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.

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!

Travel/trial size packs

It's that time of year when a lot of people are going on holiday, and when you're going on holiday, dragging around a lot of big cosmetic bottles is annoying. Fortunately there are plenty of travel packs, which are particularly useful if you want to take tolietries on a plane, what with liquids, gels and aeresols restrictions. Whatever your skin type, there is a travel pack suitable for you! Here are some ideas.

For all skin types:

Sukin Travel Pack $33 - contains Purifying Shampoo 50ml, Nourishing Conditioner 50ml, Facial Moisturiser 50ml, Cream Cleanser 50ml, Hydrating Mist Toner 50ml

The Herb Farm Skincare Pack (all skin types) $49.30 - contains energising gel cleanser 50ml, rejuvenating facial mist 50ml, rose face cream 30ml, rose body lotion 50ml

Trilogy Travelers $60 - contains - 50ml cream cleanser, 50ml hydrating mist toner, 50ml energising face lotion, 50ml nourishing body lotion

Evolu Travel Tower $40 - a tower of six stacked 10ml pots, containing: Purifying Mask, Soothing Eye Gel, Night Cream, Day Cream, Creme Cleanser, Hand+Cuticle

Evolu Travel Valet $40 - contains Moisturising Day Cream with SPF15 20ml, Lip Treatment with SPF15 15ml, Silkening Shampoo 20ml, Enriching Conditioner 20ml, Travel Facecloth in a reusable see-through pack.

For normal skin:

Living Nature Skin Essentials - Energising $65 - contains 50ml Vitalising Cleanser, 50ml Hydrating Gel, 50ml Nourishing Day Cream, 2ml Firming Flax Cream, 2ml Nourishing Night Cream

For combination skin:

Living Nature Skin Essentials Pack - Combination Dry Skin $65 - contains 50ml Vitalising Cleanser, 50ml Extra Hydrating Gel, 50ml Nourishing Day Cream, 2ml Firming Flax Cream, 2ml Nourishing Night Cream

Living Nature Skin Essentials Pack - Combination Oily Skin $65 - contains

50ml Purifying Cleanser, 50ml Hydrating Gel, 50ml Balancing Day Lotion, 2ml Balancing Night Gel

For oily skin:

Trilogy A Fresh Start for combination to oily skin - contains Balancing Gel Cleanser 10ml, Engergising Face Lotion 10ml, Gentle Facial Exfoliant 10ml, Free Travel Bag

Living Nature Skin Essentials Pack - Balancing $65 - contains Living Nature Fabric Tote Bag with 50ml Purifying Cleanser, 50ml Hydrating Gel, 50ml Balancing Day Lotion, 2ml Firming Flax Cream, 2ml Balancing Night Gel

For acne-prone skin:

Living Nature Skin Essentials - Acne Prone Skin $74.50 - contains 50ml Purifying Cleanser, 50ml Hydrating Gel, 50ml Balancing Day Lotion, 10ml Rescue Gel

For dry skin:

Trilogy A Fresh Start for normal to dry skin contains - Cream Cleanser 10ml, Vital Moisturising Cream 10ml, Gentle Facial Exfoliant 10ml, Free Travel Bag

The Herb Farm Skincare Pack (dry/mature skin) $53.20 - contains rose cream cleanser 50ml, rejuvenating facial mist 50ml, rosehip face cream 30ml, rosehip & citrus body lotion 50ml

Living Nature Skin Essentials Pack - Nourishing $65 - contains 50ml Vitalising Cleanser, 50ml Extra Hydrating Gel, 50ml Rich Day Cream, 2ml Firming Flax Cream, 2ml Nourishing Night Cream

For sensitive skin:

Living Nature Skin Essentials Pack - Sensitive Skin $65 - contains 50ml Vitalising Cleanser, 50ml Extra Hydrating Gel, 50ml Rich Day Cream, 2ml Firming Flax Cream, 2ml Nourishing Night Cream

For mature skin:

Living Nature Skin Essentials Pack - Mature Skin $65 - contains 50ml Vitalising Cleanser, 50ml Extra Hydrating Gel, 50ml Rich Day Cream, 2ml Firming Flax Cream, 2ml Nourishing Night Cream

For men:

Living Nature Skin Essentials - For Men $59 - contains 50ml Gentle Cleansing Shaving Gel, 50ml Soothing Plant Moisturiser, 50ml Soothing After Shave Gel in a Living Nature fabric tote bag

Gift ideas

I know it's quite late to be giving ideas on gifts, with Christmas only four days away, but here's some ideas anyway. Still plenty of time for last minute shopping!

There are a lot of nice gift packs around, as well as many small items that would make good stocking stuffers. Here's some ideas of what would be good to give various people. Just ideas, these things could be given to anyone you want, really.

For your mum, aunty or grandma: Living Nature Nature's Collection $22.95 - Kumerahou & Cinnamon Soap 70g, Manuka Honey & Calendula Petal Soap 70g, Manuka Oil & Clay Soap 70g

For your dad, uncle or grandad: The Herb Farm Patchouli & Orange Soap 90g $8.50

For your young daughter or sister: SHE Australia Lipgloss Tube $12.99 available in ten shades (I think)

For your young son or brother: Unearthed Bubbles Me Hearty Bubble Bath 375ml $8

For your adult daughter or sister: Living Nature Naturally Beautiful Eyes $69.95 - contains Eye Makeup Remover 100ml, Mascara Thickening - Jet Black, Eye Pencil - Midnight

For your adult son or brother: The Herb Farm Lime Shower Gel 12ml $14.90

For your your boyfriend/male partner/fiance/husband: Living Nature Men's Skincare Trio $59.95 - contains Gentle Cleansing Shaving Gel 50ml, Soothing Aftershave Gel 50ml, Soothing Moisturiser 50ml

For your girlfriend/female partner/fiancee/wife: The Herb Farm Pamper Pack $48.60 - contains pamper bath salts 150g, rose body butter 30ml, vanilla & orange lip balm 15ml, foot balm 30ml

Sukin Travel Pack

New from Sukin is a travel pack for $33 (which, unfortunately, I can't find a picture of) containing:

Purifying Shampoo
Nourishing Conditioner
Facial Moisturiser
Cream Cleanser
Hydrating Mist Toner

All are in 50ml bottles, useful for taking on holiday (especially if you are going overseas, and need small bottles for on the plane), or for trying out new products without buying the full-size versions.

Green and on a budget

Many of you may be thinking something like 'Ok, I want to use more natural beauty products, but I don't really want to spend $50 on moisturiser'. Yeah, I'm with you. While I realise that sometimes you will pay more for natural/organic beauty products, I still try to save money to a certain extent. Here are some tips on how you can too.

Tip 1: Work out what brands best suit your budget

There's a huge variety of brands out there which make natural/organic beauty products, and a huge range of prices. A rough guide to brands:

Super-duper low-priced brands: Sukin (skin care, body care and hair care, Natural Instinct (skin care, body care, hair care, sun care, baby care, and household cleaners)

Affordable brands: The Herb Farm (skin care, body care, hair care, mother and baby care, men's products, room sprays, essential oils, and healing products),Weleda (skin care, hair care, body care, mother and baby care, men's products, oral care, homeopathic ointments, and over-the-counter medications)

Mid-range brands: Living Nature (skin care, hair care, body care, mother and baby care, men's products, and makeup), Trilogy (skin care, hair care and body care), Evolu (skin care and body care)

More expensive brands: Dr Hauschka (skin care, hair care, body care, sun care, and makeup), Ayurda (skin care and hair care)

High-end brands: Aveda (skin care, hair care, body care, men's products, makeup, fragrances, and candles), MV Organic Skincare (skin care and body care)

Tip 2: Shop around

There are a lot of natural beauty brands available at health stores, but also check out pharmacies, supermarkets, gift shops and Farmers stores. Prices vary between stores as well, so if you see something you like, maybe check several stores to see if have it, so you can make sure you get the best deal. Also check out offers like gift with purchase, or buy one get one free. Look out for sales, but make sure you check the expiration dates on the products, because sometimes products which are nearing expiration will be sold at half price.

Tip 3: Make use of loyalty cards

Farmers stocks Giovanni, Trilogy, Natio, Living Nature, Evolu and Dr Hauschka. Any purchase from the beauty department will put points on your beauty club card (1 point per dollar), and after spending $200, you get a $20 voucher. I always use mine to put towards buying Dr Hauschka makeup. Life Pharmacy also has a loyalty card, and they stock Living Nature, Trilogy, Evolu, Antipodes, Comvita Huni, Tebe, Weleda baby products, Made 4 Baby, and Kosmea. Their loyalty card rules are slightly different from Farmers' (see http://www.lifepharmacy.co.nz/ for details), but it's good because anything purchase over $5 you make at their stores (with the exception of prescription medications and discount fragrances) will give you points.

Also, Onecard can be used at Foodtown and Woolworths supermarkets, which stock Skinfood, Pure Innosense, Primal Earth, and the Ecostore baby range. You have to spend, like $2000 before you get a voucher, but if you do your regular grocery shopping there, then you'll probably get points fairly quickly. Also, there are often a lot of discounts available for Onecard cardholders.

In addition to this, some brands have loyalty cards of their own, like the Evolu Eleven-for-ten card, and the Living Nature Truly Natural You card. Trilogy also has one, but it can only be used at Health 2000 stores, whereas the Evolu and Living Nature ones can be used at anywhere which stocks those brands.

Tip 4: Try samples, or buy travel/trial-size packs

Some stores have small samples (I think they're free - probably best to check before taking them though!) of Evolu and Living Nature products. These are a good way to test out the product without actually buying it.

A number of brands offer travel/trial packs. Living Nature has quite a few different ones - check them out at https://www.livingnature.com/catalog/main.cfm?t=c&r=vw&cid=1915. Trilogy has Trilogy Travelers - for $60 you get 50l Cream Cleanser, 50ml Hydrating Mist Toner, 50ml Energising Face Lotion, and 50ml Nourishing Body Lotion. Evolu has a Travel Tower, $39, which contains 10ml Creme Cleanser, 10ml Moisturising Day Cream, 10ml Night Cream, 10ml Soothing Eye Gel, 10ml Purifying Mask, and 10ml Hand+Cuticle Cream. Evolu also has the Travel Valet, $35, which consists of 10ml Refreshing Facial Mist, 20ml Day Cream with SPF15, 20ml Silkening Shampoo, 20ml Invigorating Body Lotion, 10ml Healing Lip Treatment, and a luxury facecloth, all in a zipup pouch.

If you want to try out a more affordable range, The Herb Farm has six different trial size packs. Check them out at http://www.herbfarm.co.nz/index.php?cPath=25_38.

Tip 5: Make your own

I tend to be too lazy to do this, but if you'd like to try making your own beauty products, there are plenty of recipes available at http://www.makeyourowncosmetics.com/. Sometimes this can cost a bit of money if you have to buy ingredients, but there are also things you can do, like using olive oil as a hair treatment, that will save a lot of money.

Green products for guys

There's probably no reason why guys can't use the same skincare products as women do. But there's a quite a big range of man-specific natural skincare products available, so if guys want something that smells and looks a bit more manly, they have a lot of choices. So if you're sick of your male significant other/relative/flatmate/friend using your skincare products (or if you're a guy who happens to be reading this), here are some suggestions.

Living Nature has a men's range, which consists of:
Eye Gel for Men $36
Soothing Moisturiser $34
Soothing Shaving Cream $34
Soothing Aftershave Gel $34
Gentle Cleansing Shaving Gel $34
Skin Essentials - For Men $55 (travel-sized pack containing 50ml Gentle Cleansing Shaving Gel, 50ml Soothing Plant Moisturiser, and 50ml Soothing Aftershave Gel)

Skinfood makes products which are unisex, including a shaving gel. Skinfood products are not as natural as those made by brands such as Living Nature, but they are free of parabens, sulfates, mineral oils, and artificial colours and fragrances. Skinfood products can be bought at Foodtown, Woolworths, New World and Countdown supermarkets. Their products are:

Cleans All (cleanser) $9.95
Light Moisturiser $9.95
Nourishing moisturiser $9.95
SPF 15+ Moisturiser $9.95
Mud Masque $9.95
Shave Gel $9.95
Exfoliating Scrub $9.95
Body Butter $12.95

Aveda has quite a few men's products, but I don't think they're all available in New Zealand. There is only one Aveda concept spa in New Zealand (Bodyscape Beauty Therapy Day Spa) in central Wellington), and I believe they're the only shop in the country which sells Aveda products. They can deliver Aveda products to anywhere in New Zealand though - check out their website: http://www.bodyscape.co.nz/. Men's products listed on their website are:

Aveda Men Shampoo Body Bar $27
Aveda Men Shave Cream $41
Aveda Men After-Shave Balm $41
Aveda Men Purefume™ Tonic $129

The Herb Farm makes a Men's Moisturiser - $13.80 for 30ml, $22.20 for 60ml, $33.00 for 120ml. They also include Active Natural Deodorant ($10.20), Lime Shower Gel ($13.80), and Patchouli & Orange Soap ($7.80) as being part of their men's range, although these are not man-specific product (like, they don't say 'for men' on them, so I guess they're unisex).

Weleda has a Moisture Cream for Men ($15.90), Shaving Cream ($10.90), and Aftershave Balm ($25.90).

If you're after something that's reasonably low-priced but still pretty natural, you could try one of Primal Earth's Organic Shave Gels. They cost $9.99 each, and are available at New World, Woolworths, Foodtown and Countdown Supermarkets. Primal Earth was developed buy a Kiwi guy who had trouble with allergic reactions. The products do not contain: sodium lauryl sulphates, parabens, formaldehydes, genetically modified ingredients, synthetic fillers, ethoxolated ingredients, mineral oils, PEGs, petroleum or phalates. The shave gels are available in Menthol Cool, Aloe Hydrate, and Extra Sensitive.

Another low-priced option for shaving is Avalon Organics Moisturizing Cream Shave ($14), available in Aloe Unscented, Lavender, and Peppermint.