Going Natural The Ancient Stone Way

Anybody who knows me personally, knows that I'm not a make up wearer.  With my sensitive, dry skin it's hard to find beauty products that won't break me out or give me that caked on look.  So, rather than stress and give myself a headache I just go au natural with the exception of a little lip gloss or lipstick.  However, I've been hearing that all natural mineral make up is all the rave for people with sensitive skin as well as for women of color.

That is my other pet peeve with make up.  Being in the middle of light skin and dark brown it's hard finding regular make up shades to match my skin color.  Let's face it, the face one color and the neck another color look is just hideous.  You will not catch me sporting that.  Anyways, when I heard about this relatively new company Ancient Stone that creates all natural makeup designed specifically with women of all colors in mind, I was down to try it.

Developed by Gloria Webb-Williams and Cathlene Michaels-Brader, Ancient Stone is additive free, filler free, persative free and talc free.  Yay!!  I'm on a new found journey to become more Green and the less chemicals I have to bring into my home the better.  Not to mention, when it comes to skin we should all be very picky about what we just lather on it.  So, instead using chemical dyes, they actually use minerals straight from the ground to color their foundations, blushes, eyeshadows and lipsticks.  You can't get more pure and natural that ladies.

Oh, did I mention they also use Titanium Dioxide, a naturally occuring mineral, to block out UV rays.  I know that as much as I stay outside during the warmer months, I can just all the UV protection I can get.  Skin cancer is no joke.

I received my free Ancient Stone make up kit during the Christmas holiday.  It was the perfect time to try it out and see if my family would notice that I was even wearing make up.  More importantly, I wanted to cover up my pregnancy acne that had already started to flare up.

I have to admit, it worked!!  You can't see my pregnancy acne and it doesn't look like I have on make up either.  I just love the natural glow that my face has.  And I've been continuing to use my Ancient Stone make up kit too.  I've been getting tons of compliments about how I have a natural pregnancy glow about my face from passer-bys at the mall and from my family.  I have to tell them that I owe my natural glow to Ancient Stone.

Ladies, I highly recommend this product line to anyone with sensitive skin or to anyone who has been hesitant about trying make up period.  It's great for your skin, doesn't feel or look heavy and works to bring out your natural beauty.  And with their Ancient Elixir Setting Spray you won't have worry about your make up coming off.  It will last throughout day with no reapplications needed.

While you're checking out their make up be sure to pick up a brush set from them too!!   Hope that you will visit Ancient  Stone and join me in going all natural.  For more information on Ancient Stone please visit their website:  Click here


*I did receive a free make up kit to try out and review.  However, that did not in any shape or form affect my opinion of this product.  The views and opinion written are soley my own.*

Going Green for Moo

As many of you know, we've been battling Moo's ezcema for almost two years now.  We've been through dozens of prescription creams and even more over the counter creams, lotions, etc.  Each time we tried a new cream or whatever, I was always a little hesitant.  Have you ever looked on the back of those tubes and bottles?  There are tons of chemicals in those things.

So, when Maggie contacted me from Ecostore USA, I thought this would be a great time to try some natural products to help soothe her skin allergy.  After all, what could it hurt?  I'd already tried a million nasty chemicals on her skin and they either didn't work and just worked for two days and then quit.

And visiting Ecostore USA, I saw just how far living GREEN has come from just a few years earlier.  I mean they have household cleaners, products for your pet, your hair and more.  Of course, I had to check out their Baby Care selection.  At first, I was waiting to be overwhelmed by the amount products from which to select from but was pleasantly surprised that the selections were simple-soap, body washes, moisturizer, shampoo, and balm.  I know that people are always talking about wanting to have options, but less is truly more sometimes.

I decided to go with the Baby Moisturizer because the key to fighting ezcema is keeping the skin moist.  And Moo's skin can get very dry.  I mean we go through quite a few bottles of moisturizer here because I have to apply it so many times during the day.  And I also chose the Coconut Bar Soap because coconut oil is good for keeping the skin moist as well.

I'm happy to report that we have been using both products for about three weeks and we are ezcema free.  Her skin is becoming less and less dry which is great with fall already here and winter fastly approaching.  Who would have known that the key to my fustrations would be going Green in terms of skin care products?  I just wish I had thought about this before I tried all those creams and other products with all those nasty chemicals.

I encourage you all to head over to Ecostore USA today and try out some of their products.  Trust me their prices are reasonable for the quality and safety of their products.  Why continue to pollute our bodies and homes with harmful chemicals that could really kill us and aren't even all that good for us to begin with when there is a healthier and safer alternative out there.  I'm telling you all that when it comes to my Moo, there isn't anything I wouldn't do for her including going GREEN!!

Pampering Our Feet

So, Hachette Book Group was nice enough to send me a copy of 'Babushka's Beauty Secrets: Old World Tips For a Glamorous New You' by Raisa Ruder and Susan Campos. This book couldn't have come at a better time.  Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook know that Moo has been suffering from a bad ear infection since Saturday.  And I have to admit that since embarking on my Single Mom Journey, I have kind of let somethings go.   Not to mention, the fact that I've just really started dropping the reminder of my baby weight.  So, I've been trying to revamp my wardrobe and my beauty.

Let me tell you that as a child we tried our share of natural beauty tips from Seventeen Magazine and beauty books targeted for teens.  More often than not, the serums and scrubs did not work.  So, I was a little apprehensive about trying some of the treatments from this book.  However, the fact that Raisa is a licensed esthetician to some of Hollywood's greatest and brightest stars kind of nudged me to try a few.    She promises, "Babushka's Beauty Secrets creates glowing skin for under $5."

With Summer weather officially here, it is time to pull out the flip flops and open toed sandals.  And as women we know the first rule of wearing any kind of shoe showing off your feet is 'Get a good pedicure.'  Well, it just so happens that Babushka's Beauty Secrets has a hands and feet section.  Since I'm on my feet a lot I don't have to tell you that calluses are the things to watch out for.  Therefore, I decided to try their Clear Away Calluses treatment. 

Reading the ingredients I was a little uncertain that it would work-1/2 cup baking soda and 1/2 cup of kosher salt added to warm water.  The instructions said to soak for twenty minutes and then scrub with a loofah or foot scrub.  Simple enough and I had all the needed items in my kitchen.  I decided that I would enlist my baby sister and my mother to try in this with me to make sure that it really works.  And Moo decided that she was feeling well enough to join in too.

So, we filled up our foot tubs and mixed in our baking soda and salt and got down to soaking.  Now, when you first put your feet in this mixture you will feel a slight tingling sensation.  (My mother claims she didn't feel the tingling, but me and my sister did.)  It should stop after about two minutes.  It's not painful or unbearable.  While we waited out a our twenty minute soak we watched a little Cupcake Wars on Food Network.

After soaking twenty minutes, we removed our feet one at a time and got to scrubbing.  Boy did the dead skin peel right off.  I mean we didn't even have to scrub hard either.  My mom was able to rub hers off with a towel and then switched to the loofah for a deeper scrub.  I was kind of excited and have made up my mind to try more treatments from this book and post my experience with them on here.  I'm looking forward to regaining my fashionista attitude without having to break the bank.

Tonight, we're trying step two of the Date Souffle.