Naturalla Beauty

Happy New Year!  I wanted to start 2013 off with something a little special and I'm super excited about this post - I've practically had to sit on my hands to hold off on putting it up until today!  I discovered Earthpaste while searching for glycerin free toothpastes.  For years, I've read about how glycerin in toothpaste can affect your teeth, but it's only in the last few months that I began actively looking at glycerin free options.  There's nothing wrong with glycerin in other body care products, but in toothpaste or mouthwash, it creates a film or coating that doesn't rinse off your teeth.  This coating is problematic because it prevents the teeth from remineralizing, thereby weakening them and leaving them more prone to decay.

Unfortunately, realizing that glycerin is not the best thing to have in toothpaste is the easy part.  Finding a toothpaste that's glycerin free can be much more difficult.  Generally it's used to help prevent toothpastes from drying out and I'd venture to say that virtually every toothpaste on the market today, both mainstream and natural, contains glycerin.  If you're open to using tooth soap or tooth powder, alternatives are more readily available, but for regular toothpaste, there are very few.  I reached out to Earthpaste and they were kind enough to send me some toothpaste to try out.  They even included some for a giveaway!  (More on that later.) 

In addition to being glycerin free, Earthpaste contains none of the other nasties commonly found in toothpaste.  It contains no sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) or other foaming agents and no fluoride.  It also contains no titanium dioxide or artificial coloring to make the paste white.

Ingredients
Food-grade Redmond Clay - a polishing cleanser with antibacterial properties
Purified Water - to hydrate the clay into a creamy paste
Xylitol - a natural sweetener that has been shown to promote healthy teeth
Redmond Real Salt - to enhance flavour and lend antibacterial properties
Tea Tree Oil - supports oral health and has anti-viral and anti-fungal properties
Peppermint, Wintergreen and Cinnamon Essential Oils - add flavor and other health benefits
Menthol - leaves your breath fresh and mouth feeling clean (only in peppermint and wintergreen flavors)


Price
4 ounces for $7.99 from Earthpaste or $5.12 from iherb

My Thoughts
After my first time using Earthpaste, I was amazed at how smooth my teeth felt.  That smooth, polished feeling you get after a professional teeth cleaning?  With Earthpaste, I get that feeling every day in my own bathroom.  (How much did that just sound like an infomercial?)

Earthpaste comes in three flavours - peppermint, wintergreen, and cinnamon - and I was able to try them all.  In the beginning they all tasted really salty to me, but after just about three weeks of use, I don't notice the salty taste anymore.  I like all three flavours, but the peppermint and wintergreen are definitely my favourites.  The cinnamon has a much milder flavour and it doesn't leave my mouth feeling as cool and fresh after brushing, probably because it doesn't contain menthol like the other two. 

I will say, if you're used to more mainstream toothpastes, Earthpaste may take a little getting used to.  It doesn't foam and it isn't the bright white most of us have come to expect in a toothpaste.  Instead, it cleans your teeth without suds and looks a little like mud on your toothbrush.  It's lovely, tasty, and effective, but the colour and texture might be a little offputting at first. 

The Bottom Line
I'm not in the habit of giving ratings, but suffice it to say, if I were, Earthpaste would get a perfect 10/10.  Ingredient-wise, it's incredibly clean and exactly what I was looking for.  The tube even tells you to "rinse or swallow at your own discretion" - a far cry from your Crests and Colgates - which just goes to show how safe it is.  If that wasn't enough, in terms of performance, I think it's the best toothpaste I've ever used.  I'll definitely be purchasing the peppermint and wintergreen flavours once I run out.  I've never gotten that polished feeling at home before and my teeth have never felt cleaner.   

Giveaway
Now for the exciting part!  Earthpaste was generous enough to send me three extra sets of toothpaste to share with you, my lovely readers!  Apologies to international readers, but because of the weight and because I am shipping this myself, I'm going to have to limit the giveaway to Canada and the United States.  I promise I'll have more international giveaways in the future.

Good luck!  To enter, just fill in the Rafflecopter widget below.  You can enter as many or as few ways as you like.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Disclaimer: Product provided for my honest review.  I was under no obligation to write a positive review in return for free product, nor was I compensated for this post.  All opinions are my own.

The new year is almost here!  Just enough time to get one final 'best of' post published before 2012 is gone.  This one is going to highlight my favourite companies for bath and body products.  These are in no particular order.



Face Naturals
In addition to being the year I got into lip products, 2012 has been my year for trying out new shower gels.  I reviewed a number of them over the course of the year and Face Naturals came out on top - it's my favourite so far!  I also really like their body lotions and scrubs. 








Nourish
Nourish is a brand I've purchased from Vitacost, but their products are also available direct from the company and at Ulta if you're in the US.  The whole range has fantastic ingredients and is affordably priced too.  Their packaging is super cute as well!  I've been loving the Organic Body Polish, which is gentle enough for your face and body, and I've just picked up a body wash to try out next.






Young Living 
As I've mentioned before, Young Living is my first choice for essential oils.  For that reason, I'm a big fan of their body care products, which as you might expect, smell amazing.  I use the Valor Bar Soap to wash my face every day and the Boswellia Wrinkle Cream is my favourite splurge moisturizer.  The body lotions are also great!





Earth Mama Angel Baby
Earth Mama Angel Baby is another brand that both your skin and your wallet will thank you for using.  Their scents are not consistently favourites for me, but I love the products themselves.  Luckily for me, many things have an unscented option!  Don't be turned off by the branding - these are great products even if you don't have kids.  I buy mine discounted from either iherb or Vitacost. 






Bubble & Bee
Seriously awesome scents.  The squeezed lime shower gel smells just like cutting into a fresh lime.  Their face cream didn't work the best for my face, but it makes a great intensive moisturizer for your hands or any other dry patches. 







What are your favourite bath and body companies?  Wishing you all a fantastic New Years and an even better 2013! 

Eye shadow was definitely my first makeup love, but 2012 is really the year when I've gotten more into lip products.  My collection has really grown this year!  In honour of that, I've picked out my top 10 lip products.  Rather than sorting them further, I've just chosen the best of the best - lip balms, lip glosses and lipsticks - and I'm including them here, all together in one post.

(L to R) LUVU Beauty Classic Red, LUVU Beauty Blush, Honeybee Gardens Karma, Honeybee Gardens Soft Kiss, Bare Minerals Bavarian Cream, Silk Naturals Figment, Vapour Organic Beauty Enigma, My Beauty Addiction Buff, My Beauty Addiction Party Girl, Revolution Organics Freedom, Cheeky Cosmetics Siren, Cheeky Cosmetics Pink Champagne, Shiro Cosmetics Binary Love, Shiro Cosmetics Longcat

LUVU Beauty Lip Liners 
I love supporting Canadian companies and LUVU Beauty is another great one.  In particular, I love their lip liners, which are both pigmented and long lasting.  Classic Red is, as the name suggests, a bright, classic, pinup red.  Blush is a natural rosey shade that works well under a variety of lip colours.  More swatches can be found here.

(L to R) LUVU Beauty Classic Red and Blush, Honeybee Gardens Karma and Soft Kiss

Honeybee Gardens Truly Natural Lipstick
Honeybee Gardens has quickly become one of my favourite makeup brands.  They sell consistently great products at very affordable prices.  You can also find many of their products discounted on sites like iherb and Vitacost.  The lipsticks are creamy and available in a fantastic range of colours.  Karma is a wearable peachy nude and Soft Kiss is a beautiful baby pink.  I have more swatches of these lipsticks here and here.

Bare Minerals 100% Natural Lip Color
I haven't tried many products from Bare Minerals, but their lipsticks are definitely a hit!  Bavarian Cream is a fabulous pinky mauve that almost matches my natural lip colour.  It's the colour I grab when I want to look polished without putting a lot of emphasis on the lips.

Silk Naturals Vegan Kisser Slickers
If you've been reading for long, you already know how much I love Silk Naturals' different lip products.  The Vegan Kisser Slickers are my new favourites, since unlike the regular Kisser Slickers, they don't contain beeswax and they're that much softer and meltier on your lips as a result.  Unfortunately Figment is no longer available, but there are a bunch of other colours.  I even like using the clear one in place of lip balm!

Bare Minerals Bavarian Cream, Silk Naturals Figment, Vapour Organic Beauty Enigma, My Beauty Addiction Buff and Party Girl

Vapour Organic Beauty Elixir Lip Gloss
Even though Vapour Beauty is one of the better known healthy makeup brands, the elixir glosses are a pretty new discovery for me.  They're hydrating, super glossy, not at all sticky, and they smell delicious too!  Enigma is a gorgeous, slightly shimmery plum/mauve that makes a perfect everyday lip colour.  

My Beauty Addiction Pretty Lil' Puckers
My Beauty Addiction is a fantastic indie brand.  They have a big range of products, including these thick, creamy lip glosses.  Pigmentation varies: some colours are very pigmented, while others are more on the sheer side.  Party Girl is a bright pink and fairly opaque.  Buff is a sheer, shimmery nude.  More colour swatches can be found here.

Revolution Organics Freedom Lip Gloss
Revolution Organics' glosses are a little pricier than some, but they're worth the splurge.  Freedom is described as a true strawberry red.  It leans slightly pink, which makes it easier to pull off, even if, like me, you find red lips a little intimidating.  I also have Innocent, which is a sheer baby pink.

(L to R) Revolution Organics Freedom, Cheeky Cosmetics Siren and Pink Champagne, Silk Naturals Binary Love and Longcat

Cheeky Cosmetics Organic Lip Gloss
Another Canadian pick!  These glosses are vegan and on the thinner side, but they still do a great job keeping your lips hydrated.  They also smell delightfully pepperminty.  Siren is a striking deep berry and Pink Champagne is a shimmery nude.

Shiro Cosmetics Intertubes 
Intertubes are Shiro's version of tinted lip balms.  From what I've seen, many of the coloured ones rival a lipstick in terms of pigmentation, but several of them do contain FD&C dyes, so bear that in mind.  The two I have are both dye free and give your lips a sheer wash of shimmer.  Binary Love is gold and Longcat is silvery/white.  I also have the plain, untinted version, which is a phenomenal lip balm.

Young Living Lip Balm 
For a basic, no frills lip balm, Young Living is still my top choice.  The lavender, in particular, is my favourite.  I wouldn't even venture to guess how how many tubes I've used up over the years!  It's incredibly moisturizing and it's also a great, relaxing scent to use right before bed.


Have you tried any of these?  What were your favourite lip products this year?

 
I know it's only been a week, but it feels like it's been a long time since my last blog post.  Either way, I'm happy to be back to posting.  I hope you all had a fantastic holiday.  As December's coming to a close, I've seen several "best of" posts pop up on different blogs and I decided to add mine to the mix.  I'm going to split it up into a few different posts, so you can expect a couple more of these before the new year.  Today's is going to highlight some of my favourite eye shadows.  

To warn you in advance, this year, I've either grown up or gotten terribly boring with my eye makeup.  I used to be a lot more adventurous with eye shadow colours, but these days I really prefer how I look with more neutral-toned shadows.  With that in mind, for your viewing pleasure, I've got my 10 favourite neutrals and my 5 favourite colours.  I made sure to pick shades that are still available, so you can easily get your hands on any of these!

(L to R) Darling Girl Cosmetics Smoking Gun, Darling Girl Cosmetics Chococat, Darling Girl Cosmetics Harvest Moon, Cheeky Cosmetics Sun Goddess, Cheeky Cosmetics Fairy Tale, Cheeky Cosmetics Silk, Chequered Lily Apothecary Neverwhere, Shiro Cosmetics Deku, Shiro Cosmetics Master Sword, Silk Naturals Splendid Perfecting Glow

Darling Girl Cosmetics
Darling Girl makes some of the smoothest eye shadows I've ever used and they have a ton of beautiful colours.  It was a struggle to pick just these three!  I use Smoking Gun a lot as eyeliner.  It's a beautiful dark, smokey taupe that ironically reminds me a lot of Honeybee Gardens' eyeliner by the same name, only in powder form.   Harvest Moon is a beautiful peach shade and Chococat is an almost metallic golden brown.  Both of them are great, mid-tone neutrals that come in handy for a lot of different looks.

(L to R) Darling Girl Cosmetics Smoking Gun, Darling Girl Cosmetics Chococat, Darling Girl Cosmetics Harvest Moon, Cheeky Cosmetics Sun Goddess, Cheeky Cosmetics Fairy Tale

 
Cheeky Cosmetics
Cheeky Cosmetics is a Canadian company that I don't see talked about very much.  They were one of my first introductions to mineral makeup and even though my collection's grown since, I still find myself reaching for these colours a lot.  Sun Goddess is a metallic gold that leans a little orange/bronze and reminds me a lot of swatches I've seen of Urban Decay's Half Baked.  Fairy Tale and Silk are my favourite shades for highlighting the inner corner.  I use Fairy Tale, which is pink-toned, the most, but Silk, which is more yellow-toned, is what I reach for when I want something more neutral/warm. 

Chequered Lily Apothecary
After how I went on about it in my review, I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I've included Neverwhere in this list.  Probably top three material, if I were ever forced to narrow things down even more.  It's a great, more complex neutral - golden brown with pink sparkles.

(L to R) Cheeky Cosmetics Silk, Chequered Lily Apothecary Neverwhere, Shiro Cosmetics Deku, Shiro Cosmetics Master Sword, Silk Naturals Splendid Perfecting Glow

Shiro Cosmetics
Shiro is another of my favourite eye shadow companies.  Deku is a stunning reddish copper with green sparkles that makes blue eyes pop like no other.  Master Sword is a glittery pale taupe that somehow manages to be both gold and silver.  It's one of my favourite lid colours. 

Silk Naturals
Splendid is actually one of Silk Naturals' Perfecting Glow powders, not an eye shadow.  The Perfecting Glows are supposed to be similar to Bare Escentuals' Radiance powders in that they give you a slight glow, but they aren't over the top and can be dusted across your whole face.  Splendid made it into my eye shadow list because it makes a fantastic colour to blend out almost any other shadow.  It goes on as a pale gold, but it's quite sheer and as you blend, it basically rubs out to nothing.  At the same time, it's a lot easier to blend over Splendid than bare skin. 

(L to R) Shiro Cosmetics Twilight Realm, Black Rose Minerals Titania, Femme Fatale Cosmetics Divinity, Noella Beauty Works Mango Berry, Madd Style Cosmetics Lady Luck

Shiro Cosmetics
One more from Shiro.  Generally, I have the hardest time wearing blue eye shadows, but Twilight Realm is the exception.  It's a greyed blue that makes the most gorgeous blue smokey eye.  Love love love.

Black Rose Minerals
After neutrals, purples are probably my favourite colour to wear.  Titania is a plummy purple that works as either a shadow or a liner.  I love that while it's clearly purple, it isn't super bright or in your face.  It's a colour, but it's still completely work friendly.

Femme Fatale Cosmetics 
Femme Fatale is an Australian company that makes the best duochrome eye shadows of any indie brand I've found.  Divinity is a soft pink with a pretty gold duochrome. 

Noella Beauty Works
Mango Berry is a perfectly balanced coral.  It's a little more orange than it appears in my swatch.  I don't reach for it much in the winter, but it's a beautiful shade that just screams summer in the warmer months.

Madd Style Cosmetics
I think Lady Luck was released with last year's St. Patrick's Day collection, but it's still available as of now.  On first glance, it's a light yellow/gold, but it has the most amazing pale green duochrome that adds just the right amount of interest to any green look.  


I hope you enjoyed checking out my top eye shadows picks for 2012.  I'd love to hear what would make your list!

I like my skin to look really natural.  I might use makeup to polish and perfect, but I still want my face to look more like skin than makeup.  For that reason, I steer clear of any products that leave my face looking overly heavy, cakey, or powdery.  Still, even the best products can have days where they just don't sit right, and that's where a makeup setting spray comes in handy.  A good setting spray will also keep your makeup in place for longer.

Not surprisingly, traditional makeup setting sprays tend to be loaded with chemicals.  As an alternative, some women swear by using hairspray to set their makeup, but the thought of coating my face in even a healthy hairspray just doesn't sit well with me.  This is where George's Aloe Spray Mister comes in...

Product Description
George's Always Active® Aloe Spray Mister contains no preservatives and is a mess-free, cooling, refreshing spray.  Great for sunburn relief and use under makeup.


Ingredients
100% Aloe vera distillate.

Price
$5.95 for 8 ounces from George's Always Active®
$4.49 for 8 ounces from Vitacost

My Thoughts
This aloe spray is a simple addition to my daily makeup routine, but I've noticed a real difference since I started using it.  I generally wear powder foundations, so even if my makeup doesn't look at all cakey, the extra moisture can be nice.  All I do is spritz 3-4 sprays all over my face after I've got all my makeup on.  It feels refreshing and if there are days when I apply a little too much powder or when my makeup looks a little off, the aloe mist does a great job fixing it.  It's light and basically feels like water, but it hydrates much better than just spraying straight water on your face.  I also love that it has no scent.  In terms of helping your makeup last longer, I haven't noticed a huge difference.  Then again, my makeup tends to last fine all day anyways, so I'm probably not the best person to test it in this regard!

The Bottom Line
This is a great product!  Aloe vera is awesome for your skin and the mist makes a perfect all natural setting spray for makeup.  In fact, even if you aren't much of a makeup wearer, you might want to check it out.  I've been spraying it on my face some nights, between washing and moisturizing, and it makes a superb gentle toner as well.  And, if that wasn't enough, it's also a great item just to have on hand.  Aloe is soothing and the distillate can also be used to treat burns, allergic reactions, and other skin irritations.  Definitely a multi-use product!


Disclosure: Post contains affiliate link to Vitacost.  If you're new to Vitacost, you can get a $10 off coupon by signing up from the following link.