Naturalla Beauty

LUVU Beauty is a Canadian company that sells a good range of natural products - makeup, skincare, haircare, baby products and more.  I've placed two small orders with them now, but I've only tried their makeup so far.

Along with other new products for spring, LUVU recently came out with new eye liner and lip liner pencils and when they had a 50% off sale for Facebook fans, I decided to order a few to try.  I ordered four of the new pencils, as well as two of the old formulation that I found discounted in their clearance section.  As it turned out, LUVU was already sold out of the clearance ones, but Tira, the owner, offered to replace these two with my choice of colours in the new pencils, free of charge.  My order shipped quickly and I got it 3 days after ordering.  I got four lip liners in Blush, Nude, Pale Pink, and Candy, and two eye liners in Black and White.

I'm really happy with the colours I picked.  Candy is a gorgeous hot pink, and Blush and Pale Pink are super pretty too.  Nude is a little dark for me, but it would probably work well on someone a bit darker.  All the lip liners and the black eye liner are matte and pretty vibrant, while the white has some shimmer and is sheerer, making it perfect for highlighting the inner corner of the eyes.

Bottom Line

I'm a bit mixed on these liners.  The colours are nice, but I really wish the formula was creamier.  I will say that I don't love them as eye liners - they just are not soft enough to apply easily.  I do like the lip liners and the white eye liner is very pretty as well.  LUVU has great customer service and both my orders have come quickly.  They're constantly coming out with new products and if there were other products I was interested in, I wouldn't hesitate to order from them again.  They do offer lots of deals on Facebook, so I'd recommend checking their Facebook page before placing an order.

Silk Naturals makes several different lines of lip products, including lip balms, lip stains, lipsticks, liquid lip glosses, plumping lip glosses, and lip gloss sticks.  Most of these give sheerer color that's great for a subtle lip look, but if you're looking for more dramatic colour payoff, the Vegan Lipsticks do deliver.  Silk Naturals lip products also contain more than 80% organic ingredients, depending on which formula you choose.  Ingredients are listed individually for each colour, as well as a color description and information about opacity, finish, shimmer, whether it's vegan or not, gluten content, and whether or not it contains any  dyes.  I personally avoid FD&C colours, which does narrow the colour selection a bit, but there are still plenty of colours that are dye free if that's what you're looking for, and all colours are clearly labelled accordingly.  On the Silk Naturals website, you can also filter out any colours that contain dyes, for easier browsing.  

Scent-wise, all the ones I've tried smell faintly like vanilla and are slightly sweet to the taste, but nothing overpowering.  All Silk Naturals lippies are priced at less than $6 and they have several different formulas and tons of colours to choose between in each, so there really should be something for everyone.  Another cool thing about Silk Naturals is that they offer clones of eye and lip colours made by mainstream brands like MAC and Bobbie Brown.  Most colours also have swatches so you can get a good idea of the colour before ordering.  They also have a 30 day return policy, in case you don't end up liking a colour.

Silk Naturals is one of the larger indie brands out there.  They've been around since 2006 and have an impressive array of products - makeup, skincare, and even haircare.  They offer competitive prices, a weekly limited edition gift with purchase for all purchases over $10, and a free eye shadow or lip balm of your choice for every $30 spent.  They also have great customer service, are open to answering questions, either by email or on their forums, and ship very quickly.  I've been really impressed with everything I've tried from Silk Naturals.  You can expect reviews of their lip products and eye shadows to follow in the next few days.

Initially I ordered a sample of Sleep in a Jar under eye concealer thinking I'd use it to set Silk Naturals' creamy concealer, which I also ordered a couple samples of.  As it turns out, the creamy concealer was not a big hit with me, but Sleep in a Jar more than made up for it!  I constantly have some degree of under eye circles, and combined with stress or not getting enough sleep, they can get pretty dark and unsightly.  Hayley of The Flaxen Owl recently posted about having trouble finding a natural concealer with enough coverage to conceal her dark circles, and I've always struggled with the same thing, even when I used mainstream cosmetics.  Sleep in a Jar doesn't give full coverage, but something about the way it diffuses light really brightens up the under eye area and makes dark circles appear greatly reduced.  Up close I can still see some very slight darkness, but as long as most people aren't right up in your face, they won't be able to see any darkness that may remain.  

Sleep in a Jar is a powder concealer, which I never would have thought could work so well on dark circles, but it really does.  An added benefit is that it doesn't settle into fine lines the way liquid or cream concealers are prone to.  It's also pretty buildable - I apply thin layers with a fluffy blending brush until I get enough coverage.  If it starts to look at all cakey, I pat it out with my finger and it's good to go.  It also works surprisingly well at covering up the occasional blemish.

Color-wise, I've been wearing the light peach, which is perfect for me.  I'm quite pale, but the extra light peach was too light for me - it looked almost pure white when applied.  Unfortunately it only comes in three shades, the darkest being medium, so it really doesn't accommodate darker skin tones, but if you have fair to medium skin and are looking for a new under eye concealer, I'd recommend giving this one a try.  It's affordable, at $0.99 for a 1/8 teaspoon sample or $6.99 for a full size (in a 10 gram jar).  I'll definitely be ordering the full size, but I haven't even finished my sample yet after more than a month of wearing it.  Sleep in a Jar is a great product and you really don't need much to see results!

Backstory

A few months ago, I started noticing that I was getting a lot of hair breakage.  I've always had pretty thick, healthy hair, but all of a sudden I was noticing a lot more hair in my brush and in the shower drain.  I'd read a lot about hair masks and deep conditioning, so I figured I'd give it a try.  Since those sold in stores can get pricey and also aren't always natural, I looked into some homemade recipes that sounded easy to make. 

So far, I've tried two kinds of conditioning hair treatments.  First, I used plain coconut oil, applied liberally to the hair and scalp, which I wasn't a big fan of it.  It was conditioning, yes, but I didn't notice my hair being any stronger or breaking less.  I use sulfate free shampoo that doesn't produce a huge lather and I also struggled to get all the oil washed out of my hair!  The second kind I tried would be considered more of a protein treatment.  The main ingredients are egg and yogurt, which I know sounds a little icky to be putting on your head, but I've gotten amazing results from it.

Recipe  

After playing around with it a bit, here's the recipe I've come up with: