A few months ago, I reviewed the Fresh Beauty Lychee bodycare products, which you can read here. In this post, I will be reviewing another interesting Fresh scent for bath and body as well, and it’s the Citron de Vigne. This scent comes in candle form, perfume, lotion, and hand cream, among other things. While I have not tried the soap, candle, and fragrance versions, I do have a review of the shower gel, body lotion, and the hand cream below.
As an overview, the Fresh Citron de Vigne scent is what I call a good sweet citrus scent. It doesn’t have any acidic notes that you’d typically notice in most citrus-blended fragrances. I find it to be mild and definitely pleasing to the senses and has that overall Summer and vine vibe to it. When comparing it to the other citrusy scents from Fresh Beauty, like the well-loved Fresh Brown Sugar (which doesn’t smell like brown sugar at all) or the Fresh Sugar Lemon, well, the Fresh Brown Sugar has a really strong citrus scent which is very spa-like, and the Sugar Lemon isn’t my favorite because it has a really weird blend of lemon and probably too much sugar that it smells more like a popular toilet spray. But anyway, the Fresh Citron de Vigne is a very good light scent that is not heady and is not overpowering.
Body Lotion (10 oz: 26 USD) – This lotion is paraben-free, sulfate-free, and is mostly made of clean ingredients. Also, this has shea butter and Vitamins C & E that really moisturizes the skin while being lightweight and creamy in texture. Like most Fresh body lotions, this cream doesn’t sit on top of the skin, therefore, this gets absorbed easily. On top of that, this is not sticky and you can double this as a foot cream because this really delivers intense moisture on the skin and there is no need for reapplication. Once a day is enough.
Bath & Shower Gel (10 oz: 23 USD) – This has the same scent as the lotion and has the same texture as with most Fresh shower gels, which is thick yet very easy to lather. You only need to use a few pumps of the product and you’ll get a nice refreshing shower.
Hand cream (1 oz: 14 USD) – I would have totally fallen in love with this hand cream but I have a few reservations. While I don’t question the super-rich and moisturizing texture of this, as well as the wonderful scent, I don’t like the fact that this hand cream is really small. Not so much in terms of packaging, but more like in terms of content. It seems like the whole tube is only filled with half a product. Other than that, this cream really keeps your hand from drying.
Bottom line, the Fresh Citron de Vigne is a really nice mild scent that won’t give you a headache. Also, I recommend the body lotion and the shower gel if you haven’t tried them already, but I’m not quite sure about the hand cream.
Dry shampoos are for me those things I try to avoid using as much as I can, but it’s always a good idea to have them for convenience because you’ll never know when life happens and you won’t have the time to wash your hair. For me, they’re not only a time-saver, but they’re also a life-saver. They help to make me look human in times of busy days, sick days, or whatever it is that has kept me busy which therefore prevented me from cleaning my hair.
I honestly don’t like the feeling of using dry shampoos on my hair, not to mention any hairsprays or any additional hair products that could weigh down my strands because my hair is quite flat and straight. So, most of the time I prefer to wash my hair every day. But you know, things don’t always go as planned, and also, there are times when you just don’t feel like moving or doing anything and you opted not to shower. Yeah, we’ve all been there, after all, we’re just humans in this world, right?
I’m very picky with dry shampoos. I don’t like anything with a strong lingering and overpowering scent, and they may require a messy application and leaves messy powdery white residues that could stick to my clothes. I mostly wear dark solid colors and I don’t want to spend some time dusting these residues off my clothes when I’ve got somewhere else I need to be asap. Because of these reasons, there’s literally only four brands of dry shampoos that I like so far. I tried two dry shampoos from some other brands before but I got disappointed. So, I’ve been sticking with these four.
Here now are my four favorite dry shampoos as of the moment.
Dove Beauty Refresh + Care Detox & Purify Dry Shampoo (5oz: $4.89) – My first favorite dry shampoo and one of my fave drugstore finds. This dry shampoo is affordable, easy to find, and it works. It may not work as well as the high-end dry shampoos, but it gets the job done. It’s perfect for a hair that is unwashed for a day, but after two days, this may not be that good at absorbing oil anymore. Well, it depends, if you have normal hair, this might work for up to two days, but on me, this doesn’t help much if I go on two days without cleaning my hair. The scent of this is nice, kind of like perfumey fresh and it doesn’t leave any residue. FYI, I will be reviewing more types of this Dove dry shampoo soon, so stay tuned for that.
Klorane Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk (1 oz: $10, 3.2 oz: $20) – This is the dry shampoo that impressed me immediately after spraying it on my hair. I love this a lot because this has a mild scent and it works well at absorbing oil from my hair. It also doesn’t weigh my hair down, and it can make my hair look clean and normal up to the second day without washing it. It also makes my hair look a bit volumized. This also doesn’t leave any residue but I don’t like that the regular/large size of this is a bit small for its price. Also, this dry shampoo used to be so easy to locate at my local Sephora, but now I have to order this in Sephora online or at Amazon. There are also other types of Klorane Dry Shampoo available, so I will be reviewing them as well here in the blog pretty soon.
Oribe Gold Lust Dry Shampoo (1.3 oz: $22, 6 oz: $44) – This is a luxurious dry shampoo with a very luxurious scent. It doesn’t leave any residue on the hair and its packaging is large. For me, this restores the look and volume of my hair and it makes it look really clean, crisp and airy. On the second day, with my hair being oily and all, this was almost impossible to work with and that’s after putting a lot of it on my strands. I can totally understand why some people gave this dry shampoo some lukewarm reviews. I think because this is a bit mild for those with oily-prone hair like mine. I believe this would work best if you have a normal hair type. Nevertheless, this dry shampoo is one of the best out there.
IGK First Class Charcoal Detox Dry Shampoo (2 oz: $14, 6.3 oz: $27) – This is a superb dry shampoo that doesn’t have a very strong scent. Instead, it smells fresh and it leaves no residue. I love its large packaging and for its price, I feel like this is probably the best dry shampoo out there, especially in terms of its performance. This makes my hair look totally clean and fresh-looking, not just for one day without washing it, but even up to the second. This can definitely handle a greasy hair, although I think you may need to put a lot of it somehow. Overall, this gives me that normal-looking hair with some volumizing effects.
Do you have any personal favorites when it comes to dry shampoos? Do you use any dry shampoo at all?
Facial Toners are probably the skincare product I used to skip a lot. I don’t remember exactly what had gotten me to start using them diligently, it must be that I just really took my skincare rituals seriously since I’m tired of seeing zits and blemishes on my face. I’ve been hooked into Facial Toners for a couple of years now and since then, I noticed a big improvement in my skin.ย We may not realize it, but toners do play an important role in skincare. I have probably experimented on a lot of Toners in the past, and still, I feel like there’s not really a lot of good Face Toners out there. However, I did find a few that seems to work for my skin. So here now are my favorite Facial Toners, a few of them have been a constant favorite for years, and also, there are some that are current favorites or new discoveries and are definitely holy grail-worthy.
One of the first and my most favorite Facial Toner of all time is the SK-II Facial Treatment Clear Lotion Toner (5.4 oz: $76). This toner is gentle and calming to use. It doesn’t leave any residue on the skin and it’s non-drying. There’s almost no scent and it gives a refreshing feel. Its main ingredients are AHA and Pitera – which is rich in amino acids. With that being said, this toner gives a youthful glow over time, and it pretty much balances my skin tone and it also improves and evens my skin texture. My skin used to look dull and tired-looking, but after using this toner for more than 2 years now, my skin has been looking radiant. It also seemed to control my hormonal breakouts, and it brightens and heals whatever zits I have, which is amazing because it usually takes a while for my blemishes to go away. I usually use this Toner right after washing my face, and I soak a cotton pad full of it and just dab it deeply into my open pores and it preps my skin for any serum or moisturizer. It usually takes a while to see this Toner’s effect, but with time, you’ll notice the difference. As with almost all of my reviews talking about SK-II products, I definitely feel like my good skin days always happen whenever I use SK-II. My face overall just looks smooth, glowy, and my oily T-zone seems less likely so. Because of that, I also use their Facial Treatment Essence, which is also great at making my skin look its best. The only drawback with this Toner and as with most SK-II products are the prices. This is definitely a pricey toner even though its packaging is large enough to last me about 2 months. I do try to use it conservatively though as much as I can. But yeah, by now, you know that I really love SK-II products and I highly recommend them.
Probably the closest dupe to the SK-II Facial Treatment Clear Lotion is the Son & Park Beauty Water (11.49 oz: $30). It comes in a really large plastic square bottle and you could find it right now at Sephora. It is a K-beauty favorite and has really good reviews online. I’ve also heard about the popular K-beauty brand Missha as having a similar ingredient/toner to the SK-II Facial Treatment Clear Lotion, it’s called Time Revolution Toner, but I haven’t tried it yet. Anyway, back to this Beauty Water by Son & Park. I usually purchased this Toner whenever I don’t have a budget for the SK-II one. It’s not exactly alike, but it’s similar enough. It’s also a very mild Toner with faint fruity ginger scent, kinda like the scent of the Belif True Cream Aqua Bomb. All throughout my use of this, I noticed that it’s good at removing some remaining makeup residues and it doesn’t dry my skin. It made my skintone look more even and it also feels very calming and so refreshing. I even use this as a face mist and it leaves my skin supple.
This Fresh Rose Deep Hydration Facial Toner (8.4 oz: $44) is an Allure Best of Beauty Winner 2017 and I was surprised to have fallen in love with this at first try. I thought this would be too harsh for my skin, but it’s not. This is actually so refreshing and so calming that I literally zone out every time I use this. LOL. Also, this toner’s packaging is too cute to use and is simply pretty to look at. Although I’ve heard some people say that it looks like one of those jars in their chemistry labs filled with some experimental stuff, LOL again. But anyway, this toner is definitely gentle and I can attest to this since this is pretty much alcohol-free, non-drying and this seems to moisturize a bit. For me, this has all the bells and whistles of a perfect Face Toner like removing debris and purifying the pores, as well as removing extra makeup residue left. But what I love about this is how it really helps soothe my face during breakouts. I just love using this Toner whenever I get those raging hormonal zits and it seems to calm it down, leaving my breakouts reduced in size and almost cured the next day. So, for me, this toner has a therapeutic effect which helped my skin a lot. The packaging is pretty large too, so you can use this for some time.
Next thing is the Dr. Andrew Weil For Origins Mega-Mushroom Relief & Resilience Soothing Treatment Lotion (6.7 oz: $34), which is a Toner that got the clean skincare seal from Sephora and is fairly new to me. I’ve only been testing this for a couple of weeks now and who knew mushroom skincare can be so good for the skin? This is literally a very gentle toner even though the scent may not be so gentle, but it’s not bad. It has an aromatic herb-like scent which is soothing of course at least for me, but for some, it may be too much (but I doubt it). I haven’t noticed any dramatic results or improvement of this Toner on my skin yet, but what I do notice is that it never broke me out, I mean, it’s expected because it’s made of clean ingredients like reishi mushroom (anti-inflammatory) and probiotics among other things. It also seems very calming on the skin and it pretty much relieved my skin’s redness.
Last but not the least is the Caudalie Beauty Elixir (1-3.4 oz: $18-49). This is also a new discovery for me, but from the moment I tried this, I literally was like “Where have this toner been all my life?” Apparently, this product has a cult following and I wasn’t a follower of it? Hmmm… I don’t know what kind of sorcery is in here but I was really impressed the moment I sprayed this on my face. It literally made my face smooth and soft and my pores didn’t feel so rough at all. It actually kinda tightened it and my skin looks glowy. Furthermore, it feels soothing with its rosemary, mint, and rose scent. It also has some orange flower water. I usually use this prior to applying a serum or moisturizer during the day and also as a face mist to refresh my face during the afternoon and evening. It’s also great as a setting spray for makeup and it really evens it out, reducing any chances of cakiness. This is definitely on my holy grail list now and it’s definitely worthy of being called a beauty elixir.
Bottom line, it’s good to use Face Toners regardless of what brand you’re using or planning to use. I personally think that you shouldn’t skip on this skincare ritual since it’s very important to prep the skin after washing the face. Also, Facial Toners remove extra residues of makeup and dirt that may not have been removed by usual face cleaning, even after double cleansing. On top of that, Facial Toners are very beneficial in purifying the pores. The only downside about Toners is that they get used up a lot, so it’s always a good idea to purchase them in the largest packaging possible, even though most of them are already housed in large containers. So yeah, there goes my favorite Toners of all time, I hope it helps you in finding a favorite one as well.
