Alove Solid Lotion Bar Review

I think you remember seeing this little fellow around, haven’t you?

That’s because it’s my new favorite thing!

You might have heard me complain about dry hands, dry nails and dryness in general. It’s because once autumn got here, so did a completely new climate that your skin might or might not have gotten used to very easy. In my case, I have hands that feel a bit like parchment paper. And with them, the rest of my skin also.

I can only foresee the moisture I’m going to need once winter hits.

In any case, this little thing of  beauty has been a life saver!

Apart from its super cute packaging and shape(who can resist a cupcake, I ask!), it also has the ingredients that I LOVE!

Shea Butter, Pomegranate Oil, Coconut Oil, Avocado Oil and Vitamin E.

I’ve swooned about Shea Butter here already and what I can tell you about the other oils is that they are known for their glorious capacity to moisturize!

Alove is a really new company and counts as an absolute insider tip. They only work with organic and natural certified ingredients and of course no preservatives other than what you’d find in nature. The Vitamin E in this case serves as preservative. And in the end, when you have a product based on natural oils and fats, you don’t need much else to keep it fresh. I don’t mean fresh forever, but about 6 months for sure.

The reason why I stumbled upon this brand is because I know the person who makes them. She’s in the process of setting up her own webshop and blog. You can find the Blog HERE and I suggest you follow because once she goes live, you’re going to want to see what goodies she has to offer. I can guarantee they all look this cute!

Solid Lotion Bar I say? Well yes, because it is a Shea butter based bar that is a moisturizing beauty! Super practical because it is well…solid, and that means you can pretty much stick it in your pocket and whip it out whenever you feel something dry on you.

I use it for hands, body and even face and lips when I need to.

It's especially handy when your legs feel dry after you shave them. One stroke of this and you're set.

I put it in a zip-lock bag and always carry it around with me so that my hands are perfectly moisturized whatever the weather.

This what it looks like in the nude.
It's around 100g that will last you for a surprising amount of time. I've been using it for weeks and it's not even halfway through. Definitely worth investing. It costs 5 Euro for what you see here, which to me is pretty cheap, considering I would have gone through two bottles of lotion by now if it wasn't for this.

All in all

A’love it! Good one,huh? Well I indeed do, because it combines all the natural ingredients I absolutely adore, has zero preservatives and basically does 100% good to my skin.

The truth is, I’ve gotten to the point where after using it for a week, I don’t even feel my skin dry anymore. I think it kinda balanced it out somehow and my skin is just in a nice, happy state.

This smells like lavender ( and you can WIN one of them if you enter my First International Giveaway Here) but there was also rose, lilac and something that smelled so delicious that I was afraid I'd take a bite. Think lilac will be next on my list for sure! In case you were wondering, it is essential oils that give it the smell, so no weird ingredients there either.

I suggest you follow the Alove Lady and check this little beauty out when you have the chance, it will probably do as much good to you as it did to me.

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My Soap of Choice : Adzuki Bean & Shea Butter

Today I will tell you about one of my favorite bath products.
Maybe you know by now that I'm a big fan of Shea butter, if not, you can read all about the miracle moisturizer in This Post .
But the moment I found a hand made soap WITH Shea butter , I immediately got it. And I will tell you, I was not disappointed at all!

I'll be honest and tell you I had no idea what the Adzuki bean was or what it did. I then found out it was a type of bean that grows in east Asia and the Himalayas,and that it is widely used in Japan, so check on the 'exotic ingredient'.
To be quite honest, I haven't figured out what skin properties it might have,as you actually have the bean in the soap, not some powder or extract.Maybe for an occasional exfoliation? Maybe to play in the shower? Or maybe it's the ideal prison soap, where you will have to bend to get the fallen bean when it detaches from your soap.

Bean close-up below.

I will admit that I really, really like the packaging and the red Adzuki bean looks great in the color palette and goes perfectly with the label design.


What is does and how it does it:

I'm a bigger fan of soaps than I am of shower gels,even if the latter tend to come in more smells most of the time. This soap for example has a very subtle scent that I like.
What it does is moisturizing your skin and NOT drying it out. And this fellow does that really well! I have dry skin and whatever I put on it ends up drying it out. Not the case with this soap!
Nobody was more surprised than me. Not even when shaving my legs did I feel that uncomfortable "my skin's so stretched out it's gonna break!".
I felt my skin comfortable and that is a very rare thing. The Shea butter really does its job well and whenever I find a bath product that keeps moisture in my skin, I will be impressed.

Ingredients:

The ingredient list is more or less vague,like so

With some additional info in dutch that says that "each soap base is made from a selection of plant based glycerin, rapeseed oil , olive, coconut, sunflower/ castor oil and unrefined shea butter."

I got this particular soap in Holland at a de Tuinen store but you can also find it on the online store of Herbapharm  for under 4 Euro if I remember well.



All in all 
I am DEFINITELY going to keep using this! I still have 2 spare ones for when the current one runs out.
If you can't get hold of this particular one, I recommend you look for soaps with Shea butter in their composition.Your skin will be impressed.
And like I always say: The less ingredients, the better!

Do you prefer using soaps or gels?



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Raw Shea Butter Vs Shea Body Butter

There's so many lotions and body butters out there that have a Shea butter base,but have you ever considered checking out the real thing?
The Raw Shea Butter

In this post,I want to show you which does what ( Shea butter and Shea body butter) and which one is better in my opinion.

SHEA BUTTER

Meet the Shea Butter. This amazing African product has been used for generations by women all over their body. Shea Butter is a fat extracted from the nuts of the African Shea tree.It actually is edible and is used for cooking in many parts of Africa.

I baught 1kg of Shea butter a while ago from a certified cooperative from Ghana. If you do a Google search,you will find a lot of such cooperatives yourself . The one that I got it from is Akoma.
It comes in chunks in a sealed bag and smells incredible. It's what you would expect such a pure product to smell like.

What you need to be careful about is to get unrefined shea butter,so the one that has an ivory color. If it's white,it probably has been bleached and you don't want any chemicals on your skin,do you?

Ingredients:

As you can see,it's organic,raw,unrefined,fairtrade and made up of 100% Shea butter.

I got this for under 20 Euros, including shipping from the UK.

Pretty unbeatable price for so much goodness,isn't it?

 The Pros:

• 100% natural!
• No chemicals,parabens or ingredients that  might cause your skin to react badly
• You can use it for anything and everything: as a moisturizer for body and nails(nails sometimes tend to break because they are too dry),as a face cream,even as a hair treatment! (And I've tried them all)
• It also has medicinal properties,such as reducing inflammations and calming your skin
• It can also absorb UV rays,making it a good sunblock 
• Is easily absorbed by your skin,because it melts at body temperature and doesn't leave any oily traces, which is really practical if you're in a hurry

The Cons:

• Truthfully,I have yet to find an argument against it

SHEA BODY BUTTER

 

We've all used Shea based body butters at one point or another.It's a good ingredient for a moisturizer to have and of course,it nourishes your skin,but could it be doing less good than you expect?

I've had this Body Shop Shea Body Butter and have also used it,but after using raw Shea butter,I started finding this one a bit too watery. You clearly can't compare the texture of a natural fat with something created in a laboratory.

Ingredients:

There are more ingredients on that list but the problems that stand out are the Paraben and then the other Paraben ...
There's also the Xanthan Gum which is derived from some ingredients that may cause allergies.

The Pros:

• It's accessible and widely available
• It will nourish the skin
• Contains Shea butter,but no percentage is specified on ingredient lists

The Cons:

• Contains ingredients that can be harmful 
• Usually has Parabens in their composition
• Clearly overpriced
• Some of these products might have been tested on animals

Conclusion:

I'd definitely go for the raw shea butter!
Price-wise,you will get better quality and more quantity than you would get in a store bought body butter.

 Not to mention the fact that one is 100% natural and the other...not so much.

So when it's this easy,why not go natural and save some bunnies from being tested on in the process?

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