Things I am loving Fall 2017

Hello Lovelies,

Welcome back! And if you are new here, welcome 💕💕💕

I have to be honest here and say this post almost didn't happen. Some of you might be aware I went through some terrible times recently, for the second time this year (seriously, I can't wait for this year to be over!) so I I feel down in the dumps, fighting really had not to spiral down the depression route and going through the whole spectrum of emotions. Needles to say I didn't think I am enjoying ANYTHING at the moment, but having looked around I saw there are some things that bring me joy, so I thought I'd share it with you. FIY, this post isn't product heavy, so if you want, you can exit it now, no hard feelings, promise.

In no particular order, here are a few of the things I enjoyed recently. And there will be one thing I didn't enjoy, to put it mildly, but I will leave it to the end. It takes a lot for me to bitch, most of the time I let things wash over me, but I have to say something here.

Being By The Sea

I don't know how to explain it, but it brings me healing and the peace of mind like nothing else. So I am drawn to it like a moth to the flame, and I am sure I am not alone. I once read sea vibrates at the same frequency as a human in a deeply relaxed state, so there is something behind it. It just brings peace and calmness to my soul, and I really wish I could live by the sea, that is my ultimate dream.

Mandalas

These have drawn me in big time, I can't even explain why. I have a lot saved in my Pinterest board, as well as my Instagram, and what can I say, all the adult colouring books with mandalas, come this way please!

Reading 

This is a all the time favourite activity, and although I am falling way behind 10-books-a-month habit, the best book I've read recently is Self Heal by Jill Rosemarie Davies. Unfortunately it is out of print for some time, so I am searching high and low to buy it second hand. The one I've read came from the library. It is a complete home guide to natural healing, herbs and nutrition. All the things I am interested in!

Vegan foods

Let's just say the eating/food situation is kinda difficult in our house - I often find myself cooking four different dinners! You see, I spoilt my family too much by cooking everything from scratch for years, and with four different eating plans, it takes it's toll sometimes. My husband is meat-is-the-best-vegetable kind of guy, my elder daughter is vegetarian who won't eat fish either, I myself have to be GF (gluten free) DF (dairy free) and sugar free as much as possible to stay dermatitis free; and my youngest is the fussiest eater you can find. So in order to simplify my life I now cook vegan meals most of the time, and let my hubby add meat to it should he fancy it, but I am pleased to say we buy less and less meat, which I am thrilled about. I am yet to make my hubs to watch Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, Cowspiracy, Forks Over Knives or any other similar movie - he refuses full stop. I asked nicely, left loaded movies on his laptop, sent him links and so on an forth, all I have left is bully option; but then again, if he chooses to buy next to no meat, maybe I don't have to?

Love Lula Natural Beauty Club (Facebook Group)

It is a forum on Facebook, where users of natural beauty products can get advice from knowledgeable writers, from their peers and from the brand owners and formulators. More and more of you joining in the conversations, as well as the founders such as Kimberly Sayer, Dee Stein from ESSE and Ben Lyons from Lyonsleaf to the club, to name just a few. I am certainly enjoying every minute of it! Not just giving advice or sharing my reviews, but also seeing what other people (not necessarily bloggers) are buying, using and enjoying. I've been chosen the most helpful member twice, once by Love Lula, and then by members of the group, the one time they were given the chance to vote. That has definitely warmed up my heart I have to say!

Lip Balms That Would Stay On The Lips

One of them is Hurraw Moon Balm, aka their night balm. I should class this is really an All The Time Fave, and it deserves a place in the Holy Grail Products category! It's replaced before it runs out, and l freak out if I can't find it. Different texture than the rest of the Hurraw balms, with slight vanilla scent. Surely a sign of love? 
Then there's also a lip balm from my favourite Irish company that is Bees Flying Wild, their Rosemary and Honey lip balm is my saviour in winter. Must stock up soon, because I am running out of them. 
And then there's my newest discovery, Fruu balms. Not as good as the first two imo, but they stay on pretty well too.

Crocheting

As soon as the temperatures drop, I get the urge to knit or crochet something, aka create things with my hands. I love creating full stop, and this time I am continuing to make these cupcakes crocheted decorations for the Christmas tree. I will show them later on. Don't hate me for dropping C word :) 

Wool slippers

I got them for incredibly cheap last year in Lithuania in second hand store (see my thrift haul post here if you want to). 1.5€ for brand new felted wool slippers, you can't beat that, can you? Long story short, I started wearing them just now, and can't be happier about it! So warm and cosy, and who does not like feeling warm and cosy? 

Elderberry 

I managed to forage quite a bit of it this fall,  so I made tinctures and syrup. Feeling prepared for sickness season!

Hempture products

A little correction - my mum, who is battling breast cancer, enjoyed the products, not me. Hempture is an Irish company who do hemp extracts and so much more - and I am really glad about it. The more I research about cancer and the enforcement of highly expensive but very ineffective treatments of chemo and radiation when there are natural and much more effective treatments available makes my blood boil. I won't go into the details of heartbreaking journey we had this far, but I want to include this product and Irish company who do this in order to spread the message of natural cures, because a lot of people are simply not aware of it. I thought of doing a review post on Hempture, but as I am not a doctor and don't have a training in the medical field whatsoever, I don't feel I have a leg to stand on to talk about it. I am simply someone who did a bit of digging and found natural cancer treatments available and wanted to give my mom what’s best. Please visit Hempture.ie to find out more about hemp products and uses. And no, this isn't weed, it won't make you high, and it is legal within EU! 


Tea

If I had my way, I could drink it non stop, at least five cups a day! Unfortunately life gets in a way, so I make sure to drink at least one cup of green tea in the morning, and some herbals teas in the afternoon. As I am really sensitive to caffeine, I make sure to drink caffeine free versions post 2pm. One of my favourites is still the rooibos tea with turmeric, ginger and honey, aka the Drink That Helps Me Stay Well In Winter (post here) and I keep trying to add new dimensions to it all the time too, like adding some cinnamon for speeding up metabolism and adding that festive touch to it. Hey, it is my tea, and there are no rules! Another tea I love of late is camomile tea with a bit of saffron, I read some reports on it being a natural anti-depressant, so of course I have to try it! I will keep you posted on whether it works or not. 

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And for the one thing I am NOT loving, is.. Is.. the greed of one Youtuber and blogger. I have followed her for a couple of years now, and at first I loved her - she invited me to check out her channel via comment on someone else's page, and I watched all 15 videos she had at a time in one go. Everything she was talking about resonated with me, so I sort of had a fan girl moment, leaving gushing comments on her videos. Fast forward a couple of years ago, I couldn't ignore her arrogance anymore that was grating on me for some time - and the last straw that broke the deal for me was when I found out she does skincare consultations at 50$ a pop despite having no qualifications in the field whatsoever. I unsubscribed there and then. Fast forward a couple of years to bring us back to speed - last month bored out of my mind I wandered to her Youtube channel and clicked on her favourites video - and what do I hear? She has set up Patreon account so her followers could support her! Now, let's see - she works full time and thus is well able to buy her own products. Plus she is an ambassador to a well known subscription box, meaning she gets free boxes, has a endless supply of PR samples, has affiliate links all over her YT channel and website, meaning she is making extra money on the side, AND she sets up a Patreon account ON  TOP OF ALL THIS? You might know her as the "one who loves music". Correct me if I am wrong, but when enough is enough?

P.s. I am the least bitchy person, and all my friends would confirm it, so it is isn't a moan out of jealousy or something. It takes me a lot to bitch, and I simply couldn't leave this unsaid. 

So that is it for today. What are you loving this fall? Pumpkin spice lattes? Crisp fall weather? Leave a comment down below.

Kind Regards,

Renata.

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5 Natural & Organic Autumn Skincare Must Haves

Hello Lovelies,



Welcome back! And if you are new here, welcome 💕💕💕

Natural & Organic Skincare Must Haves

How are you all doing? Are you enjoying Autumn or is it not your season? I love summer most of all, and Autumn is not my favourite, as it leads to Winter and often turns into one long Cold & Flu season if I am not careful to have good natural products to boost and protect my family's immune system (yep, you guessed it right, there's a blog post in the works!) but let's leave it that aside for now, as in this post I wanted to share my top five beauty and skincare products.

So if you are interested in what I use when the seasons change, please keep on reading.

DrHauschka Rose Day Cream

💕 Rich Face Cream - e.g DrHauschka Rose Day Cream

This rich face cream is exactly what my skin laps up and loves! I just published a review of it here should you fancy reading it (here), but I have to say, so far so good! When I ran out, it tried some other creams in between, but nothing measured up and I ran to the health shop to stock up. Not only it keeps my skin happy and supple, but I noticed my dermatitis flare up were down to the absolute minimum when I used it. A must have and a strong contender for The Holy Grail category. You need to upgrade your moisturiser to a more rich version at this time of the year, and this works perfectly for my dry and sensitive skin. Tell me your favourite rich creams if you also have sensitive skin, I would love to know!



💕 Hurraw or Flying Wild Lip Balms

A lip balm is an absolute must for me at all times, and especially when the temperatures drop. I love a rich consistency balm that stays on the lips, and from the vast majority I've tried, Hurraw and Flying Wild are my absolute favourites. Now, I never reviewed Hurraw despite using them for more than five years, but I've reviewed Flying Wild here - it comes from an Irish company and it quickly made its way into my heart. They have a few different ones, and rosemary and honey is the one I like the most. The minty variety is a different formula.



💕 Facial Mists

To avoid dehydrating my skin I upped my misting/toning game and I suggest all of you do the same. By the way, am I the only one with the heating on? I have a blog post on my toners and mists from a couple of months back, but at the moment I am using Josh Rosebrook Hydrating Accelerator, Wabi Sabi Botanicals Amida Illuminating Floral Essence (not working for me for everyday use, due to witch hazel in it) but I think I will move on to either Esse Toner or Living Nature Sensitive Hydrating Toner. I really want Madara Time Miracle Cellular Nutrients Toning Mist, but it is out of stock in Love Lula, and it has been for the last couple of weeks. I know, I checked! What intrigues me about it is that it has birch water as a base, and that really appeals to me. Turbliss Bioactive Peat Toner (and mask) is calling my name too.
Either those or I want my ISUN Ormus Myst back :)

See, I want ALL the mists! I could go on too :)

Either way, make sure to have some form of mist of hydrating toner with you! If you are on the budget, plain rosewater or neroli water work well too, and they cost less than 3€ in the Asian shops.


💕 Facial Oils

Another thing that is back into my routine is facial oils, I didn't use them since spring, but now my skin is crying for more moisture, they are back with a vengeance! I have quite a collection going on now, and not sure how I am going to use them up without them expiring on me, but I will do my best! The two I have lined up to use first are the ISUN Skincare Sapphire & Ooh! Oils Of Heaven. If your skin is really sensitive, I would recommend Pai Rosehip BioRegenerate Oil - it is gorgeous and does wonderful things for the skin - I ran out a long time ago, and despite having an array of gorgeous other oils, I dream of having it back. I use to think of facial oils as expensive products, but now I see it as investment. Besides one 30ml bottle will last you a year, so it is well worth the money. Speaking of investment, if budgeting is not your concern, I would recommend Mahalo Vitality Elixir - another gorgeous facial oil I finished a long time ago, but still remember how good it it! One to repurchase one day for sure. Living Libations Best Skin Ever are really fab too. I hope Santa is listening!

Oh, one little tip if you are using facial oils as a moisturiser - don't forget to spritz your face with toner or some kind of mist beforehand, as that makes the oil to absorb better. Then apply a few drops of facial oil to your fingertips and rub them together to warm up the oil and then pat it into the skin. This way you will get the most benefits of it, and if you will follow that up with a facial massage, so much better! If you apply oil straight up, cold, on unprepped skin, I am afraid it might not do much. You don't want to invest in a good facial oil and not get much benefits from it, right? 


And just because I can't stop at five, one more:

Natural and organic balms

💕 Balms

I am a late convert to balms (see post here) and now I can't imagine my life without it! There are so many to choose from, and you can choose one according to your needs and skin type. If I had to choose just one, I would single out Mahalo Rare Indigo balm - sorry for mentioning so many expensive products in this post, it's just I know how amazing it is for my dermatitis prone skin - it is one of the first products I reach when I have an outbreak. I treat it like it's made of gold and savor every bit of it. I dread the day I will have to repurchase it, but it is one of the very few products worth it's price in my opinion. Try to get a sample if you can, as they too last for ages, you only need a pea size amount for the whole face and the back of your hands. This can replace your night cream and an eye cream too, one of a couple of reasons I deem it worth luxury price point. I often use it at nigh, all over the face. Yes, I go to bed with greasy looking, but I wake up with an amazing skin. And I notice a sizeable difference when I don't use it.
If your skin isn't super sensitive and blemish free, you don't have to invest so much in a balm, Egyptian Magic Balm is great - and you get a giant tub of it that will last you ages. I love how versatile balms are, you can use it for so many thing, and it can replace a multitude of products - great if you are aspiring minimalist or are on a budget. 



So I think that's it for today. What are your must haves for the moment? Please share, I would love to know!

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Lots of Love,

Renata.

Want to check out my skincare reviews? Click here. Interested in make up reviews? Click here. All my body care and hair care reviews live in this post. Diy inclined? Even if not, you might enjoy my super-simple-minimal-ingredients-DIYs here. You are welcome.

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Enjoy my content? Any contribution to my PayPal Tip Jar -  will get You my eternal gratitude and more awesome green beauty reviews Your way! I weed out all the greenwashing products so You won't have to :)