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On Saturday night I had a virtual sleepover with Cantu and a group of hair and beauty bloggers to celebrate the launch of their new body line, Cantu Skin Therapy. Of course, the topic of skincare regimens, particularly in the midst of Covid, came up, and during the conversation one of the special guests of the evening, R&B group June’s Diary, shared their skin struggles and secrets with the ladies.
“I don’t know about anybody else, but these masks have been breaking me out like crazy so I’m obsessed with cleansing my skin lately,” Brienna, aka Brie, shared. “Before I used to go to sleep sometimes with makeup – I know that’s really bad – but now I like over-obsess, so no matter what I do, I make sure I wash my face at least twice a day.”
Shyann, who goes by Shy, jumped in with a “same” before later adding that a toner is key to making your skin pop — a fact fellow groupmate Kristal recently discovered. “For me, I’m experiencing the joy of a great toner,” she said. “I didn’t know how amazing– you wanna know how simple it is? Witch hazel. Witch hazel is like my best friend,” she confessed.
Krystal also uses a couple of other tried and true ingredients to take care of the skin on her body. “I’ve never really had dry skin but lately, for whatever reason, my skin has been a little dryer so I put together tumeric and shea butter and mixed it together and it’s a beautiful thing. That’s what I moisturize with. I sleep in it at night and I put it on in the morning and it just keeps my skin glowing.”
The Charlotte, North Carolina, native is definitely on to something with shea butter, which is is present in both of Cantu’s new body creams and body lotions. The Coconut Oil Hydrating Body Lotion features a combination of shea butter, cocoa butter, mango butter, jojoba oil, argan oil, aloe, and Vitamin E, while the Cocoa Butter Hydrating Body Cream and Shea Butter Nourishing Body Cream are blends of shea butter, mango butter, and Vitamin E. The Shea Butter Nourishing Body Lotion also has shea butter, cocoa butter, and mango butter with the addition of coconut oil, jojoba oil, and argan oil for extra nourishment.
Most of us have used at least one of those ingredients before so we know how effective they are at keeping dryness at bay, but the real question, as Ashly asked during the girl’s night in, is have you smelled them? Each cream and lotion literally smells like Christmas at home. There’s a sweet warmth you feel just inhaling the scent and, despite being heavier creams and lotions, they absorb into the skin quickly without leaving behind a greasy residue.
As amazing as these new launches are at nipping dull, dry skin in the bud, Ashly reminded us the most important aspect of having great skin is being consistent with the products you use, which includes moisturizers like these body lotions and creams.
“For me, I’ve never been a person to have a regimen, but I’ve had time to actually have a skincare regimen this year, like to wash and exfoliate and tone and put on a mask — like I love the Aztec clay mask — and to really, really moisturize,” she said. “It’s really important to moisturize your skin and I’ve actually seen a difference. I’ve never been consistent with it but now I’m consistent and I see a change.”
