Natural Living Blog
Welcome.
On this Natural Living Blog I share with you information, tips, resources and my own personal challenges with making natural living a part of my life in the hope that I can provide information you can use to help make it a part of yours.
Being informed makes choosing organic, natural skincare, fashion and everyday living so much easier while making sure your purchases are made in ways that respect animals, people and the environment.
Eco Friendly Fashion and Jewelry Sale
I was just checking out a website that is having a great sale on eco friendly clothing, jewelry and accessories. You can tell by the name alone, Fashion Philanthropy, that they do more than just sell clothing. They have brought together what they call an eclectic mix of designers and styles. 
There is much to like about this site:
Fun, stylish designsEco friendly fabricsMade in the USASweatshop freePart of the proceeds goes to charity of your choice
This cute Tomato Twiggy dress seen here is from designer Roberta Oaks and it is on sale for $85 marked down from $168. Many more clothing, accessory and jewelry styles are on sale for up to 50% off.
Check out Fashion Philanthropy by clicking below.
Click for more info
Sugary Olive Oil Exfoliant
This recipe is made out of olive oil and sugar, that's all and the results are great! The sugar scrubs off the dirt and makeup or what ever is on your
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Avoid Pesticides In Your Fruits and Veggies
I try to keep a copy of this EWG report on which veggies and fruits contain the most and the least pesticide residue but for some reason it is missing. So while I get my new copy of the EWG Shoppers Guide I thought I would pass along the info to you.
This list is especially good to refer to in this tighter economy. While we might prefer to buy organic the higher cost can be hard to manage but with this list we can choose conventionally grown produce that has been found to contain low levels of pesticides and buy organically the ones with high levels.
I know farmers markets offer the best values and make the most sense both for our budgets and the environment but I have to drive out of my way to find one and that doesn't make always make sense to me. I do like shopping at them though and I like that I can often talk right to the grower and sometimes can learn their ideas on pesticide use. Many growers use organic growing methods but just don't have the certification because it can be costly. While this makes it hard to know for sure I feel that with a little conversation I can get a good feel if they know what they are talking about. Some of the older farmers in this area think pesticides are the best and only way to go and this comes out in conversation pretty quickly.
Well, all this talk of fruits and veggies has made me think about the conventionally grown watermelon in my fridge right now. I think I will enjoy a slice right now knowing that according to the EWG it has very few pesticides.
Get your own free copy of this guide by clicking the link below.
Click for more info
Holistic Mascara for Sensitive Eyes
I have been wearing this paraben free mascara for years, love it! This mascara is made by a holistic company called Real Purity. I love this
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Valana Minerals
for women of color
I have tried several different brands of mineral makeup and my HG is Valana Minerals. I have dark brown and very sensitive skin. Everything I tried at
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Nothing Like A Good Sale
Gaiam always carries products I would like to buy so when they have a sale going on I always check it out. I thought I'd pass along a few that are good for this time of year. You know, getting in shape and just plain feeling healthier this summer.
Looking for an exercise program that would hold my interest I bought Michelle Khai's Kettlenetics Slim and Tone System. This looked interesting, fun even and had good reviews from so many women. I didn't get this good of a sale, Gaiam has it on sale for $31.98, 20% off the original price. Seesh, I haven't even tried it yet and I've had it a couple of weeks already and it actually sounds like fun.
If you're motivated to try a new program or just to get started exercising at all check out these other sales from Gaiam for a little extra monetary motivation.
20% off plus free shipping on either Pilates for Pink Workout or Prenatal Yoga DVD. Just $11.98.
The Firms programs are usually very highly rated and very popular. Check the sales on these programs all at 20% off
The Firm Five Pound Kettle Ball Kit. $19.98 for this body sculpting, ab toning program.
The Frim Dangerous Curves Ahead Just $19.98
The Firm Pump, Jump N Jab A get you moving fat burning program for $14.98.
How about some Organic T Shirts from Thoughtful Tees. Inspiring designs, organic cotton, low impact dyes and a percentage of the sale goes to help select non profits around the world. Regularly $20 from now until May 31 they are $9.99 when you use the coupon code AFTEES10 and if you buy more than 2 you will save an additional $5. Great for wearing while trying one of these exercise programs.
Herbatint Permanent #4R
I have always had a problem with wash out dyes and so I thought I would try going to the hair dresser and try a permanent dye-disaster I got scabs on
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My Facial Flex Ultra Experiment
It's been 6 months and counting using Facial Flex Ultra, a way to exercise facial muscles that is supposed to help tighten sagging skin on the lower face. I have chronicled the results and just posted a new photo.
The hardest part of doing this little experiment was putting those close up pictures of myself up on my site. The exercises were easy and are now a nighttime habit for me. The little tool was affordable and the results, well... I leave it to you to decide.
Facial exercises are designed to get the circulation flowing to the skin and to help it look firmer whether you use a little tool like this or doing something like yoga facial exercises. To me they are fine to do when performed as instructed. This is the key.
When done properly you are not contorting your face in a way that causes new wrinkles or makes those wrinkles you already have worse. This is something I think some women are concerned about and rightly so. Repetitive facial movements can cause wrinkles whether it's just normal expressions or if we deliberately work the face.
If facial exercises work and the results are different for everyone think of all the money that could be saved by not buying some anti aging products. All it takes is some time and a little exercise. You can't get any more natural than that.
Check out my results for yourself by clicking the link below.
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Sheer Cover Makeup Review
I wouldn't recommend Sheer Cover for fair, sensitive or dry skin. I ordered the light starter kit which had loads of products. Mascara, brushes, 2
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Natural Anti Aging Products Reviews
We need natural anti aging products reviews. Rant, rave or read about natural anti aging products. Don't keep the frustration or the success to yourself write your own review or check out what other women are saying.
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Mineral Indulgence Mineral Makeup For Women Of Color Review
I am a brown skinned black women and have been looking for a mineral makeup line for my dry flakey skin for years. My skin is far too sensitive for
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CC Mineral Makeup
I was looking for some one in Australia who sells 'All Natural' mineral makeup - chemical free - and found a CC Mineral Makeup (on eBay). There are
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My Wish - Complete Ingredient List With Products
I spend a great deal of time checking out different products. Sometimes things are nice and easy. I look for a certain product and go to check on the ingredients and if I'm lucky a company has been thoughtful enough to link me to a complete ingredient list for this one product with a simple click of the mouse on a tab or an image.
Too often what I find are sites that provide a list of ingredients used in all products. These might be really wonderful natural ingredients to use but sometimes there are ingredients that someone wants to avoid for some reason. The solution then is to contact the company to find out what are the exact ingredients in this product. I don't know about you but there are just so many good products out there I might not bother and look elsewhere.
Or I find a list of ingredients for a product which turns out to be only a partial list. This can really be confusing if it appears that this really is the complete ingredient list. Without our being aware we may be buying a product with ingredients we don't want.
Sometimes I feel companies do this on purpose for whatever reasons but often it is a company just not thinking through what is the easiest thing for their customers. Or is this just me? But honestly isn't it more "transparent" to use the popular terminology to disclose all ingredients freely and easily. Easily to me that's key.
This is a simple fix that I'd love to see more often in all kinds of products.
Naturtint - Natural Hair Color Review
I just now used naturtint and as it did NOT cover gray well at all, this prompted me to search and find this sight. It may be OK if your not covering
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Meow Cosmetics Mineral Makeup Review
I am 42 with very oily skin so I look younger than my years. But it also means I still get the occasional bout of acne and with traditional makeup a
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Natural Living Stores:
Afrikan Republic
I found this site while looking for quality shea butter at a good price, and have been very pleased. Based in Pennsylvania, the company carries a
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Donate Your Prom Dress
OK. Raise your hand if you have a perfectly good prom dress or bridesmaid dress lingering in the back your closet waiting for another moment of glory? Is that you? I know it may have good memories and it may be hard to part with but wouldn't it be nice if someone else could enjoy it too.
Let your dress have it's moment in the sun by donating it to some young woman who without your help might skip her prom altogether because she can't afford a new prom dress.
DonateMyDress.org is a site that will link you up with local organizations who work to to provide prom dresses to young women who need them and with this economy I am sure the numbers are higher this year.
Do a good thing with that dress spread the joy forward. Check out their website in the link below.
Click for more info
Less Trash
I heard on the news that our trash man has been hauling away less garbage since the downturn in the economy.
Creating less trash is a very good thing. We are buying less and that means less packaging trash and we're fixing things that we might ordinarily have thrown away. We are helping the environment and ultimately ourselves and we are not even trying.
If the recession goes on for a while will we begin to see the benefits to buying less, owning less or repairing and making better use of what we already own? It's a change in lifestyle that has many benefits and not only for the environment.
How many of us have garages filled to capacity with things we no longer use but we just might some day? Or how often have you bought something you thought you needed only to find you already had one stored away in a box somewhere.
We can get to a point when having too much stuff just plain makes us feel bad. I have noticed plenty of times when I have had too much stuff laying around that my stress level rises and I get impatient and irritable. Owning less feels better to me. It feels calming, like I have room to breathe.
And that's just one benefit. Looking at items that ordinarily we would toss with a fresh eye to repairing, fixing it up and giving it a second life can be fun and saves money.
In the future, we can choose to buy a few high quality items that last longer and are more likely to be repaired rather than tossed over owning lots of cheap low quality things. We end up saving money, feeling better and helping the environment. Isn't that something we all want?
Lucky Vitamin -Natural Store Review
Having been in the habit of wanting to see the products we were buying, and having had terrible experiences with The Vitamin Shoppe, my husband was
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Body Shop Mineral Makeup
I found the Body Shop mineral foundation gave quite good coverage, but on drier patches of skin was unflatteringly noticable. I wouldn't feel
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Swishing Your Way To A New Wardrobe
Swishing is a term being used for a new way to buy, sell or swap gently worn but no longer wanted fashions. Having swapping parties to exchange clothing with your friends is becoming the new way to save both money and the environment that is growing in popularity but a new dimension has been added by a company in the U.K.
Here is a site to watch, BigWardrobe.com. This site launched in the U.K. last year and it offers a another way to recycle fashions that is being called swishing by some. Having nothing but good luck shopping at resale shops locally I am happy to see another resource for selling, buying or swapping gently worn but no longer wanted clothing.
BigWardrobe.com is a free to register site that allows their members to list clothing from women, men and children and either buy, sell or swap them for new to you fashions. Like eBay but easier. Right now the bulk of the members seem to be from the UK but I believe that will change as more U.S. members sign up.
It could open up a whole new world of fashion and accessories that many of us feel is beyond our budgets. We could be buying or swapping from anyone anywhere in the world.
I joined to check it out and some of the prices are hard to beat even figuring in currency conversion and postage. Then I noticed the will "ship to box". I didn't have any luck finding sellers who will ship to the U.S. kind of a problem huh?(I'm sure there are some but frankly it seems like it would take too long. I did contact them about that so we shall see.)
After finding that out I was a discouraged but it's still worth keeping tabs on this site. Check out BigWardrobe by clicking below...
Click for more info
RAW Minerals Makeup Review
Yes, I decided to give Mineral Makeup a try and chose RAW Minerals. (First of all, the free trial, except for shipping - will cost you $90 if you
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Best Natural Living Stores
Where are the best natural living stores? Add your favorites to this list of best places to shop for natural and green products of all kinds.
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Can't Afford To Be Green?
I read a comment from someone who said that with the economy right now she couldn't afford to be green.
If being green only depended on buying green products then she is right. When money is tight not only do we cut back on buying but we spend differently and that higher priced green product is often the one cut out of the budget.
What she wasn't considering was that just by cutting back on new purchases she was still being green. If she couldn't afford to buy new clothing made from organic materials instead of giving up her green ambitions she explored the world of resale shops and found fabulous clothing at very affordable prices. How is this green? Creating most new clothing is not an environmentally friendly process so shopping used saves the environment and saves money.
If her higher priced green skin care or cleaning products was out instead of buying the cheaper chemically laden brands decided to make some of her own products with natural ingredients then she not only will save money but is also being green. It's not that hard to do.
Some green options like buying energy star rated light bulbs or power strips have an upfront cost but when implemented save money in the long run and it doesn't cost any money to turn off lights or the TV when we leave the room or walk or ride the bike instead of driving the car but these both save energy.
So we have to keep in mind that being green is not dependent on buying organic clothing or recycled handbags. While this is part of it it is the everyday changes we make that can make a big difference.
CamdensNaturals.com ...AWESOME!
Camdens Naturals is AWESOME. I tried Bare Minerals and was NOT impressed with the excess of shimmer. I also hated that I couldn't find the right
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Earth Diva Mineral Makeup
I recently purchased Earth Diva mineral makeup. I really like it so far and the prices are very reasonable. I have tried the foundation, blush and a
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Silver to Gold Hair Coloring
This is very easy to use temporary color and works very well for covering grey. I have medium brown hair that used to have golden highlights. I don't
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Natural Henna for hair coloring - Body Art Quality
I have been planning to do Henna for some time now and this week I finally did it. I have been having increasingly worse reactions to commercial
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Update On My Experiment With Facial Flex
Have you been following along with my use of Facial Flex Ultra? Well I just put my latest picture up on my site.
It's been three months since I started doing the exercises using the Facial Flex Ultra. Take a look at the final photo. I think I'm seeing subtle results at best. I was hoping for more improvement but the product literature did say the greatest improvements could be see after 6 months so I have a way to go.
I have bumped up my routine to one more rep which will only take a few minutes more. Well worth the time if it works. I'm not expecting to look like I have had a face lift or anything although that would be OK with me but I would like to see a little more tightening affect. We shall see.
Check out my results by clicking the link below and if you have the chance let me know what you think.
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Annie's Natural Body/Face Scrub
Ingredients: 1 medium sized grapefruit 2 tbsp olive oil 2 tbsp lemon juice 1 tbsp sugar 1 tbsp sea salt 1/2 cup natural oatmeal 1 tbsp lime juice 1/4
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Aubrey Organics hair color is superb! FIVE STARS
Unlike Rainbow, Aubrey Organics ingredients are listed on the package and are safe to use. No mystery. The results were outstanding, covering grey in
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Bisous Minerals Makeup Review
I stumbled upon Bisous Minerals (www.bisousminerals.com) over a year ago and have to say, I believe I've found my holy grail. Their philosophy
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Very Easy Dry Skin Homemade Scrub.
1 tb. spoon honey 1/2.tb. spoon vegetable oil 1 tb. sugar 5/10 drops of lemon juice. Mix well and taadaaa...nice exfoliating scrub for dry skin. You
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Eco Friendly Gift Wrap
How are you planning to wrap that eco friendly gift you just bought? I mean really, shiny wrapping paper with a bow that is destined for the garbage just won't do it.
You could buy wrapping made from recycled materials or get creative with paper you already have around the house like newspapers or maps. That can be fun but why not check out a Japanese wrapping technique I came across a while back called Furoshiki.
With simple, easy to learn folds a beautiful and reusable piece of fabric creates a uniquely, wrapped package. No tape needed just a few simple knots or twists to hold it all together.
Beautiful fabric remnants could be used or why not make your wrapping a part of the gift itself. Consider using a beautiful scarf, shoulder wrap, table cloth or even napkins for smaller items, you get the idea. How fun to find an alternative to traditional wrapping paper that looks great, is easy to do and is green.
Check it out for yourself by clicking the link below and watching a short You Tube video.
Click for more info
Puppies For Christmas?
What little kid and even some adults love the thought of a puppy or kitten for Christmas. Having experienced this myself I know how much fun this can be and as much as I enjoyed it I have to admit the timing was all wrong.
This new little baby comes into the house during a very busy and stressful time of the year and is expected to just fit in. Puppies in particular are a lot of work just like babies are and they will be upset by the new changes and excitement. Don't do this to yourself or your puppy.
I have worked in animal rescue for many years. A few years ago I found a female dog that had been dumped and she was pregnant, very pregnant. After several unsuccessful attempts we finally caught her after she had given birth to 10 puppies in the woods.
We took care of them all until they were ready for adoption which happened to be right at holiday time. Every week I brought them to the adoption facility to see if we could find them good homes. We had a careful screening process and made sure that everyone understood these puppies could not be taken home until the middle of January.
We gave the adoptive parents plenty of info to help them prepare for their puppy - a picture for under the tree and kept them up-to-date on their puppy's progress.
I had several families tell me that this was a great way to do it. It gave them time to get the house settled and prepare. They used the extra time to educate the kids and themselves, shop for toys, decide on food etc. It really gave them something to look forward to and it made it easier because they were more prepared when they brought their puppy home.
What a great lesson for kids to understand that bringing an animal into your life is something to do with plenty of thought and consideration. Too many animals are put to sleep each year just because someone did not understand what they were getting themselves into when they brought that cute little puppy or kitten home.
Which brings me to another puppy issue. The Humane Society has been making a big push to shut down puppy mills.
This is a particularly nasty business which we can help stop. First by supporting the efforts of the Humane Society with a contribution and then by making sure we encourage everyone we know who might be looking to buy a pet right now or in the future to do their homework before making a purchase. Look for reputable breeders or better yet adopt from a shelter. If a pure breed is what you want check out the many breed specific rescue groups. Take your time and find a breed that is best.
Check out the Humane Society website below and click on Campaigns and Programs. You'll find all the info you need.
Click for more info
Divine Minerals Makeup Reveiw
After searching forever, I decided to give Divine Minerals a try. I was quite impressed right away that they are an eco-friendly company and the
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Elegant Minerals Review
This company offers a huge selection of products and colors, affordability AND wonderful customer service! You will not be disappointed with your
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Thank You
A big thank you to all the readers and contributors of this site.
Your questions have challenged me. Your kind comments have motivated me during times when I wondered if what I was writing was helping anyone. Your help in keeping me informed of new products or businesses I may have missed has been invaluable. Your willingness to take the time to write reviews and skin care recipes is greatly appreciated. All of you have contributed to the continued growth of Natural Living for Women.
I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Shea Butter - It's Not All The Same
Shea Butter, it is as close to a skin miracle as you can get. Shea is recognized by dermatologists to be effective for treating Eczema and Psoriasis
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My Results Using Facial Flex - 4 Weeks
After a false start, I finally was able to commit to doing the Facial Flex Ultra exercises once a day, occasionally I managed twice.
I see so many back and forth opinions on the value of facial exercises and even some who say it can be harmful. It has even been said that it is not possible to tighten facial muscles.
I heard something interesting on I believe it was Dancing With The Stars where they had someone looking at the muscles used by the dancers. The comment was made that even their facial muscles were stronger than average because they had to hold them in certain positions. I would be curious to know if that has resulted in their skin looking firmer as they age. Len sure looks good. Could this be the reason?
Click on the link below and see my latest photo.
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