A little congratulatory round of applause to our friend Lula Braithwaite at www.lovelula.com: she’s just got married, and her website - two years old - has had a makeover. (It’s gone all fairy-esque, making a refreshing change from other sites out there…)
There are so many natural and organic products on the site - 800 in all - but we thought we’d bring you a few seasonal highlights. You’re entitled to a 5% discount on any of these beauty goodies - and anything else on the site, too. (Clicking on any product name will whisk you to the relevant page, and then all you need to do is add the code bb08 at the checkout, and the discount should be applied like magic.)
• We were thrilled that Organic Apoteke were one of the sponsors for our book launch with Cosmetic Executive Women, back in May, and we’ve been playing with their products ever since. If you’ve normal-to-dry skin and you like a cleansing milk, we know you’ll enjoy their Organic Apoteke Buttermilk Cleanser, £18.95: a lovely milky cleanser that’s perfect for women who still like to swipe away the day using a conventional-style cleanser rather than the balms that have become so popular. Key ingredients are sunflower, cocoa butter, glycerine, sweet almond oil - and you get delectable wafts of Damascene rose, as you use it. Normally £18.95, but £18 with your discount if you click here.
• For kids in the sun, try Lavera Kids Waterproof Sun Milk SPF 30, which does a really good job at shielding fragile little skins during the usual hectic beach activity of rock pooling, paddling, rolling around on the sand - and it uses mineral sunblocks, which are much less likely to bring them out in a rash than chemical sunscreens. Remember, though: even waterproof sunscreens aren’t towel-proof. Normally £12.45 for 100 ml, but £12.30 to you, if you click here.
• Naturetis Nourishing Hand Oil for Dry Skin is a product that did really, really, REALLY well in our The Green Beauty BibleTried & Tested Hand Creams, and is brilliant if you (like us) garden a lot in summer. It’s not, actually, a cream - but this is what testers had to say: ‘An instantaneous winner! I was in need of a miracle-worker for dried-out hands and the first application gave great relief’ • ‘a total must-have item: I used it every day as I loved the effects so much; the results of prolonged use were fantastic’ • ‘lovely and glossy to use, like a satin veil’ • ‘divine smell, like a burst of wild blooms’. (And that’s just a taster!
On Lula’s site the usual price is £21 for 15 ml (it’s highly concentrated), but this oil - rich in lily flower extract, sesame oil and macadamia oil, among other goodies - is £19.95, if you click here.
• Perhaps more user-friendly for every day, Skin Blossom have created a lovely new Soil Association-certified Care and Protect Organic Hand Cream, which is very reasonably-priced for an organic product: just £5.25 for 60 ml - a very good size for the handbag. (Love that smell of rose geranium!) Of course it’s even more reasonable thanks to your insider discount at Lula’s webstore: just £4.99.
• Dr. Alkaitis is an organic range the beauty press has been raving about: really high-quality, well-researched premium skincare formulated over the past 10 years by a research scientist working with cancer treatments that incorporate plants. His range blends organic and wild-crafted ingredients into products that will satisfy even the most luxe-loving skincare devotee; prices range from £36 for the Dr. Alkaitis Purifying Organic Cleanser to £65 for the Organic Day Cream, and we’re particularly fond of the Soothing Gel, £36: very good for post-waxing/electrolysis as well as for acne, eczema and (we’re told) rosacea.
• As we all know by now, self-tanners go on more seamlessly if you’ve body-buffed first. The genius Kaeline ‘scouring glove’ (which looks a bit like a boxing glove) makes that so simple: use it with their black hammam soap, or indeed any body wash (so we’ve found) or a sugar or salt body scrub, if you are into turbo-charged skin-buffing. (Ignore the fact it looks a bit like a boxing glove!) Kaeline Traditional Hammam Scouring Glove is normally £7, but it’s £6.65 with your ‘insider’ discount.
We’ll have more next time; Lula’s adding to her site all the time and we have great fun exploring what’s new. (Many products have also been entered for the next round of testing for the paperback of The Green Beauty Bible.) FYI, the site itself is accredited by the Soil Association; www.lovelula.com only offers products which are free from formaldehyde, parabens, artificial colours or fragrances, DEA/MEA/TEA, Genetically Modified Organisms, contaminated lanolin, Triclosan and a long list of other questionable ingredients.
