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.

The Body Shop recently introduced two new products to their Vitamin C product range – the Glow Boosting Moisturiser and the Instant Glow Enhancer. With a pleasant orange scent and glow boosting properties, it’s easy to see why the Vitamin C lineup is so popular.

I’m a very skeptical person when it comes to skincare – if I can’t see immediate results, then I often feel it doesn’t do anything at all (unless it breaks me out, in which case it definitely did something WRONG!). But I keep reaching for these two products, so that means that there’s something about them that I quite like.

The Vitamin C Glow Boosting Moisturiser is designed to moisturize dull, tired and grumpy skin. As you’d expect from the Vitamin C line, it has a wonderful citrusy-orange scent which has certainly worked wonders to perk me up in the morning. It might be a silly booster, but that scent DOES work to refresh you in the morning after a late night of watching Netflix.

The texture of the moisturizer is similar to a gel in the sense that it doesn’t feel creamy – it’s more slippery and smooth. Thankfully, I don’t experience that weird cracking feeling like I do with a lot of gel moisturizers (anyone else? I feel tightness on my face after I wear a gel moisturizer, although it typically disappears within a few minutes.) It dries down quickly and leaves my skin feeling… plump. Saturated, maybe? Whatever the word, my skin definitely feel hydrated.

The Vitamin C Instant Glow Enhancer is intended to revitalize your skin and give it a rosy tint. (I don’t understand how orange = rosy, but anyway…) It doesn’t specifically say it’s a primer, or a self tanner, just that it’s intended to perk your skin up.

There’s no way around it, the colour of the Instant Glow Enhancer is straight up orange and I was terrified to use it. My first attempt was not a success: I made the mistake of not blending the product in enough under my makeup and ended up with an orange chunk that eventually peeled off. Delicious, right?

My second and third attempts were much better. Once blended in entirely, it feels a bit tacky, but then dries down within a minute to a very, VERY smooth finish. I found it reacted differently depending on which foundation I used. With the new Make Up For Ever UltraHD foundation I got fairly oily/shiny within about six hours. With the Boots No7 Instant Radiance foundation I had a lot less oil. But did I notice a different in my skin colour? Not at all. This disappeared completely into the skin (when blended in properly) and didn’t add any of the promised rosy-ness I was expecting.

Final Thoughts

Although the Instant Glow Enhancer doesn’t really DO anything at all on my skin, it’s still fun to use. Is it worth your money though? Probably not, but I’d still recommend getting a sample of it and trying it out for yourself.

The Glow Boosting Moisturiser is a different story though! This beautiful pot of orange goodness hydrates my skin, picks me up in the morning with the wonderful scent and is fun to use (aren’t all gelatinous moisturizers??). The smell is so pleasing that it’s actually made me reach for my Satsuma Body Butter more and more just so I can get that added bit of orange scent on my skin. Love!

This post features press samples sent for consideration.