Review - Natio's Gentle Daily Shampoo and Botanical Conditioner

Hello People of the World,

Before we start, I feel like I should let you know that this blog post was written with the heavy feeling of failure coursing through my veins.  And annoyance in ones self.

It being the beginning of the month (or at least it was when I started) I decided to turn over a new leaf and eat healthily.

Which is a big thing for me, as I am known for my love of chocolate and chips – and my ability to keep my weight balanced at an even 56 kilos – but I digress (and boast). 

Like I said previously, the point is that I was attempting to eat healthy.  And I was doing so well too – really, I was.

For about a week.

Because then my favourite ice-cream went on special.

And when I say went on special, I don’t mean the type of special that means they spend one week at full price for every two they spend at twenty per cent off.  I mean, on special as in, the two years I have loved Bulla’s Mint and Choc-chip Ice-Cream and bought many litres it has NEVER been on special and now it is half-price special.

And, to top it all off, the mini M&M’s I get to go with it (as there are never enough chocolate chips) were half-price too.

My excuse was that the universe was telling me something, when in all reality I was weak-willed and caved.

However, though my unhappiness with my own lack of willpower is nearly all-consuming, it is not the point of this post.

No, this post is a review of Natio’s Gentle Daily Shampoo and then their Botanical Conditioner.

I figured I should probably do their post together, as one is unlikely to use one without the other, and, more to the point, as I’ve only ever used the two together, attempting to review the two separately would probably not be very accurate.

We’ll start then with the shampoo.

Natio’s Gentle Daily Shampoo

The back of the bottle describes it as:

A nourishing blend of botanical essences and plant derived cleansing agents to leave your hair silky-soft and strong.  With pure Argan Oil for maximum hydration and shine.  Rosemary and Sage to condition and protect.

Sounds lovely, yeah?  And it does deliver, though there are a few drawbacks.

The first thing I noticed was that it was rather difficult to work through hair and make sure I get every inch of my roots and scalp.  I assume this is because it is sulphate-free and as such, does not produce massive amount of foam.  To maximise amount of hair covered, I found the easiest way is to make sure is literally saturated with water and to work little bits at a time into different sections of hair.  I didn’t worry too much about fully coating the lengths of my hair, as it is mainly the oil produced at the scalp I wanted to be rid of.

The shampoo rinses out easily and thoroughly, without leaving hair feeling too dry either.  It also has the pleasant herbal smell that is common to most Natio products. 

Next, the conditioner.

Natio’s Botanical Conditioner

The back of the tube describes it as:

Pure essential oils and plant extracts to strengthen and nourish tired, brittle hair.  Detangles, corrects frizz and gives hair silky lustre without fly-away softness.  The unique botanical blend also promotes a healthy scalp.  Regular use leaves hair shiny and manageable.

The instructions on the conditioner differ from the usual – instead of just applying to lengths and ends of the hair, you are also supposed to apply it to the roots and scalp.  I was hesitant about doing that, as I definitely did not want to have my roots limp and greasy, however for the purposes of this review, I followed the instructions to the letter (aren’t I a good guinea pig!).

I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised.  My roots don’t feel overly limp, nor do they feel greasy or dirty, and as a whole my hair is soft and shiny, and feels lighter than it usually does after being washed and conditioned.  On that note, however, my hair does not have the overwhelming shine that comes from less natural conditioners, such as Herbal Essences, John Frieda…etc.

The herbal scent also fades rather quickly from hair, which is both a positive and a negative

Despite this, I would recommend this pair.  My hair feels healthy, and I can now go two days in between hair washes as opposed to one.  Using this brand just feels more natural than other commercial products.

Leaving you with that, I’m going to sign off.

Hoping you all have a good week/fortnight in between posts,

Jadey xox

P.S – Please feel free to leave a comment!  Tell me if you’ve used this, or just talk about something exciting that’s happening ;)

Review - Nude by Nature BB 5-in-1 Miracle Cream

Hello People of the World,

I have a new favourite song.  No.  Wait.  Let me rephrase that.  I have a new song to add to my long list of favourite songs.

Tennis Court, by Lorde.   

Have any of you heard it?  If you haven’t, you should definitely get on that.  The line, ‘it’s a new art form showing people how little we care’ is what hooked me.  It is a beautiful song. 

Anyway – I’m off track.  Back to what this post is about – Nude by Nature’s 5-in-1 Miracle Cream.

The description I found for it on the Nude by Nature Website says:

“BB Cream is where make up and skincare collide! Our BB 5-in-1 Miracle Cream takes the best skin care benefits mixed with the best mineral make-up benefits to give your skin the nourishing softness you dream of, with the flawless finish you love. BB Miracle cream instantly hydrates, corrects, perfects, protects and gives your skin natural radiance in one light-weight application. BB Miracle cream your best, beautiful self with this natural wonder!”

Sounds pretty promising, yeah?

I bought this product in the shade light a few weeks ago alongside the Natio BB Cream, as I was unable to decide between the two.  I love the idea of BB creams - god for your skin whilst giving light coverage, because, being a typical 17 year old girl, I don't have perfect skin.  However, though the tester hadn’t seemed so bad at the chemist, I had a multitude of problems with the tube I’d brought home.

After washing, pimple-creaming and moisturising as per usual, I tried to apply the cream.  It came out of the tube thick.  It smelt nice – like herbs as opposed to chemicals and was the right colour, very pale like my skin.

I had read about it being hard to blend, however, it wasn’t hard to apply the product – it was bloody impossible. No matter how careful I was with applying little bits at a time, the cream started balling up on my skin, blobs and streaks of tan decorating my face.  Attractive.  Not.

I had to scrub the entire mess off and go barefaced that day.  Strike 1 for Nude by Nature and their ‘miracle’ BB Cream.

After reflecting on the morning’s disaster, I came to the conclusion that perhaps I hadn’t let the moisturiser or pimple cream sink into my face enough – I’d maybe been too hurried in my application of the BB cream.  So the next day I tried again, leaving a lot longer between the application of moisturiser and the attempted application of the BB cream.

However, the result was identical to the day previous efforts.

Strike 2.

There really wasn’t much left to try, asides from applying to freshly washed skin.  So that became my new plan.

On day three I washed my face and patted it dry without adding any other products.  Then I brought out the cream.  Initial results were promising – the cream blended acceptably onto my forehead and cheeks – the coverage was light, not enough to hide all blemishes, but it matched my skin tone and evened it out.  Whilst it did better than the day before, I still had trouble applying it to my chin – I got there eventually but it still didn’t look as good as the rest of my face.

Once applied, the cream felt heavy and sticky – nothing like the ‘light-weight application’ promised.  This feeling did fade in time, but whether that was because it sunk into my skin or because I grew used to it, I have no idea.

Taking everything into consideration, this is not a product I would recommend, unless you already have close to perfect skin and aren’t looking to use a moisturiser and/or pimple cream as well.

On that note, I’m going to say goodbye, though I’ll leave you with some final questions.

What were your experiences like?  Have any of you tried out this product?  Have you listened to Tennis Court by Lorde?  Do any of you feel inclined to leaving me a comment?

Jadey xox

Hot Oil Review - Olive Oil

Hello People of the World,

Confession time.  I very recently dyed my hair – and more than once!  I have been blessed with very resilient hair, it may take a few weeks, but it returns to its natural soft and silky state after pretty much anything!

However, I think I’ve really pushed its limits this time.  Naturally, my hair is that ‘lovely’ shade that sits halfway between a dark ash blonde and a light brown.  The adjective lovely is my mother’s word for it – I prefer the term boring, but I digress. A year ago I decided to dye it black.  I know, I know, bad move.  Everyone said I would regret it – and I most definitely do.

But it gets worse.  A few months ago I got it into my head I wanted to be blonde, so cue the 3 different bleach jobs.  To top it all off, just a week or two ago, I dyed it a brown that is somewhat close to my natural shade.  Adding insult to injury, everyone said the brown looked the best – so it's true, your natural shade usually is the most flattering.

My point is, my hair isn’t thanking me at this point.  While the roots to about ¾ of the way down are soft and silky, the ends have still to recover.  The best way to fix this of course would be to go to the hairdressers and lop it all off, but I’m trying to keep as much length as possible, so I’ll see how much I can restore first.

Which is why I’m turning to a hot oil treatment.  There is a risk in this – the oil may potentially fade my hair colour, but at this stage it’s a side effect that I am willing to risk.

I’m planning on using olive oil, as it is commonly used, and the oil on hand at the moment.

***

Alright.  Here’s what I did.

After heating the olive oil in a glass jar that was submersed in a glass jug of boiling water, I took it into the bathroom where I then proceeded to massage the oil into my scalp and roots.  That didn’t take too long.  Following that, I actually dipped the ends of my hair into the oil, completely saturating them in the oil, as they were the most troublesome section of my hair.  Then, I simply rubbed some oil into the lengths, though I used nowhere near the amount of oil I had used on the ends/roots.

All of the above probably took me a total of about 10 minutes, as I took my time, ensuring I applied enough oil.  Once I had done all of that, I wrestled my hair into a shower cap and then wrapped a warm, damp towel around the cap like a turban.  Now all that was left to do was wait.

Since I had decided to make it a day of pampering, I climbed into the bath I had waiting and started watching some NCIS LA while I waited for the oil to sink it.  It was pretty damn relaxing for all of 20 minutes before the gardener showed up and started blower-vaccing right outside the bathroom window…

Usually the time prescribed to wait in anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours – I kept the oil on my hair for about an hour and a half before I rinsed it out.

I used the Natio Gentle Daily Shampoo and their Botanical Conditioner (I plan on writing reviews of these once I have had them long enough to assess them).

The olive oil, surprisingly, wasn’t too difficult to get out.  I was anticipating more trouble, considering my hair just about reaches the bottom of the small of my back.  I did however, have to shampoo my roots twice to get rid of all olive oil residue.

I also blasted my hair with a shock of icy water (I think the neighbours might have heard my shriek!) to close the cuticles and add to the smoothness factor.

Hot oil treatment finished.  Then all that was left to do was wait for it to dry and assess the results.

One thing I will note is that it took a lot longer for my hair to dry than usual.  I got out of the shower at 2:30 in the afternoon, and there were still damp tendrils when I entered my fencing club at 7:00 that night.

However it was definitely worth it.  My hair has been restored to its former silky glory, the ends were soft and touchable, and even the lengths were smoother.  On top of this, the roots weren’t weighed down at all – grease factor zero – and my hair colour didn’t fade either.

Two days later and my hair is still just as soft.

Olive oil for a hot oil treatment definitely gets a big tick from me!  This is definitely going to be a fortnightly addition to my routine.

Have any of you tried a hot oil treatment?  If so, what did you use? Homemade or store-bought?  What suggestions would you give me in order to improve my results?

Please feel free to leave a comment,

Teenage Goddess in Training,

Jadey xo

P.S – Next review will be Nude by Nature’s BB Cream!

About Teenage Goddess in Training

Hello People of the World,

Jadey here.

I decided to create this blog in order to review stuff I have bought or wanted to buy but been unable to find reviews for - coming from Australia, there are more products that have not been reviewed then you would think.  But that won't be all.  At this stage I'm planning on posting  reviews or logs of different beauty habits and routines that I've come across, or my way of doing certain things and the rationale behind it.

Knowing my gift of the gab, there'll probably also be a paragraph or two at the start of each post that is somewhat unrelated to the content of the post that I'm sure most of you will no doubt skip straight over (look at me, saying most of you as if there are actually people reading this!) - if you do, I won't take it personally :)

Being, as previously stated, a teenager, I do love gratification, so please, comment away :)

Anticipating some love,

Jadey xo

Follow on Twitter - @TeenGoddessIT