Friday Favorites – Natural Deodorants

Late summer is probably the best season of the year here in the UK, still light evenings and gently balmy nights… However, not always is so nice in rush hour on the tube when packed with hot sweaty bodies and it’s 25+ degrees. You leave home smelling fresh but when you reach the office, you look and feel like you’ve run a marathon. Today at The Amazing Blog we thought it an opportune moment to share with you our four favourite natural deodorants that will help to keep you smelling sweet all day long.

First up is Scence’s natural deodorant balm. With three different scents, Scence has you covered. The Cornish-based artisan skincare brand cares about what you put on your skin in the same way as cares about the planet. If it harms the planet, it harms us. Formulated with natural and organic ingredients, get ready to enjoy fully nourished skin. Scence was founded by Krista Taylor who clarified the brand’s message: “I have always been interested in natural oils and the efficacy of herbs and felt frustrated that so much of the natural skincare on offer was packaged in single use plastic containers and applicators. I was making balms for family and friends that needed help with eczema and sensitive skin as well as developing a really effective deodorant that didn’t use questionable ingredients like aluminium.” 

Their Cool Rose, Juniper Berry and Cedar Fresh deodorant balms are made for everyday use and are designed to last up to 3 months. Mainly composed with organic coconut oil, mango butter, essential oils, baking soda and arrowroot; they absorb moisture and are made into a stick for easy application. Because it is a natural product with fresh ingredients, it is recommended to use within 12 months of purchase to maintain the optimal qualities of each of the elements.

Our favourite was the Cool Rose stick which melts as soon as it touches your skin, making it very easy to glide and releasing the scent of rose geranium. Each stick is packaged in a fully recyclable tube and all deodorants are paraben and cruelty-free. Get your Scent Deodorant Balm here for £12.00.

Next is Elsa’s Organic Skin Foods’s Deodorant. Founded by Henrietta, The brand’s name Elsa is inspired by her mum, who is an environmentalist and advocate that has been producing artisan skincare for decades. Henrietta has a teen daughter who like all of us when she comes back from school, she is a little less fragrant than when she left… Henrietta refused to use any roll-on or sprayed deodorants that are chemical based and found it quite hard to find natural deodorants. This is why she decided to specialise in deodorant creams with ingredients that you would only find in a kitchen. Thus, Elsa’s Organic Skin Food’s was born.

With a range of four signature deodorant stick fragrances: Dew, Ocean, Sensitive and Love. All key ingredients are coconut oil, arrowroot powder, shea butter, magnesium oxide, candelilla wax, vitamin E, bergamot oil, geranium oil, patchouli oil, and a few other essential oils. They each certified organic and some are even winners of The Beauty Shortlist Awards and Green Parent Natural Beauty Awards.

Elsa’s deodorants are very simple to use. Apply it onto clean and dry areas for a few seconds, swiping up and down 1 or 2 times. Your body heat will soften the stick allowing it to slide smoothly on your skin. Because its composition is very rich in minerals, vitamins, and fatty acids, it automatically becomes a 4-in-1 deodorant. It is disinfectant and antimicrobial, blocks odour, absorbs wetness, and soothes your skin, keeping it nourished.  We gave Love a go and of course it smells amazing. It releases scents from roses and patchouli and keeps your skin odour-free all day. All products are It is vegan and suitable for all skin types. Purchasing your 45 ml deodorant stick here for £12.00 each.

Onto Logona, an established German beauty brand which has been trading for over 40 years, with huge expertise in the natural products sector all products come with the NaTrue or BDIH seal.  From makeup, nail polish to natural shampoos, and many more products, Logona has been a pioneer brand winner of several awards including having received distinctions from Öko-Test particularly for their Daily Care Organic Aloe & Verbena Deo Spray.

This Daily Care Organic Aloe and Verbena Deo Spray, is a deodorant that ensures long-lasting freshness to combat body odour successfully. With verbena and aloe as main active ingredients, this deodorant has a lemony verbena fragrance and soothes irritated skin by nourishing it and moisturising it.  We quickly want to mention that although it’s a very gentle deodorant, it also fights against bacteria with all the antioxidants it contains.

We love this alternative spray deodorant because it gives ultimate freshness, protects the planet and our skin. Get your Logona award-winning deodorant here £8.95.

Last but not least, is We Love The Planet. This Dutch brand has developed a series of deodorants that consist of 100% natural ingredients. They are NC and EcoControl certified, meaning they only make products with natural ingredients. Their key organic ingredient is coconut oil and We Love The Planet stick deodorants have no synthetic fabrics or aluminium added, meaning it is harmless to you and the planet. Sometimes, when using a high street brand of roll-on deodorant, we find that it takes time to absorb and clogs under-arm pores, but this does not happen with We Love The Planet. Like our other natural deodorants, it acts as a moisturiser and soothes your skin in a matter of seconds. Also, like some of the other natural deodorants mentioned in this feature, one single stick can last up to 3 months. Amazing.

We Love The Planet have created six different scents for their deodorants; Forever Fresh, lovely citrusy and pure spice odour; Lovely Lavender, wonderful smell of wild and tame lavender; Mighty Mint, a blend of mint and rosemary scents; So Sensitive, ideal for extra-sensitive skins since it is hypoallergenic and had a delicate and mild smell; Original Orange, another citrusy hinted deodorant with a touch of mandarin; and Sweet Serenity, a subtle scent of rose, honey and spices. No matter which one you chose they will be equally effective. Each stick is made out of 100% recyclable materials and the deodorant is made with coconut oil, baking powder, corn starch powder, caprylic acid, and beeswax. These ingredients deodorise, moisturise, calms irritated skin, reduce the excess of oils and perspiration and help skin restoration. Beeswax used to keep the consistency of the stick and allows it to slightly melt when it touches your skin.  Our favourite fragrances from this range were the Forever Fresh and Lovely Lavender sticks, they are so easy to carry around in a handbag to apply and top-up during the day. Just push the bottom a little bit for the stick to go up and swipe it on each armpit a couple of times. Purchase your stick now for € 11,50 here.

We hope we have given you a perfect solution to help ‘keep fragrant’. We are so thrilled to discover so many great natural deodorant brands and hope that we have persuaded you to try something new too. Which was our favourite? That’s a hard one, we’d have to say that we loved them all!

BEYofi by Bernard D. Evans – Argan Hair Care

Are you exhausted by your constant split ends? Then read on, because we at The Amazing Blog find having a dry scalp, split ends and frizzy hair a nightmare too. Having tried endless products to solve these various hair issues, we found that they tend to either have too many chemical-based derivatives which irritate our scalps, or are too heavy for the texture of our hair. However, we received the new to the UK market BEYofi Argan Oil Signature hair care range - ready for us to try.

BEYofi is an established US brand by Bernard Evans since 1986. Bernard is best known as a celebrity hairstylist, working with an exclusive clientele such as Janet Jackson, Latoya Jackson, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Julie Brown, Teddy Pendergrass… His work has also been sought by the leader companies in the beauty industry: Christian Dior, Revlon, Estee Lauder and Lancôme. Bernard is a a pioneer in the industry launching exclusive formulas, guaranteeing high-quality ingredients in his products, all of which have helped to make him the success he is today.

Today we bring you the range of four BEYofi Argan Oil Signature hair care products to add to your must-have hair essentials, and this range certainly has helped to address our hair care concerns (as mentioned above). For those of you who don’t know about  Argan oil, it is extracted from the kernels of the Moroccan Argan tree and is also known as the ‘liquid gold’. Argan is one of the products richest in vitamin E and fatty acids which are extremely beneficial for both hair and skin containing antioxidants and boosting cells to produce healthy hair. If you have tinted hair or have been using chemical-based products, then Argan is the ingredient for you to help reverse any damage.

Let’s begin with the BEYofi Argan Enriched Shampoo. Made with Argan oil, omega 3 and omega 9 as primary ingredients, will nurture your hair and scalp by providing your pores and roots with these essential oils to help grow strong proteins, keep good maintenance of your hair to heal and revitalise it where needed. Treat it like any other shampoo, a small amount massaged onto wet hair, rinse and so on. The fragrance of the first three in the range is floral with a subtle hint of violets. This leads us onto the BEYofi Argan Oil Conditioner, where you can choose from either this classic conditioner, leaving it for up to two minutes after you shampoo and rinse, or go for the BEYofi Argan Oil Leave-in Conditioner which is just sprayed onto the hair (wet or dry), making it easy to detangle and style. Both these BEYofi Argan Oil Conditioners deeply moisturise and give intense nourishment making hair smooth easy to manage and style. Lastly, the BEYofi Argan Oil Serum is ideal for protecting the hair from day-to-day pollution. Rich in Vitamin E and fatty acids, your hair will look shinier than ever due to its moisturising capacity. Apply a few drops of the Serum and wrap your damp clean hair in a hot towel for 10 minutes to let it penetrate into the hair shafts. Or we applied to the ends of the hair combing through before drying. We found this range worked best when used all together, and is particularly suitable for those who have coloured or fine and brittle hair types.  Best of all, the BEYofi Argan Oil haircare products are vegan, free from SLS, Sulphates, SLES, Parabens and artificial fragrances, ensuring optimal results giving you a healthy, silky hair. Purchase your BEYofi Argan Signature hair care collection here starting at £21.95 to strengthen, heal, and protect your hair saying a firm goodbye to split ends.

Aussie Bronze - Body Bronzer

Getting a tan in the UK is almost impossible. When it’s not raining it’s overcast, and of course when the sun shines, it’s midweek and we’re all inside working at our desks! At The Amazing Blog we wistfully long for that healthy looking tan, however with the erratic weather here, it’s highly unlikely we’ll get one. So, our search for summer sunless tanning products began. We recently met and got chatting to instant tanning brand Aussie Bronze at the NOPE exhibition, and couldn’t wait to try their Body Bronzer.

Aussie Bronze as the name suggests, hails from Australia. Sacha Roberts the founder, has developed a high-quality, toxin and DHA free instant organic fake tan. She couldn’t find any good safe chemical-free instant tanning products for her daughter’s young skin. Thus, the journey began and she set about creating her own instant tan. Aussie Bronze will guarantee you a natural glow and adapts to any skin tone. All made with water, sunflower oil, avocado oil, almond oil, vitamin E, Shea butter, titanium oxide, and other organic ingredients. We particularly liked the way it applies with the ease of a tinted moisturiser and is gentle enough for both face and body. This is definitely one of the better instant tans that we’ve used and will keep using! What better way to get a quick tan and avoiding all the drama and downtime waiting for one to develop.

We love that it is an ‘instant tan’, it’s just perfect for quickly applying to legs or face just when the sun comes out - this bank holiday weekend?. The product is vegan, and also cruelty, paraben, sulphate, petrochemical and PEGs free, keeping our skin healthy from the inside out. Aussie Bronze is 100% Australian and made with only natural ingredients.  All you have to do is shake the bottle, apply the product smoothing it over your body. Best of all is that it washes off at the end of the day.  Get your Aussie Bronze here 125ml for just £34.95.

amaiaa - atma oil secrets of the soul & morning radiance facial elixir

The skin is the largest organ in our body and our face is what gives the first impression of us. Therefore, at The Amazing Blog being number one fans of natural products, we like to know exactly what the ingredients are, that we’re about to put on our faces. As winners of 2019 Beauty Shortlist Award amaiaa, a natural skincare brand with Indian methodology, caught our eye, they have everything that we value with their ethos and quality botanical ingredients.

amaiaa brand is based in the USA but was born in the Himalayan Mountains of India. Ashu the founder of amaiaa, who took on a soul-searching journey that drove her to her native land, India. Inspired by her mother and grandmother as well as the culture and history of the country, she began developing what we know today as amaiaa. The brand is known for two products, atma and saya facial oils. Atma, Ashu’s grandmother’s name meaning ‘soul’, embodies her grandmother’s knowledge as an alchemist to provide skincare through natural products. Both products are primarily composed with jasmine, rose and sandalwood which boost rejuvenation and restore your skin. With every ingredient carefully picked and blended, amaiaa’s products make you want to travel all the way to India to explore the mysteries of Mother Nature.

We tried their atma Oil which we think will soon become your new best friend. With ingredients like Argan oil known as liquid gold, it offers amazing source of hydration. There is also apricot kernel oil which has a natural anti-ageing properties, rich in vitamin C and E which enhance collagen production and skin elasticity. The jojoba oil here is packed with vitamin E and other antioxidants that boost cell regeneration. The avocado and jasmine oils remove blemishes; and finally the sandalwood oil a natural illuminator of the skin. atma oil’s formula will undoubtedly help to encourage great results for all skin types. We mustn’t forget to also mention the vitamins B1, B2, B3 and B5, all of which treat rosacea, acne, sun-damage and ageing with its cell regeneration properties that aid redness and inflammations.

We applied it in the morning as a face oil or serum, this oil absorbs easily which means you can follow it quickly with your regular skincare routine, if you so wish. atma is cruelty, fragrance, paraben, sulphate, alcohol, toxin, additive and gluten-free. It’s vegan, hypoallergenic and non-comedogenic, making it perfectly suitable whether you have dry, oily, combined or hypersensitive skin. What we particularly admire about amaiaa is their giving-back policy, with a mission to empower women and young girls to lead a life of dignity, the association with the Animedh Charitable Trust ACT, through a series of a projects, which stays true to their core ethics of sustainability. This trust helps Indian girls get an education – so by buying amaiaa’s award-winning atma morning radiance facial oil, you’re helping, too.

Why not pamper yourself and get your Atma Oil here for $75.00 (worldwide shipping) for a 30ml bottle which will give you nurtured skin for around 3 months, a little goes a long way. Also, enjoy a 15% discount off your first order using the code WELCOME15.

The Quick Flick Eyeliner

As the fellow make-up aficionados amongst us will know just how difficult it is to create the perfect liquid eyeliner wings.  A smudge here or way too long there…. However, every problem has a solution and thanks to the brand The Quick Flick you can wave ‘bye bye’ to your wobbly lines as this creates the perfect eyeliner wing every time. We’re so happy to have found this clever stamp, as it gives a beautiful winged look with ease, which for some of us has been known to turn into a complete catastrophe!                                                  

The Quick Flick is a brand that hails from Australia and created by Iris Smit in 2017. As with a lot of us, she struggled every day with her eyeliner and was determined to try and find a solution, hence Quick Flick was born. It is both cruelty-free and vegan-friendly, all that we love at The Amazing Blog and comes in four colours: Intense black , Hot Fudge, Blue Velvet and Green Envy . Not forgetting to mention, that there are three different eye flick sizes: petite (8mm), modest (10mm) and grand (12mm). So you can keep it natural or add a little more drama . We decided to try the classic Intense Black in 10m, which won the incredible Beauty Global Awards 2019 . This has an hyper-pigmented formula that stays in place all day without fading, cracking or running and we were impressed. The composition of the product is very clean and is composed of oils (shea butter, jojoba oil, canola oil), plant extracts and vitamins E and C.

The box comes with a Quick Flick pack of duplicate dual-ended eyeliner pens (one for the left and one for right eye). Each pen has a perfectly shaped wing stamp one end, as well as felt tip eyeliner on the other, to complete your look. You have only 3 steps to use it: First prep your eyelid with an oil-free primer then align the bottom of the stamp with the edge of your upper lashline and stamp gently. Finally, use the felt tip eyeliner pen to fill in and shape. All of this in less than 2 minutes! What could be better to help rock your look at those long hot and steamy summer party nights ahead. You can buy the Quick Flick Intense Black for £ 20 here .