Love True Natural: Natural Cosmetics Review

Image Credit: Ashley Rose via Flickr

I know I’ve mentioned before that I don’t often wear a lot of make up. When I do put make up on it’s usually just a little eye liner and eye shadow. I tend to avoid mascara like the plaque...for one every mascara I’ve ever used has irritated my eyes, made them itchy, gave me the urge to rub my eyes and two I’d I forget I was wearing it and I WOULD rub my eyes and end up looking like I had a black eye...you know THAT look...



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Spongeables Pedi-Scrub Review and Giveaway

Spongeables Pedi-Scrub are foot buffers that cleanse and exfoliate tired feet. One side of the Pedi-Scrub foot buffer is the soft, cleansing side that contains olive oil, shea butter and other ingredients while the other side is used to exfoliate. These are available in Lavender-Tea Tree Oil Aromatherapy and Citron-Eucalyptus Aromatherapy. I chose the Lavender-Tea Tree scent and it has a nice, soothing scent. The product itself works well, it lathers nicely to clean and deodorize and it does get rid of any dead, dry skin that may be present and leaves the feet smooth and silky soft. Spongeables are paraban free and they are never tested on animals, which is a big plus in my book. You can purchase Spongeable for $6.99 from their webstore or find a retail store near you that sells them.

Which scent would you choose? Let me know when you enter to win one of your own on the Rafflecopter form below:

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Exfoliating Minerals Facial Cleanser Review

When I first tried the Exfoliating Minerals Natural Facial Cleanser I had a few problem areas, a small breakout from wearing make up the day before. I don’t often wear make up and when I do it isn’t natural, I haven’t made the switch to a natural make up, yet, so that cause my skin to break out at times. I was surprised at how smooth the cleanser is...not gritty like most exfoliators... to be honest I wasn’t sure if it would actually exfoliate my skin.

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Earth Mama Angel Baby Foam Soap Review

I am one of those mom’s who is OCD about germs. I am constantly making D wash her hands to prevent illness, I know she gets tired of always having to wash her hands, but I can’t help it, I hate it when she is sick and it would be horrible if she got Baby Boy sick.

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Natural Remedy for Eczema

 When Baby Boy was just an infant he had some eczema patches on his face, they itched him terribly and he would scratch his face to the point of making it bleed.
Since, he was so tiny I was hesitant to use anything on his sensitive face, I just tried to keep it washed and clean with a warm wet wash cloth, at that age all I used to bath him with was water. Here is a photo of him that shows the irritated skin on his face. He was just 3 weeks old in this photo:

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SibuBeauty Skin Care Review and Giveaway

Sibu Beauty is a natural skincare product line. Our skin, hair and nails depend on essential fatty acids for their health. Sibu products contain sea buckthorn, a tiny, resilient fruit that grows in the Tibetan Himalayas. Sea buckthorn is a rich source of Omegas 3, 6, 7 and 9, those essential fatty acids that are vital to the growth and health of our hair, skin and nails. Natural sea buckthorn oils improve skin tone and texture, help brighten complexion and stimulate cell renewal. Sibu products are paraben-free and cruelty-free, they contain no dairy, wheat, gluten, sodium, yeast or preservatives. The company itself is not only dedicated to the health of their customers, but also to the health and sustainability of the planet, another reason to love this company.

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Lady Bug Jane Natural Lip Balm Review #greengiveaway

I don’t often wear a lot of make up, but one thing that is a must is lip balm! I like my lip balms natural and flavored. When I heard about Lady Bug Jane Natural Lip Balms I was excited to get some for D and I. I wanted to try their Crazy Coconut flavor and D, of course wanted the Vanilla Cupcake lip balm.
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Eco Lips #Giveaway

You may recall our review and spotlight post on Eco Lips and their amazing lips balms last month. Eco Lips has agreed to sponsor a giveaway for my awesome follows in honor of D's Birthday Bash. Eco Lips will be giving you all a chance to win their Eco Lips Gold Balm on an Eco Clip.

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EcoLips, Natural Lip Balms

What girl doesn’t like lip balms? D loves them and I used to get her new flavor of lip balm almost every time we went to Wal-Mart, but those are chalked full of petroleum and mineral oil :( and they go on my babies lips! So, what did I do? I found EcoLips!

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TruKid Review and Sponsor Spotlight

TruKid is a natural skin care company catering to needs and likes of children. Their products are all natural, free of parabens, phthaltes, gluten, BPA, SLS, 1-4 dioxzane and fragrances. They come in fun, brightly colored bottles with symbols on each bottle indicating their purpose that can be easily recognized by kids.

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Whipped Hair/Body Butter + Andy & Kiara’s Adoption Story

As I was looking through products on Curly is Cuter one day I came across these organic whipped body & hair butters.






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Goddess Garden Sunscreen Review/Giveaway

This giveaway is closed as of  July 27, 2011, please read our review and if you are curious to know who won check the winners page :)

On my search for safer, more natural sunscreens I came across a company called Goddess Garden. Their superior effectiveness and non-toxic formula landed them on EWG’s Safest Sunscreen List as a best sunscreen pick in 2011. They have a rating of 2 (low health hazard).

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Dragonfly Soaps Review & Giveaway *closed*

The giveaway portion of this review is closed as of July 10th, 2011, but please continue to read our review of Dragonfly Soaps.

I love natural skin care products and eco-friendly companies! Dragonfly Soaps is a company dedicated to making their handcrafted all-natural soaps in the “greenest” possible manner. Dragonfly Soaps is a member of Green America and the Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild. No toxic chemicals are created or disposed of by this company! They’re cute labels and printed materials are made from recycled paper. They either recycle or donate their leftover slivers and end cuts from their bars of soap, nothing gets thrown away! I loved this company before I even tried their soaps!

It was hard to choose the scents I wanted for my review, because they all sounded awesome! I ended up picking the Oatmeal Almond, for the exfoliating properties of the oatmeal, and because I had never used an oatmeal soap bar before, so I really wanted to try it. I also chose Patchouli Lavender, I love both scents, so I thought this one has to be amazing, and it is! They both smell wonderful! The Oatmeal Almond also has a hint of nutmeg added for scent. Each bar is handmade from saponified oils of olive, coconut, palm and shea butter and also different essential oils depending on the scent. These are gentle, very moisturizing, all-natural soap bars, I even used them to wash my face and they are perfectly fine to use for my children. I love these soaps, they leave the skin feeling soft and smelling amazing!

They actually have a variety of scents in these different catagories: Unscented, Earthy & Mysterious Soap, Workhorse Soap, Almost Edibles Soap, and Lavender & Flowers Soap.

Giveaway Time!

One winner will receive 3 Dragonfly Soap Bars of their choice!

This giveaway is open worldwide! It will end at 11:59pm (CST) on July, 10th. Winner will be chosen via random number generator and announced on the blog (and emailed if an email address is provided). Please see our full Giveaway and Disclosure Policies.

How to Enter: Complete the mandatory entry and any or all optional entries, leaving separate comments below for each entry completed. The mandatory entry must be done for any additional entries to count.

Mandatory Entry:

-Visit the Dragonfly Soaps website and leave a comment below telling me which 3 Dragonfly Soap scents you would like to try

Additional/Optional Entries:

-Like Dragonfly Soaps (1 entry)

-Like me (1 entry)

-Follow my blog via GFC (see the follow button on the right side bar) (2 entries)

-Follow me on twitter (1 entry)

-Vote for this blog (1 entry per day)

-Share this giveaway via social networking sites/forums/linkies (1 entry per method shared, can be done each day, please leave links, on facebook be sure and tag me so I can see it, and for twitter tweet: #Win 3 soap bars of choice from Dragonfly Soaps – WW Ends 7/10 #Giveaway @untraindhairmom)

-Follow my blog on Networked Blogs (right side bar) (1 Entry)

-Blog about this giveaway (3 entries, leave the link)

-Grab my button and tell me where I can find it (5 entries)

*FTC Disclosure: This product was provided free of charge for the purpose of this review, I was not compensated in any other way for this post, the opinions expressed are my own. See full disclosure.

Beware of 99 cent bubble bath

D and I were out shopping around Christmas time and D came across a huge bottle of pink bubble bath. She, of course, asked “ Mom, can I have this, please”.  I saw the $.99 sticker and said “okay”.  Never again! This bubble bath dries her skin out so bad. Not to mention all the horrible ingredients that I didn't pay attention to at the time. So if you see this Bathtime Buddies Bubble Bath:
 


And think it’s a great deal... think again, it isn’t even worth the $.99, lol!  

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Created by Nature Product Review and Giveaway

I have recently had the oppurtunity to review a couple products from Created by Nature.




The Created by Nature line was inspired out of necessity, to have quality natural products on the market. This line was created specifically with my clients, as well as myself, in mind. My products contain only the best in natural ingredients, and in no way will I compromise the quality of this line. Having knowledge of what makes a good product, as well as being educated on healthy hair, has given me the expertise to create a great line. I pray that you love these products as much as I do.

-Aminah Lawson, Creator of Created by Nature: Hair n Body

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Coppertone Waterbabies Suncreen Stick Review

The other day I had to purchase some sunscreen for D and Baby Boy for D's trackmeet. Ideally, I would have already ordered some good sunscreen online, but I hadn't. I went to Wal-Mart and looked at everything they had. I ended up purchasing Coppertone Waterbabies Sunscreen Stick SPF 55, it was the only sunscreen I came across that did not have parabens. When I got home and had the chance, I looked it up on EWG's Cosmetics Database. It has a rating of 4 (moderate hazard).



Active Ingredients:  Avobenzone (3%), Homosalate (15%), Octisalate (5%), Octocrylene (10%), Oxybenzone (6%)

Inactive Ingredients:  Beeswax (Apis Mellifera), Lauryl Laurate, Ozokerite, Cetearyl Behenate, Polybutene, Cetearyl Alcohol, Styrene Acrylates Copolymer, Myristyl Myristate, Tocophero(Natural Vitamin E), Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Phenoxyethanol, Reinyl Palmitate, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate (Vitamin C) Phenoxyethanol, Reinyl Palmitate, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate Phenoxyethanol, Reinyl Palmitate, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate(Vitamin C)

While it has some unfavorable ingredients, it did protect my babies from burning. It also did not bother Baby Boy's sensitive skin. Being a stick it was easy to apply, not messy. I'm still on the search for a good sunscreen with better ingredients but I will be using this until I decide which one to get.

Here are a few photo's from D's trackmeet:









BTW, today (May 27th) is "Don't Fry Day" to encourage sun safety awareness. The UCSF Skin Cancer page has in depth descriptions of types of sunscreen as well as what sun protection factor (SPF) to use. And of course EWG has put out their list of safe sunscreens. Also, check out their article on why we should avoid sunscreens that contain Vitamin A.

Everyone have a safe and happy summer :)

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Natural Remedy for Insect Bites and Natural Insect Repellent

Summer is rapidly approaching, that means sunny days filled with the crystal clear water of swimming pools, thirst quenching lemonade and unfortunately for some of us, blood sucking insects and their gruesome bites.

I’m here to tell you about our natural ointment to soothe and heal those bites. To create this ointment I use a natural massage oil GEL, which gives the consistency of an ointment. I put 2 oz of this gel into a container and I mix lavender, citronella, tea tree, patchouli and lemon. 10 drops of each essential oil to equal 50 drops per 2 ounces.

A breakdown of benefits of these essential oils in relation to insect bites:
· Lavender: the universal oil, used for calming, soothing and healing, and as an antiseptic
· Citronella: insect repellent
· Tea Tree: anit-virus, anti-infection, immuno-stimulant
· Patchouli: anti-inflammatory, insect repellent
· Lemon: astringent, detoxifying

Want more on natural remedies and essential oils? Have a look at these posts:
Essential Oils for Hair Care
Natural Remedy for Eczema
Natural Remedy for an Eye Infection





Sources: Aromatherapy Workbook by Marcel Lavabre