Product Review: Purelygreat deodorant

Purelygreat is a Canadian company that makes all-natural, aluminium-free deodorant. Deb from Purelygreat kindly sent me two samples of the Women’s Cream Deodorant to review; Citrus, and Lavender. They also make an Unscented Deodorant, Men’s Deodorants in Citrus, and Patchouli, Teen Boy’s Patchouli Deodorants, and Teen Girl’s Lavender Deodorant.

Size: 45g (each sample I received is 20g)

Price: CAD$12.99 (On sale from $15.00)

Packaging: A glass jar with a screw-on plastic lid

Available at: www.mynaturaldeodorant.com

The verdict: This is an extremely effective deodorant. It kept me dry and un-sweaty all day! Yay! I did not have to re-apply it at all; with most other deodorants I do need to re-apply later in the day in order to retain that fresh feeling. Both the scents also smelled very nice. I would definitely recommend it.

And so this is Christmas

...and what have I done? Well, not nearly enough work on this blog this year, sorry about that. I will try to improve on that next year.

The picture above is of a beach somewhere in New Zealand. The tree in the foreground is a Pohutukawa, which is sort of a 'New Zealand Christmas tree'. Christmas is in summer here, remember?

Merry Christmas!

To Mama with Love

It's Mothers' Day tomorrow, and here's an opportunity to support a really great cause. You may remember that last year I wrote about To Mama with Love. This is an online collaborative art project, honouring mothers around the world. You can set up a 'heartspace' where you tell everyone how awesome your mum is - it can be personalised with words, photos, and/or videos - and donate money to Epic Change, which supports some amazing women, including Mama Lucy from Tanzania, pictured above. Check it out at http://www.tomamawithlove.org/.

Happy Mothers' Day all you mums! Including mine!

Made from Earth

Ok, so you may all be wondering if I’m still here, given that I haven’t posted in a while...sorry about that. I’m still here, and I have a great brand to tell you about!

Made from Earth is an American company that makes organic skincare products. Check them out at www.madefromearth.com. They kindly sent me some of their lovely products to try. The products I tried were:

Rooibos Tea Facial Scrub

Size: 2 oz (about 57g; I had a smaller sample size)

Price: USD$24.99

Packaging: A plastic jar with a screw-on lid.

The verdict: This is a nice gentle scrub containing key ingredients jojoba beads, aloe vera, and rooibos tea. It’s detoxifying without being harsh, and it smells good too.

Pure Aloe Vera Skin Treatment

Size: 2 oz (I had a smaller sample size)

Price: $14.99

Packaging: A plastic jar with a screw-on lid.

The verdict: Soothing, moisturising, and non-greasy, containing healing ingredients including aloe vera, witch hazel, and neem . Great smell too. Very nice!

Rosehip + Hibiscus Facial Serum (pictured above)

Size: 2 oz

Price: USD$12.50 (Currently on sale from $24.99)

Packaging: A plastic bottle with a pump-top, and lid.

The verdict: This is nice and moisturising, without being greasy. Nice subtle smell. Contains hibiscus flower extract, rosehip seed oil, and glycerine, among other things. Love it!

Blueberry Organic Lip Balm with Vitamin E

Size: 0.15oz (4.25g)

Price: USD$3.99

Packaging: A windup plastic tube with a lid.

The verdict: This has a yummy but subtle taste and smell, and it’s very moisturising too, with sunflower and jojoba oils.

Citrus Fresh Organic Lip Balm with Vitamin E

Size: 0.15oz (4.25g)

Price: USD$3.99

Packaging: A windup plastic tube with a lid.

The verdict: I really like citrus scents and tastes, so loved this. It’s like a glass of orange juice in a tube! A dry-lip quenching one, that is.

I really like that there are so many great natural and organic ingredients in these products. I think it is great how much aloe vera is used in the products – very good for sensitive skin! The packaging is also really pretty. Plus, it is a cruelty free brand, which is a must for me.

To risk sounding like an infomercial, but wait, there’s more! Readers of this blog can get a 5% discount on Made from Earth products when you purchase them from www.madefromearth.com. Just enter the code 'TheMeanGreenBeautyMachine’. No minimum.

Merry Christmas!

So, I totally had plans to do posts about Christmas gift ideas, but I got crazy busy doing things like making my own wrapping paper (well, I didn't actually make the paper itself, I made the pattern on it), and those posts never happened. But I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and I'll be posting again after Christmas, on things such as my favourite products of 2011.

Note: The picture above, while lovely, is not quite what your typical Christmas scene in New Zealand would look like, it being summer here and all.

Ecostore Baby Bubble Bath

Ecostore have added a bubble bath to their baby products range. It is gentle on young skin, and is scented with essential oils. It is $10.95 for 200ml; see www.ecostore.co.nz for stockists, or buy it online at www.ecostoredirect.co.nz.

Peppermint magazine

I've been on the hunt for an eco fashion/beauty magazine that comes from my part of the world, and have not been successful - until now! I recently discovered Peppermint, an Australian eco fashion/beauty/lifestyle magazine. It is published quarterly, and can be bought at Borders, Magnetix, Starfish stores, and www.endemicworld.com for $11.95 (it costs a bit more at Starfish, $12.25 I think).

The current issue is focusing on cruelty-free fashion, and has an in-depth article about the fur industry, plus loads of other cool features, including info about various resuable water bottles, instructions on how to pretty up plain tank tops using doilies, and an article on palm oil. I think it's an awesome magazine, and I'll buying it every season from now on.