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: 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!

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.

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: JASON Aloe Vera 84% Hand & Body Lotion

I bought this product not even intending to use it. It was a bargain at Marshall's and I thought I might give it away as a holiday gift or something. I'm not a big user of hand and body lotions, and I have a large supply of them that other people have given me over the years. So I really didn't need any for myself.

And yet, curiosity got the better of me, and I thought I might try just a tiny bit to test it out. And the tiny bit became a bigger amount, and then I suddenly seemed to be using it regularly.

This summer I have suffered from painful, dry, cracked heels. Nothing seemed to be working on them - lotions would either not absorb, sliding right off my skin, or would make no difference whatsoever. However, right from the start the JASON lotion seemed to help.  Now, after only a week of regular use, my heels are almost as baby soft as nature intended. It's quite a remarkable change.  The aloe lotion feels silky smooth, and has a very slightly pearlescent quality. It feels very slightly greasy when you first use it, but that goes away quickly as the product sinks in. The smell is not all that wonderful, as it mostly just smells like a plain lotion with aloe in it, but that's OK, as it means that there's nothing that is noticeable to others or would clash with any perfumes you may be wearing. Personally, I would prefer a more scented product, but I can live without it. More importantly, it really does deeply moisturize and sooth, as it says right on the label. And finding something that works well without costing a fortune is a wonderful thing.

The lotion is paraben free, and contains some organic ingredients (most notably the 84% of aloe gel) however I can't help wishing it contained more organic ingredients. It has ingredients such as avocado oil, camomile, green tea extract and ginseng extract, none of which are organic - which only leaves me wondering why not? It's not like JASON couldn't have made the extra effort here. But, gripes aside, I do like this lotion, and I will continue to use it as so far it's the only thing that's helped my heels look even remotely presentable.

4 stars simply for the fact that it works. It could oh so easily have been five stars if JASON hadn't skimped on the ingredients and the scent.

Review: Pacifica Tibetan Mountain Temple soap

Oh, I wanted to love the Tibetan Mountain Temple soap from Pacifica so much. The perfume is my current favorite of their range. It has notes of vetiver, patchouli, ginger and orange, but on my skin the orange comes through loud and clear, tempered by just a hint of ginger and incense. I find it lovely and refreshing on a hot summer day when you want something that will cut through heat and humidity - there's something so uplifting and head-clearing about a good citrus scent.

So when my trusty French Lilac soap ran out, I was very keen to try the Tibetan Mountain Temple soap. Unfortunately, it isn't wowing me. The soap bar itself is more of a translucent glycerin soap, whereas the French Lilac is a creamy, opaque soap. The Tibetan Mountain Temple doesn't lather nearly as well as the French Lilac, and it doesn't feel like my skin is as moisturized. That could all be completely in my head, of course, as it's not like I've had to add a moisturizer on top so it's clearly not drying my skin out. But it's not feeling quite so luxurious either. I have a feeling that this soap may be a bit longer lasting than the French Lilac, just because not so much of it is lathering up each time I use it. The scent is also not quite as good as the perfume, to my nose at least. I keep detecting a hint of coal tar soap, even though there probably isn't any in there, but one of the notes has turned slightly astringent in the soap. I suppose it seems a bit more manly than the perfume, which I regard as a soft unisex scent. I would love to smell both on a man to see how they compare.

3 stars

Review: Alba Fragrance Free Mineral Sunscreen

I have tried a lot of non-chemically based mineral sunscreens. A lot. And most of them leave something to be desired, quite frankly. They feel greasy, or they don't rub in, or they separate in the tube into a sludge-y portion and a greasy portion. Not terribly pleasant.

The reason I was trying all these sunscreens is that first of all it freaks me out a bit to put a chemical sunscreen on my skin. A review of the Skin Deep investigation into sunscreens is posted here. I need some sun protection because I'm pasty, freckly and live in a sunny place, so it's something I use every day - either just on my face or on my arms as well. And I treated myself to a facial the other year and the facialist told me that chemical sunscreens were clogging my pores and causing breakouts. So I set myself a mission to find a good non-chemical sunscreen. I didn't realize how long of a mission it was going to be. Some things that are reviewed as being safe I just can't find in my local stores. Some are expensive, although I've tried some of those too. Some just don't perform well.

And then came Alba Botanica's mineral sunscreen. I've read one review of this which was not positive. The user claimed it dried her skin out and was hard to rub in. Well, yes, it's hard to rub in. It's a mineral sunscreen - they're all hard to rub in. Maybe having come from a year of testing out absolutely awful mineral sunscreens, I feel differently about things. But you have to come to this expecting that it's going to take a while to rub in - the point of a mineral sunscreen is that it contains particles that block the sun from getting to your skin. So you've got to spread those particles around and it's going to take a little while for you not to have a thick white coating on you. But at least it does all disappear after a short time. Think of a surfer dude with his nose completely covered in brightly colored sunblock and thank your lucky stars that you won't look like that. That's where I'm coming from, not from the point of view that it should be an instant sinking in like it's some super-expensive facial moisturizer.

The Alba sunscreen sinks in well, after some rubbing but not too much rubbing. It doesn't smell much of anything - it's fragrance free, after all, although there is a slight metallic tang to it. It hasn't separated in the tube, and I've had mine quite some months now. It doesn't feel greasy on the skin or in any way nasty. Your skin has a slightly powdery sheen to it after you first put it on - I guess that's the sun reflecting off the particles of titanium dioxide. But it feels soft, so it's quite pleasant. And, importantly, it works. I was initially hesitant to buy this, as it's only SPF 18, and normally I try to get SPF 30 or higher. But I haven't burned yet while I've been out gardening or doing whatever in the hot Florida sun while I have this sunscreen on - OK, so I haven't been laying out on the beach for hours at a time, but for general usage it hasn't let me down yet. And that's more than can be said for some sunscreens which sport a higher SPF on the label.

I will definitely buy this one again. It retails for about $7.99-$9.99. Four stars.

Review: Pacifica French Lilac Soap

I adore Pacifica. There, I've said it. I wondered if, in the interests of not boring you rigid with my love of all things Pacifica-related, I should limit my reviews to one soap, one perfume and one candle, because I assume that the formulations are the same. But that would just deny me the opportunity to gush.

Pacifica soaps are made with Pacifica's own biodegradable, vegan, vegetable oil and glycerin soap base, herbs and their signature fragrance blends with natural and essential oils. They are available from Whole Foods and other fine retailers for $6.95 (I think I read somewhere that Anthropologie has them also). You can also buy direct from their website and various other online stores. Now, you may be wondering what on earth is frugal about a seven dollar soap, but here's the deal - this soap is so creamy smooth, so luxurious, so nicely lathering and, importantly, doesn't dry my skin out at all. So it was Pacifica that enabled me to ditch my shower gel habit and thus stop polluting the earth with yet more needless plastic bottles to throw away. These days I only use bar soap in the shower and at the sink. Besides, I really do think that there are some things that we should allow ourselves to splurge on, if it's a reasonable splurge. After all, there must be some enjoyment in life! If it helps any, though, Pacifica regularly discounts one of its scent lines by 20%. The current discount is on Vietnamese Ylang Ylang, but it changes regularly - all the products in the discounted scent are marked down, whether that is candles, soap, perfume, or body lotion. So if you have a favorite, or want to only buy when they're on sale, this brings the price down to $5.55. I snap up random fragrances of the soap and perfume when they're reduced because I just love to try the different varieties.

The French lilac scent is a very rich, full lilac scent, if that makes sense. It's like you are suddenly transported to a beautiful house on a spring morning, and there is a large lilac bush blooming just outside the window you've just opened. Yet, it's not cloying or overpoweringly sweet because there is just a hint of other fragrences there - there's a hint of nectarine that seems to cut the floral scent just when it might get a bit too overbearing. It's beautiful, and scents the whole bathroom for days when you first unwrap the soap. It's not too strong on the body, though, which is where the perfume comes in for those days when you want to waft a fragrance behind you. If you don't want to do that, it is still possible to just pick up the fragrance for a while after you shower, so it does give you a delicate veil of fragrance on its own.

The only downside to Pacifica soaps is that they are not as long lasting as most other bar soaps. I seem to go through a bar quite quickly which is a disappointment, and upsets my frugal nature. The part of me that loves luxury, however, usually just ends up rejoicing that I get to open a new bar of a different scent and will enjoy that one for a while.

Four stars, only marked down because of the disappointment at how long the bar lasts for the money, otherwise it would be a clear 5-star product.

Review: Tom's of Maine Natural Deodorant - Calendula

I've spent a long time testing out natural deodorants. It seems like it's my holy grail of personal care products. Now, this is where I must confess that I'm not a true green frugalista, because if I was, I would make my own natural deodorant out of baking soda rubbed on the skin. Or wait, is it baking powder? Anyway, I'm not that good of a frugal gal - I like to buy my products, for the most part, not make them. And I like to spout my opinion - hence the blog. But you can be sure that if I do start trying to make my own, I shall report it here.

Sadly, many of the natural deodorants out there just don't seem to work for me, but I've come to the theory that with natural deodorants there are two factors at play - how well the odor absorbers or inhibitors actually work, and how the scent interacts with the smell of your sweat. Because you will sweat, being as there are no anti-perspirants in the natural deodorants. The smell factor will vary depending on your own body chemistry - for me, alas, lavender makes me stink. Somehow, lavender plus my sweat equals funk. But, after trying the very pricey Dr. Hauschka, and the not so very pricey Aubrey Organic's E Plus High C, both of which were quite good for a few weeks and then just seemed to stop working for me, I think I have final answer. The Tom's of Maine line has been reformulated with hops which seems to keep the odor control going much longer than it used to. I've tried the Apricot scent, which is passable but still at the end of the day leaves a little bit of skank going on. But I'm currently in love with Calendula.

I don't know what calendula is supposed to smell like - it's also known as marigold, and I don't recall marigold having any very memorable scent - a vague floweriness perhaps, mixed with a vague hint of antisepticness. So I can't tell you if this is a good representation of a calendula scent or not. But I can tell you that the deodorant also has lemongrass in it, and that gives it a lovely fresh citrusy-herby scent. It's not a strident lemongrass though - if anything I'd say it was a mixture of lemongrass with some lovely, sugary candied ginger and a hint of marigold. In fact, if they made a matching perfume, I'd happily wear it in the summer to give some welcome refreshment and escape from the heat. Having said that, I also don't think the scent interferes with other perfumes that you may want to wear - it might perhaps give you a bit more of a spicy, herby vibe to whatever you picked, but it certainly doesn't clash. Nor do I think it would freak out the perfume-sensitive. It is fairly subtle, but it is softly noticeable when you lift your arms up - for the first couple of hours after you put it on, that is.

And the main thing? This deodorant works. At least for now - given my previous history with natural deodorants just giving up the ghost on me, I should probably reserve judgment, but I figure I'll just come back and update this post if that happens. So far it's been about 4 weeks and it's still going strong. Four weeks in the middle of summer in the humid and hot south east U.S., I should add.

I give this one 5 stars.

Update: Sorry, I'm knocking this down to 4 stars. A review of the improved, long-lasting version is here