Butter me up! (The Body Shop Cocoa Butter Body Butter)

Member Name: hypno06

Product:	The Body Shop Cocoa Butter Body Butter
Date:	12/07/09 (100 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Thick and rich, and great for dry skin.

Disadvantages: Expensive compared with some others.

Throughout the year, various things have an effect on my skin......the amount of stress I am under, my eating habits, the weather (whether hot and sunny, or yukky and cold)....and I end up with skin feeling dry and unloved. I don't suffer from eczema, but I am prone to stressed skin.

I have a couple of body lotions that I like to use, but for a failsafe skin stressbuster, I cannot go wrong with a tub of my faithful cocoa butter body butter from the Body Shop.

I have been using Body Shop products for over 20 years.....and I am by no means loyal to them. What started off as an innovator in fair trade products and producing cosmetics without animal testing, now has competition from supermarkets, Boots, and Marks & Spencers, all at affordable prices. I do like the things that the Body Shop stands for - I always have, but I do feel that other producers now often stand for the same things (do your research though, as not all producers have the same standards), and of course, prices do vary.

Anyway, back to this particular product.......Body Butters are far thicker than body lotions, or other body cremes. A body butter is almost solid - imagine a block of butter that you eat, and you have something of a similar consistency (hence the name, I guess!).

You have to "scoop" a body butter out of the tub, with your fingers. For people who have never tried a body butter, and think that I am exaggerating on the thickness, I really am not - this is far thicker than other tub based creams such as Nivea etc.

You then simply apply this very rich butter to your skin, and massage in - as you can imagine, because it is so thick, it can take a while to work in, but if you are using this on stressed, or dry skin, the skin really just "drinks" in the cream, absorbing it at a steady rate. This is not a quick "apply and go" product - it is something that needs working in. Gentle circular massage movements, or long sweeping massage strokes help your circulation and general "feel good factor" as well as helping to actually apply this product.

The tub describes it as "melting" at body temperature. I'm not sure I would have described it as such, but it certainly does absorb nicely, without being greasy or leaving any sort of residue!

Obviously, if you apply too much, it will take ages to work in - you would be better scooping out a little at a time, and reapplying frequently until you know how your skin "drinks" it up.....as everyone is different.

The fragrance is unmistakeably cocoa butter - that distinct, rich, chocolatey, yet not like a bar of chocolate, fragrance. As soon as you open the lid to the tub, you can smell the cocoa, and as you work it into your skin, you cannot escape the smell. It lingers on your skin for several hours, and if you do not wash your hands immediately afterwards, you will find yourself smelling them frequently......leading you to become hungry for real cocoa (aka chocolate) and reaching for the secret stash of choccy bars in the back of the fridge.....oops, perhaps that is just me!!

Cocoa butter has an excellent reputation as a moisturiser for very dry skin, and there are many brands out there using it for their richer lotions and creams. However, I have not found one that works as well with stressed and dry skin as this one, and I have worked my way through several tubs of it over the years.

I am a reflexologist....and usually use the Body Shop Peppermint Foot Lotion for working on feet, but when faced with very dry skinned feet, I reach for one of my body butter collection - more often than not, it is the cocoa butter tub I reach for, because it works really well on dry cracked feet, and is a wonderful product for a foot massage. As a reflexologist, I appreciate the fact that a good dollop on a foot can last a whole treatment without the need for reloading too.

So, there you are - an excellent product for dry skin, whether used as an alternative to a body lotion, or as a cream for a specific part of the body - I understand it is recommended to help keep stretchmarks at bay during pregnancy too.

The tub has a "life" of 12 months before they recommend you discard the product - so a decent length of time if you only want to use this occasionally.

At £12.20 for a 200ml tub, this is not the cheapest on the market, but if your skin needs a bit of extra love and attention, it could be worth paying the extra.

Body Butters are available in store, online at www.thebodyshop.co.uk (where you can find more information about the ethics behind the brand etc) or by Body Shop at Home if you have a representative in your area. Occasionally they are on offer, and sometimes you can get smaller tubs (I love buying the smaller tubs to take on holiday or to sample a new version before committing to the full size one!). Other cocoa butter products are available too if you want the full yummy chocolatey experience - but that for me would be too much as I would be reaching for the second secret stash before I could stop myself!

I don't use this all the time - I use it when I need it.....and for that my skin is grateful!

Summary: You can't beat it for really dry skin.