The March All Natural Face Box

I love this subscription box. I've only received one, but I love it. You can check it out at The All Natural Face It is $15.00 monthly, or you can purchase a whole year for $130 (making it less than $11/monthly if you broke it down). You also can purchase just one box.

The March box was St. Patrick's Day themed box. Let's talk about what was in the box.

Isn't all that green pretty.  I might have squealed a little. =)

I dove into the pigments first. I figured they were green, but I couldn't wait to see them.

deep sea green, forest nypmh, and green ice storm

Here they are, darkest to lightest. I have used the deep sea green as a liner a few times and I loved it. I tried the forest nymph as an eyelid shade, which I liked, but it didn't last and it creased even with a primer. I think I need a cream base underneath it.

ingredients: Mica, Magnesium Myristate Boron Nitride Oxides.

I layered the deep sea green over a brown liner pencil from honey bee gardens. It stays all day. The green didn't show up very well in the picture, but it is really pretty in real life.
Also in the green pouch was a green coin lucky charm (which I put in my pocket the day I had to go to the dentist and that went well.)

Next I opened up a lip balm in chocolate mint. YUM is all I can say. It smells delicious, and is super moisturizing.

Ingredients: sweet almond oil, organic coconut oil, candelilla wax, natural flavors, and stevia.

I love this balm. I have been carrying it with me everywhere. It is in a round tube, which I prefer.

There was also a peppermint lotion. It smells so good. I love peppermint anything. =)

ingredients: Purified water, apricot kernel oil, vegetable glycerin, Ceteareth-6 Olivate (vegetable emulsifier), Sclerotium gum, poyaminopropyl biguanide(non formaldehyde, non pararben preservative), potassium sorbate (food grade preservative), organic peppermint oil

So I don't love all the ingredients, however, it is water based so it has to have some. I find this a little bit sticky which is weird. It is smooth and absorbs quickly, but leaves my skin sticky.  I do love the scent though.

All right this is the one that y'all are going to think is weird. It is an Ayurvedic Oral Rinse. It is all oil. Yes I said oil.  Used for oil pulling. What is that you say?!?  Well let me tell you.  Oil pulling is used to improve dental health. Teeth become whiter, gums pinker and healthier looking, and breath fresher. But some say the health benefits don't stop there. Many health problems, including those which medical science has yet to find cures for, are also improved or completely cured. Oil pulling has the potential to help with just about any illness or chronic condition. (info from oilpulling.com) 

Simple process of swishing 1 tsp of oil in your mouth for up to 20 minutes, preferably before eating. I cannot swish oil in my mouth that long. However, I did last for a good little bit. Dental care is related to heart disease, so I find that a natural method that is to help with good dental hygiene is worth it.  

It didn't taste bad, but anything in my mouth for very long makes me gaggy, even toothpaste. I didn't find my mouth to feel oily afterward. I will continue to use this. Will I buy some? No I can make my own, but I wouldn't have tried it if I hadn't received it in the box.

ingredients: Organic sesame oil, organic peppermint oil, organic lemon oil, organic myrhh oil, organic clove oil, organic neem oil. 

Last but not least is the Peaches and Cream Face Food. It contains dried peaches, and coconut milk. It is a cleanser or mask. It smells so good, and left my face feeling soft.  You only need a small amount so there is plenty in that little baggie. I love it. 


So here are all the products together

I really like the all natural face. I am excited to see what next month's box has in it. You can bet you'll be seeing other products from here as well. 

Hope you have a blessed day!

Easy Homemade Lotion

So home made products are all the rage, well they used to be, or maybe they just are in my own little world.  I have been making this lotion for awhile. It is very moisturizing and super easy to make.

You need:

1/4 c Coconut Oil
2 Tbsp of Stearic Acid

1/2 c. Distilled water
1/2 tsp. Baking soda

Melt the oil/wax together. You can do this on the stove in a double boiler, or in the microwave.

then mix the baking soda into the water and heat in the microwave.

Pour the water into the oils and stir until light and fluffy. I use a 4 cup glass measuring cup to mix it in as it grows when you mix it. Makes approx 8 oz of lotion. Allow to cool. I would say use it up in 6 months.  Share it with your friends. They will want to use it over and over. Great for those dry crack hands that winter causes.

I find the stearic acid in the candle making section at Hobby Lobby.

You can add essential oils to this lotion, or leave it unscented. If you want unscented use refined coconut oil like the louanna brand, or use raw unrefined for a delightful coconut scent. My favorite is Vanilla Mint though. I add Vanilla and Peppermint essential oils.

Have a blessed day!

It is Monday, my almost favorite day of the week.

Today Jon and the kids had a 2 hour delay. I am thankful everyone went to school. I need the normalcy that has been missing since we had 4 snow days last week.

I also had to take my car in to be checked out. The battery light was coming on, and it was doing some strange things. The service director asked me if I believed in gremlins. I had to say, I might with the way the car was acting. Turns out it was just the battery. SO so so very THANKFUL for this simple fix.

I am making some blog changes. I have added a recipes page, and you will see that listed under the photo at the top, They are not categorized, but I am going back through old posts and adding them to the page. I am considering another page or two, maybe homemade items, and crafty things pages. I know sometimes it would be nice to find a recipe I know I have posted without hunting in a bunch of other places. I may determine some system to organize them at a later time.

I have started reading Ann Voskamp's one thousand gifts I am in chapter 3, I took the book with me to the car place today. This book is going to be life changing. Ann puts words to feelings I haven't been able to describe.
Jessica Turner and Angie Smith also lead an online book club called BLOOM, that is now a part of Dayspring. You can go here to see the video for chapter one, with Angie, Jessica, and Ann. The video enlightened parts of the first chapter to a different level. I would highly recommend this book, and I am not even done with it. Something said on the video that struck me as an ah ha moment, Ann said, sometimes you have to be in the dark to really see the light. That may sound simple, but sometimes it is the simple things we so easily overlook.

I have many things I need to still do this evening, because my time at home alone was shortened to a mere 2 hours, and I spent those reading, and making lotion for a friend whose son has eczema. She hasn't found anything that has helped her little guy, and so she is anxious to try my lotions. It cleared up Ryan's skin, and another friend whose hands were cracked and bleeding. I hope it works for her little guy.

I must get some stuff done this evening.
Have a blessed day.

Monday Monday

Well, I have a little girl home from school today with a fever, well technically no fever today, but since she had one last night I kept her home to make sure she is better, she is acting just fine.

I thought I had shared this, but I couldn't find it, but one of the things I have done to not only be "frugal" but also to be a good steward of Gods blessing on us is go paperless in the kitchen. I had tried this before, but met some resistance from my dear husband, however, one day, my daughter asked if we could use cloth napkins because she didn't want to go to the pantry to get paper ones, I told her that was fine, as I had a basket on the fridge with a couple sets of napkins in it. She set the table and at dinner when my husband commented on the cloth napkins, my daughter on her own told her daddy that cloth napkins were better for the earth and we should use them all the time.

I was a proud mama at that moment, so I asked if she would like to help make more napkins, she said yes, and because it was her idea, and she helped make them, there has been no resistance. In fact, my son thinks it is like eating at a fancy restaurant.

Sheets make wonderful napkins, particularly old cotton sheets because they are soft. Goodwill or thrift stores are a great place to pick up a sheet if you don't have any old ones. I think it would be fun to use kids printed sheets for napkins the kids would enjoy, although we don't need any more napkins right now.

I love that it has given me the opportunity to talk to my kids about taking care of the earth and being good stewards of all the God has given to us.

so our napkin basket looks like this


I hemmed all of them at about a 1/4 inch, but if I had a serger I would have just serged the ends and called it good. ha! I let Rebecca pick out different thread colors, so we have white napkins hemmed in green, blue, pink, and red, and they are not perfect, but I love that she wanted to help.

Something else I thought I would share. I made lotion last week, and took the jar with me to work to show a friend, which turned into a quiz session on what else I make from many coworkers, and a can I buy that from you session as well.

The lotion is very creamy, goes on smooth, and absorbs wonderfully into the skin. And as a nurse hand washing is done so very much, I ended up leaving the jar on the counter and everyone helped themselves. I love that there are no bad chemicals in it, and love that it is just as good or in my opinion better than store bought. It has a soft coconut scent. I don't do heavy scented product because they cause headaches for me, so for me this homemade lotion is wonderful.



I scooped some out on my finger hoping you can see that it is creamy and kind of thick, but it goes on so very smooth.



Hope you have a blessed day!