Skin Care

Burt’s Bees Milk & Honey Body Lotion Gets a Makeover

December 18th, 2010 by Karen 9 Comments

burts bees milk honey body lotion

The bees over at Burt’s house have been busy. Last fall they reformulated their cruelty-free Naturally Nourishing Milk and Honey Body Lotion for normal to dry skin, and it’s raising quite a stir.

With skin softening milk, honey and botanical moisturizers like coconut, grape seed and sunflower oil, the thick lotion feels like a body cream.

Back when I used the O.G. version a few summers ago, it was thinner and made from 98.2% natural ingredients, but Burt’s kicked that up to 99% now.

I remember liking the original bottle, the sweet honey fragrance and how fast it absorbed, but when winters rolled around it wasn’t moisturizing enough for my alligator skin. Being the fickle lotion lady that I am, I moved on to other things.
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It Kiehl’s Me How Much I Like Creme de Corps Soy Milk & Honey Whipped Body Butter

December 12th, 2010 by Karen 25 Comments

I wonder if The Pioneer Woman consulted with Kiehl’s to create Creme de Corps Soy Milk & Honey Whipped Body Butter ($32 for an 8-oz. jar), because it smells like something that would be wafting out of Ree’s kitchen. Like warm milk and honey with a dash of coconut, YUM!

This newest member of the moisturizing Creme de Corps line goes well with hot cocoa after coming in from the cold (perhaps after an afternoon spent ice skating).

The lightweight, whipped consistency absorbs in a jiffy, which means it gets a lot of everyday use.

Nothing against body butters that take longer to massage into the skin, but practically speaking, I use the ones that take the least amount of my time and effort to apply (like this one) more often on a daily basis. Like, when the bathroom floor is freezing cold, the last thing I want to do is spend 15 more minutes in there moisturizing after a shower.

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Burt’s Bees $6 Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream Makes Nails Cuter and Cuticles Better

December 11th, 2010 by Karen 22 Comments

Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream

Oh, Burt, baby, where’ve you been all my life? Your $6 Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream ($6) has been like manna from heaven to the shredded carrots I call cuticles. The rich, all-natural nail treatment smoothes the dry, cracked crevices around my nails while strengthening the nails themselves with sweet almond oil, vitamin E and cocoa butter. It keeps cuticles moisturized for hours, and the light lemony scent smells downright delicious.

The thick wax-like consistency takes longer to massage in than my trusty Sephora Cuticle Pen, but because of it the product also feels more substantial on my tips, which I like. I use it off and on throughout the day, but my favorite time to use it is right before bed, on both my fingernails and toenails (so it can work its magic overnight).

Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream

Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream box
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$8 NYX Eye & Lip Makeup Remover Is an Orange that Sings the Blues

December 8th, 2010 by Karen 25 Comments

nyx eye and lip makeup remover review closeup

Um, why do I feel like rubbing orange slices all over myself? Oh, yeah — I remember. NYX Eye & Lip Makeup Remover ($8), one of the best smelling makeup removers I’ve EVER sniffed.

Fo’ reals! This dual-phase liquid (an oil and water emulsion; it turns a pale blue when shaken) smells fresh and sweet like a yummy (blue?) orange, and it digests le war paint almost as well as the much more expensive Lancome Bi-Facil, also a dual-phase formula.

They say the nose knows. Well, mine stopped paying attention as soon as it caught a whiff of this fragrant potion of orange and papaya extracts. As a matter of fact, I like the smell so much that I’m willing to overlook its few shortcomings, one of which has to do with mascara. It’s not that good at removing it as Bi-Facil (or any number of other eye makeup removers), but nothing’s perfect, right? Except perhaps the way NYX Eye & Lip Makeup Remover smells, LOL! 🙂

RANDOM SIDE NOTE: Wouldn’t it be freaky if our eyes could process scent?

Even though Bi-Facil whisks away mascara and waterproof products better than NYX’s remover, the later still manages to spirit away most of the non-waterproof lip and eye makeup I’ve thrown its way, doing so without irritating my sensitive eyes or clouding up my vision (I’m talking to YOU, Neutrogena Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover!).

nyx eye and lip makeup remover review

nyx eye and lip makeup remover review back of bottle

nyx eye and lip makeup remover review ingredients
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Beauty Elements Facial Treatment Mask: Holy Crap, Is That Michael Myers?

December 3rd, 2010 by Karen 32 Comments

Seriously, this IS happening

There is no way to look cute wearing a Beauty Elements Facial Treatment Mask. I really did try to make these pics appear less scary by throwing a chubby tabby cat into the mix (usually works like a charm), but in this case even Tabs couldn’t help.

Er, not sure what’s going on here

Take home lesson: before you pop on one of these pre-moistened cotton masks, usher your crush/hubby/kids outside, since the only option is to look completely frightening.

These treatment masks, which cost $8-15 each, are made by an Oahu-based spa and skincare line called Beauty Elements. You can find them at select stores across Hawaii (I snagged mine at Blue Hawaii Lifestyle in the Ala Moana mall), and I’d bet that at least one of them would ship to the mainland if you called around.

Each one comes soaked with ingredients like hyaluronic acid, silk proteins and seaweed, and they’re supposed to help with a number of skin issues (fine lines, firmness etc.). I picked up two: Hydra (for the dry skin part) and Time Reverse (for the getting old part).

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Balms Away! Hawaiian Bath & Body Pineapple Lip Balm

December 2nd, 2010 by Karen 33 Comments

Hawaiian Bath and Body Review Pineapple Lip Balm open

Yes, I made it out of the Land of Aloha with more than handmade, cold process soap! For starters, I brought home this bag of red coconut ball candy:

It looks kinda scary, but trust me — this stuff is great (if you like coconut). One could easily devour a bag in a single sitting. Um, not that I’d know…

Besides crazy technicolor sweets, I also brought home a tube of Pineapple Lip Balm ($3) from a local company called Hawaiian Bath & Body.

Hawaiian Bath and Body Review Pineapple Lip Balm
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You’ll Love This Soap, Child: The Indigenous Soap Company

December 2nd, 2010 by Karen 19 Comments

indigenous soap company love child review

Tangerine essential oil has a calming effect? For reals? Just when I thought I had enough Hawaiian handmade soap to keep me squeaky clean until summer, I ran into this bar of Love Child, made by The Indigenous Soap Company ($8.50 for 5-oz.).

A line on the packaging about tangerine oil, which supposedly helps children chill the eff out, sealed the deal.

indigenous soap company love child review calming effect

Even though my childhood was — holy crap! — decades ago, I need all the calming help I can get on high stress days. If tangerine oil takes my mental sh*zz down a notch or two, then I’m all for it.

Love Child’s one of seven soaps from the small local line, which is based on Oahu. I snagged a bar when I was at the Blue Hawaii Cafe at Ala Moana getting an acai bowl the other day (ever have one of those? so good!), but you can buy ’em at stores all over Hawaii and online at indigenousoap.com.

indigenous soap company website

This particular soap’s supposed to be gentle enough for kids, and I’d believe it from the short and sweet ingredient list. It’s made with lots of natural good-for-your-skin stuff (like shea butter and aloe vera gel) and without synthetic preservatives, color or fragrance.

Small touches like the “born on” date, drawings, feel-good text and the hidden “soap of fortune” lend a really personal touch.

indigenous soap company love child review ingredients

indigenous soap company love child review soap fortune
So that’s all I needed to free my doubts, *smacks forehead*!
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Hana Lima Hawaiian Soaps Are a Breath of Fresh Hawaiian Air

November 30th, 2010 by Karen 37 Comments

hana lima hawaiian soap

Aloha, young lady. 🙂 You know that last-minute scramble for snacks and nicknacks to bring home at the end of a trip? Well, that describes my day. Since I fly back to the Bay tomorrow, I wanted to tour the 290+ shops and take in the sights at Ala Moana Center, Hawaii’s biggest mall (also the largest open-air shopping center in the U.S.).

If there’s a mall in heaven, I hope it’s like Ala Moana. Red ginger, dwarf palms and bright orchids line the multi-story promenades, which host everything from high-end boutiques like Miu Miu, Chanel and Dior to mainstream shops like The Gap and, here, Hilo Hattie, where you can load up on macadamia nuts, kona coffee and, if you get lucky, that hot surfer dude working behind the register (my friend Cindy ALWAYS asks me to bring one home for her).

What do you think about these Hana Lima Hawaiian Soaps? I spotted them at Hilo Hattie today.

Hana lima, or “Hawaiian made,” is a small line of handmade, cold process vegetable soaps made by a family from Kona on the Big Island.

Soaps manufactured using the cold process last a really long time. In a nutshell, the process involves combining lye (sodium hydroxide), water and fatty acids (which can be made from almost any oil, like olive, coconut, etc.) in a chemical reaction called “saponification.” During saponification the oils and lye become soap; the process usually takes between four weeks and six weeks to complete.

I would have overlooked these, lost amidst the cacophony of tropical tchotchkes in the store, if not for the vintage Hawaiian print packaging. The soaps looked like somebody went wild cutting up a collection of hyper-color aloha shirts!

The 3.5-oz bars are wrapped in bright tropical-print fabrics (they’re actually made of real cloth!) with cute illustrations of plumeria, tuberose and Hawaiian red ginger flowers.
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