Krysztal Solid Deodorant

As I've stated in all of my Lush deodorant reviews, this is one aspect of the cosmetic industry that Lush haven't managed to 'perfect' as of yet. In Lush's defence, I can imagine it being quite difficult to design a product that eradicates and masks a natural bodily function. As it stands, I've yet to find a readily available product in any high street shop - at least one that doesn't cost almost £10 for the privilege.

Krysztal Solid deodorant looks a little like it's brother, T'eo; an oval-shaped block of hardened powder with a thin layer of wax on the base. Named after one of Cosmetics To Go founders, Stan Krysztal, this product claims to contain a mixture of oils to refresh your armpits whilst also calming hard-working skin. 

To begin with, first impressions reveal that this deodorant is one of the nicest smelling ones to be released from Lush. With a combination of lemon oil and lemon and lime juice, Krysztal smells very much like Stepping Stone Foot Scrub - a bright, zesty citrus aroma. There is a very slight after-scent of jojoba here, but it works at rounding off the scent and isn't too prominent in the overall smell. 

Lush suggest that you apply this onto dried skin - gently rubbing in a circular motion across your armpits. Having found that T'eo works better with slightly damp skin, I was expecting this to be the same. However, after carefully applying this to my dry skin, I found that it worked at leaving it's scent on my body whilst painting my armpits with a very thin layer of white powder. It doesn't leave enough on your body to stain clothing and it disappears very quickly afterwards so you're not left with pasty-looking underarms. Furthermore, I didn't have to scrub hard to get this product to work, which meant that my armpits didn't feel sore or turn pink from irritation. 

Unfortunately, I found that it doesn't stop you from sweating but the powder does contain bicarbonate of soda to soak up some of your access sweat, so I was drier with this on than without. It also has essential oils to neutralise smells, including cypress oil to tone, so I wasn't plagued with any unwanted smells throughout the day. I do wonder why anyone would be that interested in toning their armpits though. 

Despite leaving my skin smelling wonderful, I found that it didn't protect me for very long. As someone who works long, hard days, I had to re-apply this almost hourly, which isn't very practical for those of us who live busy lives. If I wasn't able to re-apply this, my skin felt damp under my arms again, even though I had done very little manual labour to warrant a lot of sweating. Sometimes I think that these natural deodorants almost make me sweat more than I usually would - although, I wonder whether this is because I'm just more aware of my bodily functions when wearing these products. 

Overall, I am going to continue using this as it makes me feel clean and refreshed, and it does neutralise smells and prevent the smell of sweat from seeping through. Having used this about eight times a day over the weekend, and not seeing any reduction in it's size, Krysztal is a long-lasting deodorant and will definitely surpass the shelf-life of your average deodorant. However, if like me you're more prone to sweating, this is not a product that will keep you dry so I will have to continue using my Nivea stick alongside this to top up during the day. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Cream of Tartar, Organic Jojoba Oil, Lemon Oil, Black Wax (Specerit Black Z), Magnesium Carbonate, Cypress Oil, Lime Oil, Fresh Organic Lemon Juice, Fresh Organic Lime Juice, Citral, Geraniol, Limonene, Linalool, Perfume.

Vegan?: Yes.