Not frugal, but fabulous: Review: LaVanila The Healthy Deodorant Lavender Vanilla

It's been a long time since I last posted. Too long. My excuse? Well, I don't have one. Busy-ness, I suppose, but I also lost the love for trying new products. And, I admit, I have been straying, both from my green principles AND from my frugal principles. However, my skin rewarded me for going back to traditional drugstore products by breaking out nastily, so I had to revamp my skincare routine, and am now back. I've got my skin back under control and I have discovered a few products that I really like. So, I should tell you about them.

As my last review was of a deodorant, it only seems fitting to do yet another deodorant review. Now, this one is NOT frugal. By any stretch of the imagination. It is $18. And yes, that image is from Sephora, as that is where it is easiest to find this product.

So, how does one justify an $18 deodorant? Well, I can't. If your definition of frugal is to only get cheap products, you'll have to move along. But if your definition includes getting good value for money, or splurging a bit more for the best products and scrimping when it doesn't matter, then continue reading.

In my last review, I was happy with the Tom's of Maine, but as time went by, I became less happy. I don't think that the product got any less effective, really, but I was tired of always stinking a bit in the evenings, and in the mornings before I showered. I became tired of always having to wash/shower if I wanted to change to go out in the evenings, or if I wanted to go out to exercise in the morning. I became tired of not always being fresh. I mean, when you've spent years using antiperspirants you get used to a certain level of non-stinkiness. Not to say the Tom's product isn't good. It's just not great.

I decided to just try the LaVanila. Just to see. It was getting good reviews on the Sephora website, so I gave it a shot. And this stuff rocked my world. You know how I wrote in the last review that my sweat and lavender don't mix? Well, this is a gentle, powdery vanilla-y lavender, and if it stops you from having BO, then there's no stinky mixing going on. So I really like the scent. When I use this product, I do not smell in the evening. Actually, I do smell - if I stick my nose in my armpit I can smell a faint gentle, powdery vanilla-y lavender. It still smells nice. And it continues to the next morning. And yes, in the interests of science, I've tried not showering and just re-applying some deodorant, and I didn't stink the second day either. This really works. And the skin under my arms is looking better - it is not red, flaky, irritated, inflamed, or any of the other things that it occasionally was in the old days. Of course, as it's a deodorant and not an anti-perspirant, you'll still get a bit moist under the arms from time to time, but at least with this, no-one need know.

I love it. I'd give it 5 stars if only it was cheaper, so I'll go with 4.9.

Review:Tom's of Maine Long Lasting Care Deodorant

I previously reviewed the Tom's of Maine deodorants here. What I didn't quite appreciate at the time was that I was using the "original care" formula, and not the "long-lasting care" formula. And while I was quite faithful to the calendula scent I will own up that by the end of the day, I was often a bit...ripe. Skanky, as it were.

Well, I am pleased to say that I am skank no more! I went shopping a good while back (yes, I know it's been a long time since I did a review), in desperate need of some new deodorant, and the store only had the long-lasting varieties. I was, as I say, desperate, and while I'd normally prefer to smell like a flower than a fruit, I picked up the apricot scent, scowling slightly. But, um, it worked. It worked remarkably well, in fact, that often by the end of a long day in the heat and humidity, I am still quite fresh and delightful to be around. Not that I'd want you to stick your nose right in my armpit, you understand, but I no longer need to keep my arms glued to my sides in the vain hope that no noxious odors will waft out. But I didn't think too much of it, I admit, raised as I was on the not-so-green aluminum-containing anti-perspirants. You come to expect a certain level of competence out of your deodorant. So it was only when I finished that deodorant stick and went back to the calendula, that I realized my terrible mistake. All of a sudden I was stinky again, and not just at 10pm, but often at 10am and all points inbetween.

The "long-lasting" formula really IS that much better than the regular formula. Therefore, consider this as a revised review. Choose the "long-lasting" variety and your nose will be happier. And the apricot scent is growing on me too. It's quite a creamy apricot so it doesn't scream "fresh and fruity" or anything.

4.8 stars. I knocked it down from 5 stars because I'd love a floral scent that isn't lavender to be available. My sweat and lavender don't make for a good combination, sadly.

Review: Burt's Bees Chemical-Free Sunscreen SPF 30

I promise that I wanted to love this, I really did. I've been trying to use a daily facial moisturizer with an SPF of 15 or preferably 30 for a long time. And none of them have really worked out. And then I saw some blurb for this product and it had those buzzwords that really got me going like...creamy, and moisturizing and smooth. So I thought I'd give it a go.

First of all, it is creamy and smooth. To a point. It has quite a nice texture if you're working on a small area of skin. It is a little hard to rub in, as are all chemical-free sunscreens, but it's not too bad. Except I would go to the mirror a little while later and see white fuzz around my hairline and on my eyebrows - not that that's an issue for this product alone, as again, it's a "feature" of using a physical sunscreen, but it bugs me to think that other people might be thinking that I have a dandruff problem on my eyebrows.

As for using it as a facial moisturizer, it is not quite emolient enough for me. I wouldn't hold that against it if it were the only problem, though, as it's not marketed as a facial moisturizer so I don't expect it to perform wonderfully on that score.

Oh but the smell. I can't deal with the smell. Maybe you'll love it. Maybe it's just me. And I'm assuming the smell comes from the hemp seed oil, as I don't know what that normally smells like, but I squeeze some out of the tube, and am immediately transported to my elementary school, and more to the point, to the disinfectant that they used in the bathrooms. Now, I didn't grow up in the States - maybe your elementary school disinfectant experience was different than mine, and this product won't create any such associations in your mind. But, I can't escape it, and I don't like the thought of putting toilet cleaner on my face.

So, I tried using it for its intended purpose, as a body sunscreen. I had an outdoor event to go to, and decided to slather some on my arms, neck and shoulder areas. Except I have got used with sunscreen to squirting a lot out, smoothing it a little over the entire skin area I wish to cover (for example, my arms, neck and shoulders), and allowing it to soak in a bit while I am rubbing it in. This is not the way to use this sunscreen. If you don't use a small amount on a small area, rub it in well, and then move to another small area and reapply another small amount, and rub that in well, you are facing disaster. It dries out easily and becomes impossible to rub in if you leave it sitting on your skin too much. I ended up with flaking, balling, nasty dry sunscreen. I tried to go and wet my hands to see if I could improve it, but then ended up with flaking, balling dry sunscreen with a wet yellowy layer of milky stuff on top. Ugh. I rinsed it off and started again with a different product.

I am still using the product, as a daily sunscreen for my hands. And it's not so bad. After all, the backs of my hands are a pretty small area so it is hard to go wrong with that. It's moisturizing enough as a hand cream but I have switched to something else for my face.

I'm going to go with 2 and a half stars. It could work for some things, if you are careful with how you apply it.

Review: Feline Pine Scoop Clumping Cat Litter

Do you know which review I consistently get the most comments on? It's not a moisturizer or any of the many soaps I have reviewed, it's the cat litter. Which tells me that there's a real need out there for natural cat litters - we're all still searching for the holy grail of perfection.

Currently kitty and I are using Feline Pine clumping litter. I'm not exactly sure what I expected when I picked this up, but the very lightweight box should have tipped me off. Feline Pine Original is pellets but the Scoop variety is...sawdust. OK, it's sawdust with some guar gum added but it looks, smells, and acts just like sawdust.

The smell of this is quite pleasant - if you like sawdust. And actually, it's got very good odor control abilities. It really does keep the litter box smell down. The clumping ability is fairly adequate. However, I find that clumps fall apart pretty easily when scooped, so I end up not shaking the scoop too vigorously and throw away quite a lot of good litter with the used. This means that I go through a lot of this product, and at $5 a box (or thereabouts) that can add up pretty quickly. The real problem with this litter is that kitty and I track it all over the house. All over. It's so lightweight and clings tenaciously to you that it gets everywhere. The rugs and kitty's favorite lounging spot now need de-sawdusting on a regular basis.  And the floors? Sometimes I have visions of one of my shoes somehow getting involved in a criminal investigation and ending up puzzling the CSI as to the flecks of sawdust embedded in the insole: "it's as if this person was walking around barefoot in a lumber yard and then tracked the sawdust into her shoes.  But then there's minute quantities of guar gum and cat urine mixed in...?"

I am putting up with the sawdust because I like the odor control, and because it doesn't kick up clouds of dust with that chemical nostril burn that regular litter has.  In fact, we've been using it for months and have no current intention of switching. But it's not my holy grail.

Three stars.

Review: Ecover Lavender and Aloe Vera Hand Soap

Sometimes I worry about reviewing things on this blog. After all, the whole point of the blog was to review green products that the average person could easily obtain and afford. It's all very well for Gwyneth Paltrow to go green (and I'm sure she does it much better than I), but she has a lot more spare cash than I do, so expensive organic items are not a stretch for her. Therefore, when I buy something that doesn't necessarily qualify as "frugal" I agonize over whether I should post it, or risk being found out as someone that if often not all that frugal at all. Case in point: $7 soaps. And then comes a posting gap while I wrestle with my inner demons. OK, so I exaggerate. But that brings me to....

Ecover hand soap. I'd tried to switch to just using bar soaps, because I figured that the plastic packaging for and extra chemicals in liquid hand soaps made them less environmentally friendly than bar soaps. But I was not enjoying them. I mean, actually, they're fine in the shower, but for washing my hands, I prefer the liquid soap. I am also a fan of all things Ecover - I think they are a very environmentally aware company and their products generally work well, although I do squirm a little about the extra carbon footprint involved in shipping the products from Europe to the States. But when I saw this soap on offer at Whole Foods for $4.49 for 250 ml (3.4 fl oz), I snapped it up. Hey, there's a refill that you can buy, so if I love it, I will switch to the refill at some point.

Oh, and I DO love it. It has this wonderful lavender aroma that hits you as soon as you pump out a dollop into your hand. It is very comforting, and at the same time, a clean scent that makes you feel like you are waging germ warfare because of the natural antiseptic properties of lavender. And it clears your head at the same time. And sometimes, let's face it, if we're washing our hands in the bathroom, it is nice to have a burst of a lovely fresh scent to take away any other....odors. Ahem.  It lathers well, cleans well, and have I mentioned that I love the smell? It doesn't seem to dry out my hands, so in my view it is an all-around winner.

Four and a half stars - only a little less than five because of the price. I'd LOVE it to  be cheaper!

Update:  I've been finding this soap a little drying on my hands, so I'm knocking the review down to four stars because of that. I still love the smell, but I'd rather not have to use hand cream on top!

Adventures in homemade greenness

I promised that this was going to be the year when I got better at homemade greenness. And I fully intend to follow through on that promise.  There are so many areas where I waste money and resources buying premade stuff - cleaning products, facial care products and food. 

The first thing I decided to tackle was food. Specifically, seitan. If you don't know, one of the easiest things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint is to eat less meat. You don't have to go completely vegetarian - there are campaigns out there such as Meatless Monday which provide inspiration to go vegetarian one day a week. I am already a vegetarian, but I confess to being a bit of a processed-food vegetarian. So, on to seitan. Seitan is a protein made of wheat gluten (so, if you're gluten intolerant, obviously this isn't for you). It is also known as "wheat meat".  It's low in calories and fat, and super high in protein (for something vegetarian). But alas, it is expensive if you buy it ready made - $3.99 for 2.5 servings at Whole Foods. If you've never tried it before, I suggest buying one of those packets and giving it a go in a stir fry. They are usually sold in chiller cabinets with the fresh tofus and meat substitutes. Don't be afraid to flavor it up with soy sauce, hot sauce, whatever, and even let it go slightly crisp with the cooking. Delicious.

As I have an awesome cookbook called Veganomicon, which promised me that homemade seitan was easy to make, I decided to try my hand at making it. You have to buy vital wheat gluten flour and nutritional yeast, but otherwise the remaining ingredients should be readily available and may be things you already have.  I think I spent about $8-9 at Whole Foods for enough organic vital wheat gluten flour and nutritional yeast to make 8-10 batches of seitan. The recipe I used was similar to this one except I didn't put any flavorings in it other than 1/4 cup of soy sauce, and it only used 1 cup of flour, cooking up in 8 cups of broth/water. Instead of the flavorings, it has 1 tblspn olive oil. Each batch makes 3 servings.

The book authors were right  - it was super easy. And yummy. I even made the vegetable broth myself, from all the wilting vegetables that were cluttering up the fridge and making me feel guilty. Using homemade broth did make it a two-day process, but now I also have 8 individually frozen cups of broth, that I can use in other recipes, and it keeps the sodium content down.

I think I count this as a success! The pic is today's lunch, which was a seitan stir fry.

Review: Tom's of Maine Natural Moisturizing Body Bar

I am back after a long hiatus! Woot!

First things first, soap. I promised you a review of the soap that made me itch. This isn't it. I am having a mental block about writing that review because I still don't know if it was really the soap or if it was something else. So I have decided to move on, put it behind me and just say never again! But I will say that it was one of the $7 soaps, and I am done with $7 soaps for the time being anyway. $7 is too spendy for soap these days, what with the crushing recession and all.

So here we are, Tom's of Maine, which retails for about $3.99 but for which I am constantly finding $1 off coupons. Even on the front of the shelf where it is being sold. I wanted to like it so much, I really did. I use the Tom's calendula deodorant, which I reviewed here. It's still working pretty well for me, even after many months, and I really like the smell which is a nice spicy floral. I thought the matching soap would therefore make me smell delicious, not to mention like I had actually planned a combination of fragrances that matched. I had visions of feeling sophisticated.

The soap lathers very well, I have no complaints there. It doesn't contain animal ingredients, which is a prerequisite for me, and we know that Tom's has a good track record with natural products. It seems to be lasting well, and has a nice creamy feel. It even leaves my skin feeling nicely moisturized just as it is. It's just the smell that bothers me. You know when you have a dried flower arrangement and they sit out for about, ooh, a year, and get covered in dust? That's what this smells like. Dusty dried flowers, with a tinge of marigold somewhere underneath the dust. And it lingers on the skin for a while as well so I am going to work feeling like I'm wearing some old clothes of grandma's that I pulled out of the back of the closet. OK, that last sentence is a slight exaggeration - you actually have to inhale fairly deeply to smell it after 10-15 minutes.

Having said that, I do think the smell is more unisex than the deodorant. I can imagine it smelling quite pleasant on a man (provided he were brave enough to try a floral soap to begin with), and if you're sharing soap with your partner it could be a good choice. But, alas, it is not the soap holy grail that I wanted.

Three and a half stars.

Shame on You: Winn Dixie

Winn Dixie is not traditionally a "green" store, but I shop there fairly regularly, mostly because it's the closest supermarket to my home. My local store has recently set up a new "organic and natural" section which actually has a fairly good selection. However, the prices are not fair at all.

Case in point: Kashi Black Bean Mango frozen entree. For some reason that I can't work out, not only does Winn Dixie charge an outrageous price for the Kashi frozen entrees (most are $4.29 in my local store), they single out the Black Bean Mango, which is the only vegan variety they sell, for special treatment. They charge a truly outrageous $5.49 for this product. I can buy the exact same thing for $3.79 at Whole Foods, and we all know that Whole Foods isn't the cheapest store in town. Last time I was in Walmart, they had them for $3.59.

Shame on you, Winn Dixie! And buyer beware - don't get suckered in to thinking that you're getting stuff cheap there. Even if you're using one of their regular $10 off $50 coupons that they give out all the time, this still doesn't bring the price down to anywhere near the price it should be.

Shopping Tips: Whole Foods

Whole Foods has been trying to sell itself lately as being a supplier of low cost healthy foods, in contrast to their whole paycheck image. Sometimes it is working, sometimes not so much. Here's what I have noticed:

They now provide a free magazine at the entrance with a bunch of coupons in which are good for 3 months. And it includes things you might actually buy, rather than the usual coupon selection which always seems to be snack food only. So pick up a magazine every time you go, as you can just keep getting the coupons for stuff that you buy regularly. But read the coupons carefully - there's one for $5 a brand of vitamins, for example, but it is only valid for the 180-tablet size.

When WF advertises on their shelves "2 for $6" deals, they really mean 2 for $6, not like some stores which will give you one item for $3. However, I've noticed (and it's not just in one store) that the offers don't always ring up when you check out. Also, they have a lot of specially marked "Sale" products that again don't always ring up. I was kicking myself when I got home this weekend to find out that I'd missed out on a couple of sales. Keep an eagle eye on the sale and buy-two-for offers as they come up on screen at the checkout - in fact, next time, I'm going to write them all down so I don't forget to raise the issue with the cashier. They have to give you the item at the advertised price so they have to honor whatever they put on the shelf. Perhaps this is a regional thing that my local stores are disorganized, but it has surprised me that it has happened to me so frequently, and like I said, not just in one store. So, pay attention, shoppers!

Ooops!

Sorry for the lack of posting. It's not strictly due to laziness, I promise. I broke out in a nasty, itchy rash and it's taken me forever to switch around all the products I use one-by-one in order to figure out what it was that was causing me to itch. You almost got posts saying how I loved some new soap I was trying, that my favorite deodorant formulation must have been changed, and that a particular brand of toilet tissue was clearly impregnated with some evil itch-inducing chemicals when I finally figured out it was the soap that was causing all the problems in the first place.

Once I am entirely back to normal and reintroducing products again, I will start to review things. Including the itch-making soap.

Shopping Report: Gap women's jeans

Gap has women's organic boot cut jeans on sale for $34.99 here. And they seem to have all sizes available at the moment.

New Year's Resolutions for 2009

Another year is nearly upon us. And I'm often still saddened at how often organic and/or natural products are inaccessible or too expensive for most of us. I read various "green" websites and always get that sinking feeling in my stomach when they are recommending a $90 face cream, or $45 underwear. Having said that, buying an expensive item is not necessarily going to be off the radar. One thing I am going to try to do this year is to really think about what I am buying, and perhaps spend a bit more. Especially on clothing. So here are my green New Year's Resolutions:

1. Only buy ethical clothing. This may be organic, fair trade, US-made, vintage and/or recycled. I am definitely caught too often by the allure of low priced non-organic clothing that is produced in the far east. Is this doing anyone much good? Even if the jobs are good for the workers, they are paid minimal wages, and have to deal with all the chemicals that the fabrics are processed with. This will involve spending more per item, but hopefully it will be a frugal choice over all because I will buy fewer items. That's the plan anyway.

2. Cut out some of my non eco-friendly hold-out habits, provided I can find good alternatives. Swiffer sweeper, I'm looking at you. And little plastic disposable flossers. And not always having a reusable bag in my purse for those impromptu purchases. And I'm sure there are many others.

3. Stop frivolous purchases of "stuff" that I just don't need. Just because something is cute, and on sale, does not make it good for the planet. I resolve to go home, research it on the interweb, look in the house to see if I already own something similar, and then buy it only if I still want it after that.

4. Keep up with the reviews. Sorry I have been slacking a bit of late - I will try to do a minimum of one per week, if not more.

5. Learn how to make at least one "green" thing from scratch, and then make and use it regularly. This might be exfoliator, or a cleaning product, or even bread.

What are you going to do to go more green this year? Any tips or hints that I should adopt too?

Review: Kiss My Face Whitening Toothpaste

I've resisted reviewing toothpastes up to now. I just couldn't get inspired by them. I mean, JASON makes one that tastes really great (Powersmile) but it doesn't contain fluoride and my teeth always start hurting after a while of using a non-fluoride toothpaste. And then Tom's of Maine makes lots of toothpastes that are often fairly reasonably priced. So I would usually whatever variety of Tom's was cheapest, and would use both a non-fluoride and a fluoride containing toothpaste at the same time, alternating them randomly. But I found that the bacteria in my mouth must have got used to Tom's of Maine (or something) because it wasn't doing me much good on the breath-freshening front.

I saw the Kiss My Face toothpaste on special offer at Whole Foods, in a "buy one, get one free" deal. So I snapped up a couple of tubes to try them out, even though I would normally never pay $5.99 for a toothpaste.

First of all, the color. This stuff is bright green. And although it foams up to a white color fairly quickly, as it starts out, it is...green. I have to say, it's a bit weird at first to be brushing green stuff on your teeth. Then the taste. When I first tasted it, I thought it was far too sweet. It didn't taste like toothpaste at all, but rather that you're applying candy. Or perhaps dessert. But then the minty-ness hits, and it's a very pleasant herbal minty taste, so I got over my thoughts on it being too sweet fairly quickly. More importantly, it's a long lasting mint taste, so your breath feels like it stays sweeter for longer. And, after a few uses, the sweetness was no longer odd, but refreshing, and tasty too!

Surprisingly, I haven't had any tooth sensitivity issues since using this toothpaste, and I've been using it exclusively to see if I'd get that familiar "ouch, I need some fluoride" feeling. Many people think that fluoride in our water and our toothpastes is contributing to thyroid issues, so I do try to limit my intake as much as I can. However, I don't want to be without teeth as an older person, and I do have some enamel quality problems with a few soft spots that can get sensitive, so I flip flop on this issue. I must say though, if I can get good results without extra chemicals, then I think that's the way to go. The pain just hasn't come, though, and I've finished one whole tube now, so it's clearly doing something different from the other non-fluoride toothpastes I have tried.

And finally, efficacy. It's a bit hard to say how effective a toothpaste really is, apart from on fresh breath issues. I don't know if it's actually helped keep my teeth whiter or not. But I'm pleased to say that my dentist told me this morning that I've been doing an awesome job with brushing lately. I also cringed less when he was using the long pointy torture device to check for cavities, so I think some of my sensitivity issues have really lessened quite considerably.

I checked the price of this on the internet, and it seems to be in a broad range from $3-something up to $6-something. One comparison site showed a general price drop this month, so it could be that the price is coming down but not all retailers have caught up.

I'm going to surprise myself here and give it the full 5 stars. I really like this!

Review: Physician's Formula Organic wear Concealer

I'm so glad that I didn't review this concealer quickly. I bought it and used it without too many problems for a while. It didn't sink in to my skin much, so required a lot of rubbing so as not to look obvious. But it seemed to do its job adequately. I was, if not pleased, at least not displeased.

And then the stick broke off.  I mean, the actual concealer, not the holder part of the stick. I wasn't even doing anything - just trying to smudge the darn thing into my face. It obviously wasn't a solid enough formula to put up with everyday usage. I pushed the stick back into the holder and decided I would continue using it anyway, although of course it became a bit more difficult to use, so I used it less and less.

And then I dropped it, and the stick dislodged again. Again I pushed it back in to the holder. Again I tried to keep using it but it got annoying, so I put it aside for a month.

Today I went to use it again, and as soon as I took the top off, the smell of rancid grease hit me. It's gone off!!  I've had this less than six months. Now, OK, I accept that organic items have either no preservatives or fewer preservatives than their chemically-laden counterparts.  So I try not to horde them, and try to pay attention to "best before" dates. But to have something give up the ghost on me in less than six months is really quite annoying. Not to mention, nasty.

So, I'm sorry, Physician's Formula, this one is a dud. I still like your tinted moisturizer and wear it every day, along with your powder foundation. But the concealer? No stars for you.

Feeling content

It's Cyber Monday, the time of year when online shopping is supposed to be crazy, and I have been getting plenty of emails with discounts that I have been checking out. The emails included $15 from my formerly favorite cosmetics/skin care specialty store - you know the one - it's sometimes referred to as "Disneyland for girls." Anyway, I went off to scour the natural and organic skin care and makeup lines, thinking that I might splurge on something. And I have to tell you, nothing appealed. I did not want to buy anything.

The reason? I'm pretty darn happy with my current skin care routine. Which is a complete first for me, I must admit. After jumping from product to product for decades, always trying to find the next latest and greatest product, usually a moisturizer, I have no desire to change. Not even for a more expensive product line. I'm shocked at myself.

I think most of the accolades have to go to Burt's Bees Radiance Night Creme. I started off hating it, and gradually revised my opinion upwards as I kept using the jar and started seeing results. Now I'm half way through my second jar, and I feel that my skin is all sorts of glowy, and yes, radiant. It's smooth and moisturized and just feels very soft and dewey. And all for $15 a jar! So I have revised its star rating upwards to five stars. Now, sure, I don't look 20 again, but then again, I don't need to look 20 again. I just need to look as good as I can.

The other things I am using are:

Juice Organics Brightening Cleanser - a good all-around cleanser that does a nice job for me.

Lavera anti-age sunscreen and Physician's Formula Tinted Moisturizer. I found both of these products to be adequate when I used them separately, but nothing to get excited about. However, now I am putting a squirt of each onto my fingertips in the morning so that they mix together as I apply them, and I am really liking the mixture. The Lavera is a bit thick for my liking, and the Physician's Formula a bit thin, so together they do a really nice job. The scent of the Lavera, which is slightly minty, is also nicely uplifting.

Review: Nature's Gate Tea Tree Calming Conditioner

I have issues with my locks. In addition to my frizz-prone moisture-sucking hair, I admit that I have scalp issues. I should have known that I would, seeing as my father has been sporting a collar-full of flakes for as long as I can remember. He has always used an anti-dandruff shampoo with absolutely no effect whatsoever, so he just lives with it.

I had some flakeage, but it wasn't too bad, and wasn't bothering me much. But then lately it seemed to be increasing and started making me feel self-conscious. I don't want to be the woman with the dandruff, but I didn't have any faith in anti-dandruff shampoos either. So I wasn't quite sure what to do to improve the situation.

And then I needed some more conditioner, and looked at the Nature's Gate shelf in the store for their Hemp Moisturizing Conditioner, which would be my holy grail product if only it was organic. The store was out, unfortunately, but I saw the Tea Tree Calming Conditioner for irritated, flaky scalp, and thought "what the heck, I'll give it a go."

The conditioner is a great texture - not too thick, not too thin, and has a really invigorating mint smell. As soon as you put it on, you can feel the mint + menthol seeping into your scalp, so it really feels like it is doing something good. It moisturized my hair well, leaving it soft and not frizzy, which was a surprise, as usually that's a tall order for a lot of hair products. But the most amazing thing? It calmed my scalp right down.  You see, I didn't even realize that I had an irritated scalp until the irritation went away. I didn't realize how often my scalp bugged me, or itched, during the day - I must have been scratching away unconsciously all the time.

And of course, I can't really say how much flakeage actually makes it to my shoulders, and how much this has reduced it by, as I've never really measured. But it seems to be causing less snow to fall on me, so I think it is working. It hasn't gone away 100%, but it's enough to cut down on the self consciousness a lot.

So now you'll have to count me in as a Nature's Gate fan. Not only are the conditioners paraben-free and full of lots of herbal goodness, not only are they reasonably priced ($4.89 for 18 fl oz) but they work. Two winners out of two that I have tried.  If only they were organic! 

Four and a half stars. It would be five, nay in fact it would be six stars, if only it was the same price, the same quality AND organic.

Review: Alba Botanica Pineapple Quench Lip Balm

If you were to dredge through my various handbags, work bags, cosmetic baskets, and cabinets, you would get the distinct impression that I am a lip balm fiend. I have many, many of the little buggers. But the actual truth is that I am often tempted by a cheap, shiny, new little stick of potential heaven, and then I am often sadly disappointed when I go to use it. Sometimes they are too greasy, sometimes sticky, sometimes the stick breaks when I go to apply it. Sometimes they are OK but just don't live up to the hype. Sometimes they start out well but then the texture breaks down over time.

But there is one lip balm that I reach for again and again, and has a fairly permanent place in my most-used bag. And that is Alba's Pineapple Quench lip balm. It's not colored, it's nothing fancy, it doesn't taste (or smell) too pineapple-y. It has nothing really to mark it out as being a winner. And yet, it works for me, and somehow I find myself reaching for it in preference to most other balms in my collection. It goes on smoothly, it is not too greasy, and it keeps my lips moisturized for a long time when the weather turns cooler. 

It's about $3.49 and lasts a good long time. I think I might stick my neck out and give it 5 stars.

Review: Pacifica Spanish Amber Soap and Perfume

I've mentioned before that I'm a big fan of Pacifica's French Lilac soap. I am pretty much working my way through their entire range in search of another one that I love as much!

While I love the Tibetan Mountain Temple perfume that Pacifica makes, the matching soap did not wow me as much, mostly because it is a hard glycerin bar that doesn't lather very well.

Sadly, the Spanish Amber fragrance (I have tried both the soap and the spray perfume) is both not wowing me on the smell factor or the soapiness factor.  I know fragrance is such a personal thing, and what I dislike you may very well love - and vice versa. But the Spanish Amber really is a huge blast of sandalwood and not much else to my nose. Sure, there's a hint of amber in the top notes of the perfume, but it is very fleeting.  The soap, when the packet was first opened, was also a big burst of sandalwood and not much else, but after having been next to the sink for a few weeks it has mellowed into more of a straight, yet disappointingly feeble, amber smell. It barely lathers, however, and is not endearing itself to me, given that sandalwood just makes me think of hippies. And while I am often proud to be called a hippy, I don't necessarily want to smell like one.

Sigh. 1 and a half stars. Maybe. I think I am being generous here.  But then again, like I said, fragrance is a personal choice so you may love it, and it might work better on a man.

Review: Lavera Anti-Age Sunscreen SPF 20

I may have very strong cheap tendencies, but that doesn't stop me wishing that I could slather my face with the likes of Creme de la Mer on a regular basis. There's a part of me that secretly thinks that using a $100 face cream will have me looking 20 again. Even when nobody ever thinks I look as old as I really am, and my $15 face cream is working just fine, thankyouverymuch.

But still, seductive catalogs can still draw me in. There I was, perusing a natural beauty type catalog, sighing longingly over all the Lavera organic vegan anti-aging goodness, which had an average retail price of about $65 when the anti-aging sunscreen caught my eye. At a price of $28 or thereabouts, I wondered if it might be worth spending a little more than I usually do in order to get some anti-aging benefits at less than half the price of their night creams.

Once the product arrived, I was a little taken aback at how little it was, although I knew I was getting 50ml but somehow the size of the tube brought home the idiocy of trying to go cheap on high end products.

The sunscreen is a titanium dioxide physical sunscreen, which means that you have to rub it in or you'll end up looking like a 16th century lady who has painted her face in white lead powder. This product seems to require more rubbing in than others of the same type. I have regularly gone out of the house with a big unnoticed smudge, or a white eyebrow, or what appear to be white hair roots around my forehead. In fact, sometimes I stand in front of the mirror and carefully check for no white smudges, only to find some a few hours later. I guess I rub my forehead and some of the sunscreen forms into new smudges.  Otherwise, it has a pleasant texture. It is designed for sensitive skin, and as I don't have sensitive skin I can't comment on that, but I am not careful with it around my eyes and haven't noticed any stinging or other problems.

As for the anti-aging benefits, if you concentrate really hard after putting it on, you can feel some slight skin tightening. The dark shadows under my eyes appear to have lessened, but that could be due to the time change and getting more sleep.  Overall, I can't really ascribe too much difference to this product, not that that's a really fair test, as nothing is really going to give a dramatic effect.

I'm undecided on whether to buy another tube of this. I like it well enough, and am willing to hope for more anti-aging benefits with continued use (after all, that slight tightening might be doing something). But it's not wowing me, I have to say. If this was a $12 product, I'd probably be gaga over it, though, so perhaps I was expecting too much.

3 stars.

Review: Giovanni Organics Frizz Be Gone Hair Serum

I can't say that this hair serum is particularly frugal.  In my ongoing quest for frugality and greenness, I have tried to do away with unnecessary products as well as unnecessary chemicals. So, eye cream, toner, shower gel and a few others have all disappeared from chez Frugalista.  I have also tried to buy the cheapest green version of products I can find - while I'm not quite at the point of making my own green products yet, I figure the cheaper and simpler something is, the better. 

Except where things don't work, that is.

See, I keep trying to do away with the Giovanni Organics hair serum.  I keep trying cheaper products. But either I end up with a head full of fluff, looking like I've gone back to 80's-style backcombing, or looking like I haven't washed my hair for several weeks. And then I give up and go back to the Giovanni, my hair thanks me profusely by looking cute and curly rather than like I just stuck my fingers in an electrical socket, and all is right with the world. A little really does go a long way, it doesn't feel too oily or greasy, and has a barely detectable herbal smell. Except my wallet isn't necessarily thrilled with me, but hey, when you're trying to be all organic, at least $7.95 or thereabouts for a teeny 2.75 fl oz bottle is better than $35 for a different teeny bottle of a similar product. So I console myself that sometimes frugality is a relative concept, and sometimes you just gotta hang on to what works. This does. In spades.

3 and a half stars, only marked down because I'm cheap and don't like the price.