Review- Hand Soap

Today's review is of a hand wash, from the Selby Soap Company. Selby is local to me (as in say 6 km's away), so I was thrilled to have found this perched on the shelf at my favourite cafe- The General Food Store in Emerald.

I picked it up for $6.50, so it was definitely within what I consider to be an acceptable price range for a hand wash. I have paid more for such things to give as gifts (or even as a gift to myself!) so this made me very happy, and I am well pleased to have this gem sitting by my kitchen basin. Packaging is reminiscent of the brands Grown, Jurlique, or Aesop, but there is no disputing the price difference: you wouldn't even touch the sides of anything from those brands for $6.50...

I chose the Sweet orange and Clove...must be the cooler weather reminding me of Autumn at home in Cincinnati, and it does smell like an American Christmas. The other choices currently on offer are: Lemon Myrtle, Rosemary, Rosalina, Lemongrass, Lavender, Lavender and Cinnamon, Lavender and Star Anise, Spearmint, Peppermint and Clove according to Selby Soap Company's website which can be found at www.selbysoap.com

Their website is worth checking out, it is still under construction although the company itself appears to have been around since 2009. There is a short insightful glossary of terms describing a few hot list chemicals to watch out for. They also very clearly identify their own products and ingredients list.

So here's what I liked about the hand wash:

• Pretty, simple, unpretentious packaging. The pics I have posted are it. There is no box or bag, thank goodness.
• Smells like heaven. Or like spending lots of money in a suburban American shopping mall at Christmas, and then coming home to a warm house full of food and family.
•  All natural ingredients (note, this is not an exclusively organic product- but I actually like the fact that they didn't even go there. "Natural" was just going to have to do. Furthermore, to grow their ingredient list organically in Selby would take a miracle, and a tent covering their property, and a small army of staff picking snails/mites off of plants. I know- I live here, and grow here!
• PALM OIL FREE! Yippee!
• Local! This means I'll have to go into my fave cafe (and order a coffee) to get another one as well!

• It foams beautifully, and cleans well. I'm not going to get all crazy about a hand wash. It's a hand wash. It does hand washing just fine. I even tested it to a pair of after gardening hands, and after staining some polished boards in my en suite- don't ask... It worked brilliantly.

Something that I really liked is that Selby Soap Company has managed to get the wash to foam up. Thanks in part to a foaming pump, but they have also used "Soapnuts". How cool is this? Soapnuts are from plant called
Sapindus.  A genus of about five to twelve species of shrubs in the Lychee family,  members of the genus are commonly known as soapberries or soapnuts because the fruit pulp is used to make soap. Thanks Wikipedia- click here to see more about how this works...



So here I was thinking that the only surfactants (foaming/wetting agents) were likely to come from palm oils/ coconut oils or petroleum based sources, and here we have an example of a product that does the job, without any nasties. Yes please!

I'm sure I'll delve into more details regarding surfactants and foaming agents in future blogs, stay tuned for me to look like a complete idiot whilst trying to understand it all myself and then explain it to you.

Upshot-

Did I love this product- YES!
Would I buy it again- YES!
Would I try some of their other products- YES!

Overall- it's love. And if you have a Birthday coming up then you can count on me spending $6.50 on you! Go me!

Any questions, or if you did or didn't like what I had to say please comment below!

 



 
 

Review - Face moisturiser.

Hi all, thanks for dropping in to to check out my today's review:

Evohe Edelweiss & Nectapure Moiusture 24/7

I purchased this at a health food shop in Berwick, for a whopping $45.90. Pretty sure at that price point we could start off with at least a decent product....

So, here's what I thought:

It met the following criteria- 

• Australian made and owned
• 80% of the ingredients in this particular product are Certified Organic Ingredients 
• The ingredients are 100% naturally derived (which means they come from an animal or plant based source- not petroleum sources).
• Smells gorgeous
• Lovely packaging
• Has a fantastic website with additional information here: evohe.com.au 

First I should say that I wanted to LOVE this product. I could get it at my natural food store, it was mid priced, I love that the percentage of certified organics were listed, and the ingredient list was in clear plain English. I could actually identify each of the ingredients listed as a plant/nut/fruit. I love the packaging and the heavy glass bottle (yes, I'm one of "those girls" that likes to look at my shelf in the shower and see my gorgeous Kerastase bottles, and dream that great hair is only a shampoo away!) I love that it is Aussie, and I wanted to love it enough to send it overseas in little packages for my sisters... but, I just didn't.

I didn't love it because it left my skin feeling taut and dry. I had to apply some coconut oil over the top by Saturday (after starting to use the product twice daily the previous Wednesday), just to keep my skin from flaking and burning! Not too attractive when you have 4 bridesmaids to make up on the same day... I had to excuse the condition of my skin and explain that I was doing "industry research"! Additionally, remember that lovely smell I mentioned previously? After a few minutes it reminded me of Kava. Yep, that smell of drinking Kava in Fiji. Beautiful memories, but the stuff is basically muddy water- and the products smells vaguely similar. I couldn't really blame a single product in the ingredients list for this, maybe a combination of a few, who knows?

Now, I have combination sensitive skin, oily T-zone, and dry cheeks- like 90% of the women in the world. I promised myself that I wasn't going to blog about how a product might work if someone was a different skin tone, so I won't. I think this is a common case of a very plant active product that is just all a bit too much. I would often see women at counter that would come looking for a new skin solution because their "organic products" failed them. I had to explain that although the company I worked for was lab created, I do feel that they took the sensitivity of skin in mind, whereas organics/essential oils are sometimes so active that they can independently cause alarming reactions on some skins. I wouldn't say I'm have a "reaction" as such- but it's certainly not the dreamy luminescent skin I'm aiming for.

Would I but the product again?  Sadly, no.

Would I try other products in their range? Yes, definitely.

What am I going to do with the product? Probably use it as a hand or body cream.

If you have tried Evohe, please let me know what you thought, comment below!

Welcome, welcome!

Hi there!

Thanks for popping in to have a look. I will be blogging about my journey into eco friendliness, cosmetically speaking, that is!

First a little background...

I am a 37 year old, mostly stay at home Mom in the gorgeous green hills called the Dandenong Ranges, East of Melbourne, Australia. I moved to Australia almost 10 years ago and have created a wonderful life with my husband (and certainly better half) B. We have a Physio Practice, a beautiful home, 2 cats, a bird and a two year old son who, naturally, is the light of our lives.

Prior to Mommyhood, I worked with a major Cosmetic company in a major Australian retail department store. I did this for about 6 years, before that I graduated from The University of Cincinnati, with a BFA in Makeup and Wig Design, Theatrical Design and Production. Yes, I literally have a Uni degree in Makeup, how cool is that? I am still currently a practicing makeup artist, and work many weekends creating gorgeous brides and bridesmaids (and even some beautiful grooms) in the Yarra Valley and surrounds.

Here's the deal. I've had a few heath scares and illnesses over the last year, most of which I have chalked up to having a toddler in daycare 2 days a week. I am absolutely fine, but it got me thinking about what I should be doing as a Mom and Wife, and limiting our exposure to chemical nasties in MY environment, the place I control! 

Look, I'm not saying I'm going to save the planet, or even the Orangutans- but I'm thinking 

that with my skincare knowledge and cosmetic background....what if I could compare a few skin and body products (maybe some home products too) and just let you know what I have found. Maybe save you from spending $60 on a moisturizer that sucks?! 

My goal is to research skincare and cosmetics that are hopefully organic, really hopefully not made with palm oil (a whole other post), certainly not loaded with things I can't pronounce, AND here's the biggie- they MUST perform as well or better than the cosmetics that you would find in those big stores. I'll let you know what I find as I go- k?

Please feel free to comment. Let me know of a brand that you'd like to know about, or if you have used the products I review. Tell me what you thought about it, and why you agree or disagree with me. I can take it :) 

Let's go!