06—Scientific Organic Beauty
06

Antipodes

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I love this brand for what it stands for, and for how it makes me feel virtuous by association. Some may argue that Antipodes are on the pricey side, but I would say, “they’re certified organic, alright!”1

however, There is a ‘however’

Just because this brand ticks all five boxes on my beauty check-list, this doesn’t mean:

—That I’ll use every product in the range

—That every product will suit my skin
(or continue to suit my skin)

—That the product will do exactly what it says it will for my skin2

(I’m an even bigger fan of NZ’s Living Nature just FYI!)

A product of the environment

Elizabeth Barbalich (the creator of Antipodes) had a desire to create premium, scientifically validated, organic beauty products. She wanted them to be made from fully sustainable sources that could be used everyday, by everyday women.

What this has meant for this ‘everyday woman’:

Reduced squirting, slapping,
smooshing, and sploshing

When I remember, Elizabeth’s products stop me from making my twice daily cleansing process into yet another chore!

Instead of:

squirting the stuff out

slapping the stuff on

smooshing it about

sploshing it off again

I now try to think of this process as performing a morning and nightly ‘ritual’.

Do you want to hear more from me on natural beauty?

Then click this link to find out what I think about other brands, and what I think about being naturally beautiful – in general!

Antipodes products currently in use in my abode:

Juliet Skin Brightening Gel Cleanser
Note: I was given this, I don’t usually buy Gel Cleansers.

Joyous Protein-Rich Night Replenish Serum

Aura Manuka Honey Mask

Namaste Hand Wash

I Like

I like the way her products remind you that:

  1. You are more than just a pretty face

    On her Gel Cleanser — JULIET, Elizabeth instructs you to ‘cleanse deeply your skin and your spirit…’ In the past I’d always forgotten to cleanse this latter bit!

  2. You are very lucky to be an Antipodean

    Antipodes is certified organic and primarily uses native ingredients from the most beautiful country in the world — the land of the long white cloud!

  3. You are part of something
    bigger than yourself

    On her Manuka Honey Mask — AURA, you’re instructed to ‘smooth thick layers of this creamy mask over your face and neck at sunset twice a week’.

This article is an Antipodes review.

The ingredients

Fabulous NZ ingredients

Manuka honey, Pohutukawa bloom, Kiwifruit Extract, Vinanza — Grape/Kiwi/Oxifend/Performance Plus, Harekeke Flax, Kowhai, Mamuka Black Fern, Totara and Waiwera Artisan Water

Interesting Non-NZ ingredients

Himalayan Goji, Bulgarian Rose, Hibiscus Flower, Raspberry Seed Oil, and Reishi Mushroom

Products I highly recommend

Aura Manuka Honey Mask.
This product didn’t need to win a Harper’s Bazaar beauty award this year to tell me how hydrating it is. Honey has wonderful humectant properties. This basically means that it keeps things moist (BTW – I find the word ‘moist’ most unappealing!) Honey is antibacterial, and healing which is ideal for treating spots and blemishes. This product also contains ‘ruby red pohutukawa bloom’ which has antioxidant properties. I especially love that this Manuka Honey Mask isn’t sticky.

Beauty Tip: Don’t wash your hands after you’ve applied ‘smooth thick layers of this creamy mask over your face and neck at sunset twice a week’. Instead, rub it into your hands to ensure an even coverage.  This way you can give yourself a ‘Sunset’ hand treatment at the same time.

 

Joyful Hand & Body Cream.
I think this product smells like Baby Doll perfume by Yves Saint Laurent (which incidentally I don’t use as YSL test on animals.) Funnily enough, I haven’t actually noticed if this product is a particularly good moisturiser or not? I’ve been too busy smelling myself! I just like to wear it because:

1—it smells divine
(obviously!)

2—it makes me feel all girlie and happy

3—creams and scented moisturisers are more subtle than the smell of ‘squirt-on’ perfume.
With the former, you tend to leave a ‘poof’ of scent rather than a waffy ‘chemtrail’.

This product also makes a fabulous gift to give to your favourite ‘girl people’.

A product I don’t recommend

Resurrect Clarifying Facial Toner
When I used this product it went on sticky rather than ‘astringently’. It didn’t feel right at all. It made my skin feel tight, and irritated. After a couple of days of use, when I touched my face, instead of feeling soft girl skin, it felt like ‘man skin’ — tougher and bumpier. I stopped using it once I realised that it didn’t suit me, and my skin quickly returned to normal.

Note: To be fair to Antipodes (and contrary to my own advice), I didn’t actually patch test this product before I used it.3

Antipodes review
The two products I love are on the left. The products I'm a bit 'meh' about are on the right.

A product I recommend being cautious with

Joyous Protein-Rich Night Replenish Serum

While I love the smell of this product, and the idea of it, unfortunately I find that it’s a little too intense for my skin. I can use this product ‘straight’ as a treatment (1-2x per week), but I can’t use it like this for more than a few days in a row – as it irritates my skin.  If I need to use this product on a daily basis it works better for me if I just pop a couple of drops into my moisturiser.

What I don’t necessarily like about this brand

  1. All the ‘foo foo’

    Some of the product names within this brand make it difficult to figure out what they do, and where they do it exactly  e.g. Apostle, Juliet, Joyous, Hosanna.

  2. The formulas can be a little too creative or over-complicated

    Some of her products read like something off some swanky restaurant’s dessert menu…‘with blackcurrant, goji berry, raspberry oil, and hibiscus flowers’ (Joyous)

    Is it necessary to use these five exotic ingredients here?  Because these ingredients are unusual it would be interesting to know if just one or two of these would have been sufficient.

Lisa says:

Don't pledge allegiance

I have been solely buying natural products for years, and because of this, my skin is very familiar with the use of them.4,5 Therefore I don’t feel the need to be loyal to just one brand. There are a number of specific products from other brands that I love just as much as my favorite Antipodes products e.g. Dr Hauschka’s Cleansing Milk or Living Nature’s Hydrating Toning Gel.

Pick & Mix

You should pick a range of different products from within your ‘approved beauty brands’. Because your skin is dynamic (constantly changing according to the time of year, stress levels, diet), it will depend on what it is doing at any particular time. For example, I am currently using: a cleanser from Antipodes, a toner from Living Nature, and a moisturiser from Weleda.

From here, I select various serums or masks as my skin requires. Again, I choose my favorite products from within my favorite brands.

Keep your skin on its toes

Constant change keeps your skin ‘on its toes’ and helps to decrease intolerance being built up against any one particular product through daily use.

Regularly change-up your cleanser, toner & moisturiser + your extra-care items

Make an appointment with Lisa

Lisa Fitzgibbon is a degree qualified (2006), experienced and registered Naturopath & Medical Herbalist. She runs her own private practice – OOMPH in Grey Lynn, Auckland, New Zealand.

Lisa has been involved in the Natural Health industry for 16 years. She draws on her professional training and experience, as well as her own personal experience to bring you realistic, holistic health advice.

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