Holy moly, the last of February already? Time sure does fly when you're having fun :) And this means that Barefoot Girl has now been in existence for a month. Wow. It also reminds me that in a months time, my blog as a whole will be reaching the big two years of age which sounds ridiculous, because it doesn't feel long ago that I was writing about the blog turning a year old!
Anyway, here is a fresh new review for you, of a product that I've been meaning to review for absolutely ages. It's been on my to-blog-about list for nearly a year now, and to be fair, I've only just started using the product properly anyway, so now is probably the better time to be blogging about it.
I was first introduced to Monoi Oil about a year ago, when I wrote a few pieces about the ingredient for a client, but other than that, I'd never really heard of it.I actually decided to buy this pretty much on a whim, on a P&O Ferry between Hull and Rotterdam, for a few reasons: A. Because it was cheaper than in-store, B. Because I remember hearing good things about this kind of product, and C. The Sales Assistant told me that it did good things for her skin. Okay, so I know I shouldn't be swayed by Sales Assistants, but even without her input, I'd probably still have snapped it up, purely out of curiosity!
The packaging is quite basic really. The oil comes in a clear bottle, that allows you to see the yellow-orangey color of the product, that contrasts weirdly well with the blue of the decoration on the label. I thought that the decoration was quite stylish and simple, but nothing exciting. I quite like the colours, however, I couldn't help feeling like the front of the label was a little too much information. When I'm buying a product, personally, all I want is to know what it is. If I want more details, I'll turn it around and look on the back. For me, that is the way to entice me in, because I'm as curious as a cat and you need to tempt me to want to know more.I'm also curious to know why the packaging includes both English and French? Is it because Body Shop is owned by L'Oreal? It seemed a little weird, and yet adding to the excessive packaging.
At first, I didn't think that the Monoi Oil had much of a smell at all, but it's one of those subtle scents that seems to hit you all of a sudden, but as soon as you've noticed it, it's gone again. It's kind of like when the wind blows the scent of a flower in your direction, but as soon as you smell it, the wind has changed, and taken the floral smell with it. It's a very light smell, which you'll know I'm a huge fan of.
Monoi Oil is promoted, by Body Shop at least, as being a hair and body oil, but honest to blog, if you have hair that gets oily really easily, I cannot stress enough how much you should not use this on your hair! Remember that it's an oil, and your hair and scalp already has enough of that, so don't add any more to it. If, on the other hand, you have coarse and/or dry hair, I couldn't recommend this enough for softening it up and bringing it back to life.Personally, I've been using this as a Bath Oil and I absolutely love it. I'm one of those really sad people who drops the oil into the water and then watches with great fascination as the blobs of oil float around, like little glass pebbles...except, floaty glass pebbles, which probably aren't made of glass, because glass wouldn't float, would it?
Having never used bath oils before, it was a really weird sensation to use this one, because you can genuinely feel the oil in the consistency of the water, even if you only put a small amount in. And I really do recommend only using a small amount. I decided to be experimental, the other day, and poured half a gallon in (slight hyperbole there, but y'know!). This made the water feel quite heavy, and just turned everything from my hands, to everything that the water touched into a complete oil slick, which isn't good when you're trying to open a slippery bottle of shampoo! Just trust me on that one! But honestly, you don't need much to notice the oil on your skin, from the moment you get in the bath.
Whilst I won't be using this on my hair, as a body oil, this is fantastic. After getting out of the bath, my skin, especially my legs, which are definitely a long ignored area when it comes to moisturising felt really lovely. Luckily, for me anyway, it didn't leave that much of a scent on my skin, which I like because strong scents make me feel ill. However, my skin still had a sort of "clean" smell, if that makes sense. It didn't smell like it would if you'd literally just washed the arm in water!I paid £8 for a 150ml bottle, and for the price, it's easy to look at the size and think that it's over-priced. I certainly felt like that when I was handing over my money. However, as I said before, you only need to use a few drops in your bath to feel the benefits, so the old expression of "a little goes a long way" does count. And, I think that if a product has longevity, then it's generally worth a higher price tag. Well, as long as the product is good in the first place!
As stated, I picked this up on the P&O Ferry between Hull and Rotterdam, in one of their "Duty Free" shops. Are they still called "Duty Free" by the way? I had a feeling that it wasn't specifically duty free, as such, any more, but a lot of ferries still do discounts. Oh, I don't know, I'm sure you all know what I mean :) So, yes, you can pick the oil up on P&O Ferries for a reduced rate.Or, you could do it the good old traditional way, and pop into your local Body Shop, where it's priced at £10 (considering you don't have to pay to travel on a ferry, this option probably works out cheaper really!!). You can of course, also buy it from the Body Shop website.
Has anyone tried Monoi Oil, from Body Shop or any other brand?What do you think? Worth the money? Did it leave your hair and skin feeling great?
