Surya Moisturising Hand Sanitizer Eco Product Review

With Swine Flu being in the news so much, hand santisers (although spelt with a ‘z’ on this product) are all the rage with every shop form the cheap to the high-class selling them. But this is the first natural and organic hand sanitiser I’ve seen.

Made by Surya Brasil, this Moisturising Hand Sanitizer kills 99.9% of germs and says on the packet it comes with Jua and Acai. I don’t know what either they are but it says Acaiis rich in proteins and Vitamin E and Jua is a cleansing and refreshing fruit.

It’s also hypoallergenic and is certified organic by Eco Cert, but how well does it work? The first time I tried it I found the smell quite strong and similar to those cleansing pads they use to clean skin when you’re giving blood. But after a few goes I realised the smell was only so strong as I used too much. You don’t really need a lot as the clear gel spreads easily over your hands and quickly, but not too quickly, absorbs into the hands.

Once absorbed there’s not much of a smell at all, it leaves your hands feeling quite soft and presumably very clean. There’s now sticky residue and my hands did feel moisturised too. I don’t usually use a moisturiser on my hands so am not sure how it compares to a straight moisturiser.

Available for a very reasonable £3.50 for a 60ml bottle from Liberty or elsewhere online, it’s also available in a 200ml bottle for £10.

Australian Organics Moisturizing Lotion Eco Product Review

They say you learn something new every day, and today I learnt that Australians spell moisturizing the same way as Americans, with a ‘z’. Well, however you spell it, Big Green Smile sent me some of Australian Organics Moisturizing Lotion (Oil Free) for me to review.

I’ve reviewed a lot of moisturisers before so like to think I have some experience and one of the running themes with the others I’ve tested is the thickness of the cream – like the Bulldog moisturiser. This cream bucks the trend and took me by surprise with its thinness, meaning too much came out of the bottle first time around.

Once that was corrected I could concentrate on how well it worked and again it surprised me – it works really well. In fact, the more I use it the more I prefer this lotion. It rubs in really easily and feels smooth and silky as promised on the label. It should last a long time too as you don’t need to use much at a time. A little goes a long way.

Containing green tea extract, natural antioxidants, vitamins a, c and e and of course, aloe vera. It doesn’t seem to certified organic though despite its title but some of the ingredients such as the aloe vera, birch and rose are certified organic.

Available in a 120ml tub, Australian Organics Moisturizing Lotion is available from Big Green Smile for £8.95.

Bulldog Sensitive Moisturiser Eco Product Review

I’ve reviewed Bulldog’s moisturiser before, the ‘hydrate’ version back in January 2008. This new version is from the ’sensitive’ range and promises to be kind to my skin.

As I mentioned in my previous review I tend to shy away from thick moisturisers as I find they get stuck in my beard, a bit like in the picture below, although that’s actually suntan lotion that wouldn’t rub in. I mean, I have a few grey/gray hairs but that makes me look ridiculous. And the sun’s in my eyes as well but I was told to take my sunglasses off for the photo.

Anyway, despite this moisturiser being quite thick, it rubs in as well as my usual brand and I’ve no complaints on that score. Although it does have quite a strong smell to it. Well certainly stronger than the other version and at first I found it slightly off-putting, especially when I learnt that one ingredient is green algae.

But to be honest I’ve used stuff with worse sounding ingredients and after a while you get used to the smell and a drop of aftershave soon sees to it anyway. So generally I’m very happy with it and it has certainly been kind to my skin so far. I’m about to test another moisturiser too so will let you know if I need to reappraise that opinion.

Bulldog products contain no parabens, no sodium laureth sulfate, no artificial colours or synthetic fragrances. Go to www.meetthebulldog.com to find stockists. A 100ml tub/bottle costs around £6.00.

Bulldog Natural Grooming Moisturiser Product Review

In doing a thorough product review of Bulldog Natural Grooming Moisturiser involves a lot of washing of my face. I’m not one to moisturise all the time for no reason but after washing my face I always need to so twice a day I’d come to squeeze the tub onto my hand and rub it in. And what a joy it was.

It took me a little while over the testing period to work out why it was a joy and I realised it was down to two things. Firstly, the smell. Now the list of ingredients is quite long (I’ll come to that) but I think it’ll be down to the eight essential oils, green tea extract (which is an anti-oxidant) and mabe the green algae (which I’m told is to help with skin hydration). It really does smell nice, almost medicinal.

The packaging says:

“No parabens, no sodium laureth sulfate, no artificial colours and not synthetic fragrances.”

But as I said the list of the ingredients is huge. And confusing – do you know what ethylhexyl palmitate is? Well actually I sort of do, it’s an emulsifier and I know this because at www.meetthebulldog.com it tells me what that is and all the other ingredients which is very handy. There a downloadable pdf which also tells me it’s derived form vegetable/palm and that: “Emulsifiers modify the interface between water and oils, allowing tiny blobs of oils and waxes (micelles) to float freely in water (or vice versa) without merging together and separating out.” It’s also not tested on animals and no ingredients come from animal sources.

But how does it actually work as a moisturiser? Traditionally I tend to use a cheap moisturiser, not actually because I’m cheap but because I fine more expensive products too thick and as I have a slight beard, I found it wouldn’t rub into my skin/beard properly and I’d end up looking like Santa Claus. So I approached the thick, white substance out of this bottle with some trepidation.

I shouldn’t have worried really, although the consistency seems the same as other brands I’ve used I found it was absorbed into the skin very nicely both on areas with hair and without. There was no white or oily residue. I enjoyed using it as much as one can.

Bulldog are a small company based in London. Currently it’s just available in the UK through Sainsbury’s stores, and online through the Life Goggles Reviews and Shop page. Read Joel’s review of Bulldog’s shave gel here.