Quick Ones: A Look at Shea Butter/Along Came Betty It's a Skin Thing

I'm a sucker for vintage packaging, so when I received the Along Came Betty It's a Skin Thing Gorgeous Ultra Light Body Butter (bit of a mouthful!) as part of a prize from the wonderful My Beautie a while ago, I was instantly won over. The brand takes it's inspiration from '1950s screen stars and timeless beauty icons, still famed for their naturally flawless skin', and on each product you can find cute, beauty-related quotes from them. 

"A woman should never leave the house without spending time on how she looks...if only out of politeness."

                                                                       - Betty Leigh, 1958

Saying that, I'm not sure we agree - we shouldn't feel that we have to spend hours preening ourselves out of politeness at all - if other people have any complaints about the way we look then perhaps they should take a look in the mirror before judging. In my eyes, beauty products are all about the feel-good factor -we have every right to go out without a scrap of makeup on, embracing the natural look, but we are also free to use products to make ourselves feel more beautiful.

Anyway, off on a slight tangent there, but felt the need to get my tuppence-worth in there! 

Back to the product at hand.

It's a Skin Thing comes in a squeezable tube, and while quite thick in texture is much lighter than what I think of as being a body butter (think Body Shop). The product is packed full of Shea butter to leave the skin feeling soft, supple and smooth, and has a pleasantly sweet, vaguely coconut-ty scent, but nothing too over-powering.

A bit about Shea butter:

The fat of the nut taken from the African Shea tree, this lovely ingredient has a whole host of benefits for the skin, including anti-inflammatory and healing properties, so if you suffer from skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, scars or stretch marks then this may well be a bit of a helping hand for you. 

Shea has the fatty acids and plant sterols it contains to thank for its healing qualities. Oleic, stearic, palmitic and linolenic acids are oil-soluble components, and are present in a much greater percentage than in most other oils and nuts, making it one of the most obvious choices when it comes to skin complaints.

Shea also contains several derivatives of cinnamic acid, a compound that can be found in cinammon and balsam trees, and in one study that investigated the effects of four triterpene acids and four triterpine cinnemates (taken from Shea) on swelling mouse skin, the results were impressive. As well as demonstrating anti-inflammatory benefits,  Lupeol cinnemate, one of the compounds tested, was even able to prevent the growth of tumours in a carcinogenesis test (which involves tumours being grown in petri dishes).

Last but not least, Shea is packed with vitamins A and E, catechins and plant anti-oxidants, meaning it's a good choice for protecting your skin from environmental damage.

It's a Skin Thing sinks easily into the skin and doesn't leave any residue, but I must admit that actually, I've tried more moisturising body butters that have left my skin feeling much softer. However, at roughly £3 for 200ml (I can't actually find anywhere online that's got this in stock at the moment, so sorry for the inaccurate pricing - you can usually find this at Tesco) it's hardly going to break the bank, and is a nice product to have hanging around in the bathroom, whether as a daily body butter or as something reserved for when skin is playing up a bit.

Have you tried anything from Along Came Betty?

xx