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Biotique Basil and Red Sandalwood Powder Talc {Product Review}

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I am more of a talc girl than the deo gal coz I don’t like chemical preparations especially when they have alcohol and such stuff, though, I am equally cautious about what goes into my talc. I don’t know the price since I have never bought it. The bottles from the hotels have served me well till today and I always get attracted to Yardley talcs before I go to Biotique just coz of their awesome smells.
Ingredients

Neem 3%, Manijistha 2%, Rakt Chandan 1%, Yashad Bhasma 3.5%, Shankh Bhasm 1%, Peet Chandan Tail 0.5%, Makka 2%, Tulasi Panchang 1.5%, Siliate of Magnesia

Now, Biotique always makes me think how much the ingredients are doing for the skin and etc. going by the percentage of the ingredients put into it. Anyway, some of the products do work really well like Biotique Musk Root Hair Pack (which I have been advising to everyone literally!!) and Biotique Pistachio Face Pack.
My Experience
From the ingredients, you can easily infer that the base of this talc is Silicate of Magnesia and there is no extra fragrance added and since this is a dry product, there is no need for preservatives. Now, coming to the ingredient Silicate of Magnesia (known as talc), it is the softest known mineral which can be easily scratched by a fingernail. Now, in the past decade a lot of cancers have been associated with the use of talc. So, I would like to add that whatever body products you are using, kindly keep them away from your private body parts. There are quite a lot of people who use talcs near their private parts or even on the babies for freshness and avoiding sweat. But, actually, it is very dangerous coz the foreign materials should never be allowed to enter the body. This holds particularly true for women who can succumb to ovarian cancers and vaginal infections if the talc is used near the private parts. So, kindly use better judgement.
 
Coming to the talc, it has a very slight smell which is pleasant and is not at all felt unless you take it really close to your nose.And, you should not inhale the talc ever.
My Recommendation
Its nothing different from other talcs available in the market. If you are comparing a deo and a talc, I would always go for talc as I find it is less harmful.

Auravedic Reviving Body Cleanser {Product Review}

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An extremely gentle cleanser with minimum foam and a very subtle lingering fragrance. I don’t know the price since it was not present on the bottle and I was sent the product for review. The website also doesn’t give any information on the prices but I am sure it is reasonable. Have a look at the range of their products here.
Ingredients
The snap didn’t come very clear so I’ll just write the ingredients as listed.

Lemon Peel Extract, Ginger Extract, Almond Oil, Poly Ethylene Glycol, Geranium Oil, Aloe Vera Extract, Lemon Oil, Citric Acid, Sodium Lauryl Ethyl Sulphate, Coco Mono Ethyl Aide, Coco Amido Propyl Butane, Disodium Ethylene Diamine Tetra Acetic Acid, Preservatives, Glycerin, Aqua, D-Panthenol

So, if we go accoding to the ingredient list, it had quite a huge amount of natural extracts of lemon peels, ginger and aloe vera and good proportion of almond oil and geranium oil for which one should be happy. And, it is quite surprising that the cleanser doesn’t foam a lot even though it has SLES. May be its not that excess in quantity. After all, it is listed in the middle. What concerns me most is the term – Preservatives. That’s pretty ambiguous and I would have wished it to specify what preservatives were used even if they are parabens.
My Experience
First thing you will notice is its smell. It smells faintly of lime and ginger which is soothing to your senses and slightly uplifting. It foams very little but cleanses very thoroughly. It doesn’t leave any film afterward too or make the skin feeling dry or stretchy. Instead, it makes the skin supple and hydrated enough to live without a moisturizer for some hours. I have used it with the Body Shop gloves and even then it didn’t foam a lot. It really behaves like a herbal preparation should for which I love the product. I was looking for a product which is gentle enough for the skin especially during summers and this is probably the best one till date I have used. I have been using it since a week or 10 days and I love it.
My Recommendation
Yes, definitely!!! One should give it a try and I am sure you would love it. Though, there is a question of its availability. It has its retail outlets in Mumbai but I am not sure of any other place in India so Mumbaikars can go and explore its wide range of products.
PS: I would love to make a special mention about the packaging of the entire products they sent me. It was just beautiful and they had put some potpourri petals in the box so when I opened the box, I was greeted with a very pleasant fragrance. The packaging of all its products is simple and utilitarian.
PS: Product sent by brand for consideration.

Lush Aqua Marina Cleanser {Product Review}

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Pink Mass wrapped in the sea weed
My second purchase from Lush and not much of a hope!!!
Price: 643 INR for 110 gms
Ingredients
full of amazing ingredients which is really a good thing – glycerin, calamine powder, Irish moss infusion, aloe vera, sea salt, nori seaweed, sweet orange, patchouli oil, carrageenan and perfume
My Experience
It looks peachy encircled in green and really gross green, actually, but since it is seaweed and Lush, you will forgive everything. So, you require a really less quantity of the cleanser – more like a peanut size. The direction is to make a paste with water and use as a regular cleanser but it is better to take the peanut size and rub it all over your wet face. It dissolves easily that way and many of the reviews suggest the same thing. You can feel the clay. It smells weird but likable once you get used to it so nothing to worry about. And, since it is so costly, I would like to get maximum out of it, so I massage it for 2-3 minutes over the face. It does cleanse the face really well. Does not leave any residue behind and leaves the skin soft. But, it can not even remove a simple kajal so it doesn’t remove make up at all.
I have been using this on and off since February and I have noticed that it used to dry my face during the colder temperatures where as it is just fine now a days. I have a combination skin which is towards dry side. So, keeping that in view, it wouldn’t suit people with dry skin (I don’t think it is meant for them) and people living in hilly regions. The climate there is too dry so you need something which can hydrate and moisturize your skin. I donno if I have a very strong reason but I can just say that it is fine but nothing great for me certainly nothing special after looking at the price I bought it for. Well, I get better results using besan which costs only pennies. Not that I am abusing Lush or something but my experience with both the products I have used till now (Caca Noir, this one and even Porridge Soap which I haven’t yet reviewed) has not been great. So, I think I’ll take a little break from Lush and revisit at a later point it for some masks and scrubs which is a better idea.
My Recommendation
Try it in the shop and wait for an hour or two and then decide for yourself if you want it or not. Try it on your face not hands. Don’t feel ashamed or anything. You are after all gonna pay a lot for it. You might end up liking it coz it did get rave reviews all over the blogosphere.