Category Archives: Floral waters and toners

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10-in-10: AEOS Dew Facial Wash and Energising Conditioner

Whether I’ve tried them or not, I’ve usually at least heard of a natural or organic brand. But AEOS was completely new to me. And why ‘AEOS’? It stands for Active Energised Organic Skincare.

Active for the active properties of the ingredients used, be they plant extracts, essential oils, enzymes, etc.

Energised for the way the products support the user’s overall wellbeing (the ‘greater good’ in AEOS’ words).

Organic for obvious reasons (although AEOS also source ingredients produced bio-dynamically).

And Skincare. Because I suppose sometimes you have to call a spade a spade.

Their promotional material talks about a 3-phase system – renewal, rebalance, replenish. The products in the range sit within this system, which makes for a relatively simple way to navigate their offering. Cleansers and exfoliants sit in the renewal section, toners and hydrating mists in the rebalance section, and serums and moisturisers in the replenish section. And there are two pathways through the system – the swift ‘time saver’ sequence and the optimal ‘skin booster’ sequence.

That much I understood.

However, they also talk about spagyric tinctures, colour significance and ancient alchemical principles in their philosophy and this rather defeated me. I could just be a bit tired. But I read it more than once and it ‘ain’t going in. If you fancy trying for yourself you can find out more by clicking on the links.

So what of the products I tried? First up the Dew Facial Wash. You might know that I’m not a habitual user of face washes. But I really liked this one. It wasn’t at all drying. Not one bit. And even when I used it for a couple of days straight, it didn’t cause the usual slight dullness that I usually get in skin tone. Now AEOS recommend putting a few drops of the facial wash in a bowl of warm water, soaking a wash cloth in it and then laying it over the face for a few moments. And repeating up to 3 times. I tried this once and, I must confess, I found it to be a total faff. Rather nice as a ritual but not for the morning routine. However, just one pump used as a conventional face wash was absolutely lovely and considering how wedded I am to my oils and muslins, that’s saying something. It contains coconut, lemon and honey oils and it really did live up to its hydrating claims.

The Energising Conditioner really was great. It’s the ‘toner’ part of the sequence but much more than a toner. Texture wise it was hard to decide whether it was a fluid or a gel. It’s a very fluidy gel or maybe a slightly gel-like fluid. Well that’s cleared things up for you, I’m sure. You apply a couple of pumps to slightly damp skin after cleansing. It smells really great and I’m convinced it added another layer of hydration, while feeling cooling and refreshing.

Would I use them again. Definitely. But here’s the stinger. When I investigated the brand further on their website I discovered that they really aren’t cheap. £40 for a face wash, and £55 for just 30ml of the energising conditioner. That could be something to do with the crystal essences on both ingredients lists (including opal, amethyst, emerald and quartz…I think this is where the spagyric tinctures come in but I could be wrong). I really loved the effects of the Energising Conditioner in particular, but I might have to be earning slightly more before it becomes a core part of my routine. As an occasional indulgent treat…? Absolutely.

AEOS Skincare is available from their website. And the usual note – AEOS, please will you list all the ingredients for each product on your website and not just the key actives? It’s really great for customers to see this and it also saves me from developing carpal tunnel syndrome when copying them off the packaging.

Ingredients:

Dew Facial Wash (apologies – these weren’t on the packaging and the only information from the website is as follows) Spelt Oil, Honey, Lemon Oil, Lemongrass Oil, Orange Extract. Colour: Blue -100% natural and plant derived blue extracted from gardenias. Crystal Essences: Opal, Amethyst, Charoite, Turquoise, Emerald, Quartz, Chrysoprase.

Energising Conditioner: Rosa Damascena flower water, water, Rosa centifolia (rose) extract, Glycerin, Rose Flower Oil, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) distillate, Triticum spelta (spelt) germ extract, Gluconolactate, Arginine, Soritan Laurate, Salvia officinalis (sage) extract, Betula alba (birch) bark extract, Xanthan gum, Glyceryl cocate, Hypericum perforatum (St John’s Wort) Extract, Gardenia florida extract, Sodium benzoate, Opal essence, Amethyst essence, Charoite essence, Turquoise essence, Emerald essence, Quartz essence, Chrysoprase essence, Geraniol, Eugenol, Citronellol.

Disclosure: AEOS were kind enough to send me samples of the products trialled for this review. However, in keeping with my own policy, I’m writing about them here because I like them and would happily recommend them to others.

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Today’s post is brought to you by the letter ‘H’

That’s H for:

Heat – sunshine is lovely. The heat that accompanies it makes me a bit wilty and feeble, and wanting to shower all the time.

Hayfever – an unpleasant side effect of the ‘Heat’.

Hydrolats – my current solution to BOTH of the above.

Hydrolats (the technical term for floral or aromatic waters, also called ‘Hydrosols’) are a by product of the distillation process that’s used to create essential oils. This makes them very different to perfumed waters. Be wary of those. They may well just be water with added fragrance, probably synthetic. True hydrolats contain a small part of the plant itself.

During distillation, plant material is gathered in a container called a still, where steam is passed through it. The heat and pressure break down the plant and release the essential oil, which is vaporised and carried out of the still in the steam. The aromatic steam is then collected in another container, where it’s cooled and condensed back to a liquid. This liquid is made up of the essential oil (which floats to the top) and the aromatic water, which is either collected and sold or recycled as part of the cooling system. It’s a funny product really. Some essential oil manufacturers chuck it away. Some are focused almost entirely on the water and regard the oil as a by-product.

Anyways, that was the science bit. The main point is that hydrolats are a really lovely way to introduce a more targeted treatment into the ‘toning’ bit of your facial skincare routine. I’ve not been a big fan of toning in the past but since I discovered hydrolats, my bathroom shelf has become more like an old-fashioned apothecary with each passing day!

They’re great because you can pick and choose depending on your individual needs. Or you can blend them together to create your own personalised smell or ‘treatment’ toner.

Rose is good for skin nourishing and balancing. Chamomile is a must for skin prone to redness and rosacea, or skin that’s inflamed. Neroli is great for dry and sensitive skins. Witch hazel helps with troublesome skin. Peppermint is great for cooling, particularly if you’ve been a bit slack with the SPF and are suffering the consequences. Juniperberry – not the most brilliant smell, admittedly – is a good addition to a blend if you want a detoxifying action to help perk up a dull, congested complexion.  Lavender is great for evening out an oily or combination skin.

In short, if you’ve got skin, there’s a hydrolat (or lats) for you.

And the hayfever bit? I’ve found that soaking a couple of cotton pads in rose or neroli hydrolat and laying them over my eyes in the morning is THE best thing for soothing the puffy, gluey, crusted hayfever eyes that I wake up with from June to August. Even better if you keep the hydrolat in the fridge.

And, as a bonus feature, seeing as my revision has kept me from posting recently – some other things you can do with hydrolats:

  • Spritz on for skin cooling while you’re out and about, particularly on the beach or at the gym
  • Add to a bath for a fragrant alternative to bubbles or oils
  • Use as an ingredient in home-made skincare (note though that if you add water to a skincare product, you’ll either need to add a preservative – vitamin E or grapefuit seed extract are two natural options – or make a small batch to use up quickly. Bugs love water. As soon as you add water, bugs will come after)
  • Add to a cooling foot soak (peppermint is fab for this)
  • Use tea tree or lavender (both have mild antiseptic properties) to clean small cuts or grazes, as a nicer smelling alternative to the in-your-face TCP
  • Drink them. No seriously, some people do. But I’m not absolutely not advocating that here because you have to be VERY sure of your manufacturer. If you really really want to drink them (and I warn you, they taste horrid!), go to Avicenna, THE industry expert in hydrolats. Founder Joe Nasr is the best person to contact.

My favourite suppliers for hydrolats are Naturally Thinking, who offer a decent range. They don’t do spritzers, which is a shame, but their hydrolats come in really cool alumnium bottles and I’m a sucker for slick-looking packaging. They also offer lots of advice about mixing up your own blends on their site. Prices from £4 for 100ml.

I also love Melvita, who only offer a very small range but they are lovely indeed. Prices from £13.0o for 200ml (spritzer bottles).

Raw Gaia do really lovely floral waters – I’ve used their chamomile water a lot in the past. They’ve now turbocharged them by adding a small amount of the essential oil into the water as well. Prices start at £12.49 for 50ml, so they’re the priciest but worth it. Lots of good advice on the website to help you choose the right water for your skin type.

And finally, Quinessence, who also offer lots of information about the benefits of each type of hydrolat. The packaging can best be described as functional but their products are great and I regularly buy from them for my course. Prices from £4.15 for 100ml (spritzer bottles).

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My Guinness Book of World Records entry for shortest review ever: Sophyto

Don’t get me wrong. I am mightily impressed with Sophyto. I’m just busier than I’ve ever been!

So I will say just this. I discovered Sophyto while browsing on Naturisimo for a new cleanser. I’ve been using the Purifying Silken Cleanser and the pH Optimizing Restorative Toner.

They won’t win awards for their smell (neither being offensive, but nothing to write home about either). But they do win awards (both were shortlisted in the 2012 Natural & Organic Awards for Best Innovation – the Silken Cleanser took home the prize). They come with many admirable green/organic certifications, including cruelty free and the Soil Association. They leave out many of the usual baddies – artificial colour, fragrance, fillers and parabens. And they are MIGHTILY good, having left me with soft, clear, even-toned skin.

Big Gold Star. Thumbs up. *Like*.

Sophyto Purifying Silken Cleanser, available for £12 on Naturisimo and £13 on Amarya both with free delivery. And in the US on their website for $20.

Ingredients: aqua (spring water), *simondsia californica (jojoba) seed oil, cetearyl alcohol, *corylus avellana (hazelnut) seed oil, *prunus dulcis (almond) seed oil, sodium stearoyl lactylate, glyceryl stearate, *butyrosperum parkii (karite) fruit butter, *mel (honey), *aloe barbadensis (aloe vera) leaf juice powder, levulinic acid, lecithin, sodium dehydroactetate, *guar gum, glycerin, xanthum gum, *alcohol denat, *propolis extract, tocopherol, helianthus annus (sunflower) seed oil, ascorbic acid, sodium hydroxide, citric acid *Organic, 93% of the agricultural ingredients are produced organically.

Sophyto pH Optimising Restorative Toner, available for £9 from Naturisimo and £9.75 from Amarya, both with free delivery. And in the US on their website for $15.

Ingredients: aqua (spring water), *cynara scolymus (artichoke) leaf extract, *urtica dioica (nettle) herb extract, *lentinus edodes (shitake) fruit extract, *taraxacum officinalis (dandelion) root extract, *sambucus nigra (elderberry) fruit extract, *morinda citrifolia (noni) fruit extract, *mentha piperita (peppermint) herb extract, *rubus idaeus (raspberry) leaf extract, *rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf extract, *chlorella vulgaris (green micro-algae) extract, *schizandra chinensis (schisandra) fruit extract, *alcohol denat, *aloe barbadensis (aloe vera) leaf juice powder, levulinic acid, sodium dehydroacetate, sodium hydroxide, glycerin, citric acid *Organic, 99% of the agricultural ingredients are produced organically.

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Miessence: natural beauty the Oz way

Miessence is an Australian range of personal care products and, while I hadn’t heard of them before I was contacted by one of their UK stockists, I’ve read up on them since.

Their green credentials are impressive. Many of the products carry the Australian Certified Organic (ACO) Seal of Approval (Australia’s leading certifying body) and those that don’t contain more than 5% non-agricultural ingredients, like clay or salt, OR at least 70% certified organic ingredients, according to the blurb.

The second impressive thing is the vastness of their product range, compared to many of the cottage industries out there. It’s almost more lifestyle choice than a product range. The usual skincare regime is well represented but on top of that you’ve got *deep breath* haircare, products for men, a baby range, deodorants, household items, air fresheners, toothpastes, make-up and even a selection of ACO-certified perfumes.

I was given the opportunity to try out one of the skincare ranges, helpfully organised into balancing (for normal/combination skins), rejuvenating (for dry/mature skins), purifying (for oily skins) and soothing (for sensitive skins). I opted for soothing.

The range included a cleanser and moisturiser. So far so samey. But Miessence offered a slightly more intriguing option for the ‘toning’ part of the routine – a skin conditioner. To quote the blurb, conditioning has a ‘twofold purpose: firstly to feed the skin with nutrients in the water-soluble botanicals, and secondly, to provide a hydration base for the moisturiser to lock in.’ Not toner, not moisturiser and not serum but perhaps a little something of all three?

The cleanser is pretty pleasant to use with a lovely citrussy smell. It’s very fluid in texture, more of a lotion than a cream, but it’s intended to be applied with the fingers and removed with a hot cloth. I liked the tip in the directions about gently warming the skin with a hot, damp cloth before applying the cleanser. It seems so obvious but I’ve not done this before and it seemed to make a difference. I’ll probably keep this going with other cleansers I use in future. The cleanser removed light make-up well and left my skin feeling soft and clean. I used a separate eye make-up remover on heavier eye make-up though. I’m never that comfortable rubbing more liquid cleansers around my eyes because it’s just too easy to get a lot IN your eye.

The skin conditioner is quite interesting. It’s somewhere between a gel and liquid (making it pretty challenging to squeeze out of a sachet…) and it’s meant to be applied with your fingers and not cotton wool. As far as I’m concerned, that’s great. On the occasions when I do use toners, I always opt for spritzers. It’s just so annoying to soak a cotton pad and then feel like you’re throwing 80% of the product in the bin. The skin conditioner had a lovely cooling, toning effect on my skin but I definitely felt like it provided an extra hit of hydration too. In winter I tend to prefer richer textures, opting for serums or oils. But this would be lovely if you want the layers without the heaviness. And I can see myself coming back to it in the summer when I need extra moisture but am also preoccupied with keeping my skin cool.

Sadly the moisturiser didn’t work so well for me. The texture was very reminiscent of the acclaimed NUDE moisturiser (which didn’t work for me either). But the miessence product is ACO-certified and smelt much nicer. It’s a very light and very fluid lotion and wasn’t moisturising enough for my drier skin. But I was trying out the soothing range and the moisturiser from the rejuvenating range may well be a much better fit.

Dry/sensitive is a fairly common product combination though. If you’re one of the many people out there with normal or oily sensitive skin and are sick of overly-heavy formulations, you’ll love this.

I suspect I’d really benefit from a customised approach, sticking with the soothing cleanser and skin conditioner but subbing in the rejuvenating moisturiser. Sadly if you do need to pick and choose, you won’t be able to save money on the bundling options, which are limited to three products from within the same range.

And saving money might well be a preoccupation. This range is not cheap. The cleanser retails at £31.80, the skin conditioner at £20.70 and the moisturiser at £38.75. With natural and organic ranges, you do tend to get what you pay for. While this is a more expensive range, if wouldn’t be prohibitive if you found something that really worked for you. And Miessence offer samples so you can be sure before you fork out the full whack.

Overall, I liked this range and, after spending quite some time browsing their catalogue, have found a few other things that I’d really like to try out. Thumbs up for a range that allows you to make the greener choice with almost every product you’re likely to need at home!

You can buy Miessence products through their website (click here for skincare), or by contacting one of their UK stockists (rob@MiNaturals.co.uk).

And here’s a tempting picture of the full range!

Ingredients: (Soothing Cleanser) certified organic aloe barbadensis (aloe vera) leaf juice, aqua (purified water), certified organic helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, yucca schidigera extract, sclerotium rolfsii gum, citrus aurantium amara (bitter orange) fruit extract, certified organic citrus dulcis (sweet orange) essential oil, certified organic citrus bergamia (bergamot) essential oil, certified organic matricaria recutita (chamomile) flower extract, certified organic aesculus hippocastanum (horsechestnut) seed extract, certified organic hypericum perforatum (st johns wort) flower extract, certified organic hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel) leaf extract; (Soothing Skin Conditioner) certified organic aloe barbadensis (aloe vera) leaf juice, aqua (purified water), certified organic matricaria recutita (chamomile) flower extract, certified organic aesculus hippocastanum (horsechestnut) seed extract, certified organic hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel) leaf extract, certified organic hypericum perforatum (st johns wort) flower extract, sclerotium rolfsii gum, citrus aurantium amara (bitter orange) fruit extract, certified organic chamaemelum nobile (roman chamomile) essential oil, daucus carota (carrot) CO2 extract , certified organic calendula officinalis flower C02 extract , certified organic chamomilla recutica (german chamomile) flower CO2 extract , certified organic citrus aurantium ssp amara (neroli) essential oil (Soothing Moisturiser) certified organic aloe barbadensis (aloe vera) leaf juice, aqua (purified water), certified organic simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) seed oil, certified organic rosa rubiginosa (rosehip) seed oil, certified organic helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, certified organic butyrospermum parkii (shea) fruit butter, certified organic ethanol (sugar cane), non-gmo lecithin, citrus aurantium amara (bitter orange) fruit extract, sclerotium rolfsii gum, certified organic olea europaea (olive) juice extract, certified organic chamaemelum nobile (roman chamomile) essential oil, daucus carota (carrot) CO2 extract , certified organic chamomilla recutica (german chamomile) flower CO2 extract , Non-GMO Xanthan Gum, certified organic citrus aurantium ssp amara (neroli) essential oil, certified organic hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel) leaf extract, certified organic matricaria recutita (chamomile) flower extract, certified organic aesculus hippocastanum (horsechestnut) seed extract, certified organic hypericum perforatum (st johns wort) flower extract, certified organic calendula officinalis flower C02 extract.

Disclosure: Rob was kind enough to send me samples of the products trialled for this review. However, in keeping with my own policy, I’m writing about them here because I like them and would happily recommend them to others. If I hadn’t liked them, you wouldn’t be reading about them.

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Spray solutions for another scorcher

Well this weekend saw the onset of a bit of a scorcher. Thanks to three extremely lovely ladies (the brains behind my whole hen-do experience), I woke up on a glorious Sunday morning in a glamping-style tipi in a field in Worcestershire surrounded by (fellow hen)-friends and yellow-green, sun-soaked fields.

I’m not sure how long the hot spell will last, or whether there will still be wobbly mirages at the time this goes up, but the slightly wilting heat got me thinking about how to keep cool if you don’t have a tipi full of cushions to lounge in. Ice baths aside, I decided the next best thing was the spritzer.

The thing to remember with spritzing is that it should go hand in hand with moisturising. Strong sunshine has a very drying effect on the skin and spritzing water onto your face can, conversely, make it worse. Although it will have a cooling effect as it evaporates, it will carry away even more of the moisture from your skin as it goes. The best thing to do is top it up straight away, either by reapplying a lightweight moisturiser or SPF lotion, or by using a spritz that contains a moisturiser.

One of my favourite spritzers is from Liz Earle. Their Instant Boost Skin Tonic is available in a 200ml bottle or spritzer and you can also buy a mini 30ml spritzer for just £4.85. It’s such a perfect summer staple and would be great for festival-goers. The formula is gentle, non-drying and lightly moisturising. It also includes organic aloe vera, chamomile and cucumber; ingredients which are both cooling and soothing. The smell is particularly lovely; a light, fresh floral that makes me think of summer meadows. I’ll be down in Devon on the beach over the next week and this will be coming with me. Liz Earle products always seem particularly apt for an English summer break.

Another useful one for the beach or when you’re festival grubby is Avene’s Thermal Water Spray. It isn’t a moisturiser, so you will need to reapply a light moisturiser or SPF lotion to keep your skin fully hydrated, but this water mister contains the Avene Water which, Avene claims on their website, is ‘clinically proven to be naturally soothing, anti-irritating and anti-free radical.‘ I find it’s brilliant when you’ve been swimming in salty water or when your skin is sweaty and/or dirty. Salt water makes my skin feel dry and tight. Spraying a light mist over my face allows me to clean off the salt before I reapply my SPF.

Just recently I’ve also discovered another facial mister from Raw Gaia. I’ve been using their Organic German Blue Chamomile Floral Water as a toner after cleansing and, given the calming properties of chamomile, have found it particularly soothing when my skin is inflamed with rosacea.

They do quite an extensive range of floral waters, with many and varied properties, and I’m keen to try more. The full range includes frankincense, juniper, lavender, neroli, rose otto, witch hazel, geranium and tea tree. The only downside is that they come in glass bottles and, as such, are less portable and not really beach-bag appropriate. But the heavy blue glass looks gorgeous in the bathroom.

Pic shows Raw Gaia toner to illustrate bottle

Liz Earle Instant Boost Skin Tonic, from £4.85 (30ml spritzer) to £12 (200ml spritzer). Available on Liz Earle website and at selected John Lewis stores. Ingredients: Aqua (water), Aloe barbadensis (aloe vera) leaf juice, Glycerin, PEG-40 hydrogenated castor oil, Cucumis sativus (cucumber) fruit extract, Calendula officinalis (calendula) flower extract, Anthemis nobilis (chamomile) extract, Humulus lupulus (hops) extract, Panthenol, Allantoin, Tocopherol (vitamin E), Tocopheryl acetate, Parfum (fragrance), Citronellol, Coumarin, Geraniol, Linalool, Sodium hydroxide, Phenoxyethanol, Benzoic acid, Dehydroacetic acid, Ethylhexylglycerin, Polyaminopropyl biguanide.

Avene Thermal Water Spray, from £3.15 (for 50ml) to £6.50 (for 150ml). Available in Boots. Ingredients: Avene thermal spring water (Avene aqua), nitrogen.

Raw Gaia Floral Waters, £10.99 (Witch Hazel, Geranium, German Blue Chamomile, Rose Otto, Lavender, Neroli), £11.49 (Juniper), £14.29 (Frankincense), £14.69 (Tea tree). Available from the Raw Gaia website. Although the ingredients for the German Blue Geranium floral water aren’t listed on the website, floral waters are often produced as a by-product of the process by which essential oils are made.