Palmer's Olive Oil Formula with Vitamin E Smoothing Shampoo & Conditioner

Palmer's is frequently known for their skincare products, so I was really surprised when I saw them venturing into haircare as well! I got this in a set which came with some free samples of their shampoo in other ranges as well as some skin care products. The pharmacy doesn't sell this set anymore, but a search online shows that you can get a similar set here for RM43.80. I think the shampoo would be about RM20++ individually? The shampoo comes in a 400ml bottle while the tube of conditioner is 250ml.


So this is what the Palmer's Olive Oil Formula range looks like :

Both products contain extra virgin olive oil for shiny hair (shampoo) and  soft, silky hair (conditioner). Extra virgin olive oil helps give hair strength & shine, and was in use since ancient times as a beauty product. Yup, use it on your hair, not just your salads! Both products are also further enriched with vitamin E, which is said to help hair growth. Of course I had my doubts using shampoo from a company known more for moisturising skin, but I have to say, I am blown away! I love this shampoo & conditioner set!!

First of all, it smells really nice and comforting. It doesn't smell chemical-ly or harsh... it really does smell like olives! The shampoo is creamy and a cute, light green in color. Lathers up really well and leaves hair feeling really cleansed and refreshed. I also like the fact that when I use Palmer's , I can go back to washing my hair only once every two days and I don't get "the itch". I hated using some shampoos in the past because build-up happened so fast and even not washing for a day will cause your scalp to start itching and flaking. Horrible! Now my scalp feels really cleansed and refreshed.

The scent of the conditioner isn't as strong as the shampoo, but it still does it's duty to help my hair feel even MORE soft and manageable. It complements the shampoo really well! Hmm... nothing much to talk about the conditioner...

Conclusion is that this is a really good product from Palmer's and I'm seriously considering repurchasing next time when I run out of shampoos! Hair is softer and silkier, but I don't think particularly shinier, but I really like the cleansed feeling + the lack of product build-up. Thumbs way up in my books already. :)

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Palmer's Olive Butter Formula

I finished using my Nivea Extra Whitening Inner Cell Repair Body Milk, which was my night time moisturiser. Therefore, I could crack out something new from my Drug Store Stash, which is my Palmer's Olive Butter Formula with Vitamin E moisturiser! The product claims that this is "Organic Therapy for Healthy Skin" and is made with certified organic extra virgin olive oil.

The product claims to take care of your skin in 3 ways :
* unique lipid structure moisturises instantly
* loaded with antioxidants to keep skin youthful
* emulsifies on contact for superior skin smoothing

Having used Palmer's Cocoa Butter formula before, it's natural for me to compare the two. I didn't like the Cocoa Butter smell, and I found it rather greasy (at times), but the moisturising effect was a big WOW. In contrast, this one has no weird smell. It smells really nice and fresh - a "green" kind of scent. As the product proudly touts - this indeed does penetrate the skin quickly and is absorbed ASAP.

However --- though it does leave my skin feeling smooth DURING application, I feel like this feeling fades away very quickly. I don't mean that I feel like my skin has no moisturising lotion on at all... but the effect is not as amazing as the Cocoa Butter one. Also, due to its light scent, its easy to forget whether I *have* put on my moisturising lotion already or not. -__- I wish that Palmer's could find some middle ground between the Olive Butter formula and the Cocoa Butter formula. I feel like this one is just too light! I remember the AMAZING feeling I had with cocoa butter ---- it would last from morning til night!

Anyway, I've only used this product for one week, so I can't tell if there's any benefits gained in terms of gaining skin youthfulness or making my skin healthier. I can tell you after finishing my entire bottle of Nivea that there was no INNER CELL repair, as far as I can tell EXTERNALLY. -___- But I still like Nivea's milky scent, am still a fan of their products.

Hopefully, I will get more amazing results from this product as time goes on. Do you think I should be more heavy handed during application? I always use my standard "one long pump for each limb" method of measurement, haha. And a lot of friends say that it is way too much...

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Stuff I Rarely Use (But Still Use!) Pt Trois

1. Dove Go Fresh Cool Moisture Beauty Bar Soap with Cucumber and Green Tea Scent
A refreshing and cooling soap with a really nice & invigorating scent. Last time, this could only be bought overseas, and my friend bought back a few bars of soap for me. She said that she loves to slip a few bars between her clothes in the cupboard because she likes the fragrance so much! I do agree that it has a nice smell, but I won't go to such lengths, haha.

The soap is rather "soft", so after using it for a while, it's very likely that it'll go all mushy on you on your soap dish. You have been warned! I only use this soap to wash my hands, so I can't comment much on how well it cleans the body, etc. However, I have a few bars so I might review this again at a later date. Not really big on bars of soap because I hate cleaning out the soap dish... but sometimes a nice, handy bar of soap is so much nicer to use than certain shower gels... I have a LOT of soap to try... (mostly taken from hotels! hahaha!)

2. The Body Shop Spa Wisdom Africa Spa Salt Scrub

Bought this back when Body Shop was having a sale, and since I was mad for sales, I bought it though I didn't know much about it. It was pretty pricey, this and the moisturiser (reviewed below) ended up costing about RM100+? Still, I really really like it, this is a very effective body scrub, and if you believe in the magical healing properties of salt, then this will be right up your alley.

In general, I don't like tub-style packaging, no matter how classy this one looks, with the cute latch and all. I don't like dipping my hands into a tub, as when you are bathing, your hands are wet, and if you get water into the salt scrub, it will start "melting". I mean, it's no biggie, but it'll look yucky la (a small pool of water inside your tub of salt scrub).

The texture for the Salt Scrub is just the way I like it - slightly firm (indicative of a lot of exfoliation beads --- or in this case --- salt), kind of slicker version of putty. It also doesn't melt that easily, so a little bit really goes a longggg way.

The only drawback for this thing for me is probably the price and the smell. It kinda smells very waxy to me, and I prefer to rinse off with some other yummy smelling shower gel before towelling off. Guaranteed smoother and healthier looking skin, and you only need to use it once a week. Oh, and be careful not to use it when you have small little cuts, else you will be stinging in the shower! Hahaha. But I guess that's true for all salt-based body scrubs.

3. The Body Shop - Spa Wisdom On a High Hydrating Puree
Was convinced by the sales assistant that this is THE product to go with the Africa Spa Salt Scrub (after I mentioned that I thought salt scrubs would be too dehydrating and rough on the skin - silly me, I could get my own moisturiser outside if I'm worried about that, right?). As mentioned, it's pretty pricey, and keep in mind that I bought both items while they had 10-20% discounts! I definitely won't repurchase if it's at the original price.

This item comes with andiroba and rose hip oil, leaves a very light smooth & silky feeling, but not super moisturised like my Palmer's Body Butter. I'm very impressed with how easily this product gets absorbed into my skin. Seriously, one of the most easily absorbed, with no lingering greasy feeling product ever... Since it's very light, it's suitable to be used in our Malaysian hot weather (if you use greasier products like the Palmer's I mention, it's a weird feeling to be sweating and having the sweat running down your body-buttered arms... I just cannot describe it. You have to live that experience for yourself). Also leaves a nice "cooling" after-taste, delicious on the skin.

Not a bad experience with this one, but Body Shop is really too expensive to be featured on my drug store beauty website. =)

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