The Body Shop Tea Tree Skin Clearing Toner and Lotion Review

The Body Shop Skin Clearing Toner and Lotion

This is the second part of my series on the Body Shop Tea Tree range. Today I’ll be taking about their Skin Clearing Toner and the moisturizing lotion. Like the rest of the Tea Tree range both these contain organic tea tree oil and tamanu oil.

The toner is something you might reach a lot come our Dubai summer. It’s very refreshing on skin, specifically on a hot day. The powders in the toner (which you shake to activate) helps to keep the skin matte & fresh.  I use this once a day after I wash my face with the range’s foaming cleanser. And follow-up with either the Body Shop Tea Tree Lotion or the BB cream. This can be quite drying and contains alcohol so it’s more suited to those with oily /very oily skin as it might irritate dry/sensitive skin types. A quick tip – during summer, store the toner in the fridge (the cold toner feels amazing on a hot day ).

This comes in a 250ml bottle and costs 38AED. Needless to say you get a lot of product for your money.

The Body Shop Skin Clearing Lotion is more like a gel than a lotion. It’s lightweight and and is quickly absorbed by my skin. This has an intense tea tree fragrance so if you hate that smell, this might not be for you. This used together with the toner leaves my face relatively matte. I found that this is very soothing on days when Proactive has irritated my face. This did not cause any pimples and also seemed to have a healing effect on the blemishes I already had. The lotion would be great for most skin types including oily, acne prone skin to use during hot summer months. This combo of toner and lotion is specially great after waxing or threading. The toner is soothes irritated skin while the tea tree lotion is calming with anti-bacterial properties. I only wish this had at least SPF15 in it. Given how sunny it is in Dubai I am paranoid about stepping out without wearing any sun protection. So I compensate by wearing a zinc based sunscreen  over it.

The Tea Tree Lotion comes in a 50ml squeeze tube and costs 38AED.

If you are curious about the Tea Tree range why not pop in to your nearest Body Shop. They have testers available and if you ask nicely you might even get a mini facial using your preferred range (I bought the whole Tea Tree range after I got a mini facial with the range).

Have you used The Body Shop Tea Tree Range ? What has been your experience like ?

Thanks a lot for reading, and please do comment and like this post if you enjoyed this post.

related links..

https://www.facebook.com/thebodyshopUAE?fref=ts (the body shop U.A.E. Facebook site)

http://www.thebodyshop.co.uk/shop-by-range/tea-tree/tea-tree-facial-toner.aspx

http://www.thebodyshop.co.uk/shop-by-range/tea-tree/tea-tree-skin-clearing-lotion.aspx

The Body Shop Tea Tree Skin Clearing Foaming Cleanser Review

The Body Shop Tea Tree Skin Clearing Foaming Cleanser

As I mentioned in my previous post, I bought the entire The Body Shop’s entire Tea Tree range as I was breaking out a lot. I did not have high hopes for this range and just wanted something to sooth my Proactive dried out skin. While it did not perform miracles for my acne it did help sooth and heal my skin. This would suit someone who has oily skin with small breakouts rather than full blown cystic acne.

Tea Tree oil contains anti-bacterial properties it’s been suggested as a gentler, natural alternative to other acne medications such as Benzoyl Peroxide.

(image courtesy of http://www.thebodyshop.co.uk)

The Body Shop range has 3 types of face cleansers, the foaming cleanser (pictured above),a gel face wash and a creamy cleanser. I bought this because I had used this as a teen and loved it. It’s priced at AED44.00 for 150ml. Even though it might look like it won’t last long believe me it does.

The cleanser has pump dispenser which when pressed, dispenses a fresh smelling foam and should be applied to a wet face just like a regular face wash. Be careful not to use too much pressure on the pump or you might end up with too much cleanser !

It gives skin a cooling sensation due to the menthol/alcohol it contains so if you have sensitive skin be careful as it might irritate your skin (my skin is very oil and not sensitive). After washing it off, my skin was left unbelievably soft and smooth (maybe due to the skin conditioners it contains ?) but amazingly oil free. It provided a nice contrast to my Proactive cleanser which leaves me with tight, dry skin.

The Body Shop has stores in all major shopping malls so if you are curious you should have a look. Also you can browse through their U.A.E. Facebook page and their UK website that includes customer reviews which is really helpful.

I’ll be posting my other reviews on the rest of the Tea Tree range in the coming days so keep checking.

Thanks a lot for reading, and please do comment and like this post if you enjoyed this post.

https://www.facebook.com/thebodyshopUAE?fref=ts

Rant on my struggle with acne / Proactive System / The Body Shop Tea Tree Range Quick Review

Acne is like an unwelcome guest who does not ever want to leave your house 🙂 Most of us have suffered from acne at some time in our life but for me it has been a life long struggle. When I was a teenager I had the usual bouts of acne but these were small and would heal very quickly. Clearasil cream worked fine for these. Even with acne, my face was smooth and scar free.

However, as I turned 20 and entered university I went through a very though time. I started suffering from various ailments including horrific cystic acne which was never properly diagnosed. But things got very bad resulting in me dropping out of uni. After a couple years thanks to a very good doctor I found that I had brain tumor in my pituitary gland. I was put on medication for the tumor and after 2 years I was clear. But the tumor had messed up my hormones and by then my skin was ruined. I had pitted acne scars and post acne pigmentation. Even more than my ruined face people’s comments hurt. Every one who has had bad acne will know what I am talking about. Total strangers seem to think it’s ok to give me advise, comments ranging from”what’s wrong with your face” “why don’t you wash your face properly ? to “you would be so pretty if your acne was better” were common.

I tried everything (most were over the counter medicine like Panoxyl & Cetaphil) but nothing seemed to work until I went to a well known dermatologist who prescribed her own medications (a lotion similar to Mario Badescu) and my acne became manageable.

When I came to live here my skin was clear but after some months it broke out in cystic acne again. And again nothing seemed to be working and I was so frustrated. Here I was nearly 30 breaking out like a teenager so I decided to try some thing that marketed to teens, Proactive.

Proactive Solution – Original

I bought the Proactive Solutions 60 day extra strength formula from Boots and it was around AED360.00. The price stung but I was desperate for a cure. The system contains a cleanser with benzoyl peroxide,

a toner with glycolic acid, a treatment lotion with benzoyl peroxide and a clay mask with sulfur. You are supposed to use all the products together once or twice a day and the mask twice a week.

I used the system only once a day as I find it too drying to used twice a day. I have very oily skin so you can understand how drying it is. I used it for about 1 1/2 years and my skin cleared up. I am not sure if it helps fade acne marks but since the toner has glycolic acid it should help at least a little. I found that a 60 day supply would last 4/5 months for me, with the cleanser running out first. (a separate review for the The Proactive System to follow).

After my acne was gone I did not want to continue Proactive, mainly because it was so drying and expensive. I was in my 30’s by then and wanted to use something to help with my acne scars and was anti-aging. So, I started using the Vichy Normaderm Anti-Age lotion. This was light oil free lotion and worked beautifully to fade my hyper-pigmentation.I was so impressed with the lotion that I bought the whole Normaderm range.

Everything was great until last month when I started breaking out with cystic acne again. I don’t think Vichy is to blame. My hormone levels are still not normal (thanks tumor!) and have a way of yo-yoing. So I went back to Proactive. However, this time it dried out my skin very badly. While my acne was healing my face was flaking and I was left with huge purple/red marks. And they did not seem to be fading.

The Body Shop Tea Tree Collection

Because I use Proactive only once a day during day time I wanted some thing gentle and soothing to use during the night. After much research I decided to use buy Body Shop’s Tea Tree range (essential oil,foaming wash,toner,face mask,blemish gel,skin clearing lotion, blemish fade night lotion and the bb cream) and give it a try. And they seem to work well with Proactive, specially the Tea Tree Blemish Fade Night Lotion helped fade a acne marks and minimize the dryness  left by Proactive (a separate review for the The Body Shop Tea Tree Range to follow).

After a month on these two brands my acne is now under control though I do get smaller pimples every now and then (no cysts) . The hyper-pigmentation is still there but fading very slowly.

Thanks a lot for reading. I would love to hear from you about your experience with acne so please leave a comment below.