When it comes to make-up and beauty supplies I have a very minimal supply. I have always had problems with allergic reactions to make-up, lotions, and beauty products in general so a long time ago I just learned to be comfortable going with my natural appearance. My daily routine consists of a natural face wash, an organic face moisturizer, organic lip gloss, mascara, and a little eye shadow. The only face products that I regularly use that are not made from natural materials are my mascara and eye shadow. So since I needed to replace these items anyways I started to research my natural options. The best natural mascara that I could find was this tube of “Organic Wear” mascara made by Physicians Formula. Wal-Mart carries it for just under $9 which I think is a fair and comparable price for mascara. It is made from a 100% Natural Origin Formula and is free of harsh chemicals, synthetic preservatives, parabens, and dyes. It also has a 100% recyclable Eco-brush. I have been using this mascara for the past week and I have been very impressed with it. It is light weight, there is no clumping, and at the end of the day I don’t have black flakes under my eyes. And best of all if I forget and go to sleep with it on I don’t wake up with itchy irritated eyes. I am very happy with my new natural and more body and earth friendly mascara choice! I am still on the hunt for a natural eye shadow option but will post when I find something great!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Organic Wear Mascara
When it comes to make-up and beauty supplies I have a very minimal supply. I have always had problems with allergic reactions to make-up, lotions, and beauty products in general so a long time ago I just learned to be comfortable going with my natural appearance. My daily routine consists of a natural face wash, an organic face moisturizer, organic lip gloss, mascara, and a little eye shadow. The only face products that I regularly use that are not made from natural materials are my mascara and eye shadow. So since I needed to replace these items anyways I started to research my natural options. The best natural mascara that I could find was this tube of “Organic Wear” mascara made by Physicians Formula. Wal-Mart carries it for just under $9 which I think is a fair and comparable price for mascara. It is made from a 100% Natural Origin Formula and is free of harsh chemicals, synthetic preservatives, parabens, and dyes. It also has a 100% recyclable Eco-brush. I have been using this mascara for the past week and I have been very impressed with it. It is light weight, there is no clumping, and at the end of the day I don’t have black flakes under my eyes. And best of all if I forget and go to sleep with it on I don’t wake up with itchy irritated eyes. I am very happy with my new natural and more body and earth friendly mascara choice! I am still on the hunt for a natural eye shadow option but will post when I find something great!
Minimalism...the beginning
My desire to live more simply came on gradually beginning about a year ago. I did not really know about the minimalist movement and did not have a name to put with my ideas. I just knew that day after day I felt bogged down and drained by all of the possessions around me. It was like a constant battle of moving stuff from here to there, cleaning stuff, fixing stuff, organizing stuff…stuff, stuff, stuff. And that’s all it was, just… stuff. Not necessarily things I cared about or enjoyed or things that were necessary for living and raising kids.
The first thing I deliberately chose to get rid of was my drain board. I know strange start right? But it was like one day I couldn’t figure out why I spent hours cleaning my kitchen and at the end of the day the kitchen still didn’t feel clean. I traced all of the kitchen dissension back to the drain board. The drainboard was the catch all for everything, was impossible to keep cleaned out, and took up an enormous amount of counter space. Not to mention that it was just an eye sore. So I took a test run and put the drain board in the laundry room just in case I decided this was a bad idea. I was amazed at the immediate results! By removing just that one item the kitchen had a whole new feel and look to it. I found that I was able to keep non dish-washable items cleaned and put away without much effort and after my cleaning chores were done the kitchen actually looked and felt clean. The drain board had been the problem all along.
After my kitchen “WOW” moment I started looking into simple living and came across several blogs that were describing what I was thinking and using the term “minimalism” or “minimalists”. So I started researching minimalist lifestyles and techniques. For the most part I really like what I was learning. I was intrigued by the idea that we as a middle class American family could actually over come the American mindset of more, more, more and bigger, bigger, bigger! How glorious would it be to live in a home where I knew every item inside of it, everything we owned was something that either really meant something to us or was being efficiently used on a regular basis. There was no unnecessary useless stuff around. I wanted that. And even more I wanted to spend less of my time worrying about where stuff was going and investing that time in my kids.
After my research on minimalism I did learn that I will never be a hard core minimalist. It just isn’t me. Will I ever be able to live out of one suitcase and really enjoy it? Most likely not. Will I ever keep a strict count on every item I own? I seriously doubt it. I really enjoy some of the antique furniture and family heirlooms that I have inherited and I enjoy a few of the saved items from my childhood and the few things I am saving for my kids. I don’t like to take much of anything to extremes. But I have found that there is definitely a benefit to living more simply with less stuff and I think I will be able to find a middle ground that will work great for our family dynamic. I look forward to making more headway and trips to the Goodwill donation center!
P.S. Here is a link to my favorite minimalist blog:
http://www.becomingminimalist.com/
The first thing I deliberately chose to get rid of was my drain board. I know strange start right? But it was like one day I couldn’t figure out why I spent hours cleaning my kitchen and at the end of the day the kitchen still didn’t feel clean. I traced all of the kitchen dissension back to the drain board. The drainboard was the catch all for everything, was impossible to keep cleaned out, and took up an enormous amount of counter space. Not to mention that it was just an eye sore. So I took a test run and put the drain board in the laundry room just in case I decided this was a bad idea. I was amazed at the immediate results! By removing just that one item the kitchen had a whole new feel and look to it. I found that I was able to keep non dish-washable items cleaned and put away without much effort and after my cleaning chores were done the kitchen actually looked and felt clean. The drain board had been the problem all along.
After my kitchen “WOW” moment I started looking into simple living and came across several blogs that were describing what I was thinking and using the term “minimalism” or “minimalists”. So I started researching minimalist lifestyles and techniques. For the most part I really like what I was learning. I was intrigued by the idea that we as a middle class American family could actually over come the American mindset of more, more, more and bigger, bigger, bigger! How glorious would it be to live in a home where I knew every item inside of it, everything we owned was something that either really meant something to us or was being efficiently used on a regular basis. There was no unnecessary useless stuff around. I wanted that. And even more I wanted to spend less of my time worrying about where stuff was going and investing that time in my kids.
After my research on minimalism I did learn that I will never be a hard core minimalist. It just isn’t me. Will I ever be able to live out of one suitcase and really enjoy it? Most likely not. Will I ever keep a strict count on every item I own? I seriously doubt it. I really enjoy some of the antique furniture and family heirlooms that I have inherited and I enjoy a few of the saved items from my childhood and the few things I am saving for my kids. I don’t like to take much of anything to extremes. But I have found that there is definitely a benefit to living more simply with less stuff and I think I will be able to find a middle ground that will work great for our family dynamic. I look forward to making more headway and trips to the Goodwill donation center!
P.S. Here is a link to my favorite minimalist blog:
http://www.becomingminimalist.com/
Organic Soymilk Taste Test
I have been thinking about buying an organic milk or an organic milk substitute like soy milk for some time but the price always stopped my good intentions. But a few days ago I finally bit the bullet and purchased this half gallon of organic plain soy milk which was on sale at Fry’s for $2.99. The price wasn’t too terrible but at the same time I bought our regular gallon of 2% milk for $2.67. I had to say to my frugal self that I’m paying for a healthier choice!I was excited to try it for the first time and to see what my kids thought of the change. I really didn’t mind it myself. It had a different texture and consistency than cow’s milk and it was also a bit sweeter with a light chalkiness. My oldest really liked it and was willing to have it on her plain cereal. My youngest didn’t care for it as much but she did say that it tasted like “chocolate chip cookie dough”. Which oddly enough, once she made that correlation I could taste it as well.
I do not know if organic soy milk will become a permanent product we purchase to replace regular milk or not. I would still like to try organic cow’s milk which has an average price of $6 a gallon (we use about 6 gallons a month, more or less depending on the time of year). I think I will continue taste testing organic milk options for awhile. I might ease into it and try replacing a few of our gallons each month with an organic choice.
I read an interesting article published by the Harvard University Gazzett which can be found here: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/12.07/11-dairy.html
This article was published in 2006 but I have been interested in the recent 2011 talk surrounding the evidence that the hormones in milk, dairy products and meats have caused the puberty rate of young girls to drop to as young as 7 or 8. This is the youngest average puberty age in recorded history. Having a daughter in that age range I can say that she is already much more developed and is experiencing changes that I did not start seeing until around age 12 or older. Also, as this article mentions there is evidence that these products are linked to certain kinds of cancers because of the hormone levels they contain which is another concern for me as cancer runs heavily in my side of the family. These are current reasons why I am looking to make major changes in the food we purchase and to be an informed consumer.
Nice to meet you...
Welcome to my blog, Researching Green! I am a stay at home mom of two (8,4) and one on the way. I am devoted to intentionally raising and guiding my children and running a clean, orderly and efficient household. We live a great life in a quiet town in Northern Arizona.
Over the past year I have become more and more interested and intrigued by the “green” movement and minimalist living. I have found during recent research that green and minimalism typically go hand in hand. I am more concerned about adopting green practices as far as it pertains to organic and natural foods and products for the benefit of health safety and less of the “save the planet” movement (although I do think we should be responsible in this area as well and actively seek to better our everyday habits).
Minimalism is a more recent infatuation of mine. I had already been thinking and slowly easing into the ideas of minimalistic practices but never had a name to fit the ideals until I came across a few blogs discussing what I had been envisioning and using the term “minimalism”. After some serious reading I have concluded that I will never be a hard core minimalist but I do see the benefits and how I can incorporate some of the practices into our home to make better use of our space, energy, and time.
This blog will follow my new journey of “Researching Green”. I will post my reviews of new organic or natural products that I try and my efforts to incorporate more of a green lifestyle into our home. I will also post on how I plan to incorporate minimalism and how it affects our home life.
I gladly welcome kind and respectful comments or suggestions on any posts and I look forward to meeting new people who are also on this particular journey.
Over the past year I have become more and more interested and intrigued by the “green” movement and minimalist living. I have found during recent research that green and minimalism typically go hand in hand. I am more concerned about adopting green practices as far as it pertains to organic and natural foods and products for the benefit of health safety and less of the “save the planet” movement (although I do think we should be responsible in this area as well and actively seek to better our everyday habits).
Minimalism is a more recent infatuation of mine. I had already been thinking and slowly easing into the ideas of minimalistic practices but never had a name to fit the ideals until I came across a few blogs discussing what I had been envisioning and using the term “minimalism”. After some serious reading I have concluded that I will never be a hard core minimalist but I do see the benefits and how I can incorporate some of the practices into our home to make better use of our space, energy, and time.
This blog will follow my new journey of “Researching Green”. I will post my reviews of new organic or natural products that I try and my efforts to incorporate more of a green lifestyle into our home. I will also post on how I plan to incorporate minimalism and how it affects our home life.
I gladly welcome kind and respectful comments or suggestions on any posts and I look forward to meeting new people who are also on this particular journey.
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