Naturalla Beauty

Last week's gift guide covered gifts suitable for introducing a newbie to green beauty and today, I want to flip to the complete other end of the spectrum: shopping for the experienced green beauty lover.  She's already a clean beauty devotee and has sampled the gamut herself.  In a lot of ways, I think this is one of the most challenging giftees to shop for, but I've put together a good mix of new releases and lesser known companies and products to help you out.  
Rachel's Plan Bee x kimberlyloc Limited Edition Body Oil
A collaboration between Rachel's Plan Bee and Kim of kimberlyloc.com, this limited edition body oil features two types of jasmine, rose, vanilla, and sweet orange.  The company's original body oil is a firm favorite of mine that hydrates like a dream without leaving your skin feeling greasy or coated, and I have no doubt that the jasmine-infused oil is equally beautiful for jasmine and floral lovers.  

Henné Organics Luxury Organic Lip Balm
USDA certified organic, made with minimal ingredients, and packaged in beautiful and luxe Miron glass,  Henné Organics lip balm epitomizes elegant simplicity and is just the thing for the tough-to-shop-for green beauty lover.  After all, who doesn't love a good lip balm - especially in the dead of winter?

Ilia Beauty Fall/Winter Collection
Ilia recently expanded their collection to include eyeliners, shadow sticks, and liquid foundation.  I'm swooning over the idea of twist up liners - virtually unheard of from natural brands - and the shadow sticks look great too!  I haven't heard a lot about the foundation so far, but so long as you're confident in your ability to color match your recipient's skintone, it could make a lovely gift too.

NCLA Nail Lacquers
I don't see NCLA talked about a lot, but these 5-free and vegan lacquers are one of my favorite nail polish formulas.  They dry quickly and wear well, and with tons of colors, multiple finishes and several different gift set options, there's lots to choose from!

A Fantastic Face Mask
What beauty junkie doesn't love a good face mask?  Pictured above are Balanced Guru's Calming Masque - a favorite of mine that equally detoxifies and soothes the skin - and two that are new to me: Corpa Flora's berry-packed Caviar Rouge and Consonant's multitasking (exfoliating, detoxifying + moisturizing) DHE Mask.  All three brands have excellent products but tend to fly slightly under the radar in the green beauty community.  

An Essential Oil Diffuser
Essential oil diffusers are great for scenting your home, setting a mood, and purifying the air.  Pictured above is Young Living's Dew Drop, the one I'm currently using.  I like it because it's quiet and it creates enough of a scent throw to be noticeable throughout a large room or even an entire floor.  Because it uses water to create a cool mist, it also acts as a small-scale humidifier, so it's great for keeping skin hydrated too.  

Napa Organics Plum Oil / Océopin Maritime Pine Seed Oil
Any green beauty devotee is sure to have tried their share of oils, but they may not be familiar with these two lesser-known beauties.  Both are harvested in limited quantities - in California and southern France, respectively - and are rich in vitamins and antioxidants that are great for cell renewal and maintaining the skin's elasticity and barrier function.  Napa Organics' Plum Kernel Oil has a light almond/cherry scent and is excellent for balancing oil production and minimizing the appearance of scars and fine lines.  And, Océopin's Maritime Pine Seed Oil, which uses a patented cold extraction method to extract oil from the pine cones of organic Maritime pine trees, has an extremely high antioxidant content that actively protects against skin aggressors and free radicals. 

What would you suggest when shopping for a fellow green beauty lover?  

I've used Nourish Organic's original Fresh & Dry Deodorant Stick on and off for years, so when the company launched their new Deodorant Cream last spring, I was eager to give it a try.  Both deodorants are affordable, have fantastic ingredients and are USDA certified organic, but that's where many of the similarities end.

Keep reading for my thoughts on both formulas...


Fresh & Dry Deodorant Stick
The Fresh & Dry Deodorant contains no baking soda and the ingredients more so resemble those of a hydrating body butter than a typical deodorant.  Nourishing organic coconut oil, cocoa butter, and shea butter are extra gentle on sensitive skin and cornstarch helps keep moisture away.  Odor protection comes from organic saccharomyces ferment, a blend of plant enzymes that actively target and digest the bacteria that causes odor.  

I like this deodorant and it's one I've purchased more than once, but it does have a couple drawbacks.  With regards to odor protection, it falls on the milder end of the spectrum.  I've seen a lot of mixed reviews, so it's definitely not a deodorant that works for everyone.  Personally, I reach for it most on days when I'm just hanging out at home and know that I won't be super active.  If I'm going to be out and about, I'll layer another product on top - my favorite pairing is with the Weleda Citrus Deodorant - to make sure it lasts all day.  The deodorant can also feel a little sticky on the hottest summer days, but I enjoy using it the rest of the year.

Organic & Effective Deodorant Cream
The Deodorant Cream looks like another stick deodorant at first glance, but it's actually a soft cream that gets pushed up through a series of holes in the top of the tube.



I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out what's so familiar about this mechanism and it finally hit me today: Play-Doh Mop Top toys!

Gift guides are a lot like online window shopping and if there's one thing this girl on a budget loves, it's a good window shop.  This year I've put together a series of six guides - each with a specific recipient in mind - and I'm going to run one each week until mid-December.

Today's guide - as I'm sure you've already gleaned from the title - is all about gifts for someone new to green beauty.  Regardless of whether your giftee has already expressed an interest in natural products or they're the last conventional/synthetic holdout in your life, gifts for the green beauty newbie are all about making natural products fun and non-threatening.  We already know that natural doesn't just mean sweaty patchouli and here's your chance to prove it and leave them wanting more!
Deep Steep Holiday Releases
I love Deep Steep products all year, but I get extra excited for their holiday releases.  This year's collection includes relaunches of last year's Peppermint Vanilla and Sugarplum, as well as new additions of Snowflake and Sugar Candy Apple.  Deep Steep products have awesome ingredients and use only natural fragrances but they're pretty perfect for that Bath & Body Works devotee we all have on our shopping list, no?  The holiday releases don't always end up on the Deep Steep website, but they're often at Winners and T.J.Maxx, and they're also available online from iHerb and Vitacost.  

rareEARTH Candles
I featured these in one of my first gift guides and, two years later, they're still the most gorgeous candles I've found.  Completely natural, the candles are scented with only essential oils and made from clean-burning beeswax and non-GMO soy wax.  They're also colored by hand using only mineral pigments and are stunningly beautiful.  

Subscription Boxes: Beauty Heroes + Petit Vour
Subscription boxes are great way to introduce someone to a variety of new products, plus how fun is it to keep getting monthly gifts into the new year?  Petit Vour is an inexpensive vegan and cruelty free box that sends a good mix of samples, minis and full size products.  If you're feeling a little more spendy, Beauty Heroes is a more unique subscription that offers one full size item each month - deemed their "hero" product - plus a sidekick that's either another full size or a deluxe trial size.  

Lina Hanson Global Body Serum
The Global Body Serum is a beautiful body oil.  It has a light texture that smoothes on nicely to both wet and dry skin, sinks in fairly quickly and hydrates super well.  It also smells incredible - a vanilla/citrus scent reminiscent of creamsicles, but also grown up and sophisticated at the same time.  It's an indulgent product that I think almost anyone would be happy to receive.  If you're worried your newbie might not be ready for an oil moisturizer, the serum can also double as a delectable perfume or a luxurious bath oil.  

Rocky Mountain Soap Gift Sets
Rocky Mountain Soap, who has quickly become one of my favorite body care companies, has a great selection of gift sets for the holidays that will allow to show your recipient just how easy it can be to swap out the toxic contents of their shower for awesome healthier alternatives.  Pictured above are the Vanilla Ginger Cake Box and Peace and Calm Gift Set, but there are tons of other scents and arrangements to choose from.

Intelligent Nutrients Hair Products
Intelligent Nutrients makes some of my very favorite hair products.  Ingredients are amazing, almost everything is certified organic, and, perhaps most importantly, the products really work.  For the holidays they've put together a bunch of discounted sets including the two travel ones pictured above - one featuring the Harmonic line and one the PureLuxe - but depending how much you want to spend, you could certainly put together your own gift with full sizes or different products of your choice.  

I hope this is helpful if you're planning to introduce someone to green beauty this holiday season!  Make sure to check back next week for the next gift guide.

We're halfway through fall and it's been several months since my last 5 New Things, so it seemed timely to put together another one of these posts.  If you haven't seen my previous ones, this series is where I share mini reviews of new and exciting products I've been testing out.  Usually there's a good mix of loves and products I'm maybe not as crazy about, but I'll warn you in advance - today's is a good batch.  Everything I'm going to talk about has impressed me and is something I'd recommend.



Andalou Naturals Purple Carrot + C Luminous Night Cream
In a lot of ways, 2015 has been the year of Andalou Naturals for me and this night cream is my new favorite product from their line.  I don't generally gravitate towards night creams for fear of them being too heavy, but this small jar came free when I purchased its daytime counterpart, the Probiotic + C Renewal Cream, so I hesitantly gave it a whirl.  It has a thick, pillowy consistency and is definitely the richest moisturizer of the four or five different ones I've tried from Andalou, but it absorbs right away and isn't greasy.  The cream also smells just like grape juice and is the prettiest light lavender hue. The best part, however, is how it makes my skin look the next morning.  Everything looks tighter, and more refined.  Pores seem smaller and less noticeable and my skin overall looks bright and healthy.

Beret Jane Miracle Salve*
Beret Jane's salve is recommended for everything from dry skin to cuts and scrapes, eczema, psoriasis, rashes, burns, chapped lips, nail and cuticle care, and bug bites.  I've been mainly using it on my cuticles and feet before bed and it's made a big difference in the softness of my skin in both places.  The salve is made without petroleum or synthetics and instead contains a potent calendula extract, olive and coconut oils, shea, cocoa, and mango seed butters, beeswax, and orange and lavender essential oils.  It has a rich, buttery consistency that takes a few minutes to fully sink in, but it isn't overly greasy.  A good multi-purpose salve or ointment is something I think everyone can benefit from having on hand and Beret Jane's Miracle Salve definitely fits the bill!

The coupon code NATB25 will save you 25% off the Miracle Salve through December 15, 2015.

Young Living Cool Azul Sports Gel
I went treetop climbing in October, and while it was loads of fun, it used muscles I'm not used to using and left me sore, stiff, and achy.  My mom suggested trying her Cool Azul Sports Gel, which ended up working so well I borrowed it again to include in this post!  I generously slathered the gel all over my shoulders, neck, and arms and it gave an immediate cooling sensation that soothed a lot of my discomfort right away.  Even so, I was fully expecting to wake up the next morning more sore, as is often the case with muscle exertion, but I experienced only very minimal soreness the following day - something I fully attribute to this product.

Cool Azul is basically a bunch of different essential oils in a gel base of aloe vera, olive oil, hyaluronic acid and glycerin.  The predominant scents to my nose are wintergreen and peppermint, but those are only two of twelve essential oils included in this product.  The gel contains 10% essential oils, so each tube contains a full 10ml of oils, making it significantly more potent than many comparable formulas.  The gel is also rounded out with arnica, chamomile, and willow bark extracts to target pain and discomfort from multiple angles.

Blissoma Scentless Stick Deodorant
I won this deodorant in an Instagram giveaway from Blissoma and it's become a fast favorite.  The stick is made with baking soda, but according to Blissoma, the recipe contains only half as much your average baking soda deodorant, plus it's tempered by plenty of skin soothing ingredients like zinc oxide and mango butter.  Other notable ingredients include moisturizing sunflower and coconut oils, detoxifying bentonite clay, and absorbent diatomaceous earth and arrowroot powder.  The deodorant gives me all day odor protection with no irritation, even when used immediately after shaving.  

The consistency is pretty firm and solid and you only need a thin layer of product, so the stick lasts a good while.  Blissoma advertises this mini 0.75 oz size as approximately 3 weeks worth of product, but I've been using mine for close to two months and I've still got more than half left.  The deodorant itself is a grey color, but - unless you apply a ton - the color doesn't transfer to the skin.  It's effective, convenient and travel friendly, and after years of mostly using cream deodorants, it feels like a bit of a luxury to be able to just swipe it on and go.  Definitely something I'll be restocking before I run out!

Mineral Fusion Sheer Moisture Lip Tint (Glisten + Glow)
I'm all about tinted lip balms and sheer lip colors, so the Sheer Moisture Lip Tints are pretty perfect for me.  These chubby pencils smell lightly of vanilla and mint and give sheer - but somewhat buildable - color.  The tints apply glossy, but the shine dulls down pretty quickly, leaving more of a satin effect.  The colors are beautiful and the tints feel very comfortable on the lips.  I have Glisten, a caramel/peachy nude, and Glow, a bright pink, and after swatching the rest of the colors a couple weeks ago, I can honestly tell you that they're all super pretty!



While the product itself is great, the one downside of these is that the packaging leaves something to be desired.  The lids aren't overly secure, something I learned the hard way when Glisten opened up in my bag and made a mess.  If you can carry the pencil without it shaking around too much, you should be okay, but you may run into trouble if you leave it to knock around in a makeup bag or in the bottom of a purse.  

Have you used any of these items?  What new products have you discovered recently?

I've really enjoyed La Mav skincare in the past, so when I was asked to help spread the word about the new eye shadow collection they're launching today, I was quick to say yes!  La Mav is an Australian company with an extensive skincare line and a small, curated makeup collection, but this is their first time venturing into eye makeup.  



The new eye shadow collection consists of four loose mineral shadows in versatile, neutral shades:

Champagne - a satin cream with a few gold sparkles.  Great as a subtle highlight or all over lid shade

Cognac - a shimmery/metallic copper with a gold sheen.  Extra pretty for fall!

Sandstone - a shimmery mid-toned brown.  This one has matte base and a shimmery overlay, so it's great both buffed out in the crease and packed onto the lid, though on the lid, you really need to pat (not rub) if you want to preserve all the shimmer.  

Matte Black - a matte black.  Blends out to a softer charcoal grey, great for adding definition to the crease, or can be built up to a fully opaque black and used as liner.  

All four are beautiful and have great pigmentation.  I'm a neutrals girl at heart and these are great everyday shades that I'm sure to get a lot of use out of.  


That said, if you can only pick up one color, make it Cognac.  It brings out blue eyes beautifully (though I'm sure it will work on other eye colors too!) and the gold sheen/sparkle makes it stand out from your average copper.  I'm also impressed with Matte Black, which is much less messy and easier to work with than other loose black shadows I've used in the past.  

The eye shadows sell for $22.95 (AUD) each, or in a set (all four colors + two synthetic eye brushes) for $99.95 (AUD).  To celebrate the launch, La Mav is offering a free Anti-Ageing Skincare Travel Pack with the first 50 eye shadow purchases, so it's worth jumping on these quickly if you plan to order!