Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Body Cream TW

During my time in Taipei, I purposely stayed away from Taiwanese magazines because they too have freebies, skincare freebies. See how dangerous that road would have been?

...But I caved, just once, for this Meizhuang (美妝, Beauty) issue of FashionGuide Magazine TW, Fall 2012 Vol. 25. It came with a 50mL deluxe sample bottle of Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Body Cream TW among others.

Please note this particular product is made for and sold in the Taiwanese market, hence marked with TW. I'm not sure if the formula or ingredients are any similar to its US counterpart, but I checked Palmer's US website for the Cocoa Butter range and was confronted with a dizzying array of variety, none of which looks quite like this bottle pictured here. What the hell, Palmer's? Are you trying to confuse your consumers? Seriously, what's the difference between, just to name a few from the 24(!) products in the "Daily" section, Cocoa Butter Formula Lotion, versus Jar, versus Concentrated Cream, versus Daily Calming Lotion, versus Body Butter, versus Lotion for Dry Ashy Skin? Aren't they all for dry skin? If not, why should I bother putting them on my dry skin? And isn't dry skin somewhat ashy anyway, or is there an option for Dry-but-not-Ashy Skin too? 

The problem with growing success is the company will start spreading itself too thin and stretching its product too far. What's wrong with sticking to a few things and do a really good job with them? Honestly, I have tried generous samples of all 3 Cocoa Butter, Olive Butter, and Shea Butter Formulas. The Olive and Shea are hands down way better, especially the Shea, and guess what, both have only a handful of products, which is exactly how it should be. Not sure why only the Cocoa Butter range totally spun out of control. My way of coping? Ignore damn range. Mmkay. Rant over.

Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Body Cream TW

This Taiwanese version of Cocoa Butter Formula Body Cream is quite heavy and greasy, even if it looks and feel like an innocent lotion going on. I'm very patient with skincare products, but I got tired of waiting for this stuff to sink in so I can go on with my day. Let's just say after half an hour, my hands were still as greasy as a frying pan. In fact, this stuff is so heavy and greasy it reminds me of The Body Shop Peppermint Cool Foot Lotion, which means it will probably be demoted to my feet. Even then, it will have to be on nights when I read for a long time in bed before dozing off because it will probably take that long to absorb, if it absorbs at all!

That's not all, the cocoa butter scent is a tad too strong, so strong it makes me feel like I had just slather chocolate butter cream all over my hand. Don't get me wrong, I love chocolate butter cream, eating it, that is, not moisturizing my hands with it, and I definitely don't want everything I touch to smell like it. So after having tried Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula in 2 different continents, I conclude the range is a no-go for me. Of course, its crazy variety in the US market doesn't help a bit!

Anyways, among the rest of the magazine freebies, Toms Whitening Renewal Mask went to my mum, and while I kept the Aqualabel White Samples, I probably won't get to it until later. My skin is just too dry here T.T