Skincare for Men that I Love!

I got some skincare samples a while back (can't remember from where) and I recently tried them. It is called Eyre Bio Botanics and there was a multivitamin day balm and a facial moisturizer. I used them for a couples of days and I thought they were great. The day balm moisturized but it was not at all greasy or oily. And the moisturizer (I used at night) was good too-not too thick or rich. On about the fourth day of using the samples I looked closely at the label and saw that it was skincare for men. Oh well, I'd use it anyway. Plus it is seems better than many of the "made for women" products I have tried.

Join the Inner Circle

Saffron Rouge is a website that sells only natural and organic skincare, haircare, and cosmetics. They carry many brands-some I have heard of before and others that are new to me. I, being the beauty product junkie that I am, was interested in so many of the products on this site. I wanted to try almost every product I saw, especially the brands I had never heard of. However, I simply can not afford to spend much money on skincare these day, so I decided to join their sampling program. The program is called the Kirstin's Inner Circle and costs $35 to join. A membership gets you a couple of samples ( of the very best organic and natural beauty products) every month for 12 months and a detailed letter about the product. Also, there is usually an exclusive (for Inner Circle members) percentage amount off of that product or brand for a month. I have even received one full size product (valued at $17) as one of my monthly samples. Whoo Hoo! so glad I joined-now when I get some real money I can buy full-sizes of the products I like.

Great Finds from Seattle,WA!!!!

For a couple years I traveled as a wardrobe assistant with a touring show. I have had the chance to see most of America’s major cities and some small towns also. If we stayed in a city more than one day or had a day off I would definitely try to eat and do shopping at some local spots. During my shopping, I would always look for cool local, handmade items-especially food and beauty products. I bought some of my best finds in Seattle, Wa.

The hotel I stayed in was just a few blocks from Pike Place Market, so a friend and decided we would go there. And we only had a half a day to spend so we spent most of our time there. However, we first stopped at a coffeeshop (sorry, I cant remember the name-not Starbucks, Tullys, or Seattle's Best) to get a mocha, and tea. I also bought a couple of really good local made chocolate bars from a company called Theo (http://www.theochocolate.com/). The chocolates I bought were from Theo's 3400 Phinney collection which are uniquely flavored milk and dark chocolate bars. I tried the Chai Milk chocolate and the Coconut Curry Milk chocolate-both were good. By the way, 3400 Phinney Ave. is the address of the Theo chocolate factory at which they do give public tours. I would also like to mention that Theo is organic and fair trade certified. Theo Chocolates are also available on amazon.com and chocosphere.com .

After getting coffee, tea, and chocolates we headed toe Pike Place Market.
While walking through we got samples of fruit, dried fruits, and nuts from a few vendors.Then we found ourselves at Tenzing Momo (http://www.tenzingmomo.com/) which is a store, or sort of apothecary which sell herbs, vitamins, fragrance and essential oils, incense, tinctures, soaps, lotions, etc... We spent some time looking around and there was a lot to look at - even though the space was relatively small. My final purchase was incense matches, bee pollen gum, and soap from a Washington based company called Lilie de Vallee (http://www.liliedevallee.com/). I got a nice big chunk of natural, olive oil soap (Arabian spices) for about $5-I love the nice, warm spicy smell of this soap. Lilie de Vallee soaps are also available on amazon.com.

As we were finishing our go round of the market I stopped at a vendor who was selling some bath and body products (I'm such a fiend). There were soaps, salves, and body butters made on a family farm called The Fay Farm (http://www.thefayfarm.com/). I bought three 2oz. body butters for $21 (cucumber jasmine hemp butter, amber fig shea butter, orange honeysuckle shea butter). My friend bought the Warming Muscle Rub which she swears by. I wanted to buy some of their goat's milk soap but I was quickly running out of money-but there is a website so I'll buy soap when I run out of my other stuff. All in all, I was pretty satisfied with my purchases-I only wish I had more time to check out the city.

My Fave Acne Solutions

I have dealt with acne most of my adult life and have had quite a few major breakouts. My worst breakouts happened in my 20s and I tried many products to try and help. I used over the counter, drugstore, prescription, and department store products and spent plenty of money trying to find a solution. I tried a few systems too like Proactiv and Murad. None of the products seemed to help but I just kept slathering stuff on in hopes of clear skin. Little did I know that not only were these product not helping-they may have been making my acne worse. Most of these products were full of chemicals and at that time I never paid much attention to anything more than the active ingredients.

Then I decided to change my eating habits. I ate more fruits, veggies, and I read labels of every food product before buying-this was to make sure that the ingredients were natural. As I began to read food labels I also began reading ALL of the ingredients in my skincare products. I researched many of these ingredients and they were mostly chemicals designed to enhance the look, feel, and smell of the products. I then decided I would try to find natural options for skincare and at that time there were not very many options. Though as time went on I saw more and more natural products pop. I tried many of these products and some of them were ok but I had plenty of failures.

Finally, after much trial and error, I found a few products that have helped me stay pretty clear. I remove my make up with coconut oil or watermelon seed oil. Also, I stopped using fancy cleansers and now use Dr. Bronner's Tea Tree Oil Liquid Soap. I tone with diluted tea tree oil or apple cider vinegar, and/or witch hazel. I also sometime use Na-pca spray (non-oily) lotion from Twinlab. All of these products are pretty inexpensive and can be found at amazon.com, mothernature.com, vitacost.com and other online store.

One of the more pricey products I use is Mychelle Clear Skin Serum which runs from about $25 to $35. I found this product worked very well and I have spent way more than $35 for skincare before. Mychelle products can be found at whole foods, amazon.com, vitacost.com, and the Mychelle website-mychelleusa.com.

A couple of other products I like are from a California based company called Sumbody-sumbody.com. My favorite products from Sumbody are the Save Our Skin (S.O.S) Facial Serum ($29.95) and the Zapper Zit ($14.95). Last but not least comes the moisturizer. My skin tends to be oily and many beauty people will tell you that If you are oily, and don't moisturize, your skin will produce more oil. Then some other beauty experts will say you can skip the moisturizer because your skin is already producing what moisturizing products are trying to emulate. I have decided to moisturize but only at night. I use Bee Yummy's Skin Food and it has become my favorite moisturizer to date. It is made from honey, honey cappings, propolis and other good stuff. I have been using it for about a year and I feel it has help my skin clear up. Bee Yummy Skin Food can be found at live-live.com and oneluckyduck.com. It comes in three sizes- 2 oz for $29, 4 oz for $49, and 16 oz for $147.

I do sample other product from time to time but these products are my mainstays.

My Fave Solid Perfumes

Many years ago my mom worked for Avon so there were always perfume and body products around. There were especially lots of perfumes that were packaged in collectible or keepsake bottles and containers. I was especially fond of a locket that had solid perfume in it-I thought it was so cool.


Now, I have recently been seeing solid perfumes popping up again, so of course I had to check them out. So far I have bought solid perfumes from Pacifica- pacificaperfume.com and Lush Cosmetics- lush.com. I went totally wild and bought way too many perfumes from both places. For instance, I bought about five perfumes from Pacifica. They were $8.95 each and %15 percent off-so I just went for it. The scents I bought were Tuscan Blood Orange, Brazilian Mango Grapefruit, Hawaiian Ruby Guava, Bali Lime Papaya, and Malibu Lemon Blossom. I like them all especially the Blood Orange. Plus Pacifica also has spicy and woodsy scents like sandalwood and amber-If u don't like the fruity stuff.


When I bought the Lush perfumes I got about four at $12 and some change. The scents I got were American Cream, Silky Underwear, Champagne Snow Showers (seasonal), and Honey I washed the Kids. These fragrances come from other popular Lush products that have been around for years (conditioners, powders, soaps). I then returned to Lush and bought Go Green and Fever. I like the Champagne Snow Showers the most-too bad it is only around during Christmas.


Now, that may seem like way to many fragrances for one girl to have, but I'm obsessed. Plus, I love to layer scents and solid perfume are perfect because they are usually pretty subtle. And they last a long time. I also like the idea of not smelling like everyone else- so I mix and match scents all the time. Even if I have a fragrance that smells just ok- I can add something and make it great. Yay me!!!

Both Pacifica and Lush use organic ingredients in their solid perfumes . The perfumes are also vegan. Yay them!!!!

Artisana Amazon Bliss!!! Yummy!!!

One of my favorite new treats is the Raw Organic Amazon Bliss Coconut Butter Spread by Artisana. I picked up a jar at Whole Foods and read the ingredients which included many superfoods such as acai, maca, goji berries, and cacao nibs. These superfoods are suppose to be extremely healthy and contain protective antioxidants. Amazon Bliss is also raw, organic, and vegan-so figured I would give it a try.

I bought the jar for about $9.99, took it home, and tried it on a cracker. I was completely surprised at how great it tasted. I can't quite describe the taste but it is delicious. I have used it on toast, crackers, plain yogurt, smoothies, and hot cocoa. Artisana also has a few other products like this that I want to try (Goji Bliss and Cacao Bliss). I will definitely buy these on my next shopping trip.

Yummy Organic Chocolate

One of my favorite chocolate treats of the moment is the Isle of Skye chocolate bar made by a company called Seeds of Change. This bar is sort of a grown up version of the crunch bar . It is made of dark milk chocolate (milk chocolate with a higher cacao content) and puffy, crispy grains. The puffed grains are made from whole oat flour, red wheat flour, brown rice flour, rye flour,barley flour, and millet flour. I really love the taste and texture of this bar. It is not cloyingly sweet and the grains are light and crispy unlike some crunch bars. Plus there are no artificial sweeteners or preservatives and it's all organic. I bought my bar at Whole Foods but they are available at www.seedsofchangefoods.com. Seeds of change have a lot of other products such as rice, grains, salad dressings, and more. They also are committed to sustainable organic agriculture and donates part of their net sales to worldwide organic agriculture causes. This makes me feel a lot less guilty about indulging in chocolate from time to time.