Completing the Collection - Caudalie Divine Scrub

I am not even sure how this scrub happened to me? The only product I was to allow myself was the Caudalie Divine Oil since that was somewhat practical for the summer months but the other two, Divine Legs & Divine Scrub, were to be left behind until I used at least some of the overwhelming bottles littering my homey-beauty place.
Obviously that didn't work out very good because here I am with a smug grin on my face, staring at the entire Caudalie Divine collection, nestled beautifully in the small beauty cabinet next to my vanity table. I will admit that I do feel a little bit guilty and I am sure my conscience will bother me significantly after a few weeks but for now I am giddy with excitement, with a dreamy-glazed look plastered on my face and a brain buzzing with possibilities, daydreaming of a possible "tanned" beach bunny inspired vision. 
I think its safe to say that I have a problem! 

The Caudalie Divine collection is one of the latest summer-inspired body care releases by the wonderful French brand, whose philosophy and formulation relies directly on the patented vinotherapie concept, which utilizes the anti-oxidant properties of grapes to care and protect your skin. The Divine line-up is no exception to this rule so its no surprise that all parts of the collection are chock-full of skin-loving ingredients that beautify and protect at the same time.

Today I want to introduce you to the last piece of the Caudalie Divine set which is the Divine Body Scrub and if you would like to see my reviews of the Divine Legs & Oil first just click here and here

Description;

A softening scrub with brown sugar and four natural plant oils, featuring a signature Divine fragrance. 

Divine Scrub gently exfoliates dead skin cells for luxuriously soft, delicately fragranced skin. It features four natural plant oils—grape, argan, hibiscus, and sesame—and the signature Divine fragrance of grapefruit, rose, pink pepper, vanilla, cedar, and white musk.

Ingredients;

Sucrose*, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil*, Glyceryl Stearate*, Glyceryl Distearate*, Polyglyceryl-5 Dioleate*, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax*, Parfum (Fragrance), Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil*, Sambucus Nigra Fruit Extract*, Tocopherol* Hibiscus Sabdariffa Seed Oil*, Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil*, Benzyl Salicylate*, Hexyl Cinnamal, Limonene, Butylphenyl Methylpropional

As a girly-girl that truly enjoys pampering and everything that comes with it, my experience with body scrubs is quite extensive and I definitively have certain preferences that i stick to. 
For me an ideal body scrub needs to be "scrubby" enough to gently polish the skin without being too abrasive and harsh, but not so light that it melts away before the job is done. Even though I enjoy both sugar and salt based exfoliants, my preferred choice will always be the formula spiked with essential oils that manage to hydrate my skin in the shower without being too greasy and without leaving a slippery residue that feels heavy after rinsing. A body scrub formula that combines naturally sourced ingredients and leaves the "nasties" in the chemistry lab, will always get bonus points from me as well.

The Caudalie Divine Scrub fulfills and even exceeds every single one of those requirements (amazing!). The texture is very dense and as such easy to scoop out of the jar, without worrying too much about spillage and waste. The application and feel on my skin is reminiscent of a micro-derm abrasion treatment that continually transforms into a creamier substance, losing its "grit" gradually and eventually melting away in a milky, silkening emulsion.

The "buffing" ingredient in this scrub is brown sugar which is further enhanced by the addition of four naturally hydrating exotic plant oils - grape, hibiscus, sesame and argan. This combination moisturizes, softens and lusciously nourishes the skin before you even step out of the shower.
The alluring Divine scent only further enhances this pampering routine by the same combination of
zesty grapefruit, fiery pink pepper, and calming vanilla, found in the Caudalie Divine Legs & Oil. 

After all is said and done, I admit that I am actually very happy I broke down and got the final two Divine products. Every single piece of the collection preforms beautifully on its own but when all three combine, the Divine feeling is obviously magnified significantly and its something I recommend everyone try at least once.

Since the Caudalie Divine Scrub is a little bit on the pricy side ($38.00 for 5.3 fl.oz.) and there are so many other body scrubs I want to try at some point, I cant say that this will be my primary exfoliant. However I would definitively repurchase this and use it with the other Divine products, especially when I need some extra TLC and some "bronzy" goodness!

For more information and to purchase the Caudalie Divine Collection just visit their direct website, our trusty Sephora and Amazon.

I hope this was helpful

Have you tried the Caudalie Divine Collection? Do you have a favorite body scrub?

XOXO

ANJA

P.S. If you enjoyed this post and want some more Princeza Beauty Musings, please consider following me through GFC, Bloglovin, Pinterest or Twitter! Insert "happy dance" here :-) 

Brand Rave - Haus of Gloi Bubbling Scrub in Troika

I know that at this point my blog looks like some kind of marketing campaign for the entire Haus of Gloi inventory but you can rest assured I am not connected with their company in any shape or form and all of the products I reviewed were either gifts or purchased independently. Haus of Gloi is not paying me to write this and I doubt they are even aware of this blog existence.

I just happen to be absolutely smitten with everything they stand for, how they conduct their business and customer service and the quality and performance of pretty much everything they make. Haus of Gloi also happens to be run by two very lovely individuals who are obviously geniuses when it comes to innovative pampering, which is something I really appreciate. For a quick glimpse into their ultra-cool lifestyle I suggest you check out their blog by clicking here.

Their Bubbling Scrubs have been my latest discovery and I have enjoyed using them immensely. They are a very different breed when it comes to traditional exfoliants and I love that I can actually feel the difference on my skin while I am still in the shower.
Nothing makes a girl feel more pampered than silky, soft, lightly fragranced skin and that is exactly what the Haus of Gloi Bubbling Scrubs deliver.


Fragrance;

A trinity of soft milks, almond, oat and coconut, lashed with sweet agave nectar and the ethereal scent of clean white.

Official Description;
Our soft bubbling scrub is made from scratch and never a base! A delightfully scrubby and lightly foaming confection.Our foaming base is whipped until it produces soft peaks, similar to that of whipped cream. A blend of two sugars is then folded in, both fine and medium grain for fantastic scrubbing and polish it off with a heaping scoop of shea butter to leave you cleansed and smooth but never dried out. We use Optiphen, a paraben and formaldehyde-free preservative system. 100% vegan, always.

Directions for Use;

Apply to wet skin and massage into skin using circular motions. This is a water activated product and works best when vigorously lathered. I do not recommend this product for the face.

Ingredients;

Organic cane sugar, sucrose (sugar), vegetable glycerin, sodium coco sulfate, cocamidopropyl betaine, propylene glycol, sorbitol, stearic acid, proprietary fragrance blend, shea butter, phenoxyethanol (and) caprylyl glycol

I am a huge fan of gourmand scents so the light complexity of Troika was very appealing to me, especially when I layered it with the matching pumpkin butter. The combination of coconut, oat and almond milk had the uncanny ability to envelop me with warmth and comfort after each shower so no matter how bad of a day I was having, a couple of whiffs of this could really turn things around for me.

I prefer my body scrubs to have a good combination of grit and slip to them so I feel like I am accomplishing the exfoliation tasks without being too harsh about it. The Haus of Gloi Bubbling Scrub ($3.50 for 2 oz or $8.00 for 6 oz.) fit my preferences perfectly and the milky lather was an additional silky bonus I wasn't expecting to find. The sugar granules in the Troika stayed gritty enough for approximately 60 seconds upon which they completely emulsified into the soft milky lather leaving my skin perfectly soft, nourished and residue-free.
The resulting silky sensation and light fragrance lingered past the shower time and definitively left my skin feeling better than my usual body exfoliants, which were either too drying or left me feeling too greasy.

Layering my skin with either the pumpkin butter or body emulsion completed the mini pamper session and I couldnt have been happier with the final effect.

Haus of Gloi products are very reasonably priced and in my opinion even a bargain compared to similar products that require you to get a chemistry degree in order to decipher their ingredient list.
For more information and retail just visit their website directly - I can guarantee that you won't be disappointed!

I hope you found this helpful :-)

Have you tried the Haus of Gloi Bubbling Scrubs? What is your favorite scrub?

XOXO

ANJA

P.S. If you enjoyed this post and want some more Princeza Beauty Musings, please consider following me through GFC, Bloglovin, Pinterest or Twitter! Insert "happy dance" here :-) 

Villainess Soaps - Dulces En Fuego Smooch!

I think we all know by now that I take my facial skincare seriously! My product regiment can be quite lengthy but I make it a priority to cover all my grounds and there are even a few fun extras thrown in for good measure.

Exfoliating is probably my favorite process and I have been using both chemical and physical formulations for years. Experimenting with different brands has given me so much valuable experience which means that now I know exactly what to look for when it comes to formulation, ingredients and expectations. I could pretty much teach a class on "successful ways to scrub your face"!

My knowledge and enthusiasm depletes significantly when it comes to body care and body scrubs. I believe that the main reason for my disinterest lays in the fact that I haven't found a body scrub formula or brand that I can really get excited about. Pampering in general is second nature to a girly-girl like me and even though I love the soft and silky results that come from exfoliation, I have always found body scrubs hard and tedious to work with. Most of the body exfoliators I tested were either insufficient, greasy, messy or too harsh on my skin. Faulty features like that diminish the entire pampering experience so more often then not I skip the body exfoliator and use my Salux mesh instead.

The world of Princeza approved body scrubs is obviously very small but there is an exciting new entry that i want to present - Villainess Soaps Dulces En Fuego Smooch!  I have already discussed this brand before where I introduced you to the Villainess Soaps Dulces En Fuego Whipped Body Cream, which I loved as well.

Official Smooch! Description;

We start with a carefully balanced blend of feather-light (yet vitamin-rich) grapeseed oil, and an exotic vegetable butter - mango, unrefined shea, or black cocoa, coconut oil to melt at skin temperature, and lashings of cherry kernel oil. And then we add the good stuff; raw sugars or sea salts to exfoliate without any rough edges to abrade your gorgeous skin, crushed botanicals or bright ticklish jojoba beads to gently slough off dead skin cells.

Distinguishing Features;

Releases a rush of warmth on impact to open pores and soothe skin. Raw chocolate and a smattering of spices for added deliciousness

Scent Description;

Musky bitter chocolate sweetened with vanilla and touches of citrus then positively inflamed with black pepper and nutmeg.

Ingredients;

Crystalline Aluminosilicate (Zeolite), Sucrose (Sugar), Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Butter, Cetearyl Alcohol (and) Polysorbate 60, Prunus (Cherry) Kernel Oil, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Fragrance, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Nibs, Cinnamomum Cassia (Cinnamon) Bark Powder, Piper Nigrum (Black Pepper) Powder

I was very surprised to find just how much I loved the formula of the Dulces En Fuego Smooch! scrub. I already knew that I loved the fragrance but I was hoping to appreciate the exfoliation factor and the results on my skin. I am happy to say that I have found my new "holy grail" in the body care department.

The Villainess Soaps Dulces En Fuego Smooch! formula is a hybrid of luxurious creaminess and just enough grit to properly smooth out my skin without irritation or greasy residue. Initially I thought that the lack of bigger "scrubbers" in the jar would mean that this wouldn't be effective enough but that was because the exfoliation of the Smooch! formula works differently than the traditional scrubs. 

When you first apply it on the skin, the first thing you feel is a sudden release of warmth spreading on the surface, which only lasts a few seconds before beginning to emulsify into a milky lotion that strips debris and dead skin cells. The Smooch! is water activated, it melts into the skin fairly quickly and spreads very easily everywhere so this is a perfect exfoliators for busy girly-girls like me. 

The scent is on the strong side so make sure that you like the fragrance you choose but that wont be hard since Villainess Soaps has so many unique, excellent choices on their website.

All Villainess Soap products are preservative free so once opened their products need to be used within 30 days of jar opening to prevent bacterial contamination and waste. That may sound like a negative feature but since the exfoliation is on the mild side you can use the Smooch! more often than conventional scrubs and the formulation is so good that you will want to use it as often as you can.
I wanted to use my Smooch! every day and I suspect you will too!

Villainess Soap Smooch! ($10.50 for 7 oz) and all their other products are available for purchase and more information directly on their website.
I am warning you - an innocent visit can easily end up being a huge haul very quickly!


Have you tried Villaines Soap products? Whats your favorite body scrub?

XOXO

ANJA

P.S. If you enjoyed this post and want some more Princeza Beauty Musings, please consider following me through GFC, Bloglovin, Pinterest or Twitter! Insert "happy dance" here :-)