Top ten products of 2009

I meant to post between Christmas and New Year’s, but didn’t get around to it. Hope you all had a great Christmas and Happy New Year! Anyway, these are my favourite products of 2009, in no particular order. I tried a lot of really great products, and it was difficult to narrow them down!

e.l.f Mineral Eyeshadow $12.99 – these eyeshadows are really affordable, and comes in 12 colours. I have four of these (Celebrity – shimmery pale gold, Sassy – shimmery bronze, Confident – shimmery dark brown, and Temptress – matte warm pink). These were available at Bling stores, but I’m not sure if they are stocking them anymore.


Trilogy Energising Face Lotion 100ml $46.90 – technically I bought this right at the end of last year, but never mind that. This is a light but nourishing moisturiser, and a little goes a long way. Doesn’t seem to clog pores, which is great.

Saya Body Butter 200g AUD$26.95 – Thick, rich, moisturising, smells great, and handmade in Noosa. Order from http://www.sayaskin.com/.

Aveda Lip Shine $44 – Yummy taste, moisturising, and comes in five shades.

Pai Echium Eye Cream 15ml £24 – rich, nourishing eye
cream. Order at http://www.paiskincare.com/.






Sustainable Youth® Technologies Immune Performance™ Revitalizing Serum 30ml USD$80 – Nice and light, with a yummy ginger beer scent. Order at http://www.sustainableyouthproducts.com/.

Bloom Minerals Plus Lip Butter $31 – Cute little pots of moisturising lip colour, available in eight shades. I have Natural Woman (brownish nude), and had Shiver (nudey pink), which I have now used up.




ecostore Shampoo and Conditioner for Dry and Damaged Hair 220ml $9.99 – technically two products, but let’s just forget that for the moment. They work well, are very affordable, and smell great.

Pangea Organics Egyptian Geranium with Adzuki Bean & Cranberry Facial Scrub 110ml AUD$39.95 – Yummy-smelling fine-grain scrub with plantable packaging. Order from http://www.ikigai.com/.


Trilogy Botanical Moisture Masque for dry hair 95ml 29.95 – Good for a weekly treatment.

Favourite product of autumn

People keep saying it's winter, and I keep reminding them that technically, it's still autumn. Well, it is until tomorrow. Anyway, autumn has come to an end, and my favourite beauty product of autumn is Pangea Organics Egyptian Geranium with Adzuki Bean & Cranberry Facial Scrub, AUD$39.95 It smells yummy, it's nice and gentle, and it's a generous size (110ml), so I can see it lasting a long time - and it has fantastic plantable packaging (which I really must get around to planting - but perhaps not in this cold weather). More details are available in a previous post. It was sent to me by the people from Ikigai, an online organic beauty boutique - check them out at http://www.ikigai.com.au/ .

Product reviews: Products from Ikigai

I previously mentioned Ikigai, a great online organic skincare boutique. The people at Ikigai sent me some products to review. Here is what I got:

- Pangea Organics Egyptian Geranium with Adzuki Bean & Cranberry Facial Scrub (full size)
- Two 10ml sachets of John Masters Organics Lavender & Avocado Intensive Conditioner
- Two 10ml sachets of John Masters Organics Honey & Hibiscus Hair Reconstructor
- Two 10ml sachets of John Masters Organics Citrus & Neroli Detangler

I have heard good things about Pangea and John Masters products, so it was great to be able to try these products out. Here are the reviews:


Pangea Organics Egyptian Geranium with Adzuki Bean & Cranberry Facial Scrub

Packaging: A squeezy recyclable plastic tube with a flip-top cap in a cardboard box embedded with seeds – You can plant the box!
Price: AUD$39.95
Size: 110ml
Suitable for: All skin types
Available at: Ikigai website
Pros: Gentle, smells nice, generous size, plantable box!
Cons: None

Verdict: I have been using this weekly, and it is nice and gentle, but also effective. It leaves my skin feeling soft and smooth, and it smells good too. I think it is very cool that the box can be planted. I haven’t done this; I’ll have to get onto it. When it is planted, medicinal herbs will grow (the same herbs which are used in the product). Nice!


Note: The reviews for the haircare products give details of the price and packaging of the full size products; I tried the sample sachets.


John Masters Organics Lavender & Avocado Intensive Conditioner

Packaging: A squeezy recyclable plastic tube with a flip-top cap
Price: AUD$40.50
Size: 207ml
Suitable for: Dry hair
Available at: Ikigai website
Pros: Moisturising, non-greasy
Cons: None

Verdict: I have dry hair which tends to get frizzy, so this was really good for my hair. It says to leave it in for 1 – 5 minutes, and I left it in for about 2, which worked well.


John Masters Organics Honey & Hibiscus Hair Reconstructor

Packaging: A squeezy recyclable plastic tube with a flip-top cap
Price: AUD$51.60
Size: 118ml
Suitable for: Very dry, damaged or colour-treated hair
Available at: Ikigai website
Pros: Very moisturising, nice smell
Cons: None

Verdict: My hair is not colour-treated, but it is pretty dry, so using this helped give it some much-needed moisture. It is supposed to be left in for 2 – 4 minutes, and I usually left it in for around 2 minutes.

John Masters Organics Citrus & Neroli Detangler

Packaging: A recyclable plastic bottle
Price: AUD$29.99
Size: 236ml
Suitable for: Dry or fine hair
Pros: Very thick and moisturising, amazing smell
Cons: None

Verdict: The instructions say that this is to be left in for 1 – 3 minutes, but also that it makes an excellent leave-in conditioner. I used it as a leave-in conditioner. It is very thick, adds a lot of moisture to the hair, and smells very yummy!


Thanks to the people at Ikigai for sending me these great products! They came at just the right time, because I was almost out of face scrub, and my hair had been getting very dry, so using the John Masters products helped with that.