Hey everyone!

I hope you had a great week! (And that it was less rainy than mine... I swear, it only rains when one's on vacation, but you've already been told that by Murhpy, so I won't bother again.)

Mum and I had some business to take care of in the city center, and you'll never guess what happened: on our way back she went into a perfumery on her own to sample a pefume the name of which reminded her of an old perfume she used to own and love. My Mum. The one who practically has to be dragged into a cosmetics store by force every time I want to check something out. The one with whom I fought for years over my ever-growing collection of make-up and skincare items and from whom I (almost) hid every new product I bought. The one who still blames every catastrophe that happens in the world on cosmetics...

Yep, that one. ^_^

By the way, she was interested in the new Hermes fragrance Un Jardin Apres La Mousson.

We sampled both the old and the new version and she ended up liking the new one. We didn't buy it, but she promised herself she would when one of her businesses breaks even.

By the way, both the old and new version are exceptional for me: even hours after we sprayed them on they were not nauseating, and I can definitely imagine myself wearing them regularly, which is a rare thing for me. The new version reminds me more of a lush garden just after a spring shower, and I highly recommend it for summer. Upon sniffing the old version, my immediate reaction was: "Hmm, watermelon and something else... Aha! Black pepper!" And it turns out I was right. :-)

I'm not good at describing perfumes, both because it's difficult to begin with and they're not my biggest love, so I suggest you check out this perfume blog, where you can read a much more concise review on it than what I could provide you with.

Now that I'm done with my usual digression, let's turn our attention to what I promised to give you in this post's title.

Yep. I got it. After so many years of pining after it, I finally got it.

The Body Shop's Blueberry Body Butter. (E-Bay is a cosmetics-hungry Hungarian girl's best friend...)




I'll start with the most important thing you need to know about this product. It's a body-butter (well obviously...), and as such, you want to apply it the right way. If you've ever owned a LUSH body-butter (not a massage bar!), you probably remember that it was to be used in the shower or in the bath, under running water. You had to apply a small amount onto wet skin, massage it in and then rinse off.

The emphasis in the case of both body-butters in on "small amount" and "water". It's essential that you treat your body with TBS's Blueberry Body Butter while it's still wet, and that way you only need the tiniest amount for it to make your skin silky smooth and moisturized for a long time.

Take a look at the picture below. On my fingers is an amount that's enough for me for my arms, or my stomach and waist, or one of my legs. I only say this because I've read reviews on MUA by so many women who claimed this stuff is greasy and horribly thick that I felt I had to clear things up. Yes, if you put it on dry skin, you can bet it's going to be greasy and thick. I actually cannot imagine using it without water; it's almost impossible to do so anyway.




(Erm, yeah, I know, I have hands like that of a baby... Not very feminine, but my Dad's genes were kinda adamant in exercising their will, I guess.)

Anyway, I can't really tell you about the smell, at least I won't be able to make you imagine it, but it's juicy and spicy at the same time, much like blueberry yoghurt smells. Delicious!

Now it's effect is definitely something to rave about. What no other body-lotion, cream and butter had managed to achieve, this one had. The Body Shop's Blueberry Body Butter made my hands and my cuticles moisturized and incredibly soft right upon first application. (And keep in mind, I used the tiniest amount: probably a quarter of the size of a pea was enough.)

This body butter is something to turn to when no other product seems to be enough for your skin. After a nice shower, I put it on my skin in a very thin layer, and my entire body was smooth and hydrated all day. Sure enough, it felt just a tad heavy in 30 Celsius degrees (86 F), but this is a very thick body butter, and judging by that and the label, according to which it's meant for dry skin, it's bound to be too much for me in the summer, but will probably be perfect for my skin in winter.




All in all, The Body Shop's Blueberry Body Butter has been a great product so far, one I can highly recommend for women with dry skin and for those of you who, like me, suffer from dry, itchy skin all winter. Also, if you want to surround yourself with delicious scents (that don't last longer that two or three hours, unfortunately, but still smell wonderful), then don't pass The Body Shop's body butters up: they were made for you. ;-)


BTW, I saw Disney&Pixar's WALL-E today! I dare say it's even better than Ratatouille, and I loved that one very much, so that's really something. There's not much dialogue in it, but all the different ways in which Wall-E can say "Eeevaaaa!" (and vice versa) will surely make your heart melt. :-) If you want to see something cute, funny, exciting and visually stunning, then go and see WALL-E in your local movie theater.


 

Have I told you already of my first, and so far only, experience with The Body Shop? If not, then now is the time. It's a really funny story actually and it took place when I was only 12 years old (i.e.: almost 13 years ago).

On a chilly autumn Monday, Mum and I traveled to Vienna and spent a really fun and happy day there, discovering stores, visiting museums and castles, and walking the streets of this wonderful city. By the end of the day we had gotten bored with all the museums and castles, so we headed to Maria-Hifer Stasse which is practically the Oxford Street of Vienna: it's full of classy stores, which in turn, are full of the kind of products that just make a beauty-addict's mouth water.

Just before we had to turn our back to the street and head back to the bus station we stumbled upon this really colorful and fragrant store in which I could see hundreds of tubes, pots and bottles, waiting to be examined one by one. (I knew I couldn't do anything else but gaze as we didn't have money to spend anymore.) So I persuaded my Mum to enter this one last store and let me take a look at all the beauties a bit. Naturally, I felt as if I had died and gone to Heaven: all those colors, the various scents and bottles, the pots, the tubes...

And the bath pearls. They were sitting in glass bubbles, waiting to be scooped out with a small spoon-like thingy and they came in practically every scent the shop could offer. And they were cheap. Mum finally took pity on me and allowed me to pick four bath pearls. I chose Orange, Apricot, Strawberry and Blueberry. All through the way home I kept sniffing at them and pampering them as if they were babies, but already I was particularly drawn to one of them: the blueberry-scented one. Later, I gave two of them to my best friend, Erika: she chose the Orange and the Strawberry, which left me with the Apricot and the Blueberry. Taking a bath in a tub of water scented with the Apricot bath pearl was nice but forgettable. Now, on the other hand, when I finally decided to use up the Blueberry pearl... It was pure bliss.

The funny thing is that for years I tried to figure out which store we were on that Monday or what brand we bought those bath pearls from, and only a few years ago did it finally dawn upon me that it was a Body Shop store. Of course, once I figured it out I immediately started to form plans of how I'm going to go back to Vienna and raid that store once again. :-)

Perhaps I can forget about those plans now. You see, a few days ago a member of the Hungarian women's forum I often visit posted a letter she received back in 2007 from The Body Shop upon enquiry about when they will finally come to Hungary. Below you can find the contents of the letter.

Dear Ms.....

Many thanks for your enquiry. We are delighted to advise that The Body Shop will be entering the Hungarian market within the next year and we have already selected a franchise partner to assist us with that move. We hope that you will continue as a valued customer of The Body Shop other markets where we are already established until the Hungarian market opens. Looking forward to your custom.

With kind regards,

emea.info@thebodyshop.com

This means that, together with many fellow Hunarian ladies, I'll soon be able to tear down and empty a Body Shop store and surround myself with that old blueberry scent I love so much. Yay!!! :-)


 

I know, I know... I should just go and take shots of birds, sunsets and pretty flowers instead of bugging you with my swatches. But I can't help it, I enjoy taking pics of my make-up sooo much and the weather outside is lousy anyway...

Oh, by the way, this going to be totally random, but there's a rumor on my favorite Hungarian women's forum that there might just be a chance that we'll have The Body Shop in Hungary after all. Some ladies decided to take matters into their own hands and planning to fly over to NYC to start negotiating with the folks at TBS. There's another rumor, however, according to which a Russian company has already bought the franchise and will bring TBS to Hungary in 2009, aaand everything will be insanely expensive...

Okay, I'm at a total loss when it comes to business and trading (I'm an arts graduate, after all... :-) so I don't exactly understand all this, especially why the fact that the franchise belongs to a Russian company would make the products so expensive, but whatever... I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hope that the above mentioned ladies succeed in the end.

Okay, let's move on to the Bourjois Rouge Connection Lipstick Swatches. About a year ago there was this huge discount on Bourjois products and I managed to "swipe" quite a lot of stuff for ridiculously low prices. (Think 3 USD for a lipstick or gloss and 1.5 for a nail polish.) That's when I bought these lovely lippies too, and they've been my favorite ever since. (Right after the glosses, of course: those are the absolute winners.) These lipsticks have a nice, smooth texture, a pleasant smell, and thankfully they're not matte like those from the Pour la Vie line. (I have several of the latter kind too, but I need to use them with a lipbalm underneath.)

If you click on the piccy, you'll get a much bigger picture this time. ;-)

Oh, by the way, the lipsticks don't have names, just numbers.