Natural Green Ethical

Refreshed Lemon Myrtle Deodorant is the subject of today’s post. . . As I write it’s nearly 6.30pm, and through the window there’s a soft orange sunset and the air is warm. After a long, cold winter happily, spring is in the air.

Such rising temperatures encourage our bodies to perspire more, and so we need more effective deodorants to keep cool and smell sweet. Currently, I’m using Refreshed Lemon Myrtle Deodorant - an Australian brand.

Previously, I’ve struggled to find a natural deodorant which keeps me as dry as aluminium-based anti-perspirants which are readily available in stores such as Boots and Superdrug. But, as these block the pores and prevent our bodies carrying our their natural elimination process, trapping toxic waste products inside our cells, I prefer to steer clear of them.

Keeping cool with Refreshed Lemon Myrtle Deodorant

Refreshed Lemon Myrtle Deodorant (with roll on application) seems to be working well for me, and has a beautiful lemon aroma. It’s a 100% natural deodorant, is anti-bacterial and there’s no aluminium content. It’s also free from:-

• Harmful petrochemicals
  
• Parabens
• Mineral Oils
• Artificial Fragrance
• Animal Ingredients
• Animal Testing

So if you want to keep your friends close to you this spring, without resorting to chemical deodorants, I’d recommend giving this natural deodorant from Refreshed Lemon Myrtle a try. To purchase (£4.95 for 60ml bottle) and find out more, visit stockist Bio Nature Ltd.

Refreshed Lemon Myrtle Deodorant is just one product in this popular natural range from Australia, which utilises lemon myrtle essential oil, safely harvested in Australia from backhousia citriodora (lemon myrtle) plantation trees.

There’s nothing like the soft glow of a candle to create a cosy atmosphere. Whether it’s in my living room, next to my bubble bath or by my bed in the twilight hours, there’s something very relaxing about a real flame. In recent years I’ve learned the benefits of natural plant-based and eco-friendly candles. Let me expand a little more…

Eco-friendly candles and the pitfalls of paraffin

Traditionally, candles are made from paraffin wax. Coloured in pretty blues, pinks and reds they look all very innocent in the shops, yet paraffin is both toxic and carcinogenic. Breathing in vapours as the candle burns is therefore bad for our health, and our planet.

Fortunately, there are modern eco-friendly candles which are plant based - soy wax is one popular alternative. Soya beans are a renewable and sustainable resource, and they bio-degrade naturally. Soya is also non-carcinogenic, non-toxic and the flame of eco-friendly candles made from soya burns much cleaner than a paraffin flame.

Eco-friendly candles for your home

So if you enjoy lighting candles in your home, it’s best for you and your family to opt for a natural and safe flame. There’s a lovely selection of natural and eco-friendly candles at Nigel’s Eco store which range from £3 to £12.95.

I’ve got my eye on one called ‘Chill Pill’ which comes in an attractive jade box. It’s a natural aromatherapy candle with a blend of bergamot and sandlewood to induce calm. As it’s my birthday soon, I’m thinking it’d be a nice gift to ask for. If you’re considering natural or eco-friendly candles it makes sense to get one which will last, and this one has a whopping 50 hour burn time. Other pluses are:-

• 100% pure soy wax
• natural soy wicks
• natural essential oil and fragrances
• hand poured in the UK

Visit Nigel’s Eco Store to check out more lovely eco-friendly candles, such as ‘Domestic Goddess’ and ‘Mmm’ in this natural range.

I’m always one to grab a bargain, as you may have gathered from my last post. So when I saw organic conditioner from the Duchy Collection on sale in my local Sterling Pharmacy for a mere £1.00 a bottle I blinked twice.

The royal brand, endorsed by HRH  the Prince of Wales, is entirely natural and does not contain any genetically-modified ingredients, so from an ethical perspective it more than ticks my boxes. And the price, well, it just seemed too good to be true.

The three natural blends on sale in the Duchy organic conditioner collection were:

• Bergamot and Lime
• Lavender
• Rose and Mandarin

Which natural blend is best?

I have long, thick hair, and get through bottles of organic conditioner faster than I do organic wine (quite an achievement for me), so I walked away with one bottle of each natural blend and prepared to give my hair a treat.

As I’ve only ever bought Duchy Original natural food products, I was keen to see if I’d rate the future King of England’s organic conditioner as highly as I do his dark chocolate ginger biscuits…

To my delight, my hair drank up the organic conditioner and literally gleamed. As well as the resulting shine, the ‘creamy, nourishing protein conditioner’ (the words on the bottle) performed beautifully, de-tangling my wavy brunette hair and leaving it with a lovely fresh scent. My favourite essential oil combination of the three is the bergamot and lime – it’s refreshing and zesty. In aromatherapy terms, natural bergamot is renowned for uplifting and revitalising, so it’s ideal for daytime.

If I’m washing my hair at night I’ll opt for the more relaxing Duchy organic conditioner with lavender to help coax me into a natural sleep. The rose and mandarin blend is equally enticing.

The verdict?

Overall, I was so impressed with the entire natural Duchy organic conditioner collection  that I sneaked back to the pharmacy as soon as I had the opportunity, and bought £10’s worth. At full price, one bottle of the organic conditioner is £4.99, so I believe this was money well spent. If you want to grab your own supply of organic conditioner before it runs out visit Half Price Perfumes online.

When I checked the official Duchy website, it appears they have revamped the organic conditioner bottle (it looks a little more luxurious now) and changed the natural blends slightly. Each one now retails at £6.99. This is likely to be why I grabbed a bargain of the discontinued stock.

However, no doubt the new bottles will contain natural Duchy organic conditioner of an equally high calibre. If you can stretch to the higher price I’d highly recommend treating yourself and your lovely locks - after all, it’s natural, green and ethical.

Although I chit chat regularly about Burt’s Bees on Natural Green Ethical, I’m aware that some of the products in the range can be a little on the pricey side. So trust me, when I spot a bargain (of any natural, green or ethical product for that matter) I’ll let you know!

Here’s one to be going on with…Debenhams online has the Radiant Burt’s Bees gift set currently on sale.  It should be £19.99, but it’s reduced to £9.99.

It comes in a pretty presentation box so it will make a very nice ‘natural beauty‘ gift for someone, or else a little treat for yourself this spring. Included in the set are the following six natural products…

• Radiance Body Lotion
• Radiance Body Wash
• Radiance Day Creme
• Radiance Night Creme
• Radiance Lip Shimmer
• Soft Bamboo Body Puff

I’ve used the Burt’s Bees Radiance products before and they’re great - the lip shimmer is particularly lovely.

Grab a Burt’s Bees bargain and enjoy!

Burt’s Bees Citrus Facial Scrub is currently doing me proud. I’ve been using a tiny amount every morning in the shower for the last two weeks, and today my skin is lovely and smooth.

I was given a tiny pot as part of a Christmas present and it’s so small you’d imagine it wouldn’t last more than a week. However, it’s highly concentrated and you only need a small amount on your fingertip to slough off the dead skin cells.

Burt’s Bees Citrus Facial Scrub is chocolatey in colour, and contains natural specs of ground pecan shells as a gentle exfoliating agent.

What else does Burt’s Bees Citrus Facial Scrub contain?

The natural ingredients also include various seeds and flowery powders, such as nutmeg, which is the overriding scent of the scrub. Take a sniff and the comforting aroma is certainly reminiscent of Mum’s rice pudding. This natural ‘citrus’ facial scrub, as the name suggests, also draws on delicate extracts of fruits and flowers – rose petal powder and grapefruit seed extract are in the mix. The overall natural ingredient content of Burt’s Bees Citrus Facial Scrub is 99.93%, so you don’t have to worry about chemicals such as SLS (sodium lauryl/laureth sulphate) seeping into your skin and being absorbed by your body to its detriment.

Here’s a complete list of the natural ingredients in Burt’s Bees Citrus Facial Scrub…

• Vegetable Glycerin
• Almond Oil
• Almond Flour
• Oat Flour
• Orange Peel
• Rosebud Powder
• Ground Pecan Shells
• Grapefruit Seed Extract
• Glucose Oxidase and Lactoperoxidase (natural enzymes)
• Nutmeg Powder
• Clove Powder
• Natural Rosemary Extract
• Tocopherol (Vitamin E)
• Fragrance

Happily, no ingredients in Burt’s Bees are tested on animals.

If you’re off on a summer holiday this year, this 25g (7oz) pot of Burt’s Bees Citrus Facial Scrub would be perfect to take away. It’ll take up a minute amount of space in your wash bag and keep your skin looking natural and radiant in the sunshine. You can purchase a pot of your own from Debenhams online for £9.00.

I’ve just finished decorating my Christmas tree, and in the process have been weighing up the pros and cons of various types of fairy lights and their environmental implications. LED lights are my favourite as their glow is more intense than the average fairy lights with filament bulbs. Conveniently, LEDs are also much more eco-friendly as they use around 10% of the energy of standard fairy lights, saving you money and helping the planet in the process.

As well as keeping Christmas eco-friendly with the use of LED lights, there’s also the issue of safety to be addressed. All lights – eco-friendly or otherwise - pose a fire hazard if not treated with care. So how do you ensure a happy Christmas without putting you and your family at risk? Here’s five tips to help you enjoy a safe and eco-friendly Christmas when it comes to lighting up your home this season….

1. Choose eco-friendly LED lights over traditional filament bulbs. They use considerably less energy, generate less heat and so reduce the risk of fire. LED lights are also made of plastic so you don’t have to worry about broken glass bulbs.
2. Be eco-savvy and switch off your LED lights at bedtime – don’t just flick the switch, unplug them from the wall. The same applies if you leave the house during the day. All lights need a rest.
3. Don’t overload sockets with your lights, and ideally avoid extension leads and adaptors.
4. Don’t use LED or filament bulb lights outdoors unless they are specifically designed for outdoor use. This should be stated clearly on the packaging, generally with a ‘waterdrop’ symbol.
5. If your fairy lights have been in storage check for any faults, and replace failed bulbs straight away to prevent overheating.

Lemon myrtle air freshener

The natural product comes in a very neat white 125ml bottle (see above), and is designed to eliminate stale, mouldy, smoky or other unpleasant odours in the home, office, bathroom or car. If you have pets, it is also useful to freshen the air around litter trays. My trusty bottle is currently sat on my bedside table and I’ve been freely spritzing it around the bedroom, content in the knowledge that all ingredients are 100% natural. The refreshed lemon myrtle air freshener has the same distinctive lemon scent as the soap, which is derived from lemon myrtle oil, sourced from the beautiful Australian flowering plant backhousia citriodora.

• Purified water
• Ethanol (plant derived)
• Castor oil (plant derived)
• Backhousia citriodora (lemon myrtle) oil
• Chlorophyll (plant derived)

As refreshed lemon myrtle air freshener is made in Australia, there’s a nice little native touch which suggests that the spray may also be used as a body mist to bring comfort on nature walks around dawn and dusk. I think this is the perfect testimony to the wonderful natural content of the product.

One of the most versatile products on the current beauty market is the facial wipe. For low-maintenance cleansing and make-up removal they’re fast, effective and great when you just want to roll into bed without messing about with cleansers and cotton wool buds. Yet while there are a multitude of synthetic face wipes on the market, natural face wipes are less easy to lay your hands on . . .

Why use natural face wipes?

Synthetic or ‘non natural’ face wipes from local pharmacies and supermarkets often contain all the usual chemical suspects such as parabens, which can be harsh on delicate skin. The skin around the eyes, also known as the periocular area, is up to ten times thinner than the skin on the face, so it’s important to treat with care. The best natural face wipes I have found, and which I have complete confidence in recommending, are 3-in 1 natural face wipes by Faith in Nature.

Natural face wipes by Faith in Nature are intended to take you speedily, yet gently, through the three-step ritual of cleansing, moisturising and make-up removal, and perform all three beautifully. If you’re planning on glittery eyes and lashings of mascara this Christmas, they’re fabulous for makeup removal, even when tipsy at 2am. The natural face wipes are also hypo-allergenic, free of alcohol, parabens and SLS and are 100% biodegradable, giving them a big tick in the eco-friendly box.

The Faith in Nature wipes, for me, perform better than all synthetic equivalents which I have tried. They certainly seem more moist and less scratchy on the skin. Active ingredients include vitamin C, allantoin and organic aloe vera. As with all products I discuss on this site, natural face wipes by Faith in Nature are not tested on animals. If you’re looking for vegan face wipes these are also perfect.

Each pack contains 25 wipes. They can be bought online through sites such as the Ethical Superstore for £3.35. Your local natural health food shop may also be a Faith in Nature stockist.