Bath Time Treats

Vancouver has truly been living up to its reputation as "Raincouver" these past weeks, and as we fast approach the cold winter months, bath time has become a regular part of my night time routine, followed by folding myself up in a nest of a thousand blankets. Here are some of my favourite bath time treats.


The Bathory Bath Salts ($30 for 7oz/200g)

I reckon any bath salts would deliver similar effects, but these were particularly fun to order because you can pick your own blend of essential oils. For my salt mix, I picked the bask option, which contains a blend of three salts that help to ease stress and help with sleep. I do find it rather annoying that you cannot see on the container which essential oils you add in to the mix. How am I supposed to order another batch if I really loved the scent? Perhaps the Bathory just wants to keep up the excitement of mixing and matching new scents each time. Always a surprise.

The container, while gorgeous, is much smaller than I had initially anticipated. Each bottle contains 200g of bath salts. The Bathory recommends you use 25% of the bottle for a quick fix, 50% for full benefits, and 100% for the best bath of your life. I am not ready to spend $30 on one bath even if it is going to be the best bath of my life, so I typically use 2-3 caps of product for my bath. It may not be the best bath of my life, but the aroma of the essential oils are so soothing, and my skin feels wonderfully soft. These bath salts would probably make for a wonderful Christmas gift as they come in lovely packaging and are perfect for this time of year.


Fresh Rice Sake Bath ($56 for 6.8oz, or $94 for 13.5oz)

Fresh is one of my favourite skincare brands, and they've got a beautiful collection of body products. The yeast extract in sake is meant to smooth and hydrate the skin (SK-II, anyone?). Although this product is quite pricey, I only need 2-3 caps to fill my whole bath with fun bubble times. The scent of the bath kind of smells like a combination of peach and LOTS of ginger, and is meant to be inspired by the bathing rituals of Geishas with real peaches. The plant extracts are meant to increase blood circulation and ease muscle strain for maximum relaxation. I don't think these effects are very noticeable, but the scent is divine, the bubbles are perfect, and my skin is irresistibly soft at the end of it.


Honyaradoh Bath Salt ($3.99 for one pack)

The Honyaradoh Bath Salt in green is such an interesting bath product. It's a herbal soak for those who get cold easily, which is 100% me. Think hands and feet that are always freezing no matter how thick your coat is. The product itself is a green powder that doesn't foam up and makes your entire bath a bright green. It has a pleasant rose scent that isn't too over-powering. The product is meant to work by stimulating blood flow and circulation. Now normally I would scoff at a product concept like this and would not buy into the belief that a couple of plant extracts are going to get me through the piercing cold winter winds, but I have to say that this product actually works. I start to work up a sweat while lying in the bath tub, and this state of warmth persists throughout the entire evening. Weird, but if it works, I'll take it.


Lush Northern Lights Bath Bomb ($5.95)

And now, I've saved the best for last. The Lush Northern Lights Bath Bomb is really just a magical bath experience. I watched the demo video on the Lush website and immediately had to run out and get it. I cut the bath bomb in half so I could get two baths out of it. Throw it into your bath and it turns the water into a beautiful swirl of blues and purples.

(screenshot from the Lush website)

Just look at that beauty. I just want to get my hands all up in there. There are little stars floating around in the water - how can you say no to that?

The scent is a mixture of jasmine and ylang ylang. I'm not normally a fan of ylang ylang, but this actually has a very delicate, pretty scent to it. I can't say that the product had any magical effects on my skin, but boy did I have fun splashing around in a mystical starry sky. I believe that this is a special Christmas product that Lush has released, so get it while you still can!


What are your favourite bath time treats?

The Shower Moisture Duo

The shower may not be the place that comes to mind when you think of moisturizing the body, but if you're like me in the sense that you're too lazy to properly rub it body lotion everyday, then every bit of extra moisture that you get in the shower counts. The market has really been catering to the lotion-lazy club as of late, and there are so many body washes and etc that claim to boost moisture. Here are my two picks for some serious shower moisture action.

 The Dove Deep Moiture Nourishing Body Wash is my go-to body wash because it doesn't strip my skin at all, and actually does provide some much needed moisture. It contains nourishing plant oils such as soybean oil and sunflower seed oil, but doesn't leave any kind of greasy residue. It feels very gentle on the skin, and has a nice fresh scent to it. I like to lather up this body wash with any old loofah. It really works up into a dense, sort of creamy foam, which does a great job at cleaning my body, but also leaves my skin feeling so smooth.

To further amp up in moisture, I've been using the Lush Ro's Argan Body Conditioner. You basically use this body conditioner as you would a hair conditioner. After I wash my body with the Dove body wash, I turn off the shower head, scoop some dollops of this body conditioner out of the pot, and rub it all over my wet body, really working it into the dry bits. The key to this product is that when you go to rinse it off, you really have to make it a quick rinse. Like, as quick as you can make it, or you will just be washing all  that moisture down the drain. The first time I tried this product, I got a little bit too comfortable in the warm water when rinsing off, and didn't see any effect afterwards. If you make it a quick rinse and lightly pat dry with a towel, your skin will feel smooth and soft, but with no oily residue left behind. I have to say though, I'm really not a fan of the scent, as it's just way too rich for me. But the scent doesn't really linger, so I just deal with it, and I believe Lush is coming out with a new tropical scented body conditioner soon, so be sure to check that out. Also, you have to use quite a bit of product to cover your whole body, and for $33, this is not really a large pot. I'm sure there are more cost effective drugstore versions of a body conditioner, so be sure to let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions.

What are you favourite shower moisture products?

Lush Haul

Ah yes, who doesn't love a little bit of Lush? I was given the Lush catalogue recently and saw a few products in there that I just could not resist. It was really interesting to read up on the Lush philosophy of "fresh" skincare without preservatives, as well as the charities that Lush supports with the sale of certain products.

First and foremost, what would a Lush haul be without a bath product? I picked up the A French Kiss Bubble Bar, which smells beautifully of lavender. When crumbled under the water tap and properly bubbled up though, it smells quite strongly of rosemary and I couldn't help thinking of preparations for chicken dinner while I sat there in the tub. Maybe not the best contender for a romantic evening, but the bubbles were proper fun. I usually cut up the bubble bars into three pieces, so each one can last me three baths. Still not the most cost effective bath product out there, but at least I'm not dropping nearly $10 on a bath.

Lush is one of the more mainstream natural skincare brands out there, and while natural can be a good thing, it definitely compromises convenience in some of Lush's products. I picked up the Aqua Marina Cleanser, which is supposed to be good for irritated, sensitive skin. Calamine takes down redness while aloe vera gel soothes the skin. Kaolin helps draw out impurities in the pores, and the seaweed wrapped around each chunk of cleanser hopefully adds some vitamins to the skin as well. The product sounds great in theory, but when I actually tried to use it, I just did not get on with it. It comes in soft chunks that you're supposed to sort of melt down into a milk with a bit of water in your palm, but I found this very hard to do, and I ended up spilling a lot of the product in the process. It didn't do a whole lot in terms of soothing breakouts, and overall is just too much of a faff for me to put up with. I get that being preservative-free is a big thing now, but the inclusion of fragrance is even more problematic than parabens. While there is no conclusive research that topical applications of parabens has any side effects (the horror stories are based on ingestion of parabens), fragrance is consistently shown to cause irritation on the skin. I suppose people like their products to smell good, but honestly this product smells pretty bizarre.

One thing I really wanted to pick up as the Ultrabalm Body Balm. It's a really thick balm that only consists of three ingredients: jojoba oil, candelila wax, and rose wax. It's very emollient and moisturizing, and I like to apply it to any dry patches on my body, such as my knees, elbows, and heels. I've seen lots of reviews saying it works well as a lip balm too, but it does smell kind of funny, so I haven't taken that leap yet. Another product to help with dry, flaky skin is the Stepping Stone Foot Scrub. I tend to neglect taking care of my feet, so I wanted something to help soften the skin and get rid of the flaky bits. This scrub is a pumice based bar that also contains moisturizing oils. The key here is to not get the actual scrub bar wet. Just wet your feet, and scrub the dry bar over the skin. It's not a bad product, and it did help get rid of the really rough patches, but I did hope for a bit more of a softening effect. I think an actual pumice stone might be easier to use and just as effective.

I also received a small sample of the Mask of Magnamity, which can be used as a deep cleansing face wash or mask. It contains the usual combination of bentonite and kaolin found in many clay masks, as well as honey, which is one of my favourite skincare ingredients due to its anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and nourishing properties. It also contains ground aduki beans to give you a bit of exfoliation when washing off. I haven't tried this mask yet, because I'm a bit on the fence about the inclusion of peppermint oil, which is an irritant to the skin and I certainly have found it irritating in the past. I probably will give it a go at some point anyway, and we'll see how I get on with it.

What are your Lush favourites?

Morning Skincare Routine

Recently, I have actually been keeping to a routine when it comes to skincare, which is pretty rare for me as I'm always switching between products, so I figured I would share it on the blog. I like to keep things simple in the morning because during the day, my main concern is to protect my skin from environmental damage such as sun damage and the dry Vancouver air. Here is my 5 product (I left one out in the photo; my apologies) morning skincare routine.

I start my routine with the Fresh Soy Face Cleanser, which I mentioned previously in my February Empties post, and yes, I have already repurchased it. This is quite possibly my favourite cleanser of all time. I've tried using home-made soy milk on my face before, and it always leaves my skin so soft and supple, so I am a firm believer of soy as a skincare ingredient. This cleanser has a light gel texture and is so refreshing to use in the morning. It cleanses the skin of any oils that might have accumulated throughout the night, but also leaves the skin very soothed and hydrated.

After that, I mist my face with a spray toner, which is what I forgot to include in the photo. Currently, I've been reaching for either the Lush Breath of Fresh Air or Lush Tea Tree Water. Breath of Fresh Air is great at calming redness and giving the skin a punch of hydration, while Tea Tree Water is reserved for particularly spotty days.

While my skin is still wet from the spray toner, I go in immediately with a lightweight eye cream. I have a deluxe sample size of the Caudalie Vinosource SOS Morning Eye Rescue that I received when buying my beloved Caudalie SOS Thirst Quenching Serum. This sample is only 7mL of product but has lasted me such a long time, because you only need a tiny amount. It has a light souffle type texture that is incredibly hydrating, and also contains antioxidants to help with aging around the eye area. It does seem to help with de-puffing the eye area as well, but I don't really suffer from puffy eyes, so it's hard for me to really tell. For my face, I've been loving the Fresh Lotus Youth Preserve Radiance Lotion. This is the newest addition to the Fresh product line. I am going to do a separate post on this moisturizer because I just love it that much, so I'm not going to go into detail here, but I will say that this moisturizer leaves the skin so hydrated and plump, and have this beautiful illuminating effect on the skin. I don't understand how it happens, but I can't stop looking at myself in the mirror.

Finally, I finish off with an SPF, and my current pick is the AmorePacific Natural Protector SPF 30. This is a physical-chemical sunscreen hybrid (which means it contains both physical and chemical sunscreen ingredients) that offers full spectrum UVA/UVB defence. The product has a slight pink tint to it which sort of helps to even out skin tone, but the effects are minimal. The product does not leave any white cast on the skin. It is fairly lightweight in comparison to other SPF products and absorbs quickly. I wouldn't say that this is my holy grail SPF because it does contain a lot of fragrance and is still just a little bit heavy for my liking. It also tends to flake off in little white bits when certain makeup products are layered on top, so there is a lot of trial and error involved. I have already ordered a new SPF to play around with, so I will report back on how we get along. Until then, I am content with my current routine.