[Review] Palmer's Cocoa Butter Lotion and The Body Shop Cocoa Body Butter

Most women develop stretch marks during pregnancy but no one can tell who's gonna get them or who won't. The chances of getting stretch marks depend on a lot of factors but they say that if you get them whenever you gain weight, you most probably will get them when you're pregnant.

Can you prevent them? Most probably not but you can do something to minimize them and/or to reduce itching. They say that you can help yourself by not gaining too much weight, i.e., gaining weight more than 25-35 lbs. or what your doctor tells you. To achieve this, you should eat healthy food particularly those that will help you nourish your skin and of course, you should drink at least 8 glasses of water to keep your skin hydrated and elastic.

You can also put on creams, ointments, or oils to keep your body moisturized and to reduce itchiness, especially on your belly, breasts, sides, and thighs. And for this part, what usually comes up as a very good cream to put on during pregnancy is COCOA BUTTER. There is no indisputable proof that cocoa butter eliminates stretch marks but studies showed that it can penetrate the top layer of the skin and reach the dermis (the second layer) which gives it a better opportunity to repair any area of the skin that has been damaged. 

Having said these, let me tell you about what I honestly think of two cocoa butter products that I have tried recently.

Palmer's Organics Cocoa Butter Massage Lotion

Php607, PCX Power Plant Mall

What I love about Palmer's is that it has more ingredients and some of them are certified organic. It has aloe, cocoa extract, cocoa butter, lanolin, shea butter, soybean oil, ginseng root extract, and soluble collagen among others. 

It also has a strong cocoa scent, at least for me it's stronger than the one from The Body Shop. If you've been using Victoria's Secret or Bath and Body Works, you might like the scent of Palmer's. But if you like Aveeno or Cetaphil or Eucerin like me, your sense of smell might be a little shocked if you smell the strength of cocoa in this lotion. However, it's not totally foul-smelling or something like that. You just need to get used to it especially while you're pregnant and when your sense of smell just turns really weird.

As for the texture, it's less sticky and a bit more runny than the cocoa butter body butter from The Body Shop so I enjoy applying it on my body. However, my body doesn't feel moisturized after about 8-10 hours and I start getting itchy around my belly area. This gives me the signal that I have to re-apply the lotion.

I haven't really hopped around malls or did anything as strenuous as that during my pregnancy so I can't say whether this lotion is readily available anywhere. As far as I know, you can buy it from Rustan's or in my case, I grabbed it from PCX at the Power Plant Mall. The 250-ml bottle costs P607 and is cheaper than the body butter from The Body Shop.

The Body Shop Cocoa Butter Body Butter

P695, The Body Shop Power Plant Mall

I prefer the scent of this cocoa butter over the one from Palmer's. It's very subtle and feminine, and you smell nice even after you take your clothes off. However, it has less ingredients than Palmer's. It also has soybean oil, cocoa butter, shea butter, and lanolin among others but unlike Palmer's, it doesn't have ginseng root extract and soluble collagen.

Ginseng tones and revitalizes skin and it's commonly found in many skin care products. It helps balance the production of oil glands and can make fine lines appear less. On the other hand, collagen is a protein that helps firm the skin and reduce the signs of aging. Soluble collagen is designed that way so that it can easily pass through the pores of the skin. These two important ingredients are not in the body butter from The Body Shop.

Texture-wise, it is stickier and creamier than the one from Palmer's which makes it a little icky to apply. But once it's there on your skin, it gets absorbed pretty well and you won't feel that icky-ness unless you sweat too much. It also keeps my skin moisturized for a longer period of time, like about for 12-14 hours, and even after that period of time, I don't get any itchiness around my belly area.

There's no problem finding a Body Shop store. You can find it in any mall. You can even find a stall inside SM. Even in our province, specifically at SM Batangas, there's a store. However, it's a little more expensive than Palmer's because a 200-ml container costs P695.

My Verdict:

While the body butter from The Body Shop keeps my skin hydrated for a longer period of time, I'm more keen about getting those extra benefits that come from Palmer's additional ingredients like ginseng and soluble collagen. Also, while the scent of Palmer's is stronger, I already learned to like it because I'm reminded about chocolates anyway. And while I only know of a few shops where I can find Palmer's, I can still count on the fact that it's cheaper and that every few pesos saved can go a long way.

What about you? What's your regimen against stretch marks during pregnancy?

Favorite Recipes from My Food Blog

Because I love cooking, I'm gonna share with you some of my favorite recipes as well as those frequently searched for by my blog readers. If you love cooking, please visit my food blog. It's called I Love. Therefore, I Cook.

Our Baby's First Gadget: LULLABELLY PRENATAL MUSICAL BELT

According to BabyCenter.com, some studies show that fetuses can hear and react to sound by moving but that no one knows what those movements exactly mean. The website also says that while kids get smarter in math when exposed to music, these studies are focused on kids or older children, not fetuses. Still, there are some who say that newborns can recognize music their parents played for them when they were in the womb and even perk up or fall asleep when they hear a familiar song. However, some psychologists believe that these are purely anecdotal conclusions and aren't based on true research.

What then is the proven connection between music and the baby in the womb? The answer to that is that there's no proven link but that it is a bonding moment between the mom-to-be and the baby. 

BabyCenter.com further says that playing music to the baby in the womb must be done with caution and in moderation. Moms should not push too hard in creating a genius. It says that we should play music because we enjoy it and not because we're trying to make our baby smarter.

Because I love music and I want to bond with our baby, I decided to get a prenatal musical belt called Lullabelly. We ordered it online via Amazon.com and we had it delivered to the New York office of Johnny Air. In turn, Johnny Air-NY shipped it to their branch in SM Megamall and that's where we picked up our Lullabelly package.

Lullabelly has been featured in NBC News and Fox News and there are a lot of good reviews about it. Our package came at the right time, i.e., when we're on our 20th week. It's just about the time when the baby can hear noises from outside the womb.

The package came with the belt which is of soft material. It is lightweight, machine washable, and easy to wear. There's a large pocket inside where you can put in the portable music player or other accessories. I just use my iPhone 4S and it fits just right. It also comes with earphones and a splitter so that you can also listen to the music. The earphones have built-in control dials to adjust the volume. They say that when playing music to the baby, the volume should not be louder than 65 decibels which is similar to the volume of any background music played in a music store, or in terms of household sounds, it should not be louder than the sound of a vacuum cleaner or a hair dryer.

As for the music, I have in my playlist the songs from Lovely Baby Mozart and I use the Lullabelly daily for about 30-45 minutes. I haven't experienced anything unusual but that it's a relaxing routine which is perfect around bedtime. I started feeling my baby's kicks as early as the 16th week but they became more regular beginning my 22nd week. I can't tell for sure if it's the Lullabelly working because I read that fetal movement becomes more defined and frequent around the 20th week.

Regardless of whether Lullabelly actually works or not, I'm just happy bonding with my baby through music. I just trust that the reviews and testimonials about Lullabelly are true and that they also get to benefit our baby.

What about you? What are your prenatal gadgets? Do you also use musical belts? Please share your story :)

Hello, Hello

taken from myswirlybrain.blogspot.com

I've been blogging since 2005 but I abandoned and deleted all my old blogs because I can't seem to find the topic/s that I have the passion to write about. Fortunately, I gave in to my hobby, which is cooking, and decided to basically write about what I cook at home. That happened in 2010 and it was then that I started my food blog called I Love. Therefore, I Cook. Recently, I've been adding some travel posts to that blog too. If you happen to love cooking and some DIY travels, you might want to check my food blog.

Primarily though, I am a lawyer. And I only get to do cooking and blogging during my free time. I work as a lawyer in Makati for 8 hours a day and I also get to assist my hubby in his law practice. But, that is only whenever my expertise in contracts/corporate law/taxation is needed and of course, whenever time permits. I don't get paid for it, I just help him... at our home office... out of love :)

As if being a lawyer/food blogger is not enough, I decided I want to have a business too. Just early this year, I was invited by a friend to join her in running her bakeshop in White Plains, Quezon City and along with two others, I accepted the invitation and we're now business partners in this growing cafe/restaurant/bakery business. We make the best Spanish Bread and Breadsticks in Metro Manila and I am excited that we are challenging ourselves to continually improve our products and grow the business.

My duties, however, don't stop there. At home, I am a loving and supportive wife to my hubby and it's a blessing that despite how busy we are, we never run short of quality time together. I'm also a daughter, a sister, and an aunt, and I make sure that above all else, my family always comes first.

And in 3-4 months from this post, I'm going to partake on the new role of being a MOM to our very first baby. I'm not even bothered with the thought of having more duties and responsibilities at home. In fact, I longed [and toiled] for it because this baby will complete me and the family my hubby and I are building together. We're really very excited with the arrival of our precious cargo!

I could probably say that at this point in time, my hands are full. But that doesn't mean that I will stop pursuing other plans. Hubby and I haven't even started our plan to help the less fortunate. We also thought of putting up our own business and that will probably come in the near future. There are so many things we want to do and we hope to start them while we're young [oh yes, I'd like to think that 35 is still young].

I guess I can say that I really am a multitasker because I perform different roles at any given day. True that, sometimes, sheer tiredness kicks in, but most of the time, a little hug  from my loved ones can  already soothe aching muscles and take any soreness away. And I'm pretty sure that things will get even better when our baby arrives and that I'll just be more inspired to work harder and be a better person.

So, hello and welcome to my blog! 

Here's where I'll share the happiness that comes with performing multiple tasks at a given time and hopefully, make you a part of my little bit of heaven on earth ~ my career, my hobbies, my family, my home. And don't be a stranger, okay? I'll be happy reading your comments, your stories, or your emails :)