I've been trying to move into the realm of eco-friendly, healthy living. Yep, I've jumped onto that wagon. After reading an AMAZING book with my book club by Camille Kingslover called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I've started to think more and more how I can use less, be healthy, and be kind to the earth that God has placed in our stewardship. I've done everything from being conscience of packaging and recycling to altering my beauty routine to learning how to make and eat more vegetarian fares. I'll do my best to get into those sections in later posts. I thought today I would begin with an easy, natural beauty review.
Today's product: Burt's Bees Naturally Nourishing Milk & Honey Body Lotion
Where did I buy it: drugstore.com
Price: $16 as part of the Burt's Bees Favorite Things Gift Set, also including a bee's wax lip balm, the Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream, and 6oz of the Soap Bark & Chamomile Deep Cleansing Cream (With drugstore.com's GNC Gold Card Program you often can get 20% off Burt's Bees items. Membership is $15 annually. It's a good program if you often shop their items.)
What's in it: 98.2% natural
According to Burt's Bees' website: water, helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, glycerin, cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, stearic acid, beeswax, fragrance, non-fat dry milk, honey, tocopherol, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) peel wax, rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf oil, beta-carotene, vegetable oil, glucose, xanthan gum, sucrose stearate, sodium borate, glucose oxidase, lactoperoxidase
I like that I pronounce most of the ingredients on the list. Though I've still not educated myself enough about the positives and negatives of each ingredient, I can say 98.2% natural is about as good as it's going to get in the drugstore brands.
Review: I started to use this lotion in February, one of the coldest, driest months of Korea. With my super dry, itchy skin, I could tell right away that this lotion wouldn't work as my winter moisturizer. It was too watery to do me much good. I need a thick lotion for winter or I get the dreaded itchies all over my body that can become quite embarrassing when I'm standing in from of a classroom full of 12 year olds. Thus, this lotion went back on the shelf for warmer weather.
It returned to my shower in April when the rain started to fall and I was finally able to put away our humidifier. How has it held up? Marvelously, on several fronts.
First of all, the smell is amazing. I've had constant compliments from friends and students alike. One 5th grade girl even stood really close one day to smell me, giving me the verdict that I smelled like a cookie. In my mind, that's not a bad thing. Think of a freshly baked sugar cookie made with a bit of brown sugar and you'll get the general idea of this lotion's smell. It's not overwhelming, but noticeable... in a good way.
Secondly, as a warmer weather lotion, it holds up well. I'd give it an 8 out of 10, because I sometimes still get some back itchies, but it goes on smoothly and absorbs rather quickly.
Finally, the bottle has lasted quite a while. I shower every other day and apply lotion over my entire body after each shower. That's a lot of lotion this girl goes through. However, even at that, this 8oz bottle has lasted me over a month with enough to make it through several more weeks.
Would I buy it again: Yes, if only for the delicious smell.
