found it soothing even! That's my quick cure of dry skin!
Rosa Centifolia Cleansing Gel (from the travel kit for normal skin)
I bought the travel kit for normal skin on lookfantastic.com about 6 months ago. I decided to take this cleansing gel with me to London. I mainly used it in the morning as I didn't expect it to remove my makeup. Overall it's an OK product but I don't think I would purchase the full-size bottle. It's got a runny, loose gel texture which I'm not a big fan of. The rosy scent isn't too bad as it's not overpowering at all and I found it quite soothing but that was the only thing about this product which impressed me.
SUSY N.Y. Nail Volume Gloss
This is my 2nd bottle of this product. I'm totally in love with this top coat as it gives a shiny and glossy finish to my nails! I remember it's about 1,000yen which isn't too bad considering the fact it lasts at least 3-4 months. It gets gloopy after a few months so I need to add some thinner liquid. I've used top coats from many different brands from OPI to Seche but this one is the best so far. I'm going to repurchase for sure!
THREE Glam Touch Lip Gloss in Summer Sounds
THREE is a Japanese skincare / makeup brand. I love the concept and their chic and sophisticated packaging designs, as well as the products themselves. This colour is called Summer Sounds which was one of the limited colours which was sold in the summer 2012 (or 2011, not sure). It's a perfect pink beige which brightens up the whole face. It's shimmers in it which reflect lights beautifully. I loved the plastic applicator which was much easier to apply on my lips than a sponge applicator. The formula is in a perfect consistency, not too greasy yet moisturizing. I dropped by the duty-free shop at Narita airport hoping to purchase another colour the other day, but unfortunately none of the colours they have now could beat this colour. This was the best lip gloss I'd ever used.
Lancôme Virtuôse Divine Lasting Curves & Length Mascara
I loved this mascara so much and was wearing it every single day until I got Loreal Volume Million Lashes Mascara. It separates my lashes as well as creating voluminous lashes. And it's so easy to remove just with warm water without a trace although it doesn't smudge at all during the day. It's a very good mascara which I would love to repurchase...only if I was richer!
Sorry this post became pretty long and boring, I should learn how to write simpler and shorter reviews! Let me know if you've used any of those products I mentioned here!
I went to Boots the day after my arrival in London. I needed to shop immediately so that I can go back there as many times as I want just in case they have different offers or I forget buying something. Also I needed to pick up some essentials such as my shower gel, toothpaste and bath lily. I was going to pick up some products from Soap and Glory including The Breakfast Scrub which is my favourite and Sugar Crush which I heard good things about, but as they were too big and heavy I gave up bringing them back to Japan. Instead I got some minis with an offer which I remember was 3 for £7 or something.
CLEAN ON ME
Even though I didn't like the scent originally, I decided to pick this one up rather than CLEAN, GIRLS. The weird thing is that last time I smelled this Original Pink Fragrance was in Japan and I absolutely hated it. It was too perfumey and overpowering to me. But this time I didn't mind the smell at all, I even thought it was kind of a good smell. I guess it was because of the air or humidity or temperature or something like that, because you can handle stronger scents in colder temperature.
I really enjoyed using this shower gel in England but because of the water and dry air, my skin was so dry. It's my fault because I didn't take any body moisturizer and couldn't be bothered to buy one. I know it sounds stupid but I regretted that I didn't try to rescue my skin a few days before I flew back to Japan because it was itching and bleeding and miserable. So the point I'm trying to make is that I cannot judge whether it's the kind of shower gel which dries out your skin or not. I'm going to try to use it in Japan to judge, but so far I didn't think it was moisturizing unfortunately.
GLAD HAIR DAY THICK CONDITIONER
I picked it up because I didn't want to open my Aussie hair treatment during my stay. But I guess I should have gone for Glad Hair Day Conditioner instead of Glad Hair Day THICK Conditioner because Glad Hair Day is supposed to be made for fine hair which I have. Obviously this conditioner is too light for me and isn't moisturizing enough. It makes my hair frizzy and dry. I didn't hate the smell of peach or some kind of fruits but I stopped using it and gave it to my mum who's got really thick hair.
HAND MAID
I never use hand sanitizer in Japan although I travel on the train everyday. I wash my hands when I get to work or before eating something. But when I was in England, somehow I felt the need of carrying hand sanitizer in my bag. I picked this one up instead of a normal boring one which doesn't have any scents. But this one's got the scent of Original Pink Fragrance which is a bit too strong for me especially before eating, that's why I barely used it during my stay.
Let me know how often do you use hand sanitizer like HAND MAID, do you use it in daily basis? Or do you use it occasionally when you travel or something?
