(Can I even say “fruit my frappe”? What the heck would it mean?!)
What they are: two offerings from the new Upper Canada Soap Fruit Frappe line; the Grapefruit with Gooseberry Hair and Body Spritz and Pear with Mangosteen Body Lotion. I’ll be reviewing the scents separately for the products, as the lines stretch farther than just these two!
(The Fruit Frappes also come in the form of bath fizzies, shower gels, luminizing creams, glosses, and dry oil sprays. And in three other scents!)
I want to tell you that this was faboosh — moisturizing, lightweight, and wonderful in the hair. I want to tell you that it’s holy-grail-material and that I’d buy the whole line. I want to tell you all of this because the idea is awesome, and the packaging is even cooler. However, past the packaging, this spritz was not so awesome. It’s just fragrance in a really cool form, essentially. My hair looks straight, smooth and shiny… but I’m Chinese. It always looks this boring. And my skin? Feels the exact same; no more or less dry; no stickiness.
I’d love this if… I really liked the scent of the product. The awesome top (pictured below) is brilliant for travel or the gym, and the scents are strong enough to cover up the smell of “I didn’t have time to shower after my run!” hair. (But only for a day. Please, take your showers when you need to. Hygine is important!)
I usually commit myself to beauty 110%, but I just can’t do it in this case. As scent-sensitive as I am, I haven’t used a scented lotion on more than one body part in… well, ever. I’m the kind of fragrance-wearer that always tries for half a spritz, or opts for something dabbable. Sometimes there are mistakes that leave me drowning in perfume, and they ruin my day entirely with nausea and migranes.
But I digress. This lotion seems pretty darn solid; it dries smooth without anything gross, like pilling or changes in the scent as it dries. However, it’s not incredibly moisturizing, either. That said, please do take into consideration that I’ve only ever tried this on small patches of my skin at a time, and not for an extended period of time!
I’d love this if… it was used in moderation. I can see the amount of actual fragrance in these lotions being too much if used from head to toe! And by “too much,” we mean “way too much.” Try diluting it with scent-free lotion, or just do one body part (like your forearms or hands)!
You know how, with most low-end body-care lines, the scents are nothing to write home about? They’re either awful and synthetic, or just boring enough as not to offend (or inspire) anyone or anything. Well — that’s not the case here. Pear with Mangosteen smells absolutely delicious; you can practically feel pear juice running down your chin, hear screaming kids and sprinkler systems. It’s heavy on the pear and lighter on the mangosteen, which is just fine by me, seeing as I’m a huge pear fan. While it does still smell like body-care rather than classy perfume or real fuit, I absolutely love it. It’s light, fresh, sparkling, juicy, and any other positive adjectives you can think of!I’d love this if… I do love this!
I have never hated a fruity body-care scent so much. No joke — this has been done again and again, and yet people still keep churning it out. I hate it more than cheap hand soap, more than the smell of durian (that stuff is nasty,) more than, more than rolling out of bed and finding that all of my pants have been eaten by wild rabbits. I abhor this scent. It makes my head hurt and my nose ache… or was that head ache and nose hurt? I don’t even know any more, because it’s driving me nuts!
I’d love this if… I wouldn’t. Ever. But you might, and if you do, please don’t take offense. Clearly, people like this scent, because iterations of it keep coming out! (Even mother picked it up, sniffed it, and declared it was a nice preteen scent.) I beg of you, though, wear this in moderation.
The verdict on the line? It’s not high-end fragrance*, but at around $10 apiece, no one was expecting it to be. From what I’ve smelled, this line has the potential to be lovely; it just depends on the scent. What say I? For the price point, this line isn’t too shabby! This is the kind of bath line that I wouldn’t gift to a great-aunt, but I’d recommend it to a younger cousin on a budget in a heartbeat. And as for the Pear with Mangosteen scent? You have got to give it a sniff. Mouthwatering!
*actually, in case you haven’t noticed, it’s not fragrance at all. It’s body care. That means the standards should be lower, right? (Smile and nod. The answer is “yes”!)
