Whole Foods Beauty Week

Hi guys! I hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's day! I wanted to write a quick blog on something exciting going on in Nashville next week. 

Y'all might not know this, but one of my jobs that I do besides freelance is I'm a "beauty expert" for Juice Beauty. Juice Beauty is one of my favorite organic Skincare brands! I was a fan of the line before I worked for them. So I truly enjoy working for Juice Beauty. I use tons of their products & I really love going to Whole Foods around my region and educating people in the line & helping people find their perfect Skincare regimen. Sometimes it's very tricky transitioning into a non-toxic Skincare line, so I love being able to help people do that!

Next week is Beauty Week at Whole Foods all around the region! This means all skincare & cosmetics products in the Whole Body department are 25% off from March 22-28! This is such a big deal for all of us who work for these brands, so tons of reps will be there as well! This is a great time to come by and check out products. There will be lots of reps with samples, goodies, and lots of knowledge! Not only is there a great discount with the products but on Friday March 24th they will release this kick ass beauty bag! 

The beauty bag is loaded with tons of samples & deluxe samples of non-toxic beauty products. They go on sale on Friday March 24th when the doors open, and trust me these beauties go fast!! I was lucky enough to get a sneak peak at what all is in the bag and now I'm going to share it with you!!

Acure Pore Clarifying Red Clay Mask with Moroccan Red Clay & Argan oil-Acure is a very popular brand and I have yet to try anything in their line, so I'm excited to try them out. I'm intrigued by the red clay/argan oil combo. it sounds nice on the deep pore cleansing action with the clay, but then you have the hydrating action of the argan oil, so I'm curious to try this out. Plus, everyone can use a clay mask! Derma-E Hydrating Night Cream with Hyaluronic Acid

Juice Beauty Green Apple Peel Sensitive-well, I mean it's only my favorite brand! This mask is actually the first thing I every tried from Juice Beauty and it was love at first application. I have struggled to find decent, active non-toxic products. I was feeling defeated & then I tried this & my face actually tingled & itched & I thought, "FINALLY!!! A PRODUCT THAT ACTUALLY WORKS!" I'm not saying every product has to burn to work, it's just hard to find powerful, anti-aging non-toxic products so this was an amazing find! I use it at least once a week & it's one of my biggest beauty must-haves! I could write a blog on this mask alone!

Trilogy CoQ10 Booster Oil-boosts skin recovery & radiance with Glycablend, co-enzyme Q10 & tamanu-I have never tried Triology, so I'm excited to try this out. CoQ10 is a great ingredient & anything with a Glycolic blend will be great for anti-aging so I'm looking forward to trying this out. 

Mineral Fusion Volume Mascara in Jet-I've heard great reviews on this mascara. When I work at Whole Foods for Juice Beauty it's the one mascara people always go for & people tell me all the time how much they love it.

Dr.Hauschka Facial Toner-evens & fortifies skin. This is a great brand and one of the most well-known natural brands. Definitely a great brand to try out!

Evan Healy Wild Carrot Nourish Balm with Immortelle-soothe & brightens eyes. I have always wanted to try this so I'm excited for this product alone! Immortelle is a fantastic ingredient that is known to literally bring cells "back to life" as they say, so when I see Immortelle in a product-I want it!  I hear wonderful things about the Evan Healy brand so I am so excited to try this baby out!

Andalou Apricot Probiotic Cleansing Milk-age defying cleanser. I love Andalou, great products & great price point. I can't wait to try this cleanser. It's so intriguing to me. There are amazing words that spark my interest on this product-probiotic & a milk, with apricot??? Sign me up!

Weleda Almond Soothing Facial Lotion-I love Skin Food from Weleda & I have one of their lip balms. They both are so rich & hydrating, I can't wait to try this.

Pacifica Devocean Lipstick in Tenderheart-I have a highlight palette from Pacifica and it's dreamy. I'm all about adding to my non-toxic lipstick collection so I'm excited to get my hands on this. 

Whole Foods Dry Skin Hand Cream with Peony, Mint & Blackberry-first of all, that scent combo??? Peony, mint & blackberry!! I can't wait to see what this smells like. I love Whole Foods brand products & everyone can use an extra hand cream! 

All these products come tucked in an exclusive Piece & Co beauty bag!! This is a gorgeous bag made by Indian Artisans using organic cotton & their traditional technique of dabu indigo mud-printing & power loom. It's a beautiful bag alone! Then you open it up to find all these beautiful products to try & love!

These bags are while supplies last & the best part about it??? They're $18!!!!! 

If you want a peek at a pic of the bag & all the goodies in it-go to my Instagram account-naturallytruebeauty 

Come by & get one early on Friday morning, I have a feeling they won't be there long!! And if you need any help or guidance about transitioning over to natural beauty products come see me all week at Whole Foods for Beauty Week! 

Spring Cleansing

Hi guys! Spring has (almost) sprung but here in Nashville it feels like it's been here for a while. This weather has been so crazy! But honestly, I've quite enjoyed it! So in honor of spring being just around the corner, this blog is devoted to spring cleaning, or spring cleansing as I like to call it. 

Growing up with a mom who cleaned houses, I've been used to a very, very clean house my whole life. So I really like to give our house a really good head to toe cleaning at least once a week. Especially since we have 3 dogs, the basic cleaning is a must. Something about a clean house is more than just cleanliness. It helps your state of mind, your attitude, and it just feels good! Having a clean home reduces stress & anxiety, and also calms and relaxes you. 

I really am a firm believer in moon phases and cleansing the house with sage when it's a new moon, also when there's negative energy, sickness, starting a new phase in life, anything like that. So it only makes sense to do a cleansing when you're on the brink of a new season! 

I'm starting my spring cleansing somewhat early because I'm not just cleaning & cleansing the house. I'm doing some major deep cleaning. I love Chip & Joanna Gaines from Fixer Upper so when they came out with a magazine, you bet I subscribed! Off the subject but I have LOVED both Magnolia magazines so far! I have found each one to be very profound and fitting in my life at that moment. I love when things speak to me and come to me at the right place & time. So, once again, this magazines focus was simplicity. 

Simplicity. That's the name of the game right now! Me and Corey want to simplify so bad!!! We want to de-clutter, get rid of excess, keep it simple. That's our goal in our life, our relationship, our friendships, our home, our clothes, our everything! We just went to Shaker Village in Kentucky and it was so inspiring to see the simplistic living the Shakers believed in & how resourceful and mindful they were. So, all of this is just falling into place with us. 

So on today's subject of simplicity, I'm going to focus on simplicity of cleaning and de-clutter in the kitchen, because that's the room I focused on today. Not only did Magnolia Magazine speak to me about simplicity, but the spring edition of this magazine goes over spring cleaning and this magazine has an awesome cleaning check list. So I'm following it!

Today is the kitchen-I got rid of all those silly plastic cups you collect, random Rubbermaid containers, expired foods, organized and cleaned my oven, appliances, and dishwasher. I'm going to share some green cleaning with you.

All you have to do for a good "spring cleansing"  is get some good music going (of course!) light some sage for cleansing, open doors and windows and start on my check list. Once that's done, get to work! Get rid of things that don't serve you, or you haven't used in forever. Deep clean the fridge, throw out old food, organize. It feels so good to actually have an organized kitchen, or house for that matter! It's therapeutic, and it makes you feel good. You want to be in there and cook, and be in there with friends and it's just good for your state of mind! You wake up happier, you feel more productive, you're at peace, a clean house makes such a difference. 

Here are some quick and easy home made house cleaners I love-

All purpose cleaning spray-

2 cups of water

1/2 cup white vinegar

2 T baking soda

20 drops of essential oil

I use this for the heavy duty cleaning. Stove tops, tile, floors. I use this when I'm doing my deeper weekly clean. 

Easy Upkeep Spray-

16oz of water

20 drops of on-guard 

Or

10 drops lemon

5 drops lavender

15 drops rosemary

15 drops melaleuca 

This is a great disinfectant spray. I use this daily, multiple times a day, for upkeep. 

I also love the Doterra OnGuard cleaning concentrate. You can dilute it with water and there are TONS of options! 

Glass Cleaner 

1 cup of water 

1 cup of white vinegar 

20 drops lemon essential oil

I like to use old glass Perrier bottles as my spray bottles because remember-using essential oils in blends will NOT go well in a plastic bottle, always use glass. I will buy those sprayers and just screw those on the bottle, done!  If you need, cut the straw thing to fit the glass bottle. I love to reuse glass bottles for so many different purposes and essential oil recipes are perfect for that. 

A couple of my favorite clean household cleaners you can buy at the store-

Sal Suds by Dr. Bronner-it's amazing!!!! I buy this by the gallon when I can. You can mix it with water and use it for anything and everything! I even use it for laundry detergent (just 1 tablespoon will do a loaf of laundry!) love this stuff!! Super multi-purpose

DoTerra OnGuard Concentrate-this stuff is similar to Sal Suds. You mix it with water and it has multiple uses. This stuff smells like heaven too! Major antibacterial benefits and I always bring it out during flu season. 

Seventh Generation Disinfecting Wipes-I just love these wipes! I use them constantly! The smell of these wipes, oh man. It's one of my top 10 favorite scents lol. These are great for sticky messes and wiping up food. Corey doesn't like them because they leave a streak across our counter, I don't care. They wipe out tough stains on countertops and stove stops, they smell great, and I always use another spray cleaner with a towel after I use the wipes anyways, so streaks don't happen anyhow.

Mrs. Meyers Clean Day Lavender Multi-Surface Cleaner-this stuff. Wow. One of my friends and loyal facial clients gave me a bottle of this because she loved it so much and now me and Corey are obsessed. We are so obsessed with this amazing smell, we are going to buy the Mrs. Meyers lavender cleaning concentrate next so we can use it for everything. We want to buy the Mrs. Meyers lavender laundry detergent too. I'm telling you, we are obsessed. This is usually what I use after my Seventh Generation wipes, or I'll use a homemade mix. I always spray everything in my house down with this stuff before guests come over because your house will smell like heaven! When my friend gave me a bottle of this, she said she stocks up at Target because the one near our house had it priced wrong for .97 cents instead of the $4 or so that it's supposed to be. So she said she would stock up whenever she would be in Target, which then led to me stocking up whenever I went to Target, which led to my mom stocking up when she was in Target. Until the price changed to $4. It was good while it lasted, lol. I will continue to buy this even at it's regular price. 

Dishwasher cleaner-

Put 1 cup of white vinegar in a dishwasher safe glass. Place it on the top rack. Use the hottest water cycle option & run it through one cycle. The vinegar will eat away at grime, sanitizes, and cleans odor. After that cycle, sprinkle a cup full of baking soda around the bottom of the dishwasher and run it through a short cycle. This is a great way to deep clean that dishwasher every 6 months or so.

Ok! I hope this helps!! Happy Spring Cleaning & Green Cleaning!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

My Travel Go-To's

Hi all! So if y'all know me at all, you know I travel a lot! I travel for work (a lot!) and I love to go on family vacations & quick little mini-vacations with my husband. I pretty much go to the same places around the region for my job, but sometimes this job will throw you a curve ball and you'll end up in places I never would have thought! Or, I end up in places that aren't exactly in my southern territory, but I'll totally take it! I'm always up for a travel adventure. If you have the opportunity, go for it! I love to take advantage of the scenery while traveling and the food! 

Every time I travel I love to research where to eat & where the nearest Whole Foods is, lol. I kid you not-I MUST go to the Whole Foods wherever I'm at! I just love it! I love checking out each & every Whole Foods I'm near. If Corey's with me, we run through it faster and get fun new snacks and goodies. If I'm by myself, well that's my night! I will stroll through each aisle one at a time at a turtle's pace. I just love it! Anywho, I'm going off subject. 

So, I really try to focus on the positives of travel because let's face it, you have to! There's not a ton of downsides, but traveling a lot can be testing to your patience and stressful! For the longest time I would keep an entire giant bag just stocked with all the beauty samples I had collected and basically I just used what was in there. Never really restocked or made sure I had enough of certain products, just went with it. That didn't work so well. Things didn't react well with my skin or I was missing products in my regimen, it just called for a breakout. When I travel anyways my skin tends to breakout and be a little blotchy so really just digging in my giant bag 'o beauty samples was quite risky and not really the smartest move. Plus, I really wanted to focus on keeping my products non-toxic and most of my samples were not. My skin was just going through enough traveling, we didn't need to also use it as a test dummy for new chemical-heavy products as well.

My next move was literally unpacking and packing all my products every time I left for work and every time I came home. First problem is this-packing full sized beauty products it's risky. They break, they leak, you leave them behind-it sucks. Next issue-I had to pack and unpack pretty much 2 times a week at minimum, that sucks. 

After all these years traveling you think I would have the hang of it by now. But I have finally conquered my travel Skincare regimen! Since I go to lots of Whole Foods for my job as a beauty expert for Juice Beauty I get to visit my beloved Whole Foods a lot! Yes, I work in Whole Foods and I STILL go into Whole Foods during my free time. Do what makes you happy people! So, since I've been able to frequent Whole Foods more I really love to test out their travel-sized products just for trial. It's easier to commit to a travel size while in the testing stage. So, I've tried out a lot of items and here are my fave travel go-to's!

Preserve Toothbrush-this was maybe $3 at Whole Foods. I love this toothbrush and the handle is made from recycled yogurt cups! Plus, the angle of the toothbrush hits those hard to reach teethies in the back! This brush also has a 3 level bristle lay out so it's good on the gums too! The toothbrush is completely recyclable (they have a recycle program) and you're minimizing your impact on the environment! 

www.preserveproducts.com

Juice Beauty Cleansing Milk-this is a great makeup removing cleansing milk. I have sample sizes (thank you awesome job) so I take these little samples with me when I travel. If you want some samples, come see me ;-) anyways, this is a great milky cleanser, it's not too harsh or drying and it gets makeup, dirt, debris, and the day off your skin. Next I like to follow with a gel cleanser because I am a firm believer in a double cleanse (first use a heavier cleanser to remove surface dirt & makeup, next use cleanser of your choice to really get a good deep clean)I use this milk cleanser all the time! It's one of Juice Beauty's top sellers and it's a great universal makeup removing cleanser. Gentle enough for all skin types! $22 for full size cleanser (6.75 oz) sold at Whole Foods

www.juicebeauty.com

Everly Powdered Drink Mixes-these are all natural, sugar free, 0-5 calorie drink mixes. I try to drink TONS of water when I travel and these little packets make it way easier to drink lots of water. I just mixes things up a bit! I have little sample packs, I have no idea where I got them, but if you go to their website, www.goeverly.com, you can get a free pouch of Everly if you refer a friend (they get a $5 off coupon) and if they buy something-you get a free pouch! So partner up with a friend and get y'all some free Everly powder! They come in easy to travel pouches with a twist off top, super convenient. Plus-every pouch sold, Everly gives a treatment of life-saving rehydration salts through ColaLife. ColaLife provides packets of rehydration mixes (oral rehydration salts) to mothers in rural Zambia. These moms use these mixes to treat their babies when they're sick to save them from dehydration. $12.50 for a 30 serving pouch. Also have energy mixes (I haven't tried those yet) $12.50 or 20 servings

www.goeverly.com

EO Products Certified Organic Deodorant Wipes in Tea Tree and Peppermint-I love these things!!!! Not even a $1 at Whole Foods for a single packet, these babies come in handy! I'm up close and personal doing makeup and facials so I have to smell fresh. But, using organic, all natural deodorant is a freakin crap shoot! Most of the time it works great but sometimes it fails you and these are so handy for that situation. I keep these in my purse and all you do is open the packet and it's like a wet wipe. It cleans and has deodorant all in one! Total lifesaver! Great for camping as well!

www.eoproducts.com

Juice Beauty Smoothing Eye Concentrate-yes I know I'm talking about Juice Beauty again but this eye cream is AMAZING!!! It lifts & firms-smoothes fine lines & wrinkles-helps with dark circles. I mean what else do you need??? It's lightweight and just feels amazing. A little goes a long way & this is a must when you don't get the best sleep in a hotel (which happens often). It keeps my under eyes hydrated but not too slick where your concealer slips off. This eye cream is jam-packed with organic grape & carrot juices, essential fatty acids, and vitamins B5, C, and P for hydration. It's amazing you guys! 

$30 (.5oz) sold at Whole Foods

www.juicebeauty.com

Dr.Bronners 18-in-1 Pure-Castile Liquid Soap-this stuff is life!!!! I'm going to write an entire blog for this product next. But I'll just give a quick blurb about it-it's awesome, you can use it for anything. Literally-face, hair, food, dishes, pets, toothpaste (I don't suggest that one though!), and cleaning your home. I could go on & on. I use this as my face wash (after my cleansing milk) and I use this as my body wash. Such a fantastic Multi-use product. There's literally a million things you can do with this! It's definitely a travel must-have seeing that it can do so many things! I love all the scents as well! My usual go-to's are peppermint, or the citrus scent! $4.50 (4oz) sold at Whole Foods, Target

www.drbronner.com

Radius Cranberry Floss-here's a fun fact, I floss my teeth about 2-3 times a day. I just have to! So I NEED floss everywhere I go! This one glides easy and it's cranberry and has xylitol-still not 100% sure what xylitol is or does but I always see it in big letters whenever a product contains it, so I'm assuming it's good?? That's kinda an exaggeration, I know I've researched xylitol and I know it's ok, I just can't remember all the details lol. But, I also don't know why it's cranberry flavored either, but this floss is a winner in my mind. Easy glide, easy travel, and it's great. Radius takes a holistic approach on all their products & make sure their decisions in production are sustainable, and can reduce their carbon footprint. $3 sold at Whole Foods

www.madebyradius.com

EO Products Botanical Hand Sanitizer-I love this spray. It smells good and it's so convenient. My favorite scent is coconut & lemon, and it smells so yummy. These sanitizer sprays aren't made with any harsh chemicals, and recycled packaging. You can use this spray to clean surfaces too. Like the remote at the hotel, your yoga mat, shoes, use it to refresh anything! Dab some on a blemish (the lavender spray is great for that). You can use it as a deodorant. Good for stains! Especially if you spill in the car (happens all the time when I travel). Cleans surfaces like your phone, glass, mirrors. This little spray is one of my favorites. $3 (2oz) sold at Whole Foods 

www.eoproducts.com

Juice Beauty Oil-Free Moisturizer-I know, I know. I'm back on Juice Beauty but it's that good!! This line has been the easiest line to transition into organic beauty but also it's so easy to use for so many different skin situations. These products I've mentioned here really can span from a large rangers skin types and issues. The eye cream is universal. The cleansing milk is great as just a makeup remover or a cleanser for dry skin. This moisturizer is great while I travel! I tend to breakout when I travel, but I also feel very dehydrated when I travel so this is the perfect moisturizer for that. It hydrates & restores with it's juice beauty blend (aloe, grape & apple juice blend instead of water like other products). So no matter if you use the oil-free moisturizer, you're still getting huge doses of antioxidants, hydration, and moisture. I'm pretty normal-to-dry but more towards dry, but I still breakout...my skin is a complex beast. What I like most about this moisturizer is it keeps my skin clear because it's not too heavy and loaded down with ingredients that can clog my pores, but it still hydrates my skin. It's truly the perfect balance for whatever your skin is feeling at that time. $30 (2oz) sold at Whole Foods

www.juicebeauty.com

I hope you check out these beauties! These are some of my favorite staples when I travel & when I'm at home. Plus, most of these products are Eco-friendly or give back to the environment or help people in need. These are products with a purpose and multipurpose which I love! I hope y'all enjoy!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad