Haul: By Nature Regular Bars

We ran out of soap and I had to make do with buying at the mall. After trying out the bar for a wash, I knew there was no way I was going to use store-bought soap again. It was just so awkward to feel so squeaky after taking a bath. Being on handmade soap for a while sure made me picky.

But then, why should I settle? It absolutely doesn't dry out my skin, it lasts so much longer, and I'm happy not to use any of the chemicals they dump into the usual soaps. So I went online to my favorite supplier, Organic Joys and went trigger-happy, filling an order of 9 regular soaps from By Nature. It sure was nice to get the soaps within the week through Pedala.

I decided on getting some new variants for fun. Divine Olive, Cinnamon Spice, Cinnachoco, Gentle Lavender, Golden Honey Oats, Honey Lemon, Green Tea Escape and Warm Patchouli. I threw in a Cocoa Butter Melt as it's one of my all-time fave, being unscented, moisturizing and just really good for the skin. The stand-out among this haul is the Cinnachoco. It's really sweet without being cloying and after a bath, the hub asks why I smell so good. Loving...

Love: By Nature Milkenhoney Soap

I know. The post is way too late considering how I've been a regular buyer of this soap for months. I've posted my hauls on this twice already and have stopped posting them as it seems so repetitive.

To start with, I didn't think much about this soap when I got it from Organic Joys at first. I simply wanted a good cold-processed soap that was good to use for breastfeeding women and this is one of the recommended soaps. Additionally, it was good for infants though not for newborns (less than a month), so I figured that if I ran out of baby's soap, I could use this one.

My initial impression of the soap is that it smelled very faintly of honey. I actually like that it's faint because I'm going on sensory overload with scents these days as I'm avoiding perfumes on everything (including lotion). It's not Lush's Honey I Washed the Kids (a favorite of mine before my pregnancy) but it's a genuine honey smell. The type that wafts out of a good bottle of organic honey when you open it.

On using it, I find it to be the creamiest of all By Nature soaps I've tried. It was creamier than the Dairy Bar. It was an instant favorite. It's so non-drying that I use it on my face, even.

It lasts quite some time. I cut my soap into quarters and a bar lasts more than a month at our home as long as I make sure to drain the water in a good soap dish after use. For the price, you can't beat that.

Love: By Nature Disinfect It! Spray

This is my liquid band-aid. It smells like band-aid, I swear. I spray it on my hands whenever I’m going to start pumping (milk) whenever water and soap isn’t available. I spray it on baby’s bum when changing his diaper when we go out and I spray it on whatever surface I might set him on. I spray it when I feel my hands are gritty and dirty. And I spray it around a weird smelling taxi. I love that I don’t have to deal with alcohol or triclosan.

I keep one at home and another one in my bag. Love that it’s water-based. Works for me lots.

Initial picture from the By Nature website.

Love: By Nature Sunblock Away

This is one of those products I share with my man. I bought this because I'm using a citrus soap for my stretch marks and if I don't load up on sunblock, I might end up with some weird skin disease and/or color. I'd hate that.
I'm an advocate of sunblock. Just ask me why I look like a teenager at my age and I'd say it's sunscreen, the sun being the biggest cause of skin aging. I've used sunscreen since college and I won't stop anytime soon.
Why By Nature? First off, I have a new baby boy and since I'm currently breastfeeding, I'd like to limit the products I use to more natural ones. Anything I put on me, goes to my body and gets fed to him. Anything I put on my skin, especially to my face, gets rubbed off on him. By Nature is one of those natural products and I love their line. They list their ingredients on the package and I like what I read.
I like the price of this thing. I'd understand if one is skeptical because it's in a small package, smaller than most sunscreen containers in the market. However, this is oil-based and not at all a thick cream like most sunscreens are. A little goes a long way, actually. You don't want to look like an oily white mess with this so a dot on the face and little bit more on other exposed portions of the body. My hubby likes to pile on his products but even he uses very little of this as he knows it's basically oil with UV protection.
The first ingredient is sesame oil. Great stuff, really. Full of vitamin E and antioxidants. Who wouldn't want that on their skin? Skip to the webpage and scroll to the product portion if you want to know more about the other stuff in it. Because of the oils, we've been skipping moisturizer. I haven't been using anything harsh on my skin lately and my soap has some moisturizing properties so I'm okay with or without. Hubby's skin, though could use some moisture and with this, has actually improved. He is now a believer of less ingredients being better.
The product is a physical sunscreen, being non-irritant to the skin. It contains titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. There have been health concerns on these two but what can I do? Chemical sunscreens could mess up my hormones too. I could skip sunscreen altogether but I'd rather not skip going out in sunshine and gosh, doesn't the sun just sting lots without any kind of sunscreen?
As to any skin reactions. We've had no negative ones and as mentioned above, hubby's skin has improved. He has reactions on most moisturizers he uses, breaking out frequently, including to the ones I've used on myself with no adverse reactions. Sunblock Away, as with all By Nature products have a short ingredient list and with less ingredients, less chemicals and less irritants are absorbed by the skin.
We really like this thing and we're sticking to it like a fly to poop. Oh love!

Picture from the product website.

Haul: By Nature

Once again, this post is late. So late that I could follow on with a review on all the products, which I won't. Yes, I am a bad blogger. But then, I'm no longer on maternity leave.


To sum up my hauls, the first haul made two weeks before the latest were soaps and Disinfect It! Spray.

From top left is Citrus White, which I hoped would erase the dark photosensitive marks on my body brought on by the pregnancy. It didn't work as of yet but I only used it for a week. I can only review on scent and it's non-drying properties. Efficacy will have to wait. To report, it is citrusy.

I liked Milkenhoney best out of all the soaps. I'll post some more love on it later. Scent is fresh honey from a jar.

Lavender Treat was somewhat of a disappointment for me. I expected it to smell like lavender, really but it smelled a whole lot like herbs to me. It wasn't sweet enough for the lavender lover in me.

Olive Beauty is the least scented out of all the soaps. I like it for my hair but we use it more on baby's skin. So far so good with my baby's super sensitive skin. One bar could last 6 months.

Dairy Bar is the creamiest soap out of the lot but please don't expect the scent of milk. It actually smelled herbal as well.

To sum up my soap-buying experience for By Nature, I like them a lot and they deliver as promised when it comes to the effect of the soap on the skin. Except for Citrus White. It will probably take the whole soap for me to be able to judge any effect at all. This is fair, I think. If a soap whitens you in the first week, it is stripping way too much of your skin layers. Much better to wait it out.

I didn't mention the last soap, Cocoa Butter Melt, because I didn't buy it for myself.

Additionally, I also got a bottle of Disinfect It Spray. It's a water-based disinfectant. I like it. It smells like band aid, weirdly enough, and I tote it around in my bag.

My next haul was a follow-up. I have bought the Baby Oilotion and Baby Salve before and the last haul had the Disinfect It Spray. The only new buy in the lot was the Sunblock Away. It's SPF 55. I figure that if I was going to use a whitening soap, I better load up on sun protection. It's working so far and I'm skipping the moisturizer as it's oil-based.

As usual, I got the lot through Pedala from Organic Joys. Aimee was so nice. She sent me the hauls once the order was confirmed before I even paid for them. So then I had to pay promptly.

Craves: By Nature

As I've posted my wish list from the Ilog Maria catalog last time, I may as well share another list from another line I love.

I would like to try the following:

Cocoa Butter Melt, P115
This soap is moisturizing and fragrance-free, which is ideal while I'm still breastfeeding. I actually bought one already but sold it to a friend of mine whose father has a skin condition.

Lavender Treat, P145
There's absolutely no question that I love lavender.

Dairy Bar, P145
I've always wanted to try goat milk in my soap.

Baby Blue, P145
This soap is good for sensitive skin and I've learned that the main ingredient, blue chamomile, is good for boo-boos.

Just Tea Tree, P145
My hubby's skin tends to flare up and I'm wondering if I should get him this to stop said flares.

No Bites Bar, P145
Dengue season. That's all.

Disinfect It! Spray, P190
Alcohol is not good for babies so I'd like to try this so as to have something on hand that won't do any harm to my child.

Facial Oil in One, P250
I've found that their salves and balms are really good for my face so I'm guessing that the dedicated product would probably be even better.

Moisturizing Insect Repellant, P260
Dengue season.

Moisturizing Oilotion, P260
For the same reason as the facial oil, I'd like to try their oilotion for the body.

The following I already have and tried and would like to haul once again:

Total Attraction, P175
I love the scent, really. I want this for shampoo needs.

Olive Beauty, P175
I'm using this and baby is using this, so I need another haul.

Baby Salve, P200
I initially used the baby salve on an insect bite on myself and hubby. I'd like to buy a dedicated one for baby.

Balm of Butter, P350

I use this on my stretch marks, on my face before taking a bath and as a base for salt scrub. I've got half the tub through. I need more, I think. Or maybe not because the tub is so big.

Images from the official By Nature website.

Brain Drain: By Nature Balm of Butter and Baby Salve

I am currently loving these products and would like to share how I'm using them.

Balm of Butter

• As a stretch mark cream

Unfortunately, with the marks I have, it'll take more than a few weeks for these to fade.

• As a facial moisturizer before taking a bath

This is so effective my hubby swears I don't have forehead wrinkles anymore. I know he believes it because he actually tried it on his face. It's not easy to wash off with his soap but my clear soap washes it right off and leaves it silky soft.

• As a lip balm

I'm kind of lazy so I used it as such one day. This was effective for me and worked better than the By Nature lip balm. It tastes kind of funky but it isn't so bad if you think about the main ingredient being Cocoa Butter.

• As a base for a salt scrub

I rub this all over my body, wet myself with a bit of water and rub fine salt all over. This actually beats more expensive salt scrubs for effectiveness on my skin.

Baby Salve

• For boo-boos

It generally works unless it's an engorged and enflamed, then something stronger is needed.

• As a facial moisturizer

I like to use this after taking a bath and before going to bed. Lighter on the skin than the Balm of Butter and yet effective. Great for wrinkle prevention in spite of having no sleep.

• As a lip balm

Yes, it works but it tastes too funky with the lavender scent. Not recommended for that unless you're desperate.



Initial pictures from the official By Nature website.

Haul: By Nature Handmade soaps and Balm of Butter

This is my second batch of orders for By Nature products. Yes, I'm obsessed. As usual, got it through Organic Joys by way of Pedala. Aimee was friendly and helpful as usual. I got a return mail within the day, paid the next day through bank and got the batch delivered the day after. The Pedala service was later by a few hours to my home in Cubao as compared to the delivery to my office in Makati but I'm happy enough to have gotten them as I was worrying with all the street corners to my home. They're delivering by pedalling bikes, so I'm not complaining. They got it there anyway.

The batch consisted of Balm of Butter, a stretch mark cream and four soaps. The nude-colored ones are Total Attraction(love), Olive Beauty and Cocoa Butter Melt. The light-greyish one is Sea Mud Pie.

Love: By Nature Total Attraction Handmade Soap and Baby Salve

With the baby on the way and all the bad things said about the ingredients of baby products, I'm trying to be really careful in what I buy these days. I stumbled upon a post in a Chronicles of a Nursing Mom blog about the different organic baby balms that can be found online and found By Nature. I bought some stuff for the baby and will post on them once I get to use them. I also got myself the bar, Total Attraction.



I totally loved it. The lavender and patchouli scents surround the bathroom when you start lathering. The scent isn't as strong as other organic soaps but stays on the skin for about two hours. I only use a third of the soap at a time and keep the other portions in the pantry. It lasted me a month keeping the soap in a covered soap dish when not used. When I ran out and used my old soaps, hubby actually said I smelled different bad, which made me want to kick him.

I also used it on my hair whenever I run out of my non-SLS/SLE shampoo. It didn't dry out my hair or knot it but since I love the scent on my skin too much, I didn't want to run out of it for that use. Nonetheless, it is a good shampoo and it's probably going to be great for travelling for the convenience factor of bringing only one bar of soap. I'll be sure to pack it in my toiletry bag for the hospital when my baby pops out.



We got a really bad case of bed bugs about half a month ago and I guiltily started using the Baby Salve. I was originally going to use it for the baby's diaper rash and other boo-boos but with the red dots itchily appearing on my skin and turning into scabs with my sharp nails, I figured I had no choice.

The itches stopped after application and it smelled good, too. I'm a sucker for lavender. The red dots healed quickly and though my scabbing hasn't stopped with me picking on it, it's manageable and hopefully, will disappear after the pregnancy-related photosensitivity wears off. On hubby's skin, it worked so much better. You can't tell he ever got the same bites. Grrr!

I got the By Nature products from Aimee of Organic Joys. She's totally sweet and responds to emails within the day. She got them delivered to my office address through Pedala and I am one happy reorderer with absolutely no guilt of polluting the earth.

Pictures from the By Nature Handmade Soap website.