Back in December when I visited Graz I got a lot of recommendations to visit The Body Shop store in the center of Graz. Everybody loves this brand and I was curious what’s so special about it. Stores in the center of Graz are very small, and in that festive season there were a lot of people doing shopping, so you can imagine that it was crowded in the store when I visited it. I barely manage to check out the half of the things they had in the store, what even to decide what I want to buy. In the end I decided for few holiday sets with testers, and the scent I got is vanilla. The Body Shop products have very strong scent and I was searching for something that would smell pleasant to me. Vanilla Brulee products were part of Christmas collection last year.
I got a shower gel, soap, body butter and a hand cream. Body butter, soap and shower gel are testers, while a hand cream is a full size product. I’m going to review each product separately and tell you, what I think about them.
Vanilla Brulee shower gel
Shower gel comes in a mini 60 ml version, while full size contains 250 ml. It’s dense and creamy product that foams nicely on the skin and it smells divine. I had this bottle for few usages, but I don’t remember anymore how many. This product leaves the skin very soft, although I can’t say it moisturizes it, but it also doesn’t dry it out. After the showering it also leaves the gentle vanilla scent on the skin that disappears after a while.
Vanilla Brulee hand cream
The hand cream was the product I was most excited about, but it left me cold. The texture of a cream is very light and it soaks into the skin very fast. It doesn’t leave the greasy feeling on the skin, but it does leave the strong vanilla scent that last for ages. What doesn’t last on my skin is the feeling of moisturized hands. I have a feeling that my hands become dry fast, and if I apply it before going to bed I wake up with dry hands in the morning. I’m surprised that the scent lasts so long on hands, but the feeling of moisturized hands disappears faster. The hand cream contains 30 ml and it costs 9 €. Maybe this cream would work better for me in the summer when my hands aren’t that dry.
Vanilla Brulee soap
This is the cutest soap I ever saw. It’s in the shape of a heart and I think these are limited edition soaps, because I don’t find them on TBS site to tell you how much product I actually got. This soap was very creamy and it foamed amazingly, but it dried the skin anyway as all soaps usually do. It also contained small dots of vanilla that you could feel between your hands while you were rubbing the soap. I think this was a very good soap that cleaned my skin nicely and it also leaved a gentle vanilla scent on it.
Vanilla Brulee body butter
The body butter has a thick consistency and it takes a bit more time to rub it into the skin, but it moistures and nourishes the skin, not to mention the amazing scent that it leaves on it. The mini version contains 50 ml, while full size contains 200 ml, but I have to say 50 ml is enough for me, because using body butters and lotions is the step in body care that I often skip. If the hand cream didn’t impress me, I love body butter which moisturizes my skin for hours and also the scent stays on for quite some time. I usually apply it in the evening before going to sleep and in the morning I wake up with soft and silky skin.
I have to admit I wasn’t as impressed as I expected to be considering the hype The Body Shop products are getting. I was really disappointed with the hand cream. It’s an okay product for people with not so dry hands, but since it was released as a part of Christmas collection, and the weather is cold outside during holidays season (it’s winter after all), I’d expect for it to be more moisturizing. Also, I find shower gel quite average. However, I did like the soap and the body butter is quite amazing. If I’d repurchase this collection I’d do so because of a scent, since this one really is amazing.
Which TBS have you used and you'd recommend them to try? Thank you for reading!