Minty Christmas

One thing I love about the festive season is the Christmas scents. Being in the midst of summer means our Christmas differs quite vastly from the experiences of those across the pond, we wear summer dresses rather than Christmas sweaters etc. and it doesn't always feel right to indulge in warm and spicy scents as the air con roars. Instead, I like to partake in a bit of peppermint action as I feel like it's a year round winner for me - creamy warmth if it's cold and a fresh tingle if it's hot = perfect!

Presenting to you, my pepperminty Christmas body product favourites!

I have hoarded my Bath & Body Works stash since our honeymoon in late '14 and brought the Twisted Peppermint Body Lotion out for another round this year. The sweet edge of this makes it more like a sweet peppermint lolly than a spicy mint on the skin which is what makes it so wearable in my opinion. I really regret not buying it in candle and body wash form, I think it would have been amazing for that as well. 

Back in October I purchased the Palmolive Peppermint Crush Body Butter Exfoliating Body Wash to squirrel away for use in December and it's something I always sniff when I'm doing the groceries but had put off buying for some reason. It's seriously delicious and lathers up perfectly with a shower sponge - it's very light on the exfoliation however, so would be great for lovers of light, everyday scrubs but may let heavy-scrub-lovers down if they're buying it for that reason.

I'm off to continue smelling like a walking candy cane thanks to these two beauties - hope your December is shaping up to be a great one!
-Emma

positive reviews, negative results

I don't tend to post reviews on products I'm not fond of very often, but think that I might begin to. I find it interesting to see what people dislike just as much as what they like, and so here is my post on my least favourite body scrub to date. Remember that the opinions are my personal ones, and you might like the aspects of this scrub that I don't, so feel free to share thoughts with me in the comments!

The Burt's Bees Cranberry & Pomegranate Sugar Scrub was released last year, and it won awards from both Marie Claire and Beauty Heaven in 2012. I was so excited to win this from the Burt's Bees twitter page as I had heard so many rave reviews of it, and I got stuck into it as soon as it hit my doorstep.

The scrub is a mix of cranberry sees and pomegranate oil in a sugar crystal and shea butter formula, which leave the skin feeling moisturised when you hop out of the shower. The problem, however, is that I feel as though I am cocooned by a layer of slime that I need to scrub off after using this. My skin feels soft, but when I scrape my nails across my skin (this is gross,I'm sorry) I'm left with a nail full of residue left behind by the scrub. I'm not sure if this is how some people prefer their scrubs, but I am definitely not a fan and don't feel clean after using this.

My main issue is with the cranberry seeds in this scrub, which litter my shower and drive me absolutely crazy. They do work well at scrubbing, but it would take more than that to calm my current cranberry seed rage! Again, the fact that this has won so many awards suggests that others like the cranberry seeds and moisturising formula, so maybe it is just me.

The scent of the scrub is of a strong daquiri, and takes my mind to a bar each time I crack the lid of this. All good in theory, but when I get home from work a daquiri is not something I need, and so I found the scent to be too overwhelming for me.

I suggest that you have a sniff of this before you purchase as it is quite strong, and despite it not being something I like personally I am confident that others will fall in love with the sweet scent. The moisturising aspect of this scrub is commendable, but for me the seeds and residue are too much for this to be worth purchasing in the future. Quite a few of my favourite body products are from Burt's Bees so I think this was just not the right product for me, so I'm contemplating picking up this in the other available scents just to see how I go (it comes in Mango & Orange and Honey & Shea)

The Burt's Bees Cranberry & Pomegranate Sugar Scrub retails for $29.95 AUD and is available from Adore Beauty here, Priceline and Myer stores, as well as anywhere you find normally find Burt's Bees products.

Have you tried the Burt's Bees sugar scrub range?

What sorts of body scrubs do you favour?

*This product was won in a Twitter competition and so was not purchased by myself, which in no way changes my review of the product. Honesty, always.