Citrus Body Butter

A 70ml metal tub of Sea & Clay’s Citrus Body Butter was the Day 24 gift in the 2019 Beautiful Surprises Advent Calendar.  

Upon opening the tub, I saw the luxurious looking thick, pale orange body butter and couldn’t wait to scoop some out and apply it to my dry legs.  The scent of citrus sherbet filled the air and evoked distant memories of peach-shaped, soft, sherbety-type candies we used to get as kids back in the 1980’s. (They’re still available on the market these days, but don’t taste the same as they used to.)

I love using body butters.  I haven’t bought a body lotion in years (other than gradual tanning lotions), because I find body lotions too thin and disappointing.  There nothing nicer than applying a nice, rich, thick, nourishing body butter to soothe dry skin after a shower in winter.

I stuck my finger in the tub and scooped a dollop out, smoothing it over my leg and massaging it in.  That’s where my love affair with this product quickly came to an abrupt halt. 

Made with shea butter, coconut oil, safflower oil, magnesium oil, arrowroot powder, essential oils, parfum and mica, that’s a high oil content.  And, ugh, it’s greasy!  It’s like rubbing pure butter over my skin.  The next time I used it, I applied a minuscule amount with the same effect.  It is not a hydrating or nourishing product, instead it’s slippery and oily. It just sits on top of my skin, acting more like a barrier cream instead of a nourishing body butter. It feels very similar to Ethique’s Solid Body Butter, which I didn’t like either, for the same reason.

After using this body butter for a few days, I skipped a day, and noticed that my skin actually looked much drier and flakier than before I’d started using it.  Body butters are supposed to hydrate the skin, not dry it out.  I started to wonder if it was because of the oily formula, which was too heavy for it to sink in and nourish skin.  It could be. I’m not a skincare “scientist” and don’t know too much about how these kinds of formulas work.

I honestly don’t know if I really want to use the rest of the tub – I’m about halfway through it.  It’s really hard for me to finish using a product that I really don’t like.  One thing that I do know is that I wouldn’t recommend it, and I definitely won’t be buying any more, which is just as well, as it looks like Sea & Clay no longer make this body butter. I can’t find it or see any body butters listed on their website.