The Body Shop Shea Body Butter

The Body Shop® difference: Our Body Butter is the original and in our humble opinion, the world’s best. But we aren’t the only ones who think so. Our Shea Body Butter is a hit with celebrity fans like Jennifer Lopez, Victoria and David Beckham, and Reese Witherspoon. So you are in good company when you indulge in the luxurious, 24-hour, non-stop moisturizing formula, packed with Community Trade ingredients. And you can feel good when you use it, knowing that you are helping to provide a community of women in Ghana with regular work and income. 

Best if you want to: Treat your skin to non-stop moisturization with a rich, intensive cream featuring the clean scent of shea. 

Best for: very dry skin 

How it works: Community Trade shea butter has antioxidant vitamins A and E to help protect and nourish skin. Community Trade cocoa butter is an excellent moisturizer that melts at body temperature, leaving skin soft and silky smooth.

Yes, until very recently, I was a Body Shop virgin because as much as I've wanted to try their body butters, I always thought they were too pricey for me - come on, why would I want to pay $18 for a 200ml body butter that I can find at Wal-Mart for only $6 (I'm talking about SPAresource body butters)? I've always been happy with those drugstore body butters but I ran out of them and my eczema always seems to worsen in the winter and there's no way I will use a body lotion instead, it's just not enough moisturizing.

So at the beginning of December, I stumbled accross The Body Shop's 3 for $30 offer on their whole website, and I figured out it was the perfect time to give those mystical butters a try as they would cost only $10 each with free shipping. To see what I have ordered and to read what I thought of their customer service, you can click here to be brought to my shopping post.

The first butter I decided to try was the Shea Body Butter as it's designed for very dry skin and from what I have heard, it is claimed to be the thickest and most moisturizing of all The Body Shop body butters, which is exactly what my parched and eczema-prone skin needed!

L - R: 200mL and 400mL body butters

I ordered this body butter in the jumbo format (400ml) because it was included in the 3 for $30 offer, but otherwise, it retails at $25 (!!!) Even though I was warned, let me confirm that yes, the jumbo size is really jumbo! At first I was worried I wouldn't be able to go through this humongous tub before the end of the winter (I don't use body butters in the summer, they are just too heavy) and I only hoped it wouldn't go bad too soon, but I have been using this butter since the beginning of December and I'm already half way through it (I use it every night after showering all over my body).

As soon as I started using the Shea body butter, I fell in love with its amazing texture. The consistency is dreamy - rich, creamy and perfectly thick - exactly what I'm expecting in a body butter! Some say it's greasy, but hey, this stuff has been designed for very dry skin for a reason! If you have extremely dry, dehydrated skin, like me, it soaks it all up in a matter of seconds without leaving greasy residue behind.

In the tub, the butter looks hard and solid but it really melts as soon as it comes in contact with the skin.

It's a little hard to describe what Shea smells like but I would say it's a sort of neutral clean and fresh smell that is slightly earthy and nutty, with a hint of floral. I think it's a very creamy, cozy and comforting smell that is not overpowering but I would not say it's very light either. I also doesn't linger on the skin very long, which is disappointing in my opinion.

At first, I must say I wasn't blown away by this butter. I mean, I have tried quite a few body butters in the past and I always went back to the ones from SPAresources because they were inexpensive, did the job quite well and had that perfectly buttery texture. However, I have realized that with continuous use, The Body Shop Shea Body Butter soothed my irritated skin and I haven't experienced any eczema flare-ups since I started using it. Sure, my skin still ocasionally itches and sometimes I have to apply moisturizer in the morning to get me through the day, but I haven't feel the need to reach for my steroid cream and this is a big step forward in my book.

Of course, the main issue for me with these butters is the price: mini (50 ml / 1.7 oz) for $6.00, regular (200 ml / 7.0 oz) for $18.00 and jumbo (400 ml / 13.5 oz) for $25.00.  I won't need to buy these full-price anytime soon because I guess it will take me a long time to get through the six butters I ordered in December, but The Body Shop always has some kind of deals going on such as buy 1 get 1 50% off, buy 3 get 2 free, etc. But still, I'm not convinced these body butters are a must have if you don't have problem skin that requires heavy-duty moisture.

The body butters are available on The Body Shop website and you get free shipping with any purchase of $75 (be sure to check out RetailMeNot for coupons before ordering!)