Green People Foaming Face Wash....

 I am not the biggest fan of using washes or cleansers on my skin, I prefer to just use water wherever possible as it doesn't irritate my skin. However, when I need to use something 'foamy' to wash my face for the purpose of removing make-up or just to feel like my skin has has had a really good clean, I use Green People's Foaming Face Wash.

The packaging is quite basic and clean looking which I like and they say that it contains 96% organic ingredients which is excellent. It comes with a pump top that dispenses foam when you push down on it. The foaming face wash contains Green Tea, Witch Hazel and Rose Geranium and is soap free, so it won't dry out your skin. Green tea is well known for its anti-oxidant properties and is believed to be super beneficial for acne prone skin, as well as just making your skin look healthy and glowing. Witch Hazel is an astringent popular in skin care due to its anti-inflammatory properties, it also helps balance the amount of oil you produce on your face and keep moisture in your skin. Rose Geranium makes this wash smell divine but also has the added bonus of controlling oil production so your face doesn't become 'greasy'.

  Green People also have a range called Organic Young (OY!) aimed at younger teenage skin, which also has a foaming face wash, but this one contains Willow Bark which is known to contain Salicylic Acid which helps break down oil build up in the skin that leads to blemishes. I have tried this one as well and found it to be just as good as the Green People foaming face wash. The packaging is pretty similar, so be careful to get the right one and not order the other by mistake like I did when I accidentally ordered the Young one when not looking closely enough at the bottle.

 All round a really effective and gentle face wash that I highly recommend.

Deep Steep....

Deep Steep products are one of my favourites. I have used their bubble bath, foaming hand wash and shower gel and have liked them all. Their ingredients are natural and safe and include things Organic Shea Butter and Natural Vitamin E. They also list the first ingredient on their bubble bath, shower gel and hand wash as being Organic Aloe Vera, which means that is the base of the product and therefore you get a concentrate of ingredients that have real skin benefits, instead of having a base of water which does less for your skin in terms of care.

My favourite scent is Tangerine-Melon, which smells like fruity bubblegum to me. The scent lasts a little while after washing with it, but only faintly. I find that they don't dry out my skin and that they wash off well. The other scents I have tried are Lavender-Chamomile (which is really nice to use in your bath), Grapefruit-Bergamot (which has a faint citrus smell),  Honeydew-spearmint (which has a minty-herbal smell, which I was a little disappointed in) and Passionfruit-Guava (a sweet fruity scent). There are other products in the range such as body mist and a moisture stick (?). They are reasonably priced and would also make lovely gifts.

                                                       

They are a really nice range of natural skin care products. You can buy them at iherb http://www.iherb.com/Deep-Steep or Naturisimo http://www.naturisimo.com/index.cfm?nme=deep%20steep

Ethical Tea light candles....

Stepping away from beauty for a moment (because I had to share), I quickly wanted to tell you about these little tea lights I have been using for the past year. Aloha Bay Palm Wax tea lights are a really nice ethical and eco-friendly little candle. Although a candle is just a candle, it is the business behind them that is the reason I like them so much (as well as them being non-toxic).

 Aloha Bay tea lights are made completely of vegetable palm wax and with their pure cotton wicks (a.k.a. lead free), they are very clean burning. I have found that they do burn for about 5 hours, like they say they do, but I have to be honest and say I haven't taken a stopwatch to it. They are exactly the same size as regular tea lights, so they will fit in whatever holder you have nicely. The wax sits in the usual aluminium 'cup' and has no scent. There are two varieties, but don't get excited as there is only cream or white, although some other websites do sell coloured ones in glass holders but they are hard to get hold of in the UK. The white is listed as 100% Organic Palm Wax and the cream is just listed 100% Vegetable Palm Wax.

 The Aloha Bay company quotes:

"Description

• Certified Organic Palm Wax
• Eco Palm Wax
• Tea Lights in Cups
• Reach Compliant Vegetable Oil Based Dyes
• Pure Cotton Wicks

A Fair Trade Product from Indonesia

These Palm Wax Tea Lights are handmade in a small factory in rural Java, where the employees enjoy humane working conditions, good wages, free health care and vacation benefits.

Ecological Advantages of Palm Oil

• Perennial Palm Trees: no yearly tilling of soil.
• Ancient Crop: GMO free; pest resistant.
• Less Machinery: more rural employment.
• More Oil per Acre: 10 times more than soy.

Eco Palm Wax is made of 100% certified Organic Palm Oil from sustainable and socially responsible tree farms in South America. The organic palm groves are established on lands reclaimed from extensive agriculture, thereby also providing new habitats for indigenous wildlife."

 So although these candles are not a beauty product, I could't help but share these little gems.

I buy them from iherb in America, who send to the UK for about £3 if your total weight is under 4lb. Be wary though because if you spend over £15 you might be charged around £13 import. Here is the link http://www.iherb.com/Aloha-Bay-Palm-Wax-Candles-Tea-Lights-Unscented-White-12-Pack/38764

Jason Naturals Powersmile peppermint toothpaste.

I have tried many different brands and types of toothpaste since going down the natural path 10 years ago and my favourite toothpaste is Jason's Peppermint Powersmile toothpaste.

 This toothpaste seems to produce a really good 'froth' (so to speak) when brushing, where other natural toothpastes seem to fail. It also cleans very well, my teeth always feel a lot smoother after using this toothpaste. The peppermint flavour is not the synthetic 'aroma' they use in mainstream toothpastes, but actual peppermint oil, which gives it a really fresh kick (your breath smells delightful afterwards). It says that it is whitening, but I don't think I could say either way if that is true or not, I haven't noticed a difference. All round I would say this is a very good toothpaste and one that I have found to be the best.



 Note: I understand that if you are on homeopathic it is recommended for you not to have mint, but my friend who is a homeopath says she thinks it doesn't matter. However, an alternative to mint is Kingfisher Fennel Toothpaste.

This is what I use when I have to take a regular homeopathic for a couple of days/weeks.

Just to say, a lot of toothpastes say they use Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (which those in the natural beauty buisness know is a big no-no). However, very often they are sourced naturally. Kingfisher have just replaced their naturally sourced Sodium Lauryl Sulphate with Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate sourced from Palm oil. Jason do not use Sodium Lauryl Sulphates (SLS's) in their toothpaste.

Buy Jason Powersmile toothpaste at Essentials London: http://www.essentialslondon.com/product/951.aspx
Or Kingfisher Fennel toothpaste at Waitrose.

Also finally, if you want to go that extra step and buy a toothbrush with a biodegradable and recycled handle here is one from iherb, who deliver to the uk: http://www.iherb.com/Vitacare-Toothbrush-Medium-Green-1-Toothbrush/42395

Butter nail varnish.

I have tried a lot of natural nail varnishes over the years and have always been quite disappointed. I have used a variety from water based ones such as Suncoat, to DBP, Toluene and Formaldehyde free nail varnish like SpaRitual. But the one that comes out on top each time is Butter nail varnish.

 Butter London is a UK company that just produces nail polish and nail care products. They have a huge range of colours in glossy, glitter and metallic finishes. Butter are up to date with all the current fashion trends and the reason why I use them is due to the fact that they are free from Formaldehyde, DBP and Toluene. "What are those?" you ask, well they are the toxic chemicals used in nail varnish that have some worrying side-affects. Even thought they will only be used in small amounts it is better to stay clear of them, especially as Formaldehyde, for example, has to been shown to cause cancer. So I don't really want to put that anywhere near me.

 Other non-toxic nail varnishes that I have used in the past have had major flaws. When I have used water based nail varnishes, half on the varnish will come off just with the simple washing of my hands. Suncoat also do something called Suncoat 'polish and peel', which you paint on quite a few coats and then when you want to remove it you just soak you hands in water for a few minutes and it peels off in one go. The problem is when you have a bath they have a tendency to come off and float to the suface, so they are good for short term use, but not if you are like me and that when I have painted my nails I want it to last a few days.

 SpaRitual, like Butter, are non-toxic. However I was really disappointed with how thin and un-even the results are. I had to paint a lot of layers on my nails and it was still more translucent in some areas than in others, which led my friend to tell me "It looks like you have fungal nail" (not a good look)! However, in my defense she didn't know what fungal nail looked like, so I showed her a picture online and she quickly said it wasn't that bad (but you know where I'm going here). So that was definitely not a success.

Butter, however, I can paint just one coat on. It goes on thick with an even coverage and lasts a long time. It does chip a little after a few days, but using their top coat reduces that. Overall I am very pleased with this nail laquer and would rate it high above other natural/non-toxic nail varnishes. It is definitely worth the money. My favourite shade at the moment is Jaffa, a funky orange shade:

here is the link for the butter website: http://www.butterlondon.com/

I buy from naturisimo, but they don't have all the colours: http://www.naturisimo.com/index.cfm?nme=Butter%20London

The nail varnish remover I prefer (that works on all nail varnish), is Suncoat's Natural nail polish remover gel.

The first all natural nail polish remover. I buy it from America, http://www.iherb.com/Suncoat-Nail-Polish-Remover-Gel-1-0-fl-oz-30-ml/40173. The tip is to put it on and leave it for a minute before wiping off.

Dr Bronner

Dr Bronner was a well known and well loved Jewish eccentric. His passion for natural skin care and ethical products was and still is extremely inspiring. Although he died in 1997 (aged 89), his family still continue on with the family buisness, ensuring that their products are natural and fair trade wherever possible. I have used a few of the Dr Bronner products over the past few years and I will share with you one of my favourite products.

 Dr Bronner Castile Soap.

This was the original product made by Dr Bronner. Even a small bottle lasts a really long time and you only need a few drops to get a really good lather. It is very runny, only slightly thicker than water, but don't let that put you off, it gives you a lot of soapy bubbles with just a very small amount of product.

 It comes in a variety of scents, peppermint being my personal favourite. People think that it must smell like toothpaste, but it really doesn't, it has a really refreshing scent. The peppermint smell doesn't last long once you have washed it off, but this is due to it being sourced from essential oils and not synthetic fragrances. My only qualm with this product is a slight residue left on your skin afterwards, which I think is due to the coconut based soap. Apart from that, I really recommend this soap for not drying out your skin and giving you a satisfying clean, I even use it on my face which I normally never do with any other kind of soap.

 So give this beautiful and ethical product a try, you won't be disappointed. It is very reasonably priced, so it won't break the bank and is also available in an array of sizes (59ml, 118ml, 236ml, 1litre and a gallon).

The different scents in the liquid castile range are:

Almond-smells like almond oil, think marzipan.
Citrus-this has a very faint smell but is a beautiful scent of lemon, limes and oranges, delicious.
Eucalyptus-this is a scent I haven't tried.
Tea Tree-this has the typical slightly peppery scent of tea tree, I can imagine this would be good for teenage skin.
Lavender-this is a beautiful scent, very relaxing but not everyone's cup of tea (not everyone likes lavender).
Peppermint-as I said before my favourite, it is so refreshing and gives your skin that minty tingle. A very unisex scent.
Rose-I really thought I would like this but this is there only scent not made from essential oils and I think you can tell. A bit of a synthetic scent but still floral.
Unscented-not much to say other than it doesn't smell ;)

So there you go, try it see what you think. The other soap I really like from them is their Dr Bronner Organic Soap bar. It leaves you skin super soft and clean and comes wrapped in lined paper, which gives it a bit of a vintage feel.

Available to buy here: http://www.essentialslondon.com/category/600.aspx?gclid=CILE9I-gyrkCFcjKtAodhRwAWA

Summer's end.....

Summer has definitely left us, what there is to look forward to now are cold days and long nights. So here is a winter skin saver that I think will get you and your skin through the colder months.

 The humble avocado is a superfood in its own right, it isn't just an excellent source of Vitamin E but also of protein. I love avocado smoothies, they are a delicious way of having avocados in a fruity form. Check out this wonderful recipe: 1 ripe avocado
           1 medium banana
           1 cup of milk or rice milk
           A selection of raspberries or blueberries
       
          Peel and de-stone the avocado, peel the banana.
          Blend all the ingredients in a mixer, until smooth. Add agave syrup if you want it a little sweeter.

When you have made your smoothie (if you want to) take the left over skins and scrape off the avocado left over. On a clean but completely dry face (your face needs to be dry so the oil can sink in), rub in the avocado and leave for 10 minutes. The Vitamin E in the avocado will moisturise your skin and leave it super soft. Rinse off the avocado using warm water and a flannel or muslin cloth. Pat dry.

This is one of my favourite home remedies, it is cheap, quick, easy and thoroughly effective. Try it, you won't be disappointed. I also really recommend you using a muslin cloth, as they are a perfect way of cleaning you skin effectively and thoroughly. Liz Earle does some good ones and they last for years, here is the link http://uk.lizearle.com/pure-muslin-cloths.html