Price: £6.99 for 118ml
Rating:
Link: http://www.aubreyorganicsuk.co.uk

Ingredients: Deionized Water, Natural Grain Alcohol, Vegetable Glycerin, Calendula Oil, d-Alpha Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Camomile Oil, Arnica Extract, Rose Water, Calamine Powder, and a complex of Sandalwood Oil, Patchouli Oil, Jasmine Oil, Fir Oil, Vanilla Oil, Cedarwood Oil and Rose Oil

I was a little unhappy that my crystal deodorant didn’t always keep me dry and that the pump often got clogged up, so I decided to look for something new. The lovely selection of oils made this product stand out and I’ve always enjoyed using the Aubrey Organics range, so it didn’t take further convincing for me to give it a go.
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Tags: anti-perspirant, deodorant

I’ve been considering trying Aubrey Organics’ Calaguala Fern Leave-In Texturizing Treatment for a few months, to complement the matching shampoo I’ve been using. This is something Pure Skincare don’t currently stock, so I had a quick look around and found an eBay store exclusively selling Aubrey Organics products: iloveaubrey0rganics

They have quite a range and, even better, their prices are cheaper than retail! I was getting low on toner and shampoo I decided to order them too and, as I’d spent over £15, was entitled to a free bottle of Sparkling Mineral Water Complexion Mist. If I spent just over a pound more, I would qualify for free delivery too, so I topped up my order with a bottle of Aloe Vera.

I ordered on Saturday, the goods were sent out promptly on Monday and arrived early Tuesday. There were several samples included, a natural ingredients guide, a product guide and even a tote bag. All very well packaged in a cardboard box with lots of brown paper wrapping. I was expecting the products to perhaps be close to Use By date given the cheap prices, but none of them expire until 2009.

I really like the Complexion Mist too, so I may be ordering some more of that in future. I’ll give my mum the Rose Mosqueta samples and she’ll probably love those.

The store changes offers periodically, currently they’re giving away a soap bar when you spend £30 or more. I don’t think they’re doing free delivery at the moment, but I’m sure they’ll do it again at some point.

Tags: conditioner, shampoo, shopping, toner

Yes, it’s true, I’ve decided to give up my OCM routine. I’ve definitely overloaded my face too much and need to give it a rest and time to calm down. It’s been about 5 days since I stopped using it and already the pimples that wouldn’t go away are drying up and healing.

My period started two days ago, but I’ve only got a couple of the usual hormonal bumps. After the explosion of pimples from the OCM, this is actually heaven - I never thought I’d be saying that! I guess it just goes to show how everything is relative and while I might view my PMT acne as bad sometimes, it could certainly be a lot worse.

Anyway, I’m really sorry to report such a negative outcome. I’m not saying the OCM doesn’t work, I just think I went about it wrong. I still stand by my earlier advice that the right oils can make all the difference - perhaps one day I’ll try again and use the sunflower oil that Kloggers and Helen suggested in a previous post.

Interestingly, I think the Camellia & Copaiba oil I’m using as moisturiser may be doing a bit of OCM on it’s own and perhaps the combination of this and the other oils was simply too much. This is one product I will be sticking with, as I still don’t need to exfoliate, my skin is rarely greasy and it doesn’t aggravate my acne.

Tags: cleansing, face, moisturiser

Well this is very weird. For the last couple of days, my face has been much oilier than usual. I don’t know if it’s the OCM doing some kind of rebalancing, but I’m going to have to quit using my Camellia & Copaiba oil for a few days to see if it dies down. I’ll be gutted if I have to stop using it permanantly, especially as I forked out £20 for a full-size bottle only three weeks ago.

Not only am I oilier, but my skin feels a bit rough too, like I need to exfoliate. My acne isn’t giving up either, although at least the whiteheads are small and I’m not getting the nasty boil-like bumps I tend to suffer from. I’m going to try using my facial cleanser after the OCM just to make sure the oils are definitely being removed - it’s very gentle (and all-natural of course) so it shouldn’t do any harm. I also tried using the Angel Face Scrub yesterday with apple cider vinegar instead of water, but I applied the Camellia & Copaiba oil straight after so I may have negated any positive effect. Will try that again tomorrow I think.

I also bought some Agnus Castus (chasteberry) capsules from Holland & Barratt today. Not sure I should be starting these in the midst of a skin crisis, but they’re supposed to help with hormonal problems and I’d like to get them well into my system before my period starts.  As my acne does seem to be primarily hormonal, I’m hoping they’ll help. I’m trying to increase my water intake too - so far that’s just resulted in lots of trips to the loo!

Apologies for the lack of recent updates BTW. I’ve had speed issues with my ISP all week and dared not use the computer lest I throw the cable modem at the wall in annoyance.

Tags: face, moisturiser, ocm, skin

About three weeks ago, I decided to start the Oil Cleansing Method (OCM). I haven’t posted my progress until now as I wasn’t entirely happy with the products I was using. Firstly I had trouble sourcing castor oil, then I didn’t feel particularly happy with my choice of secondary oils. I tried walnut and extra virgin olive oil and both felt too thick and greasy for my liking. I wasn’t experiencing the after-cleansing “glow” that many people report and my skin just didn’t seem any different at all, if anything it made it a tad oilier and I had a small breakout around the edge of my face.

I must admit, I started wondering if the OCM simply wasn’t suited to me. As I was deciding what to order from Anita Grant this month, I came across her Carrot & Wheat Germ Cleansing Oil which she markets specifically as an OCM routine and is labelled as being suitable for combination skin. Doing some research online didn’t really reveal anything about using these particular oils as part of the OCM, but being the curious shopaholic that I am, I decided to take a risk and try it. I plumped for the full-size bottle as I knew the sampler wouldn’t last me if I liked it.

I’m happy to say that I get on much better with this combination of oils. For a start, they are much lighter than the ones I had been using and generally feel nicer to apply. My face feels lovely and clean afterwards and my complexion is very even. I have had a couple of spots appear here and there, but they aren’t too big and seem to clear up reasonably quickly. I’m not going to let this deter me as I understand that any change to my routine can cause a few problems while my skin rebalances itself. I also bought a sample of watermelon oil (supposedly good for oily skin) and I add a few drops of that in as well - not sure if that plays an important part, guess I’ll find out when I’ve used it all up.

One interesting thing I’ve found is that I no longer need to exfoliate - the OCM does a great job of removing build-up which is much kinder to my skin. I don’t need to scrub my face at all and I’ve even quit using my regular facial cleanser. The OCM does the lot!

I used to moisturise up to three times a day, but now I only do so after the OCM. The other two times (morning and evening) I just tone and nothing else. So althought the cleansing oil wasn’t exactly cheap, it looks like it will definitely save me money in the long run.

Overall, I’m very happy with the OCM so far. I can’t stress enough how important it is to find the right oils for your skin - please don’t give up if it doesn’t work the first time, just try a different product. Also, I do want to point out that although castor oil is considered to be the definitive ingredient in the OCM, it may not suit everyone and you can still achieve wonderful results without using it.

I’ll continue to update on my progress as I settle further into my routine over the coming weeks and months.

Update: I’m afraid things haven’t worked out too well - see the post I’m Quitting The OCM for more info.

Tags: anita grant, cleansing, face, ocm, oil