Soffell Mosquito Repellent Lotion Review

With Green Cross no longer in existence, Soffell is now the most effective mosquito repellant I have tried in recent years. It's also better in terms of how long it can keep mosquitoes off than Off, Moskieshield, Human Nature, and Biteblock. It's on par with Guard in terms of performance. If any of these would be in the family stock, I would, hands down, get (with my teeth, kidding) Soffell. And maybe Guard.

Soffell Mosquito Repellent Lotions keep their promise of repelling mosquitoes for five hours, sometimes more. Their active ingredient is diethyltoluamide at 13%. I guess the contact number for the PGH National Poison Management and Control Center on its label should have clued us on how potent these are.

Soffell Mosquito Repellent Lotions are not thick, not liquid-y. They're light, easy to apply but still a tad sticky and warm on the skin, sensations I could do without but would rather endure than get bitten by mosquitoes.

There are three Soffell Mosquito Repellent Lotion variants. I have only tried Pinky and Orangee since they're the ones available at the drugstore I visited. They only differ in terms of scent. Pinky is a warm white floral (jasmine is quite pronounced) with similarities to Gucci Bloom. Even my sister who's not so much into floral scents likes it. Orangee, like it's name, smells of orange bubblegum. Fragrance becomes powdery as time pass. I'm eager to try Appely which more likely smells like green apples given the picture on the label. 

Soffell is manufactured in Indonesia and is sold everywhere else in the world in different formats. At some Mercury Drugstores, a 60ml bottle retails for P110.

Of Online Stores and Hyped Products: Let's Face It Tropifruit Might Be a Decade Early

I think it was a decade or more ago that Let's Face It Facial Salon came out with Tropifruit, a body care line consisting of a shower gel, a hand and body lotion and a body mist. 

It didn't fly. It was only available at their salon, most likely limiting buyers to just salon customers. Online shops have yet to boom. It was competing with products that had more exposure. I only learned of their existence after I was gifted a set.

It didn't help that scents were, like this line, short-lived. I remember the body spray smelling fruity,  the distinct smell of ripe balimbing / star fruit / carambola coming through. The hand and body lotion in a tube was kinda sticky, the sweet scent fruity with a hint of rose. The shower gel was in a clear plastic bottle with a tin cap. It smelled of jellyace and tiny bit floral. Sudsiness was okay and it wasn't slippery. The products are actually better used independent of each other. 

So maybe they were not cut out yet to offer body care products. Still, Bioessence and Lay Bare are some salons now selling products online and  doing relatively well. Lazada, Shoppee and tiktok sure changed the retail landscape. 

Current beauty companies are lucky they have social media to promote their products. One only needs to trend or go viral on Facebook or tiktok to make a killing. Never mind sucking. That is until someone calls out that the emperor has no clothes. But then that someone still needs a ton of followers. 

I don't think I have ever succumbed to tiktok trends though. If I ever have purchased a hyped product, I would have had learned about it from Reddit, Facebook groups and certain accounts on Facebook and blogs. Kinda gives away my age, huh?

More Great Smelling Hand Disinfectants: Pure Protect, Green Cross, Hygienix Alcohol and Hand Sanitizer Review

And because it's campaign season (in a pandemic), here are more fragrant rubbing alcohols and hand sanitizers you can get your hands on. More, as I posted about three rubbing alcohols that smell like colognes and a body mist last year.

Avon Skin So Soft Hand and Body Lotion Glutathione with SPF 15 Review

It's almost summer where I'm at, that time when mosquitoes swarm like those zombies from "All Of Us Are Dead." Except they are drawn to scent not sound.

One of the more enduring lotions in the market is Avon Skin So Soft which has been said to ward off mosquitoes. Avon Skin So Soft Hand and Body Lotion Glutathione with SPF 15 does not repel mosquitoes. It never claims to do that in the first place.

What it does profess is "instant whitening" and to "help make skin look fairer in just 3 days." So is it instant or 3 days? Well, it actually took 2 months of daily  application in the morning and evening before someone told me, "pumuti ka." For me it's lightening more than whitening that happened and quite negligible.

For normal to dry skin, it is  moisturizing unlike most whitening products that are often drying. True to its name skin feels soft after I smooth it on. But, if you have papery, flaky skin, this won't help with that. Better get a lotion whose main purpose is heavy duty moisturization / hydration. 

Consistency-wise, it is thick yet easily soaked up by skin and does not leave a white cast. The low SPF (15) is okay if one is mostly staying indoors or for overcast skies but not for clear ones. So this is not really suitable as a sunscreen during summer.

Apparently, Skin So Soft's different lines have varying scents. It's a heavy floral. The smell of this is similar to Avon Skin So Soft Soft and White Radiant Glow Hand and Body Lotion which is no longer around. I mentioned before that Skin So Soft Lotions are very fragrant, with the scent perfuming the skin for hours. This is no different.

I'm pleased they changed bottles. A decade ago, design teams of a lot of hygiene products thought that dispensing liquid from a small hole on flat top is a good idea for bottles. The products tend to stick to said flat top. So messy! 

Now if only Avon would bring to the country its Skin So Soft bug repellents, I would even be more pleased.

Hand Cream Battle: Marks and Spencer Peach and Almond Hand Cream vs The Face Shop Olive Moisture Shine Hand Butter

Especially now that we're in a pandemic and everyone needs to keep washing their hands, hand creams, because of their scent and hydrating ability, have become common office gifts during Christmas. Along with hand sanitizers. Although really, if it's just moisturization/hydration we want to impart, then we'd do away with the fancy and just gift Nivea blue tins.  But we like the fancy right? Packaging, scent, consistency and all that.

Palmolive Body Washes (Philippine Market)

Palmolive Body Washes smell like and offer benefits similar to their soap counterparts, if they have one.

Three Gloriously Fragrant Rubbing Alcohols - Cleene, Alcoplus, Wise Choice

Before the pandemic, I associated the smell of rubbing alcohol with hospitals and caring for the sick. But now, with a lot of companies in the Philippines getting into the rubbing alcohol business (and no more shortages, at least for now), we are spoiled for choice. We don't need to smell antiseptic anymore. 

These three are among the best smelling scented rubbing alcohol I have gotten my hands on. 

A Cool Product For Summer: Sea Breeze Natural + Aid Body Shampoo Review

The craziest thing I have ever done to relieve myself of that hot, sticky, muggy feeling brought on by humid weather was to douse my body with mouthwash. I was thinking of the minty fresh sensation it imparts when your gargle. Did not work. I just felt stickier. In my defense, the heat was messing with my head.

Just as I was thinking of doing something less crazy, the tube of Caronia Renewing Scrub in my bathroom beginning to look like my salvation since it does provide a slight cooling effect after use, my aunt who resides in Japan sent us a bottle of Sea Breeze Natural + Aid Body Shampoo in Super Cool.

Nivea Sun: Protection for Face and Body

We have been Nivea Sun users for years already.  Anyone who has been using sunscreen / sunblock for that long would know that there were only a handful of them available in the early 2000. Often they were super pricey, sticky, or the smell was not school / office-friendly. 

Milea All Organics Tea Tree and Aloe Vera Antibacterial Soap

Before lockdown, I purchased a lot of stuff from roving sellers. Not only was it convenient, but some sellers tend to offer free taste and freebies and unlike buying online, I get to see, smell and feel the actual product. In the new normal, I am not so sure roving sellers will be permitted into work premises as easily as before. Heck, I'm not so sure there will be roving sellers of beauty products anymore. But then, maybe a coworker who's into buy and sell will branch into beauty stuff.

Body in Bloom Petunia Blush Hand Soap and Bodyxpert Mint Body Wash

And it's the Ber months. I often see posts recommending Christmas gift ideas and gift sets featuring beauty products but reviews about them, not that much. I enjoy gift ideas posts as they make gift hunting easier but reviews would push me to get something awesome (and likely gift myself with one as well) or help me stay clear from gifting someone something not that good. Maybe people just get stuff for others without trying them out first. Or maybe they think said stuff would no longer be available the following year so why write how they fare.

Body in Bloom Petunia Blush Hand Soap is one of those seasonal bath products which one can find in Watson's when September starts to slink in. It's a returning product, in a different get-up. Mine was a gift and is the current hand soap on my bathroom sink.

Delon Olive Shampoo and Unicare Cream Nature Perfume Body Wash

I'm that person who would hit the sale/promo section at the supermarket before seeking out the items on my grocery list in their assigned shelves. I get a high out of scoring things with a freebie or  cheaper than they usually are. Yes, I'm mababaw. But wouldn't you feel bad when you learn that the milk pack you purchased could have gotten you a water jug similar to a Coleman's had you dropped by the sale/promo area?

So while I was perusing the toothpastes on said section (The usual Colgate Fresh Confidence Gel Red Extreme or stripe-y Triple Action Anti-Cavity?) I spotted the Scotch-taped Unicare Perfume Body Washes which were buy one get one. A lone Delon Olive Shampoo sat next to the bottles. It's about half the price of a mainstream shampoo (Sunsilk, Dove). In the cart they went with the red toothpaste.

Dove Body Wash vs Summer Swelter

So summer still refuses to relinquish its hold over the country. I've been to a few places where temp's higher but I can hardly feel the heat. Where I'm at, somewhere north of Manila, my weather app says it's just 37 degrees Celsius but if you factor in humidity, heat index is pegged at scorching. It seems summer this year is as torchy as 2014. Last year was not like this.

I have been taking baths several times a day, even waking up at night to do so because even the AC doesn't stand a chance against the humidity. Plus my room is not that well ventilated and heat tends to rise up so while the rooms downstairs have cooled down, mine, I'd think, is still purgatory. I only get a reprieve at around 3AM.

Or as I have said, when I take a bath at some ungodly hour.

Bench Bratsplash Hand Sanitizer Review

Sometime during the Christmas rush, I found myself at a Bench store looking for something that would fit the monito monita  theme of the week. At the counter, I noticed a sign stating that Bench Bratsplash Hand Sanitizer Gels (50 ml, no silicone/rubber holders) are at P20 a piece instead of P24 when you get 4. Naturally, I got a couple because savings and they'd make good giveaways.

Of Wanting to Escape and Club Balai Isabel Body Lotion

They say that the best time to book/go to resorts in Luzon would be November because by then the rainy season would almost have been over (except for the Bicol region, Palawan and Mindoro. Mom's from Bicol and she'd always tell us that it's usually rainy in her hometown by the end of the year. Also, storms normally traverse the southern part of the country come the last quarter.) and it's not yet tourist peak season. Rates are more affordable, not much people.

But then November and December are months when work peaks. Add preparations for the holidays and I'm very much swimming, no, drowning in too much to do when I would much rather want to be swimming in not chlorinated water. Chances are higher that I will drown in caffeine trying to keep awake with just five-hour-sleep-utmost-a-day which I suspect I will be having until the year ends, than I will go out of town this coming long weekend. By the time I'm able to lift my head from under tons of papers, wrappers and otherwise, it would be too cold to soak in anywhere else other than a hot water-filled bathtub.

What am I doing writing this when I have my hands full you ask? Weeelll, I did say in my "about me-ow" page this blog is my form of escape.

Bali Alus Traditional Spa Essential Scrub with VCO in Jasmine

We've been having hot, at times humid days this past couple of weeks. Not that I'm complaining. We live in a flood-prone area so I'd take it. Although I would be much happier if it's a bit cooler. Wouldn't mind light rains too.

That said, I've been on a tropical floral scent binge lately, fitting of said weather. Jasmine, sampaguita and ylang-ylang scents remind me of church stops when we go on local trips, flower garlands strung during summer and relaxing spas and massages I've had. In my bathroom right now is a body scrub from Bali Alus, an Indonesian skincare brand.

This Body Wash Smells Like Pantene Damage Repair Conditioner

Clean and simple. If it is then this post would just be on Instagram or Twitter.

Enchanteur Perfumed Talc in Alluring Review and Thoughts on Talcum Powders

When we were kids, mom would dust our backs with baby powder after bath to keep us feeling fresh and lessen the chance of getting prickly heat. Talc after all absorbs sweat and prevents friction. Years later, we still use talcum powder, sometimes as face powder, more often during summer. Oblivious to the possible dangers posed by inhaling it, until recently.

It started after I've read from the papers that a certain talcum powder maker was and is being sued by ovarian cancer patients who used the product on their genital area. When I first heard about this, I was actually surprised that some people practice this. I mean, is it safe to be putting stuff into/near your orifices unless they are meant to be put there?

But then I have not been entirely cautious as well. I so enjoy sniffing bottles of fragrant anything. Well, apparently there are cases of people with pulmonary problems caused by cosmetic talc inhalation. So unlike before, I'm now extra careful, especially with perfumed talc. A hard thing to do when one is as fragrant as this one. Enchanteur Alluring Perfumed Talc 's scent is a combination of rose, iris and vanilla so say its website. I don't get the vanilla much but the delicate aroma of florals is there. I can still smell it on my arms even as I perspire.

Lactacyd Daily Feminine Wash Variants and Partial Review

Since it's almost summer, there's going to be that overwhelming need to make an effort to keep clean and feel cool and fresh. And so why not take advantage of all those products in the market that can help make summer much more bearable?

For one, there are now feminine washes that promise other things like lightening (in time for bikini season) aside from the usual odor protection and relief from sticky feels.

Green Cross Insect Repellent Lotions

In the tropics, mosquitoes are a year round nuisance. While they multiple fast during the rainy season because of stagnant water everywhere, there seems to be a lot of them invading homes during summer. I guess it's partly because they wouldn't have trouble evading raindrops while flying. Also, mosquitoes tend to zero on sweaty people and of course summer = sweat. I've also noticed that there tends to be more mosquitoes in an area where there's construction work.

Generally, it's the itchy discomfort of mosquito bites which would make me slather on insect repellent lotion. But then there are the other much more frightening diseases that should make one more vigilant against mosquitoes: Japanese encephalitis (which was in the local evening news recently due to several cases being reported in Region III), dengue, malaria to name some.

Green Cross Insect Repellent Lotions repel day and night mosquitoes. They're hypoallergenic. Another plus point is that they provide 99.9% antibacterial protection the same number of hours they shield you from mosquitoes.