Product: Human Heart Nature Body Lotion - Moonlight Passion

Once, I ran out of my favorite St. Ives body lotion and my skin was looking dehydrated, dull and scaly already as a result of not using any lotion for weeks. So the next time we went for some light grocery shopping, a body lotion was on top of my list. But the supermarket that we went to sell only limited St. Ives products (or maybe I just couldn't find where they placed the lotions), and looking at the other available body lotions on the shelf and seeing parabens and other scary chemicals in the ingredients made me decide to try Human Heart Nature Body Lotion.

Luckily for me, or so I thought, 200 ml bottles were bundled with free 50 ml bottles. I think the 200 ml bottle retailed for less than P200.00. Seemed like a good deal. And the 100% No Harmful Chemicals added an enticing offer. So I was left with choosing which variant to get. There were two (forgot the other one) but I chose Moonlight Passion because of the bubblegum scent plus it said 100% hydrating lotion, something that my skin needed badly at that time.

The following day, after I showered, I put my newly bought Human Heart Nature to the test. The first thing that I noticed was it wasn't easy to spread on the skin. It looked like my skin wasn't absorbing the lotion at all. The consistency was light and creamy but it would clump together when I start applying it on my skin making it difficult to spread evenly and it leaves a sticky white trace.

But once I've managed to rub the lotion onto the skin, I noticed that it felt powdery after a few minutes. I thought that's good because I don't want to feel sticky and greasy all over. However, washing my hands after a few hours, I could feel that the lotion was still just on the top layer of the skin, coating it and not really absorbed into it.

I used it for a few more days expecting that my skin would improve in texture and appearance. But the longer I used it, the more my skin looked worse. It felt drier and coarsier than before and it even looked wrinkly.

I checked the expiration date on the bottles because I used the smaller one first, thinking it might be an old stock already that's why they bundled with the larger bottle. But both had the same expiration dates. I also tried getting lotion from the 200 ml bottle, thinking it might be a newer, better stock, but I got the same disappointing result.

When my husband commented how bad my skin looked and felt, I realized that it makes no sense to continue using the Human Heart Nature Body Lotion. Not only did it not deliver good results, it made my skin looked worse. I was able to empty the smaller 50 ml bottle, but the 200 ml was still 75% full when I gave it away.

I think Human Heart Nature has discounted this lotion because they were also receiving a lot of negative feedback about this product on their website. I'm just not sure if the newer formulations are better than this.

Product: St. Ives Skin Firming Lotion

St. Ives is my brand of choice for body lotion and I have been using it for the more than 10 years now, experimenting on different variants (my favorite is Collagen Elastin). I've seen the packaging, the label and the prices change but the effect on my skin has remained the same. My mom uses this, too and both of us would try another brand every once in a while, just out of curiosity or the desire to try something new, but we always go back to using St. Ives whenever the other brand would fail to live up to our standards of a good moisturizing product.

Our standards are fairly simple -- keep the skin soft, smooth and moisturized. Well, actually I just added another criteria -- that it's free of possible harmful ingredients like Parabens and Phthalates (the more natural the better). Scent and other gimmickry are just secondary and don't really matter most of the time.

After I gave birth, the effect of more than nine months of not applying lotion on my skin was horrible (I just didn't feel like using lotion when I was pregnant). I could see and feel how dry, dull and aged my skin has become and I badly needed a good moisturizer to bring it back to life. 

But for some reasons, I bought a different brand (Avea Naturals Lotion) and wasn't satisfied with the results. So I did what I should've done the first time: bought St. Ives lotion. I choose the Skin Firming variant as I thought my skin needed some toning and firming, aside from lots and lots of moisturizing.

St. Ives Skin Firming Lotion costs a little over P200 and comes in a 532 ml pump bottle. The scent is somewhat neutral and doesn't linger on the skin. The color of the lotion is white and has a thin, spreadable consistency, which I really like because it feels light on the skin, is easily absorbed and leaves a non-sticky, non-greasy feeling. 

It took only a week of daily use for my skin to recover from dehydration and lifelessness. Aside from keeping it soft, smooth and moisturized, it also gives it a visible healthy glow, which is more evident whenever I go outside. And you know the scratch test? It doesn't leave white marks anymore.

It's also quite economical as I only need to apply a thin film (although I think this depends on how dry your skin is) and it's enough to hydrate and moisturize my skin. I also apply it on my feet (I use twice as much) and it helps to improve the appearance of cracked heals.

I'm not sure about the skin firming property, but by just looking at my skin, I could tell that it has improved a lot. And I mean a lot, considering how bad my skin looked before I started using St. Ives Skin Firming Lotion.

After I empty the bottle, I will definitely buy again but I'm planning on trying out another variant. 

Product: Avea Naturals Lotion

One time, when I ran out of lotion, I decided to try a different brand, one that is particularly cheaper than my regular brand. Yes, I was scrimping on a lotion. After scanning two whole shelves of lotions, body oils and other moisturizing products, both local and foreign brands, and being a stickler for natural products, I chose Avea Naturals Lotion.

It didn't strike me as a natural natural product but seeing no parabens in the ingredients list, I thought it passed my requirements. Right off the label, it claimed to be formulated for deep moisturizing. The scent wasn't bad either. But the thing that really got me in was the price -- only P99 for 600ml lotion (33% more). A good buy it seemed.

And then, there's my weird predilection for products that have expiration dates. My theory is that if it's really natural, it make sense for it not to last for a long time. Hence, the need and the advantage of having expiration dates.

 But as it is with books, you mustn't judge a product by its label.

The first thing that I noticed when I applied the lotion was the scent. It smelled okay when you sniff it right from the bottle. But once applied on the skin, it didn't smell as nice anymore. Or maybe it's the chemical composition of my skin that altered the scent of the lotion. Either way, I don't like the smell and neither does my husband.

Other not so good points: it's sticky, it feels heavy on the skin and it leaves a shine (not a healthy glow) on the surface, like an oily residue or something.

It does very little in making my skin soft and smooth to touch. I don't have to scratch myself to check that it's moisturized as I could tell by just looking at my skin. But if I do, scratch myself that is, I see white traces -- an indication of a dry skin.

So it wasn't long before I realized that this isn't a good product after all. But not wanting to throw or give it away (and waste the P99 that I bought it with), I decided to use it on my feet instead, thinking that maybe it'll be more suitable there, relieving cracked skin and all. But again, I was wrong. Feet need more moisture than any part of the body, and Avea Naturals Lotion just couldn't deliver what it promised on the label.

I just stopped it using all together and bought myself a trusted brand. A little more expensive, but I get what I paid for.