First Impression: Strawberries and Cream Face Food Cleanser from The All Natural Face

             Today I have a first impression post for you! My other most recent first impression is a video on the Jane Iredale Magic Mitt to remove makeup. 
Today's first impression is on Strawberries and Cream Face Food Cleanser by The All Natural Face. Crystal, the owner of the ANF, gave me a small 0.5 oz jar to try when I was at the store 2 weeks ago. I'd seen the face food cleanser on the site but didn't think it was something I really needed to try. Basically, the "cleanser" is in a powder form of just dried strawberries and coconut milk and smells absolutely DIVINE. I wanted to eat it (and could have!)

The site says: "Strawberries are useful for oily skin but are suitable for all skin types. Strawberries contain salicylic acid, which rids the skin of dead cells, allowing it to absorb moisture more efficiently. Strawberries also have a mild bleaching effect on the skin and will help heal blemishes".

I mixed some of the powder in a cup with some warm water, and unfortunately I used a little too much. The mixture is pretty thin but covers a large area of the face, and I ended up using half of my 1/2 oz jar. I decided to apply the mixture "mask style" and leave it on for a little bit. I normally wash my face with pure raw honey morning and night, but the night I did the mask (about 2 days ago), I just used my magic mitt to remove makeup and then applied the mask.
I left it on for about 7-10 minutes until I started to feel the burning of the natural salicylic acid. The mixture was easy to rinse off (had to make sure I got the strawberry seeds) and the first thing I noticed was that my face felt SO soft and incredibly moisturized. I have been having very dry skin lately, but the mixture left my skin feeling more moisturized than the honey does, admittedly.

The main spark for this blog post so quickly was the results the next morning - my skin looked fabulous. Granted, I still am breaking out a little but (although much less since using the honey), but my skin wasn't red at all, the skin tone looked more even, and I swear some of my hyperpigmentation was faded already. I made special attention to see if my face looked the same this morning, but it didn't have the same "glow" as it did the morning after I applied the mask.

I highly recommend picking a face food cleanser up and testing it! I don't believe the 0.5 sizes are available online, I do think you'll end up wanting to purchase a larger size anyway ;P

*For the month of February, the 1 oz jars are on sale for only $5 (regularly $7.50)!!!

A 1 oz jar retails for $7.50, 2 oz for $15, and 4 oz for $25. I hope you guys will consider picking up one of the face foods to try! There are so many choices including Pomegranates and Cream, Mangoes and Cream, Lemons and Cream, and more. 

Let me know if anyone picks one up!! http://www.theallnaturalface.com/

Wish List #1

I've been very inspired by all the natural beauty and lifestyle blogs I've been reading lately. I'm constantly checking on Bloglovin', a site that allows you to 'follow' blogs and posts updates on one update page so it's super easy to stay up to date with all your favorite blogs!

From reading all the blogs, I now know about a TON of new natural brands and products! So, I thought I would share my new wish list with you! I've also found some natural products on my own I'm excited to try.

WiSH LiST

Zosimos Botanicals Honeybush Acne Serum
-I placed an order with Zosimos the other day and I'm really excited to try this in the $3 sample size. The ingredients look AMAZING. I'm hoping this will replace my Skin Ceuticals Phyto+, because that has phenoxyethanol and I'm on the move to 'ultra-pure'. The Phyto+ is more for fading scars, but these ingredients look like they will be great for preventing acne and therefore hopefully no more scars!
Ingredients: Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil; Citrullus Vulgaris (Watermelon) Seed Oil; Calophylium Tacamahaca (Tamanu) Seed Oil; Euterpe Oleracea (Acai) Fruit Oil; Vegetable Glycerin; Organic Cyclopia Intermedia (Honeybush) Leaf Extract; Tapioca Starch.

Zosimos Fool's Gold Cream Shadow
-I also ordered some mini pots as well, which are $3 little mini samples! There are a ton of options for samples and I'm excited to try the cream shadows.

Zosimos Primer Prep -
-I got a mini pot of this one too. It's tinted, but not supposed to be a foundation or anything. The one ingredient I'm a little unsure of is hydrolized silk. I've done some research but am not sure of the effects of it in skincare products aside from that it makes the product feel smooth. If it's anything like silicones, I'm going to be upset!
If you know anything about it, please comment on this post or tweet me @iluvjesse444

Waxelene - recommended by Mary from her blog Pure Makeup

Osmia Organics Spot Treatment - Found out about it from Britanie's Favorites Video

Osmia Luster Lip Repair - From Britanie's Blog

Osmia Lavender Pine Soap
-Two of my favorite scents combined! This sounds amazing. $12 for me is pretty pricey for a bar of soap, but hopefully in the future I'll get to try it!

Nourish Deodorant in Lavender Mint - Also from Britanie's video

After I finish my Honey Girl Organics Toner, I was to try some pure rose water or hydrosol as a toner!: Organic Bulgarian Rose Water

Jane Iredale Magic Mitt - Found out about it from Britanie's post as well.
-This is currently number one on my wish list. It's a mitt made of thin microfibers that apparently removes ALL makeup with only warm water. It gets great reviews and I'm really interested to see if it works for me!

Shikakai Powder
-Also going to pick up some more Shikakai powder to mix with some brown sugar or raw sugar for a scalp scrub. I love the cleansing power of Shikakai! Cleans but doesn't strip, leaves hair soft, no conditioner needed!

That's it for now! What are some things on your wish list to try??

DIY Natural Concoction #1

DIY Natural Concoction #1

Recently I've been attempting to ultra-purify my already-natural routine. By purify I mean using the most  natural ingredients I can. For my face I'm currently using pure raw honey, for hair, a shampoo bar and apple cider vinegar mix (no conditioner). My skin is clearing up already with the honey! More news on that to come.

I was inspired by the DIY recipes by my friend Britanie on her blog. She uses pure ingredients and creates skin and body concoctions for herself! I decided to mix one up with some of my ingredients.



Intended Use: Facial Scrub!

Recipe:
2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 tsp raw honey

1 drop lavender EO

1 opened-capsule lemongrass

Easy to make? - Yep, super easy to throw together!

Consistency - The consistency looked AMAZING. It reminded me of my favorite Planet Botanicals 
facial scrub but with the scrub chunks a little larger. I didn't use it right away like I should have, so I put it in the friend for an hour and the consistency wasn't as luscious as when I first made it because it got to cold.

Scent - It smelled SO good. Like a dessert. I think it was from the lavender and lemongrass but it could have been the lavender and brown sugar, or all 3!

How did it perform? - The scrub was HARSH. I ground the brown sugar a little bit but it was much, much too harsh to use as a facial scrub. It was also much more oily than I was expecting and left a layer of oil on my skin.

Would I make it again? Not this version at least. It was too oily for me and the brown sugar was much too harsh. If I reduced the amount of oil, I would definitely consider for a body scrub. It smelled SO good. I may also modify the mix and replace the brown sugar with clay to make a mask.

I can't wait to start making more concoctions and possibly ordering some herbs, oils, and supplies from Mountain Rose Herbs! I want to pick up some vanilla essential oil to mix with my lavender also!