The best organic lollipops I've ever had!

Hi Sweeties! Oh. My. Goodness. I had the BEST lollipop I've ever eaten. I'm serious. I was so blown away by how yummy it was I HAD to write a post about it! How did I stumble upon such a tasty treat? By spending a lovely lunch hour shopping at TJ Maxx! I spotted this bag of lollipops near the checkout and totally impulse-purchased these not expecting a whole lot. I mean, ORGANIC lollipops? Surely they must taste terrible, right? WRONG. I was so so wrong! I know I'm waxing poetically about candy, but you guys, they are amazing! The flavors are incredible! I know you may be rolling yours eyes and thinking that it's just a lollipop, but I promise you these are so much more! They are made by YumEarth Organics and are USDA Organic, gluten-free, and contain no artificial dyes or flavors. What??? How is that possible, right? Well, here it is, in all of its glory:

Look at that! They use non-GMO products, real fruit extracts and 100% natural flavors. And you get 100% of your Vitamin C intake as well. But here's the best part- they are free from those awful red dyes. Happy Dance!

So after it had passed my ingredient inspection with flying colors I ripped the bag open and grabbed one at random. With eight different flavors you can't go wrong. "Strawberry Smash" and "Wet-face Watermelon" are my absolute favorites, but you can't go wrong with "Very Very Cherry," "Too Berry Blueberry," "Sour Apple Tart," "Pomegranate Pucker," "Razzmatazz Berry," or "Mango Tango." They're almost as much fun to read as they are to eat!

I'm so thrilled that this company recognizes the need for pure foods. The fact that they make pure, FUN, and TASTY candy is just a huge bonus for me. I can only imagine how excited my readers with children are going to be when they try these out for themselves. Artificial colors, especially those nasty reds, can really cause a lot of unpleasantness in children and I know the struggle in can be to find pure foods, especially sweets. If you can't find them in your local store, you can always order online. So get to shopping, sweeties and stash a few in your purse for a sweet treat. Just make sure you save some for the kiddos!

Finally, a great eyeshadow and liner that's all-natural!

Hi sweeties! I’m super excited about this post for a number of reasons. 1) It’s about an awesome makeup product that I ordered and 2) It’s Amazing!!! Seriously, I have high standards, as you know, and when I finally put this bad boy to the test, it shined! So what is this amazing product? It’s 100% Pure’s Dual-Ended Creamstick in Chocolate/Champagne. I’ve been on the hunt to replace my old Clinique eye shadow primer (touch tint for eyes). And when I say “old,” I mean old. As in, I’ve been doing the makeup no-no of using a product for over (cough, eight, cough, years). Yikes. That’s even more embarrassing when I reread it. :)

I did a major order of 100% Pure’s makeup two months ago and have been putting their products to the test. I am so glad that their creamstick passed! First, the quality of the product. It’s beautiful and a lot bigger than I thought it would be. Secondly, I love the colors. They are just gorgeous. 

Photo credit: 100% Pure

The champagne is a nice light color that I like to use on my whole eyelid and the chocolate color makes a nice liner above your upper lash line. It also has great staying power which surprised me given that the ingredients are all-natural, which brings me to my favorite part: the makeup of the makeup! As always, I’ve outlined the ingredients below and their corresponding score with the Environmental WorkingGroup: Skin Deep Database, but let me give you the quick and dirty details.

• It’s 100% Natural (check out the ingredients, it really is)
• It’s 100% Vegetarian
• It’s Gluten free

Amazing, right? I’m so happy with this product and can’t wait to try out the other colors. It was $18 for the liner, which is a lot more than I’m used to paying for a liner/shadow, but I’m so happy with the product that I’m okay with saving up my pennies to buy such a great makeup tool. What do you think? Have you tried any great products lately? Drop me a line and stay sweet!

Ingredient	EWG Skin Deep Rating
Jojoba Oil	0
Silica	0-2 (depends on if its aerosolized)
Meadowfoam Seed Oil	0
Mango Seed Oil	0
Candelilla Wax	0
Shea Butter	0
Macadamia Seed Oil	0
Carnauba Wax	0
Kelp	0
Agar Agar	0
Spirulina	0
a-tocopherol (Vitamin E)	0
ascorbyl palmitate (Vitamin C)	1
Rice Starch	1 (may have contamination concerns, depending on where they get their rice starch)
Black Tea Powder	0
Acai Berry	0
Pomegranate	0
Cranberry	0
Goji Berry	0
Blackberry	0
Mica	2
Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride	1

 

All Natural Concealer Review - My Holy Grail

Hi Sweeties!

I feel like giving myself a good old "welcome back" as I am 19 days post surgery and am able to sit upright again. To give you just a brief update, I made the decision to have major surgery for two reasons: 1) this particular surgery could help prevent my particular brand of cancer from coming back and 2) to ensure that my cancer hadn't spread to my lymph nodes. I did it for my husband, my family, my pup, and for me. It's crazy to think about really, but I'm glad I did it. I'm sure I'll be even more glad I did it once I get my energy back and my body goes back to normal. For now, I'm content with my Frankenstein scars and penchant for soft foods. :)

Anyway! I haven't forgotten about my quest for the perfect concealer! I've been a diehard Lancome Concealer fan for years, but after researching the ingredient list and almost passing out, I have been on the hunt, literally, for the perfect concealer. I've been to department stores, Ulta, Sephora, you name it, I've gone and checked them out and have come up with zilch. My standards for the ingredients are just too high, I suppose. So I took my search to the internet. Since this is my must-have for my makeup routine, I literally can't go without it thanks to my awesome under-eye circles. So, prior to me going in for surgery I ordered two different types of concealer from two different companies.

The first one I ordered was the RMS Beauty "Un" Cover-up in shade 11. I read a ton of reviews about this concealer and had some pretty high hopes. The ingredient list alone is amazing compared to the toxic waste that's out there. It arrived pretty quickly and came in an adorable package with some free samples!

Unfortunately, even though the ingredient list is superb, after using it for a week in several different environments (outside in the Florida summer heat, inside at work, night out, etc.) I was slightly disappointed. First, the shade I ordered, "11," is the lightest shade they offer and it turns a bit orange on my skin. Second, the pot of concealer is TINY! I mean it's really small. Granted, you wouldn't be using this all over your face, but for $36 you would hope for a little more product. Third, it creases. It definitely migrated into my lines on my eyes which is a huge no no for a concealer, right.

So off I went in search of another concealer. I decided to try 100% Pure because they use great ingredients and are 100% vegan. I ordered the Fruit Pigmented Brightening Concealer for $16 (along with some other products which I will post about later) and selected the White Peach tint. The other products I ordered were great and I can't wait to post about them, but the concealer did not hold up to my standards. First, it's oily and slides all over the place when you're applying it. I tried to set it with my powder but then it just makes it look splotchy and grainy. Second, it does not have any staying power. After an hour or two it just kind of melts away and leaves some light spots. My under eye area looks pixilated. Bummer. But, I did like the fact that it was more of a liquid than RMS. It was easier to spread but still too oily.

So, if I had to choose between the two? I would go with 100% Pure. The color is better than RMS for my skin tone and it's a lot cheaper. I'm going to continue to use 100% Pure's concealer for now but I'm not going to stop looking for that perfect concealer. It's like my Holy Grail. I did order the foundation from 100% Pure and really liked it (which I will post about later) so I'm hoping they will make a concealer that is a little more like their foundation, i.e., less greasy.

That's all for now, sweeties! Let me know if you've found that elusive toxin free concealer and you'll be entered to win some awesome freebies!

Welcome, Sweeties!

Hi sweeties!

First of all, let me welcome you to my blog! This is a place of sweetness, fun, education, and collaboration. So what is this blog about, you ask? Why did I decide to enter the blogging world when it’s already filled with millions of other bloggers? Because when I went out looking for makeup products, hair care products, recipes, and healthy lifestyle activities, I couldn’t find them…at least not together. I would find snippets of information about all-natural facial moisturizers in one place, a recipe for an organic smoothie in another, and household cleaning revolutions somewhere else.  And to be quite honest, the quality of the information I found was suspect. Where were the references? The ingredients? The “I would put it on my child” quality stamp? I couldn’t find it. So I decided to take matters into my own hands. We needed, I needed, a central place to compile my findings, my reviews of products and I want to be able to share that with you! You might ask what spurned me on to start this intensive “quest” so to speak? Was it a viewing of “Supersize Me” or the perusal of the organic aisle in Publix? No, and to make a very long story short, it came about when I was diagnosed with cancer. Yeah, the c-word. At age 29. When I went in to have a routine procedure, cancer was found completely unexpected…I mean, when is cancer expected anyway? So I’ve since had the cancer removed and am still undergoing lots of fun “stuff” at the moment, but as a way to educate myself and my loved ones, I decided that as a part of my effort to kick cancer’s f^&%$#@ ass from here to the other side of the world, I would create something beautiful to offset the ugliness of the c-word. So here we are! Are you ready to kick off this awesome journey? Let's go!