Sanctum Body Soothe

I came across Sanctum Body Soothe during my stay at a Sydney hotel recently. It's a light lotion that's easily absorbed by my skin and smells strongly of lemon myrtle to my nose. When I checked out the description on the webpage it's supposed to have the natural aroma of vanilla. The ingredients list on the webpage also differ from the tube I have. I'm not sure why. Either the one I have is a version of body soothe that's made especially for hotel use, or they've changed the formulation. Based on the hotel version, I quite like the refreshing scent and the way my skin drinks up the lotion.

Verdict: made from "certified organic and natural ingredients" - I'm sold.

Ingredients: Aqua, Chamomile (Chamomilla recutita matricaria) Flower Extract, Canola Oil, Aloe barbadensis Leaf Juice, Cetyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate, Glycerin, Stearic Acid, Potassium Cetyl Phosphate, Bentonite, Honeysuckle (Lonicear caprifolium) Flower Extract, Macadamia integrifolia Seed Oil, Honeysuckle (Lanicera japonica) Flower Extract, Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) Leaf Oil, Lemon Myrtle (Backhousia citriodora) Oil, Xanthan Gum, Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) Leaf Extract, Orange (Citrus aurantium dulcis) Oil, limonene, citral.

Olive & Bergamot Body Lotion

Hurra, I've finally finished a bottle of Olive & Bergamot Body Lotion I bought from Superdrug back in April! :) I'm still sticking to my "No Buy" Challenge, so I can't really buy a new body lotion until I run out of all body lotion in my stash.

I can't seem to find the picture of the exact product, for an idea, the packaging is similar to the bottles (2nd & 4th items on the picture) - the body lotion comes from Superdrug's Natural range. A warning for die-hard "natural" products fans, ignore the name, it's not a true natural/organic product - it has paraffinum liquidum on the ingredients list!

For the price it's quite a good body lotion, it keeps my skin moisturised. The only thing I'm not keen on is the smell - the floral/citrus-ey scent reminded me so much of flowers (yellow/red/brown chrysanthemums?) used for funerals in Asia... That's why it's taken me that long to finish it.

Verdict: I quite like the texture, in the future I would buy a different scent though.

Ingredients: Aqua, Paraffinum Liquidum, Glycerin, Cetearyl Alcohol, Isopropyl Myristate, Glyceryl Stearate SE, Steric Acid, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Extract, Citrus Aurantium Bergamia (Bergmot) Fruit Extract, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Carbomer, Propylene Glycol, Parfum, Linalool, Triethanolamine, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Benzophenone-4, Disodium EDTA, Cl 14700, Cl 19140, Cl 60730.

Nivea Happy Time Body Lotion

I received a 4ml sample sachet of Nivea Happy Time Body Lotion. The package says that it contains "natural Bamboo Extract and Milk Proteins" "with a beautiful mild scent of orange flower" - sounds really good on paper.

So I tried it last night. The lotion has the right consistency that isn't sticky and disappears quickly on my skin. The subtle Orange Flower scent was quite pleasant.

Unfortunately my skin didn't like it. Something in it gave me stinging sensations not long after I applied it, felt like as if I had applied low grade glycolic acid on my skin. It wasn't that bad though, the stinging sensations disappeared after some time. Nevertheless, it puts me off buying the full-size bottle.

Verdict: though it sounds good on paper, my sensitive skin doesn't like it.

Ingredients: Aqua, Glycerin, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Myristyl Myristate, Alcohol Denat., Glyceryl Stearate Ctirate, Blyceryl Glucoside, Dimethicone, Octyldodecanol, Hydrolyzed Milk Protein, Bambusa Vulgaris Shoot Extract, Propylene Blycol, Butylene Glycol, Sodium Carbomer, Cetearyl Alcohol, Sorbitan Stearate Xanthan Gum, Methylparaben, Phenoxyethanol, Propylparaben, Limonene, Linalool, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Citronellol, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Geraniol, Parfum.