Product Review: Karma Balm Piggy Relief Balm

By: Meg
Cost: 8.99


As a Natural Beauty Blogstress I always love coming across new little-known products to share with our readers. My boyfriend works in the Organic food and body care business so occasionally I get to sample a product or two that I would otherwise probably never discover. This is exactly how I came to use Karma Balm products. This company has many great body care items but I will focus on my most recent obsession, Piggy Relief Balm.
I may have mentioned before that I work in high heels most days and I am not merely sitting at a desk all day. I am constantly in motion at work and by the end of the day - boy are my dogs TIRED!
When I first saw the Karma line I was a bit turned off by the unsophisticated packaging. All their products are covered in bright hippy-style cartoon writing and drawing. A quick check of their ingredients though, perked my interest.
The Piggy Balm has olive oil, sunflower oil, lavender, vitamin E, and several soothing Herbs including Mint. I gave it a try on my aching feet that night and I was so pleasantly surprised.
The Mint provides a very light and refreshing scent while at the same time giving the skin a wonderful cooling sensation. The oils in the balm serve to moisturize and soften skin.
I am totally wild about this stuff now. Mid-day I just rub a little on the bottoms of my feet and I feel like a new person. It comes in a little tin that is perfect to throw in my purse. I was a little concerned that the hot weather we have been getting might melt the balm in my purse but I has not budged despite being tested by 100 degree weather.
The wonderful thing about all the Karma Balms, is that although they have an intended use (feet in this case), they can actually be used in several areas and are not specific for one use only. I use the Piggy relief balm on my elbows and knees, which tend to get rough and even rub a little into the backs of my hands.
Karma Balm is still a very small company and is not found in very many stores. The best way to find them is to go to their website www.KarmaBalm.org. You can order straight from the site. I encourage our readers to check these guys out they make a great balm all right!

Review: Josie Maran Argan Cream Blush

Price: 22.00
By: Meg

So far, on my natural beauty adventure, I have been really surprised by the cosmetics more than anything. I really thought that natural cosmetics would have a sub-par quality when compared to my ol' Sephora stand-bys. The quality of the brands i have tried so far has really blown me away. if you haven't given clean cosmetics a try DO IT! You won't be disappointed.

I bought a very special Earth Day package from one of my favorite brands: Josie Maran. Amongst some other wonderful makeup items, this package contained a compact of Josie's Argan Cream Blush.
This blush has become a fast favorite of mine. The color I have is called "Sunrise" ad at first glance I thought it might be too dark for my light skin. I used it an found that it is just a perfect shade of pink. In fact, I have since seen this color on a wide variety of skin colors and it seems to look fantastic on everyone!
The blush goes on so light an blends so amazingly well into my skin. I also love that it gives my skin a bit of a glow too since it is sheer. Because it is a cream blush, it never looks powdery or cakey. The look it gives is very subtle and it's easily touched up over mineral makeup as well. This cream is very versatile too. Megan and I both use it on our lips and cheeks for a bit of color. I usully dab a bit o my lips an then cover it with a sheer gloss because the color is pretty matte since it was intended as a blush.
This blush also contains (our favorite) Argan oil. While you are wearing the blush, it is also moisturizing your skin. So even when you remove it, your skin looks beautiful.
I'm so sad to see the bottom of the compact starting to peek through he blush. Well, time to restock I guess!

Product Review: Andalou Naturals Argan Oil Conditioner

By: Meg
Cost: 8.00

Well Andalou, you have done it again. I have fallen in love with the new brand, Andalou Naturals, in the past few months. They are just getting into stores but are already receiving some well-deserved hype. Andalou has a full line of personal care items that contain wonderful ingredients and smell really incredible. I love to support growing business (especially when they are local to me) so after their blemish vanishing gel helped me out in a dark moment for my skin, I decided to try their Argan oil conditioner.
I'll be honest, when I was walking down the hair care aisle in Whole Foods, the first aspect of the Andalou conditioner to appeal to me was the price. All of their hair care products are only about $8, which considering the ingredients, and comparing them to similar quality natural hair care pricing, is pretty amazing.
I grabbed the bottle and took a quick whiff of the contents....I was totally sold after that. The conditioner could have been made out of pure alcohol and sulfates at that point I probably would have bought it for the smell alone. It has an orange-y creamy smell that is not sharp or overpowering at all. It also doesn't smell really "crunchy or hippy" it's just really lovely.
When I turned the bottle over to read the ingredients, I was thrilled to see Argan oil listed amongst other wonderful hair-health ingredients. I can't turn down anything with Argan in it these days, so I took it home.
I was a little apprehensive about using this because it said right on the bottle that it is for "thick and curly" hair.  My hair is stick-straight and while not thin, I probably wouldn't describe my hair as very thick either. I was a tad worried that this would be super heavy and really weigh my hair down a bunch.
I gave it a shot anyway that night. I gave my hair a really thorough shampooing (with natural shampoo of course). I then massaged on the Andalou conditioner. I made sure I rubbed it into my scalp a little and concentrated on my damaged ends as well.
After a blow-dry with a round brush, my hair looked fantastic! It was soo shiny and with no product, had zero flyways. My hair didn't feel weighed down either! I was most impressed with how healthy me hair felt after using that conditioner. I was totally sold after the first use.
I should mention that on one occasion I did wash my hair without shampooing first and just used the conditioner by itself. That time my hair did feel weighed down after it dried.
I am eager to try their other shampoos and conditioners that are formulated for lighter or not so thick hair to see if I can get the volume I am always seeking.
To Andalou Naturals I say: keep up the good work! They are making some great stuff so if you spot them at a Whole Foods soon, give them a try! You will not be disappointed.

Review: Andalou Naturals Blemish Vanishing Gel

Cost: ~12.00
By: Meg


I first found out about Andalou Naturals from an article profiling Renee Loux, the creator of this Natural Beauty line. I was eager to try their products but at the time I read the article, no stores near me carried them yet because they were so new. However, I came across them a few weeks later at the perfect moment.
I was in a Whole Foods Market in our neighborhood and I was desperate to find a natural acne treatment with a little more umph than the one I was currently using. I just come back from a trip and had a HORRIFYING break out, I think because I was exposed to cigarette smoke the whole trip.
The spot treatment I usually use for little unexpected dots was not cutting it at all. I was even thinking of (gasp) buying one of those drugstore brands I used in my high school days...I needed industrial strength!
While looking through the body care department at Whole Foods, I saw they now were carrying Andalou! I reached for their acne treatment and I found just what the doctor ordered. Andalou carries a spot treatment that is mostly natural but still contains Salicylic acid, an ingredient used in many conventional acne treatments. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so although the treatment contained something a little less natural than say, tea tree oil, I was ready to try it.
I applied the treatment to my breakout morning and night for three days. It comes in a small tube and actually has a pleasant smell. I dabbed it on and let it soak in a bit before applying my normal moisturizer. I did get a little tingling in the area after it was on, but you now how people say "that's how you know it's working"? In this case that's how I felt - reassured that it was going to get this job done.
I didn't see immediate results like I hoped I would. Day one my skin actually looked a little worse. Day three though, my skin looked much better! The spots I had had shrunk and were no longer red and attracting attention. I was so happy to have found this and even happier that I didn't have to break my devotion to natural products in order to find something that works great.
Andalou seems like a great company and I look forward to trying more of their products soon. They have a website that is still under construction right now, but hopefully in the near future that will be up and running. For now, look for their products at your local Whole Foods Markets.