Toronto has gotten aggressively colder and colder throughout the month of October and I’ve been forced to start reaching for a more intensely moisturizing routine. Whether The Body Shop‘s Oils of Life were released intentionally to match the colders months, I don’t know, but they sure are seeing a lot of use from me right now.

The first thing I noticed about the Oils of Life collection is that The Body Shop has suddenly upped their packaging game. This line comes packaged in sleek white cardboard boxes with gold overlay. Depending on which products you get, some of them come in glass tubs (the moisturizer) while some are still in plastic to ease facilitation of use (the essence lotion). It’s a really nice step in the right direction for The Body Shop as it evokes a more mature, spa-like quality to the brand.

Moving on to the actual properties of this new line, the Oils of Life collection proudly states that “[they] searched the world and selected 3 precious seed oils known for their supreme revitalising and repairing properties on skin:

• Black cumin oil from Egypt, known for its concentration in antioxidants.
• Rosehip oil from Chile, rich in repairing Omega 3 and 6.
• Camellia oil from China, naturally rich in nutritive oleic acid.”

The Body Shop recommends using their Oils of Life Intensely Revitalising Essence Lotion after you’ve cleansed your face and before any creams or serums. This Essence Lotion has a “Potent oil blend in to a unique bi-phase (oil + water) formula, we created a daily lotion that provides instant visible results while preparing and activating your skin for the next steps in your routine.”

On me, this is a very lightweight… hmmm… I suppose toner maybe. It adds a bit of moisture although it won’t replace the moisturizer in my routine. Make sure you shake it before you apply it to your face so that the oil and the water can combine. It doesn’t leave my skin greasy and helps make my skin not feel so tight after I’ve washed it.

I follow up the Intensely Revitalising Essence Lotion with their Intensely Revitalising Cream. The cream is thick and luxurious – the kind of moisturizer you want to use on your face during the winter months. My skin has a tendency to dry out slowly throughout the fall and winter so I absolutely need a product like this. I’ve been using the Vitamin C gel moisturizer (also from The Body Shop) throughout the summer months, but I knew I’d need to switch to something more infused with moisture as the temperature plummets.

“By infusing this potent oil blend in to a silky cream with perfecting micro-pearls, we created a daily cream that intensely revitalises skin and visibly reduces signs of ageing.”

Ummm hell yes to all of that! And just look at that packaging – it’s gorgeous!

Final Thoughts

This is barely worth mentioning because it won’t affect my usage of the product at all, but the Oils of Life scent isn’t totally to my liking. It’s probably the specific mixture of the oils, but it smells like a field of dried out flowers and pencil shavings to me. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it’s the only way I could think to describe it. I asked my husband what he thought of it and he said it smells like a spice rack to him. So there you go, two very different takes on the scent. As I’ve already said however, it won’t stop me from using this moisturizer. The scent doesn’t linger on my face, so it’s not something I’m concerned about.

Since I’ve switched over to this daily moisturizing combination, I’ve managed to keep my skin fairly balanced. I’m not suffering from dryness and it’s not over moisturizing my skin either. The Body Shop has struck a nice balance with this one and I’m more than happy to keep on using it throughout the colder months. (And if you are of a more oily skin person, they do have the cream in a gel texture as well.) This product range gets two very solid thumbs up from me!

Have you taken a peek at the Oils of Life collection yet? Will you be picking anything up? Let me know!

This post features press samples sent for review.