Apple & Bears Luxury Body Care Gift Set - Grapefruit & Seaweed

Monday, 29 December 2014 09:32
Written by Richard Boughey
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Apple & Bears Luxury Body Care Gift Set Grapefruit & Seaweed, £34.95

Apple & Bears Luxury Body Care Gift Set - Grapefruit & Seaweed - 5.0 out of 5 based on 6 votes

This is going to be a little more complex than normal as I've asked my friend G. to try these products as well as me so this blog will be a combination of both of our views! Let's start with the products themselves.

Introducing Apple & Bears Grapefruit & Seaweed Body Wash

Restore your body and oxygenate your skin with this potent anti-oxidant and mineral enriched Grapefruit & Seaweed body wash. Pure Grapefruit extracts boast vitamin A and C renowned for producing healthy skin. Detoxifying Seaweed improves skin texture and is known to reduce cellulite, whilst nourishing and restoring your body with essential minerals and anti-oxidants. Get ready for a re-generating and detoxifying bath and shower experience. Apples & Bears

Key benefits: • Formulated for men and women • Suitable for all skin types • Suitable for Vegans and Vegetarians • Paraben, SLS and Phthalates free • Gluten free • Available in 300ml / 10.1 fl oz & 500ml / 16.9 fl oz

Ingredients: Aqua (Water), Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice Powder*, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Lauryl Glucoside, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Disodium Lauryl Sulfosuccinate, Coco-Glucoside, Glyceryl Oleate, Sodium Chloride, Decyl Glucoside, Sodium Benzoate, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Citrus Medica Limonum (Lemon) Peel Oil, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Oil, Citrus Aurantium Bergamia (Bergamot) Leaf Oil, Citrus Aurantifolia (Lime) Peel Oil Distilled, Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Peel Oil, Ascophyllum Nodosum Extract*, Fucus Vesiculosus Extract*, Laminaria Digitata Extract*, Elettaria Cardamomum Seed Oil, Salvia Sclarea (Clary) Flower Oil, Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root Oil, Myristica Fragrans Fruit Oil (Nutmeg), Camellia Sinensis Leaf Oil, Tocopherol, Hydrogenated Palm Glycerides Citrate, Ascorbic Acid, Limonene, Linalool. *Ingredients from Organic Farming. Natural and Organic cosmetic certified by Ecocert Greenlife according to Ecocert standard available at http://cosmetics.ecocert.com. 99% of the total ingredients are from natural origin 12% of the total ingredients are from Organic Farming.

The sniff test on this is interesting as it's very nice, very fresh but not really a grapefruit smell (or even a seaweed one). It's more like watermelon to me but let's see what G. makes of it.

Introducing Apple & Bears Grapefruit & Seaweed Body Silk

Invigorate your senses with our luxuriously smooth Grapefruit & Seaweed Body Silk. Freshly squeezed Grapefruit and nutrient rich Seaweed nourishes your skin with a rich blend of minerals and vitamins while refreshing bursts of citrus deliver a deep, long-lasting hydration. Light and non-greasy, our natural active skin firming ingredients gently firms and tightens your skin, while the refreshing aromatic hints of citrus stimulate your senses. Apples & Bears

Key benefits: • Formulated for women • Suitable for all skin types • Natural & Organic Ecocert Greenlife certified • Extracts from real fruit and flowers • 100% Natural fragrance • Gluten free • Suitable for Vegans and Vegetarians • Natural active skin firming ingredients • 100% FREE from animal testing • No Parabens or Phthalates • Available in 250ml /8.5 fl Oz

A little something about Apple & Bears themselves

...is a family owned and operated, British company that produce luxury cosmetics made from the finest organic and natural ingredients. Our formulas are created by a team of specialists dedicated in the field of natural and ecological products.Our manufacturing process pursues ethical and social responsibility towards the environment. Each of our products are manufactured wholly in the United Kingdom and overseen by our head office in Wraysbury, England. Apples & Bears

Charity

"Here at Apple & Bears we believe it's the little things we do that make a big difference: We are proud to be an official partner of Breast Cancer Care with our commitment to donate a portion of our profits to this very important cause. With the sale of every bottle we donate 5% (including VAT) to the Breast Cancer Care charity as we continue to dedicate ourselves and support this cause by helping those in need.When you buy a bottle, you can make a difference too.Our bottles and packaging proudly display the Breast Cancer Ribbon and affirms our continued commitment to support this worthy charity."

To have a look at the Apple & Bears website go here. There are few retail options to purchase their products at the moment but you can look on their website for online options. Having a look on the Big Green Smile website the prices for these products are:

Apple & Bears Grapefruit & Seaweed Body Wash - 300ml - £18.00
Apple & Bears Grapefruit & Seaweed Body Silk - 250ml - £22.00
Apple & Bears Luxury Body Care Gift Set - Grapefruit & Seaweed - £34.95 (this is the one I actually tested)

What are G findings after a 2-week trial?

So on to the blog! Let's see what the two of us think :). Sorry for the (slight) delay: Christmas! G has been using the products for a couple of weeks and this is what she thought.

I was very kindly given the Apple and Bears Grapefruit and Seaweed Luxury Body Care Gift set to try and review, and upon receipt the packaging and look of the product was very appealing. Apple and Bears have an organic and fresh-looking product, and the fact that 5% of their sales go to Breast Cancer Care is of real appeal to me. G

Unfortunately the fragrance of the product didn't match the 'Grapefruit and Seaweed' label that I was expecting, more of a generic "fruity" scent. On the other hand I'm in two minds about whether that's a bad thing; I'm not a fan of grapefruit and smelling of seaweed isn't so appealing to me either! G

Note: Since we started trying the product Kay, Co-Founder & Managing Director at Apple & Bears, has provided some extra information regarding the fragrances of their products. For this one "...the main ingredients leading to the fragrance is the Bergamot Leaf Oil and Cirtus Aurantifolia (Lime) peel with additional scents combined which gives it a distinctive citrus fragrance as there is no known grapefruit fragrance." The Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Peel Oil and the Fucus Vesiculosus Extract (seaweed) ingredients give rise to the name rather than the fragrance.

The texture of the body wash was a lot less 'luxurious' than I had hoped for. The wash had a pleasant fragrance but didn't lather very well without using a body puffer, and was reflective of a fairly low to average grade product. (Bayliss and Harding came to mind). G

The body moisturiser was the most disappointing; again a pleasant smell, however lacked the ability to absorb into my skin without vigorous drying movements (you can imagine!). I used very little of the moisturiser because I got bored of waiting for it to absorb. When it did eventually do so (I used it for 3 concurrent days), the moisturiser didn't leave my skin feeling any softer. G

G provided this picture of the Body Silk not absorbing into her skin

What would be G overall recommendations?

I tried this product before looking at either the Apple and Bears website or the price of the products, and my guess (purely based on the quality of product) would have been circa £5-£7 for each bottle, and around £15 for the set. Having taken into consideration the quality of the product versus the high quality 'organic' packaging and branding, I would expect to pay no more than £25 for the set. Having then seen that the product is priced at £35 for the set was a little surprising. G

The Apple and Bears website is high quality and aimed at a middle class consumer group however the quality of the product really is not reflective of this, and I personally wouldn't be prepared to purchase the product. All in all, excellent look and feel of the product, however disappointing in quality and end result. G

My intensive testing of the products during 10 days

Okay so not so great from G. On to me.

Day 1: Okay so they came with me to the gym. Not the first choice for location I admit but it's what I do so it's what they do. The body wash can be used on your hair which is great for me at the gym. I mentioned that I like the scent which is fresh and very nice. The texture is... gloopy. I really rather liked it but it is a little unexpected. G mentions that it doesn't lather up and that's true but again I quite liked it. It's very gentle but cleanses well. There is however no scent in use or scent transfer which disappointed me.

On my hair (and as ever this is different for me as my hair is very very short) the body wash worked fine and I was happy enough with it.

I liked the body silk. It's light and easy to use. For me the silk did absorb into my skin and did transfer the scent. The absorpsion is likely to be because I have much much older skin than G and frankly I need the extra moisture.

So day one for me was fine. I liked both products and they worked well. Let's see what day 2 brings!

Day 2: (well sort of!) G took the products back to take the picture above so I didn't actually use them yesterday but... I did get to let others try sniff tests. Everyone who tried really liked the smell and the packaging. They all had the familiar scent confusion as per above but no one was bothered and everyone liked it either way.
Day 3: Took them to the gym again and liked them again! I really don't have the issue that G does with the Body Silk. It absorbs easily and works well for me. G and I compared notes and as you can see from the picture it really doesn't absorb into her skin. She tried it with a few colleagues and they liked it and it absorbed well. I suspect amount and need are entering the picture!
Day 4: Another gym day and everything was fine. As I've already said I like the gloopy texture of the body wash and also the low lathering (probably not a word!). I am though tending more towards G as regards the moisturiser. You have to hit a sweet spot to get the absorption. Too much and I struggle but too little feels, well to little!
Day 5: In France! Yes the blog never sleeps so the two bottles have traveled to a French ski resort. They were packed in the hold given there size but didn't suffer from explosive opening after there flight. It interesting but here the scent seems stronger which I think is the less rushed nature of using them in a hotel rather than at the gym. The body wash is still nice but the silk is struggling more which given my general level of dehydration seems odd.
Day 6: The second day of skiing is over! I've been using the silk as a general moisturiser before skiing and to be fair it's choping fine. As ever the amount has to be carefully judged but... The scent is definitely more obvious but it almost makes it worse as it fades so quickly. Anyway they're making a nice alternative to the hotel products.
Days 7 to 10: No daily updates as I've been focused on the skiing! But I have been trying to find the right amount of body silk to use. Basically a full pump is too much and a quarter one about right. There will be a photo when I get back to show what I mean so hopefully it'l make sense then!

On another note, I'm not seeing any firming despite using the silk everyday. Oh well, on to tomorrow.

Okay so it's hard to see but this is the body wash. As you can see (hopefully) the liquid is quite stiff but that's fine by me as it's much easier to use in the shower.

The left blob is the full pump and the right the quarter pump. That's the one that works for me as it's enough to moisturise for me.

What would be my recommendations?

This has been an interesting experiment with both G and I reviewing the products which gives a very different perspective. G really didn't get on with them and I had an initially good experience but gradually found them less satisfying. Overall I liked the body wash but wouldn't choose to buy it and whilst I could use silk again I wouldn't choose to. I liked the quality and the ethos of the products but not the price. Great products but in the end not ones for me.

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Apple & Bears | Natural Organic Luxury Body Wash Collection Apple & Bears

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Comments

0 #9 clare.mckenzie 2015-03-01 11:03

I have not seen the brand on the shelves and would be interested to test out the body wash. I am currently using L'Occitane and would be interested to see how these products compare in terms of gentleness and fragrance. and of course price!

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