Katherine's Natural Beautee

I was recently perusing Boots chemists for some good natural beauty finds (word had it that Batiste had an eco dry shampoo called Nude stocked there) when I happened upon a new brand I had never heard of – Good Things.  Unfortunately most natural beauty companies distribute their products through the internet since they tend to be small companies therefore I’ve not had much luck finding good brands at the local pharmacy.  However, when I read the front of the Good Clean Fun Freshening Polish (with superfruit extracts strawberry and cranberry) label “no parabens, no SLS, no mineral oil, no animal ingredients,” I was intrigued.  At £4.99 how can you go wrong?  I purchased it and home the facial scrub went with me.

Good Things Facial Skincare was developed by Award-Winning UK Beauty writer Alice Hart-Davis. Although developed with young skin in mind, the Good Things range uses superfruit beauty boosters in gentle yet effective formulations.  A lot of care and attention went go into Good Things formulations.  For a full list of all of the superfruits and more ingredients read here.  Another good sign about the formulations is a comparatively short ingredient list.  My only slight bug bear about the formulation – fragrance is listed half way down.  This is pretty high up the list in my books.  There is no legal definition for fragrance so it could really contain a whole myriad of evils.  When I discovered this I wasn’t entirely surprised.  The product does have a really strong fruity smell.  It reminds me of the fluoride I used to get at the dentist when I was a kid, or hubba bubba bubble gum (both happy childhood associations).

In summary I think this is a good line for teenagers.  I think older consumers will like it as well because regardless of skin type everyone needs a good cleansing and these products won’t overstrip your face.  If I had a teenager I would rather buy them Good Stuff as opposed to Clearasil, Oxy, or other teen brands.  Considering how sensitive teenage skin is the last thing then need is a bunch of synthetic chemicals to further irritate their skin.  I never did find that Batiste dry shampoo in the end.  Oh well, that’s a blog for another day.  But I did start reading Alice Hart-Davis’ blog and I think you’ll like that too. 

wouldn't be as glossy!

Ok bad attempt at ripping off Shakespeare aside, Bare Minerals natural lip gloss has permanently ruined me for any other lip gloss. Texture= perfect. Smooth, moisturizing, not too sticky. Smell= perfect. Heavenly almonds pervades, good enough to eat, but not in that overly sweet way that chocolate or cupcake scents make you want to vomit. The gloss lasts for hours but doesn't leave your lips all chapped and begging for more after the last bit has gone (although you will want to reapply just because it is so lovely!)

Somehow I have managed to amass 6 tubes of the stuff over the last 4 months (1 my mom gave me, the other 5 I purchased myself for £13 a pop). Ingredients in descending order are Oleic/Linoleic/Linolenic Polyglycerides, Castor Seed Oil, Brassica Campestris/Aleurites Fordi Oil Copolymer, Sesame Seed Oil, Flavor (Natural Vanilla), Carnauba Wax, Olive Oil, Sunflower Seed Oil, Beeswax, Candelilla Wax, Glyceryl Caprylate, Honeysuckle Flower Extract, Jojoba Seed Oil, Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Wax, Punica Granatum Pomegranate Seed Oil, Silica, Cupuacu Seed Butter, Tocopherol.

The overall toxicity level scores 4 out of 10 on Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database. Most toxic ingredients are Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Wax and Flavor both of which are rated 4. The majority of ingredients are rated 0. It's important to keep the toxicity level down in lip glosses because of how easily they can be ingested (and therefore absorbed into the body). Bare Minerals natural lipgloss is a real winner.

Go forth and gloss yourself.

I’d been meaning to blog about my favorite natural beauty books for a while now so I was really pleased when Christina Oppold asked me to guest post on her blog Stackedblog.com.  Having been an avid reader all of my life I jumped at the chance.  Although Christina had approached me about my natural beauty recommendations, she was kind enough to also let me blog about my favorite fiction books starring strong natural beauties.  (See I kept to a theme!)  You can read about my favorite books here. 

Updated on Monday, May 17, 2010 at 9:58PM by Katherine McKenney

We’ve been studying the olfactory system on my aromatherapy course which has really impressed me as a system.  Literally you breath something in and it goes through your nose straight to your brain!  OK, it’s a little more complicated than that but at least explain why inhalation is such a powerful part of aromatherapy.  As human beings we tend to be so reliant on our sight that we really don’t experience the world as fully as we could through the other 4 senses.  I challenge you to walk around with a blind fold for a few hours and listen, touch and smell everything around you.

I was recently sent some samples from Essence of Vali which is a NYC based company that sells 100% natural aromatherapy products.  I rarely get really excited about a product (if you’ve read my previous product reviews I’m usually sceptical or at least balanced in listing out pros and cons of the products that I review.  But I have to say I fell in love with Essence of Vali’s Sleep Bedtime Ritual.  For many years now I’ve found sleep difficult.  It takes me a long time to fall asleep and I wake up frequently throughout the night.  With a drop of the concentrate containing lavender, marjoram, cedarwood and ylang-ylang on my pillow, not only do I fall asleep quickly, but I stay asleep throughout the night.  Plus when I travel and am sleeping in a strange room, the smell reminds me of being in my own bed so I drift off and get the same blissful sleep as if I were at home.

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