Shopping My Green Beauty Stash #5 (April 2018)

Hi Lovelies,



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Shopping My Green Beauty Stash

How are all of You? Did You have a good Easter?

Today I want to talk about a few things I am using on the constant basis, and all of the things are coming from my own stash, no less! It isn't necessarily a Favourites post repeat, as not all of the things will be repurchased for various reasons. I will touch on those later in the post, of course.
This post features my absolute favourite skincare line of the moment, although I dread the day I will have to repurchase everything, not going to lie! The products are super duper amazing, but uber pricy, especially for stay-at-home-mommy like moi. Please step forward Bella Aura products! I almost wanted not to like these products as I knew about their price point, but they worked like magic, and thanks to them I have continuous good skin days! I ooghed and aaghed about them in my social media and in this review post, so I am not going to repeat myself all over again here (you know I am into super long posts when it comes to my reviews), but let me tell you a couple of things about Bella Aura - my sensitive skin found home! If it suited to uber-sensitive-and-dermatitis-prone skin me, it will probably work wonders on you too. As always, I recommend getting samples first, aka their sampler kit, and for a good reason - I found when I was trying to go on with my usual skincare routine and only incorporate one or two Bella Aura things at a time, that's when I found out the products don't necessarily work their best, and they might not mesh well with your exciting products, but used solely on their own they are magic. I was sporting rare outburst of dermatitis on my face just before receiving these products, so I was thinking "oh, great, it will take me more than a week to heal the skin before I could try these products" but on a whim I decided to try them beforehand, and am so glad I did - they healed my dermatitis in just a matter of a couple of days, even they are not meant for that. I continued to use exclusively Bella Aura for six weeks, as I always do before posting my review on the products, and that's when my heart was jumping for joy every day - I had continuous good skin days and almost forgot I had any dermatitis problems. Then curiosity got better of me and I went on to use other products that were patiently waiting for my attention, and guess what? The redness and patchiness came back. Needless to say I ran back to Bella Aura and I want nothing else for the time being. Part of me thinks I've found the ONE and I need to stick to it like glue (any sane sensitive skin person would say that) but another part of me wants to go on trying new green beauty products - I guess that's the blogger in me? We will see how that pans out? Have you tried Bella Aura and what are your thoughts on it?

Next product in this line up is Acure Smooth & Manageable Shampoo. I really wanted to love this, and was hoping it would be a cheaper alternative to my beloved (but pricy) Rahua Voluminous Shampoo (review). It has a cult following in the green beauty community, so naturally I wanted to get my paws on it. Long story short, it didn't work out for me - although it gave me good hair days (think bouncy locks) but it didn't last for more than 1-2 days, and it gave me dandruff. The latter is not a shortfall of the product, 99% of the shampoos give me that - my scalp is that sensitive. I am a lucky gal, I know! The shampoo was finished off by my family and they asked for more. "Amazing" and "I wouldn't know it's natural" was their verdict, meaning it performs just like a regular shampoo. So I guess it is a repurchase. Luckily Love Lula carries a few variations of Acure Organics shampoos, so I might try a different one from the brand to see if it works for me.

Next is Grapefruit Hair Remedy by Alchemy Oils - I got this travel size on a whim last month. I am one of the minority who does not like conditioners (they either weigh my hair down or do absolutely nothing) so hair oils is where it is at for me. I really like this! I have used it as a pre-shampoo treatment mostly, and it is amazing for that. When I use coconut oil, I find it really hard to wash off, but none of it with this oil. It moisturises and nourishes the scalp, but it is not greasy whatsoever. I also use it to smooth my flyaways, it works great this way too. Just remember to use very little of it if using this way.

And last but not least is Ultra Light Organic Moisturiser with SPF 30 by Kimberly Sayer - I really love this in a way that it does not break me out and it does not give me any white cast either. That's a first for me. Admittedly, this is not aimed at my skin type, but I chose this over the one for dry skin for two reasons. First, you get double the amount of product for the same price, and secondly, this one comes in sanitary pump, versus the jar where I would have to scoop the product with the hands. Why there are such a differences for the same product aimed at different skin types, I don't know. I feel there shouldn't be, but at the same time I am not the one who has any say in it. This is my third jar of it, and the only reason I haven't reviewed it separately yet is that I haven't been in the sun & heat for long enough to test it's SPF properties. It's just the last two summers have been brutal here in Ireland (read = cold and rainy) and I haven't been away for the sun holidays in ages. It works great as a city SPF product though. I don't know if this is The One when it comes to sunscreens, or I will end up having a "sunscreen wardrobe" like some of my green beauty blogger friends? They say they like having lots of different sunblock products for different reasons, but truth to be told I would love to find one and only that would work their magic on all levels. I have my eyes firmly on Madara Plant Stem Cell Age Protecting Sunscreen SPF30  - although it is more expensive, they promise not only protect the skin with SPF30, but also shield the skin from environmental pollution and regenerate the skin, as well as enhance the microbiome of the skin - anything that promises to take care of my skin's microbiome gets my attention instantly! I ran an EWG report on it and it came back at 4. Not bad at all, and as I expected, the fragrance mentioned in the INCI list amped up the toxicity score tremendously - one of the flaws of EWG is that it does not differentiate the fragrance from natural essential oils (which I assume is the case with Madara here) and toxic "fragrance" that is a blanket name for up to 200 toxic chemicals in the conventional product - and we all know there's a world of difference in between the two! Let me know if you want me to show you how to build your own product report in EWG, even if it is not listed there? Would be happy to help. The next product on my radar is Alteya Certified Organic Rose Otto Face Suncreen SPF25 - the whole line is calling my name so hard! Can you hear it? No? Just me?
Kidding aside, please let me know what's your favourite natural & preferably organic face SPF product? I would love to hear your recommendations!


That's all for today, lovelies. See you here again real soon. Take care and thanks for reading xo

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Renata.

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Mini Natural Haul before NO BUY

Mini Natural Haul

Some mini haul to show you, before NO BUY until the end of the year, not to go into details, but I have no income from now on. Sad but true.

Some things I bought in Indian shop in city centre, some i grabbed in Health Shop in Pavillions yesterday.

So a little about each items and first impressions:

Jasmine Hair Oil:

KTC hair oil based in coconut, with jasmine extract, but has mineral oil in it, which I didn't like so probably won't repurchase it. Smells like petrol by-product - hello, mineral oil! - which I didn't like at all. I used this oil in the evening and left it overnight, not the best idea as I even woke up from the bad smell :( cost about 2€, you can get it in Indian shops or Superdrug.com

Amla Jasmine Hair Oil:

After much research I convinced myself I need amla - Indian gooseberry - in my life badly, because it's supposed to help with hair growth, my main reason for getting it. (it has more benefits, if taken as a powder internally it helps to strenghten the immune system and much more). i knew it will have distinctive smell to it, but what I didn't expect that i will get headache from it.. so probably it's a no for me again.

These two oils did strengthen my hair, made it silky and more manageable, so if you don't have a problem with mineral oil, I'd say go ahead with it, but i decided to do my own jasmine hair oil from coconut oil and jasmine essential oil (which I bought too, as you can see in the picture). As for amla, I'll try to get it in the powder form and make my own infusion with almond or Evoo, again, to avoid mineral oil.

Rose Water:
It was a bargain at about 1.25€ but can't give any feedback on it as I didn't open it yet, still using my Atlantic Aromatics Organic Rosewater. will update later.

Neem toothpaste and Clover toothpaste:
These are not pictured, got them from the same Indian shop at around 1.50€ each and I do really like them as both of them do not have fluoride and are more natural than regular toothpastes. Neem one was supposed to whiten my teeth as well as strenghten them, one week later I don't see much difference, but we will see. Clover one is good for gums, which is why I chose it. I will repurchase both of them, but the trouble is my daughter hates the taste of them -well, they're not minty which is why she hates them -and absolutely refuses to use them.

Jasmine Essence Absolute:
It's by Atlantic Aromatics, cost me €7 or so, but I'm disappointed in smell.. the one in KTC hair oil was sooo much better. Nevertheless, I made my own body butter using 5 or 6 tablespoons of coconut oil and about 60 drops of jasmine essential oil. (started with 30 and kept adding more as I couldn't smell much).

Dr.Hauschka Rose Body Oil:
Yay, my first purchase from DrHauschka range! I knew about this range for years but never bought anything because I deemed it too expensive, and my friends were not impressed by it. My original plan was to buy Trilogy organic rose hip oil, but after trying it in store I couldn't bring myself to buy it as thought of using it everyday on my face was off putting - the smell again.. And I am so glad I didn't like it, as for the price of that one bottle I got so much more- this rose body oil and organic neem oil together, a winner. Anyways, I really like this oil and I'll use it as a face oil/serum. The texture is nice, smells nice too, not too grannyish as you'd expect from rose oil.. My only worry is it's limited edition, which probably means by the time I will finish it, it will be gone. I got it in The Health Shop and it cost €8.95 for 30ml.

Pure Organic Neem Oil by Serendipity:
This was 10€ for 30ml and I grabbed it s soon as I walked into the shop. It says external use only so I'll use it for my skin and hair only, and for internal use I'm still on the look out for neem powder. If you know the place to get it in Dublin let me know, please? Pretty please?
I made a pre-shampoo treatment already, consisting of 50/50 coconut and neem oils, now let's wait for long luscious locks, because it's supposed to be the bomb when it comes to hair.

Cocowel Raw Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil:
It's only €6 for 500ml in Dunnes, so go and get some. No, don't go - run! You can thank me later :)
Before I found this, my trusty raw coconut oil was the one from Nourish, Essential Organic, but it costs €14.65 for 690ml. So, do your maths, I am so switching - the new one seems just as good as the old one, organic, raw, all the things I look for in a coconut oil, don't see any differences in texture or otherwise so far, the only thing I can fault is the plastic packaging for Cocowel, but for €6 i am willing to overlook it.

So, to sum things up, i found some new favourites and the things I didn't like only cost two euros, so no big deal.  So far I was always onto new best thing, but now I'll give some love to the things I already own.
 My new motto is - Use The Things You Have.
How about you, any new exciting natural purchases? Tell me below!
Have an awesome day :)