Living Cruelty Free

My name is Emily. This blog chronicles my spending a year (and counting!) of buying 100% cruelty-free cosmetic/household products (I have a list there in the sidebar — it’s called “cruelty-free companies” — go look!) I also write about boycotting inhumane factory farming (buy humanely-raised animal products!), my life in the San Francisco bay area, and my dog, who I cook food for.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Alba Botanica Papaya Mango Body Cream (4/5 stars)

alba-papaya-mango-cream.jpg Alba Botanica Papaya Mango Body Cream is from Alba’s “Alba Hawaiian” line in the yellow, orange, and green print bottles. It has the words “Alba Organics” on the side — I suppose this must be a new development at the Alba Botanica/Avalon Organics/Unpetroleum company. Maybe Alba Botanica is now Alba Organics?

Anyway, the cream is hypoallergenic, made from 75% certified organic ingredients, and filled with “tropical fruit enzymes and beta-carotene blended in a rich, luxurious body cream to soften, soothe, and smooth rough, dry, flaky skin.” To use it, you’re supposed to apply liberally to entire body, especially elbows, knees, and heels.

(It’s 100%-cruelty-free, vegetarian, and 75% organic. But it is not vegan.)

My take on it: Well, I like the jar — it’s a medium-sized plastic tub that is easy to carry around and doesn’t take up much space on any countertop. I like the fragrance — it’s very fruity and mango-ey, though it is a little chemical smelling, which I’m not so keen on. It has a wonderful texture — creamy and thick but melts into my skin pretty quickly for a thick cream, not grainy at all, very smooth, and not heavy or greasy. I do kind of wish it were a little thicker — I was looking for something primarily to moisturize my feet — I’ve been wearing flip-flops all summer long and my feet are really in need of serious moisture. I think this is a great rich cream for legs, arms, and hands, but really dry feet that have been exposed to really dry dusty conditions every day of the week? Not so much. I think I may have to find something else for that. (The other problem I have is that I usually put this on before I go to bed, and get it all over my hands, and then when I wake up and rub my eyes in the morning I get papaya-fragranced chemicals in my eyes and that makes my eyes tear. I think I’ll have to find an unscented foot cream somewhere . . . )

Alba Hawaiian Papaya Mango Body Cream (6.5oz) is available for $11.95 from the Alba Botanica online store, as well as Whole Foods and Longs.

Ingredients: Purified water, certified organic aloe barbadensis leaf juice, caprylic/capric triglyceride, carthamus tinctorius (safflower) seed oil, stearic acid, vegetable glycerin, glyceryl stearate, stearyl alcohol, butyrospermum parkii (shea butter), polysorbate 60, dimethicone, extracts of carica papaya fruit, mangifera indica (mango) fruit, cucumis sativus (cucumber) fruit, arnica montana flower and anacyclus pyrethrum root, aleurites moluccana (kukui) seed oil, macadamia ternifolia seed oil, rosa moschata seed oil, beta carotene, phenoxyethanol, ethylhexylglycerin, potassium sorbate, tocopheryl acetate (vitamin E), carbomer, caramel and fragrance.

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posted by Emily at 2:10 am  

4 Comments »

  1. I like this company’s products, but I do wish they’d make their coconut products with coconut scent. Have you tried any of these? I think I was going to buy one of these products once but the “coconut” didn’t smell like coconut.

    Comment by Wendy Koenigsmann — August 17, 2008 @ 7:55 am

  2. That’s interesting — I haven’t tried any coconut-scented Alba products, but I think I would be disappointed if it ended up not smelling like coconut. I LOVE the fragrance of coconut butter — it’s so summery and tropical . . .

    Comment by Emily — September 6, 2008 @ 2:33 pm

  3. i love the papaya mango body cream. and i love that they dont test on animals and leave the toxic chemicals out

    Comment by euphoriconfusion — September 25, 2008 @ 6:35 pm

  4. me too!

    Comment by Emily — October 21, 2008 @ 1:17 pm

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