Astrida Naturals Product Reviews - Nourishing Shea Lotion, Moisturizer, and Face Mask Powder

I was sent the Carrot Seed & Geranium Moisturizer for free from the company to review for you guys, but after using that product, I decided to make my own order and got a lotion and face mask powder. So let's hop on it to some little reviews!

Check out my video review of the Carrot Seed & Geranium Moisturizer here!

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Chamomile & White Willow Bark Clay Face Mask Concentrate - $16.00

Very generous amount of product! This is going to last me forever!

Face mask powder mixed with aloe vera.

Dries down after about 10 minutes to be very stiff.

This is a really generous size, if you ask me. It's also a genius idea, you just add the water or whatever liquid you want to create the paste. It won't go bad quickly because it's just a powder. I think it's a really cool product and worth the price mark because this tub is going to last forever!

I mixed my first mask with aloe vera and I really enjoyed it. I'm glad it dried down (those are my favorite kinds of masks). It was kind of difficult to remove though and it had a slight gritty feel to it. Next time I'll try a different mixing medium and see how it goes. 

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Vanilla Honey Nourishing Shea Lotion - $20.00

Looks like a typical lotion, feels very watery when massaged into skin.

The scent is very sweet and smells strongly of honey. It smells great and makes you want to lick it, but I'm sure it doesn't taste as good as it smells. 

It has a very watery/liquidy feel to it as you rub it into your skin. However, once it's applied, it leaves a nice amount of moisture without being too much or too little. I don't think that it's going to be the best for super dry winter skin, so I would call this a spring/summer appropriate lotion. 

Although I enjoy this lotion, I do not think it's worth the price. I imagined the bottle being twice as big for that price. If it was a super rich and great wintertime lotion, I might be able to see the $20 mark being halfway reasonable, but for this pretty mediocre lotion, it's overpriced. 

Skin feels moisturized without looking/feeling greasy.

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Carrot Seed & Geranium Facial Moisturizer - $24.00

This one pump is the perfect amount for the entire face.

I received this moisturizer from Astrida Naturals for review purposes. I am not being paid to tell you about it, but I did not pay for it with my own money (the other two items in this review I did buy myself after receiving this product). Anyway, my opinion is the same either way. Without knowing how much this product cost, I estimated it at about $22 in my head, so the $24 price mark is reasonable, if you ask me. Judging by other similar natural products, such as the moisturizers found at Lush, I think the price is good. However, unlike most of Lush's moisturizers, I don't find this Carrot Seed & Geranium moisturizer to be too oily for my skin. I know it has oils in it, but it's not overwhelming for me personally. The pump is also great and gives out the perfect amount of product for my face.

I hope these reviews were helpful! Have you tried any of these products? Let me know your thoughts.

Love,

Alaina

Lush Movis Facial Cleanser Soap Review

"Fresh-made goodness"

"Grab a slice of Movis for a rich and moisturizing clean. This face soap is the first of its kind – its spongy texture is packed full of wheat-based ingredients and is rich in vitamin E to help skin look smooth and radiant. Whole wheat breadcrumbs are mixed right in to help exfoliate and revive the skin, while gently scrubbing away any dry bits. And with cleansing labdanum and sandalwood oil, your face will feel refreshed and clear." LushUSA Website

The squishy texture of this soap intrigued me. And even the breadcrumbs, which I initially thought were oats, seemed interesting to me too.

However...

I don't think I really like this one! Sorry Lush. 

It doesn't lather as well as either Coal Face or Fresh Farmacy (see my comparison of the two here). I sure do like cleaning things that have a nice rich lather, personally.

I don't think I'm a fan of the breadcrumbs either. They stick to the sink and make it look messy. And I don't even find that they are exfoliating anyway. They're really soft and don't have enough grit to them if you ask me. It's just like getting random fluffs in your cleanser.

And I don't seem to see a difference in my skin either. It takes so much effort to create any kind of lather and then once I actually get it lathered up, I don't see it doing much of anything for my skin either.
It's neither drying nor moisturizing.

Overall, this is one item I wish I could return. I should have gotten a smaller size or a sample! Now what am I supposed to do with it?

I hope this was helpful!
Love,
Alaina

LUSH The Sacred Truth Fresh Face Mask Review

"Divine intervention for dry or mature skin

Can you handle the truth? The truth is, your skin needs more regular maintenance and care as you get older. As you age, your dermis is thinning, losing its elasticity and ability to retain moisture, which can make the skin appear dull or sallow. Don’t fret! Taking care is easy thanks to this nutrient-packed mask. The Sacred Truth contains a powerful combination of rich, softening ingredients like linseed, eggs and shea butter to deeply moisturize and nutritious wheat grass, papaya, green tea and ginseng root to restore essential vitamins and brighten skin." LushUSA website

This feels very lightweight on the skin, I can hardly even remember I have it on when I use it.

It doesn't dry down to a hard or stiff mask, it stays very moisturizing on top of the skin.

It has a great consistency! Some Lush face masks I have tried in the past are too dry and can crumble right off of the face. In the store, I was thinking about not picking this one up because it looked too runny. I'm glad I got it though because it's actually the perfect balance between runny and dry if you ask me! And it applies super easily because of this.

My skin feels calm and more evened out afterwards. It doesn't feel too stiff and dry nor oily.

I have oily skin and I really enjoy this mask. If feels so moisturizing, I can see how those with dry skin would love it too, but it doesn't make me feel gross and oily afterwards either. It's truly a face mask for every skin type, if you ask me!

I hope this was helpful.
Love,
Alaina

Simple Cleansing Micellar Water Review

Here is a product I have been seeing around in the online beauty community for awhile now. I figured I would give it a go and see what all the fuss is about. 

First Impression:

After using this, I was really surprised not to feel any kind of residue on my skin. I took off all of my makeup, including eye makeup and it took three little cotton rounds to do so. My skin did not feel greasy or dry or like anything at all had been on my skin! This product did not sting my eyes at all while rubbing off my eye makeup too (always a bonus!).

I even find it powerful enough to remove waterproof mascara! Even better than that "Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover" from so many drugstore brands that you have to shake up to use. It may take an extra cotton pad for super caked on waterproof mascara, but I love that it's just a one step process and I don't have to rinse my entire face after using this micellar water. 

I like the fact that this is easy to use, you can use as many cotton pads as you need depending on how much makeup you piled on that day (unlike a makeup removing wipe which comes with the "one size fits all" mentality). Overall, this has been a very interesting and cool skincare product that I am so glad to have picked up. It's simple, just like the brand's entitled. 

Have you tried this? What do you think?

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Alaina

Pond's Evening Soothe Wet Cleansing Towelettes with Chamomile and White Tea Review

I was looking to try a new brand of makeup removing wipes from the drugstore and while searching on the internet for various topics such as "best drugstore makeup wipes," this little guy popped up and I figured I would give it a go. Here are my thoughts on these makeup removing wipes.

These wipes are strange to me. They have a lot of moisture and feel like they would do a great job at removing makeup. Well, no, not really. The moisture within these wipes is actually a little too intense. The moisture squeezes out into my eyes when removing eye makeup, and it is a little bit stingy. The moisture also does not seem to help the makeup removing capabilities of these wipes either. I actually need two to remove all of my makeup mostly because it takes a LOT of scrubbing to get off eye makeup, whether or not it's waterproof stuff.

Judging by the texture of these wipes, you might also think they would be great at taking off heavy duty foundation, but they don't glide on the skin very well, making it pretty difficult to actually remove the face makeup too.

Overall, I would not recommend these wipes unless you just want them for typical cleansing, not removing makeup. 

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Alaina

Boots Expert Sensitive Skincare Kit Review

As you can see from the little red tag on the box, I found this handy little kit on clearance at my local Target. No, I don't need more moisturizers (see picture below), but facial wipes? I am always on the hunt to try new face wipes!

This is a very generous tub of moisturizer. I don't know if I'll ever use it up! (again, see picture above)

This is a nice, lightweight feeling moisturizer. It has a thick consistency in the tub but it absorbs super quickly into the skin and feels like nothing! This is excellent for my oily skin!

It also smells good. The scent reminds me of the Neutrogena Healthy Skin Anti-Wrinkle Cream spf 15, which was a moisturizer I just finished up and liked a lot!

Unlike the facial moisturizer from this kit, this eye cream stays tacky and moist instead of drying down to nothing. This feeling makes it seem like the eye cream is doing a lot of work for you! I haven't seen any reduction in fine lines around my eyes since beginning using this however (it's been about a month).

The wipes are actually pretty nice. I have tried quite a few different brands of makeup removing wipes in my beauty blogger/youtuber career, and these are about average. I would say they are on par with the Yes To brand, which is one of my favorites. One wipe will remove all of my face and eye makeup and I do not need to do a lot of scrubbing. The wipes don't sting my eyes either, which of course is great. 

Overall, this whole kit was really nice and I was glad to have to opportunity to try out quite a few products all at once. The moisturizer and eye cream were very generous sizes and the makeup wipes are always something nice to have on hand. So for the discounted price of under $8.00, I would recommend this little kit! Even for the regular price of $14.99, I still think it's a good buy. 

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Alaina