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.

FOTD – Holiday Glam – Rebel by Red Apple Lipstick

Bring out those red lips, ladies!  This is holiday season!

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?

 

FOTD – Minimalist Multistick Makeup

There are some days that I just need a minimalist, no-makeup makeup look.  I have wanted to try a multistick look for a while now, using it to its full range so here it is!  I used Vapour Organics Multistick in Crush.

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.  

October 2014 Favourites

There’s just something about the autumn colours that stands out for me, and makes me want to be outside.  Plus, autumn is a great time for scarves!  Here’s what I’ve been liking a lot this month:

Makeup – My Strawberry Lips Red Apple Lipstick arrived just in time for fall.  It is a beautiful burnt ombre and berry shade that works so well with the season.  Plus, it is ultra hydrating which works well with the cooler temperature and drier air.  Repurchase? Probably, yes, when this tube eventually runs out!

Skin Care – Exfoliation is the name of the game as my skin adjusts to the drier air, so I have been reaching for Andalou Naturals Lemon Sugar Exfoliating Scrub (review) every three or four days or so.  You really can’t get much better in the ingredients department, and for the price this product really can’t be beat! <b>Repurchase?</b> Absolutely, I already have.

Hair Care – I have been learning a lot about hair care this month and last month as I am strugging to keep a new kind of hair dye in my hair.  A product that is supposed to last 6 – 8 weeks before it starts to fade has been rinsing out completely after three washes.  I have been mean to my hair, attempting a few times to get this dye to stick and by changing things up in my hair care routine – ah the vanity of having fashion colours in my hair!  Since I have been so mean to my hair lately, hair masks are a must!  I have been doing oil treatments of olive oil and or coconut oil as well as apple cider vinegar rinses in an attempt to rebalance the pH levels in my hair.  Hopefully after all these new steps the dye will finally take.  Fingers crossed, everyone!

<b>Body</b> – Nothing is saving my skin right now from drying out like Chagrin Valley’s Body and Massage candles (review).  They have a rich blend of butters and oils which seem to help maintain a decent balance of moisture in my skin which lasts almost the whole day. The only downside is that they have to be warmed before use, but I just plop the little tin on my candle warmer before jumping in the shower and it’s ready to go when I’m done.  Repurchase? I already have.

Red Apple Lipstick – I understand the hype now

Since I started blogging about green beauty I have tried some products that just don`t live up to the hype that surrounds them.  Like at all.  And it`s very disappointing .

I have heard lots about Red Apple Lipstick over the past year and a bit, but I have been hesitant to try them because of all the extreme hype surrounding them as well as their price.  Although, truly, I shouldn`t balk at the price because I used to spend similar amounts if not more on MAC or Smashbox lipsticks…..

Moving right along: I won a gift certificate recently and took the plunge and went for their `buy 2 get 1 half off` promotion and oh my goodness gracious I was absolutely blown away by all three lipsticks that I received.  I can`t say this about too many products with this amount of hype surrounding them, but these little tubes of glory absolutely live up to the positive reviews they have been receiving!

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!