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.

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.

Stuff that smells like grapefruit

For a yummy, zesty, scent, try these grapefruit-scented products.

Methven Uplift Shower Infusion 37ml $19.95




Giovanni Grapefruit Sky Hydrate Body Lotion 250ml $23






Ren Neroli and Grapefruit Shower Gel 200ml $62

New Trilogy products

New to Trilogy’s Age Proof range is Triple Action Line Smoother, $49.90 for 30ml. It contains nourishing ingredients such as jojoba oil, cocoa butter, and avocado oil, and is formulated to target fine lines and deep wrinkles.

New to the Body Care range is Ultra Hydrating Body Cream, $29.90 for 150ml. Moisturising ingredients like honey, sunflower seed oil, and olive oil nourish the skin, and mica gives some shimmer.

Indah

Indah is a natural body care range founded in 2009 in Bali, Indonesia, by Australian Teisha Lowry. The word Indah means ‘beautiful’ in Balinese. The products are handmade in Bali, using ingredients such as honey, coconut oil, fennel, seaweed, cloves, and patchouli. Teisha travels to Bali to farm ingredients for the products, which are extracted from natural, organic flowers, fruits, and plants, which are sustainably grown and harvested. Most of the ingredients are cold-pressed, which means that they are extracted without the use of chemicals and heat. Indah products are free from artificial colours, artificial fragrances, fillers, parabens, sulphates, phlatates and petrochemicals.

The products are free from palm oil, and Teisha supports the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation. The packaging is recyclable, made from aluminium, recycled paper, and soy-based inks. A Balinese artist was commissioned to do the designs on the Indah packaging. Indah products are not tested on animals, and the company is an advocate of IDEP (Indonesian Development of Education and Permaculture). They encourage and support Fair Trade, and Mitra Bali, a non-profit, non-government organisation, which helps to improve conditions for Balinese farmers and their families.

The range is primarily targeted towards surfers, snow bunnies, and sun seekers, although is not only for those who enjoy the outdoors, but also who enjoy natural therapies. Indah adheres to the traditional Balinese cultural concept of Tri Hita Karana. This means that the company is committed to working harmoniously with, and respecting, the environment, humanity, and the divine.

The products are:

Surfer’s Body Balm AUD$19.95 in Fresh Soul
Lip Balm AUD$12.95 in Sweet Spice, Wellkiss, and Coco Love
Traditional Body Butter AUD$32.95 in Lovina Beach, Coco Love, and Dreamland
Body Bar AUD$9.95 in Uluwatu, Medewi, and Sanur Reef

Indah products can be bought on Indah’s website, www.indah.com.au, a variety of stores around Australia, and a number of Australian websites. Stockists are listed on the Indah website. There is also a link on the website to the Indah blog.

It’s great to see such a natural, ethical, eco-friendly, affordable brand. The products look amazing. If you live in Australia, then during July, if you spend $30 on the Indah website, you get free shipping and handling.

Favourite products of summer and autumn

It’s now officially winter, and I realise that I never got around to posting about my favourite product of summer. It is Karen Murrell Absolute Luxury Face Moisturiser, $45 for 50ml, available for Farmers. It’s a great light, non-greasy moisturiser. For more information, check out my review here, and http://www.karenmurrell.com/.

My favourite product of autumn is Beautiful Skin by Renee. Great for nourishing dry skin, check out my review here and http://www.beautifulskinbyrenee.com/.

Aurora Spa Rituals

New to Mecca Cosmetica stores (in Ponsonby, Auckland and at Kirkaldies & Stains, Wellington) is the Aurora Spa Rituals range, from Aurora Spa, Melbourne. The products contain botanical extracts, and are free from synthetic fragrances, colours, sulphates, and parabens. Check out the range at www.meccacosmetica.co.nz.

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.

Stuff that smells like lemon

For a tangy burst of citrus, try these lemon-scented products.

Vrindavan Lemon Certified Organic Lip Balm 5g $9.00






Avalon Organics Lemon Hand and Body Lotion 350ml $25

Dr Hauschka Lemon Body Wash 150ml $29

Product review: Beautiful Skin by Renee

Renee Blackwell sent me her product, Beautiful Skin, to try out. It’s a blend of six oils: rosehip seed oil, vitamin E. oil, macadamia nut oil, hemp seed oil, carrot seed oil, and essential oil of rose.
Size: 50ml
Price: AUD$45
Packaging: A glass bottle with a screw-on lid.
Available at: http://www.beautifulskinbyrenee.com/
The verdict: This is really good for dry skin. I have been applying it at night, on some of the marks on my face (from previous acne), on my elbows, and on an annoying dry patch of skin on my left foot. After using it for a few weeks, I think that it has been helping the marks, my elbows are a lot less dry, and the annoying dry patch is almost gone, which is great, because nothing else would make it go away. I would recommend this for turning dry bits of skin back into normal bits of skin, or just generally providing some moisture. All the oils are great for moisturising, and it also smells really nice.

Jurlique now in New Zealand

Australian natural skincare brand Jurlique is now available in New Zealand, at Kirkaldies. The range is pretty extensive, and again I’m feeling a bit too lazy to list all the products. To check out the range, go to http://www.jurlique.com/, but bear in mind that the prices are in Australian dollars.

For every budget: Body butters

Body butters are great for super hydration, particularly now that the weather is getting colder.

Low-cost: Skinfood Body Butter 250g $15.99







Mid-range: Antipodes Jubilation Ultra Nourishing Body Cream 200ml $48



High-end: Origins Calm to your Senses Lavender and Vanilla 200ml $60

Five cult natural beauty products

There are some beauty products, including natural/organic ones, that are so popular that they have achieved ‘cult’ status. Here are five of them.

Weleda Skinfood 75g $21.90 – This is great for dry, rough skin. I like to use it on my feet.



Burt’s Bees Beeswax Lip Balm $12.95 – Super popular, and now available at Farmers as well as Kirkaldies.




Trilogy 100% Pure Certified Organic Rosehip Oil 20ml $22.90 and 45ml $38.90 – I find this great to use on dry skin and scars.





Dr Bronner’s Magic Soap 236ml $14.90 and 944ml $34.9 – This has 18 different uses. I’m not quite sure what they all are, but apparently this soap is quite the multi-tasker. Available in Peppermint, Eucalyptus, Almond, Rose, Baby Mild, Citrus, Lavender, and Tea Tree. Also, the writing on the bottles is quite interesting.


Dr Hauschka Rose Day Cream 30ml $60 – An extremely popular biodynamic moisturiser.

Elemental Herbology

It sounds like a textbook that Harry Potter would read to help him deal with those strange plants in the Hogwarts’ greenhouse – Elemental Herbology. Actually, that would probably be more Hermione’s thing: ‘You two really need to read Elemental Herbology...’ Anyway, it’s really a skincare brand that has recently become available at Mecca Cosmetica. The body products are divided into different seasons, which is an interesting concept that makes sense. There are quite a lot of products in the range, and I’m feeling a bit too lazy to list them, so if you want to check them out, go to www.meccacosmetica.co.nz.

More info on the Karen Murell range

Karen Murrell sent me her awesome new range of products in January, and I have been having fun trying them out. You may remember me

mentioning this range a few months ago. Karen launched Skinfood in 2002, and this new range late last year. The products are certified by Ecocert (the first New Zealand brand to have this certification), and the Organic Food Chain. The boxes, tubes and bottles all have the percentage of organic ingredients printed on them. The packaging is pretty cool – the boxes, bottles, and squeezy tubes are recyclable, (the boxes are made from recyclable, renewable paper using soy inks) and the lipstick and lip balm tubes are biodegradable – you bury them. That’s cool, and not something I’ve come across before. The packaging is also very stylish and eye-catching, with funky artwork on the boxes.

They are available at Farmers stores, as well as some other stores. For more information on stockists, as well as more information about the products, check out http://www.karenmurrell.com/.

I think this new range is great. It’s hard for me to pick a favourite out of all the products, but if I had to pick one, it would be the moisturiser. More on it (and all the other products) below).

Here’s the lowdown on the products:

Pure Honesty Cleansing Gel
Size: 100ml
Price: $34
Packaging: A recyclable (HDPE 2) squeezy tube inside a recyclable two-piece cardboard box.
The verdict: It’s gentle, but cleanses thoroughly. I only need to use a little bit, so I can see the tube lasting for a long time. Any skin type could use it, but it contains seaweed and witch hazel, which are both beneficial to oily and combination skin. Using it in combination with the moisturiser has helped my skin clear up (I had previously been getting a few pimples). It smells nice and fresh.

Absolute Luxury Face Moisturiser
Size: 50ml
Price: $45
Packaging: A recyclable (PETE 1) pump-top bottle inside a recyclable two-piece cardboard box.
The verdict: A nice, light moisturiser with a lovely scent. It moisturises well, but doesn’t clog pores, and I find I only need to use a small amount. I have combination skin, and it’s good to have a moisturiser that is non pore-clogging, but still, well, moisturises! It contains tamanu oil, a ‘miracle ingredient’ which accelerates new tissue growth.

Aqua River Face Cream for Men
Size: 50ml
Price: $36
Packaging: A recyclable (PETE 1) pump-top bottle inside a recyclable two-piece cardboard box.
The verdict: I gave this to my brother-in-law, and he likes it. This also contains tamanu oil.

True Miracle Intense Balm
Size: 50ml
Price: $39
Packaging: A recyclable (HDPE 2) squeezy tube inside a recyclable two-piece cardboard box.
The verdict: This is really good for dry cuticles, lips, or dry skin, really. Smells and tastes great too. Ingredients include cocoa butter.

Nature’s Essense Body Scrub
Size: 200ml
Price: $45
Packaging: A recyclable (HDPE 2) squeezy tube inside a recyclable two-piece cardboard box.
The verdict: This is a great moisturising scrub, ideal for using before applying fake tan. Contains tamanu oil, salt and oat flakes.

Moisture Stick Lip Balm
Size: 4g
Price: $24.99
Packaging: A biodegradable tube inside a recyclable two-piece cardboard box.
The verdict: A good, nourishing lip balm that smells great, thanks to the sweet orange essential oil. I find that I don’t need to apply it all that often. Contains jojoba and castor oil.

Lipstick
Size: 4g
Price: $24.99
Packaging: A biodegradable tube inside a recyclable two-piece cardboard box.
The verdict: The lipstick is available in four shades: Cordovan Natural (beige nude), pink starlet (bright pink), Red Shimmer (bright red), Violet Mousse (nudey pink). The shades are fairly matte, but the lipsticks are moisturising, including ingredients such as jojoba and castor oil. The lipsticks smell really amazing, probably due to the cinnamon oil in them. I really like all the colours, but my favourite is Violet Mousse.

I very much recommend the Karen Murrell range, it’s good to have another great New Zealand natural skincare range available.

Products I want to try in 2010

It’s a new year (ok, like a month and a half into it, but whatever), so time to try new things (well, not always new, but new to me). Karen Murrell has very kindly sent me her new range of products, so I have been using those (I’ll put more info about this up here soon). In addition to those, this year I would like to try:

- Blue Earth Sunblock $28.90
- Seven Wonders Sculpting Wax $33.50
- Physicians Formula Organic Wear Mascara $29.95
- Lafe’s Natural & Organic Deodorant Stick 71g $15.99
- Quash Hand Sanitiser 15ml $5.50
- Weleda Birch Cellulite Oil 100ml $30
- Quintessentials Natural Sunscreen 150g $33.40
- Juice Beauty Blemish Be Gone $29
- [Al'chemy] (By A'kin) Lemongrass Shampoo 225ml $15
- [Al'chemy] Jojoba Light Conditioner 225ml $15
- Nature’s Gate 32,000 I.U. Vitamin E Roll-on 32ml $27.70
- Natio Mineral Lip Gloss 9ml $19

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.

Christmas gift packs

It’s less than a week till Christmas, and I still haven’t written any posts about Christmas. How very un-festive of me! If you’re stuck for gift ideas, there’s a few nice gift packs out from some great NZ brands. Living Nature has five Natural Christmas Gift Packs, each $39.95, each in a Living Nature Fabric Tote Bag. They are:

Christmas Skin Essentials for Oily Skin - 50ml Purifying Cleanser, 50ml Hydrating Toning Gel, 50ml Balancing Day Lotion, 2ml Firming Flax Serum, 2ml Balancing Night Gel
Christmas Skin Essentials for Normal Skin - 50ml Vitalising Cleanser, 50ml Hydrating Toning Gel, 50ml Nourishing Day Cream, 2ml Firming Flax Serum, 2ml Nourishing Night Cream
Christmas Skin Essentials for Dry Skin - 50ml Vitalising Cleanser, 50ml Extra Hydrating Toning Gel, 50ml Rich Day Cream, 2ml Firming Flax Serum, 2ml Nourishing Night Cream
Christmas Skin Essentials for Men - 50ml Gentle Cleansing Shaving Gel, 50ml Soothing Plant Moisturiser, 50ml Soothing After Shave Gel
Christmas Body Essentials - 50ml Nourishing Body Wash, 50ml Nourishing Hand and Body Cream, 50ml Balancing Shampoo, 50ml Balancing Conditioner

Trilogy has Body Treats, $34.99, containing Botanical Body Wash 200ml and Nourishing Body Lotion 200ml. Or try Evolu Sun Set, $49.99, containing Day Cream SPF15, Protective Hand Cream SPF15, Lip Treatment SPF15, Body Lotion and an Inflatable Towelling Beach Pillow.

Five products for $10 and under

Some cool products which won’t leave you skint.

Ecostore Conditioner, $9.95 for 220ml – Available in Normal, Fine and Fragile, Dry and Damaged, and Anti-Dandruff

Viola Organics Liquid Soap, $6.50 for 250ml - Available in Lavender, Summer Fresh, and Unscented Mild/Baby

Alba Botanica Terra Tints with SPF 8, $8.99 for 4.2g – Available in six shades

Primal Earth Shave Gel, $8.49 for 175ml – Available in Menthol Cool, Aloe Hydrate, and Extra Sensitive

Blue Earth soap block large $9 – Available in 18 different scents (including Lemongrass, Orange & Lime Swirl, and Rhapsody of Roses), and also a shampoo bar – see http://www.blueearth.co.nz/ for details

Karen Murrell range

A new brand has popped up at Farmers recently – Karen Murrell. I’m not sure if this is the same Karen Murrell who founded the Skinfood brand (there is an Auckland address on the bottom of the product boxes, so it’s therefore a New Zealand brand, and could well be the same Karen), but the products look pretty good. They are:

Nature’s Essense Body Scrub 200ml $45
Pure Honesty Cleansing Gel 100ml $34
Absolute Luxury Moisturiser 50ml $45
True Miracle Moisture Balm 50ml $39
Aqua River Face Cream for Men 50ml $36
Moisture Stick Lip Balm $24.99
Lipstick in four shades $24.99

All the products are 99.5% natural, and have EcoCert certification and environmentally friendly packaging. Nice!