Product Review: Juice Beauty SPF 30 Mineral Sheer Moisturizer

By: Meg
Cost: 29.99

  There are two factors I seek out in a daily facial moisturizer. The first is the SPF level. As I mentioned before, I have very light skin and skin cancers run in my family. The other factor I look for is a light, non-greasy application.
 The moisturizer I am using now meets both of those expectations and more! I am currently using Juice Beauty SPF 30 Mineral Sheer moisturizer. This stuff is great, BUT I have to let you know about a couple aspects that may turn people off as well.
  First, the SPF is 30 which is great for me. I feel the more protection, the better. This provides full spectrum protection, so it blocks both UVA and UVB rays. Not all sun protection is full spectrum, so I recommend doing your homework to avoid unintended exposure.
 This moisturizer goes on very light and absorbs very nicely into my skin. It gives my skin a smooth radiance that is pretty incredible. I have never had a product give such rapid drastic results. My skin looked better the very first time I used it! It has a lovely subtle citrus scent that I think is great too.  I love love this product and if you are just stating the switch to natural products, I would recommend it.
 Now, all that said, there are a few negative aspects I would be remiss in not addressing for our readers.
 The first is rather minor, but in reading other reviews of this product, it seems to have been a deal-breaker for some. When first applied to your skin, it seems very thick and like it may not rub in at all. Keep rubbing! It will absorb very well, but takes a bit more elbow grease than most moisturizers.
 Another negative is a bit more serious. This contains one iffy ingredient: Methlisothiazolinone.
I looked this shady ingredient up on the ole Skin Deep database ( www.cosmeticdatabase.com ) and found some disappointing news. This ingredient can cause skin irritation and allergic reactions in some individuals. I had no such negative reaction to this product but I would recommend getting a sample of this before buying, so that if your skin has a bad reaction, you can ditch it. Which leads me to my last down-side...
 The cost for 2 OZ is 29.99. Even for someone like me, who has no problem plunking down a big chunk of change for quality product, that is pretty expensive. I would buy this product again, because I love the way my skin looks after using it, but I am going to try to search out something that works just as well and perhaps costs a bit less, or has no mysterious ingredients lurking in it.

Product Review: J.R. Watkins Hand and Body Lotion

By: Megan
Cost: $8

This is a good lotion to start with which switching over to the clean side.  I have been able to find it at pretty much every retailer with some sort of beauty department, plus its moderately priced at about $8 a bottle.  Before I switched I was using Nivea with Q10 in it which was about $10 a bottle for about the same amount of lotion.  J.R. doesn't have Q10 in it like the Nivea (which is why Meg has yet to switch over) but it does get the job done and does have a lot of good oils, aloe, and green tea in it.  J.R. has a good line of products with a few different scents, unfortunately they do have fragrance listed as one of the ingredients, so if you are sensitive to fragrance stay away from this line.  The scent I picked is Aloe and Green  Tea, it smells nice and clean but is very mild.  This is the lotion I reach to when I'm looking for something that does not have an overpowering smell and it will fade quickly.  The lotion is a little bit thicker then I was used to and took more rubbing in but was definitely soothing on my skin.  What I don't like about it is by the end of the day I felt like I need to reapply.  I have found another lotion that I like much more then this one (and is cleaner!), but I still put this one to use.  I really hate the feeling of dry hands and have swapped my Hempz lotion for this J.R. Watkins.  It keeps my hands soft and because I am obsessed with putting hand lotion on, I don't even notice that I am having to reapply.  I'm not sure that I would repurchase the big bottle, but would grab a small bottle to keep in my purse and use throughout the day.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Okay everybody we just wanted to let you know about 2 chances for free products, and who doesn't love free?!

The first is simple and it gives you the chance to win 3 products from Joise Maran Coesmetics; Argan Oil (which you already know we love), Bare Naked Wipes, and Argan Color Stick in Petal Pink. All you have to do is go to www.primebeautyblog.net/giveaway-josie-maran-essentials/, and let Prime Beauty know what your three essential beauty products in your current routine are.  Easy right? Winner's are picked at random and the contest ends Monday January 17th, 2011.  They also have listed a few ways to get extra entries on Prime Beauty.

Okay the second one is a little bit more risky, but just know Megan will be doing the contest with you.  No More Dirty Looks has challenged all of its readers to go at least 5 days with out soap.  Yes no soap, yes at least 5 days, yes I am nervous.  Check out the link to read all the details (http://nomoredirtylooks.com/2011/01/the-no-soap-challenge%E2%80%94join-us-theres-a-prize/) but i'll give you the short version.  Rules are you must do at least 5 days with no soap, longer if it works out.  For a chance at the prize (which is $100 to a all natural beauty store) you send in your experience, with details good or bad, and they will pick there fav's and publish the stories on their blog.  Challenge ends Wednesday January 26th and stories need to be 100 words or less.  If you are asking yourself what the point of no soap is, I'll do a little summary.  There have been more and more people not using soap at all, saying they don't stink and there skin is better without the soap.  So the idea is to see if that is what actually happens durning this challenge.  Meg is too attached to her soap to give it up, so I'm taking on this one alone.  I'm not sure what will come of it but what I do know is that she will be very very honest if I stink!

Product Review: 100% Pure Healthy Flawless Skin Foundation Powder with SPF 20

By: Meg
Cost: 26.00

 I've been solidly hooked on Bare Esecentuals mineral foundation for about three years now. I love it and still would recommend it to any chic lady. However, I know that it is not the cleanest powder foundation out there. I'm not terribly concerned about my skin soaking up bad stuff from powder foundation because for the most part, it just sits on top of my skin. I don't believe the "so pure you can sleep in it" claim...I have slept in it a time or two and woke up with break-outs, which tells me that it can at least penetrate your pores. For the sake of cleaning out my beauty products (and also for the purpose of the blog) I decided to branch out when I ran out of BE.
 100% Pure is a brand I had heard about, that uses mainly fruit pigments in their cosmetics. When I looked at their website and at the ingredients list it seemed too good to be true. I checked out their powder makeup. Their powder is a pressed powder which is different from the BE loose powder I was used to. The pressed aspect appealed to me though, because it makes it more protable and less likely to spill all over your purse or makeup bag.
  Before I go on with my review, I would like to recommend that everyone check out the 100% pure website: www.100percentpure.com. Just pick any product and go straight to the ingredients list. They have cosmetics, skincare products, and hair care products. Everything that they have looks like it would be awesome for your skin!
  Ok, so moving on...a quick look at the ingredients in the powder resulted in a TON of fruit product and oils with nothing that looked like a filler and no talc. It offers SPF 15 protection which is an important aspect to me in a foundation. Because there were so many natural and fruit ingredients in this, I worried about the shelf life. Each of their products has a little picture of an opened jar on it, which indicated the number of months it stays usable for once opened (the powder lasts 12 months).
 I put the powder on over my moisturizer the next morning and the first shocking thing I realized was that it actually matched my skin! Even the lightest shade of BE was a tad darker than my skin color. In fact, very few cosmetic lines carry shades light enough to look natural on me.  It went on smoothly and gave my skin a nice, even appearance. It felt very light and nice on my skin, very velvety. I do think that the BE foundation had more tone to it, This did look a little flat and matte when I put it on. A little bronzer fixed that right up though and I'm sure if I had put a little luminizer on it would have looked fantastic too. The 100% Pure powder does a much better job of keeping my skin looking less oily during a long work day than BE had. I was surprised to look in a mirror yesterday at more than halfway though my day and see my makeup look about the same as it had when I left my house. I am really impressed with this brand and I can't wait to try more of their products!

Product Review: Giovanni 50:50 Balanced Shampoo and Conditioner

By: Megan
Cost: $8 each

Let me start by saying this is not a 100% clean product, but it is a lot better then standard shampoos and conditioners out there, if you are looking for a totally clean product you can find them, but Giovanni is a good company to start with.   If you don't know me and can't tell from our picture, I clearly have colored hair.  I love getting my hair died and I don't intend to stop.  So I needed to know I was using a product that would help keep the color in and treat the damage that I put it through every few months.  Also, one of my best friends is also my hair stylist, and for the past 7 years has been doing my hair and providing me with the  best products (dirty dirty products) that she had found.  The thought of saying goodbye to all my hair care products, made me want to cry, and even though they sit in my medicine cabinet untouched I just can't get rid of them, yet.  That being said I was very nervous to leave the dark side and start using clean hair products.   What attracted me to Giovanni was they have a HUGE line of products for all different hair types plus styling products to go with it.  I figure, find a clean shampoo and conditioner that I love and maybe I'll luck into a hairspray that works too (and no i have not said good bye to my beloved aerosol and don't you dare take it away).  Oh and did you notice the price $8?  I'm pretty sure I spend more then that a day at Starbucks, these products were not going to leave me broke.

I picked the 50:50 line because it boasts protecting color-treated, over processed hair, just what I was going to need.  I'm also not afraid to say that I'm a sucker for cute packaging and clever slogans and funny remarks on the bottle, and Giovanni has it all.  Before I even used the product the smell was great, I'm the type of girl that will leave a product behind if it doesn't smell good, we were off to a good start.  The shampoo did lather up a little, which I wasn't expecting and was pleasantly surprised by.  The Conditioner felt nice in my hair and I wasn't nervous about leaving the shower without manageable hair.  So far, I was anticipating sweet success.  I have thick, coarse, wavy hair and it can be a beast to brush PLUS I didn't want to involve my dirty products that I had used before to help run a brush through it.  I was determined that if I was going to get the actual result of clean shampoo and conditioner, my security blanket of dirties would have to  be left out.   At the first glance of my hair I was nervous, it looked a little frizzy and really really really wavy.  I do love my waves and often style my hair around them but enjoy wearing it straight as well, and straight was way more difficult so I figured it would be the best test for the new products.  If it was successful after what I was about to put it through doing it wavy would be a snap.  As I started brushing my hair and started realizing I wasn't going to break my brush, I was happy.  Blow drying it gave me the same happy feelings.  My hair had volume, was shiny, smelled great, and it hadn't given me any more trouble than usual.  I pushed my hair to 3 days without washing (big step for me at the time) and it looked pretty darn good, another plus for me because I was typically washing everyday.  My color didn't fade while I used it and my hair was far from being dry and brittle.  My hair also performed well when I tried it out wavy, held the wave and was bouncy. I was a very happy Megan.  I don't know that this product did much more for me then my dirty shampoo and conditioner did results wise, but it didn't do anything worse.  I have not finished my bottles, because my other half bought me John Masters for Christmas and I'm a little obsessed with it right now (reviews coming soon I promise), but I have no plans of scrapping these products.  I'm not sure that I would re-purchase them, but I would like to try more out of the Giovanni line.  Overall, They were a great first start product to start with and I have no problems trying out other Giovanni products and at such a great price it fits nicely into a budget.

Product Review: Josie Maran Bronzing Powder

By: Meg
Cost: 30.00

 For those of you who don't know me, I have extremely pale skin. In fact, my skin is so pale, that it has frequently been referred to as ghostly. Most people see my pale skin as a negative attribute (and usually have no problem expressing their opinion). I actually have grown to love my skin color, in my adulthood at least. Any attempts to make my skin look darker (self-tanners only, NEVER actual sun or UV exposure -I'm not dumb) have left me with an unnatural and less than desirable orange-ness that was in no way even. So, I decided that I just wasn't made to be tan and that's been fine with me.
 Recently, I had a formal event to go to. I was very excited to get all dressed up and really wanted to look my best. I had a short dress for this so I put just a bit of self tanner on, mainly because in winter, my legs can actually look a little purple with the chilly air. I wanted my face to have a bit of color too, so that it would match the rest of me in pictures.
  Just before the party, I made a Sephora run and bee-lined it to the section where Josie Maran products are displayed. I picked up her powder bronzer and hesitated....I really love her stuff but it looked so dark to me and I wasn't sure I could get it to look natural on my color-less skin. In the end, my desire to try a bronzer that had Argan oil in it, won out.
  My face looked GREAT that night (if I do say so). I asked Megan to help me put it on, as she has a lot more experience in this area. She swiped just a bit on the perimeter of my face and just a pouf on the tip of my nose.  The bronzer gave me just a touch of color in all the right places. It was not too dark, and it blended really well with my mineral foundation. It really brightened my complexion and gave it such a great glow without looking shiny. There is also the added bonus of it being good for your skin. It contains Argan oil and Jojoba which will help keep skin hydrated while you wear.
 I have begun to use this bronzer on a very regular basis and I still just love it. I really never thought bronzer could look natural on someone with skin like mine. This one is just enough to enhance my skin from ghostly to glowing

Weekend Special: The Chase

Hey there ladies (and hopefully gents), welcome to our first of many weekend specials.  What we Megs' are going to be doing here, is make our weekend posts different from just our product reviews.  They might be guest bloggers (hopefully a geek to chic segment), our attempts at DIY recipes, workshops, or anything that we encounter on our quest for clean.  Today, we are going to try and help you hunt down the clean products that we love, because for us that has been the most difficult part.  We constantly feel like we are chasing down the brands we have come to love and the brands that we are dying to try.

Let me start by saying neither of us are big fans of buying our beauty products where we buy our groceries, but so far it has been the most successful for us.  One of the first places we started out was Whole Foods, go figure.  While not all products they carry are totally clean (good luck finding a place that does), they have a decently stocked beauty department and tag the products when they are local to the area, and who doesn't love to support local business.  Every time we have gone in, they have the beauty section staffed and they seem pretty eager to help. They also have a small section of bulk refill options. Its the smallest selection we have found around town, but definitely nice to have and can be a huge money saver.  In the local Santa Rosa area we have also had success at Oliver's and Pacific Market.  If you are not local to Sonoma County do a quick google search for health food markets in your town and see what it pulls up.  Oliver's had more products to offer then Whole Foods and the price on most was usually a few dollars less.  They also have more options for bulk refill and had a ton of essential oils in stock.  The best place in town we have found is Santa Rosa Community Market, and until last week we didn't even know it existed.  They had a very large selection of products and a huge section for bulk refill.  The staff was nice and they have there own standards for beauty products set up. If they are worthy, they mark them with a little green tag.  We are usually nervous to trust any store's opinion of what qualifies of a natural or organic product, but for the most part we had no issues with what they had labeled green.  None of the market-type places we have been to carry a decent selection of clean cosmetics or carry all the brands we want in one location. So, the search continues for the perfect totally clean store.

There are some other more universal stores we have been able to buy some of our products at.  One of our favorite stores of all time, Sephora, has a "Natural" section online and in stores.  Warning- not everything in the "Natural" section is clean, but they do have a good selection of beauty products and more importantly cosmetics.  The last time we made a trip to Sephora, they had a specialist in the section answering questions and offering advice.  Now, we knew what we were looking for and didn't ask for help, but from what we could over-hear she seemed pretty knowledgeable about the products.  Another place to try is CVS Beauty 360.  This is not at all CVS' but there are quite a few in California and it seems like there are going to be more popping up.  Beauty 360 is basically like a small Sephora (picture the locations they have in JC Pennys) attached to a CVS.   It is far from carrying a lot of clean products but they do have one of our favorite lines, 100% Pure.  The staff is far from knowledgeable about clean products but do offer to help a lot...maybe a little too much.  Either way, beauty 360 trips have become a pretty regular event in this household, and one that we both look forward to.  Target has has a small section of clean products in their beauty department.  Be careful though, hardly anything within that section is all clean.  We did first find Dr. Bronners there and they also carry some Giovanni, Alaffia, J.R. Watkins, Weleda, Burts Bees but I think thats about it.  They have  section with organic written all over it and fancy packaging, but not one thing we picked up was clean, so don't be fooled!  If you have a Ulta near by they carry most of the products that Target does but didn't seem to have any of the higher-end products like Sephora carries.  We have not made a trip ourselves to Pharmaca, but it seems like they have a good range of products, we just wish there was one closer to us so we can check it out.

If you don't need the immediate satisfaction of having the product you just bought in your hands, there are a lot of websites that have all your favorite products in one spot (but we HATE waiting for the package to show up on our door step).  We have recently found www.natureofbeauty.com and just ordered from them, and so far has been a great experience.  They sent a email with the tracking number which we love, because we want it here yesterday, and it helps to be able to track it as it gets closer.  Compared to buying directly from the manufactures website shipping seems less expensive, which we are a big fan of.  We have run into other websites similar to nature of beauty, but have not personally tried them out.  Also try browsing around on Etsy.com, just make sure to email the seller and ask for a list of ingredients, Meg has has some very positive responses from sellers and some that have not been as good.  Amazon is a great place to buy your products as well, if you know what you are looking for.  If you haven't noticed we will link any product we review right to Amazon, we are trying to make the switch easy for you!

One last tip on finding a store that might carry a product you love, is to check out the brands website.  Thats how we found Santa Rosa Community Market.  Megan Checked out Pangea Organics website to see where is was carried, and voila a new place to shop!

We know this can be the most frustrating part of switching over, but stick with it and you'll find places that work for you.  Our plans for the future we will be able to provide you with a one stop shop for all of your clean needs.

All these places are great places to shop, but while you are, please please PLEASE stop and flip the bottle over and read the ingredients!  That is the only way to tell if a product is fully clean.  As always the best reference we have is "No More Dirty Looks", if its not your clean product bible yet, we highly suggest it.  If you still have questions after the book, check out www.cosmeticsdatabase.com, believe us we are on there all the time.