You put the lime in the coconut...

I visited Santa' workshop - I mean, Ulta - today and took the chance to check other items from the Tree Hut brand. When I saw on Tree Hut's website that Coconut Lime was their bestselling fragrance I was a little skeptical. Coconut Lime is a trendy scent lately, and most of the variations I've come across smell like cheap tropical drinks. I was concerned that Tree Hut's bestselling fragrance was going to be a wild card like Jelly Belly's bestselling jelly bean flavor, which at my last check was Buttered Popcorn (really?). I wasn't ready to trust the masses. But when I caught a whiff of Tree Hut's Coconut Lime Shea Body Butter today I was impressed - the scent is light and citrusy with a fatty, coconutty undertone that is not at all hangover-inducing.

Once I hit the bottom of the Original Shea Body Butter Santa brought me for Christmas I think I might try the Coconut Lime version next. Hope the groundhog doesn't run from his shadow this year because I am starting summer early!

Ulta is currently selling Tree Hut Shea Body Butters at an affordable $6.99 for 7 oz. If you get a chance, click on the link above and check out all the rave reviews from other satisfied customers. The product has 50 reviews and currently the lowest rating is 4/5 :)

Tree Hut Original Shea Body Butter

I'm nuts for Tree Hut's Original Shea Body Butter.


It popped out of my stocking Christmas morning (along with a beer, thanks Santa!) and I have been loving it ever since. The tub contains a hefty 7 oz. of light, creamy body butter that smells just like vanilla nut coffee creamer. I have been using it for the past several weeks and I am continually impressed by how this body butter keeps my skin moisturized for 24+ hours without feeling thick or greasy. For those who have used The Body Shop's body butter, I would say this has about the same consistency as the body butters for normal skin. And the scent is great; so warm and relaxing but not overly sweet.


I am pretty sure Santa picked up my Tree Hut Original Shea body butter at Ulta, but you can also find it at these stores for about $10 or less.

If you aren't familiar with Shea, it's a tree native to the dry African savannah that produces nuts rich in nourishing oils. It has been both eaten and used as a moisturizer for centuries. Tree Hut products use only certified organic shea nut butter. Tree Hut also sells body butters, body washes, and sugar scrubs in other exotic scents like Hawaiian Kukui Nut Shea (dying to try that), Brazilian Nut Shea, Tahitian Grass, and the bestselling Coconut Lime.

If you're battling dry winter skin, I would highly recommend this fabulous (and affordable!) body butter. Be sure to tell me if you like it!

Green Beauty Blog Rating: A

Kings & Queens Royal Favorites Showergel Set

Everyone deserves to feel royal from time to time :)

This week I picked up the Royal Favorites showergel set by Kings & Queens at Marshalls. I know, I know - I need to stop reviewing things that can only be found at discount stores, but it's so cute I have to share! I've seen the same set at Ross, TJ Maxx, and other Marshalls stores so if you hunt you may be able to find it...You can find other Kings & Queens body care items online or at Target stores.

Kings & Queens is a body care line by Korres, makers of awesome natural body products. Each scent in the Kings & Queens line is based on the favorite spices of, well, kings and queens. Honey was created in honor of Egyptian queen Nefertiti, who used the sticky stuff in her beauty treatments. Jasmine was inspired by a Chinese princess who planted her entire garden with jasmine flowers so that the delicate and sensual scent would keep her lover faithful. This beautiful little set includes 5 mini-showergels (1.01 fl oz. each) in the following scents:

-Honey
-Jasmine
-Cinnamon Orange
-Mango
-Lemon Flower

Take a look:

Close-up of Mango (Emperor Akbar)

I did notice that some of these seems to be dupes for Korres scents. K&Q's Mango smells exactly like Korres's Melon and the Jasmine scents from both lines are pretty much identical. Kings & Queens tends to have much lower price points that Korres so if you're interested in trying out some Korres products but don't want to spend a lot, K&Q might be a good option for you.

I haven't tried these in the shower yet but I am assuming they'll perform a lot like Korres's showergels. They seem to have the same thin consistency but the scents are a bit stronger. They are formulated with NO mineral oils or parabens and include nifty natural ingredients like pomegranate, blue lotus, and malachite extract (pretty sure malachite is a mineral, but I'll go with it). As always, extra points for awesome packaging and a cool brand concept.

Green Beauty Blog Rating: A

Burt's Bees Coconut Foot Creme

The dry winter air wreaks havoc on my dry-to-begin-with toots. My weapon to fight back with? Burt's Bees Coconut Foot Creme.


Thanks to its base of olive and coconut oils the product has a consistency more like thin petroleum jelly than cream. Of course, BB's Coconut Foot Creme doesn't contain any of the petroleum byproducts good old Vaseline contains (which, in my weakness, I still keep on hand for especially dry moments). The hydrophobic property of coconut oil prevents the product from soaking in completely, but it's the residual layer that actually protects your skin. If you don't like the idea of having leftover product on your skin, this may not be the product for you. But in my experience, as long as you slap on a pair of socks after applying you don't have to worry about sticky feet or slipping out of your shoes :)

I don't find BB's Coconut Foot Creme to be as effective as petroleum jelly or foot creams with chemical emollients like silicones, but for a 98.6% natural product I think it does a good job. It smells like coconut and mint, which pair surprisingly well and combine more successfully than the notes in other Burt's Bees products. The scent gets me thinking about summer, which is always a perk in the dead of winter.

You can find BB's Coconut Foot Creme at most drugstores and the 4.34 oz. bottle retails for a reasonable $9. If your feet are thirsty for some moisture this winter, I would definitely recommend you give this creme a try!

Green Beauty Blog Rating: B

EOS Lip Balm

Aren't these EOS lip balms cute? And they're 95% organic to boot!

EOS lip balms feature a spherical shape which is ergonomic and refreshingly different than your average tube or pot of lip balm. These lip balms come in five flavors: lemon drop (with SPF 15), honeysuckle honeydew, summer fruit, medicated tangerine, and sweet mint. Pictured above are summer fruit (pink), honeysuckle honeydew (green), and medicated tangerine (orange).

The Honeysuckle Honeydew smells just like freshly cute melon thanks to honeydew melon extract. The Summer Fruit balm sports a mix of blueberry, strawberry, and peach extracts, which when all mixed together smells like apricot or passionfruit to me :) Medicated Orange definitely smells a little medicinal, possibly because of the Zinc Dioxide, but I've gotten used to it.

The balm itself is thin and chock-full of nourishing oils like olive oil, coconut oil, and jojoba oil. I find that the balms are too thin to adequately protect lips from dry winter weather; but in the spring, summer, and autumn they're wonderful.


Green Beauty Blog Rating: B+