Fresh reviews: new Olive skincare products

If you're a fan of New Zealand's own Olive skincare, then you'll be excited to learn they recently launched two new products to their range - Clarifying Face Wash and Illuminating Face Polish.

Just before James was born, the good people at Olive sent me these face products to try, along with their 100% natural lip balm.

The nice thing about these products is they are free from really nasty chemicals like parabens (the preservative linked to breast cancer), mineral oils, artificial colourants or fragrances and silicones. And the products aren't tested on animals either.

The Clarifying Face Wash contains anti-aging olive leaf extract, moisturising extra virgin olive oil, brightening angelica root extract, hydrating marshmallow extract and restoring pro vitamin B5.
It cleanses gently, but thoroughly enough to get makeup off.

The Clarifying Face Wash costs $22.95.

The Illuminating Face Polish is the standout product to me.
It contains a luxurious blend of natural exfoliants and pure plant extracts to deeply cleanse, nourish and illuminate the skin. Kaolin Clay refines the skin by gently drawing toxins and lifting dead cells and impurities. Manuka Honey and Bilberry Extract assist natural cell regeneration for a healthy glowing complexion.

What I first notice about this face polish is the smell.
Divine.
And it has a rich, creamy feel that I adore.
The only downside is that the actual polishing beads are slightly too scratchy for my liking. I would prefer it if there were more of them and they were finer. That said, my skin does feel lovely and smooth after using this product.

The Illuminating Face Polish costs $26.95.

I can't find the full ingredients list for these two products, so I'm not sure if they also contain cheap fillers we should be aware of. The price is low enough that I think there must be something bulking the products out. Water maybe?

Onto the 100% natural lip balm then. It's nice to have lip balm hanging out in my handbag these hot (and often windy), summer days.
This lip balm feels slick on and my lips are temporarily soothed by it thanks to many lovely ingredients like beeswax, shea butter, olive oil, jojoba and manuka honey.
However, I'm disappointed to see that the lip balm's two main ingredients are soybean oil and cottonseed oil.
I guess that's how the price is kept low, just $8.95 for 10ml.
I was also disappointed by the smell of this lip balm - there isn't any. Smell is important to me, especially on a product sitting directly under my nose.

My advise to the formulators of this product is to ditch the cheap vegetable oils, add in some beautiful smelling and nourishing essential oils, like the ones used in the Illuminating Face Polish, and charge a little more for a lip balm that's a real winner.

You can find all of these Olive products and more in Farmers, at pharmacies and online at www.simuolive.co.nz.