Organic Brands: lavera

lavera (which means 'the truth') is one of the original and best known organic brands, and in its native Germany, it's one of the biggest sellers out of all cosmetic brands - organic and otherwise. Given the massive size of the German market, that's a pretty good recommendation.

The brand started when its founder, Thomas Haase, a sufferer of a skin condition known as neurodermatitis, couldn't find a product to suit his skin. He began to look into the benefits of natural cosmetics and how chemical and pesticide free formulations could help him. In 1975 he created his first product, a lip balm, and after another 12 years of research and personal experimentation, he was ready to launch his own brand. lavera was born, and from the beginning has maintained Haase's philosophy that organic materials be used, the products be 100% free of synthetic preservatives and that testing ocurrs on willing human subjects.

The range is really impressive (and effective! we'll have more on lavera shortly when our guinea pigs report back) and contains way more than just skin care items - there is a spa range, sun care products and makeup. Within skin care there are several ranges - for dry and mature skin, sensitive and delicate skin, for combination skin, for young skin, an anti-ageing range, and a range for men. The spa range is massive - there are gorgeous products for bathing, scrubbing, body oils and lotions. There are also products for baby and child and self-tanning as well as deoderants, soaps, handcream and haircare.

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The makeup range is also completely comprehensive which means that if you do want to make a committment to going organic, then lavera really will cover all the bases for you. Makeup includes tinted moisturisers, foundation, concealer, powder, blusher, lipsticks and gloss, shadows, liners and mascara. Phew! Because everything is natural, you're not going to get the same range of colours that you will with other brands, but it's a small price to pay.

One of the best things about lavera is affordability. Organic brands often seem to come with premium pricing, but not this stuff, which really helps to broaden its appeal because you don't feel excluded from it by the price factor. The range starts at €2.90 for a lipbalm. Moisturisers cost up to €15, cleansing milks cost about €9, makeup is mostly under €20. The anti-ageing range is noticeably more expensive than the other products - a serum will cost you about €49.

So where can you buy lavera? In Ireland, health food shops are your best bet. Their Irish distributor is called Evenone and they sell the range online. Orders over €30 qualify for free shipping too, so it's a cost effective way to shop. I've ordered from them and the service was good with the products arriving quickly. My order came complete with lots of samples too, always a bonus!

The only slight problem I'd have with lavera is that the some of the packaging is naff - but that's a completely side issue and has nothing to do with the products themselves. I'm just a fussy bitch!