Fair Trade beauty

We are coming to the end of Fair Trade Fortnight. There are a number of brands which make natural beauty products using Fair Trade ingredients. Trade Aid has a range of Fair Trade soaps, made in the Palam Rural Centre in southern India using sustainably sourced palm oil. They cost $3, and are available in ten scents (Cinnamon, Clove, Coconut, Cucumber, Green Apple, Honey, Jasmine, Neem, Rose, and Sandalwood).

Lush uses Fair Trade cocoa butter from Northern Ghana and Fair Trade shea butter from the Ivory Coast. Dr Bronner’s products are certified Fair Trade by IMO, and use the following fair trade organic ingredients: olive oil from Palestine, coconut oil from Sri Lanka, sustainable palm oil from Ghana, and hemp oil from North America. The Body Shop uses a number of community trade ingredients: organic virgin coconut oil from Samoa, marula oil from Namibia, cocoa butter from Ghana, and aloe vera from Guatemala. They also use hand crafted accessories from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Note: I know that some of the ingredients used in products from Lush and The Body Shop are not all that natural. However, there are some of their products that do contain all or mostly all natural ingredients, such as Lush’s Les Cacas Henna Hair Dyes and Therapy Massage Bar, and The Body Shop’s Natures Minerals makeup range and Sugaring Hair Removal Wax, and it is products such as these that I mention on this blog.

Super hydrators for winter

The cold weather can really dry out your skin and hair. To add some extra moisture, try these super-hydrating products.

- For face: A’kin Rose & Geranium Pure Creamy Cleanser & Toner in One 225ml $26.90, Living Nature Rich Day Cream 100ml $59, Comvita Huni Intensive Hydrating Mask 75g $45

- For eyes: Antipodes Kiwi Seed Eye Cream 30ml $48, Comvita Huni Every Day Eye Cream 15g $39, Pacifica Organics Eye Cream 20ml $34.99

- For lips: Weleda Everon Lip Balm 4.8g $11, Blue Earth Lip Balm 15ml $11 (available in Lime and Sweet Fennell), Pacifica Organics Lip Balm $11.99

- For body: Living Nature Nourishing Body Wash 200ml $27.50, Sukin Body Lotion, $15.50 for 250ml, and $23.99 for 500ml, Antipodes Jubilation Ultra Nourishing Body Cream 200ml $48

- For hands: Sukin Cleansing Hand Wash, $10.99 for 250ml, and $26.99 for 1L, A'kin Lavender, Geranium & Jojoba Hand, Nail & Cuticle Creme 75ml $15.50, Evolu Nourishing Hand and Cuticle Cream 125ml $23

- For feet: Lush Running to the Embassy Body Butter (it’s a foot scrub bar thing) 95g $16, The Body Collection Plane Sense Foot Lotion 100ml $8.50, Weleda Heel Balm 36ml $25

- For hair: Living Nature Nourishing Shampoo 200ml $27.50, Giovanni Smooth as Silk Deeper Moisture Conditioner for damaged hair 250ml $19.95, Trilogy Botanical Moisture Masque for Dry Hair 95ml $29.95

Shimmer products

There are quite a few shimmery mineral eye shadows around, like The Body Shop Nature’s Minerals Eye Colour, $25 (available in six colours), e.l.f Mineral Makeup Eye Shadow, $12.99 (available in twelve colours), and ChiChi Eye Dust, $18.99 (available in fifteen colours). Or try SHE Australia Dusting Powder, $12.99, available in eight colours. I think they would look great on eyes, but they can be used on the face and body as well.

To add shimmer to your face, try e.l.f Mineral Glow in Shimmer, $29.95, or Almay Pure Blends Loose Finishing Powder in Translucent Shimmer, $33 for 7.9g. For a shimmery body, use Linden Leaves Gold Shimmer Dust, $23.50 for 7g, Lush Glitterbug Iridescent, $14.50 for 30g, or Lush Shimmy Shimmy, $14.50 for 30g.

If you want to use a more subtle illuminating product, try Australis Perfection Brush On Mineral Illuminating Wand, $20.90, or Living Nature Illuminating Tint, $52.

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.

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).

Massage products

If you like to massage people (or be massaged), there are a lot good massage products available. Lush has a wide range of massage bars, including Amazonian, $19.90 for 200g, Each Peach (And Two’s a Pear), $17.90 for 65g, and Therapy, $17.90 for 65g.

Tui Balmes have a range of ten massage waxes, including Lavender, Unscented, and Herbal Lift. They are $5.85 for 50g, 8.21 for 100g, $20.25 for 300g, and $27 for 500g.

If you prefer massage oils, try Living Nature Body Form Oil, $25 for 100ml, or Tranquillity Body Oil, $25 for 100ml.

Stuff that smells like chocolate

Chocolate is awesome. For a calorie-free treat, try these chocolate-scented products.

Giovanni Hot Chocolate Sugar Scrub
Just like a hot chocolate, only...scrubby. And you probably shouldn't drink it. $35 for 260g, available at Farmers and Hardy's stores.

Wychenwood Chocolate Marble Soap
Pretty, and it smells great. $4.50, available at Expressions Arts and Entertainment Centre in Upper Hutt, or buy online at http://www.wychenwood.co.nz/ .

Lush Soft Couer (The Honeymooner) Massage Bar
It has a centre of chocolate and honey...messy, but yummy! $14.50 for 30g. Buy at Lush stores, or online at http://www.lushnz.com/ .

Celebrities - the products they like, and the brands they create

Yes, I know, it seems a bit shallow to be writing about what celebrities like. But, I'll admit, although I wouldn't buy something because, say, Jennifer Aniston, said she liked it, it's still interesting to hear what beauty products the rich and famous use.

Liv Tyler and Elijah Wood both like New Zealand brand Hema, which, I'm guessing, they tried when they were over here for the filming of Lord of the Rings.

Quite a few celebrities like Lush products. They have a gift pack called You're a Star, $99, and it has eight products in it, all of which have been bought by celebrities. The products are:

Therapy Massage Bar 65g - Julia Roberts

Sea Vegetable Soap 100g - Jude Law

Dreamtime 30g - Madonna

Ceridwen's Cauldron Luxury Bath Melt 80g - Gwyneth Paltrow

Lush Aqua Mirabilis Underwater Massage Bar 95g - Kylie Minogue

Dream Cream 240g - Halle Berry

Tisty Toasty 90g - Liv Tyler

Kylie's sister Danii likes Trilogy products, and Jennifer Aniston likes Dr Hauschka products.

Then there are celebrities who start up their own natural beauty product brands. Quite a few celebrities have done this (or are in the process of doing it), such as Stella McCartney, Josie Maran, and Kate Hudson. Most of these brands aren't available in New Zealand, but I have come across a couple which are.

SUNDARI was co-created by model Christy Turlington, along with Ayla Hussain and Cavan Mahony. Meaning 'a beautiful woman' in Sanskrit, SUNDARI is an Ayurvedic based skincare range.

Duchy Originals is an organic company created by Prince Charles. The company makes food, but they also have body care products. Good to hear that the future king is concerned about the enviroment!

Vegan products

I'm not a vegan myself (I'm a vegetarian, and I don't eat a lot of dairy, but still very far from being a vegan), but here's some info for you vegans out there regarding beauty products.

I realise that many vegans try to avoid animal ingredients not only in their food, but also in their lifestyle, and when it comes to beauty products, this means staying away from ingredients like beeswax, honey, propolis, lanolin, carmine, goat's milk, non-vegetable source stearic acid, and emu oil. As a vegetarian, I won't use any beauty products that have been tested on animals, and I avoid carmine, because it comes from crushed beetles, but I'm ok with ingredients like honey. But many vegans will want to avoid any ingredients that come from an animal.

Good news! There's plenty of options out there. A'kin, Sukin, and Natural Instinct products are all free from animal ingredients, and, like all brands I endorse on this blog, do not test on animals. Some of Trilogy and Evolu's products are vegan, but I think all of Living Nature's products contain honey. A lot of Lush's products are vegan.

Vegan makeup can be a bit trickier to find, but mineral powder makeup generally tends to be free from animal ingredients. I've posted info about mineral makeup here and here.

Living Nature's awesome eyeliners are free from any animal ingredients, using vegetable waxes instead of beeswax.

The only natural vegan lipsticks and lipglosses available in New Zealand that I've come across so far are made by Immersion Cosmetics. The lipsticks come in eight shades, and are $39.38 each. The lipglosses (called Lip Glazes) come in seven shades and are $37.13 each. They can be bought online at http://www.immersioncosmetics.co.nz/, and the website also has a list of stores which stocks them. They have quite a range of makeup, all vegan, except for their Lip and Eye Pencils, and their Lip Gloss Pots. Their mascara and concealer and the only natural vegan ones available in NZ that I know of.

As a cheaper alternative for a lip colour, you could mix mineral blusher, eyeshadow or bronzer with a vegan lip balm (like A'kin Sweet Blossom and Jojoba Pure Essential Lip Balm) to make your own lip tint. I haven't tried this myself, so I'm not sure how well it would work.

So yeah, quite a lot of options for vegans - to find appropriate products it's often simply a matter of reading ingredient lists - which, as a vegan, you'll be used to doing anyway.

Bath products

I don't take baths very often, I tend to be too lazy to wait for the water to run, and just have a shower instead. Actually, I don't think I've had a bath in about a year and a half. But I realise that many of you probably do take baths a bit more regularly than that, so here's a bit of a run-down on what natural bath products are available.

Australian brand Bod has bath salts, available in The Princess Blend, the Goddess Blend, and The White Lotus Blend. They come in 125g sachets (13.20), and 275g jars ($24.90). Bod products can be bought at Hardy's and Nature Unplugged.

New Zealand brand Kereru also sells bath salts. They are available in Body Revive (Pine, Lemon, Majoram and Rosemary), Pamper (Rose Geranium), Passion (Orange, Patchouli and Ylang Ylang), Sweet Dreams (Lavender and Mandarin), and Vitalise (Lemon and Lime). They cost $4.50 for 125g, and $8 for 300g. Kereru products are available at Commonsense Organics.

If you prefer a bath milk, you could try one of Weleda's. There is Citrus Bath Milk, Lavender Relaxing Bath Milk, Pine Reviving Bath Milk, and Rosemary Invigorating Bath Milk, all $26.90 for 200ml. Weleda also has a Wild Rose Cream Bath, $31.40 for 100ml.

If you want a bubble bath, there's Bod for Bubs Bubble and Squeakie Clean. Yes, it's intended for babies, but there's no reason why adults can't use it, I guess! Another baby bath product is Ecostore Sleepytime Bath, $10.95 for 200ml, available at Commonsense Organics, Health 2000, Woolworths, Foodtown, Pak N Save, New World, Homestead Health, and Hardy's.

For bath oils, you could try one of Living Nature's body oils. These can be used for moisturising or massage, but can be also added to a bath. They have Body Form Oil, Energy Body Oil, and Tranquility Body Oil, all $23 for 100ml.

If you're after a moisturising bath treatment in solid form, you could try one of Lush's Luxury Bath Melts, like Ceridwen's Cauldron, $10.90.

Deodorants

I've read a lot of reviews (mostly on MakeupAlley, and some elsewhere on the internet) of various natural deodorants. Quite a lot of these reviews have not been all that great; it seems a lot of people are having trouble finding a natural deodorant that works.

I haven't had any problems with natural deodorants working. However, this may be because I apply deodorant several times throughout the day. Sometimes it's because I need to, other times it's before I work out, and sometimes I just get slightly paranoid about getting sweaty. Because I do tend to sweat a lot. Sorry if that's TMI.

I'm currently using Lavender Creek Farm Deodorant. This comes in either roll-on or solid. I have the solid. It costs around $9.80. I've seen the roll-on in Homestead Health, but not the solid (my Mum bought mine for me from the Lavender Creek Farm in Te Horo), but you can buy it online at their website http://www.lavendercreek.co.nz/.

I have The Herb Farm Fresh Natural Deodorant in my bag at all times for top-ups. This is a roll-on deodorant, it costs $10.20, and you can buy it at Nature Unplugged or Commonsense Organics. It does have a slightly strange smell, but I don't notice this at all when I'm wearing it. The Herb Farm also makes Active Natural Deodorant, which has a more unisex scent. Another roll-on I like is Miessense Aroma free Deodourant ($11.95). It also smells slightly strange (maybe it's the sodium bicarbonate?), but again, not noticable when I'm wearing it. As well as the Arome Free, Miessense also has Ancient Spice and Tahitian Breeze deodorants.

I've never tried crystal deodorants, but if you like them or want to try them, you could go for The Body Crystal Stick ($17.95), sold at Hardy's stores, or Deonat Deodorant Stick, $4.90 from Life Pharmacy stores.

There are also a range of deodorant sprays out there, such as Sukin Deodorant ($12), and Weleda Wild Rose Deodorant ($22.40).

For something completely different, you could try one of Lush's powder deodorants, such as Mr T Deodorant Powder ($11.90), or one of their new deodorant bars like Teo ($12.50, but it's not available until August).

I'd like to try one of the Alba Botanica Clear Enzyme Deodorants at some point, because I find solid deodorants work well for me. But most of the reviews I've read for it on MakeupAlley aren't very positive. Has anyone out there tried this deodorant? If so, what did you think?

Anyway, some other options:

Roll-on: Dr Hauschka Deodorant Floral Roll-On $32, Dr Hauschka Deodorant Roll-On Fresh $32, Avalon Organics Theraputic Deodorant $12.95 (available in Lavender, Lemon, Wild Yam, Rosemary, and Peppermint)

Solid: Nature's Gate Organics Deodorant Stick $11.95 (available in Chamomile & Lemon Verbena, Lemongrass & Clary Sage, Lavender & Aloe, and Tea Tree & Blue Cypress), Lush Aromacreme $14.50 for 100g

Spray: Natural Instinct Natural Deodorant $12, Weleda Sage Deodorant $19.60

Powder: Lush The Greeench $14.50, Lush Coconut $11.90