Throw the term “youth” or “youthful” into any kind of skincare and women will gravitate towards it like moths to a flame. The Body Shop‘s Drops of Youth skin care collection “uses plant stem cell technology, along with other ingredients to achieve younger-looking skin. Enriched with Edelweiss, Sea Holly, and Criste Marine, these plant stem cells help to protect, firm, and renew skin, leaving skin refreshed and smooth”.

So basically, this is for those of us looking to get a bit more bounce back into our aging skin. The Body Shop put it nicely, but this is definitely geared towards maturing skin!

The Youth Concentrate “is a quick-absorbing, non-sticky concentrate, that leaves your skin feeling instantly softer”. It features a dropper like system which… for the life of me… I suck at using. Does anyone else have this problem? I can only get about half a dropper full every time I use one (and it’s not just this one… I have the same issue with foundation too!). The Youth Concentrate is like a very liquid gel formula that feels a little bit slippy on the skin.

The Youth Cream “is a lightly air-whipped face cream that leaves a flawless, velvety-soft finish to the skin”. It definitely has that whipped cream consistency, but there’s a hint of gel-like formula to it. It’s far lighter feeling than more creams which is a huge bonus for those who don’t want something heavy on their skin.

Both products have a lightly organic scent that was inoffensive to my nose.

My Thoughts

The Youth Concentrate is neither here nor there for me as I didn’t feel like it did a whole lot on its own. It did sink into my skin very quickly and I wasn’t left with any kind of tacky residue on my skin which I highly appreciate. However, I can’t use the Youth Concentrate on its own because my skin just doesn’t feel hydrated enough with it. I found myself using the Youth Concentrate first, waiting a minute for it to dry, then applying the Youth Cream on top. Doing this made my skin feel refreshed and hydrated. I was also able to apply my makeup within ten minutes and haven’t suffered any kind of makeup meltoff like some overly hydrating creams can be.

The Youth Cream was definitely the winner out of these two products for me. I could use it alone or with the Youth Concentrate and it performed exactly the same. I love how the pot looks and feels solid and has a decent weight to it. I know a lot of people look for SPF in their moisturizer, but I prefer not to have one and apply my own whenever I need it, so for that reason I am REALLY happy that this one doesn’t haven’t SPF in it. Worth noting though: this is a lightweight formula, so for those with excessively dry skin, you may want to look at something a bit more moisturizing. My “reasonably” dry skin was just fine with the Youth Cream however!

The Body Shop‘s Drops of Youth can be purchased on thebodyshop.ca and on thebodyshop.usa.com.

The products featured in this review were sent to me for consideration.

I’m always a little thrown off when beauty brands bring hemp into the mix with their products. There’s something a little less than savory about seeing the tell-tale green leaves that usually signify a different kind of store down Yonge Street in Toronto (if you know what I mean).

The Body Shop went straight to the heart of that matter with their Hemp Rescue Balm as the inside of the tin packaging disclaims, quite loudly, “Hemp is hope, not dope”.  Their Hemp Rescue Balm “instantly relieves rough, tight ultra-dry skin and soothes elbows, knees, knuckles and feet. [It has] a rich balm to oil texture and hemp seed oil packed full of essential fatty acids, your skin will be left feeling softer and more protected.” Once I read that, I was determined to use this on my nasty heels (which I have lamented about before).

The balm has a bit of a tough texture on top, but once you break through that you’re left with the smooth balm underneath. It’s really a lovely texture – it’s smooth and emollient enough to sink into your skin (even my nasty ass heels), but not so slippery that it just wipes away when you walk around. And low and behold, it WORKS! This Hemp Rescue Balm has been keeping my heels in great shape and keeping the deep heel cracks at bay. I use this roughly every 2-3 nights before going to bed and I’ve been extremely happy with the results (especially since the last heel balm I used – by Dermacol – was doing NOTHING to help me out!). The scent is neither appealing nor unappealing to me, so that’s also a bonus.

So if you suffer from extremely rough patches of dry skin, or even cracked skin that needs healing (my husband’s been using it on his elbows, albeit not as regularly as me, and I have noticed a bit of a difference) you may want to give this one a shot!

The Body Shop Hemp Rescue Balm can be purchased on thebodyshop.ca for $27 CAD or on thebodyshop-usa.com for $22 USD.

The product featured in this post was sent to me for consideration.