Kind Culture > Articles by: Sonam

Author: Sonam

Founder, Editor & Blogger for Kind Culture. London based brand strategy, content and campaign management specialist. Passionate about supporting cruelty-free beauty brands, cooking and reading books about spirituality.

KiteNest Organic Dry Shampoo Review

Bath & Body, General, Hair Care, Reviews

KiteNest Organic Dry Shampoo Review

Hi everyone!

I hope you all are having a good week. ☺

Today I wanted to share an amazing product that I’ve been using for the past two weeks – KiteNest’s Organic Dry Shampoo.

A little about KiteNest

KiteNest are a Lincolnshire based company whose motto ‘Natural Creations Without Compromise’ is not only central to their ethical focus but to almost everything that they do and create. All of KiteNest’s products are 100% natural, paraben-free, cruelty-free, vegan and are individually crafted and handmade by Chris and Markus. The products that KiteNest sell range from hair care, skin care as well as beeswax products. Everything about this company is clean and green from the product itself, to the packaging including the vermiculite cushioning that’s used to pad the box packaging when shipping the orders.

The Organic Dry Shampoo 

About the product

The Organic dry shampoo is 100% natural and organic, cruelty-free and vegan-friendly, containing no talc and no toxic chemicals or GMOs. The cardboard tube is fully recyclable, and is sourced from responsibly maintained forests in Northern Europe. There are two different organic dry shampoo’s that are available to buy, one for light hair tones and the other being for dark hair tones. (It’s best to get in contact with the KiteNest team, if you’re unsure of which one would be best for your hair type.)

When using the dry shampoo, you simply need to apply some to the roots of your hair and massage it in for roughly 30 seconds to a minute, depending on how thick your hair is or how satisfied with it you are. Once you feel that the shampoo has absorbed the excess oil and moisture then you can brush through your hair to remove the excess powder and style however you like.

KiteNest’s Organic Dry Shampoo is available to buy via their website and is priced at £10 for 150g and if your order is over £30 your postage will be free! (That’s unfortunately only for U.K residents)

Review

The organic dry shampoo that I’ve been using is for dark hair tones. When using it the first thing that I noticed was the ethically sourced packaging and that the dry shampoo smelt like grapefruit – which I love. The powder itself is very lightweight and generally has a very fine texture that’s like talc powder.

At first I made the silly mistake of using too much product on my hair – which resulted in me having to shake most of it off. I eventually realised that I should put on a little bit at a time, and this helped with getting rid of the natural oil in my hair significantly. Quick tip – if you have long hair like mine, then it’s best to use the dry shampoo over your bath tub so that you’re not making too much of a mess or having to struggle over the sink like I did.

Overall, the organic dry shampoo works well in terms of making your hair look and smell fresher than it actually is (lol). The way that it manages to absorb the natural oils and excess moisture in my hair, without having to do much on my part, takes off such a big load as managing my hair is easily the most high maintenance task that I (and many of you all) have to deal with daily. So it’s definitely a thumbs up from me! ☺👍🏼

 

Lastly, I’d like to thank the KiteNest Marketing & PR team for sending me the awesome Organic Dry Shampoo. To check out KiteNest’s full range of products click here.

To read and learn more about how to recycle the vermiculite cushioning click on the link here.

I hope you all enjoyed the review. ♥

Read more hair care reviews here.

Do natural deodorants work?

Bath & Body, General

Hello everyone! How is your weekend going so far?

Do natural deodorants work? Yes! But of course one word isn’t the best way to answer the question.

The reviews that are on this site are all done by myself, from testing out the products, to writing my thoughts about it – but today I’d like to share some research and reviews on natural deodorants (carried out by a very reliable source) – Reviews.com. And of course, like always all the products are cruelty-free and vegan!

Who are Reviews.com?

Reviews.com is a wesbite created and managed by an inquisitive small team who test and review products. Once they review the products and services the team collectively decide on which products and services are the best. Personally I quite like the idea of a team collectively deciding what is the ‘best’ as this makes the research more credible and valuable.

After talking with a dermatologist, a chemist, and two natural deodorant creators, the Reviews.com team hand-tested 23 deodorants to find their top picks: aluminum-free formulas with pleasant scents, goop-free application, and minimal residue.

The Best Natural Deodorants:

1 | Sam’s Natural Deodorant –  “The product is free of aluminum, free of common irritants, and its first two ingredients (coconut oil and baking soda) are verified odor-blockers. We found the circular stick easy to maneuver across our pits, and it left minimal goop on clothes and only a faint sheen on skin. The Cedar and Women’s scents that we tested both lasted through two hours of wear — without smelling overpowering — and if neither of these options appeals to you, Sam’s offers 13 more scents. Each stick is reasonably priced ($10 for 3 ounces) and an easy gateway for anyone interested in transitioning to a natural product.” Those of you based in the U.K can order directly from the Sam’s Natural website by clicking here.

 

2 | Schmidt’s Natural Deodorant – “Schmidt’s sticks for regular skin boast the same odor-busting coconut oil and baking soda as Sam’s, in a similarly flake- and residue-free formula. We tried four of its seven scents and liked the cool “freshly fallen rain” nose of the Charcoal+Magnesium formula — although if you like a pop of floral, its Rose+Vanilla certainly delivers. The price point is about the same as Sam’s: around $10 for 3 ounces.” Schmidt’s Natural Deodorant is available to here in the U.K from Naturisimo.com.

 

3 | For Pit’s Sake! Natural Deodorant – “This product comes in a stick that leaves almost no residue, but we did have to use quite a bit of force to fully coat our pits, which some of our hairy-pitted testers weren’t too into. That said, it includes all threeof the odor-blocking ingredients we pinpointed in our research — coconut oil, baking soda, and zinc — at a comfortable $9.” Unfortunately I couldn’t find any stockists here in the U.K, and I couldn’t find any details of internation shipping but if you are interesting in buying it’s worth getting in touch with the sellers.

 

4 | Green Tidings All-Natural Deodorant -“Like Sam’s and Schmidt’s, this deodorant is vegan and cruelty-free, but its ingredients are also certified organic by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and it’s made in a solar-powered plant. The trade-off? It’s a little more expensive, at $8 for a 1-ounce tube. Green Tidings is aluminum-free and includes baking soda and (organic) coconut oil to fend off body odor. The subtle scent (courtesy of organic lavender essential oil) didn’t last as long as Sam’s, but after two hours, we didn’t notice any BO, either. Testers did find the product a bit gritty, but some of them liked this added assurance that they’d successfully coated their underarms.” Again, this product only seems to be available in the U.S on Amazon.

 

 5 | Fatco Women’s Stank Stop Deodorant – “was the only other natural dedorant we tested that included all three of our wish-list odor-blockers. (It’s also Certified Paleo, and includes beef tallow as a moisturizer.) Fatco is a cream, which means you’ll need to dip your fingers into a (very small) jar to apply the product — a process our testers weren’t wild about. But the deodorant itself was very effective, with a pleasant smell and minimal residue.” Buy online from Amazon (U.S.) 

 

6 | Agent Nateur & Shiva Rose Holi Rose Deodorant – “seemed almost like a combination of deodorant and women’s perfume (although not everyone liked the rose and sandalwood scent). Holi Rose leaves very little residue, and while it was also the most expensive product that we tested ($25 for 1.7 ounces), it’s a good high-end option if you’re concerned about protecting delicate fabric.” You can buy this online from Amazon (U.S).

I’d like to thank the Reviews.com team for sharing their research with me and for allowing me to post about it. ☺

If you’d like to see the full research and review then please click here

2 Year Blogiversary

General, Inspiration

Happy Sunday everyone! ☺

I hope you’ve had a lovely week. Can you believe it’s my 2 Year Blogiversary?! 🎂🎉💃🏽 I can’t believe that it’s been two years since I created Kind Culture.

There is so much more that I would like to achieve and do with this blog, and personally I’m so proud of how far along I have come from being a complete newbie to steadily learning about cruelty-free and vegan products, sustainability, fashion and all the technical aspects that come with blogging.

Blogging has taught me a lot about juggling many different things in one go, from personal issues to work commitments and so on, despite taking breaks in between I feel like I have done okay so far. I think it’s important to celebrate these kind of milestones, even if others may consider it to be small, celebrating your achievements can have such a positive effect on everything you do in general.

I’m so grateful for all of the opportunities that I’ve had through Kind Culture and all of the lovely people that I’ve had the opportunities to work with. Through Kind Culture I’ve managed to be a part of an online community of people that are so supportive and motivating – I honestly feel so blessed!

Thank you for all of your love and support ♥

(Cupcake time >.< haha)

Arbonne International Review

Bath & Body, Beauty, General, Makeup, Reviews, Skincare

Arbonne International Review

Today I’m very excited to share some quick product reviews of a few Arbonne Cosmetics samples that I received a little while back.

A little about Arbonne International…

Arbonne International are an all vegan brand that have been around for almost 40 years, and their products are based on the philosophy of using pure, botanically based ingredients in scientifically tested products. Arbonne create a variety of products ranging from skincare, personal care, nutrition, makeup as well as hair care. They formulate their products without parabens, artificial sweetners, gluten, synthetic dyes, petrolatum, artificial flavours – and best of all they are strictly cruelty-free!

One thing that I personally love about their brand is their ‘Arbonne Ever Green Commitment’ to being as clean and green as possible by creating products with recyclable packaging, using recycled and recyclable shipping boxes, reducing their carbon emissions and conserving water.

My verdict

So moving on to the samples that I received…

RE9 Advanced Collection – The Day Cream was definitely my favourite out of these, the cream was lightweight and moisterised my skin without feeling oily it has a nice light citrus smell to it that lasted quite a while.

 

FC5 Collection – The Hydrating Eye Cream was another product that I liked the most. It has a combination of lime, ginger & cucumber extracts which keeps the cream smelling very refreshing, it’s perfect to use as a base cream before applying eyeshadow.

 

 

It’s A Long Story Mascara – I was very impressed with the way that the mascara separates and lifts the lashes in one go. It generally gives the lashes a natural looking boost with out clumping which is perfect for every day makeup.

 

Lastly, I’d like to thank Maggie Goleniak for sending the lovely samples! ☺

To learn more about the Arbonne products and Arbonne in general you can contact Maggie Goleniak (Independent Health & Beauty Consultant) by emailing her at madzior79@yahoo.co.uk. You can also check out the full range of products that Arbonne offer by clicking here. I hope you all enjoyed my Arbonne International Review.

Read more beauty posts here. 

Forever Against Animal Testing

Bath & Body, General, Inspiration, Reviews, Skincare

Hello everyone!

Happy Sunday – I hope you all had a lovely weekend. ☺

Some of you may have already seen the Forever Against Animal Testing campaign that Cruelty Free International and The Body Shop have created to put an end to cosmetics testing on animals on a global scale.

Ban Animal Testing

Animal testing remains a problem around the world, with over 80% of countries still having no laws against testing
in cosmetic products and ingredients. Despite the fact that reliable alternatives are available, millions of animals
continue to suffer. Cruelty Free International estimates that more than 500,000 animals are used worldwide in
cosmetics testing each year.

The Body Shop and Cruelty Free International’s new campaign Forever Against Animal Testing is calling
for a ban on animal testing in cosmetic products and ingredients, everywhere and forever, through
a United Nations International Convention. It is the most ambitious campaign ever against animal testing
in cosmetics, hoping to achieve 8 million signatures. We want to stop all cosmetic animal testing of ingredients
and products, everywhere and forever.

Quick review

Those of you that follow me on my social media accounts will have seen that I have posted and shared the petition to try and get more people involved and I’d like to thank the lovely people from the The Body Shop PR team for sending me a Special Edition Piñita Colada Body Butter with a custom Forever Against Animal Testing sticker on there. I’ve been using the Special Edition Piñita Colada Body Butter for the past few days and I am loving it! It smells like a fresh bottle of tropical juice (lol). The body butter is quite a lightweight cream that works well with the summer with the intense weather that we’ve been having here lately. It’s definitely worth getting before they all go! ☺

As someone who is passionate about the Cruelty-free movement, I feel that it’s important to not only support campaigns like this but to also support the brands that are actively making more and more cruelty-free and vegan products like The Body Shop. Together, we can inspire change in the simplest of ways, so please help us end cosmetic testing on animals by signing the Forever Against Animal Testing petition by Cruelty Free International & The Body Shop. ♥

Don’t forget to share this post and spread the word! To sign the petition click here! (The petition ends in 2018)

– Sonam

P.S: Click here for more skincare posts. 

Keep Real

General, Inspiration

Hi everyone! ☺

How have you all been during this scorching weather? Lately I’ve been busy finishing up my course, which has been quite time consuming with work and everything else, thus the lack of activity on here.

Fashion with a purpose

Today I’m so happy to share an exclusive look at a new brand called Keep Real – a Yorkshire based online store that will be launching very soon, on the 1st July 2017 to be precise! What sets Keep Real a part from most brands is their unique ethos of bringing eco-fashion and mental wellbeing to the forefront by staying true to who you are and promoting a healthy attitude in ourselves and others.

The brand will be selling products ranging from stationary to bags as well as t-shirts that are sourced from products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. There will also be a blog dedicated to supporting other creative people who share the same ethos as Keep Real.

CEO and Founder Kimberley Robinson said, “Products create an impact, but we also have
an impact from our choices too. We have the freedom of choice, and we chose to create something real
rad right in the heart of Yorkshire. This starts with selecting what suppliers we feel we can trust.”

Keep Real’s ethical work

In the past, Kimberley has been raising awareness about the issues surrounding young people and mental health and aims to continue doing so through Keep Real by reaching out to the local colleges and universities in Yorkshire. “We have physical health, and heck yeah do we have mental health too. More so now than ever, folk are
really opening their eyes to the impact our mental health has on everything around us.”, says the young
Founder and CEO. “It’s something not enough people are talking about, but if we can start small, while
empowering and supporting other people along the way; then we can see a change in the way we talk
about our well-being.”

To keep up to date with Keep Real you can follow their account on Twitter and Instagram @KeepRealUK

Good luck to Kimberley and her team for the launch of Keep Real on 1st July! ♥

Mental Health Awareness Week

General, Inspiration

Happy Sunday to you all! ♥

I hope you have been well. Lately I’ve been tied up with a new course that I’ve been doing, which is why I’ve been a little inactive but I do have some posts lined up for next month. ☺

Mental Health Awareness Week

This week was Mental Health Awareness Week and it’s been great to see the amount of people that have been raising awareness about mental health in the U.K. I had been following some of the articles about mental health in the U.K and it’s shocking to know that a study by the Mental Health Foundation, found that “only 13% of Britons are living with high levels of good mental health”. It’s not until we see the statistics that mental health is put into perspective especially since the topic is, for the most part, quite neglected.

Mental wellbeing

Despite there being countless studies showing otherwise, mental health and people with mental illnesses are marginalised and isolated as if there mental health problems are a rare case that is something to be ashamed of – which is a whole load of rubbish. We are all inclined to experience a mental illness just as much as we experience can problems with our physical health. The real issue lies in being able to provide the right support system for each other and helping those around you feel comfortable enough to speak freely about their experiences.

I found this quote online that I think perfectly sums up my attitude towards mental health.

“Never give up on someone with a mental illness. When ‘I’ is replaced by ‘we’, illness becomes wellness.” – Shanon L. Alder

If we give those around a little bit more support, time and attention, then we would easily be taking steps in the right direction for mental health.

I hope you all have a lovely week a head. ☺

 

To read the full article on the study by the Mental Health Foundation, click here.

The Body Shop Vegan Makeup Review

Beauty, General, Makeup, Reviews

This week I am so excited to share a new vegan range from an awesome cruelty-free brand with you all – The Body Shop Vegan Makeup range.

From vegetarian to vegan

As most of you cruelty-free lovers know The Body Shop is 100% vegetarian, and as of earlier this year the company have created a vegan make up range. I received the vegan goodie bag a little while back and wanted to share my thoughts on it with you all, so here it goes…

Review

Instaglow CC Cream SPF 20 – I’ve been using the InstaGlow CC Cream in ‘Bright Glow’. It’s generally quite a lightweight tinted CC cream which is actually perfect to wear on a warm sunny day as it is has UVA/UVB protection. The cream works well as both a moisturiser and primer, it also has quite a clean smell to it. Overall I would say that I’m quite impressed with the way that the tinted cream blends into my skin as it gives my skin quite a natural glow, especially when I wear foundation and a highlighter.

 

Shimmer Waves – The Shimmer Waves set that I’ve been using is in ’02 Blush’. All of these colours are very pigmented shimmers. I’ve been using the shimmer waves as both an eyeshadow and as a highlighter – not only are they versatile but they have a nice pop to it. I would definitely recommend you use the InstaGlow CC Cream and the All-in-One InstaBlur Eye to set the base before using the shimmer.

Baked-To-Last-Bronzer – The Baked-To-Last-Bronzer is in the shade ’01 Golden Bronze’ and is yet another highly pigmented product. My skin tone is  yellow based,  so the bronzer adds warmth and gives more depth to my face as a whole. I particularly love the flecks of gold shimmer in the bronzer as it adds to the overall glow of the finish.

 

All-In-One InstaBlur for Eyes – Is a tinted nude-peach, almost foam-like cream that acts as a concealer and primer. The InstaBlur blends in quite quickly, it gives my skin a matte base which helps set the eyes for a long-lasting look. The matte finish of the InstaBlur has helped prolong the look of the eyeshadow.

 

Super Volume Mascara – I’ve got the Super Volume Mascara in ‘Black’. This mascara is definitely my new favourite! Every time that I’ve tried it out, I’m amazed by the way that the mascara never clumps – even when I do my makeup before rushing off to work. The mascara brush works well in terms of lengthening and coating every lash, plus it smells a little like coffee. *NOTE: This is not vegan*

 

Down To Earth Quad Eye Shadow – The quad shadow set that I’ve got here is ’04’. The neutral eyeshadows are great for creating both soft and bold looks, depending on your mood or the occasion. Again this is another highly pigmented product, I didn’t have to use a lot of eyeshadow for it to show up on my eyelids. When using the eyeshadows I paired it with the Super Volume Mascara and Instablur for Eyes as the base which lasted the whole day for me.

As a whole, I would say that The Body Shop vegan makeup range is without doubt worth buying, hopefully The Body Shop will start making the rest of their makeup range vegan.

Thank you to the lovely people from The Body Shop PR team for sending me the awesome vegan makeup goodie bag. ♥

I hope you enjoyed my review, to view and buy The Body Shop vegan makeup range click here.

Don’t forget to comment, share and follow.

 

– Sonam x

P.S: Read more makeup reviews here. 

Alchemy Oils Peppermint Brow Remedy Review

Beauty, General, Hair Care, Reviews

Alchemy Oils Peppermint Brow Remedy Review

I’d like to share another Alchemy Oils product with you all today. Those of you that read my blog regularly will know that I did a review on the Grapfruit Hair Remedy earlier this year and I was so pleased with the hair oil, in fact I still use it. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Alchemy Oils, they are an all natural cruelty-free and vegan brand that make their products based on the practices of Ayurveda and Western hair styling sensibilities.

About the product

With a blend of 5 different oils; Coconut, Argan, Avocado, Rosehip and of course Peppermint Essential oil, the Peppermint Brow Remedy helps stimulate growth and thicken your brows.  It’s best to use the remedy overnight by just placing your index finger over the bottle top of the bottle, tipping it upside down and rubbing the oil that’s on your finger into your brows. When you’re doing this please do make sure that you don’t put too much oil on your brows as the peppermint oil can be quite strong for your eyes.

Review

My first thoughts when using the remedy were mainly about how refreshing the oil smells, it smells pretty much like Polo Mints. After using it overnight for the first time, I was quite surprised at how quickly the look of my brows had thickened. Since then, I’ve been using the Brow remedy for every night for a week and I can see a difference in the growth of my eyebrows.

Before I started using the remedy, I had gaps and uneven hairs in between my eyebrows. The main problem that I had with my eyebrows were the lack of growth of hairs on the right arch of my brow, which were so thin that they were hardly visible. (In the main picture it looks like the problem is with my left arch, but I had to flip the image so that you can read the bottle, so it’s actually the right arch 🙂 )

Honestly, I tend to shy away from using makeup on my eyebrows as I can never get the look right – I either put on too much makeup or my brows look uneven. Within the space of a week, the thinner hairs have become thicker and overall my brows look fuller without having to use makeup – so in short I would without doubt recommend the Alchemy Oils Peppermint Brow Remedy.

Thank you to RebKan PR for sending me the Peppermint Brow Remedy. I hope you all enjoyed my Alchemy Oils Peppermint Brow Remedy review.

To read my review on the Alchemy Oils Grapefruit Hair Remedy, click here. Buy the Alchemy Oils Peppermint Brow Remedy here.

MYnd Map MY Journal

General, Inspiration, Reviews

MYnd Map MY Journal

Happy Sunday everyone! ♥

I hope you all had an amazing week.

A little about MYnd Map

Today I’m so excited to share an exclusive look into a new type of journal, called MYnd Map MY Journal; which encourages and inspires you to stay on track with your dreams, goals, commitments whilst helping you practice different methods of mindfulness and productivity – in short takes the concept of connecting your goals and health with yourself and helps you make it a reality.

Our daily lifestyle consists of doing countless tasks in a short amount of time and it’s easy to become sidetracked and lose focus when, like most people, you have more to do than you can manage. One thing that I personally like about the journal is that there are different techniques that are there to help improve your productivity e.g. the 80/20 rule. There are also daily affirmations and positive psychology practices, giving the journal a hollistic approach to the way that you manage everything.

The Journal

The MYnd MAp MY journal has images that you can colour in to help you visualise whatever you hope to achieve, and to relax. There is space to write or draw what you want to achieve in the calender areas, you can make note of what goals you want to achieve in different aspects of your life whether that be ‘Body & Health’, ‘Family & Relationships’ etc. The pages are also perforated, which is great if you want to create a visual board or take it on the go with you.

The journal is packed with all the things you need to help you achieve your individual goals, whether that be personal, career-related, or in your education. The journal will be officially launching on the 5th April on Kickstarter, to stay updated follow @MYndMap online on Twitter and Instagram! ☺

Download a FREE 21-day PDF version of MYnd Map MY Journal by clicking here.

For more inspirational posts, click here.

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