The Body Shop Haul: Honey Bronze, Moringa Oil and Shimmer Cubes

As I mentioned in my post about the Midlands Blogger Meet, the event really re-introduced me to The Body Shop. I hadn't set foot in there since I was a young teenager, when I was all about the dewberry shower gel, and I can't honestly say I've given it a thought since.

There are so many exciting new brands out there to discover, and for a while there it sort of felt like The Body Shop had lost its MO - lots of other brands were doing 'ethical', but with stronger products and more exciting stories.

So to be able to re-discover the brand again felt quite special, like running into an old friend. And guess what? The new skincare products and some of the make-up is really stand out now. There was enough interesting stuff on the shelves to ensure that I'll be back (the Vitamin C facial line in particular piqued my interest) but for now, this is what I picked up in store:

Beautifying Oil in Moringa

£9.00

I've been wanting to try this since reading about it on a couple of blogs, partly because I have a thing for oils in general and partly because this sounded like a multi-tasking wonder. If you've never tried beauty oils, you are seriously missing a trick. A lot of people labour under the misconception that they make your skin greasy, especially if you have an oily skin type. That's just not the case. In fact, oily skin is usually a product of the skin overproducing sebum as a response to dryness. Whatever your skin type, an oil will leave you smooth, hydrated and glowing.

There are lots of different types in the range, including Chocomania, Olive and Pink Grapefruit. I chose Moringa, which smells like white blossoms. Apparently Moringa is plant native to Africa and parts of Asia, called the 'Tree of Life' for its restorative properties. It has skin healthy nutrients like vitamin A, which helps build collagen in the skin, vitamin C to help reduce fine lines and wrinkles, and the healing and anti-inflammatory benefits of vitamin E. Sounds good to me!

Look at all the things you can use this for:

• A facial moisturiser
• Mixed into your body lotion to boost its effectiveness
• To take care of frizzy or dry hair
• Mix with brown sugar or sea salt to make a body scrub
• Use to dry shave your legs
• Dissolve stubborn eye makeup

And that's just the ones I can think of! With all those uses, it becomes a truly cost effective buy and one of the hardest working products in your beauty arsenal. This video shows ways you can use it:

Honey Bronze Bronzing Gel

£12.00

This is a really lovely, lightweight bronzing gel with moisturising properties. The idea is that you mix it into your foundation, BB cream or moisturiser to add a darker sheen and a pretty tanned look to your face.

Honey Bronze gel, swatched and blended

For me, I don't really like a tanned look on my face, so the reason I bought it was to use as a liquid contourer. It has great staying power that I thought might outlast my powder bronzer while feeling very lightweight on the skin. It's non-greasy and enriched with honey goodness! There is a slight golden sheen but its very subtle so you won't look like a glitterball.

The Honey Bronze range had quite a few other great products like lipgloss, powder bronzer and a gorgeous golden shimmer dry oil that looked like a dead-on dupe for the Nuxe Huile D'Or.

Shimmer Cubes Palette

£16.00

Like the magpie that I am, insanely drawn to anything shimmery and shiny, these really caught my eye at the Blogger Meet.

Actually, I have to tip my hat to my mother here, as she was the first one to point these out to me, way back. I remember her raving about how good they were (Mama Shallow is also a massive make-up addict, I can only conclude it's genetic).

But still, as I never went into The Body Shop I never had the chance to pick one up.

The first thing that got me was the packaging. Each of the cubes is separately housed in its own little tub. And then the whole thing is neatly contained in this rather cool, clear perspex case.

The other thing is how insanely shiny and saturated the pigment of the shadows are -  a true metallic. This shadow certainly will not disappoint! It's highly iridescent with a crease resistant finish.

There are five or six different combinations - this one is '06-Warm'. There's a gorgeous bronze, a truly stunning rose gold shade that would have sold me the palette alone, a dark taupe and a deep, dark brown, all shot through with a dose of shimmer.



These eyeshadows are fantastic quality and if there's one thing I'd repeat buy, it would definitely be these!

Bonus Items

Swatches of the Shimmer Cubes shadows in '06-Warm'

As well as my fab special blogger discount from the meet, they were running a promotion where they gave you a free 'beauty pack', so I got a full size of the Super Volume mascara (worth £10) as well. I haven't tried this before, and I am super fussy so I'm not convinced I'll like it, especially with the fibre brush (I'm all about plastic baby!) but I'll give it a good go!

Also I got one of the Carbon Eye Definer pencils, worth £9.00. These are nice and soft in texture, meaning they won't drag too much, and the end has a smudger, which is super for doing a nice smokey eye look. They are high coverage and water resistant. Although I don't think many eye pencils could take the Urban Decay crown, the brown-black shade of this makes it eminently wearable and it's such a generous gift.

And finally, there were also cute sample sizes of the Vitamin E Hydrating Toner and the Cream Cleanser. I'm a big toner fan so these are right up my street. The Vitamin E range is one of the flagships for The Body Shop and gets great customer reviews for its softening powers, especially for those who react badly to more astringent skin tonics.

So, I did really well out of my little Body Shop haul. I felt really well treated when I left the store and will certainly be back as a fully converted, adult customer! It was so nice to rediscover the brand and all the new stuff they have to offer, so if you haven't been in for a while, why not pop in and see what you can discover, or rock over to www.thebodyshop.co.uk