TRAVEL TALES | New Zealand's top beauty brands

RECENTLY MY husband and I went off the grid in a rented 1991 Toyota camper van, driving around New Zealand's countryside hopping from winery to winery, staying in a wild bird santuary, hiking around Anchor Bay, relaxing at Hot Water Beach, polishing our heels in the black sand beach at Piha, eating endless Persimons in Matakana, floating in the sulfurous, steamy waters around Auckland... it was an unintentionally healthy getaway jam packed with wellness (even our jam was made from grapes right off the vineyard), nature and pretty fantastic natural beauty products. Yes, I made a point of stopping in every chemist I could find and they were chokka with manuka honey products, thermal clays and all sorts.

The movies (Eagle vs. Shark) and TV shows (Flight of the Concords) that make New Zealand look and sound boring and bitty are wrong. Well, they're wrong if you like beauty (and wine).

So have your pen at the ready because you'll want to jot down these names for the next time you're on the hunt for new beauty game particularly if you've gone more organic with your beauty. You'll notice most brands are niche, eco-aware, free from some common nasties in mainstream brands, locally or sustainably sourced and quite proud of their Kiwi heritage.

NEW ZEALAND'S FINEST BEAUTY BUYS

Skinfood (although I did find this Korean brand called Skinfood too) is a super affordable range that retails at Waitrose. I started using it when in graduate school back in 2004. Standout ingredients include coconut palm, essential orange, avocado oil, sunflower oil, witch hazel, manuka honey, aloe vera, lavender oil and tea tree oil. The second ingredient in their Light Moisturiser is Aloe. All the products are unisex and, frankly, get the job done at a great price point and without a ton of the nasties.

Snowberry is high-end natural skincare with stand-out serums and cleansers. It's stocked in chi-chi places like Colette. Branding done by Rob Ryan, ingredients like Algae Extract and Pullalan, bio-active peptides, Phytic acid and Totarol.

Karen Murrell makes skincare, bodycare, men's grooming products and cosmetics that are certified organic. Her range of natural lipsticks is gorgeous. Even the packaging (including lipstick tubes) are biodegradable (starting just 100 days after thrown away). All contractors ensure they use ethical working conditions and all of her products are free from parabens, artifical colourants and fragrances, petrochemicals, harsh detergents, talc, TEA and other toxic ingredients. 

Living Nature was created by New Zealand's only Miss Universe. It's one of the more ubiquitous Kiwi brands. There are dozens and dozens of SKUs and many of their skincare and cosmetics have won Natural Health Magazine Awards in the 20 years since they launched. They're certified organic by the German body BDIH. 

Evolu Botanical Skincare is a gorgeous range. Every product starts from a base of the evolu essence, which is pure botanicals and New Zealand spring water. Plant extracts and bioactives are added to this base alongside 100% pure cosmetic grade essential oils. Evoluve is free from parabens, petrochemicals, minerals, phthalates, sulfates, artificial colours and fragrances. The only animal products used are beeswax and lanolin. Shop by skin type or condition.

Huni is all about the Manuka Honey with proprietary honeycomb packaging. Ingredients are sustainably harvested and it's anti-ageing products have been tested in independent trials to diminish the signs of ageing.

Kio Kio body products use no parabens, petrochemicals or derivatives or propylene glycol, PEGS, silicones, GMOs, artificial colours, synthetic fillers, isothiazolinone, DEA or TEA, IBPC, harsh detergents or surfactants. The water used in its products is from New Zealand alpine ranges with high amounts of skin-nourishing silica. The four scent are Pacific Tiare & Ti Kauka, Rainforest & Koromiko, Frangipani & Puriri and Citrus Petal and Tarata (all very New Zealand-South Pacific).

Parrs manufactures many of the products you see in the chemist at the airport in New Zealand, from Wild Ferns manuka honey products to thermal mud products, tea tree oil, New Zealand lanolin and items from the mineral spa waters found there too.

We'll finish this bad boy tomorrow with 8 more amazing Kiwi beauty brands that you have to know about! Until then, check out our favourite new French beauty brand!

READ PART II of the best New Zealand beauty brands...

TRIED AND TESTED | Top 5 natural winter skincare combos

Beautywoome.com contributor Julia Rebaudo gets her skin armed and ready for the winter weather to come. Check out her top picks to from natural brands for the best moisture boost this cold season.

WINTER SKIN needs a little extra TLC to protect against the cold weather and dry indoor heat. What a better (and simple) plan of attack is there than to double up the hydrating routine? I’m already a big fan of layering on a facial oil or serum before moisturising – nothing beats it for day-long hydration and happy skin. I’ve been testing what’s on offer to give me this one-two hydration punch from the natural skincare brands, and here are the best of the bunch.

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French organic skincare from Melvita | Sponsored post

I WANT young skin. Don't we all? But it's a fact that the one thing we're not getting as we age is younger (don't believe the commercials!). That said, you can give good skin even as it matures over the years, genes and nature be damned. Sometimes it seems we can't be bothered to put in the ground work to keep it in top form though.

Which brings me to the streak of all things French that I've been on lately. My eyes have been re-opened to the military precision with which French women are rumoured to attack their daily skincare regime. A recent Mintel study stating that French women spend more on their skincare than their European sisters – by a lot – isn't surprising. Sure, they discreetly dabble with the old jab of Juvederm later in life, but, true to the stereotype, their skin seems to age better (with and without cosmetic surgery) than that of their US and UK counterparts, if my eye-witness, anecdotal evidence – and spate of articles (New York Times et al) – has anything to say about it.

So when France's top-selling organic (ECOCERT) beauty brand Melvita (owned by L'Occitane) was rumoured to be coming to both the US and UK, I nearly melted into an agitated puddle of anticipation. Melvita (honey + life for the linguists out there) is now in standalone shops in the US (San Francisco, Seattle and Newport Beach, Manhattan (opening winter 2010)) and available most readily at Whole Foods and John Lewis in the UK.

Founder and Biologist Bernard Chevilliat started his career in beauty as a beekeeper, much like Burt Shavitz of Burt's Bees. Re-locating to south-central France in the late 1970s, he started an apiary that ended up several hundred hives large. They made honeycombed soap from the bee byproducts and, what do you know, it snowballed into a range of certified organic skin care products like skincare, bodycare, fragrance, plant oils, floral waters and haircare that use ethically sourced and harvest ingredients (full ingredient lists are featured online) to do everything from fight acne to clean baby and fight the ravages of time.

To paraphrase a well-known saying – an ounce of preventative (in this case organic) skincare is certainly worth a pound of facial fillers later.

Learn more about Melvita