Products: Choosing to Go Organic in Bathcare!

Well well well, another post, another day to praise the benefits of organic products to the heavens! You must be getting tired of all these wonderful feedback, but I am all up in this cause. I want to find a comfortable pace in shifting to all-organic skin care, so I am now dabbling to bath care!

Zooming on Face Washing
Daily cleansing is a very important part that you just can't skip. (Don't even think of skipping your cleansing routine!) It is where the foundation to which the health of your skin rests on. There is more to cleansing than just washing away of the day's dirt or grime, as it should also:

1. Avoid stripping away the natural moisture
2. Help the skin replenish lost moisture due to make up or heavy usage of topical skin care products
3. Not aggravate skin conditions like dry skin or oily skin
4. Cleanse the face thoroughly without being harsh to the skin

Organic soaps should always be cut in smaller pieces, as these have no "hardeners"
and may melt a lot easily than ordinary soap

This is why I picked one of the more popular brands in all-organic bath soaps: Cyleina! They have sooo many varieties online that it's I'm always frustrated when I only see Tomato soap, the small versions of Strawberry and Glutathione soaps available in the dept store. I got both but I chose a full-sized version of the Tomato because it is going to be my main soap. The others I just want to get for no reason other than I had no other choice :D

Price List : Tomato - P100.00, Kojic - P75.00, Strawberry - P20.00

Some experts say that you shouldn't use the same soap you use for the body on your face; but I believe that organic soaps are an exception. I think that you shouldn't use commercial/non-organic soaps on your face at all! Those have a long list of ingredients that are not good for the skin in the long run. How can you go wrong with Cyleina's ingredient list?

Ingredients: Saponified organic vegetable oil, Jojoba oil, Sweet Almond oil, organic Tomato extracts

These soaps may not come cheap, but they are worth the penny!

Going Natural on Hair Care
Along with  the change in my soap, I was also able to try organic shampoo. I purchased this P300+ 532 ml bottle at Healthy Options, which carried the Nature's Gate brand that I have always been curious about. These are advertised as "organic", but I'm not sure what the percentage is. But compared to regular shampoo in the market today, these have zero to low levels of harmful chemicals and are free from SLS and other ingredients with carcinogenic (cancer-causing) properties. Scary, isn't it?

A big bottle! Worth its price!

The image below is the ingredient list of this product, and even I am skeptical if this is an "all-natural product", as they imply it to be. I'm still glad I can use this sometimes, because I found that if I use it my hair gets hard and tangly. This is ok as a clarifying though!

But there are really good ingredients on the list so I am positive that I'm still on the right track somehow! It's better than seeing these: (Taken from Shampoo Ingredients To Avoid at SavvySkin)

1. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
2. Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate
3. Ammonium Laureth Sulfate
4. Ammonium Xylene Sulfonate
5. TEA Lauryl Sulfate
6. Sulfur (in dandruff shampoos)
7. Selenium Sulfide (in dandruff shampoos)

Thankfully none that I can find in the Nature's Garden Aloe Vera shampoo! I will need to find a better shampoo that will complement my hair type, so the journey doesn't end here.

All in all, I am glad for my baby steps in switching to organic skin and hair care products.

Products: Aicha Hearts Human Heart Nature

May is currently rolling, and I am feeling adventurous!

I've been using several products from Human Heart Nature these previous few months, obliterating most of  the products I've long been using. There is a certain relief in my part that I've committed to stop using chemical-laden products on my skin. I feel like I am going in the right direction, and my skin feels like its thanking me for this effort :D


I've been going on about "becoming healthier" or going "all-natural" in my previous posts, giving you a hints that all boil down to this online order:

Human Heart Nature is a local brand made popular by the subscribers of the Go-Organic subscribers or people who are on the Green-campaign bandwagon. I've recently developed a disgust in the usage of beauty products containing harsh chemicals which can "take care" of our skin. For me, that sounds like an oxymoron gone haywire.


I ordered a few items from Human Heart Nature, starting with their lipgloss, which I really need since my lips are often always pale, and a I needed a pretty shiny color that would make my face look better, or at least decent. I bought the Mineral Lip Gloss in Island Berry.

Direct Light

Indoor

Natural light

What I like:
> Natural color, not too bold
> Pleasant, non-floral scent
> No bad ingredients
> Moisturizing!!

What I don't like:
> Very very sticky
> The wand end is too large
> Color has little staying power

I also tried a small bottle sample of their Healthy Lotion in Berry Bliss, which I swear now will be my staple lotion because it is very good! The scent is so fruity and nice without being overwhelming. It sticks to the skin well and dries easily. Very runny!

What I like about it:
> Best organic lotion ever!
> Scent is so fruity
> Runny; easy to apply and dry
> No SPF - Perfect as nighttime sleeping lotion

What I don't like about it:
> That I didn't get a bigger bottle!!! :)


Finally, the crowing glory of my package, the legendary Golden Elixir that "is 100% Natural and packed with vitamins A, D & E that help moisturize and nourish your skin to give it that healthy glow -- without any harmful chemicals." Presenting the Sunflower Oil:

Since Day One I immediately latched on to it like a mongoose. I love this thing! It replaces all my daytime and nighttime moisturizers, as well as specialty lotions for my extra-dry body areas. There is nothing I can't do without Sunflower Oil. I will repurchase forever.

Have you tried organic skincare before? Do you prefer it over traditional skincare from so-and-so company? What products did you try?

Thanks so much for visiting!

Food: Drink Yo Tea! Kampai to Skin and Overall Health

I LOVE TEA.

It is calming, steadfast and comforting. This is a post about all my adventures in drinking.

I have been drinking cups and cups of tea in different types and tea sets and situations. You can drink commercialized, pre-packaged or coffeeshop-prepared tea all you want but nothing really beats boiling water and steeping the tea bags yourself.

Sure, there are benefits of drinking tea, we all know that somehow these little packets do a lot of good to the body, but few know that it is excellent for the SKIN. You wouldn't mind a good boost in elasticity and firmness to your skin, would you? But more than that, there is a longer list of benefits when you drink tea everyday!

Tea with Le Kareshi

Aside from the benefits of tea, one of my favorite things is completing the tea prep. Above is my matching tea set. I use this on weekends or when I have people to have tea with. It is a 6-piece pot and cup flowery, spring-love thing and I adore it very much.The porcelain is perfect to keep the liquid scalding and it is very good with light brews!

Excerpts of "Tea Benefits" from TeaMuse.com

Aging
In a recent experiment carried out jointly by researchers from the US, Taiwan and Japan, mice which were fed tea displayed fewer signs of aging than mice that were fed water.

Bone Strength
Compared with nonhabitual tea drinkers, tea regulars had higher bone mineral densities, even after exercise and calcium-which strengthen bones-were taken into account. 

Cancer
A compound called EGCG, a powerful antioxidant in tea, inhibited an enzyme that cancer cells need in order to grow. The cancer cells that couldn't grow big enough to divide self-destructed.

Cholesterol
Levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol dropped 10 percent among the test subjects who drank tea. Vegetarian Times, Jan 2003

Weight Loss
Recent evidence shows that in the battle of fat loss, green tea may be superior to plain caffeine. According to a new study, green tea appears to accelerate calorie burning - including fat calories. Researchers suggest compounds in green tea called flavonoids may change how the body uses a hormone called norepinephrine, which then speeds the rate calories are burned. Joe Weider's Muscle & Fitness, April 2000

Tea is certainly something, isn't it?! I feel so relaxed when I drink it, even when I drink it at night and I finish a pot for myself, I somehow sleep very well! Because I work two jobs, there are also those stressful days... To combat it with a flourish, I use my Giovanni Valentino set to drink my tea with!:

Berry Tea: A whole day when I was working on pretty much EVERYTHING.

Milk Tea: When I stayed up very late to finish some workload and I was terribly lonely...

The Valentino is a beautiful blue china with blue flowers with gold lining. Nothing really cheers me up when this little thing is filled with tea! It's SOOOO pretty. I feel prettier when I drink from this. It makes me feel like I'm a princess (well, clearly I'm not but the tea cup looks like it's used only for royalty!) or I'm a character in one of my favorite shows, Downton Abbey. :D

Finished some stressful work just in time for the last drop of Earl Grey! Winding down with books...

Chilled apple, Barquillos and weak Milk Tea for DINNER, foo'!

 Tea is the second most drunk liquid in the WHOLE PLANET EARTH. So you don't have to feel "Oh I drink tea, I'm such a hipster." Wrong! Hipster drink is warm ginger ale. Tea makes you belong to the world as millions of people drink it every minute. Even in sickness, tea makes you feel better faster!

Playing around with a Nendoroid Miku when I was sick

Some of my boxes of tea that I like: My favorite is Yellow Label (when I have a lot of things on my mind) and Earl Grey (when I need that certain sophistication and the feeling that I can take over the world)... Fruit-infused teas are usually only prepared as requested by others, but I like them also!

Yellow Label (Hirameki), White tea (Strawberry and Vanilla Infused), Earl Grey, Wild Berry Herbal

One of my good friends gave me a packet of pure love: Rotbusch Tee in Vanilla. HOLY CRAP IT WAS SOO GOOD. WHAT. But I can't find it anywhhhheeerrrreeeee....

Sometimes when I can't be at home to fix myself a pot, I rely in various booths and establishments for my daily cup!

good old Hirameki Cup

Yellow Tea!

Random cold tea... This was Oolong, I think

Obviously a fruit-infused type...

I usually drink my tea straight/plain except when I am deeply depressed that I need milk in it. Fresh milk from the carton seems good enough, it makes the tea smell like a freshly-washed pillow and you just want to sleep in it.

I'm glad that malls and shops are offering a wider variety of tea nowadays, and even people are into the Bubble Tea craze. Still, I'd rather prefer to fix my own, but the world is so on-the-go...

Are you drinking tea? Tell me your fave! Keep healthy!