Soap Crazy Part III (Picture Heavy!)

My soap saga continues.

Anderson Soap Company

I finally tried Dennis's Soaps in a Jar after eyeing them for so long. They were good, absolutely gentle to my skin and I really loved how they didn't leave me with the slightest bit of dry or itchiness. However, just my humble opinion, but I thought they were also very impractical. Yes, they were soap, but I had to open up the jars and dig my fingers in. I do have other gels and creams in jars which require me to use my fingers for application, but mind you I always wash my hands prior to applying any skincare products. Given these were soaps in jars, and reaching for soap meant I needed a wash to begin with! So I really prefer NOT to dig my dirty fingers in any jar, soap jars included. Ick.

Anyway, I used these soaps as a body wash to minimize the ick factor as my hands are always decently clean coming into the shower. Still, I think I prefer my body soaps in easily dispensable packaging. For hand soaps, bars work just fine since I lather them up in running hot water. Another thing I wasn't really thrilled about with these Soaps in a Jar was their texture. They're supposed to be a "fluffy whip," but they were more like a waxy and thick cake icing, definitely not fluffy. These didn't lather well either. To get a good lather I'd have to put a ton onto the puff, which made these go through 2 jars in record time. I think I won't repurchase these again and will stick to the bar soaps next time.

- Lemon Meringue Soap in a Jar: smelled so freaking yummy, just like the real lemon cookies! It smelled so convincingly real that before shower time every night, hubby would get up and say, "Time to go rub some lemon cookies all over my body!" LOL!




- Cherry Blossom Soap in a Jar: this one smelled okay, although nothing like Cherry Blossom and more like Cherry Laffy Taffy. Waaaaaaay too strong and tangy. I think both hubby and I liked the Lemon Meringue scent better.




- Peppermint Lime Oatmeal Exfoliating Soap: This one smelled really nice, but the scent faded very quickly. Not enough peppermint oil, may be? I couldn't detect the lime at all. Also, I've beginning to notice a base fragrance for all of Dennis's soap bars. Don't get me wrong, this base fragrance is very nice, but unless he differentiate each bar enough, the top note is too weak and all his soaps end up smelling the same after some use.









- Pure Romance Soap: like the Peppermint Lime bars above, this soap smelled really really nice in the shrink wrap, but as soon as I use it, its fragrance faded immediately, leaving only the base scent behind, which made it smell just like any other soaps Dennis makes. So yeah, this bar was a bit of a disappointment, especially since I had high hopes for it.








- Fresh Linen Soap: now THIS is more like it! I think this is a duplicate of Estee Lauder's Pure White Linen, but this one smelled good in the shrink wrap and even better after use! In fact, it scented my entire sink area! Wow! I will definitely buy more of these bars, especially when my mum is a huge fan of the Estee Lauder perfume. She'll definitely appreciate these soaps!








Heathen's Hearth

Okay, I thinking I'm getting disenchanted with Heathen's Hearth's goat's milk soaps. Without fail, these soaps would fall apart and disintegrate into a slimy, gooey mess after about half way through each bar. At first I thought it was just because of the summer usage and the soaps didn't get a chance to dry up properly and melted in the heat and humidity. But even now, it's dry as the damn desert in my apartment and they still fell apart! Perhaps it's the goat's milk base that's not up to par. I'm going to have to look into getting my goat's milk soaps else where. I gave them a very thorough trial to come to this conclusion. I went through how many bars now? And I still have a gazillion bars left to use, so I think I'm being pretty fair. For now, I'll continue to put up with them until I run out. Then it is goodbye. Goodbye. GOODBYE.

- Strawberry Cheesecake Natural Glycerin & Goat's Milk Soap: before I grew frustrated with Heathen's Heart's soaps and their melty inclination, in my premature enthusiasm I gave this bar to a friend who has a sweet tooth. I hope she liked it :X Man, it makes me feel terrible to give someone something I later realized wasn't too great after all. Not to mention it makes me look bad. Grr...




- Lavender Natural Goat's Milk Soap: this bar went to my mum in law, who lives in a much much dryer place than I do, especially in the summer. I hope she made out okay with it. She said she liked all the soaps I sent her so...*crossing my fingers*




- Pina Colada Natural Glycerin & Goat's Milk Soap: this one went to mum in law too.






- Strawberries & Cream Goat's Milk Soap: I absolute hated this soap's scent. It didn't smell like strawberries and cream at all but more like strawberry chapstick! It had this weird waxy and chemically odor that I just couldn't stand!




See my previous posts:
- Soap Crazy
- Soap Crazy Part II

The Body Shop Strawberry Foaming Bath

I'm more of a shower person and baths aren't really my style, but since I like the strawberry fragrance from The Body Shop and it was on sale, so I thought I'd give this Strawberry Foaming Bath a try :)



I didn't use it in a bath. One day, I thought I'd put some on the puff to see what it will do, and surprisingly, it worked really well as a body wash! Definitely not the intended use, but it was even better as a body wash than the actual body washes like the Pink Grapefruit Shower Gel and the Wild Cherry Shower Gel, neither of which foamed very well! Odd, huh? So yeah, I use this Strawberry Foaming Bath as a body wash right now and I like it a lot!

And thanks to this experiment, now I'm curious about other Foaming Baths from The Body Shop. I might get some other ones and use them as body washes too :D Hey, if it works, why not!

O'slee Clear Spa Sleeping Mask

This is my very first O'slee product and I must say I'm liking Clear Spa Sleeping Mask a lot! I didn't know anything about the brand and I was reluctant to try but I'm very glad I gave it a chance. It didn't disappoint me and I reach for it most often out of all my sleeping packs.



It was packaged in a no-nonsense, straight forward box and jar, sealed for the confidence of reluctant users like me. And no, this time, the box was not suspiciously light. Phew.



What really really took me was the gel itself. I know this is totally silly and has nothing to do with the product's performance, but what beautiful clear turquoise gel! And it smelled nice too, a rose scent but relaxing, not over powering. I keep this jar chilled in my fridge and it just felt so good going on! As with all sleeping packs, I used only a little amount, but the few times I over applied I found that it absorbed completely and did not leave my skin sticky. This is probably the only the only sleeping pack that I could be a bit liberal with when it comes to application. Wow! Of course, keep in mind it's really dry right now where I am, which might have helped.



To be honest, this O'slee Clear Spa Sleeping Mask didn't give me any better results than the IsQueen ones, but I did notice that my skin wasn't as oily the next morning. Not that the IsQueen ones left me greasy or anything, just a glee of shine, but this O'slee one didn't even do that. So yeah, this is probably my most favorite sleeping pack right now and I like it even better than the Laneige Water Sleeping Pack! The Laneige one gets really sticky if I over apply and this O'slee one is more forgiving of my sloppiness.



I wholeheartedly recommend this sleeping pack. As for me, I'm rather intrigued with another item in the same line, the Clear Spa Eye Gel :)

IsQueen Miracle Lifting Night Waterpack

This is a pack of 3 cute travel size trio of IsQueen Miracle Night Waterpack line, which I got as a GWP when I bought the full size Miracle Renewal Night Waterpack.



This little set includes the Acne Night Waterpack (left, pink), Lifting Night Waterpack (middle, cream), and Renewal Night Waterpack (right, sea foam green). Since I was already using the Renewal Waterpack and I don't have any use for the Acne Waterpack (actually, it might dry out my skin, even!), I thought I'd try the Lifting Waterpack instead. And what do you know, I ended liking this one much better than the Renewal Waterpack!



The Lifting Waterpack is a milky cream colored gel that's much thinner than the Renewal Waterpack, but not runny. It's also not as heavily perfumed, having a fresh clean scent I preferred over the flowery ones. The biggest selling point for me is that it's not nearly as sticky as the Renewal Waterpack while delivering similar results the next morning. My skin was soft and moisturized without any adverse reactions!

If you are looking into trying IsQueen's Miracle Night Waterpack line, I would recommend the Lifting Waterpack over the Renewal Waterpack.

IsQueen Miracle Renewal Night Waterpack

Recently I grew tired of the sheet masks (finally moving out of that phase, I guess) and busted out my waterpack/sleeping pack arsenal, including a few brand new and sealed items I haven't touched. One of them is IsQueen Miracle Renewal Night Waterpack.



The jar was packed nicely, in a pretty box sealed at top. Although it felt suspiciously light for a 50 mL jar of gel...



This cute little fan brush was inside the box. The instructions in English says to use the brush and spread a thin layer onto to skin. I didn't follow the instructions :P I knew the brush would pile on more than I wanted, and plus it would take away the fingertips massage action which, in my opinion, make applying these sleeping packs much more enjoyable. Perhaps that brush would be more suitable for a clay mask or other wash-off masks that call for a thicker layer, but probably not this. Definitely not in my case since I apply sleeping packs sparingly to avoid going to bed with a sticky face. Urgh.



So I finally discovered the reason why the box was so light - the freakin' jar was half empty when I opened it! The box was sealed on the outside, so I'm pretty sure no one got to it before I did. That means the darn jar was only half way filled when I bought it! What the hell, right? Look at the picture below - doesn't it look like I'm almost finished with it? And it was supposed to be 50 mL! I felt so ripped off! Boo. Hiss.



Anyway, so that half-empty surprise pretty much fizzled the "miracle" for me. The sleeping pack itself was okay, way too heavily scented with a strong floral, old lady perfumy scent that's a mixture of rose and some other flowers I couldn't really distinguish. The milky sea foam colored gel was actually thicker than it looks and I had to use very little or risk feeling like a walking fly trap. My skin did turn out nice and soft the next morning with no break outs or funny reactions. However, the scent and the thickness of the gel prevented me from using it more often, which is really too bad.

Etude House Moistfull Sheet Mask

During my sheet mask phase, I was dying to get my hands on these Etude House Moistfull Sheet Mask but apparently they're not for sale but are given out (by Etude House) as GWP. And then I found an Ebay seller who sold them :D



Been using them off and on since the summer, more frequent during the hot months and much less often now, if at all. These have the same scent as the rest of the Moistfull line, which I really like. However, the masks themselves didn't have the best fit and they were cut funny. I was also a bit disappointed that the serum they were soaked in was runny and watery, and that they only provided very light moisture and hydration. And while that combination worked perfectly in the heat and humidity, they're pretty much useless right now and I might as well skip them.

So yeah, I sort of see why they don't sell these and give them out instead. But then again, during the summer and your skin needs some refreshment, these are awesome chilled!!!

But they're pretty much a seasonal item, limited to usage during the hot and humid summer, I'm afraid.

Etude House Moistfull Gel Cream

The full size 50 mL Etude House Moistfull Gel Cream comes in this Moistfull Special Set, which also includes a 25 mL each of the Toner and Lotion.



I bought this set because I've read that the Moistfull Gel Cream is good and plus I wanted to try out the Lotion and Toner before buying their giant full size bottles. However, it was so humid back then and I had to put the Gel Cream on hold to use the Lotion and Toner first. It has been a while since, I know, but humidity is finally down to a more reasonable 40-something % in my apartment and I finally got to the Gel Cream.



Just a quick recap - I did like the Lotion a lot and I bought the full size. However, I absolutely hated the Toner for being sticky as hell and am sure glad I didn't buy the full size Toner! The thought of being stuck with all 150 mL of something I hate is just depressing.



Quite unfortunately, this Moistfull Gel Cream is nothing but a gel cream version of the Toner. It is so incredibly S-T-I-C-K-Y. If I put as little as I can, then it's fine, but otherwise, the stickiness just icks me out. I can't even imaging using this stuff in humidity. Urgh. And the problem with using so little is that, well, it's not moisturizing enough! Especially now when it's drier, I actually need a gel cream that's more moisturizing, and not only this product totally fails me, it defeats its own purpose. Argh. Such a counterproductive item! A total flop for me.

Scent wise, it smells the same as all the other Moistfull product. Definitely scented but a tolerable fragrant. Too bad it's so sticky...

See my previous Etude House Moistfull Lotion & Toner post.

The Body Shop Pink Grapefruit Shower Gel

I used (and quickly finished) The Body Shop Pink Grapefruit Shower Gel from The Pink Grapefruit Goodness Gift Set recently.



The gift set came with (taken from The Body Shop USA website):
- 8.4 fl oz Pink Grapefruit Shower Gel
- 1.7 oz Pink Grapefruit Body Butter
- 1.7 oz Pink Grapefruit Body Scrub
- 3.5 oz Pink Grapefruit Soap
- Pink and White Bath Lily
- Pretty curved floral-printed card box with magnetic closure (which I'm not so sure what to do with...)


***Picture from The Body Shop USA.

Given my experience with the Naive Grapefruit Body Wash, I was really afraid that the Pink Grapefruit Shower Gel wouldn't be as mild as the Wild Cherry Shower Gel, but to my luck it was even more gentle. I had absolutely no dry or itchy skin while using this I was amazed! And I luuuuuuuuurv the Pink Grapefruit scent so much!!! It was so refreshing and my whole shower smelled good! Ah...



Would I buy it again? Absolutely. In fact, I'll buy more than one item from this range again, like the Pink Grapefruit Body Butter and the Pink Grapefruit Lotion, which I still haven't gotten yet, unfortunately :(



See my previous The Body Shop Pink Grapefruit Body Butter post.

Badger Sleep Balm

I've been curious about this Badger Sleep Balm for a while now but really had no reason to try it. I'm a pretty heavy sleeper and have no trouble falling asleep like a log, well, there are times when it can be a bit hard, but only because I was hungry and a glass of milk usually puts me out cold. And then a while back my friend complained about not being able to sleep well and had to resort to popping pills to get some z's. That stuff scares the daylights out of me, so I gave this to her to see if it would help. She says it really it did help, so that tipped the scale and I bought one for myself too :D



The balm's texture is on the hard side, but a few rubs and you'll have a thin but slightly oily layer to rub onto your temples (I usually put some above my upper lip too). Its texture is similar to Tiger Balm, may be just a tad harder, but very similar. It has this spicy (not hot spicy, but spice-y) herbal scent with just a slight hint of lavender. It's nice and relaxing, but to be honest, I really don't know if it works or not. Like I said, it's usually because I'm hungry that I can't fall asleep quickly and a glass of milk does the job, so...LOL sorry if this review is not very helpful... :D

See my previous Badger SPF 30 post.

Naive Facial Cleansing Foam

Good grief, how long has it been since my last post?!? My apologies. I won't make excuses. Life just got in the way, that's all.

Plus I haven't been wearing any makeup these past several weeks -gasps!- Dunno why but I just haven't been feeling the pretties recently. Is it even possible for me to get lazier? Shoot!!!

This is going to be a review for Naive Facial Cleansing Foam in Aloe. I have another one in Peach too, but I decided to try this one out first. The description on Sasa.com says it's made out of "100% botanical soap base" and aloe extract "deeply moisturizes" the skin. Errm...I don't know about the 100% botanical soap base, but it definite does not deeply moisturize my skin, that's for sure. In fact, if I accidentally use too much, it will dry my face out a bit.



Both hubby and I have been using it for weeks now, and it's an effective cleanser that gets my skin squeaky clean. It is scented, but doesn't really smell anything like "aloe". I found this soapy scent common among a lot of Naive products, like the Naive Aloe Body Wash, for example. They all have this "freshly showered" kind of fragrance, which sometimes can be a bit ugly as in the case of the Naive White Facial Cleansing Foam. Another similar characteristic among Naive products (actually, most Japanese face and body foaming washes) is that they foam really well, and this face is no exclusion!

With all that said, I probably will not buy this Naive Facial Cleansing Foam - Aloe again. It's just too generic for me to stick with. There is such a wide range of possibilities out there for face washes that it just doesn't make sense for me to be loyal to one when it's nothing special.

See my previous Naive White Facial Cleansing Foam post.