Alba Botanica Very Emollient Coconut Rescue Bath & Shower Gel (946 ml for about $11) and Very Emollient Coconut Rescue Body Lotion (907g for about $11) both came out last year, and I have yet to try them. If you've tried them, do comment!
Alba Botanica Kukui Nut Body Cream ~ scented body products
For those of us on the East Coast, it has been a cold winter, no doubt about it. I'm entirely ready for spring, but meantime my skin is showing every sign of a mid-winter crisis — it feels taut, itchy and generally uncomfortable. So for the past few weeks, I've been grumbling and rummaging around for various solutions that would fit into my new 'returning student' budget!
I decided to take a chance on an Alba Botanica body cream since I've been pleased with their body washes (see my review of Honey Mango Bath & Shower Gel, and Bois de Jasmin has a review of their Midnight Tuberose Shower Gel). Their Kukui Nut Body Cream seemed like a good bet — chock full of rich nut oils plus shea and cocoa butter, hypo-allergenic, 100% vegetarian and it comes in a jar which always makes me feel that tad more luxurious…
Alba Botanica Honey Mango Bath & Shower Gel
It would seem that the end of autumn has hit the east coast. Dreary skies have arrived, and blustery rainy afternoons turn quickly dark as city lights shine on slick wet streets. A last gasp of bitter crackling brown leaves swirl on the highway as I drive home from school, like djinn rising up in the desert sands, and I have a feeling soon the deep silent cold of winter will set in. (As an aside, the squirrels around these parts have been unusually frantic chasing and burying nuts this autumn which only confirms my pessimistic ponderings.)
Happily, this season I have found the perfect antidote to the cold. Alba Botanica's Honey Mango Bath & Shower Gel is a delightfully sweet-warm way to wake up under the shower on a leaden gray morning. It's something like mango ice cream mixed with honey — the kind of honey you find in Winnie the Pooh scratch-n-sniff books…
Coffee, coffee, coffee ~ scented body products
I’ve written before about my love for coffee, both as a beverage and as a fragrance. I’m always surprised that more coffee-scented body products don’t exist. Surely I’m not the only person who loves this smell so much? For anyone who shares my obsession, here’s a summary of a few high-quality toiletries that include actual coffee for its smell as well as its other benefits.
Lush’s Sonic Death Monkey Shower Gel (shown above, middle) looks like something you could drizzle over ice cream, and it smells like a drink that would set you back about $7 at Starbucks: a potent mocha blend of coffee and chocolate, with a shot of orange syrup…
Alba Botanica Sugar Cane Body Polish ~ scented body products
I confess I stalk the aisles of the personal care sections of health food stores, and I feel well rewarded when I discover an affordable product that works as well as Alba Botanica’s Sugar Cane Body Polish. It is like comfort food for dry skin. There is the high sugar and fat content (Hawaiian sugar cane juice, honey, kukui nut, macadamia nut and sunflower oils with vitamin E). And there are no unpronounceable or mysterious ingredients whatsoever.
Sugar Cane Body Polish’s large sugar granules are suspended in an rich, slushy base of sugar cane juice and nut oils. They dissolve slowly in a hot shower…