Five New in the Shower Room

I had a handful of products that I’d started all at the same time in the shower, not many of them seemed like products I would struggle to write a whole post dedicated to them, so I thought it might be fun to do something a bit different and talk about five recent new starters in my shower.

Bilou Fizzy Berry Shower Foam


We’ll start with with this one as when I hauled it there there were lots of curious people wanting to know what it was like to find out whether they should try it for themselves. Bilou is a brand created by German Youtuber,  Bibi – from Bibi’s Beauty Palace. The range has had huge success in Germany and now accounts for over 8% of personal body care market share, that’s huge considering it’s a product that’s been bred through social media.

Anyway, less of my interest from a marketing geek point of view. The range has a handful of five different scents, all of which are very sweet, candyesque like fragrances. The range consists of Coco Cocktail, Candy Floss, Tasty Donut, Pink Melon and the one I opted for Fizzy Berry (I was actually hoping to snag the watermelon one as I love watermelon fragrances). The fragrance is just as how it sounds, it’s sweet but not sickly with a sherbet style fizz that makes it smell like a drink or a sweet rather than pure fruit.

I’ve tried a few of these types of shower foams before and I’ve always found that I go through them very quickly, maybe it’s because I’d normally pick something a bit less ‘teen’ when it comes to fragrances normally and Ben would end up stealing it without me knowing. But this does seem to be lasting a long time, I step out of the water and let myself drip off a little whilst I put a squirt into my hand and watch it foam off over a few seconds. I find if my body is too soaked in water the product ends up dripping off so quickly before I can really wash myself or do anything with it, but letting myself having 10-20 seconds means I can spread it all over easily with just a handful. The creamy formula feels quite nice and nourishing on the skin, more so than a regular shower gel, but less so than a shower oil, I did find that it also doubled up as a shaving foam too. For the price I’ll definitely be trying more of these in future, although the candy cotton and donut scents really don’t appeal to me – I don’t like smelling/my house smelling like food and baked goods!


The Body Shop Shea Body Scrub

I’ve tried a few different Body Shop Scrubs in the past, there’s lots of different fragrances and formulas available and in the past the sugar scrubs have never really been my favourites. The reason for that has been that they seem to melt into wet skin pretty quickly and I end up having to use a lot of product as I can’t spread it around the body as much as a product that doesn’t emulsify.

I was expecting to say that this was identical – bar scent – to the apple sugar scrub from TBS that I picked up last year after Christmas, however this is a lot better. The sugar particles are larger and grittier than similar ones I’ve tried, whilst it does still emulsify because it’s larger, it takes longer and spreads further. Add to that the effects of the shea are pretty noticeable. It has a much thicker and balmier feeling base that when the scrub is rinsed away it leaves the skin feeling well nourished. When dry the skin feels incredibly soft and moisturised, it kind of reminds me of the Nivea in shower moisturisers which I used to use a few years ago and loved, but for some reason not purchased in a while.


Herbal Essences Bio Renew Clean Shampoo

I’ve been seeing this newer collection of Herbal Essences around for the past couple of months and I’ve been instantly intrigued, mainly because all the different scents sound like they would smell incredible. Being someone who tends to have oily roots that get greasy quickly but dry ends it can make choosing a shampoo/conditioner hard. I decided to go for the Clean one to try and help with oilier roots and that just so happened to be the scent which appealed to me most too.

This is lovely balanced scent, it’s definitely sweet, but not as sweet as say The Body Shops Strawberry line the mintiness definitely takes the edge off. One thing I wasn’t expecting with this was that the mint would actually translate to leaving a tingly sensation on the scalp too, it’s quite light – not as intense as an Original Source Mint Shower Gel which at times has made me feel like I’m on fire if I’ve just shaved my armpits. But there’s definitely a noticeable sensation that lasts a good 30 seconds whilst massaging the shampoo through.

Like every time I wash my hair I tend to double shampoo to make sure any residue is rinsed away and my hair is thoroughly clean, I find if I don’t do that I have to go even shorter between washes which would mean I’m basically washing my hair daily, and I ain’t got time for that. I found that it left my hair clean feeling, smelling fantastic and with a bit of added shine too. This range is a bit pricier than Herbal Essences line at £4.50 a bottle and so far I’ve not seen them on offer anywhere either, which is why it’s taken me so long to actually get one to review as I’ve been waiting to see them on sale and haven’t. The price hike comes with some better features such as no silicones, colours or gluten. So far I’m impressed, and it’s left me intrigued enough to try a conditioner next time I need to rebuy one.


Excuviance Purifying Cleansing Gel

I’ve had this in my shower room since last summer and it’s never ended up being the one that I’ve picked to try next. I think because it’s absolutely huge for a cleanser the thought of committing to it has felt quite daunting. Excuviance is a brand I’ve had limited experience with, it’s not well stocked here in the UK, but their Clay Mask is one of my all time favourites I’ve meant to repurchase for a long time, so needless to say I had high hopes for this becoming some kind of skin saviour too.

This is a gel like formula and the scent of which kinda reminds me of the Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cleanser, if you have had that cleanser you’ll recognise the weird slight cleaning product type scent. Something I was willing to overlook because Kiehl’s works fantastically for me and I was hoping this would be a replacement. Sadly I just can’t pinpoint what it does for me, it doesn’t remove makeup well in the slightest, around the eye area it’s a bit uncomfortable to use as it foams a little too much, but over prolonged use I feel like my skin is deteriorating, whilst I’ve not had any new breakouts appearing (touch-wood), my skin feels tight and drier.

I’m going to have to move to it being something I use infrequently, it’s almost like a clarifying shampoo for the face, and the thought of keeping this huge bottle and using it not very often is annoying, it’s going to take me ages to see it in my empties. At £30 I expected more.


Sugar Baby Vita Skin Slim-Ulate Coffee and Coconut Scrub

Last year I became quite the fan of coffee scrubs and whilst I bought two from this brand earlier in the year I kind of ended up saving them, I have no idea why, I think it was for photographic reasons initially. This range is Coffee based with coconut, it definitely gives the scrub a different texture to other coffee scrubs I’ve tried. Picking it out it comes out in whole lumps, thanks to the ingredients list which includes coconut powder as well as coconut oil.

The effects on the skin are a similar to any other coffee scrub I’ve tried but just like Shea Butter scrub it feels a little extra moisturising. Whist I’m not a coffee drinker, I don’t hate the scent of coffee, you can smell the coconut in this but it’s still a predominately coffee scented product, if you’re not a coffee fan you won’t get around this with the slight hint of coconut it brings to the party.

This supposedly aids with toning and reducing cellulite, personally that sounds like someone from marketing made something up to me, and I’ve certainly not noticed any difference in that department in the past few weeks that this has been on the go. I tend to alternate this in once a week as I find the coffee scrub more effective than the sugar scrub, but it also comes with a lot of shower rinsing down an admin so using it more frequently doesn’t happen.


So my shower is full of recent hits, the only product I’m not getting along with too much is the cleanser, and I’m going back to finishing up my Kiehl’s one for my regular day to day use for now to get that one used up and gone, I’ll give this one another month and I think if I’m still not getting along with it infrequently, I’ll pass it onto a friend.

Let me know if you’ve tried any of these and what you thought, or whether there’s anything new I should be adding to my shower to try out soon. Also I kind of like doing this idea with other product categories, so if there’s one you’re interested in let me know.

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Helpless Whilst Drying

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25 Comments

  1. November 13, 2017 / 7:09 am

    I’m glad you’re enjoying the Shea scrub, I bet it smells divine! It is one of my favourite ranges from TBS. I bought a Vanilla Chai scrub at the beginning of the year but I stopped using it as I was worried it was making my legs itchy. My legs are extra sensitive but it feels like such a waste sitting there, I don’t have the heart to throw it out. I’m a little bit jealous of all the people who get to use shower/bath products haha x

  2. November 13, 2017 / 8:17 am

    You can’t beat a good gritty shower scrub! 😍 I’ve beeb really intrigued about the Bilou shower stuff so really pleased you have liked it – I’ll have to take a sniff next time I see them in store! Xx

  3. Sophie in Wonderland xo
    November 13, 2017 / 10:52 am

    I love this idea for a post! Shame about the £30 cleanser that’s a hella lot of money wasted!! I want to try the new herbal essences it sounds lush! I really want to try out Bijou as well I’ve seen it everywhere! Xxx

    • November 13, 2017 / 3:23 pm

      thankfully I got it at an event or I’d be going mad! I saw today the Herbal Essences are currently on sale in Boots!

  4. November 13, 2017 / 1:43 pm

    We were in sync today with our posts theme ☺️😘 I love the body shop Shea butters xx

  5. lipstickdenimandcoffee
    November 13, 2017 / 6:50 pm

    That coffee and coconut scrub looks awesome. Excuviance makes some good stuff. They have a peel I love.

  6. November 13, 2017 / 7:13 pm

    I love Herbal Essences, such good shampoo. I also like the sound of the coffee and coconut scrub, can imagine it smells sooo nice! xx

  7. November 13, 2017 / 7:17 pm

    I so nearly ordered Bilou shower foams but I wasn’t sure how good they were. You’ve made me want to try it now xx

  8. November 14, 2017 / 3:17 am

    You have so many goodies for your shower time! I loved this post because I think this is more of a “bath time” type of post, and as someone who doesn’t take regular baths, I am so interested in finding fun shower products.

    • November 14, 2017 / 1:06 pm

      I took a bath last when I was on holiday in June, and before that god knows when. Not a bath girl, find showers way more relaxing!

  9. Bethany Jane
    November 19, 2017 / 2:44 pm

    I love this little collection of products, I genuinely want to go out and buy all five of them! The Bilou stuff really intrigues me and I am with you on wanting to try the watermelon. I’ve also been using the Bio:Renew haircare, but in the argan oil variety. It’s really good but the conditioner smells a bit odd, so I’ll have to try out this Clean one next time. Side note, your photos are stunning!
    Beth x

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