Review - Frank Body Coffee Scrub and Frank Body Body Cream

Hello gorgeous!

Today I’m going to welcome February with a dose of caffeine. Last month, Benscrub kindly send me two products to try and review. I was utterly excited as the beauty package arrived at my doorstep. Not only because it contained a wonderful product, but also because the loveliness of the package itself. 

I actually took some time in opening the package and adored it. I gotta say that this is the best beauty package I ever got from an online store. The goods are carefully put inside a shoebox with a girl’s face picture on it and has a mica sleeve with a mask, so that when we put the mica sleeve, the girl’s face will look like she’s wearing a facial mask. Talking about some creative idea! Benscrub even put that box inside another shoebox that I assumed specially made for this new year due to the 2016 drawing design. It has lovely pink pastel and gold color. Look at the pictures down below and you will understand why I need to dedicate one paragraph just to elaborate the packaging for you.

Now, let’s talk about the products. I got myself Frank Body Scrub in Original and Frank Body Cream. Both are essentials for a smooth and glowing skin. One is for buffing and the other for moisturizing. As usual, any skincare that I am going to review, I will need at least two weeks to one month of trial. Why? It’s to ensure that I really feels the difference between before and after on my skin. Skincare doesn’t work instantly, it takes time to show results.

The first one is Frank Body Scrub Original. How many of you have heard about it? The infamous ground coffee scrub that claims to be able to get rid of dry and flaky skin as well as targeting other bothersome skin condition such as eczema, psoriasis, cellulite, and stretchmarks. 

I heard about this famous scrub some time ago and was tempted to try one, but since I still have some (oh not many, only four tubs *guilty*) scrub products waiting to open, so I attempt on self control and restrain myself from buying it. But when it came on my doorstep, well I just have to try it! Stat!

The scrub is packaged inside a brown paperbag with foil on the inner side. A similar bag you get when you buy coffee beans or ground coffee at the coffee shop. No need to worry about to move it to other container (you can if you wanted) because the bag has a sealant like a ziplock. You just need to scoop the scrub out (2 full tablespoons are enough for my face and body), put it on a little dish, close the sealant, and you can start buffing. 

 

I consider the scrub is dry, which the ground coffee is mixed directly with the oil instead of other liquid (water). And because the main ingredient is ground coffee, it doesn’t melt when it contacted with water such as sugar or salt, allows you to polish your body as long as you want without spending too many products wasted down the gutter.

 

The ground coffee chocked full with caffeine stimulates the blood flow helping the skin to repair the skin problems such as eczema, psoriasis, cellulite, and stretchmarks.  Another ingredient is sweet almond oil (one of my favorite oils) which high in linoleum and oleic acids that promotes skin healing. It is also hydrates and nourishes the skin while reducing the appearance of pigmentation. A plus point is all Frank Body’s product is free from animal testing. 

The scrub is quite abrasive, and as such, you who have sensitive or thin skin will feel it’s a little bit rough on the skin. You might want to buff your skin gently at first to get used to the texture. I guarantee your skin will be as smooth as baby’s bum afterwards though. I like to shower myself with water first before I start polishing my face and body with the scrub, that way, the water can help the scrub slides better and will not feel too harsh on the skin. 

As for application tips, since the scrub is going to be literally everywhere and it can be a little bit messy, better to use it inside a shower box where the mess can be contained. I’m actually wondering whether the ground coffee will clog my gutter eventually due to it. Buff your body well from your face to your feet with a circling motion. Focus on your problematic areas or the areas that is extremely dry or flaky. If you have sensitive facial skin, you might want to test it out a bit before you scrub all of your face. As for me, I have been using it on my face for several times and all is well. Let the scrubs sit for 5-10 minutes. A little tip, before you start scrubbing, put on your hair mask and while you’re waiting for the scrub, you can massage your scalp to let the hair mask is well absorbed. Other thing that you can do while waiting is to polish the sole of your feet with a foot scrubber to remove the skin deadcells.

 

Buff your skin one more time before you rinse the scrub away and then lather on your favorite shower gel to clean your skin. You might want to wash your body really carefully because the scrub leaves brownish residue on your skin after you rinse them away. You don’t want to stain your towel brown, don’t you? 

My skin felt exceptionally smooth afterwards and even after washing it with soap, my skin did not feel dry. I supposed the sweet almond oil really work its charm. What’s great is my skin still feels smooth even after several days passed. Love love it!

As for its claim for reducing the appearances of cellulite and stretchmark, in my experience, it has not proven to be true, yet. Let’s just be realistic here, my stretch marks are 6 years old, which I supposed will not be gone within only 1 month usage of the scrub. And as for cellulites, the caffeine in the coffee will help the blood circulation better, but I still believe that clean eating and exercising regularly will do wonders in eliminating them (something that I have not done in a long time *guilty*). Will I continuously using Frank Body Scrub? Hell yeah, I will! Even though my main concern is not about my stretch marks (I already make peace with my stretch marks hehehe). I’m just amazed with how my skin feels with regularly scrubbing it with Frank Body Scrub. 

The next product is Frank Body Body Cream. Encased in a round wide short tub with the iconic brown font, this body cream is filled with a lot of moisturizing oils such as sweet almond oil, shea butter, and coconut oil. Frank also adds cacao butter and grape seed oil too in this cream, makes it a mean moisturizer for your body. 

The coffee scent is not too overwhelming and the texture is pretty lightweight for a body cream which makes it easy to absorb by the skin. If you are spending a lot of time in air conditioned room, then Frank Body Cream is perfect for you because it will help to keep your skin supple. I would not recommend it for you who have a lot of outdoor activity though, because the cream could melt and makes your skin feel greasy. 

I personally, love to apply it before bedtime to keep my skin smooth and supple while I’m sleeping. No more dry flaky skin when I wake up in the morning. Woo hoo!! My favorite bedtime body cream is Bliss Body Butter due to the coconut oil ingredient that is potent in keeping my skin moisturized, but the price is quite steep, so I’m glad I found Frank Body Body Cream to accompany my beauty sleep.

There you go.. my lengthy review on both products hahaha.. Hope you enjoy reading them and can help you to decide whether it is going to be a good product for you or not. Or have you tried Frank Body products before? Tell me what do you think about them on the comment section below, ok?

You could find these products at Benscrub, an online beauty shop that sells Australian beauty products. With their mission, to rethink beauty by presenting a line of essential that celebrate realness than to cover it up, Benscrub has stole many of Indonesian babes’ heart. You can find brands such as Aesop, Kora Organics, Sukin, Grown Alchemist, and etc there. Good service great product, I couldn’t ask for more. 

Check their products here:

Instagram : @benscrub

Website : www.benscrub.com

Facebook : www.facebook.com/benscrub

Until next time, gorgeous!! 

Cheers,

Stef

July Favorites : Fresh Soy Face Cleanser & The Body Shop Peach Body Scrub

Summer oh summer! Who loves summer? I do! Starting July, summer is here! This is a review about my two favorite things in July which are Fresh Soy Face Cleanser and The Body Shop Peach Body Scrub. Happy reading, gorgeous!

Don’t you love the feeling of clean and supple skin after a whole day of full activity? Cleaning my face while I’m taking a shower after a long day always been a refreshing part. I usually double cleanse my face by massaging my face and neck (yes, don’t forget the neck area please) with a cleansing oil. I’m still loyal with my Kose Softymo Deep Cleansing Oil for a good lather of my makeup. After rinsing it, then I would use my facial wash. If you read my previous blog post about my skincare routine, you guys must’ve known that I frequently changing my facial wash because I’m still looking for a facial wash that is gentle but can clean my face effectively, without leaving my skin too squeaky soap dish commercial clean. I heard a lot of good review about Fresh Soy Face Cleanser for quite some time and found some online shop sells them. So, when I’m running out of my Body Shop Aloe Cleanser, I decided to purchase one (the 50ml) and give it a try.

It said that it is suitable for all skin types and it is extra gentle yet effective enough to cleanse your makeup even mascara. You can see the highlights of the ingredients on the picture below. Those ingredients will deliver a radiant and healthy looking complexion. 

The texture is gel like, similar to Cetaphil cleanser, and it’s not a creamy type of cleanser. It doesn’t make bubbles or foam which means, its soap free. The cleanser is fragrance free too, so if you smell something, it comes from the natural ingredients. For me, the cleanser has cucumber and rose scent, with the cucumber scent to be more dominating than the rose. It smells so refreshing! Another treat when I’m cleansing my face hehehe

The aftermath result, my skin feels soooo smooth, supple, and not dry. It feels clean without your skin feels stripped. This soy cleanser is definitely gentle. I felt that during my usage of this cleanser, my skin texture is improved. They appear to be smoother and softer. Me likey!!

It is easily become one of my favorite cleansers, but unfortunately the price tag is a bit steep. I finish that medium tube in 7 weeks. Maybe because its gel texture, so it makes me tend to squirt more than I have to hahaha.. But seriously, if budget is not an issue, then this face cleanser is something you want to keep in your cleanser line up. I really really like this one; I squeezed it until the last drop hahaha 

The next product that I reached a lot in July is The Body Shop Peach Scrub.

In summer, a smooth luminous skin is what we want to achieve, especially when you are planning to have a holiday somewhere exotic, like going to an island or a beach. You gotta show that polished and luminous skin, girl!

One way to get it is by frequently scrubbing your skin, like once a week. Scrubbing your skin will cleanse your skin from its dead cells; helping it to regenerate better hence the new skin will grow healthier.  

I bought The Body Shop Peach Body Scrub when they had a sale some time ago, thought that Peach scent will uplift my summer mood. The texture is creamy and a bit thick, with peach seed as the scrub. It contains sweet almond oil and peach kernel oil which are great because it can retain moisture for your skin. I chose this because my skin type is normal to dry, so anything creamy should do some good for it.

I usually will rinse my body with water first before I lather the scrub all over my body, that way the scrub will not feel too harsh for my skin. Rub it in circular motion to scrub those dead cells, make sure you scrub your body really well. Finally, rinse your body with warm water (or cold, whichever fits you). Since I usually find my body still feels a bit oily after rinsing it with water, I wash myself with shower gel afterwards to really clean the scrub and my skin. If you have extremely dry skin, you might want to reverse the step by cleaning your body first then end it with scrubbing it. That way, your skin will keep the oil from the scrub and stay moist after you pat it dry.

I adore my skin after I scrubbed. It feels smooth, soft, and supple; makes you want to touch it all the time hahaha.. The peach scent will usually still linger even after I washed it with soap. What I love the most from this scrub is it doesn’t drying at all. Sometimes, when I scrub my body, the smooth soft skin will only last for one day, and then my skin will turn to be very dry afterwards. But this peach scrub does not make my skin dry at all. It stays moisturized for days, thanks to its creamy texture and the oil in the ingredients I supposed.

Last week, I went to The Body Shop counter again and saw Mango Seed Body Scrub is on sale. Buy one get one! I did not miss the chance and grab them. I wonder if this scrub will also do a great job in polishing my skin. I heard mango seed oil is also good to moisture your skin. So stay tune for another review on it.

What is your favorite body scrub? Any product that does your skin wonders? Please let me know via this blog or my IG account : @stefaniecarolina 

Cheers,

Stef

 

Amazing Grace - Philosophy

The first time I encountered Philosophy was some time ago in Siam Paragon shopping mall. At that time, Philosophy just opened their counter in the department store and they were giving out perfume paper sample. I usually don't like taking those papers, but curious with the new brand, I took it. I never regret my decision to take the paper because the scent had become one of my favorite scents now. The scent called Amazing Grace. It is one of Philosophy’s Grace lines. 

Philosophy is known for their inspiring quotes on their products. They want to give their customers a beauty product which not only makes us look good, but also makes us feel good about ourselves. It inspires us to enjoy and celebrate our unique individuality and honor ourselves. I personally love all the quotes on their products and would love to try more of their products in the future. 

Back to the fragrance, I was instantly attracted to the scent because it’s so soft yet so fresh. The fragrance has the perfect amount of feminity and definitely boosts up your classic style. A scent that will not gives you a headache in case you spritz too much, because the smell is fresh and clean. For me, it feels like I roll around in a freshly clean sheet and I love to spray it all over my body. 

That is why I decided to purchase the Amazing Grace set that consist of 30ml Amazing Grace Spray Fragrance, 2oz Perfumed Body Butter, and a bottle of nail polish with matching color theme which is soft baby pink. It was a gift set to celebrate Mother's Day, which explains the mother and son/daughter pictures on the box packaging.

The spray fragrance is definitely my favorite. As for the body butter, I found the texture is a bit too thick to my liking. The texture is not buttery creamy but more like just buttery without the cream if you get what I mean. I did not really enjoy the application process because it did not glide and absorbed easily on my skin, though after a while, it did not leave sticky feeling on my body. The scent has more or less the same as the fragrance, so I usually layer it with the spray fragrance afterwards. 

 

It seemed the nail polish is not in the permanent line which explains why the quality of it is a bit disappointing. There is nothing special with the color and I think I can find a better quality nail polish with the similar color. 

I am on my second bottle of Amazing Grace right now and still lovin everything about the scent. I will buy it again and again until I don't know when. I wish it will never be discontinued *crossingfingers*. If you have a chance to encounter Philosophy, try to stop by and browse through their products. I also heard good review on their skincare products and might want to check them out if I have the chance.

Have a wonderful weekend, gorgeus!

Cheers,

Stef

September Haul

Its rainy season here in Bangkok where the sun comes out is really much appreciated. A perfect weather to roll and curled up in your bed or having a cup of coffee or tea while watching a movie or reading a book. Though the weather is a bit gloomy, it doesn't mean that I have to be gloomy as well. This is the month where I launched my beauty blog, so it is a very exciting month for me. Another way to spruce things up is of course by having new babies to toddle in my dressing table. So, here they are:

Bliss Fat Girl Slim
Bliss The Love Handler
Maybelline Magnum Volum' Express Mascara
Blistex Simple and Sensitive Lip Balm
YSL Touche Eclat

I am particularly excited with the Bliss products since I have been working out for the past month (again) to keep my body healthy and to lose some what I called Bangkok fat ;p. So I hope this firming body care will help me achieve that fit and toned body I'm currently working on. Will do some reviews in the future!