Hey friends!

So, to start off, sorry I’ve been a little quiet this week. My parents were in town visiting, as well I’ve been preparing for my trip to South East Asia (more on that later!) so I haven’t had much downtime lately.

However, I wanted to introduce a new segment to y’all: Love It or Leave It! In these posts, I will be reviewing new products I’ve bought and share my first impressions of them. To kick it off, I’m starting with two new products I got from Sephora this week from Herbivore Botanicals!

I’m gonna start off by talking about the Crushed Amethyst Exfoliating Body Polish. I’ve had my eye on this one for a while, it kept popping up on my Instagram feed so I followed Herbivore and checked out their products. Absolutely everything they carry looks amazing, but this one in particular caught my eye. I consider exfoliating to be one of the more important parts of my routine — it helps to keep your skin fresh and soft, while also avoiding clogged pores and any other gross excess build up on your skin. However, I’ve never managed to find an exfoliator I’ve both loved and been able to purchase continuously, as many of the products I’ve tried came from subscription boxes where I couldn’t purchase the product in Canada, or were discontinued.

I was kind of worried I was getting too excited about trying this product and it wouldn’t live up to the hype. But the moment I opened it and smelt it, I was already pretty sold. It smells of lilacs, which is a super nostalgic scent for me and a personal favourite of mine. My mom was there when I opened it, and without even trying it the scent alone pretty much sold her on buying her own.

However, the real test obviously comes with the results it gives, but boy does it ever give them. This stuff left my skin SO soft and smooth, I’m already pretty convinced this product is going to be my go-to for life. It has fairly large granular particles in it, which exfoliate super effectively. One of my biggest pet peeves with exfoliators is ones that are too watery or soft, meaning you really have to scrub to see results — but this stuff was SO effective without rubbing harshly on my skin. Furthermore, it has some oil component to it which helped moisturize my skin, but it wasn’t so oily that it was overwhelming or gross. I could go on and on about how perfect this stuff is, but I think you kind of get the point. Overall, the verdict is: LOVE IT.

The other product I tried was the Rose Quartz Illuminating Body Oil. I’ve tried a super similar product once in the past that I had been so excited to try and ended up hating it — so I was kind of hesitant to purchase this. The last body oil I tried was heavy and greasy, while also providing a ver oily looking “illumination” that came from the oil and not from the glitter/bronzer of the product. However, this stuff seems pretty legit. I’m not 100% sure I’m totally sold on it — time will tell if I give up my regular moisturizer for this stuff. However, I have to say it definitely left a good first impression. The illumination factor isn’t insane — which is actually kind of nice. I’ve yet to try it out before going out in the day but it seems to give a more natural, healthy glow rather than looking super glittery or oily. Also, compared to the other oil I tried, it’s pretty lightweight and absorbed pretty quickly, so I felt moisturized instead of greasy. On top of all that, it has an AMAZING floral scent to it, and the bottle makes application pretty easy. The pump gives a good amount, while not making you pour out oil by yourself (which is super challenging to do with oily hands) or drip out small amounts in a dropper. So, overall, so far so good. I’m gonna give it a few more weeks before I decide if it’s something worth purchasing again, but so far the verdict is: LOVE IT!

So, there you have it! You can find the exfoliator on Sephora here, as well as the body oil here. And be sure to check out Herbivore Botanicals here! Not only are their products amazing, but they’re all vegan, cruelty-free, as well as only using organic and active ingredients! These are the first two products from their line that I’ve ever tried, but I can say without a doubt they won’t be the last. If you’ve ever tried their other products yourself and have any recommendations, drop them in the comments below!

That’s all for now!

Much Love,

Meredith