In a moment of stress and much-needed retail therapy, I let myself be swept away by one of those scary mall 'pushcart' retail assistants.

Maybe it's a little harsh calling them so but they can feel quite pushy at times if you are not in the mood for it. Though that very day, I really couldn't be bothered and didn't mind someone enthusiastically selling their whole product range to me. Plus I had time to kill to sample the 1001 creams they were happily slathering on my hands. ha!

Needless to say I did walk away with something which I had a good impression of and this is only a small fraction of the products that were mentioned to me.

I am still intrigued with this other thing that was pushed to me but I will do some searching up about it first.

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The brand in question is Seacrets which hails from Isreal and is said to harness their primary ingredient from the nutrient and mineral rich Dead Sea.

The first item that the sales assistant (who was from Isreal) tried on me would be their classic Dead Sea Salt, a dry bodyscrub. I was quite sold on this because my skin (or rather hands/palms), at that time, was in need of a good scrub and this felt very nice on.

I haven't indulged in a whole lot of dry salt scrubs and the ones I have used are usually salt scrubs that are soaked in an accompanying oil so this was different and I liked the after-feel of it — clean and soft with the option of my own follow-up moisturizer.

While I imagined my skin to feel stripped post-scrub — softer and exfoliated but stripped too since it is a scrub — it was strangely not!

From my close-to-nothing experience with dry salt scrubs, I remember that they all left my skin in a little scrubbed out and stripped of moisture.

Don't get me wrong, 'scrubbed-out' would be them working their scrubby magic and leaving my skin smoother (as they are suppose to) but at the price of stripping my skin of moisture as well.

Thus, I was quite bought over by the Seacrets bath salt leaving this soft yet still plumped (note: not supple sort of hydration) feeling on my hands post-scrub. Maybe salt scrubs have evolved to be this miraculous or maybe it's the magic of the Dead Sea but I was quite happy to lug a tub home to slough off all that dead skin.

From their sales-pitch mention, while you scrub, your skin is nourished with the minerals and nutrients from the Dead Sea derived salt, hence you don't feel your skin getting all stripped out.

They had this available in 3 scents, Ocean Mist (which I have), Milk and Honey (I think?) and one more which I think is unscented? I really can't recall but I do love the refreshing scent of Ocean Mist.

The sales assistant was also trying to sell me a follow-up body moisturizer which I wasn't so keen on (I think I could open a moisturizer store with what I have at home already!) but at the very end she said she would 'throw it in for free' with my purchase since I was hemming and hawing over the sea salt scrub.

So here it is...

Incredibly rambly entry for a small haul, so much for keeping it brief - again!

Not referring to this scrub specifically but I realize that once you give your skin some tough love and a good slough-over every now and then, your moisturizers would often times end up becoming more potent.

No matter how much cream I was piling on my skin before, some areas still felt really dehydrated. Now, after a scrub-a-dub-dub with this harsh seasalt, these areas are taking in moisture more readily and aren't leaning towards stretchy and dry.

Thus I guess sometimes (in the context of the whole dry-but-oily skin dilemma) if your skin is dry, it isn't always about piling even more moisturizer over!

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If you intend to check Seacrets out for the dry salt scrub (which I'm really loving, honestly), I believe the pricings of the products, while fixed, are a little 'flexible'. It seems the sales assistants have the power to bundle stuff up at what they call 'a better rate for you' so ... just look around and don't get too taken with their enthusiasm!

Just a heads up! Thanks for reading!

Most of July has already gone by and I had cleanly forgotten about these!

Launched island-wide on the 9th of July, The Body Shop introduced Spa Fit, their at-home spa experience with a dose of body toning goodness!

My post may be a little late to catch the summer bug but hey, it's always Summer here on our little island! In fact, the weather seems to be heating up of late.

While I am no sun-lover and prefer hiding under a giant umbrella as opposed to toasting in the sun, the appeal of a swimwear body is there even though I wouldn't be parading in a swim wear. It's just one those 'feel-good-about-yourself' sort of thing, yes?

Moving on...

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Citrusy!

Injected with a citrusy splash, these products contain orange, lemon, lime and grapefruit oil. That's a whole lot of Vitamin C all squashed (hurhur?) together!

These help to not only smoothen and and soften your skin with their hydrating oil infusion, they also help perk up your senses with a refreshing jolt. I had previously done a mention about these products, using them as a mid-week perk-me-up and while I am no fan of citrus scents, I find these are quite calming and - as they say - do refresh your senses in a very spa-like manner.

There's no in-your-flash splash of citrus here! Else I would be steering quite clear from these.

Toning!

Now, that secret little ingredient that helps tone and firm up your skin while you enjoy your at-home spa experience would be none other than... caffeine!

Yes, my favorite little friend that I often meet in the form of my morning cuppa.

Caffeine is an effective product to help firm and tone the skin and of course with this being body shop, they use the pure and natural form of caffeine. Sort of like an expresso shot to your body, but I promise it wouldn't keep you up at night!

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Now that we have gotten the basis of the products done, let's check out what we have within the range!

Spa Fit Smoothing & Refining Body Scrub (S$42.90) – This tub right here is my favorite of the lot. It is exfoliating, rejuvenating (scent-wise) and doesn't feel too harsh on my eczema-prone / sensitive skin. The packaging however, I am not quite feeling because if the lid has some product, it tends to 'drip' down the back as you open it. It's not a severe thing and if you are in the shower, what's a little mess... but I don't always keep my soap stuff in the wet-toilet area so it gets inconvenient for me.

That being said, I still love it.

Toning Concentrate (S$34.90) – The toning concentrate dispenses in a gel-like form (oops sorry, forgot 'swatch' images) and feels extremely light-weight on the skin. I believe this functions as a quick-fix, dealing a nice concentrated toning boost but if you ask me, I personally didn't remember very much of this. The one perk would be that it absorbs incredibly quick into the skin and gives a sensation as if the product is getting some work done (a slight warming feeling), but otherwise... I'll actually think to pass, but that's me!

Toning Massage Oil (S$28.90) – If I mentioned that the scrub is my favorite of the lot, this is a very close second. The toning massage oil is great for hydrating and nourishing dry skin. I personally love using this now and then because the combination of its hydrating quality plus the scent does feel very nice to use. A major plus would also be that this isn't too greasy or oily feeling on thus I even find myself using this in the day! Though everyone's grease-tolerance differs, for those who love a light-weight oil that isn't too 'typically-scented', this is a nice one to check out!

Of course since this is an at-home spa experience, what's a spa without a little massage!

In fact, The Body Shop recommends that the above products be used with some massaging techniques.

Spa Fit Massager (S$14.90) – The massager recommended is a huge 'disc' with little plastic knobs to help promote circulation and also properly massage all that citrusy, caffeinated goodness in. It doesn't sound right put that way but with all products there's a certain applicator and application method to it!

Armed with the massager and the following massaging diagrams, you are pretty much all set with your at-home spa experience!

(click to enlarge)

Though, let's be honest, we don't always have time to head to a spa and we don't always have time to re-create it ourselves either! Hence if you find it difficult to continuously dedicate time to commit to this spa fit ritual, I would urge you to check out the Smoothening & Refining Body Scrub or Toning Massage Oil.

Those are the 2 items that garner a lot of use from me and while I don't always follow massage protocol step by step, I do my own variation of it some nights and would like to think that helps a little too. At least I'm not slapping-on-and-going!

Thanks for reading!

Do you like pampering yourself with scrubs and body oils sometimes?

Disclosure:
Products were provided to me for review consideration.
I am not affiliated to them and all opinions expressed are my own.