The Body Shop - Hand Cleanse Gel in Coconut - Review

Quick Summary: A delicious smelling and quick drying hand cleanser! 

The price...

For £2.50 for 60ml of hand gel the price is about right! It is definitely on the more expensive side of hand gels but currently in the UK if you want a hand sanitiser that doesn't smell like pure alcohol you are going to have to pay a bit more for it! They are currently 3 for 2 though so I got three of these in three different scents (Coconut, Pink Grapefruit and Strawberry) for £5.00 which I did think was a much better deal! 

From the outside...

The look of this packaging isn't particularly impressive, I wasn't actually drawn to the hand cleansers in The Body Shop, they were in a wicker basket and not well-advertised, the only reason I knew they existed is because I saw them online recently and wanted to try them myself! Taking a picture of this product to try and make it look appealing was actually very hard, so I just snapped a plain picture, no fancy angles or anything today!

The good...

This smells incredible! To me it smells almost identical to 'Malibu' which is up there in one of my favourite alcoholic treat! When you first smell the product it smells really strong of alcohol but this does disappear slightly once you rub it in, personally I like my hand sanitisers to smell at least slightly like alcohol as alcohol is mostly what kills the bacteria!

You don't have to apply too much of this product to cover your hands, other hand gels I feel like you need to use a much larger amount for the same effect, so although I've only been using this a couple of days- I'm hoping it might last for a few weeks at least with everyday use! 

It also dries really fast compared to some cheaper hand gels so it's really good for on-the-go as it doesn't take much time out of your day at all to apply! I haven't found this hand gel to make my hands dry or sore but I am a very lucky person and my hands seem to be able to deal with a lot and not get dry, so I can't really comment on that too much.

The bad...

I can't actually find on the internet or anywhere that this hand gel is actually proven to kill bacteria! It must have some anti-bacterial properties as it contains alcohol but it has no '99% bacteria killed' guarantee anywhere, even on the actual body shop website, the question of whether or not the product is anti-bacterial enough to be able to used in the workplace remains unanswered! As an ex-student nurse (Never even got past my first semester, it's such hard work! So super congratulations to all you nurses and student nurses still there!) the one thing that really stuck in my mind was cleanliness and feeling like I can't actually trust whether the product is cleaning my hands or not really makes me think that maybe it's not any good at all! At least not for serious use!

Overall...

I'm still going to use this product as it does leave my hands feeling clean and I'm sure it's cleansing enough for most peoples hand cleaning needs (as long as you remember to wash your hands properly too!) However, unless anyone can provide any solid evidence it's really powerful at killing bacteria, I would not recommend this product if your job or lifestyle needs mean that your hands need to be super-duper clean!

Thanks for reading, don't forget to wash your hands! :D

Zoe

xxx

How to use a Bubble Bar- Lush Cosmetics - Mini Guide

Any really dedicated Lush Cosmetics fan will have their own personal method for using a bubble bar! However, they often forget that to the average person, a bubble bar is a confusing experience! I mean, why have bubble bath in a solid form? I'll tell you why- because it REALLY works! 

A mini lush Comforter bubble bar from the 'Bunty' gift set from Lush Cosmetics! 

So... why solid bubble bars? Why not a liquid bubble bath? 

One of Lush's main priorities other than making you smell great is to protect our environment, as she is pretty lovely and plastic bottles don't do her much good! No packaging = No waste = Happy planet! I also find that the bubble bars work better than liquid bubble bath, as long as you know how to use them! 

How expensive are bubble bars?

This changes a lot but they range from about £3.00 to £4.50 and this depends on the size! It probably seems like a lot, as it's similar to the price of a bath bomb and hey, bath bombs are way more fun right? True but bubble bars can be cut into pieces and used more than once! (unless you are feeling particularly greedy!) Meaning they are still a pretty expensive way to bathe in bubbles but not quite as ridiculous as people are thinking!

How much of a bubble bar should I use?

This is such a difficult question! It depends on the bubble bar! I would personally cut a full size 'Comforter' bubble bar into about 6 pieces and a smaller bubble bar such as a 'Karma' bubble bar into about 3 pieces! However this is up to you! How bubbly do you like your bath? Also how powerful is your bathroom tap? 

The more powerful the water pressure- the better the results! 

If you have jet taps or a power shower you could probably use even smaller amounts of a bubble bar than this! 

METHOD ONE: Crumble under the tap!

Probably the classic method of lush bubble bars, you run the water at the perfect temperature, crumble the bar under the running tap, maybe 'swooshing' around the water as you do it! Simple, works well enough! Only con to this is if your taps don't run at a nice temperature (mine don't, it's hot or cold) is you could hurt yourself!

METHOD TWO: Tights!

This method is a bit experimental, you cut off the end of some old tights, pop the bubble bar into the tights and tie it to the tap and let the bubbles flow out! This method is good because you don't have to constantly have your hands under the tap but it's probably also the most effort as nobody wants to have to 'prepare' to have a bubble bath!

METHOD THREE: Sieve! 

Nice and simple, put your bubble bar piece in a sieve and hold under the tap! Stops your hand getting wet and lets the bubbles flow! I think this method probably gives the most bubbles, whilst tights and crumbling methods are pretty equal! This is the method I use the most often as the more bubbles- the better!

Bubble bars are a colourful, environmentally-friendly and exciting way to bathe in mountains of bubbles just like the movie stars! I love them!