Erno Laszlo Hydra-Therapy Bodyskin Cream

My poor limbs! This summer has been short and plagued with crazy weather, which means I didn't get the short reprieve from slathering my legs with heavy-duty body creams and oils. The press sample of Erno Laszlo Hydra-Therapy Bodyskin Cream I received was a welcome addition to my goop rotation. My skin on my legs and arms is very dry and extremely sensitive. When I call it Cuir de Crocodile I'm not being funny. I'm being truthful (and desperate).

Hydra-Therapy Bodyskin Cream performs well so far. It's as fast absorbing as it can get and leaves no filmy residue that could make crossing one's legs a sticky situation. The cream feels great and leaves the skin soft and supple for 6-8 hours. I also like the way it feels on my hand after application.

What I don't get is a long-term effect, which makes me suspect Hydra-Therapy Bodyskin Cream might not become my winter staple. But for now it is a very good product and normal people who are not related to lizards would probably find it very effective year-round.

Erno Laszlo Hydra-Therapy Bodyskin Cream ($60 for 8 oz) is available from Nordstro, Neiman Marcus, Dillard's and ernolaszlo.com. My sample was a PR freebie.

Lush Dream Cream

It's not exactly a secret I have issues with the scent of many (most?) Lush products. Dream Cream isn't different in this regard and is probably one of the worst, scent-wise, but it performs so wonderfully I must talk about it.

Dream Cream is more of a lotion than a cream in the texture department, and absorbs quickly enough. It moisturizers with the best of them- just as good as my favorite L'Occitane shea butter cream, only much lighter. I didn't expect it to have a lingering effect, but it does and keeps skin calm and soft all day. It even helps tremendously with the horrible winter itch.

The scent, however, is horrible. It smells like a household detergent, and not an expensive one. I don't know which of the many essential oils in the ingredient list is responsible for the stench, but I can only describe this as a demented lavender. And it's strong enough that I have to wait at least 20-30 minutes before I can wear perfume. And even then, I'd recommend going with a green or herbal fragrance, preferably a masculine (Coriolan is a good choice here). I don't want to think about Dream Cream mixing with anything vanilla.

I've been using Dream Cream since last summer and lately have been finding myself reaching for it several times a week. I'll have to replenish soon, but the Lush website says it's out of stock at the moment. If you've seen the cream at your local Lush store please say so in a comment.

Lush Dream Cream ($22.55) should be available at Lush boutiques and normally it's online. Mine was a gift from my sister who shares my opinions about the high performance and stinkiness.

International Orange Bath And Body Products

A couple of months ago, before going away for a full week out west, I realized I needed to overhaul and repack my supplies. That was one of those times when what used to be my linen closet and has slowly converted into a beauty product Aladdin's Cave has come in handy, as I found a set of travel size items from International Orange, a San Francisco spa and yoga center (named after the color of the Golden Gate Bridge). The 1-2 oz bottles were the perfect size, and had exactly what I needed: deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion.

The first thing I noticed when started testing was the scent. It was exactly what one would expect from a swanky spa: first grade essential oils, all smelling live, herbal and utterly intoxicating. Looking at the ingredient list on each bottle, the products seem to live to their promise of being all natural (the web site also says "organic", but the bottles don't). There aren't any active ingredients other than plant extracts and oils and no synthetic fillers, stabilizers, SLS, parabens or anything one needs to look up at those scary safety guides online (you know the ones: you type in what's in your lip gloss and the site tells you it's carcinogenic). Almost everything has bergamot and other citrus oils (take that, IFRA), and there's also crisp lavender and dreamy jasmine.

So, everything smelled great. It (almost) transformed a standard Vegas hotel shower into a dreamy spa (if only the water pressure was up to par). The shampoo and hair cream were nice and would satisfy anyone with normal hair, but my thick mane needs a little more TLC, especially when it comes to conditioning, so the 2 oz jasmine-tuberose cream was depleted long before the week was over.

My favorites were the gentle body wash (lavender bergamot) and the body lotion. The latter with its white lotus, bergamot and tuberose scent combination and aloe leaf, safflower, avocado and jojoba oil base (plus shea butter, wheat germ oil and lots of other goodies) is absolutely amazing. It goes on a bit more sticky than I like, but absorbs quickly and leaves the skin nice and soft. I wish the scent lingered longer, but it doesn't and 20 minutes later I can apply perfume. Of course, it makes me crave tuberose...

The one product I dearly suggest you avoid is the deodorant. Sorry, but grape alcohol and rosemary extract do not make a good anti-stinker. Thankfully, I've learned to be suspicious of all-natural underarm products and had backup (and wet wipes in my bag). Otherwise I would have been found frantically scouring the area for the nearest CVS. The liquid in the bottle might make a good pillow spray, but don't expect it to do anything other than smell calming.

IO products are available from the spa's website. The large samples/travel size ones I got were a PR freebie.

Image: bergamot from essentialoils.org

The Good, The Bad, The Oddly Shimmering And The Scary- Mario Badescu Summer Shine Body Lotion

This was supposed to be a simple and easy post, telling you how I've been testing the Summer Shine Body Lotion from Mario Badescu for weeks and how well it works for me despite the very icky plastic coconut smell (it's unpleasant for 5-10 minutes before disappearing completely). I was also going to discuss the tiny shimmering particles in it, that are pretty tame and only show up under direct sunlight or strong artificial light.

I also wanted to mention how the lotion has the perfect weight and texture even for more humid days, isn't sticky and keeps my legs supple. I was very impressed with its performance and was fully willing to forgive the scent.

But those shiny particles got me curious, as they look like mica, an ingredient that doesn't appear on the label (it's not the first time I'm questioning the truth behind Badescu labels). This got me into research mood. Now, I truly dislike it when people declare themselves experts on a subject based on their googling skills, and I especially detest those who act like they've earned a PhD from the Wikipedia School of Chemistry. I'm also aware that similar chemicals can be found in many other products in my (and your) cabinets, and have been there for years. It's important to remember that while the skin is our largest organ, it's the most effective filter and barrier. Otherwise we'd be dead long ago because of all the crap we come across. The skin keeps it outside our bodies.

Still, I'm a bit disturbed.

Here's the ingredient list, as found both online and on the bottle:
Deionized Water, Peanut Oil, Octyl Palmitate, Retinyl Palmitate, Myristyl Myristate, Dimethicone, Beeswax, Stearic Acid, Isopropyl Myristate, Sodium Benzoate, Quaternium-15, Diazolidinyl Urea.

Water, peanut oil and beeswax are self-explanatory. Let's google the rest:

Octyl palmitate- An emollient amplifying ester commonly used as a mineral oil replacement.
So far so good. My skin doesn't do well under a coat of mineral oil.

Retinyl palmitate- vitamin A, a skin normalizer helping to balance all skin types by penetrating the skin. A powerful anti-oxidant that increases skin elasticity, yielding younger looking skin.
Cool. No wonder my skin is happy.

Myristyl Myristate- Ester of myristyl alcohol and myristic acid. Esters are light oils used as cosmetic emollients.
Ok, emollient is nice.

Dimethicone- The most widely used silicon-based organic polymer, and is particularly known for its unusual rheological (or flow) properties. Its applications range from contact lenses and medical devices to elastomers, in shampoos (as dimethicone makes hair shiny and slippery), caulking, lubricating oils and heat resistant tiles.
I can live with that. There was a long list of common uses, from filling breast implants to treating head lice. I guess it's safe (unless you're the head lice).

Stearic acid - Stearic acid is a saturated fat that's mainly in animal products. It's also in some plant foods like chocolate. It's very stable in storage and during frying. A relatively large percentage of stearic acid consumed is converted to oleic acid (a monounsaturated fat). Stearic acid is used to form margarines, shortenings, spreads, and as a cream base for baked products. Even though stearic acid is a saturated fat, studies have suggested that it has little effect on blood cholesterol levels, because such a high proportion is converted to oleic acid.
I'm not too crazy about it being an animal product, but I shouldn't be a hypocrite, considering the content of many of my favorite products. Besides, I'm not eating it.

Isopropyl Myristate is derived from vegetable fatty acid from coconut oil, acts as a thickening agent. Used as an emollient and lubricant in preshaves, aftershaves, shampoos, bath oils, antiperspirants, deodorants, and various creams and lotions. More than 5 percent in a formulation can cause skin irritation and clog pores.
Note to self: Keep far far away from face.

Sodium benzoate-is a type of salt that may occur naturally in some foods but is more likely to be chemically produced and added as a preservative to foods. There have been some health concerns about the combination of sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid or vitamin C. When the two are mixed, they can form the chemical benzene, which is carcinogenic. However, sodium benzoate on its own is not considered a carcinogen, and you would have to consume a huge amount of it in order to have toxic levels in your body.
Umm, couldn't they find something that hasn't had any carciogenic connections?

Quaternium-15 is a quaternary ammonium salt used as a preservative in many cosmetics and industrial substances. It acts as a formaldehyde releaser. It can cause contact dermatitis, a symptom of an allergic reaction, especially in those with sensitive skin, on an infant's skin, or on sensitive areas such as the genitals. Quaternium-15 is an allergen, and can cause contact dermatitis in susceptible individuals. Many of those with an allergy to quaternium-15 are also allergic to formaldehyde. Allergic sensitivity to quaternium-15 can be detected using a patch test. It is the single most often found cause of allergic contact dermatitis of the hands (16.5% in 959 cases).
Seriously, who puts such strong allergens in a skincare product?

Diazolidinyl urea is derived from plants. It is a formaldehyde donor, but NOT formaldehyde in the gaseous state. Only formaldehyde gas has been linked to breast or other cancers. Diazolidinyl urea is considered safe even at high ambient temperatures, and has been extensively evaluated by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review Board. It is considered safe for both leave-on and rinse-off products. Nonetheless, there is a statistically significant number of people (1 in about 1000) whose skin may be irritated by this preservative. It was recently re-classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer to its highest toxic class, IARC 1 (known human carcinogen). Formaldehyde is classified as a probable human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Some studies concluded that effects can result in: carcinogen, causes allergic reactions and contact dermatitis; headaches; irritates mucous membranes; damaging to eyes; linked to joint and chest pain; depression; headaches; fatigue; dizziness and immune dysfunction.
Say what? I'd rather go with a good old fashioned parabens, thank you very much.

So there you have it, controversy in a bottle.

Mario Badescu products are available at your local Nordstrom and from the comapny's website, which is where I bought my bottle. $10 for 6 oz, $22 for 16 oz.

Bliss carrot+sesame body buff (and a little giveaway)

Believe me: the last thing I needed was another body scrub. I have several jars, tins and tubes arranged near the bathtub and serving a double purpose of exfoliating my skin and giving the cats something to crash into when they chase each other in and out of the (empty) tub. It's a feline thing.

One of my recent orders from Bliss had a sample of their carrot+sesame spa body scrub, and it was so intriguing that I tried it that very night. Normally I'm all for separation of food and grooming, so a carrot, sesame and honey product wouldn't be my usual choice. But I was feeling adventurous.

I loved it from the second I tore the packet open and got a whiff of the carroty goodness. It smells like a Middle Eastern candy with the honey and sesame, but not to the icky point. It feels as rich as it smells and I found myself using way more of the sample than I really needed, just so I could spend more quality time with it.

There were two results to testing the scrubs: my skin felt softer than I could hope for and my tub was full of the sticky little granules and needed to be washed, which I had time for, because I was in no rush to slather myself with a body cream. The softness held until the next morning, which was when I went online to order a full size jar.

This scrub only comes in a set with something called "finishing foam", which is basically a whipped lotion. It smells of milk, honey, sesame and carrots and is in the yummy category, but again, thankfully, not over-the-top but feels sweet and cozy. You use it on damp skin and it sinks right in. Unfortunately, it doesn't add that much long-term moisturizing. I tried using the scrub with and without the finishing foam and it didn't matter at all, by morning I needed something more. I wish they'd use the scent in a regular body butter formula.

Bottom line: the scrub is amazing, the foam is ok.

I have a second sample of the scrub to give away for one lucky reader. Just leave a comment to say you're interested.

Skin Savers: Carol's Daughter Body Products

*** Winners of the Incense Extreme drawing, go back one post ***

And for today's fun:

My ongoing battle against the cuir de crocodile has been very successful this winter. Carol's Daughter body products have been a great asset in this war, and it looks like I have another holy grail cream: their Shea Soufflé. While they offer several other good options, the soufflé is perfect in a Goldilocks way: not too thick, not too thin, just rich enough to feel satisfying and nurturing.

The regular lotion would probably work for everyone who needs good moisturizing without coating the skin too much. Be careful if you also use the hair milk: the bottles look exactly the same and I ended up with lotion in my hair on a couple of dark mornings when I was primping half asleep, not remembering that the hair products are the ones on the left side of my dresser.

The body butter in the flat tin is amazingly rich, but quite greasy. It forms an excellent protective barrier that would work great for those who spend longer periods of time outside than my regular dash from door to car. You need to be careful if you apply it before dressing up, because it would get on your clothes. This is why I prefer to use it for a quiet night at home, before putting on thick PJs. The next morning my skin feels extra soft. Another word of warning: the butters are chock full of natural ingredients, including the color of whatever fruit they are made of. The Mango Mélange has stained my sheets with its orange color. It washed off easily, but you should not use it around your white satins.

The shea soufflé was the most perfect of the three products I tested. Rich, creamy but very absorbent, feels luxurious, pampers the skin and leaves it in a very happy condition for the whole day. With 47% of natural butters and oils, no mineral oil or petroleum (two ingredients that always end up making my skin feel dry), it's fast becoming my favorite skin saver.

The tube of Korres Yoghurt Cooling Gel has been taking up space in my big box o'lotions for a while now. It's supposedly an after-sun product, but I've been extremely good about avoiding exposure and haven't even gotten my nose red, not to mention any other body part. Come to think of it, I'm quite proud of myself. The down side (other than the gallons of self-tanners I've been using) is that I didn't get a chance to try this gel for soothing UV-irritated skin.

However, irritation comes in all shapes and forms, and I managed to find a great use for this Korres. My post-workout skin has started to get a bit itchy and more sensitive than usual, and it doesn't completely go away after showering. I dug out the tube and started using it daily (body only) with impressive results. The itchiness is gone right away, my skin feels calm, moisturized and softer that it's been in a long time. The gel goes on a bit sticky but absorbs fast while my skin stays supple for hours. I'm impressed and intend to also give it a try on my winter skin.

This gel is unscented. It has a faint but distinct smell, which isn't unpleasant. It might be the yogurt or any of the extracts or seed oils used in it, because the product smells "natural" and maybe a bit musky. As long as it's on my legs and arms, it doesn't interfere with my perfume, but I'd be careful about mixing the two.

Lancome Body Delisse

The good fight for soft skin never ends. Especially when it becomes apparent that one of your ancestor was an alligator. Body butters are too heavy for this weather, and I prefer to save the big guns, L'Occitane shea butter creams, for molting season (what most people know as winter). My current rotation includes Lancome Body Delisse, a quick absorbing, heavy duty lotion. It's effective for about 8 hours without any stickiness and keeps the scales at bay. I only have one problem with it: Scent. It smells of a very synthetic peach, with a side of aquatic notes. Both are at the bottom of the list of things I like to smell in beauty products. It's not overpowering, but I wish it smelled better. Of course, for peach lovers, Body Delisse might be pure joy. I'm just happy to have soft skin.

Frosting- Aquolina Chocolovers

My collection of favorite fragrances includes a few perfumes that are on the gourmand side of things. I love Mazzolari Lei, with its cocoa note, Lea Extreme's vanilla drydown and the rosewater dessert-like aspect of Le Maroc. But none of these really smells like food, and that's how I like it to be. I'm not a cake, therefore no need to feel frosted.

Aquolina Chocolovers Souffle body cream is overwhelmingly foody. It smells so edible that I'd strongly suggest to keep it out of children's reach, because otherwise they'd be tempted to stick their fingers into this tub and lick. Some adults might also feel the urge.

I was expecting to smell chocolate, but the first whiff was all about citrus. Sweet lemon and sweet orange, very candied. The chocolate came next, but was more subtle, like milk chocolate. I'm not sure that it's really satisfying for dark chocolate lovers, and the whole thing smelled more like store-bought frosting than as a rich chocolate souffle.

The drydown is musky, very similar to Lea's. I even tried layering them, and it worked reasonably well. It's just what comes before the musk that I find disturbing and too sugary.

The cream's quality exceeded my expectations. It's moisturizing and feels very pleasant on the skin. No greasiness, while doing a fairly good job providing comfort to dry winter skin.

Shielding Season

The latest development in the fight against dry skin seems to be shielding lotions. It makes sense, since they are not marketed as a feminine luxury item, have no scent to speak of and are something that everyone who suffers from dry winter skin can keep at their desk and use as needed. The bottles are anything but girly and cutesy, very much like Neutrogena's Norwegian Formula hand cream, that men and women are equally happy to use.

The first lotion of this kind I have tried, SkinMD Natural, has earned my love and devotion and even made its way into my list of favorite products for 2006. It was that good. I keep my bottle close and enjoy the relief it brings to my hands and non-stickiness. I use it on any body part that seems to need it and in emergency it even goes on my face.

The latest shielding lotions I tried, Gloves in a Bottle, is different that SMDN, and while a reasonably okay product, it's nowhere near as good. I only tested it on my hands, the part that gets dry more frequently and that I don't slather with body butters as much as I do the rest of my body, because of the stickiness factor. My cats can live without becoming greasy, and so can my keyboard.

While SMDN gives my hand a feeling of being well moisturized and I can feel the calming effect instantly, GiaB did soften the back of my hands but gave me a tight, dry feel in my palms. Clearly not what I was after. It does have the shielding effect, and kept my hands from becoming drier while out in the cold, but it didn't add anything to a skin that already felt dry. My guess would be that it would work well for someone who needs only the protection part of the shield, since it does form a nice barrier from the environment, but if you're looking for some serious healing action, this isn't the right product.

A look at the list of ingredients shows just how different this is from SMDN. My guess is that more than all the plant extracts that aren't used in GiaB, what makes SMDN so great is the aloe vera gel. The stuff heals, hydrates and gives skin a serious boost. While Gloves in A Bottle may be an effective protection against the elements, my already dry skin needs more than that to be happy.

Shield

Apparently, I'm not the only one who has declared war on ugly winter skin. There are many new and newer products on the market right now, all competing for our attention.

The lotion I received recently is quite different than the body butters and creams I've been using religiously. Skin MD Natural is described as a "Shielding Lotion". The way it works is by bonding with the outer layer of the skin to keep irritants out and moisture in.

There are several ingredients used in many common products that are supposed to work as a barrier that lock moisture in, like mineral oil and petroleum gel. We all know the greasy and sticky effects of using a cream like that. Then there are the nicer products that use butters: shea or cocoa. They nourish the skin and leave it feeling "buttered", which is quite nice.

Skin MD Natural has a surprising texture- it's light and looks like a thin lotion. As such, it doesn't leave any residue on the skin. I didn't expect much with a product of this texture, but was nicely surprised. It absorbs the very second it's applied, as expected, but the softening effect is there when you touch your skin, and any dry feeling is gone.

It is labeled for use on hands, body and face. I'm way too careful about anything that goes on my face and intended to keep it for hand and body. The bottle has been residing on my desk for a couple of weeks now, and has become my favorite hand cream. But a few nights ago, after too many hours of central heating, I decided to try, and definitely liked the way it felt. It's different, for sure. I don't think it can or should replace an established skin care regimen that is proven to be working, but it can be an additional first-aid kind of thing. It keeps my skin hydrated when going out on a cold day, and it relieves and moisturizes when the heating is slowly baking it.

The list of ingredients is pretty impressive and includes a high content of aloe vera, among other herbal extracts. Their website also offers thorough explanation of how exactly this lotion works, as well as testimonials and success stories. I can't tell you if this is indeed the miracle product that it claims to be, since I've already managed to whip my skin into a very good shape. But, it's a good one, very effective, easy and pleasant to use. You need a very small amount for each use, so the 4 oz. bottle lasts for a long time, it doesn't contain fragrance, yet smells pleasant with a somewhat nutty aroma. As far as I'm concerned, it has earned its place on my desk, and I don't want to be without it.