Going Natural ;-)

So I've always been big on home remedies and DIY stuff like facials and recycling but after doing some research on all this 'bad ingredients' hype I've started making some serious changes. I've been trying to avoid things like Mineral oil and other petroleum byproducts for a while. I overhauled my hair routine quite a while ago when I realized my hair was in dire need of some TLC. But now I'm taking it to the next level. It's easy to get lost in this 'Lifestyle Makeover' thing so I'm doing it in baby steps. Started with the hair routine and always keeping an eye out for products with more natural and healthy ingredients then what I was previously using. This month I've begun eliminating the 'bad ingredients' in my beauty regimen. By 'Bad Ingredients' I mean things like Parabens, Sulphates, Silicone's, synthetic preservatives, artificial colors & fragrances, etc. By Beauty Regimen I mean, skin care, makeup, body wash & lotions, etc. So after talking about this venture with some people I thought I should share with you all some of the great brands I've found and that have helped make this transition not only easy & effective but also affordable.

Eco-Emi 
If you're curious about what kinds of organic/natural products are out there, how much they cost and if the're worth trying, then you definitely need to check out this company. For $15 a month they send you a box of treasures all natural / organic and each individually packaged in the most adorable little satchels and cloth with twine. In Junes box I'm really looking forward to the deoderant and the rest is a suprise that I'm chomping at the bit for. I will do a post on my June box opening as soon as it arrives.

So far I have two go to brands that are readily available in my area. I currently reside in a small town with no Target, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, or even a Costco. Yes I miss the city but I have managed to find great brands that seem to cover nearly all my needs as of yet.

Physicians Formula 
My drugstore makeup salvation! I've been using this brand since I first started wearing makeup. They have such a wide variety and you can always find killer deals. Today I got 2 tinted moisturizers for the price of one, a mascara and an eyeliner that both had the 'Try Me Free' stickers on them. The 'Try Me Free' is a fabulous rebate program, see their website via the link above for more info, ingredients, products, prices, ect. They also run great promotions on their facebook page. I've fallen in love with all of the products I've tried from this company. The only down side is that my favorite eyeshadow from them has parabens in it. earlier this week I switched from the baked trio eyeshadow (that I realized had parabens) to the organic wear eyeshadows. The new shadow is growing on me but I gotta admitt that it's rather difficult to work with. I feel like the light colors in the duo's are to light, and that says something because Im really light skinned. Also they seem to be 'pressed' to hard. But I do like them now that I've adjusted to them. Their 2in1 eyeliner + booster serum is my favorite eyeliner hands down. I haven't noticed any new eyelash growth but in truth I haven't been looking for it. I mostly love the aplicator, its basically a pen but what I love is that I can get very thin line or a thicker one if preferred and it never smudges on me. For me that's important because I have a heavy hand when it comes to aplying liner. I typically use a pen like liner but have never had this level of control with the thickness of the line. They have a mascara that's shaped like a leaf, so cute and it's a great formula and brush. I kinda wish the brush had a little more of a point to it but the size and bristles are perfect. I don't beleive the formula is waterproof which is typically a deal breaker for me but this mascara hasn't smudged, flaked, or clumped at all on me, ever. I've been using it for a few months now and I really doubt I'll ever switch to anything els. It's great for both length and volume. I actually gave my roomate all my other mascara's (lancome, makeup forever, & smashbox). Now I have to talk about their tinted moisturizer. First, let it be known that I am a FULL COVERAGE girl. I usually use Makeup forever's Matte Velvet foundation but have been trying to find a healtheir replacement. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find an organic liquid foundation, let alone one that's full coverage?! It's not possible don't bother trying. So I picked this up thinking it was going to be a 'not good for me' return and I fell hard, again. I've used tinted moisturizers from Stilla, Lancome, ect. and hated them all. They made my already oily skin even more blotchy, red, oily, usually broke me out something fierce, and most have a not so pleasant smell. The organic wear tinted moisturizer by physicians formula is a god send. No it's not full coverage, der, it's a 'tinted' moisturizer after all. But it evened my skin tone out wonderfully and smoothed over my pores. It smells Amazing! Like real lavender with mayber a hint of sage. It's so calming. I've never used a bronzer that wasn't physicians formula and I recently discovered the Happy Booster Blush which is the most adorable thing I've ever seen and has an great color for my cheeks. So ya, I highly recomend PF

Burts Bees
Aside from makeup Burts Bees covers the rest of my body. They have everything! Toothpaste, lotions, body washes, bar soap, hand & foot care, skin care. I'm currently using the Soap bark & chamomile deep cleasing cream, body butter, body wash, cuticle cream, hand lotion, and ageless eye cream. I gotta say that the eye cream is a miracle in a jar for me. I've never been able to use any sort of moisturizer on my undereye area. I always had really bad reactions whenever I would try an eye cream. I've always wanted a good one because I have really bad circles and puffiness, this allergy season it's gotten really bad. Anyway I gave this a shot because it's all natural. I keep it in the fridge so the chilled temp can help with the 'de-puff' effect. Not only have I not had any sort of bad reaction but my circles are basically gone! That's a first for me and the puffiness ran away too! So that led to me trying the face wash. I was previously using the Olay Pro X cleansor which is $20 and doesn't even last me a month. This is about $8 and I've never experienced such great results from a face wash. It feels good, smells good and it makes my skin soft and even. Usually after washing my face I have to race to get my moisturizer on before I start peeling from the cleanser drying my out and my face is massively red and splotchy. Not this stuff, my face felt like a cloud pulled from heaven. I love everything I've tried from them as well and can't wait to try more. If you're curious to try Burts Bees follow the link above to there site. A hint for good deals: Rite Aid has great sales on this brand and Physicians Formula regularly.

I hope to have reviews up soon of other brands such as Yes to Carrots, Organic Splendor cosmetics, monthy Eco Emi box unveiling, and much much more!

The pictures used in this post can be found on the brands websites. The waterfall picture at the top of this post is a picture of Multnomah Falls and can be found at http://www.travelpod.com/travel-photo/mikebrookedavis/1/1243200600/2_multnomah-falls.jpg/tpod.html  Multnomah Falls is a local waterfall here in the Columbia River Gorge where I live and is easily accessed from Interstate I-84 between Troutdale, Oregon and Cascade Lock, Oregon.

Curlformers!

So I finally broke down and got the Curlformers set in long & extra wide!

I've been dying to try these but hesitated due to the price. Just so you guys know, I have very stuburn hair. I refuses to curl, I've tried everything and nothing holds well at all. Lately I try to be as natural as possible to spare my body as much damage as possible. So I've tried every form of 'over night, heat free curling' that there is. rollers, braids, socks, rags, paper bags, ect. you name it and I've tried it. Some of those techniques worked but didn't give me the type of structered curl that I was looking for and the tended to go limp rather quick even with hair spray and such. So as a last ditch effort and after watching litterally every video review I could find on curlformers I ordered some. I still feel that they are rather pricy but after using my set I am very glad that I got it. Below is a picture of me with the curlformers in for the first time. Please forgive my au naturale face as I was ready for bed so I could sleep with the curlformers in and wake up and go.

First I have to tell you all that this is truly the easiest curling method that I have ever used! I have mid-length hair but its pretty thick and it likes to fight back ;-) typically to curl my hair with a normal curling iron it would take me over an hour mostly because I'd have to let the hair stay on it for sooooo long to hold the curl. the curlformers took me maybe half an hour to put in on my first try, big difference! I had no trouble at all with them either. Typically with curllers or hot rollers I end up having to re-wrap the hair around the roller several times because my layers come loose, ect. Not once did I have to re-try to put in a curlformer. I didn't have any issues with the hair getting tangled or anything. Not only did it take hardly any time but to avoid using any heat on my hair I put the curlformer in after showering at night and slept with them in. Since I haven't much luck with other curling methods, I was very nervous about how this was going to turn out. Honestly, sleeping with these in wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. The curlformers, in my opinion where more comfortable to sleep in then typical rollers. After taking them out in the morning I was amazed, as was my roomate, at just how perfect and bouncy the curls were. I had a slight 'crimp' effect on a couple face framing/bang sections but I beleive that was my error for using large of a section. But for being a trial run I gotta say, curlformers knocked this one out of the park! I can't wait to play around more with these. Below is a picture of how well it turned out. What do you think? Stay tuned for more!



Top picture complements of http://www.curlformers.com/ 

get your own curlformers at http://www.curlformers.com/ or http://www.sallybeauty.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-SA-Site/default/Search-Show?q=curlformers or http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=curlformers

Reviews are available on Sally beauty supply's website, amazon, and of course most can be found on you tube or here and other blog/webpages

Favorite DIY's and natural remedies

Soothing Face mask 
Mix 1 spoonful of ground oatmeal, 2 spoons of organic plain greek yogurt, about a teaspoon or so of honey ( organic grade A preffered).  I use this when my face seems dull & dry. Everything in this is great for hydrating. The oatmeal provides a great exfoliator while soothing and irritation. The yogurt is great for conditioning and brightening the skin while flooding it whith nutrients and hydration. The honey is for purifying, brightening and helps with the consistency of the mask. Did you know that honey is a natural anti biotic? You may want to exclude the honey if you're prone to acne due to the sugary nature of it.

You could also try blended up strawberries & yogurt to exfoliate, brighten and hydrate. Avocado is also amazing at hydrating & nurishing. Due to the oils in avocado I wouldn't recomend it for oily or acne prone skin.

Undereye Circles
       Blending a paste of cucumber & potatoe & applying to the under eye area helps depuff & reduce discoloration while soothing. Its best if chilled. The coolness also helps sooth & depuff.
             Green tea is amazing for many reasons. One good option is to make yourself a strong cup of green tea, cut a round cotton pad in half & soak each half in the tea, place the 2 halves in the freezer for a few minutes to get them chilled. After they are nice & chilly, place one half on each of you under eye's. Leave it on while you enjoy the rest of your cup of tea. The caffeine & cold help depuff & green tea has a bunch of antioxidants as well as flavonoids.                        

Sea Salt is great for many things.

Mix it with water in a spay bottle, spritz hair, & scrunch to get awesome beach waves. No need to spend money on an expensive 'sea spray' hair product!

I like to use Sea Salt in my body scrub mix. My body scrub recipe...
1 spoonful of sea salt, coursely ground is best - exfoliant that helps dry up breakups
1 spoonful of oatmeal - moursturizing exfoliant
1-2 spoonfulls of coffee ground, used or unused ( I don't drink coffee but my roomates do so I sneak some their leftover coffee grounds in the morning. Waste not want not.) The caffeine in the grounds helps draw out any excess water being stored in your skin, helping to reduce/prevent cellulite. The grounds may offer a hint of color as well. So thoes are all the exfoliants, now chose the creamy mix to finish the recipe :-)
     Take your pick! For a creamy, nourishing, moisturizing 'bonder' add one or all of these... All natural plain greek yogurt, organic grade A honey, or you can use whatever leftover body washes you may have laying around. you can even use some leftover conditioner. BTW leftover hair conditioners that may not have been very impressive can also be used as body wash & shave cream. Conditioner as shave gel works wonders for my dry legs!

You can also use this scrub on your face. I would recomend upping the sea salt & lessening the coffee. I wouldn't recommend using a leftover body wash or conditioner for this purpose. Either the yogurt or honey would be a good choice but you could also use an egg or egg white.

Hair Masks
                     Yogurt, egg, avocado, honey, jojoba oil, coconut oil, & many other indrenients can help you have the hair of your dreams! I personally don't like using egg because I'm afraid the hot water in my shower will cook the egg into my hair, not peasant lol. Any concoction of the other options works great as either an in shower deep conditoiner or overnight mask. I don't recomend doing an overnight mask more then once a week to aviod buildup or oilyness.

                                  Get creative, have fun, & stay beautiful!!

Hair Drama - Nexxus Pro Mend, yadda

So some info about me and my hair. I have oily, straight, light brown (that's the natural color which doesn't really show), massively damaged hair. Sad, yes I know.

So I've been on a quest to restore my hair as much as possible. One of my first thoughts was to go as natural as possible. This led me to look into the WEN hair care line. WEN is a 'cleansing conditioner' that's received huge praise for saving peoples hair. It is a sulfate free, all natural product. The down side is that it's super expensive. Which led me to search for a cheap alternative to try since I couldn't afford the WEN. Thanks to all the wonderful YouTube reviews and comparisons, I found Hair One which is available at Sally Beauty Supply for about $10-$11. Hair One comes in the same size bottle and is also sulfate free and from what I can tell, all natural. I did Google every single ingredient on the label and they all seem to be naturally occurring. Now I can't say it's better or as good as WEN as I haven't been able to try WEN, but Hair One has been a godsend for both my mother and myself. My mother has very thin/fat hair and mine is the complete opposite. It gave us both such serious volume that I actually have trouble getting my bangs to stay down now. My mothers hair looks so full and thick, I've never seen it look so healthy. We both also experienced shine, improved color and texture. I also like that the Hair One comes in a variety of formulas such as for, colored hair, dry hair, dry scalp, normal hair.

Nexxus pro Mend.
I can't bring myself to try any shampoos or conditioners other than Hair One but in my desperation to hide my irreversible damage, I purchased the Nexxus Pro Mend leave in conditioner, heat protector, and overnight hair mask. Now I highly doubt that this product can 'heal' split ends. I believe its more of a "bind the splits back together" type of approach. At this point I have no choice but to take what I can get. I haven't witnessed a miracle or anything but when I use these products I do see a difference in appearance. My hair seems less straw like, has better color, less frizzy. The nicest part about this line for me is that I get an improvement without getting greasy. The products don't have much of a smell and what they do have is pretty tolerable. While I haven't Googled all the ingredients like I did for Hair One, I suspect these to contain a few silicons among other possible 'buildup" bad guys. I personally haven't noticed any build up or residue type of feeling. I pleasantly surprised that the leave in conditioner contains some keratin. Overall, I like that line but if I can find a more natural replacement, I'll take it.

Obviously I'm new to all this.

So ya, Hello there!

I'm new to this blogging stuff and would love any tips you guys out there could offer. For the time being I will be blogging about products, experiences, fashion, ect. My aim is to also do matching you tube videos (I've almost gotten enough gutts up to start). Consider yourself warned that their will probly be alot on here about my dog Lady as well since I tend to obsess over her a little ;)