October 30, 2013

Natural At Home Pedicure

I like to keep my toes presentable all year long and I prefer to do it at home. If we are being honest, nail salons kinda gross me out! This is the routine that gets me the results I like without too many products and without being too time consuming. I do the full routine about every two weeks with a few touch-ups in-between. 


Step One: With dry feet use the Revlon Pedi Expert to remove calluses and rough skin. This thing looks a little intimidating but I have had fantastic results with it. Just make sure to go gently, applying very little pressure. Remove calluses with the larger grit file going both directions, then refine with the smoother file going in only one direction for the smoothest result.

October 26, 2013

Super Food Smoothie



Nothing feels better to me then starting out the day with a nutritious fresh smoothie. (Although I will admit I am slightly partial to a good diner breakfast also, but only on occasion!) This is a low-sugar, high nutrient blend that also happens to be delicious. A good first step if you are hesitant about green smoothies or juice.



The Recipe:

1/4 cup natural plain yogurt (mine lists only skim milk, cream and active bactira cultures as ingredients)
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup raspberries
1-2 handfuls spinach
coconut water to achieve the consistency you prefer


October 23, 2013

Korres Wild Rose Mineral Foundation Review

I have been a fan of mineral foundations for years. I started, like I'm sure many did, with Bare Minerals. I used their Matte formula for about three years and really liked it. When it came time to repurchase I was considering switching to the orginal formula as I was finding the matte to be a little too matte and dull for me. During my research I noticed that the Bismuth Oxychloride was irritating some peoples skin so I wasn't thrilled with either the orginal or matte options. At Sephora I noticed the Korres Mineral Foundation ($36.50), liked the ingredients and the finish and decided to take a chance.




The Ingredients: Boron Nitride, Zinc Oxide, Rosa Canina Fruit Oil. May Contain: Mica, Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxides
*This list is off of my package purchased about six months ago, Sephora now lists slightly different ingredients.

EWG Skin Deep Rating: 1 (on a 0-10 scale, 0 being lowest hazard)

October 19, 2013

All Natural Skin Care Routine - AM and PM


To be honest, I have never been a multi-step, complicated skin care girl. I like minimal products with minimal ingredients. My skin has improved immensely since I switched to natural products. My skin type is normal to combination. I am prone to an oily T-zone in the summer, and dry patches around my mouth and eyes in the winter. I get occasional acne usually around my period or high stress times. 

October 16, 2013

What's In My Purse?

I love seeing what people carry in their purse so I thought I would share what's in mine. I consider myself to have a relatively minimal 'purse-load'. Missing from the photos are my house keys, transit pass and phone.

October 12, 2013

Bad, Better, Best - Facial Scrubs

This is the start of a new series I am planning. Comparing a 'traditional' product, a seemingly natural product and a very pure product. Today the focus is on face scrubs. I will admit I am sporadic scrubber. I dry brush my body almost daily but go in phases with how often I exfoliate my face.

The ingredients in bold either rate a 5 or above according to Environment Working Group Skin Deep Database, or are listed by  The David Suzuki Foundation as dirty.


 
Photo From Bellasugar.com

The Bad: St. Ives Fresh Skin Apricot Scrub (about $5 at drugstores)

Ingredients: Water, Walnut Shell Powder, Glyceryl Stearate SE, Propylene Glycol, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Corn Meal, Cetyl Alcohol, Linoleamide DEA, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, Lanolin Oil, Emulsifying Wax NF, Apricot Kernel Oil, Sambucus Nigra Extract, Primula Veris Extract, Sunflower Extract, Matricaria Extract, Ceteareth-20, Triethanolamine, Carbomer, Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben, Phenoxyethanol, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Fragrance, Titanium Dioxide.


Quick Take: EWG Product Hazard Rating 6 our of 10. Skip it, there are far too many concerning ingredients!

October 9, 2013

Ode to Coconut Oil

Besides apparently being the 'World's Best Cooking Oil' coconut oil has so many uses it's hard not to love. It smells like a exotic beach and melts into a silky oil on the skin. Depending on your room temperature it may be a solid or liquid, it works equally well in either state. Here is my ever growing list of things you can do with this fragrant oil.

October 5, 2013

How to Smell Lovely - Naturally (Lavanilla Love!)

It was years after I started to go natural that I even attempted changing my antiperspirant to a natural version. Even then I went through several that I felt made me smell even worse then if I wore nothing at all! So discouraging because antiperspirant is loaded with chemicals I really try to avoid and I really wanted to be rid of it but not at the expense of being too smelly. So, about a year ago I discovered La Vanilla products.