Battle of the Body Butters

April 26, 2012 by Hasmita Nair • Lifestyle, Uncategorized • Tags: get pampered • 5 Comments

I only discovered Body Butter about a year ago. Previously I had been using Vaseline lotion. I just wasn’t prepared to spend more than R60 on a tub of cream that would be used up in a couple of weeks. But I heard too many people singing the praises of how awesome body butter is, so I decided to try it. Myself, and my wallet – unfortunately, have never looked back. Be warned, once you start with body butter, it’s very hard to go back to supermarket lotion. I’ve actually started showering twice a day and even looking forward to my showers because the body butter experience is so decadent. I love the way my skin feels after I’ve just “buttered” myself.

The question is: which body butter is best?
I bought a couple of my favourite premium products and put them to the test.

So the contenders are: L’Occitane, Crabtree & Evelyn, Charlotte Rhys and the Body Shop.

Price:
Now I can manage paying full price for Charlotte Rhys and The Body Shop’s products, but L’Occitane and C&E are just too expensive. So I wait till they go on sale, which is usually pretty frequently.

L’Occitane is the most expensive, priced at R170 on sale or R340 full price for 100ml! I can easily use 100ml in a week, so this option is not feasible for me.

C&E is about R260 on sale or R520 full price for 200ml. This usually lasts me a while and has been the option I’ve been favouring as of late.

Charlotte Rhys is R170 for 400ml, definitely the best value for money…

And the Body Shop, at R120 for 200ml, also not bad. They also run specials very often so you can pick this up for less.

Quality: I think sometimes we feel that if we pay up for something, it means we’re getting a premium product. I’ve learnt that this is not always the case. I’m more than happy to pay more for something if I feel I am getting a better product, but I do not want to be ripped off.

That said, I do think that L’Occitane and C&E are premium to the other 2. L’Occitane is a “harder” cream, so less liquidy than the others (9 o clock on this pic). It offers great moisture and the fragrances are soft and pleasant.

C&E (6 o clock) is quite spreadable, and I feel it really nourishes my skin. I’ve tried pretty much all the fragrances and I think they’re all great. I can tell that there is a noticeable difference when I use it. However, I think that it may be too expensive to be sustainable, even on sale!

Charlotte Rhys (12 o clock) offers fragrances that are absolutely delicious, and if you go with them you can afford a shower gel and body butter with the same fragrance. I currently use Nivea shower gel because I would be absolutely broke if I had to buy a premium gel as well! However, the cream itself is a bit too “thin” for me and I feel that isn’t as easily absorbed as the others.

Lastly, the Body Shop (3 o clock). Also a very ‘hard cream’, but I am quite impressed with how well it nourishes. I tried the chocomania flavour, and people around me kept commenting that I smell like a sweet coconut! If anything, that would put me off using the product. I don’t want my body butter’s cream to overpower my perfume!
That said, I will be trying other fragrances, and if I find one I like, I just may (reluctantly) switch over from C&E.

Hope this helps you… interested to know what you guys use and which body butter you prefer 🙂

xxx
H