The Body Shop is a brand of naturally-inspired beauty products ranging from makeup to fragrance to hair and skin care. The Body Shop’s mission is to enrich their products, people, and the planet by working fairly with farmers and suppliers, being 100% vegetarian, and staying firmly against animal testing. One of The Body Shop’s most popular skin care lines is Drops of Youth, a collection of 10 anti-aging skin care products formulated with botanical extracts and natural antioxidants. Read on to learn why we don’t recommend using The Body Shop Drops of Youth and what you can try instead!
What are the best selling products in The Body Shop Drops of Youth line?
The Body Shop Drops of Youth collection includes cleansers, peels, masks, serums, creams, and more. The best selling products include the Drops of Youth Liquid Peel, Youth Cream, and Youth Concentrate.
Drops of Youth Liquid Peel is meant to exfoliate and gently peel off impurities from your skin, lifting dead skin cells and residuals. This peel is recommended to only be used two to three times per week.
Drops of Youth Cream is a lightweight cream that is said to help the skin to feel smoother while addressing the first signs of aging. It is non-comedogenic (it won’t clog pores) and is recommended to be used daily.
Drops of Youth Concentrate is a gel-like serum that is claimed to leave skin feeling fresher, replenished with moisture, and with a healthy-looking glow. It is also said to help protect against environmental aggressors to leave skin feeling strengthened and suppler.
What are the key ingredients in The Body Shop Drops of Youth?
A key ingredient that is featured throughout The Body Shop Drops of Youth product line is Edelweiss. It’s designed to protect skin and combat skin aging, thereby preserving the youthful look and vitality of one’s skin. While these benefits sound promising, there are actually quite a few problematic ingredients in The Body Shop Drops of Youth products, which we’ll discuss below.
We’re actually pretty disappointed in The Body Shop Drops of Youth Liquid Peel, primarily because denatured alcohol is the highest concentration ingredient in the formula (after water)! A high concentration of denatured alcohol is problematic for all skin types because this type of alcohol is well known to cause skin dryness, irritation, and even disruption of the skin barrier, especially when used in high concentrations. So instead of hydrating your skin and reducing signs of aging, Drops of Youth Liquid Peel has the potential to cause excessive dryness, damage, and make signs of aging look even worse over time! Another strike against this product is that it’s packed with fragrance ingredients, which often cause skin irritation and sensitivity.
Unfortunately, The Body Shop Drops of Youth Cream has a similar formulation as the Drops of Youth Liquid Peel. Denatured alcohol is the fourth highest concentration ingredient in this cream, after only water, dimethicone, and glycerin. Want to know the worst part about this? The combination of these ingredients can trick you into thinking your signs of aging have been reduced. This is because alcohol tightens the skin, glycerin hydrates the skin and thereby plumps skin, and dimethicone forms a thin, invisible film that can help disguise signs of aging. However, these effects are temporary and will disappear once you wash off the product! And for some even more bad news: all of the “key” ingredients in The Body Shop Drops of Youth Cream are used in very low concentrations (less than 1%). We know this by looking at the ingredient list (which is in order of descending concentrations). All of these ingredients are listed after the preservative phenoxyethanol, which cannot be used in concentrations more than 1%. Overall, the Drops of Youth Cream formulation is very disappointing.
It should come as no surprise that the Drops of Youth Concentrate formula contains a high concentration of denatured alcohol, which we already mentioned is very damaging to your skin (similar to putting rubbing alcohol on your skin!) This formula contains a couple beneficial ingredients, such as beech bud extract and sodium hyaluronate, but we don’t think the benefits provided by these ingredients will outweigh the high concentration of denatured alcohol.
The only products in the entire Drops of Youth collection that do not contain denatured alcohol are the Bouncy Sleep Mask and the Youth Gentle Foam Wash. But keep in mind that these products still contain numerous fragrance ingredients. Fragrance has no benefits for the skin, yet is known to cause irritation and sensitivity.
Where is The Body Shop Drops of Youth sold?
The Body Shop Drops of Youth is sold on the brand’s website, as well as third party sellers like Amazon, eBay, and Ulta. The Body Shop also has retail locations in the United States, and you can find a location near you on the brand’s website with the Store Locator.
Is The Body Shop cruelty free?
The Body Shop is cruelty free. The brand does not test finished products or ingredients on animals, and neither do their suppliers or any third-parties. They also don’t sell their products where animal testing is required by law. In fact, The Body Shop runs the Forever Against Animal Testing global campaign with a goal to ban animal tested cosmetics forever. So far, The Body Shop has gathered 8 million signatures for their campaign.
The Body Shop Drops of Youth reviews
The Body Shop Drops of Youth reviews on the brand’s website are surprisingly positive given what we learned about the product formulations. It seems as though many customers do have positive experiences with these products, but there are also quite a few negative Drops of Youth reviews. Many of the negative reviews are concerning skin dryness, flakiness, and irritation after using The Body Shop Drops of Youth products. If you’re considering purchasing these products, you may want to thoroughly read The Body Shop Drops of Youth reviews in order to get a better idea of what real customers have experienced from these products.
Sarah Original review: Aug 29, 2018.
I have been using the face wash drops of youth about 1 once a week off and on for 6 months. It was very good but the last time I used it I discovered a fine rash all over my face similar feeling to having prickly heat. I applied cold compress to my face over the day and by evening it had reduced in redness but the feeling was still there.
Just like to say that when the wash worked it was great, so use with care.