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.

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

Festival Beauty Survival Guide

It’s that time of year when people are rocking up to music festivals to rock out for the day, or the weekend, depending on the length of the festivals. The Big Day Out, Parachute, Cornerstone Roots, and Tribal Pride are all coming up, as well as several other festivals. I’m heading off to Parachute, a four day festival, at the end of the week after next. I’ve been to nine festivals (eight Parachutes, and one Big Day Out), and so over the years I’ve learnt what things to bring with me.

At festivals, you get hot, sweaty, and tired, and there are often long queues for the bathrooms. All this is obviously going to affect your beauty routine, so here’s a list of some items which are useful to have.

Sunblock – Very important! Getting sunburnt is just naaasty. Use a sunblock with an SPF of at least 30, like Natural Instinct Natural Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30+, recently reformulated. It’s $8.99 for 60g, $14.99 for 125g, and $22.99 for 250g. For more info on sunblock, check out this post.

Lip balm with SPF – You don’t want your lips to get sunburnt, so use a lip balm with a high SPF, like Comvita Propolis Lip Balm SPF 30. For more suggestions, read this.

After-sun gel – Just in case you do get sunburnt, bring along something soothing like Natural Instinct Pure Aloe Vera Gel, $12.99 for 125ml, and $22.99 for 250ml. For more after-sun products, check out this post.

Deodorant – You will get sweaty, so make sure you have a good deodorant like The Herb Farm Fresh Natural Deodorant, $10.90. For info on other deodorants, look here.

Hand Sanitiser – There are times when you want your hands to be free of germs, but can’t be bothered waiting in line at a bathroom or tap. For suggestions on hand sanitisers, read this.

Insect Repellent – When you’re rocking out at evening concerts, you don’t want to be getting bitten by pesky insects, so use an insect repellent like one of the ones mentioned here.

Oil-blotting paper – useful for mattifying your face when you get all sweaty. Try The Body Shop Natural Powder Facial Blotting Tissues, or The Body Shop Tea Tree Oil Facial Blotting Tissues, both $7.

Travel packs or small bottles – You probably don’t want to be dragging big bottles of face wash, shampoo, and other toiletries around with you, so go for a travel pack, like Trilogy Travelers, $60, or one of the other packs mentioned here, or alternately, buy a set of small bottles to decant products into, like The Body Shop Travel Bottles, $20.

Hand Wash – Bathrooms at festivals tend to run out of soap pretty quickly, and don’t always get replaced. Also, there are times when you’re away from a bathroom, and would prefer to wash your hands rather than using sanitiser. Like when you’re putting contact lenses in for example. Do NOT do this after using hand sanitiser – it STINGS! Yes, I speak from experience! What I did when I went to Parachute last year, is put some hand wash into small bottles, and then used that with a water bottle. I used Sukin Hand Wash Cleansing Hand Wash, $10.99 for 250, and $24.99 for one litre. For info on other hand washes, read this.

Face mist – It gets HOT at festivals. Using a refreshing facial mist can help to cool you down, like Sukin Hydrating Mist Toner, $10.99 for 125ml, A’kin Pure Rose Hydrating mist, $22 for 125, or Evolu Refreshing Face +Body Mist, $25 for 100ml. I haven't actually used face mists myself, but it's a good idea.

Anyway, hope that helps all of you who are heading off to festivals, and remember also to drink lots of water, wear closed toe shoes in the mosh pit, and to get some sleep if you’re at a weekend festival. Do NOT try to stay awake the whole time – this time I don’t speak from personal experience, but from other peoples’ experiences. You need sleep to be able to enjoy yourself properly and, of course, to keep away those dark circles! So, look after yourself, and have fun!

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