March Empties: Featuring 100% Pure, Lulu Organics + More!

Love & Toast Dew Blossom Lotion: I lucked out and was able to find this product at Winners (of course! I went through a phase when I was there all the time). I had heard lots of good things about this brand so I wanted to check it out. This is a very nice lotion if you are not into natural products. One of my big problems about this product was that it advertised itself as "natural". It even had a "I am natural" sticker at the top of the bottle. Overall the ingredients were pretty good except that it included fragrance. The fragrance didn't smell like essential oils either. That being said, I did like the smell. Another problem that I had with this product was the packaging, although it was aesthetically pleasing it didn't function too well. Almost from the very beginning I always had to keep the bottle upside down. The rectangular package made it difficult to squeeze out more product. Aside from this product having fragrance, it doesn't include parabens,  phthalates, petrolatum, mineral oil, propylene glycol, retinol, sulfates, or synthetic color. It is also not tested on animals, nor does it contain animal ingredients. There are lots of positives to this lotion, I just wish that it didn't contain fragrance. 

Acne Medication: Benzoyl Peroxide (5%): Although this is by far not a natural product, I have been using this to effectively treat my acne. Sometime last year I came across a website that was highly rated on its information to treat acne. If you've been following my blog, you'll know by now that I do suffer from acne. As a teenager (as early as 12) I suffered from severe acne. I went on Accutane by the age of 13 and stayed on it for about 8-12 months. Of course, Accutane reduced my acne by about 90-95%. The experience itself wasn't pleasant. I became depressed and had unbearable dry skin(my skin is now permanently dry in some areas). This is not something that I would ever put myself through again. About two years ago the acne came back, not to the full amount but some days its probably at 50% of what it used to be. I do plan on getting allergy tests done to see if that could be effecting any breakouts. For now, I use benzyl peroxide at night all over my face, not as a spot treatment. This helps my skin from breaking out a lot. Although breakouts still do occur. If you wan't more information on this, visit www.acne.org.

Lulu Organics Hair Powder: Around Christmas I purchased a little trial size of this dry shampoo. With washing my hair less and still exercising I needed something that would help get rid of the oil in my hair and also keep my hair looking fresh. At first I thought that this product was so expensive. It's $10 for the travel size and $30 for the full size. However, this tiny bottle (1 oz.) lasted me 3 months! I also used this 3-4 times a week. This hair powder is awesome, it does exactly what it claims to do, smells great, and a little goes a long way. Once I ran out of this product I lived without it for a week and it was dreadful. I immediately had to buy some more!

The Body Shop Nutriganics Smoothing Mask: I have a dilemma when it comes to shopping at The Body Shop. You can read more about that here. Fortunately, The Body Shop does have a line that features organic & natural ingredients. I decided to try out their smoothing mask because they were having one of their sales buy 2 get the 3rd item free. This product wasn't my favorite. I have tried better smoothing masks. Maybe I have too high of standards now because I am used to higher end masks such as Eminence. This mask felt like a standard clay mask, it didn't really have any smell (except for the clay)  and it really didn't do much for me. The only thing it did was make my skin feel slightly more soft after use. The good thing about this product is that a little goes a long way. I could have easily made this product last a year if I wanted to. |

Yes to Cucumbers On-The-Go Facial Wipes: I love the "Yes To" line because it uses natural ingredients, is easily accessible (available at most drugstores in my area), and is affordable. I picked these up when I was suffering from a break out and needed to use something soothing to remove makeup. I got 10 towelettes for $2.99, which is a fantastic price. I liked that these were extremely soothing  and seemed to calm down the irritation on my skin. Unfortunately, these didn't remove my makeup as well as other brands such as the juicy bamboo cleansing cloths. 

100% Pure Carrot Facial Scrub: 100% Pure is a brand that caught my attention ever since I started "going natural". The ingredients that they use are phenomenal and they have a wide selection of products. The Carrot Facial Scrub is one of the skincare items that I actually enjoyed using. It offers a gentle exfoliant that's gentle enough the use everyday. It also smells fantastic (like oranges) and is extremely brightening. Unfortunately, I tried other skincare items from 100% Pure that didn't really impress me. However, I'm still looking forward to trying some of their makeup. All of their makeup is fruit pigmented - doesn't that sound fantastic?! 

Have you tried any of these products? What are your thoughts?

PS. Blogger seems to be messing up with the coloring of my font - some of it shows black while others show grey. Anyone else experiencing problems like this?