Product Reviews

Zuzu Luxe Liquid Eyeliner:
I thought I would have a really tough time with applying a liquid eyeliner, based on all my past epic fails with the product.  Zuzu's in Azure is different though, and much easier to use.  It's more mineral-y and thicker than drug store varieties, and it went on smoother and didn't bleed into my skin.  Score one for that.  The color, though, was not as intensely blue as I had hoped, or as it looked like it would be.

Black Pearl, on the other hand, is not as thick as Azure and I had some issues with bleeding.  Not as badly as drug store varieties, but it was still annoying.  I have to say though, that I really like the color as opposed to plain black.  It's a little more grey and softer.

I also didn't have a problem with either color drying out my eyes like the pencils I used by Rimmel or Revlon.  I couldn't feel it at all, actually.  Score another point for clean makeup.


I didn't wear the Azure color all day, as I only put makeup on in the evening before we went out to the arena football game.  It kind of faded in the outer corners of my eyes, but stayed put everywhere else on my upper and lower lids.  I probably will have to invest in doubles of each color so I can have a backup in my purse for when I'm out all day.  I would say it performed much much better than I expected but not as great as I hoped.

The Black Pearl stayed put all day except for the very outer bottom corner of my eyes.

Overall, high score for comfortableness, pretty easy application, and mostly staying put.


Crystal roll-on deodorant:
The jury is still out on this particular purchase.

I definitely don't seem to sweat as much with it as I thought I would, so that's definitely a plus.  So far no wet stains under my armpits on my clothes.

I'm not sure if I smell with it or not.  The deodorant itself is fragrance free, and when I stuck my nose in my pits, I thought I smelled some body order, but I just checked again and I seem to not smell any more.  Went for a walk outside in warm humid Florida and I didn't think I smelled afterwards.  Not sure what I was smelling when I applied it.  Maybe it's just that I'm so used to having fragrance??

You do have to wash before you apply it because I guess otherwise it doesn't really work.  It is not an antiperspirant per se, but it's supposed to neutralize the bacteria that create funky body odor.  I think it does this well, so far.  Hubby said he didn't smell any body odor until his nose was actually touching my underarm pit.  That's good, right?

After putting it on, my underarms felt pretty sticky for a while.  I ended up blotting some off, and then felt fine.

Overall, I would recommend Crystal over drug store choices like Secret or Dove because of all the crap in them.  It's hard, though, not to smell florally.  That's going to take some getting used to.

I would like to try my hand at making my own deodorant, and I'm looking for and at recipes.


Tom's of Maine Toothpaste:
Definitely different from the Crest Whitening I've been using for years.  Tom's is not sweet at all.  I never realized just how much sugar or sweetner was in regular toothpaste!  The lack of sweet is going to take some adjustment, but that's not a bad thing.

It also is very smooth with no grit.  Crest Whitening toothpaste has stuff in it that is abrasive.  I plan on getting around this by using some baking soda with my Tom's so that I'm getting the clean I feel I need.

The minty flavor of Tom's is much lighter than other brands, but it is still freshening.

I really do like my new toothpaste.  It's very different from what I'm used too, but in good ways.


Kiss My Face Olive Oil bar soap:
I cannot say enough about this product.  LOVE it, LOVE it, Love it!!!!

Worth every penny. And the bars are really very big.

It suds nicely when washing my hands, leaves my skin smooth and hydrated, but not greasy or filmy.

I can use it wash my face.  I have not been able to take a bar of soap, rub it on a washcloth, and then wash my face ever without a horrible reaction of burning or itching.  But Kiss My Face Olive Oil is heavenly!  It takes off my makeup without much scrubbing, and even if I get some in my eyes, it only feels uncomfortable for a second, even with contacts in.  None of that burning and burning and burning of eyes or skin.  And after washing my face, I don't have to apply anything.  Other cleansers or soaps made my skin feel really dry and like it was cracking when I uses my facial muscles, but not with Kiss My Face.  I don't have any clean lotion and didn't want to apply crap after washing crap off, so I tried not putting anything on and I've been fine all day.  My face looks and feels so much healthier.  My skin is rosy and loving the new soap.

Today, I washed my face, didn't put on any makeup or lotion, and went out to the park.

I am a happy, happy girl!

Essential Oils: Rose Absolute in Jojoba Oil
It smells pretty but disappears in minutes, no matter how much I apply.  I think my body eats the scent.

Essential Oils: Jasmine in Jojoba Oil
I like this one much better because its scent lasts much longer on me than the Rose Absolute.  Since I'm not using any product with scent except the very light scent in the Giovanni products, I need something with some pop to it.  Jasmine has that.

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An Exciting Day, Part 2 (in which I attempt to shop)

Part 1 was about my adventures in new books to inspire me as we move deeper as a family into a healthier lifestyle.

(By the way, what do you call what we're doing?  Living cleaner?  Sticking it to a culture that tries to make us good little consumers, regardless of the harm the products often cause us? Taking back control?)

Anyways, Part 2 is about trying to figure out just what I can and can't buy as a result of these changes we're implementing.

I really wanted to have perused my new cookbooks before setting out to Whole Foods yesterday.  As they hadn't arrived in the mail yet, I set out armed with a list of items I had previously researched and wanted to price, and my phone that has internet connection so I could research on EWG's Skin Deep Database as I went along.

Upon entering Whole Foods, I got flustered and promptly mislaid my list.  Actually, I lost it.  Poof.  Which only made me more flustered.

I find grocery shopping in general overwhelming.  Having grown up in Kenya where you were lucky if any single product was in stock, even after 14 years in America I still tend to panic when faced with more than two choices.  Inevitably everything in front of me blurs together and I can't make any kind of informed decision, which just makes me panic more.  Add any element of pressure, as in the form of time management or narrow aisles or a long list of ingredients to avoid or sales people asking me incessantly if I'm ok (no, I'm not, I'm having a mental breakdown in your store, but please pretend that I look normal because your concern is making things worse), and I literally shut down and will leave the store with nothing except more anxiety for the next trip, or a random assortment of products I never intended to buy in the first place.  It's not pretty.

To offset this, I often drag my husband and daughter along with me.  Hubby usually helps me relax, think rationally, and reminds me of why I'm there.  Sometimes he adds to my stress because I know he's getting bored as I spend more and more time not finding what I'm looking for.  It just depends.  But overall, knowing that I have an ally in him, and the reason I'm doing all of this in the form of my daughter makes having them with me much less stressful than if I was by myself.

As I become more familiar with a particular store's layout and the kinds of products available, I relax and can see more clearly, and can make better and more informed choices.  For example, Walmart and Target and the Commissary are all fine because that's mostly where I shop.  But Whole Foods still is so new that it freaks me out.

Yesterday was the third time in my life I had set foot in a Whole Foods.  I did my best to remain calm, I took my time (3 hours), I tried to focus on what I remembered we needed, and in the end I was successful even though I did forget a few things, like seeing what was available in kids sunblock.

As far as food goes, we walked out with organic mangoes (sale of $10/10), a 5 lb bag of organic yukon gold potatoes - because potatoes are on the dirty dozen list, one pack of Against the Grain frozen bagels for me, Pacific Brand soups in Cashew Carrot Ginger (for me) and Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato (for hubby), and Annie's brand bunnies in cheddar cheese and chocolate chip for Zoe.  I think that was all the food we did end up getting.

I ended up spending a majority of my time in the personal care department.  After looking at what was available as far as shampoos and conditioners and other hair products, I went with the Giovanni brand.  It was just as good as Nature's Gate and what I could tell of the other brands, if not better, plus it was recommended to me by a friend on facebook.  I found the heat protecting serum and body building gel right off, but it took me forever to find the shampoo and conditioner - at first I thought they weren't even at the store I was at.  Eventually I did find them after thinking I would have to settle for much more expensive stuff.  To top off my happy discovery, all Giovanni products were on sale.  Yes, it was still much more expensive than what I pay for my old shampoo (Redken is expensive but you get big bottles), but it's worth it and I'm excited to see what changes take place when I start using it.  The only product that I use regularly but do not have yet is hair spray.  Giovanni might have one, I just didn't see it nor was I particularly remembering to look for it.

Hair Care Products Purchased (all Giovanni and sale price was $5-$7.50 per product):
- Root 66 Max Volume Shampoo
- Root 66 Max Volume Conditioner
- Frizz Be Gone Serum
- Volumizing Styling Gel
- Vitapro Fusion Protective Moisture Leave-in Hair Treatment
(All similar products to the Redken line I have used for the past few years)

Regarding makeup, before my trip to Whole Foods, I had researched Gabriel, Mineral Fusion, and Zuzu Luxe makeups, which are the lines the store carries.  After looking at my options online for Nvey, Coastal Classic Creations, Origins (ruled out because scored too high on EWG), Arbonne, and Lush, etc, I realized that none of them carried eyeliner pencil in the form I was used to.  Actually, I think Nvey does, but it's something like $30/pencil.  Kind of steep.  Zuzu Luxe had scored pretty low regarding their eyeliner pencils and were in the $13 range, which is more my price point for trying something new.  However, when I tried the pencil on my hand, it took a lot of pressure to get the color to come out how I liked and the pencil felt scratchy.  NOT something I want to put up against my tender eyes.  Zuzu Luxe also carries liquid eyeliner, which is what I ended up settling for.

Makeup (Zuzu Luxe, $13.50/2 ml)
- Liquid eyeliner in Black Pearl (dark grey-ish with some sparkle)
- Liquid eyeliner in Azure (deep blue)

Yeah, I know.  I got two.  And liquid eyeliner is sort of my arch nemesis when it comes to application.  But I like the colors and I will just have to learn how to apply it with a less shaky hand.  Also it's not waterproof, which is what I usually wear in the pencil form.  I'm kind of nervous, but it beats trying to apply a loose powder as an eyeliner, which is pretty much what I would have to do if I didn't want to shell out for Nvey's pencils.  Zuzu Luxe scored a 2 on the EWG's Skin Deep Database.

The rest of my makeup I got online from Coastal Classics, which will be a different post when I get it early next week in the mail.  I still don't have a base as such, but I prefer to use a tinted moisturizer to actual heavier bases.  Lush has a boutique nearby, so I hope to get in there next week (once it's a new month and I have a new budget and allowance, lol) and get them to help me find one that matches my skin tone.  I don't like to buy anything base related online - I need to see it on my skin to make sure it matches.

Deodorant: picked up Crystal brand of roll-on.  It's hypoallergenic, fragrance free, and paraben free.  Scored well on EWG's Skin Deep Database (a zero, I think).  I used to wear Secret's super duper anti-perspirent, so I am not sure how this is going to go.  In the future I would like to try my hand at making my own.

Soap: after looking around madly, I found Kiss My Face Pure Olive Oil Soap and went with it.  It smells clean but not fruity.  More earthy.  It scored a zero on the EWG's Skin Deep Database.  It costs $3.99/large bar at Whole Foods.  I picked up two of these, but then found them at the Base Commissary (???) for $2.99 for the same size bar, so I grabbed two more bars.  Won't be getting them at Whole Foods any more.  I've tried the soap already and it makes my hands feel nice and clean, and not greasy.

Essential Oils:  This was my last purchase at Whole Foods.  I settled on Aura Cacia brand in Rose Absolute in jojoba oil ($11), organic lavender ($6), and organic sweet orange ($3).  The Rose Absolute can be worn directly as a perfume.  The organic lavender and sweet orange are concentrates (I found out when I got home and read the labels) and can't be worn without being added to something.  After reading Making It, I think I need to go back and get peppermint, chamomile, eucalyptus, and rosemary for the lotions and salves I am interested in trying my hand at.  The three I did get were on sale, and the whole Aura Cacia line is currently on sale.  I'm going to be down in the area of Whole Foods tonight so I might have to talk Hubby into making a quick side trip.

Tooth Paste: I completely blanked on toothpaste at Whole Foods, but thankfully the Commissary actually carries some good stuff.  I picked up Tom's of Maine Cavity Protection (has fluoride).  It's a compromise for hubby and me.  He wants fluoride in his paste and I want it to be cleaner than Crest and Colgate.  Tom's is middle of the road.

Dish Soap:  The Commissary carries Seventh Generation dish soap so we grabbed some!  :)

I didn't really spend much time at the Commissary, but they do carry a ton of Nature's Gate and Jason's products.  I have no idea how they rate on the EWG database, but it might be worth checking into.  Also they carry Aubrey and Kiss My Face, Toms of Maine, and some other organic toothpaste.  I was really impressed at the selection.  I don't know if this is now true of all commissaries or if some general's wife stationed at MacDill is on the clean living bandwagon.  I'm hoping Quantico's commissary has these same kinds of products available.  At least VA has Whole Foods AND Trader Joe's.

The new stuff we found for Z will be in a followup post because she just woke up and needs breakfast. :)

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