spruced by marlene

When was the last time you walked past Lush and thought: „I absolutely HAVE to go in for some exciting beauty finds“? You know, those shops that you can smell before you see them by their overwhelmingly sweet scent. My last visit was around the same time I went to Bodyshop and asked for a large bottle of White Musk. So in 199… nevermind.

But I’ve recently rediscovered Bodyshop. And Lush turned out to be as much of a surprise. I ended up there after reading a recommendation on another blog – I’m almost sure it was on Make It Last, a really worthwhile blogazine on sustainable fashion and beauty – about one of their natural deodorants. Still, when I stood in the shop, with quivering nostrils, and looked at a mountain of waxy blocks of Aromaco, I was more than sceptical. Could a deodorant that somebody stirred together in wooden vat, which is how I (probably wrongly) imagine natural cosmetics are manufactured, do the same job as the ExtraSuperDry24HourProtection from spraycans that I’ve been using for years? Or will I end up standing in the tram on a hot summer’s day, ecologically sound, but with sweat stains under my arms the size of Lake Erie? Smelling of patchouli?

And how exactly do you use a deodorant that comes in blocks? Admittedly, the handling was a little bit awkward at first. So is, incidentally, the transportation. On a recent trip to Copenhagen, I packed it in a tupperware container – glamorous, I know. But the effect is pretty incredible. I don’t want to talk more about my armpits to you than strictly necessary, so in brief: it keeps me dry, it doesn’t leave weird residue on clothes and the scent is quite subtle. I’m so conviced by it that I’ve in fact binned my emergency deo stick.

What about you? Are there any underrated beauty brands that you’ve rediscovered?