Organics - A new series

Long gone are the days where I could slap just any old thing on my skin and pay no heed to the consequences.  Too many years of recklessly painting myself with the most chemical-laden and powerfully-perfumed old muck - then using the equivalent of paint stripper to take it off - has left me with a face that breaks out and flares up into welts and red scaly patches if I so much as look at certain skin care ranges these days.

I pay a lot of attention to the labels on my products now, and, chances are, if the label states it contains parabens (particularly in eye creams) or SLS (lauryl or laureth) then it's highly unlikely that I'll be able to give that product the time of day.   Cleansers in particular have been a mine-field, foaming ones burn my face and make me red and scaly, and creamy ones make me break out really, really badly. That's why I'm really happy at the moment that organic ranges of skin care are becoming a lot easier to find - and, as the organic revolution moves on, they're becoming a lot more affordable too.

With websites like Puresha making the more high end "cult" lines such as Pure and True or Pai (they are also the exclusive suppliers of Cargo's Plant Love range of organic make up - which is beautiful, and funkily packaged!) easier to get hold of, alongside a  proliferation of affordable ranges such as Organic Surge coming to the high street it's never been a better time to be a sensitive skinned soul.  So I'm planning on trying out a few products, and bringing you my reviews of them over the next couple of months.  Some of the brands you will have heard of, but some of them might be new to you, but it'll be fun trying them out, and letting you know what I think.  I've already written about Dr Bronner, which I adore, here

Since I moved to using more natural products, my skin has never been better. Instead of spots being a weekly (and multiple) occurrence, I now get maybe two or three a year. Them being more rare never stops it being a drama when they do pop up though, I have to say! And I only get red, scaly, itchy skin when I know I've been really neglecting my routine.  Welts are no longer a fact of life.  Of course, a large part of this is because I'm actually better at taking my make up off before I go to bed now, but, it can't be denied that when I go back to using the - expensive - ranges I was using before, my skin simply isn't as well-behaved as it is when I'm avoiding products with packed with cheap chemical fillers and heavy perfumes.

What are some organic products that you've used, and which really work for you?

Bumper Beauty Week

It's been a great week for beauty here at Get Lippie, and I have some lovely things to talk about, but first of all I want to say a massive thanks to Jo Cruikshank who runs Puresha. On Twitter every day for a week, they ran a competion where just by adding #puresha to any of your tweets you could win a £100 eco-beauty voucher to spend on their simply gorgeous website, and I was one of their lucky winners!

After a wander through their site, I realised it was going to take me a while to decide what to buy, according to their website: "All of Puresha’s brands are handpicked for the way they look, smell, feel and perform on your skin and in the environment" and they stock products from suppliers as diverse as Jo Wood, REN and new celebrity fave rave Pure and True. In totally unlike me form, it took me two entire days, and many changes of basket, before I could make my mind up!

On Thursday evening, I finally got around to ordering Tsi - La natural perfume in Kesu, the Ren Rose Otto trio and the Pure and Simple trial set for normal to dry skin. This morning, Saturday, I was brought breakfast and a parcel in bed, and the goodies had already arrived! This is truly astonishing service! And look:



See that orange box on the top right? A completely unexpected bonus bottle (full size!) of rosewater by Duchesse Marden! I guess someone at Puresha had figured out I like roses, hmn? A lovely touch, none the less, and it's all the sweeter for me as I used to use REN's rose water spray that they had in their Rose Otto range and now seem to have discontinued. Inside that box, there was also a sample size of Duchesse Marden's Damascena Hydrating Masque, too!

So, thank you Puresha, I'll review the products individually shortly ... and I'll definitely be ordering more goodies from you too, I was so spoiled for choice!