Saturday 30 April 2011

Product review: Burt’s Bees Radiance Exfoliating Body Wash

I was recently invited by Burt's Bees to trial the entire Radiance range of products for their Facebook page trial team. I am now going to provide more detailed reviews for each of the products in the Burt’s Bees Radiance range. The hero ingredient of this range is royal jelly, which, according to Burt's Bees is very nourishing, made of nectar, pollen, flower parts, vitamins, minerals, bee hormones and other natural ingredients. It is a very precious, mysterious substance that honeybees produce and feed to only select.

I have long been obsessed with shower gels. I don't know what it is, but I can't get enough of them. I have 4 different gels in my shower to cater to every mood and in my bathroom cabinet there is about 3 1/2 litres of various gels, waiting patiently to make it into the starting lineup. So I was very excited to welcome a new gel into the family, especially an exfoliating one as this would set it aside from the other shower gels in my collection. RRP $19.95 (350ml, 99.2% natural).

The claims (from the Burt's Bees website): Bring your radiance to the surface. This creamy body wash infuses Royal Jelly, one of nature's most nutritious substances, with jojoba beads and a fruit acid complex to gently exfoliate, smooth and help even skin tone. Safflower seed olesomes intensely moisturise and condition, leaving skin with a naturally healthy, radiant glow. Go ahead, reveal your radiance. Apply to a sponge, loofah, washcloth or your hands and lather generously all over your body for clean, smooth skin. Rinse, towel dry and follow up with your favourite Burt's Bees body lotion.
Ingredients: water (aqua, eau), decyl glucoside, carthamus tinctorius (safflower) oleosomes, sodium cocoyl hydrolyzed soy protein, glycerine, royal jelly, simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) oil, hydrogenated jojoba oil, vaccinium myrtillus (bilberry) extract, saccharum officinarum (sugar cane, extrait de canne à sucre) extract, acer saccharinum (sugar maple) extract, citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) fruit extract, citrus medica limonum (lemon) extract, fragrance (parfum), glucose, xanthan gum, citric acid, sodium chloride, lactoperoxidase, glucose oxidase, butylphenyl methylpropional, hexyl cinnamic aldehyde, hydroxycitronellal, linalool

My review: I didn’t mind this body wash, it was quite nice. But I did have issues with the fragrance. This also has the fruity fragrance that runs through the whole range, which is nice, but then there is something else that I can detect, one of the underling ingredients I am guessing, that I didn’t like. I love my shower gels to be really strongly fragranced to really invigorate me when I use them. This didn’t have one of those fragrances – it was pleasant enough but not amazing.

The body wash is the consistency of custard. It is quite slippery so i had to rub it through my hands before using it otherwise it would slide straight off my body. It contained jojoba beads for exfoliation (which you can see as the white dots in the second picture) but these melted almost instantly on contact with my skin. It also contains fruit acid complex for exfoliation, so I am guessing this would have had more an exfoliating effect than the jojoba beads. I didn’t really notice any exfoliating effects.
The body wash was non-drying. My skin felt lovely and soft after using it and not at all tight. Some days I didn’t use the lotion and my skin still didn’t feel tight or dry. It did everything a shower gel should - it was a very gentle, effective body cleanser. Really, my only criticism of the body wash is the smell - so if the scent of a body wash is not an issue for you, I am sure you would be quite impressed by this.
It comes in a 350ml plastic bottle with a flip top lid. The lid is very convenient as it can be opened with one hand and is spill proof if you drop the bottle.
I am not sure whether I would repurchase this body wash. I don’t have sensitive skin so love to use highly fragranced shower gels. This wasn’t as pleasantly fragranced as the other ones I use. I do think that if I ever did develop sensitive skin then I may revisit this body wash as it seemed really gentle and nourishing on my skin. The body wash is $19.95 for 350ml which is an okay price for a shower gel.
Stockists In Australia, Burt's Bees is available from David Jones, Myer, Priceline, pharmacies and health food stores. Or you can buy the Radiance Exfoliating Body Wash from Amazon.

If you would like some more detailed information on royal jelly, you may be interested in my blog article- The use of royal jelly in skincare

All opinions stated in this blog are my own. I have no affiliation with any company discussed in this blog and received no remuneration for my comments. These products were provided for consideration by Burt's Bees for their Facebook Trial Team.