Origins VitaZing Moisturizer Review

I thought it was about time I reviewed a moisturizer! Today I am reviewing the VitaZing Moisturizer from Origins. Origins is a company that claims to use no parabens, proplyene glycol, mineral oil, phthalates, or other harmful stuff. 

I went into Macy's a few weeks ago because I actually wanted to try their BB cream. However, the sales lady steered me toward the VitaZing. She was nice enough to give me a little tub to take home and try. 

Origins Website and Image Source

Review: No Miss Cosmetics Liquid Eyeliner and Mineral Eye Shadow

It's time to review a couple of products that I absolutely love, since my last couple of product posts focused on the negative. Now for the positive!

I was extremely lucky to win the No-Miss giveaway that my friend Robin over at Toxic Beauty held last month. I received the Liquid Eyeliner in Brown Oxide, the All Natural Eye Shadow in Tallahassee Tan, the Mascara in Black, and the Lip Gloss in Lyons Lexi. This review is only for the Liquid Eyeliner and the Eye Shadow, as I haven't opened the other products yet! :)

No-Miss is an all natural cosmetics brand out of Boca Raton, Florida. They use only natural ingredients, no dyes or harsh chemicals, and are completely cruelty-free. 

I have to say that this eye shadow is the best I have ever used, and I'm not exaggerating. I've never used a mineral eye shadow before, and it was amazed at how smoothly I was able to apply it and how long it lasted. The color, Tallahassee Tan, is absolutely gorgeous.  It's a very shimmery tan color, and it is lovely for day or night. I wear it by itself without other colors and I have gotten compliments. 

So shiny, I couldn't get a good picture of it!

The liquid eye liner took some getting used to, since I was a strict pencil-user up until this point, but I am sold now! I'm so glad I got the brown because the black would have been too harsh. The liner dries very quickly and lasts all day. The only (very small!) complaint I have is that sometimes I have to twist the cap all the way closed and then open again to get the right amount on the brush. If I just stick it in the bottle to get more, it comes out with too much on it! 

Eye open and closed.

Hopefully you can see how pretty and shimmery this is! I didn't do too bad with the eyeliner this time, either!

If you are looking for a natural cosmetics brand, I highly recommend trying an eye shadow or other product from No-Miss. You won't be disappointed!

Have you tried and do you like mineral eye shadow? I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Thanks for reading!
J

Liebster Award and DonorsChoose.org Announcements!

I have a couple of announcements to make this week so I thought that I would do them both in one post! 

Donors Choose Announcement:

Donorschoose.org is a nonprofit organization that helps teachers like me get supplies for their classrooms. Teachers choose items that will benefit their students, and create a project to fund. As it is a new school year, and my school is lacking in 21st century technology, I feel that it would be amazing for my students to have a Nook Tablet in the classroom. They could use it for reading, of course, but also for research on the internet, projects, and educational apps. 

If you would like to make a tax-deductable donation to my project, please click this link: 

My DonorsChoose.org page! 

If you donate a dollar or more by Tuesday, August 21, you can use the code INSPIRE and a company will match your donation to my project! You will also receive personal thank you notes from my students and me once my project is funded completely! 

The Liebster Award!

First of all, I am especially blessed to receive the Liebster Award from not one, but two friends in the same week! I would like to honor them both by answering both sets of questions from their pages. 

Lisa's Blog is Beautiful in Pittsburgh, and Selma's is Meteo Beauty. Both of these ladies write wonderfully informative blogs that are definitely worth a visit! :)

The Liebster award recognizes up and coming blogs with less than 200 followers. I am told that the word "liebster" is German for "dearest," "favorite," or "sweetest." In order to accept the award, one must abide by the following rules:

Product Purge #1 - What I'm Throwing Away and Why

As I've mentioned before, the switch to natural and organic products does not come overnight. I loathe to throw away some of my most treasured items, but others I don't feel so bad. I am starting to go through my collection of products and throw away the ones that are almost gone and have dangerous ingredients and chemicals in them. The following are the items I decided to throw away this week:



1). Generic Eye Shadow from a random Christmas stocking gift a few years ago. 

These probably came from the dollar store or some place really cheap, and they have no brand whatsoever. Not that I'm knocking the dollar store, but it's not the best place to buy makeup. I have used these a couple of times, and they are terrible. They smear all over my face and last maybe 1 hour at most. Considering their ingredients aren't listed, who knows what horrors they contain! :)

Five Awesome Fruits and Vegetables and How to Use Them in Your Meals

I've always been interested in eating healthier and including more fruits and vegetables in my diet. One wall I have run into in the past is that many articles and magazines talk about foods that I don't like or don't know what to do with. I decided to make a list of my top five fruits and vegetables including their health benefits and easy ways to use them in meals or desserts. 

1. Cucumber

Health Benefits:  

• 96% water, helps to hydrate you, helps to flush out toxins
• vitamins A, B, C, and potassium
• can reduce cancer risk
• good source of fiber which aids digestion
• silica aids in joint health and strong nails

Uses:

• sliced in a sandwich instead of lettuce
• chunks or slices in a pasta salad
• sliced with salt and pepper, or balsalmic vinegar as a snack
• if you slice them up ahead of time and keep them in a container in your fridge, you will be surprised how often you reach for this healthy and almost zero-calorie snack!

Pizza Pizza!: Pizza Dough From Scratch

Pizza has to be the number one favorite food in America, and there is a never-ending list of places to buy it and ways to fix it. However, no matter whether it's Domino's or DiGiorno, there's a plethora of yucky preservatives and food additives in the ingredients, so when the opportunity came to make my own, I gave it a try!

Lucky for me, my husband came home a couple weeks ago with almost two whole blocks of smoked mozzarella cheese that he got for free from his work. What are we going to do with that? I thought, as I pondered the sheer amount of cheese. The answer turned out to be make my own dough and have some pizza!

I found that pizza dough is extremely easy to make, and you can add whichever herbs and spices you want. I actually tried two different recipes in the last couple weeks, and while one turned out good, the other was a disaster. I found that you absolutely must have a recipe with yeast --- non-yeast recipes just do not work well at all.

The First Five Products to Change When Making the Switch to Natural and Organic

When I first decided to start the process of moving to more natural products and foods, I was overwhelmed. So many brands and products that we see and use everyday in our lives are actually not all that good for us. I honestly didn't know where to start, especially since I couldn't afford to just throw away everything I had and buy all new products! 


I thought about it and did some research, and realized it's okay to start small. The most important thing is to begin. The following is a list of what I believe to be the first and most important items to change when you are thinking of moving to natural and organic products. 

My collection of natural products so far: J.R. Watkins lotion, Sunflower Market Brand shampoo and conditioner, Naturally Fresh deodorant, EOS lip balm.

1. Body Lotion - Most commercial and well known lotions (I'm looking at you B&BW, VS, and St.Ives) are filled with nasty carcinogens like formaldehyde, parabens, and petrol chemicals. Body lotion gets rubbed all over your skin and stays there to absorb into your body all day long. Who wants all those toxins on their skin? First and foremost, change your lotion. 

2. Deodorant - Like body lotion, deodorant gets rubbed into your skin to stay there all day, and it's some of your thinnest, most sensitive skin as well. Chemicals in deodorants and antiperspirants have been linked to cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and reproductive problems. 

3. Lipstick/Lipgloss - Lipsticks historically have contained some of the deadliest poisons, including lead, and you're putting that on your mouth where you will inevitably ingest it throughout the day. Also in many lipsticks are proplyene glycol and retinyl palmitate, two substances that have been linked to infertility. Did you know that the artificial colors in most commercial lipsticks are tested on animals? Just another reason to swap this product.

4. Fragrance - Did you know that perfumes are protected under a special "trade secret" law that allows them to avoid revealing all their ingredients? Like lotion and deodorant, fragrance is sprayed on your skin and stays there all day, not to mention we inadvertently breathe some of the particles into our lungs. Just a couple of the hazards include diethyl phthalate, a chemical linked to sperm damage, and linalool, which causes respiratory disturbances and attracts bees to boot! 

5. Shampoo and Conditioner - Like the products above, shampoos and conditioners are full of harmful chemicals, including harsh detergents that just aren't necessary unless you haven't washed your hair for quite some time! You rub these products into your scalp, which means they have the potential to seep into your head. Better to find a natural shampoo that works for you!

Is there a product that you think should be in this list? Let me know! Are you planning on, or have you already made, any product changes? What are they? I'm looking forward to hearing from you! 

Until next time,

J

References:

No More Dirty Looks

The Daily Green

EHow

Environmental Working Group

Other posts of mine you might enjoy:

The Quest for a Natural Deodorant

Body Lotion

My Favorite Toothpaste

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