100% Pure Organic Coffee Bean Caffeine Eye Cream Review

Not all eye creams are created equal.  100% Pure have outdone themselves when it comes to this product.  They have truly hit it out of the park with their Organic Coffee Bean Caffeine Eye Cream.

November 2014 Favourites

This month has been a battle with my dry skin, and I’m still not quite winning, but I think I’m getting closer.  I have a few products under the body care category this month just to help show the extremes that my skin is requiring of me right now.

Body: I shower in cold water to help preserve my skin’s moisture barrier and then exfoliate every three days or so with 100% Pure’s sugar scrub (review) in the marvelous scent of White Peach.  The oils in this product are helping with my skin too.  Then, after patting my skin with a towel, I apply a thin layer of a body oil.  I’ve been alternating between Chagrin Valley’s body oil in the scent Tranquil Spirit – which I adore!- (review) and Weleda’s body oils (review) in an array of scents (I got the sample pack a while ago, so I’m working through those and using up my full-sized bottle of the rose scent).  I’ll immediately follow that with some shea butter from the African Fair Trade Society and let that all sink in before getting dressed.  It makes me a big greasy mess, but it will hold off the itching and dry skin for at least 10 hours.  Then my skin needs more help again, but what can ya do?  On the especially dry spots I also layer on SBT Seabuckthorn’s Eczema and Dermatitis Salve.  Repurchase? I haven’t found a body oil that has reached HG status, or even come close, so I’ll keep looking on that front.  As for the shea butter and the scrub ? Yes, I already am on my second/third tub of each.

Skin Care: The skin on my face is also feeling the drier weather, so using just my regular moisturizer isn’t enough.  Juice Beauty’s CC Cream (review) not only offers me SPF but gives tons of moisture that lasts all day long.  Now if something could just be done about that smell… Repurchase? Absolutely.  The strange scent isn’t enough of a deterrent for such a high performing product.

Makeup: 100% Pure’s Super Fruits Healthy Skin Foundation (review) pairs perfectly with Juice Beauty’s CC cream because this foundation is a bit on the dry side, and really offsets the moisture of the CC cream.  Both stay put all day long when applied one after the other, and keep my skin balanced and gives me adequate coverage. Repurchase? Probably.  I might try a few other liquid foundations first, just in case I can find something better before I settle.

Hair Care: In an effort to keep the fashion colours of pink, purple, and teal in my hair for as long as possible between hair appointments I am getting used to the idea of only washing my hair every five days or so.  Don’t worry, this diva doesn’t like the idea of greasy hair either, so I’ve been working with dry shampoo recipes.  I can now wear my hair down for three full days before wanting to pull it into a braid or up in a pony tail.  I could probably even push it for 6 days at this point.  Anyway, another part of this journey is to find products with a low pH to help keep the dye on my hair.  John Masters Organics Honey and Hibiscus Hair Reconstructor (review) not only has a low pH (2.5) but gives my hair a rich drink of moisture that lasts for several days.  Exactly what my high maintenance hair is craving right now! Repurchase? I have repurchased this product as a hair mask so many times I’ve lost count.

Do any of those products strike your fancy?  Do you have any body oils to recommend to me?

 

RGB 5 Free Polish in Sea Review

There’s something about RGB polishes that put them just a step above the rest of the 5-free world.  Sea, this beautiful, deep, rich teal colour is no different.

DIY Dry Shampoo & Why Yours Shouldn’t Contain Baking Soda

When I decided to put some fashion colours in my hair and have some pretty pink, purple, and teal ombre highlights I learned a lot more about hair products and hair pH than I ever could have bargained for.  I’ll write-up a more detailed post soon about the importance of pH balanced hair care, but the main summary point is that highly alkaline shampoo products (I’m looking at you, baking soda) can really strip your hair of hair colour and can even break down the protein in the hair itself!  So, if you have colour in your hair, especially fashion colours that are more prone to washing out to being with, if you stay away from products containing baking soda your colour will last much longer!  Not only will it allow you to go for longer between washes, you won’t have to worry about losing some of the colour because of your dry shampoo washing down the length of your hair.

So many of the dry shampoos available on both the green beauty and traditional beauty markets contain baking soda to help soak up excess oil.  So, naturally, I resigned myself to making my own.

100% Pure Lip Creme Stick and Lip Glaze Review

It is such a joy now that my skin care routine is all ironed out that I can start truly delving into the world of green makeup.  I really do like playing and experimenting with makeup, but your skin is truly the canvas and so taking care of it and finding the right balance of skin care products is an absolute necessity for me before I can start thinking about makeup.

Lip products are one of those things that I have always liked, but I was hesistant to use them prior to going green because having the ingredients on my lips meant that I could ingest them and probably did.  I had no idea how scary my products were until I started doing my research, but now that I know better I will never go back.  I can deal with the lesser staying power because I know that they are safer.  Considerably safer.

100% Pure is one of my favourite companies (have you noticed?) but I haven’t given their lip products much of a try so far.  Up for review this time are the Lip Creme Stick in Perfect Naked Berry and their Lip Glaze in Velveteen.  

Yarok Feed Your Hold Hairspray Review

Although I do like Intelligent Nutrient’s Hairspray for when I need ultra-mega hold for something like an up-do, it is really to crispy for when my hair is down.  Plus, I have a cow-lick on one side of my bangs so I use product there to help keep things going the right direction and the Intelligent Nutrient’s Hairspray was just too much.  I haven’t tried too many of Yarok’s hair products, but I like their leave-in spray so it made sense for me to try their Feed Your Hold Hairspray.

100% Pure Super Fruits Healthy Skin Foundation Revew

Aside from Jane Iredale’s Dream Tint Tinted Moisturizer (review) I haven’t really branched out into liquid foundations since going green.  I do like the Dream Tint, but it definitely does not offer full coverage,  nor is it vegan.  Naturally, I went looking to 100% Pure for makeup because so many of their products are vegan but they also use fruit and vegetable pigments rather than mineral based pigments to achieve the different shades.  There is so much less chance of lead contamination with makeup pigmented this way, rather than mineral based pigmentation.  Plus, it smells better!

100% Pure Eye Shadow Creamstick in Silk and Cotton Review

As we are heading into the colder months, my skin craves moisture.  The weirdest thing is that my eyelids have a tendency to develop eczema, which is not only itchy and painful but super inconvenient because I like to wear eye makeup! This creamstick works well in so many ways and doesn’t irritate my sensitive eye area one little bit!

Live Clean Age Resist Miracle Nutrition Oil Review

I am always looking for ways to protect my hair as I want to grow it out to be nice and long.  This oil by Live Clean Professional is a pre-shower treatment which you leave on your hair for about five minutes prior to showering.  Think of it as a quick deep conditioning treatment that you can do anytime you wash your hair.  

Eminence Organics Vanilla Mint Hand Cream Review

I always keep a little tube of hand cream at my desk at work so that I don’t have to use the toxic chemical laden cream that’s next to the sinks.  Like my search for a body lotion, I am also searching for a hand lotion.  If Weleda’s Skin Food wasn’t quite as greasy and soaked in a little faster I would always purchase that and never look back.  However, as a product junkie, I naturally want to keep trying new products until I find the perfect one!