Homemade Deodorant In Twist Up Tubes

I have been slacking lately. I haven't worked on my deodorant formula in a while, since we still have some from my last batch. However I did have a friend try it out, and he gave me some good feedback. 

Today, I went back to the drawing board (again) and made a couple of modifications. I removed the cypress and juniper essential oils and added lavender essential oil to soften the scent. I also reduced the amount of cocoa butter to make it more spreadable. I might regret that as it gets hotter outside this summer. Finally, I packaged the formula in traditional deodorant twist up tubes for the first time. I bought .5 oz tubes and am shrink wrapping them to make them look official. My recipe made 7 travel-size deodorants!

Here are a couple pictures of my DIY Adventures today:

Update: This attempt was, sadly, unsuccessful. The consistency was far too soft for actual application using a tube. I applied it with my fingers, and the recipe is still effective. But the application part of it needs work... back to the drawing board.

DIY Diary: Back To The Drawing Board With Paste Deodorant

A few months ago, I wrote about my first experiment with homemade deodorant. After using it with great success for about three months, I started noticing my underarm skin was feeling sensitive. It was nothing visible, but I quit using the deodorant for a couple weeks to let my skin go au naturale. My boyfriend didn't have any problems with it until we traveled to Miami for a hot, Christmas holiday with my family. The deodorant melted in transport, but he continued to use it unaware that it had probably gone bad by this point. It started irritating his skin too, so finally it went in the trash. We both took breaks from deodorants for a few days.

In the mean time, I went back to the drawing board. Since I felt irritation first, I figured the deodorant must have been going bad before the Great Melt. I reviewed the recipe, which included only three things that I haven't used before for skin care: bentonite clay, juniper berry essential oil and cypress essential oil. I switched out the bentonite clay for white clay, added some oatmeal flour, and reduced the concentration of essential oils. I also added rosemary essential oil to help better preserve the deodorant paste.

The initial results are promising. The color is more reminiscent of commercial deodorants. The texture is nicer with the addition of the oatmeal, a little less oily with a little more firmness. The scent is nice and light. The first batch was good, but it ended up being a little too fragrant for my taste.

One drawback to our testing is that we are using a jar container and scooping up the paste with our fingers. I haven't found a good online vendor for deodorant tubes yet, so for now I will take advantage of our application method to test the deodorant's shelf life.

We've used it for two days with regular pit checks to test for effectiveness. So far so good...

Product Review: Aloe Life's Skin Gel

This 99% certified organic whole leaf aloe vera gel is definitely my current favorite product. I find it to be simple, effective and versatile. I use Skin Gel on my face under moisturizer to treat my dry skin to a boost of hydration. I use it as hair gel, a little goes a long way. I've applied it on burns, my dog's itchy skin, and so on.

I've tried a few brands of aloe gels, but Aloe Life's Skin Gel has a great consistency and doesn't have to be refrigerated like other natural brands. The very strong aloe smell takes some getting used to, but I'd rather use the unscented kind because I'm using it on my face too. It's affordable at approximately $10 for 4-8 oz, depending on the website. I really recommend Skin Gel as an essential addition to your beauty product arsenal.

Ingredients: 99% Certified Organic Whole Leaf Aloe Vera Juice Concentrate No.103857, Seaweed-thickening agent, Retinyl Palmitate (Vitamin A), Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Azulene (Chamomil Extract), Allantoin (Extract from Comfrey), Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate.

Full Disclosure Makes Me Feel Warm & Fuzzy

When I started the Floraesthetics blog, I realized that I needed to take a step back and get caught up with beauty industry news and products. I tried news feeds, but that lead to a bunch of press releases from the companies themselves.

Then I found the fabulous world of beauty bloggers. I wake up every morning to coffee and the latest blogger posts about products, spas and trends. In the process, I've started to get a good feel for who writes what and for who is worth listening to. Fig+Sage happens to be one of the good blogs, with posts pertinent to my quest to find more natural skincare products. Their post today, Full Disclosure: Zuii Organics Cosmetics USDA Organic Certification Criteria and Status, made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

As a PR girl, I know that honesty is the best policy, even if it means retracting a previous statement. Fig+Sage went all out with their retraction of Zuii Cosmetics. While the blog did not diss the products themselves or their effectiveness, I think that Zuii's lack of transparency or willingness to communicate about their USDA certification when asked is a sign not to trust the company or their products. Regardless of USDA oversight, which seems to be poor at best, the company should be fully aware of approved ingredients before sending their products for third-party approval. If there is an organic claim on any skincare product, companies needs to be accountable to consumers not just regulatory agencies.

Fig+Sage just moved to the top of my list of bloggers that are worth following. Thanks for the honesty!