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Sunday, April 26, 2009

Review: Culpeper Herbalist Essential Oil

Since young, I grew up in an environment whereby smell is given particular importance. From the distinctive spices of my mom's cooking, to the concoction of my dad's perfume and cigarette *he used to smoke A LOT*...... and YES, I love love love perfume or any other scent, and will continue to till the day I die. To me, scent is not just a status of symbol, to make yourself more noticeable, and neither is it to combat any unwanted body odour. To me, it's a symbol of personality.

In this particular post, my bf recently bought a set of aromatherapy essential oil (Mandarin, Rose Geranium and Lavender) from Culpeper Herbalist, one of the oldest English herbalist since the 17th Century. It has mainly body products ranging (mainly aromatheraphy ones) ranging from bar soaps, to remedial creams. The only shop that I know can be found in the ground floor of Parkson, Sunway Pyramid.




Mandarin Essential Oil
Latin name: Citrus Reticulata

Calming and soothing. Mandarin Oil is used as a relaxing bath fragrance to encourage peaceful sleep. Blend with Vitamin E to help prevent stretch marks and premature wrinkles. Good for nervous indigestion. Sedative and uplifting, this is suitable to dilute and use on children’s skin.




Rose Geranium Essential Oil
Latin name: Pelagornium graveolens

Relaxing yet uplifting in the bath or a rich, exotic room freshener. Rose Geranium Oil is a popular oil.





Lavender Essential Oil
Latin name: Lavandula officinalis
The most versatile and popular of all essential oils. Useful in almost every condition. Used to help aid recovery of burns and skin wounds. A balancing oil for the nervous system this oil is known for its relaxing properties. Beneficial for muscular tension and emotional anxiety. Extremely antiseptic and healing in skincare.

The descriptions of the essential oil are directly taken from the Culpeper's official website.


As all pure essential oils are harsh....they should NEVER be directly applied to naked skin. For massage purposes, always mix them with any carrier oil.... (You will have to ask the SA for the proportion though). For a relaxing bath, mix approximately 10 drops to warm water and soak your stress away.

For me, my favourite way of relaxation is still using the traditional essential oil burner. Just drop about 2-3 drops of your favourite essential oil into the burner... and sway into the mood of relaxation. As I am buried in countless assignments and presentations, I'm relying on the magic of aromatheraphy to release my stress :P.... or maybe it's just another of my excueses to pamper myself ?! *I deserve a smack on the head*

Personally, Lavender has always remained as one of my favourite essential oils. It's truly relaxing, and doesn't hurt the nostrils at all. On the other hand, geranium has a kinda 'sweet' smell to it; it's very uplifting and pleasant. For some reasons, Mandarin is sposed to be sedative, but I personally found it invigorating.... sth refreshing to start your day. LoL....maybe I'm the weird one here :O

Price range: The website currently retails for 8 pounds per 15ml bottle...... but he got 3 bottles for RM 138. Aiks, Pricey I know.... but for the sake of your mental state of mind, it'd better be worth it ~ Overall, I can't really tell if an essential oil is of top-grade etc.... I guess you really need years of experience/if you're naturally born with really accurate smell sense.

But, for sure.... I could tell the difference between this one and the one sold in the Taiwanese gift shop!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

L'Oreal ELSEVE Nutri-Gloss Shine Serum

When talking about hair serum... I think that this edition of L'Oreal still remains my favourite ! Although I think this hair serum has been out in the market for possibly 1 year +, but advertisements of it can still be found in pages of magazines (I saw it in this the April 2009 CLEO's mag!).

Description:
This hair serum claims to contain "Pearl Protein" that helps to infuse shine into dull, lacking shine hair. Haha, it's funny after completing endless Marketing assignments, we're taught that all these 'scientific' names such as XL-Xylitol, in this case Pearl Protein, etc merely serve as another tactic to stand out from their competitors.

The packaging differs slightly from the ones here in M'sia.
I got the pic above from a UK site.

OK, back to the serum pls:)
Reason #1 why I love this serum is the fact that it does provide you with that "Soft, Cashmere Touch" as it claims! I normally apply one pump on towel-dried hair and another additional pump after my hair is like....90% dry ?! It gives me this light bouncy feeling on my hair, and keep some of my stubborn strands at bay. VERY good, Me likey.

Texture wise is rather runny, and is obviously oil based *it also contains Jojoba Oil which is supposed to be good for hair*. Although it's oil-based, it does not feel oily upon application and the serum somehow infuses/I would like to believe that it does, to the hair. It comes in a 50ml pink plastic bottle with a pump diffuser. Is also slightly scented, giving that fresh-outta-bath feeling.

However, I must address some of its down sides too. One thing for sure is that because the serum is rather runny, you would need quite a large quantity for it to be sufficient. I have thick shoulder length hair and I'm using 2-3 full pumps per time. Secondly and also lastly, although it makes my hair soft and manageable, I doubt that it has nourishing properties. If someone with damaged/severely chemical-treated hair uses this.....umm, I guess this serum does not help much in nourishing the strands. However, putting into consideration that it costs less than RM30.... I guess it's worth it !

VERDICT:
Overall, I would recommend this to those that have normal-oily hair. Or if you're looking for an everday use serum. If you have severely dry/chemically treated hair, then perhaps....this bottle of serum would not live its claims.