Curiously Carmen

Nova Scotia Fisherman Overview

No, I am not talking about fisherman on Curiously Carmen today! Rather, I am talking about a Canadian based company that was featured on Dragon’s Den. Can you guess which province this is from? Yup, my first product from one of the Maritime provinces!

I’ve been meaning to try these earlier, but unfortunately my grandma passed away last month and I didn’t have the time to fully test these as I was going over to the hospital everyday beforehand and concentrating on full time school as well. My apologies for the late review, but it’s been a very hectic July.

Nova Scotia Fisherman Soap CreamNova Scotia Fisherman started off as a small business selling wax candles run by two nephews. Eventually, they expanded to carrying body care products that features 100% natural ingredients!

To have a little touch from home in their products, Nova Scotia Fisherman proudly features Nova Scotia sea kelp in their products. A portion of all their sales go back to the Nature Conservatory of Canada to protect natural resources, especially in their home province.
Nova Scotia Fisherman Hand CreamHand & body cream ($11.95 CAD): For the past month, I’ve really been loving this hand & body cream and it’s pretty much the only moisturizer I use now. I have absolutely no complaints about it. There is a pleasant, neutral smell to it. The cream is rich and deeply moisturizes my skin without feeling sticky or greasy afterwards.

I can definitely see myself purchasing this cream again. I love using this cream before I sleep, because I wake up with really soft and smooth skin. This would make a great gift for people who use their hands a lot or have constantly dry hands!
Nova Scotia Fisherman Bar SoapAssorted soaps ($7.95 CAD): I was sent a few of their soaps to try. Each of the soaps had a lovely scent to it. Before I had time to review these, I stored them openly in my closet so that my closet would smell nice and fresh!

I was expecting more in terms of moisture. I normally just use bar soap when shaving my legs. When I used one of the soaps to shave my legs, my legs were a lot drier than usual and kinda stung (probably because it didn’t have enough moisture from the soap).

The soap also didn’t lather much, but it didn’t bother me. It had more of a waxy consistency, which makes sense because I mentioned earlier that they started out as a candle company. I still felt nice and clean, and smelled slightly like the fragrance afterwards. Which by the way, they do not use any artificial fragrances!

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Overall, I really liked the lotion more than the soaps. I found the soaps to be just alright, and not worth the $7.95 although they cleaned well and smelled really good (naturally).

You can check out and buy their products on their website, with free shipping after $50 CAD. In Vancouver, they are located on shelves in various markets such as Donald’s Market (Nanaimo Street), Pharmasave (Commercial Drive only), Thrift Foods (North Van only), and Whole Foods (West 8th). Check out this page for the full list of retailers!

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Yay!

Amie Morning Clear Facial Wash

After being introduced to a few Amie products in September, I have quite liked all the products in the line so far. If you haven’t read my previous post on Amie products, Amie is a UK-based skincare company that has recently launched products in Canada. For now, Amie products are exclusively available at Shoppers Drug Mart locations, but I haven’t been able to find any of the Shoppers locations that I go to. I think maybe because they have just recently launched, they are slowly bringing it to all the stores? Also, am I the only one that finds the Shoppers website hard to use? I tried to search up which locations sell Amie products but it was giving me a difficult time like always… I guess I’ll just try my luck by visiting the stores in person, hopefully each Shoppers will carry Amie products soon!
Amie

Amie’s morning clear purifying facial wash claims to be a “moisturising facial wash that removes all dirt, oil, and makeup leaving skin beautifully soft and refreshed. Mayblossom and elderflower help control oiliness and prevent blemishes while orange blossom and raspberry tone and refresh. Natural moisturisers ensure skin is not dried out.”

 

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Looks the same as the facial wash, amirite?!

First impression: The packaging and design of the bottle was the same as the previous Amie products I tried, so nothing new there. The colours of this tube are also the exact same as their hydrating daily moisturizer which added to the confusion. It may not seem that confusing but trust me, when you are half awake at 7 am on a Monday morning, things can get tricky (that or I need more sleep).

Compared to Amie’s exfoliating daily wash, this facial wash had a very creamy texture. In fact, the first couple of times using this was a bit strange to me because the texture was exactly like moisturizer, and I felt like I should just be applying this on my face as a cream rather than washing it off with water.

My favourite part of this facial wash, and what made it stand out for me was the scent!  My goodness, if Amie ever came out with a perfume that smelled like this facial wash, I would be their first customer. The facial wash had a very flowery and girly scent to it. After washing my face, the scent stayed on for awhile and was quite noticeable, the boyfriend could smell it as well.

Amie morning clear back

This product was also purposely sent to me in the upcoming winter season, as it is supposed to protect your skin against the cold. After a few days of usage, I noticed that my skin was a bit softer. I’ve been suffering from very dry skin lately, which was very surprising because my skin tends to be the opposite- very oily!! I’m pretty sure this facial wash played a vital role in moisturizing my skin, it doesn’t feel as dry and look as flaky anymore. One of the main ingredients in this face wash is cacao seed butter (no, I don’t mean cocoa) which contains a very high amount of antioxidants and is really moisturizing as well. I probably wouldn’t use this when it starts to get warm again because it’ll just make my face extra oily. But in the current weather, it brings a good balance to my skin. Yay!

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My Amie haul from September- Click to read!

Another great thing about this product is that it is free from parabens, sulphates, mineral oils, petrochemicals, products that have been genetically modified, and animal extracts. Amie also does not test on animals. All products are suitable for vegetarians and vegans, and their formulas contain high-quality plant and botanical ingredients. No, they did not pay me to write that! 🙂 It is also 100% soap free but to be honest, I’m not sure what kind of pros are involved in that so I’ll have to contact Amie and get back to you LOL. If you know, please leave a comment and enlighten us all.

Well, another great and moisturizing product from Amie! Have you seen any Amie products in your local Shoppers Drug Mart? Please let me know in the comments down below!

Thanks for reading!
-Carmen

This product was sent free of charge in exchange for a product review. Opinions are my own and are not altered by the requests of Amie. 

Update (12/2/2014): After asking Amie what the benefits of a soap-free product are, it means that the ingredients in soap (Sodium Laureth Sulphate and Sodium Lauryl Sulphate) have a high pH level since it is an alkaline/base (remember your high school chemistry? haha). Therefore, it can disrupt your skin’s natural acid balance due to it’s high alkalinity, which can leave skin feeling dry and taught (I personally hate that feeling).  In case you didn’t know, acid and base are opposites. For example, Tums stomach pills are high in alkalinity because when you have a stomachache or heartburn, the acid in your stomach increases, so the Tums balances out the acidity. Hm, the things you learn beauty blogging!