Are NZ-made beauty products up to the task of keeping Kiwis beautiful?
Home » Blog » Sarah Marquet » Are NZ-made beauty products up to the task of keeping Kiwis beautiful?Sarah reviews a range of NZ-made beauty products and decides which ones work best for her.
Trilogy products
I've been using Trilogy’s shampoo and conditioner for a while now. It has been all right, but not amazing. Unless I straighten my hair it’s not really shiny—and my hair has always been shiny, no matter which shampoo I used, so even though I can’t be certain, I assume this is due to Trilogy. Like any product, it doesn’t seem to suit everyone. My mother has short, wavy hair (compared to my medium length, straight hair) and found Trilogy made it limp and lifeless.
On the plus side, normally if I don't shampoo for a day my hair would be limp and a little greasy by the next day. With Trilogy I have generally been getting two days of good hair per shampoo, which means the shampoo and conditioner bottles last twice as long, which makes me feel better about spending so much on them!
I’ve found some of Trilogy’s other products amazing. I’ve been using its hand-cream, even though the price is a little steep for my budget! It does tend to separate and I have to remember to shake it up before applying. Some people who have used it have found it greasy. I find it is when first applied, but sinks in quickly and leaves my hands soft. (I also managed to pick up some half-price Linden Leaves hand cream, which is also a great product.)
Used as a body moisturiser, Trilogy’s Everything Balm is the best product I have ever found. It keeps my skin moisturised for a few days at a time, meaning I only need to use it three or four times a week. It's relatively expensive so it’s good that I don’t have to use it every day. I particularly like the balm because it works on the little goose-pimply things that cover my upper arms. Apparently, the bumps are caused by an excess of vitamin K and there is nothing that can be done about them. They’ve never really bothered me (although I did feel a bit self-conscious about it through high school, especially when people mistook it for a rash) but it’s great to have found a product that almost completely gets rid of them.
Manig Olies Products
Mum and I have also tried Manig Olies facewash and moisturiser. It’s one of the more expensive New Zealand-made skincare ranges available, because it's made on a small production scale—more of a back-room manufacturing model than large-scale production like Trilogy. Mum and I have quite similar skin: clear and sometimes dry. I also have a mildly oily t-zone and Mum has more dry patches. Generally though, we’re pretty much the same and both of us found the moisturiser didn’t really work. It sat on our skin and didn’t sink in, leaving it feeling greasy. We both felt like our skin couldn’t breathe.
The Manig Olies body moisturiser was better, but it didn’t go far as it sunk in almost instantly. This absorption result seems to be quite opposite to their face moisturiser. This may be because my skin is a bit dry!
Skinfood Range
Skinfood is the perfect skincare range for me. The facewash usually removes my makeup in one go and I only need one application of the moisturiser. This is an improvement on the results I was getting from using Dove moisturiser, which required two applications or my skin would be left feeling tight and kind of dry. It also seems to keep my t-zone in check.
Not only can I get it at the supermarket, but it’s only $12 for a tube of facewash or moisturiser. Admittedly this is not as cheap as other non-NZ-made supermarket stocked brands, but it’s definitely far cheaper than any other New Zealand-made skincare range I have found and I think it’s just as good as the more expensive Trilogy products.
The dream team
If I had my pick, my at-home skincare regime would consist of Triology shampoo and conditioner, Skinfood facewash and moisturiser, Trilogy Everything Balm and Trilogy so-hand-softening hand cream. Beautiful.
Thu July 22, 2010 @ 05:17 PM
