Bolero Mango & Orange Blossom Body Cream Review

I'm a sucker for bath and body products, so when I saw this mango and orange blossom body cream by Bolero at a local shop, I thought I would give it a try. When I say 'local shop', what I really mean is my local Dollar Tree. Yes, my Dollar Tree has finally gotten with the times and decided to stock Bolero products every now and then.

​The bolero line includes body cream, body oil, facial wipes, bath salts, body wash, and bath fizzers. I grabbed a few handfuls of whatever scents my store had left, and as you can see in the picture below, I got a pretty good variety.

I will be reviewing all of those items, but today, we are looking at the mango and orange blossom body cream. What initially caught my eye about this brand is its packaging. It looks like it came from a higher-end boutique, but is incredibly affordable even if you do not buy it from the Dollar Tree. In fact, you can find this cream on various websites such as eBay, Amazon, and others for right around eight dollars.

As far as the consistency of this body cream goes, I would consider it to be more of a lotion. I squeezed out a blob onto my hand, turned my hand over, and the cream dropped to the floor. Oh well. As long as it moisturizes, I'm not too concerned with the consistency.

Despite not being as thick as I would've liked, this cream actually has decent hydration properties. I thoroughly coated my hands with this cream when I got up in the morning, and they still felt soft when I went to bed that night. I will chalk that up to glycerin being the second-listed ingredient on the label. Glycerin is a humectant, so I'm always happy to see it in any body product I use.

The scent is absolutely fantastic straight out of the container, but does not linger. So, if you're looking for a product to give you long lasting scent, you may want to skip over this. It could be a good thing the scent doesn't stick around. If you wear perfume, this could definitely clash.

Ok. Let's go over the ingredient list. I'm not going to go over every single ingredient here, but one thing that bothers me about this brand is their claim to be 'purveyors of natural products'. I'm going to touch base on an ingredient I found in line 5: phenoxyethanol.

This ingredient is actually an aromatic ether alcohol that starts out as phenol. Phenol is toxic in the fact that it is created from benzene (a well-known carcinogen), which is then treated with ethylene oxide, then added into many bath and body products that claim to be paraben-free. Phenoxyethanol is used as a preservative in these so-called natural products because it does not break down and release formaldehyde like many other ingredients.

A lot of companies may claim that their phenoxyethanol is derived from natural sources. Although this is a tad better because it can help prevent ethylene oxide contamination, it is still the same chemical, structurally.

What I'm trying to say from this little chemistry lesson is, if you have sensitive skin or are truly trying to avoid all chemicals in your bath and body products, this cream is not for you.

As far as the quality of the product, I'm pretty pleased. Would I buy this cream again? Maybe. Am I happy with their use of chemicals? Absolutely not. Want to check out Bolero's other products? Visit their website at www.BoleroHD.com.

I've got a ton of other items to review for y'all, and I receive more every week, so keep your eyes peeled on here, and on my other various social media outlets for links to new reviews.

---