Saturday, March 28, 2009

Mineral makeup line from e.l.f

Super-affordable makeup brand e.l.f (eyes lips face) has a new range of mineral makeup. Well, it might not be all that new, but it’s only just hit our stores. I really like mineral makeup, so it’s good to see another brand bring out a mineral range. The packaging is recyclable, which is good. The products are:

Foundation $29.95, available in five shades
Concealer $19.95, available in five shades
Blush $29.95, available in five shades
Mineral Glow $29.95, available in two shades (Shimmer and Bronzed)
Mineral Booster $29.95 (a loose finishing powder), available in one shade
Eye shadow $12.99, available in twelve shades (the website lists eighteen shades, but six of them are new, and I have not seen them)

e.l.f mineral makeup is available at Bling stores. I am keen to try the concealer and the eye shadows – there are some very pretty colours!

Pet products

So, I’ve written about products for men, babies, kids, 'tweens, and teens, as well as women, obviously (including pregnant women), but what about the four-legged members of your family? If you want to use something natural to wash your pet with, try Aesop Animal, $32.50 for 500ml. It has a picture of a dog on the bottle, but I guess you could use it to wash your cat. Yes, yes, I know cats wash themselves, but what if you have a long-haired cat that’s going to be in a cat show? It’s common practice to give the cat a bath the night before the show. This is not easy to do. Yes, I speak from experience!

Anyway...another option for washing your dog is John Masters Dogpoo(Doggy Shampoo). Buy it from Ikigai, the cool website I mentioned the other day. It’s $36.60 (in Australian dollars) for 473ml. Or try Ecostore Dog and Puppy Shampoo, $10.95 for 250ml.

Stuff that smells like peppermint

Peppermint smells yummy and refreshing. It’s quite a popular scent for beauty and personal care products, particularly for toothpastes, lip balms, and foot scrubs and creams. Some minty products:

Avalon Organics Moisturizing Cream Shave in Peppermint $13.90 for 225ml - keep your legs hair-free with this shaving cream.


Lush Running to the Embassy Body Butter $16 for 95g - Exfoliates and moisturises feet.

Viola Organics Lip Balm Mint $6 for 4.5g - A blend of moisturising oils plus shea butter and essential oils.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Facial oils

It may sound odd to put oils on your face, especially if you have oily or combination skin, but there are a lot of oil blends that are specifically designed for the face, like The Herb Farm Intensive Facial Oil, $31.80 for 15ml. It contains calendula, rosehip and tamanu oils and lavender essential oil.

To balance oily skin, try Dr Hauschka’s Normalising Day Oil, $57 for 30ml. It contains healing ingredients such as Carrot, Anthyllis, St.John's Wort and Wheat Germ oil. For a night treatment, try Nude Night Replenishing Oil, $132 for 15ml, which is a blend of omegas 3, 6, 7 and 9.

Some other options:

$30 and under: Bod Organic Morroccan Rose Face Oil 20ml $29.90

$40 and under: Antipodes Certified Organic Divine Face Oil 25ml $36.90

$80 and under: This Works Active Oil 30ml $85, Living Nature Radiance Night Oil 10ml $90

$95 and under: Hema Millennium Face and Body Oil 125ml $95

Almay Pure Blends Makeup

The new range from Almay has arrived in New Zealand! The products in the Pure Blends line are all at least 95% natural, with eco-friendly packaging, which is also very pretty. The products are:

- Makeup (liquid foundation) 97.4% natural 30ml, available in five shades
- Loose Finishing Powder 98.2% natural 7.9g, available in two shades
- Blush/Bronzer 98.2% natural 4.25g, available in three shades
- Eye shadow 98.2% natural 2.55g, available in six shades

I’m not sure of all the prices, although I saw the blush/bronzer labelled as being $29 at Farmers. These products are also available at selected pharmacies. I’m keen to try the eye shadow. Anyone out there tried any of these products?

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Perfume

The paragraphs below this one are written by Liliana Pagnotta, who owns an eco-friendly perfume and tea atelier called Arkadia, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She creates the perfumes herself, including the ones pictured above, which are from a line called Loya Rossa, and are made from native Argentinean herbs. She also has a line based on teas such as green tea and white tea.


A History of Perfume

A magical world surrounds tea and perfumes. Perfumists, heirs of the ancient magicians, are even today considered to be modern day alquimists.

Perfumes have accompanied men since the beginning of times. In 9000 b.c. men used them to please the Gods in order get food and shelter; the term perfume (from the latin Perfumus – “through smoke”) derives from those days, because plants were burned so that their aroma could find its way to heaven, Gods’ residence.

The properties of beautiful aromas and delicious flavors obtained from the Camellia plant were well known in China , in 3700 b.c.; in fact, a specific variety of this plant provides us with Tea.


In the 9th century, Arabs already knew about the method of plant and flower distillation in order to “capture its soul”, technique its said they copied from an Egyptian alquimist who, in the 5th century b.c.., developed the famous Kyphy (classic incense made from the maceration of 17 different herbs with aromatic resins, honey, wine and raisins).

Later on, in the 16th century, Catalina de Médicis encouraged her personal perfumists to develop new techniques to perfume the beautiful and fragrant Versailles palace. As a result, the city of Grasse was born. This is the perfume capital in the south of France and still today houses the most beautiful fragrance ateliers.

Nowadays, perfume is one of the most profitable and venerated industries by the modern man. Loyal to those bucolic images, Liliana Pagnotta (founder of Arkadia, made to order aromas and flavors) continues to capture these “beautiful subjects” (as she calls them) in her collections, which include teas, perfumes and books related to the subject.


A big thank you to Liliana for providing the passages above. I’m not very knowledgeable about perfume, so it’s good to have some insight from someone who knows a lot more! Check out Liliana’s website: http://www.arkadiavirtual.com.ar/. It’s in Spanish, but if you don’t know any Spanish, you can use Google to translate it into English. And check out her store if you are ever in Buenos Aires. I would love to go South America myself one day, so I will keep it in mind if I ever visit Argentina

Closer to home, only last year, I couldn’t find any eco-friendly perfume in New Zealand, but now there are quite a few options. I recently bought Origins Shedonism Exotic Floral Essence, normally $110 for 50ml, but I got it for $70 on sale at Kirkaldies, because it is unfortunately being discontinued. It’s a lovely light flowery scent.

Kirkaldies also sells Ren Rosa Maya EDP, $165 for ml (in their Mecca Cosmetica store). It’s a floral, musky scent.


Available at Commonsense Organics and Nature Unplugged is Latential Latentialme EDT, $79.95 for 50ml. This smells GORGEOUS – it is described as a ‘fruity floral’, and it smells fruity, zesty, and yummy.

WORLD Beauty Store sells Aesop fragrances. There are two of them (both Eau de Toilette fragrances) – Marrakech, which has notes of clove, cardamom and jasmine, and Mystra, which has incense and resin notes. I can’t remember the exact price of them, but I think they are $199 at WORLD Beauty, although the Aesop website lists them as $140 each (however, that may be in Australian dollars).

If you would rather go for a more low-cost option, try Nuts Cream Perfume Organic Rose de rosée, $39.95, available at Life Pharmacy stores. It smells kind of nutty (Or maybe I just think that because of the brand name!) as well as like roses.

Another option is to order fragrances online via the Viola Organics website . These fragrances are not the Viola Organics brand, but instead are made by Aubrey Organics (and they also sell the Latentialme perfume). You can order the Aubrey Organics perfumes in full size bottles (60ml) for $42.50, or in 2ml sample bottle for $2.50. The fragrances available are Angelica, which has notes of citrus and lavender, Jade Spice, which has notes of ginger, mandarin and cardamom, and Musk which has notes of neroli and bergamot. Please note that these fragrances are available for delivery only within New Zealand.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Ikigai, organic and natural beauty boutique

I just found out about a cool new website called Ikigai. It is an organic and natural online beauty boutique, which sells clean, green skincare and cosmetics, allowing you to have a beautiful face and a better world!

Ikigai is an Australian website, but they ship to other countries as well. They stock some great brands like Lavera, Pangea Organics, John Masters Organics, and more!

Check it out at http://www.ikigai.com.au/ .

Monday, March 16, 2009

Stuff that smells like vanilla

Vanilla smells yummy and comforting. It’s quite a popular scent for beauty products. To name just a few:

Antipodes Vanilla Pod Hydrating Day Cream 60ml $45 – Smells amazingly yummy. Contains shea butter

Tui Vanilla Lip Balme $6.50 12g – With certified organic New Zealand beeswax

Ecostore Vanilla Soap 80g $2.50 – Affordable, lasts a while, and smells good.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Products for itchy skin

Whether you’ve been bitten by a pesky insect, you have eczema or psoriasis, or you’re itchy for any other reason...it’s annoying! It’s hard not to scratch, but you know you shouldn’t! Fortunately, there are products which can help with itchy skin.

For something to put on that itchy skin to soothe it, try Botanica Scratchy and Itchy Gel (no, not the same as the TV program on The Simpsons...that’s Itchy and Scratchy), $17.50 for 75ml, Artemis Itch Calm Cream Extra Strength, $16.50 for 30ml, and $49.70 for 100ml, or The Herb Farm Echinacea Cream, $13.60 for 30ml, $22.70 for 60ml, and $34.40 for 120ml.

To calm your skin in the shower, try Lush Dreamwash, $27.50 for 250g.

To heal itchy skin from the inside out, take 1ml (30 drops) Artemis Itch Calm Tincture 3 – 4 times daily ($26.20 for 50ml, and $44.40 for 100ml).

Saturday, March 7, 2009

For every budget: Mineral powder foundation

I like to present my readers with a wide range of different options when it comes to the price of products. With the current economic climate, a lot of people are on a tight budget, so from time to time I’ll blog about products for a range of different budgets. Starting with this post!

Low cost: Natio Mineral Loose Foundation $23, available in three colours

Mid-range: The Body Shop Nature’s Minerals Foundation SPF 25 $45, available in six colours

High end: Bare Escentuals bareMinerals SPF 15 Foundation $80, available in fifteen shades

Night creams

I have never used a night cream myself, but there are a lot of them, for all different skin types.

People with oily or combination skin could try Living Nature Balancing Night Gel, $65 for 50ml.

Those with normal to combination skin could use Evolu Replenishing Moisturiser Nutrient Enriched, $47 for 75ml.

Dry skin would benefit from using Antipodes Avocado Pear Nourishing Night Cream, $42 for 60ml, Comvita Huni Every Night Moisturiser, $49 for 50ml, Living Nature Nourishing Night Cream, $65 for 50ml, or Evolu Restorative Night Treatment, $47 for 75ml (also suitable for sensitive skin).

If you are looking to combat signs of aging, try Trilogy Replenishing Night Cream $58.99 for 60g.

I just realised that all the brands I’ve mentioned are New Zealand brands. I feel so patriotic right now.

New range from Trilogy


New from Trilogy is Age Proof, a range to combat the signs of aging. The products are:

- Daily Defence Moisturiser with SPF15 50ml $52.99
- Nutrient Plus Firming Serum 30ml $45.99
- Replenishing Night Cream 60g $58.99

Eyebrow defining products

Eyebrow pencil is not something I use – if I want to define my eyebrows, then I brush some brown eye shadow on them. I find this works well, but if you want to use eyebrow pencil, try Couleur Caramel Eyebrow Pencil, $31.99. It comes in three colours – Blond, Light Brown, and Dark Brown.

Eyebrow pencil is not the only option. Bare Escentuals has a brow kit, which consists of bareMinerals Brow Color (which is a powder), Angled Brow Brush, and Brow Finishing Gel. I think it’s about $85.