Ecostore Extra Moisturising Hand Cream

This handcream from Ecostore comes in two strengths – light and extra moisturising. Me, I always go for the extra moisturising hand creams. I need it!

I love this hand cream. I use it as my go-to during the day hand cream – I do use a Lush handcream and my Planet Earth handcream  as extra moisturisers when needed, but after doing the dishes or washing my hands, this is what I use to keep the dry, tight, scratchy hands at bay. Back, dry hands, I say: back!

It's a solid tube - quite different in shape to anything else I've used, very cool design!

This comes in a cute little box, which I no longer have – but the ingredients and so forth which were on the box can be seen on Ecostore’s website, here. I absolutely adore the fact the Ecostore has such a great website – complete transparency of ingredients. It makes chosing what to buy… really tricky, actually, they have a lot of appealing products. But definitely makes it more fun! Extra points to Ecostore: hover your mouse over the latin name of an ingredient, and the ‘normal’ name will show up: thats about as clear as you can make anything. I wish more companies would do that. 🙂

The smell of this is nice; subtle and warm – I think it is supposed to be Rose and Cardomon. Which I love, but honestly they are so subtle that I can smell a teeny bit of floral, something deeper and warmer; but nothing I could say ‘oh yes, thats Rose and Cardomon alright’ . Which is nice too, means Mr Husband Man can (and does) also use this without any nose wrinklage!

Sorry for the blurry, but you can see it's quite a thick cream 🙂

This is a medium-thick cream, but it is absorbed very quickly, and leaves no greasy residue on my hands. Very softening, but not at all sticky. Very nice! I’ll be getting more of this when I use it up – which is taking me ages, even with everyday use, a little does go quite a long way.

Innoxa Skin Sensitive SPF 15 Moisturiser review.

This was an Innoxa moisturiser I bought from Trade Me, but I believe they can be bought at Farmers, too. I’ve wanted to try their products for a while, they do not test on animals, and seem to be a trusted brand.

This is Skinsensitive – Daily Moisture Protection SPF 15 for sensitive skin. The package states it is 100% fragrance free, ‘dermatologically tested’, and with ‘allergy tested sunscreen.”‘. Nice, simple packaging, see?

All the ingredients are on the packet, and the tube too.

I must say, though, that statements such as ‘allergy tested sunscreen’  scream of psuedo-science to me, which is one of my pet hates.  It could mean that the Innoxa team have tested this on many people and found it to be low-allergenic to the majority of them, or it could mean nothing at all. Without a backup to the statement, it’s just marketing.  Another example – on the back of the package …

Yay, Neutrazen! Hey, what is that??!

What does that mean? It forms a special sheild? Or because it is a lotion it AUTOMATICALLY provides a thin, temporary, physical barrier and so they can get away with this statement? I, for one, would dearly like to know.

However, rant over! This is a lovely light lotion, it has a light scent that may be from the fruit waters, but nothing perfumed. It absorbs very quickly. My skin feels soft afterwards, so thats good! It doesn’t make a good base for make-up, but if you don’t wear foundation (as I don’t unless I’m going out in the evenings) it’s just fine.

Starts out moderately creamy (doesn't explode from the tube, yay!)

But turns into a lovely light lotion almost immediately

And, it did seem to be gentle on my skin, which has been acting sensitive lately. Sheesh, harden up, skin!! 😀 So I do like this, despite the marketing, the jury is still out whether I will get more, when this has finished, or continue on my search 🙂

 

LUSH: Charlotte Island Body Tint Review

I have only recently discovered Lush, and with some reservations, I love a whole lot of their products. This one, Charlotte Island, is a light coloured body tint. Their blurb states “Smooth on our light and fruity body tint for a tropical glow all year round.”

Light and fruity is accurate – it is a very light lotion in texture, and the smell is sort of generically tropically fruity.  The colour in the bottle is a bit daunting, that doesn’t look light!

Does it work? Yes, but not straight away. It’s a sort of hybrid between a normal colour developing fake tan, and a body colour. At first it made my skin look moisturised and glowy, and then the colour vanished. Oops I thought… till I looked half an hour later and there was a very light tan. Yay! I used this on my legs for those first skirt/dress wearing experiences of summer, and although I don’t think it made a HUGE difference, it made me feel better! I tried it on my wrist to take a photo of, and it just didn’t develop to any degree I could photograph, but it DID leave a slight stain. Which is strange, as it didn’t leave any marks on my legs. So, to be sure, if you use this product, follow the exfoliate first and rub in really well principles of normal fake tan.

Overall, a lovely product for a night out or special occasion, but not a ‘must have’ in my book, anyway.

Planet Earth Hand Cream: Frangipani & Vanilla Review

For my birthday last year, my gorgeous sister V bought me an amazingly huge basket of product by Planet Earth, all with the Frangipani & Vanilla fragrance. Talk about spoiled! There was two Intensive Repair Hand Creams in this basket of goodies, and I’m so pleased about that, because this is amazing. The packaging is gorgeous, simple with the black and white minimalist theme, then with that incredible luxe gold bling in places to really stand out. See?

 

 

Now, packaging aside, this is now my go-to handcream, for multi-times a day use. I do a fair bit of different kinds of work, some (gardening, creating DIY monstrosities, belt-sanding back coffee tables etc) tend to make my hands really dry, and then they split along the nail line and bleed and HURT. I swear. Lots. But this (along with my emergency handcream which I’ll talk about another time) has stopped all that. This is thick, and rich, but not at all greasy.

 

mmmm creamy hand cream. As it should be.

 

The scent is very light – I don’t know what frangipani flowers smell like, but I’d say that as this is a light floral smell, they probably smell a bit like this stuff does. I can’t really detect any vanilla, but thats ok. It’s a nice aroma but fades away quickly, so don’t worry about the smell, any manly men out there who are keen on not having split and bleeding hands.

Also, most excellently, the cream is free from artificial colours, mineral oils, parabens, PEGS, and SLES. They don’t test on animals, the packaging is recyclable, and they are made in Australia. Well, ok, thats not that local, but East Island isn’t that far away (waves to any suddenly annoyed Aussies reading this) hehe. You can check out more on their website http://www.feelgoodaustralia.com.au/catalog/index.php. When looking at the ingredient list you can see they have some great stuff in there – unfortunately, some in less quantity than the perfume. But hey, it’s there, and it really does help my hands. Try some if you can, next time you see some! (In NZ I have seen the product range in Farmers – they may well be elsewhere too).

Thanks for reading, have a nice night/morning (depending on hemispheric orientation)

 

 

Ethique Fig Face Quench Cream Review

This is a face cream, made by Ethique, called Fig Face Quench. Pricewise – its $33 for 60gm plus postage. They often have sales!

I love a lot of Ethique’s products, and I love the ethics behind what they do: healthy products packed full of yummy natural ingredients, plus the team are vehemently anti-animal testing, do a lot of research, and donate to great causes as well. I also love to support New Zealand products – so it’s a win all around, for me! They are also not ‘natural overload’ people – theres a lot of science behind these products. It pays to remember as we go along that ‘natural’ doesn’t always mean ‘good for you’ – Deadly Nightshade is completely natural. Just saying.

So, Fig Face Quench!

This here is the third pottle I’ve used, and I have tried 3 samples prior to that, over the years I’ve been buying from Ethique. I must say, their formula on this has improved dramatically! Way back when.. there was a touch too much zinc I felt, and I found it almost impossible to rub into my face. This, however, is lovely. It still has zinc, which is great, as its supposed too..thats the sunblock ingredient. And because of that, the cream feels like part of it rubs in, and is absorbed,and is lovely, and some of the rest just sits on top of the skin. It is not greasy, or sticky at all however – it leaves a faintly dewy glow and a softness to the skin. I don’t know what the SPF factor would be, I wouldnt rely solely on this for my sunblock, but its a lovely face cream.

The packaging is very simple, quite cute, but it’s obvious the time and care has gone into the product, not the packaging and marketing. I’m all for that!

Recently Ethique have branched out into making mineral makeup (some of which I have bought and will discuss later on, I’m sure). They have sent out notices saying they will no longer be making the bodycare products, and will be focusing on the makeup, which is sad for those of us who really liked the creams and shampoos etc, but good for them to do what they need to do! So, sadly for me, I’ll need to source another face cream in due time. There are much worse things in life to do. 🙂

Check out Ethique’s website here – http://www.ethique.co.nz/ – there may be time before they switch! (P.S – I think there is today. Really. So if you want it, buy now, or forever… be without! Eek!)