TRAVEL TALES | Another Kiwi (thought not necessarily beauty) brand

B_E_E LOVED, kind, clean and good? Call me a hippie, but that sounds like fun to me.

Beauty Engineered forEver is another Kiwi beauty brand (sorry for missing you the first time) that lives up to the green credentials and ethos that so many other New Zealand beauty (and otherwise) brands seem to inherently embrace. Made from natural ingrdients that are safe and gentle and meet the most stringent global standards set for eco products. They want to make stuff that's efficient and beautiful and green.

I love this blurb: "B_E_E is from here. Very New Zealand, in ideas, ingredients and inspiration that could only come from our place. Made with the belief that New Zealanders like to make things better.....better than just about anyone else. We're from a part of the world that can change the world. So that`s what we`re going to do."

And they're as quirky as Bliss and Soap & Glory. Like a slightly Method products would be with a couple drinks in 'em, right?

The range includes laundry liquid, laundry powder, delicate fabric wash, multi-surface cleaner, dishwash liquid and whitener.

Check out B_E_E and our other lists of New Zealand beauty brands here and here.

LUST-HAVE | Scotch Naturals WaterColors

3-FREE is a pretty common catch phrase in the world of nails nowadays. No one wants toluene, formaldehyde or or DBP in their nail polish anymore. Um, fair enough.

We've seen Priti, Sula, Rescue Beauty, Ginger and Liz, Jessica, Zoya, Mavala... In fact, you can probably find more non-toxic polishes than toxic, although many of the biggest offenders are still the biggest names in the beauty.

The latest in non-toxic, natural nailcare is Scotch Naturals, a collection of 13 water-based polishes from an Arizona mom who first created non-toxic Hopscotch Kids nail polish for little girls.

In fact, the brand has such faith in its product that it claims to give you healthier nails the longer you use it (but be sure to use their remover too instead of super-drying acetone).

After reading the ingredient lists of their products, we tend to agree. The WaterColors ingredients are: water, acrylic polymer emulsion, and non toxic colorants. Seriously. THREE INGREDIENTS. The Polish Remover ingredients? water, tall oil fatty acids & alcohols (plant based), nonionic surfactant, organic buffer. 

Natural nail colour does tend to be harder to apply, take longer to dry and be quicker to come off and/or chip, but Scotch Naturals gives some handy tips to keep it looking better longer on this page.

Ceasefire and Hot Toddy are on-trend putty/mushroom/greige/khaki colours. There are some brilliant blues, a fiery red, black, a magenta and a bevy of nudes for the non-adventurous. All in, a well-rounded capsule collection.

Good for your nails taken neat.

Speaking of naturals... stay tuned for a little side project we're working on a very chic gardening e-commerce site... Kale & Cole {for the hip garden}. We can't wait to launch it!

TRAVEL TALES | New Zealand's top beauty brands part II

WE STARTED to tell you about all the cool Kiwi brands on our trip yesterday. Here are the rest, in no particular order yet all as fabulous as the ones listed yesterday:

New Zealand's best beauty finds continued

Art A Face is a small nature-meets-science skincare range with things like potent vitamin C serum and colostrum (see my thoughts on the stuff below). Every product page lists the full ingredients.

Electric Body is now being stocked by the House of Fraser Apothecary in the UK. It's hero ingredient is colostrum, something I don't quite feel comfortable having in my beauty products yet. Like placenta. But the range also focuses on the bio-availability of the things we put on our skin (meaning, according to the website, that our skin will actually know what to do with the ingredients once applied to our skin). The brand founders believe you can replace all of your skin and bodycare products with just three products (check out theirs here).

Trilogy has become pretty popular in the last five or so years. Their championing of the rosehip (and their award-winning rosehip oil) helped make facial oils something that people with acne-prone complexions would use. The Everything Balm is really wonderful for absolutely everything and the fuss-free men's range brings New Zealand's natural beauty ethos to your husband's dopp kit.

Linden Leaves focuses on aromatherapy for the body and home. They also do things like a gold range that uses 24k gold leave in it's facial mists, soaps, lotion and oil. Their variety of products and scents is vast and there's a little slice of New Zealand here for everyone and every place... even the guest bathroom.

Antipodes skincare is made with "bioactive botancial ingredients" and "protein-rich formulations" free from the same nasties that many of the brands here are also free from. Their strapline is superior skincare, responsible earthcare".

Hema is a gorgeous, tightly edited range of hand-blended organic oils from facialist Margaret Hema, based in Wellington, New Zealand. The actual formulations are a trade secret, but we know they contain  New Zealand certifed organic avocado oil, New Zealand certifed organic Pacific Blue Lavender, East Cape organic manuka essential oil, New Zealand certifed organic Totarol, UMF 15 active East Cape manuka honey, New Zealand certified organic borage oil, New Zealand certifed organic evening primrose oil, New Zealand meadowfoam oil, New Zealand organic calendula oil and New Zealand certifed organic olive oil. All oils have a 9-month shelf life. The design of the bottles and logo are both gorgeous. Next time we're in New Zealand, we know where we're booking a facial.

Sans is a body and haircare range from Stephen Marr and Lucy Vincent-Marr. Called new generation ceuticals, the site features a sexy video with a bathing girl to introduce you to their brand. Highly active yet free from harsh chemical additives, Sans boasts fifteen simple products, a clean crisp lemon verbena-meets-vanilla scent and a look that's a bit Le Labo-meets-Fresh. Only available in New Zealand... for now.

Dr Wendy's 100% Botanical Skincare uses cold-pressed oils and active aromatics. ALL synthetic ingredients are banned. Available for both professional and salon use the site is refreshingly honest and says, for example, when you can use a product for two purposes instead of suggesting you purchase two separate things.

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Other fun New Zealand beauty bits? World is a bit like New Zealand's Colette too so check it out if you're down there. And Lancome is the new home to a Kiwi who goes by the name of Aaron de May. He's their global creative director.