So Fresh and So Clean...Hands!

Hi Hi!

So this is going to be a short post about a hand soap that i have been using for a few weeks and really liking!

 I ordered a few things off of my friends Etsy shop a few weeks ago, her shop is home made  and organic beauty and body items. 

Anyways, i ordered a few things and she sent me a free soap! 

Isn't that so nice?? I was so excited. 

I will be doing some reviews on a couple other items from that order here pretty soon, so keep an eye out!

I am in no way saying that she will be sending a free soap with all her orders.

Isn't it so cute?

It smells amazing!

When you order, you get to pick the scent you want, so i chose vanilla, its one of my favorite scents.

It's so neat that you can choose the scent you want.

This soap lathers very nicely and leaves you your hands feeling so clean and moisturized! 

I really hate when you use a soap and it strips your hands of its moisture, making them feel and look so dry.

This stuff feels like it adds moisture to your hands!

I also like how it gives your hands a light smell after washing, not overwhelming, people aren't going to be able to smell your hands from across the room. 

This soap is listed on her Etsy shop for $2.00.

$2.00!!! 

How great is that?!

She only has a few items listed right now, she is still pretty new to Etsy, so if you don't see anything you like, make sure you keep visiting, many more things are to come! 

All of the items in her shop are priced very affordable!

www.etsy.com/shop/Jessisdream

You get a lot of product, my husband and i have been using this since i bought it and i still have a lot left!

Like i said above, this is made will all organic ingredients!

No nasty chemicals!

This can also be used on your body, i have not tried it yet, but i want to!

I love how soft and smooth it makes my hands feel, i want that for my body too!

Be sure to go check out her shop!

Buy a few things!

You will not be sorry.

Thanks so much for reading ladies!

Have a great night and keep an eye out for my next post!

Review! All Natural Makeup Items from Etsy!

Today's post is going to be a review on some organic makeup items i ordered off Etsy. 

These are actually the fist organic makeup items i have ever bought and i am very excited about them!

So lets jump right in!

Before i made an order for these items, i did a lot of research and browsed a lot of shops on Etsy, i wanted to make sure i was getting a really good product full of good ingredients that didn't cost me an arm and a leg. 

I got 2 out of those 3 anyway.

So the shop i stalked and finally made an order from is called OhSudz.

www.etsy.com/shop/OhSudz

It is such a neat shop, full of all natural, homemade beauty/makeup items!

The items i ordered are:

Two cover up/concealer samples in the colors light warm and light cool.

Lip Balm in the flavor peppermint and tea tree.

Liquid foundation in the color light warm.

So first i wanna talk about:

Liquid Foundation:

This product is bottled in a very nice pump bottle.

Very sanitary and gives you a way to control the amount you pump out.

The label is nice too, I like how it doesn't go around the entire bottle, i like being able to see the product and the amount level as i use it. 

Is that weird?

 Ignore my chipped nail polish ;)

As as you can see, i ordered this stuff in the ghost white shade!

Although the color is a little bit darker in person, it is still a very light shade.

The consistency of this stuff is pretty thin.

As i rubbed it in, i got kinda worried that it was going to be to light for me.

But it ended up being perfect! 

It blended right in and gave me a very light layer of color with a dewy glow.

This is very build-able, when i wear it, i wear 2 layers and it does not get cakey.

I would say that this is more of a BB cream then a foundation really.

This stuff is going to be great for summertime.

I also noticed that after wearing, my face felt insanely soft and smooth!

 It stayed that way for a few days!

I really like that. 

This product is 1oz and it cost me $12.95. 

Very spendy for the amount you get, in my opinion.

Not really sure if i will re purchase this after i used it all up. 

If it costed a bit less, i for sure would. 

Lip Balm:

 Right off the bat, this stuff has a very strong smell.

She offers several different flavors, i chose peppermint and tea tree...all i smell is tea tree.

That's OK tho, I still really like the smell, just wish there was a tad more peppermint.

It is very moisturizing and glides right on! 

A little bit of this stuff goes along ways.

This stuff actually stays on your lips for awhile, i was thinking i was going to have to re apply a ton throughout the day, but i really didn't.

The label is so cute! 

I really like how all of the ingredients are listed on the back of the label.

This product was $4.50. Tad spendy in my opinion, but i would re purchase this for sure.

and lastly:

Concealer:

I couldn't decide what color of concealer to go with, luckily this shop offered samples!

The left one is light cool and the right is light warm. 

I am very picky with concealers.

I like it to be thick and full coverage, without it settling into the fine lines under my eyes.

Right away i could tell these concealers were thick and going to have a great color pay off!

I was right!

It glides right on and covers blemishes and dark circles like a boss!

I did notice that it started to settle in my fine lines, under my eyes, but once i set it with powder, it was fine.

I like to use both of these at the same time.

I like to wear the light cool under my eyes, to conceal my gnarly dark circles and brighten the eye area at the same time. 

The light warm is great for covering blemishes i may have and redness around my nose and mouth.

Works Fantastically!

There is a lot of product in these little jars and a little bit goes a long ways.

I paid $6.00 for both samples.

The full size product is priced at $14.95 and you get about the lip balm size, amount of product. 

Pretty spendy, in my opinion. 

 When i do re purchase, i will be purchasing these 2 samples and colors again.

Hope you enjoyed this post!

I strongly encourage you to check out this Etsy shop and try some stuff out!

The products are wonderful and again, all organic! 

No nasty chemicals or toxins!

Be sure to let me know if you have or are planning on trying anything out, i would love to hear what you think about them!

Have a happy, laughter filled day and be sure to keep an eye out for my next post!

Shampoo + Conditioner! Paraben and Sulfate FREE!

So as you can tell by the title, this post is about Shampoo! and conditioner of course. 

So a few months ago i had a huuuge light bulb duh moment go off in my head about my color treated hair and the shampoos i was using.

 If you have read my previous hair masque blog then you know that i have been coloring my hair for yeeeaaarrrsssss! On top of that i was using the same shampoos that i always was, nothing special for colored hair..i would notice a few weeks after coloring my hair it would be so faded..so i would color it again and so on and so on the cycle went. TERRIBLE terrible terrible for my hair, i know!

So finally i started using a shampoo for colored hair and the only change i saw to my hair was how dry it was getting, not only from the dye but the shampoo! So now my color was fading at a ridiculous rate AND my hair felt like straw..sexy! 

So into research mode i went! It took a whole 2 minutes of me researching to figure out what the heck i was doing wrong. Even tho i was using a shampoo for color treated hair..the shampoo was full of sulfates and parabens!

So in case you are not familiar, sulfates are detergents they add to not only shampoo but also face and body wash and it acts as a cleaning agent and it creates the foam or lather associated with the product you are using. 

Parabens are a form of preservative also added to manyyy beauty products to allow them a longer shelf life. 

I don't know about you but i don't want my shampoo to have either of those and i also don't want to have to pay an arm and a leg for that shampoo.

WALMART TO THE RESCUE..again! 

So Walmart has an amaaazing shampoo and conditioner that you can only get at Walmart, stores or online.

Simply U shampoo and conditioner. I cant even tell you how much i love this stuff. its the only shampoo i use now and have been for a few months. i love it more ever time in wash my hair.

There are 3 kinds to choose from, Color Shine, Volumizing and Moisturizing and Smoothing. I of course use the Color Shine one and i am so beyond in love it and with the smell! it smells sooooo goood!!

Next i am going to try the Moisturizing one, the Volumizing one isnt in the Walmart i shop at yet, i think its their newest one so it may take a bit to show up.

 This shampoo has NO sulfates and parabens, is vitamin and antioxidant enriched, pH balanced and has added UV protection to keep ur color lookin ooh la laa good! 

Don't worry it still lathers up really nicely and gets your hair super clean and shiny and soft with a rich, silky formula of naturalness that feels just like a regular shampoo.

Another thing i love about this shampoo is that they all come in a pump bottle! Makes it so easy to control how much you use and You get a ton of product! My husband and i both use this and it last forever.

 Online you can choose from 2 different sizes but at my store there was only one option, the bigger one. So I bought mine for $5.47 and its 24.4 fl oz. The smaller one is $3.74 and is 12.6 fl oz. 

Definitely my kind of prices. 

I recommend everyone give this shampoo a try, even if you arnt lookin for a new one, you will fall in looove with it!  

Thanks so much for reading my novel of a post today guys! Hope this helped one of you and if you give it a try..Let me know!!

Coconut Oil..Not Just for Cooking!

Hellooooo Hello!

So today's post is all about the benefits of using coconut oil for beauty related things and not just cooking! There are literally a TON of things you can use Coconut Oil for but i am mainly going to be talking about its uses for skin and hair. 

So i know its probably obvious but in case you didn't know coconut oil is derived from the meat of matured coconuts..i kind of always thought that it was made out of the actual meat of the coconut..buuut no haha

So back when my hair was a hot hot dried frizzy mess from dyeing it a ton and before i bought the deep repair masque (review post below) i came across an article online that talked about using coconut oil as an all natural hair repair formula. At first i thought it was kind of weird that people would put an oil that you use for cooking on their hair like that..but my hair was so bad that i decided to give it a shot!

SO glad i did!

Even tho my hair was insanely dry and damaged i still felt like it was getting healthier when i used it! It also looked like it has some shine back and a bit softer as well! 

So whats so special about coconut oil? Time to get scientific! 

Hair:

Coconut oil has a unique fatty acid that has a small molecular structure that can pass freely into the hair's cell membrane, allowing the oil to penetrate the hair's shaft. (heehee i said shaft) This brings out the deep conditioning from within as opposed to other conditioners that work from the outside in. 

It is also great to use if you have a dandruff. 

Dandruff is caused by having a dry scalp or an internal fungal condition that reached the scalp. If used often, rubbing it into the scalp, coconut oil can kill the fungus and moisturize your scalp..eliminating dandruff issues!

Also for an extra deep conditioning you can use a small amount on your hair over night. 

When i use coconut oil i take a small amount and put it on my dry hair a few hours before i take a shower. I would do this about 2 or 3 times a week.

 You can also you it on wet hair, it really makes no difference but its way easier for me doing it right before i shower.

 I spread it all over and then put a shower cap on.

 The consistency when its in the container may look thick but remember it IS an oil when it softens up so if you use to much it will drip all over your neck and clothes..a lesson i learned the hard way. 

* BE SURE TO USE AN ORGANIC OR ALL NATURAL COCONUT OIL*

I got mine from Walmart, its with all the other cooking oils and it was about 7 bucks.

Above is the kind i bought and it is in a plastic container..love that! It lasts a really long time.

It is refined which means there wont be any smell or taste. Get extra virgin Coconut oil if you would like there to be a slight smell and taste...if you are also eating it.

Ok so now ill talk about using it for your skin!

Not only does coconut oil condition and moisturizer your hair it also does for your skin! The fatty acid deeply penetrates your skin leaving it super moisturized and not greasy!

Now i have pretty dry skin..specially in the winter so for ME it doesn't leave my skin feeling oily but if you do have oily skin i would use a very small amount if any.

  Coconut Oil also provides a natural SPF of 20! 

Inst that awesome?! 

I also use this under my eyes..its filled with anti-oxidants so it helps prevent wrinkles!

I could seriously go on and on and ooooonnnnnnn about how great coconut oil is..i will spare you and my fingers and just encourage you to Google it and read read read! You will not be sorry!

Thanks so much for reading guys! I know it was a long one and didn't have much visuals..you are awesome! 

Please feel free to email me or comment below if you have any other questions! I will gladly answer! 

semihippylivin@gmail.com

Say Yes To Carrots!

No not the food.. although you should say yes to those too!

Hi Hi!

So today's post is all about my new love...my face wash! 

ssshhh don't tell my honey ;) 

If you have read my previous posts then you already know that my face gets pretty dry, specially in the winter, so i am always on the look out for face wash that helps moisturize, instead of leaving it all on my moisturizer's shoulders. 

So as the picture shows, this face wash is the nourishing daily cream facial cleanser. Cream indeed! it is very thick and creamy but as soon as you warm it up with your hands it softens up and glides on your face like butta ;)

I bought mine at Walmart for about 8 dollars.

So if you dolls were like me and hadn't really heard much about this line of product then giiirl you better keep readin! 

The Say Yes brand has 5 different veggies/fruits to choose from, depending on what you are looking for in a product. I obviously was looking for moisture so that was the Carrots.

They also have:

Cucumber for normal to sensitive skin.

Tomato for just a super clean and clear face.

Blueberries for treating fine lines and nourishing age-damaged skin.

and last but not least

Grapefruit for correcting and repairing uneven skin tone for a brighter, more glowing complexion.

ALL of these products are made with almost all natural and organic products!

Cucumber, Tomato and Carrot is 96%

Blueberries is 95%

and Good ol Grapefruit is 99%

How awesome is that?!

These product are also free of Parabens, Petroleum and Sulfates!

  music to my eyes! ;)

They also have TONS of other products besides face wash in each line, like chap stick, shampoo, conditioner, eye creams, face towelettes...the list goes on and on!

You can check everything out on their website!

www.yestocarrots.com

A little of this product goes a looong ways!

If you are like me and sometimes tend to get to much on your face...it takes a bit of rubbing to get it off! But once you do, your face is super smooth, clean and feels so hydrated! 

AND

you will LOOOOOVE the smell!!

Don't worry, it does NOT smell like carrots!

It is a really hard smell to explain but it smells soooo good! I am always so sad to use my toner after i wash my face because it makes the smell go away! 

Ill just have to get the moisturizer next is all ;)

I encourage all of you to go check this stuff out! you wont be sorry!

Thank you all so much for reading and be on the look out for more posts!

Fox + Fern Botanical's Review!

Hi dolls! 

I'm here with a review about a wonderful product that has taken over my life!

 Some lovely ladies, known as Fox + Fern Botanicals (from my home town! yay) have worked their booties off to make this all purpose botanical healing salve and IT IS AMAZING!

They have 3 different sizes offered on their website, 0.2 oz (on the right- $3.00) 1 oz (on the left-$12.00) and they also have a 4 oz jar! ($20.00)

Great variety of sizes for wherever you would like to keep them! 

I keep the 0.2 oz one in my purse so i always have it with me and the 1 oz at home. 

This stuff is all natural and home made! 

They list ALL of the ingredients on the jars so you know exactly what is in it before you put it onto your body. How amazing is that? I love being able to see what i am putting on my skin!

The flash of my camera makes the color of the salve look a bit yellow, but it is more green. It has a floral/herb smell, its so nice!

 You can't tell by this picture but i have used about 3/4 of the blue jar already! Loooove it! 

You can literally use it on EVERYTHING and it last for a long time! 

I bought these on February 20th, got them in the mail maybe 3 days later, super quick! I have literally used it at least once a day, usually more, and i have a ton left! You definitely get your money's worth!

The consistency of this stuff is kinda thick at first and when it warms up it gets soft and rubs right into your skin! Does not leave your skin feeling oily and gross afterwards! 

So as i said above, it can be used on a TON of stuff!

 What i have used it on, so far, is:

Stretch Marks 

Dry Skin

 Chapping (even on my lips)

Hang nails

Cuts

Burns

Scraps

Muscle soreness

But you can use it on so much more! 

 TMI MOMENT- I had some stretch marks that got irritated often and i would apply some of this Healing Salve to it, after i shower, and it immediately soothes and started to heal it! 

They are all healed now!

There is a more in-depth description about this product and what you can use it on, on their website!

Right now, all they have on their website is the healing salve, but i hear they have a few other things coming soon and i can't wait!

www.foxandfernbotanicals.com

GO CHECK THEM OUT! 

Thanks so much for reading and i hope you go check these lovely ladies out! 

You will NOT be sorry!

Witch Hazel!

Hi Hi!

Today's post is all about Witch Hazel!

 I have known about witch hazel for a while now, researched a bunch and found nothing but great things about! What it can do and how many different things you can use it for!

I finally got my hands on it a few weeks ago and have been obsessed with it ever since!

Witch Hazel is also known as winter-bloom or spotted alder and is a flowering shrub common in North America. Sometimes it grows tall enough to be considered a tree.

Most witch hazel comes in astringent form and it is 100% natural! 

No artificial fragrances or dyes. 

It can be used on your face and body, to cleanse, soothe and treat...pretty much anything!

The leaves, flower and bark are boiled to extract all of that good stuff in it!

Waste nothing!

 One of the articles i read online said that the leaves, bark, and twigs of witch hazel are high in tannins. 

Tannins are found in any natural astringent because of their 

strong ability to tighten tissue.

Now i don't know a lot about all the science and break down of this stuff, i just know its all natural, and it works! 

That's good enough for me!

The kind i found is by T.N. Dickinson's and i found it at grocery outlet for $3.69 and it is a 16oz bottle.

You should be able to find it most places and it should be cheap!

I use this a couple times a day, mainly after i wash my face in the morning and at night, as a toner.

I switch back and forth with my L'Oreal toner, use the witch hazel one day then the L'Oreal the next and well you get the picture!

  It deep cleans all my pores and gets all of the nasty dirt out of them. 

This stuff is also super gentle, so if you have sensitive skin, this is great for you!

It does not dry out my face! It actually feels like it gives it moisture!

 I sometimes use this more then just the two times i wash my face, if i have a blemish or if my face just feels really dry or oily.

 You can use it as much as you feel needed.

There is no tingle or burn when you use this.

 It also has a very herby smell to it, i kinda like it.

Don't worry, the smell goes away when you use it!  

Ok so now that fun part!  

 Some of the things you can do with this!

-Clear acne

(read a TON of articles about how good this is for clearing acne!)

  -Refresh skin

-Moisturize dry skin

-Reduce eye puffiness

-Insect bite soother

(takes the itch and swelling away)

-Reduce appearance of varicose veins

-Helps heal bruises quickly

-Cleanse and soothe wounds

(cuts, scraps, burns)

-Stop itching

(great for poison oak)

-Diaper rash

-Sunburns

-Itchy/dry scalp

-Psoriasis and eczema 

-Child birth injury reducer/quicker healer

(thanks to those tannins)

-Household cleaner

  (add some lemon juice and baking soda to create an eco-friendly cleaning

 agent for house)

-Jewelry cleaner

(dab on cotton ball and clean away)

-Soothe razor burn

-Hemorrhoids

The list can seriously go on for like ever!

I really think that its something that everyone needs to have in their home! 

Thanks so much for reading!

 Now go get some of this stuff!

:D

  

First Impression's on a New Face Wash!

Hi Hi!

So the other day my hubby and i were out shopping for some random toiletry items and face wash was one of them. 

I had been using the say yes to carrots nourishing daily cream face wash and loved it. 

(blog review on that below)

I was planning on just grabbing another and being on my way, when i decided to branch out and try something new!

After standing in the face wash isle for several minutes...ok like 20...i chose this!

As you can read, its from the Neutrogena naturals line.

I purchased this at walmart and it was $6.97 i believe.

  

Before i bought this, i hadn't really heard anything about this line and hadn't used a Neutrogena product in a very long time. 

Right away i loved the fact that is said no harsh chemical sulfates, parabens, petrochemicals, dyes or phthalates! 

With your skin soaking up 60% of everything you put on it, a product not having those things in it, is very important to me.

It also says on the back that this product is 90% natural and the bottle is made of 50% post consumer recycled material.

This stuff is also not tested on animals!

Fantastic!

Ok, so now about the actual cleanser.

Smell:

The smell of this stuff was kind of surprising to me.

It is a pretty strong smell.

I can't decide if its more flowery or perfumey of a smell.

It actually reminds me a lot of the Garnier Fructis hair dye smell!

Not nearly as strong of course, but that's exactly what comes to mind.

Its a good smell, i like it.

Cleansing-ness: 

I have used this about 2 times since i got it and so far it seems to clean pretty good.

It doesn't make my face have a shine to it after i use it, so that's good.

Makes my face feel super soft and smooth. 

Consistency: 

This stuff is pretty liquidy! 

I went from one drastic with my other face wash, which was a very thick white cream, to this one, which is very thin and clear. 

I began to not like the thickness of my other face wash by the time i got done with it, but this stuff seems almost to liquidy, it likes to try and run right off my hand before i can get it to my face.

The amount of product in my hand, in the picture, is about half a pump and that's a perfect amount for my face, so this stuff will last you awhile! That is always good!

This stuff doesn't have much of a lather, as you can see.

I thought it was going to have more suds. 

That's not a bad thing tho, just something i was expecting, not really sure why.

Ok so lastly i wanna talk about;

The packaging:

I really love the way this product is packaged! 

Its in a very durable bottle with very good sticker labels on the front and back. 

Also love that it is a pump! Very sanitary.

My favorite part about this bottle is that is has a twist lock on the pump! yaayyyy!

I have terrible luck with pump products that either have no twist lock or not very good ones and i somehow break them! I might as well open it up and poor it out all over my stuff! 

But this stuff has a very good twist lock!

 I would feel very comfortable throwing it in a toiletry travel bag and going!

So, all in all, first impression is i like it. 

I will keep using it for the next couple weeks, so time will tell if i keep liking it!

Thank's so much for reading, hope you will enjoy these First impression post's as much as i am going to enjoy writing them!

If you have already tried this stuff, please leave me a comment on your thoughts about it! I would love to hear them!

Have a wonderful day and keep an eye out for my next post!