Cruelty-Free Steals & Deals
We’ve rounded up some great coupon codes from some of our favorite cruelty-free brands. Enjoy!
Get any body butter set of 2 for only $49.00 at blissworld.com. Offer ends 09.06.09.
You won’t believe these savings!!! 15% of beautorium’s BESTSELLERS!!!
All Orders over $49 Receive Free Priority Shipping from Apothica.com
Just for you! Receive 10% off JUARA Skincare when you enter SPECIAL10 at checkout.
Take $5 off all skincare orders over $75! Use code: DD5OFF75 Expires: 10-10-09
Go organic with the complete origins organics™ collection! USDA organic. Free Standard Shipping with any $75 purchase!
Free Shipping with any Colourglide Lip Color purchase at The Body Shop. Shop Now.
Save 20% on Customizable Kits from ZIRH
Receive a FREE trial-size Long Last Glosswear SPF 15 in Air Kiss plus FREE Shipping with any $35 clinique.com purchase. Just enter offer code LGLOSS at check out. Valid through 9.30.09.
Anti-Aging Favorites – Chella & Talika
I’ve been trying two products from the Chella line: the Intensive Formula Eye Crema and the Skin Firming Serum. These products are packed with ingredients including amino acids to increase collagen formation, hyaluronic acid for moisturizing, antioxidants, vitamins, and botanicals including butcher’s broom, calendula, horse chestnut, green tea, and pomegranate extracts. Well, something in them IS working!
Yesterday I received a wonderful compliment on my skin. Sitting next to my mother at lunch, she commented that my skin looked so smooth with no visible pores (leave it to your mother to give you all the details). I don’t think I’ve been complimented on my skin in my whole life.
You’re supposed to use the products twice a day, however I find that my silicone-based foundation makes the products rub off in the daytime, so I only use them at night. Still, I’ve gotten great results.
I’ve also tried the Talika hand ritual kit. This kit includes a sugar and salt exfoliator with vitamin C and apricot kernel oil and a skin serum with seaweed extract and orange oil. These products are supposed to smooth, brighten age spots, and protect your skin. I really didn’t expect much. My hands aren’t rough and I didn’t see the need to exfoliate.
I was pleasantly surprised to find my hands really looked and felt better after using them… much smoother and softer. I really liked that the exfoliating scrub completely dissolved (some products leave grit behind).
Guest blog post by The Mature Bunny (AKA Jen’s mom!)
Testing…One, Two, Three.
Do we really need animal testing? Particularly for cosmetics? This video from PETA is graphic, but it reminds me why I started this blog. If you’re sensitive, please watch it when you’re alone – it made me cry quite a bit. It’s okay to be shocked or sad – that’s what makes us take action. That’s why we should pledge to only buy cruelty-free beauty products.
Sign the Pledge Against Animal Testing
How Green Can You Be Living in the Desert?
Part 2… The Green Man of Burning Man
This is my second Burning Man so I know something of what I’m in for. Two years ago I went to the 2007 Burning Man where the art theme the year was ‘The Green Man’ (a big incentive for me to attend in itself). This year the community delved into exploring the self-sustaining ethos and eco credentials of Burning Man - which, as you may have gathered, is a burning, carbon-emitting event.
One word - MOOP - gives you an idea of the ecological ideals of this festival. Matter Out Of Place is everyone’s responsibility - reuse it, recycle it, as a last resort, bin it. But you won’t find bins scattered all over this desert. No, this is truly the Nevada Desert, not some theme-park-the-cleaners-will-deal-with-later place. Burning Man is a Leave No Trace Event and everyone is expected to clean up their own act. It can be a hard reality of sustainable living - dealing with your own… errr… rubbish. Here, every little bit of scrap you create or bring you must also take home! After a week of desert shenanigans the potential to take home a trailer load is possible if you don’t plan well.
Bicycles and art cars are the only form of transport other than your own two feet to get around. Thankfully this desert playa is hard clay not soft sand. Riding a bike around the desert is something else. You feel like a cross between a Mad Max movie extra and a Traveling Wilbury. You can ride from the dusty desert roller skating rink to the Crude Awakening art piece within minutes on your trusty bike. There’s just so much to explore that two wheels can help no end.
Always working to reduce the environmental impact, The Green Man, took the opportunity to find solutions to improve it further. Burning Man is a place of experimentation as much as it is play and survival, and tends to attract some of the worlds most innovative, progressive thinkers. For example one year hundreds of pastel green bikes were gifted to the community and spread around the playa for anyone to pick up, borrow and re-lend anytime, anywhere (very handy and ingenious idea indeed). Rumour has it was the founder of a certain giant search engine (rhymes with boogle), a burner himself, who made the drop.
Some of the ingenious green inventions and eco highlights at 2007’s Green Man were the solar photovoltaic panels to power the Green Pavilion (an all-eco education area under the man); 11,000 gallons of petroleum were replaced with reclaimed veggie oil from nearby Reno to power 85% of the cities generators; experimental biofuel technologies, including a greenhouse-gas eating algae; and The Mechabolic, a trash-to-fuel land speed racer art car that produces a potent carbon fertilizer by feeding it organic matter (in other words, it runs on food scraps).
Another green project inspired by the earth guardian ethos of Burning Man is the Cooling Man. Initiated by an environmental scientist and an economist, this project aims to encourage burners to buy ‘carbon offsets’ to cancel out the greenhouse gas emissions generated during the festival. It has been estimated that if every burner offsets 0.7 tons of carbon then Black Rock City would be the first carbon-neutral city in the world.
Post from: So Organic Blog
Skin care products
What different types of product for skin care are available? It seems that manufacturers can make the most outrageous claims for their skin care products. Can we believe any of these companies? All natural skin care products that we use need to be of excellent standards.
The history of skin care goes back to prehistoric times. History records some early examples of skin care products as well. This is also true the history of perfume and cologne.
The whole reason for using skin care products is to take care of our skin. We can regard these products as means of protection and control. Skin care products can help to curtail some of the toxins damage done to our skin.
History and skin care products
Natural skin care products have been used by farmers and fishermen throughout history to protect their skin.
The toll that the weather takes on the skin of the fishermen or the farmer would be even more so without the aid of some protection. The same can be said for the farmer out in the field all day on all types of weather. Now, in the past there were no such things as shop bought skin care products so I would imagine that’s the fisherman and farmer could protect their face and hands with natural products.
Skin care products that nature provides
It doesn’t take much imagination to conjure up images of what kind of protection the farmer and the fishermen would use, for instance the fisherman might have used some whale blubber.These skin care products were all natural at least.
Is very difficult to hold any belief in the miracle cures that most skin care product manufacturers are telling us. With all the chemicals in today’s skin care products how can it be any good? Also it will be said of natural hair care products We rely too much on the miracle cure in the jar, which are usually full of chemicals. We should be relying more on the natural skin care product because we already get enough chemical toxins from the environment
Eczema Relief Using Dietary, Herbal and Conventional Treatments
Eczema is a very unpleasant skin condition where areas of the body are covered by patches of red, raised skin that can be intensely itchy.The patches can then blister, weep and crust over which can cause the skin to thicken. Eczema usually starts in infancy, with a high percentage of cases occurring before the age of six months. Although most children grow out of it, it is not uncommon to get eczema in adulthood. The best eczema treatment is to try to avoid any possible triggers, but if you do have a flare-up, here are some of the treatment options for eczema relief.
Dietary and Supplements
In his book, Essential Fatty Acids, Eric Lewis stated tht people with eczema have an essential fatty acid deficiency. Taking evening primrose oil (500 mg per day), a good source of EFA (omega 6) and other omega 3 and 6 fatty acids supplements (3 to 4 grams per day) is beneficial to help plump up cellular membranes, repair old cells and construct new cells.You could also try eating foods rich in essential fatty acids such as oily fish, nuts, seeds and dark green leafy vegetables.
Other supplements that are good for your skin are vitamins A, C and E, vitamin B complex, quercetin and zinc.
Herbal Treatment Options
If you want to try more natural remedies for eczema then you could think about try herbal treatments.Many herbs contain ingredients that can help to stop itching and heal the skin.Why not try some of these suggested recipes.
If you have weeping and crusting sores or very dry skin try this great recipe: 1 cup sea salt, 5 drops calendula, 5 drops carrot seed oil, 5 drops lavender oil mixed in almond oil.Put the salt in a jar, add the essential oils and cover with the almond oil. Use a scoop every time you have a bath. Make sure that you don’t stay in the bath more more than 20 minutes as the skin will start dehydrating.
Try this lovely eczema relief cream to keep your skin moisturized. Use non-petroleum jelly with: 2 drops lavender essential oil; 2 drops calendula essential oil and 2 drops German chamomile or carrot seed essential oil. You can either massage the entire body or use it as a spot treatment.
Finally, try out this fabulous eczema oil which will stop your itching.Mix 10 drops of yarrow oil, 10 drops German Chamomile oil and 5 drops tagetes oil. Dilute in 2 tablespoons of almond oil (or other cold-pressed vegetable oil). Add 30 drops jojoba oil and 10 drops evening primrose oil. Apply to the affected areas with a cotton bud.
Conventional Treatments
It is extremely important to keep the skin moisturized, because people with eczema tend to have very dry skin. Dry skin can flare-up and become inflamed. Just by keeping the skin moisturized will protect it and help you avoid any potential problems.Commonly prescribed eczema relief creams are topical steroids.These come in different strengths and formulas and can be purchased over the counter or by prescription only.As long-term use of steroid creams can lead to thinning of the skin, steroid creams are really on a short-term solution.Moisturizers such as E45 and aqueous creams are often recommended to treat dry, rough and itchy skin. These types of creams contain paraffin, lanolin and other ingredients which provide a layer of oil on the surface of the skin.
Oral antihistamines are sometimes prescribed to reduce itching and antibiotics for any bacterial infections.
Whatever your eczema is caused by, be it food allergies, environmental allergens or stress, it is important to identify them.Eating a diet rich in essential fatty acids and keeping your skin moisturized by using either conventional or natural treatments will help treat your eczema effectively.
If you want to know more about eczema relief, please check out my Clear Skin Guide website. You’ll find information on conventional treatments and on natural eczema remedies
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Can A Zinc Deficiency Be A Cause Of Psoriasis?
A study in the British Journal of Dermatology found that there was a marked zinc deficiency in many of their patients with psoriasis. Zinc is essential for its antioxidant benefits which is critical for good skin health. Not only am I going to tell you why having enough zinc is vital for good skin health, but also what you can do if you think you have a deficiency of zinc.
As mentioned before, because of its strong antioxidant properties, zinc is critical for good skin health. Antioxidants are essential in protecting our body against free radicals, tiny chemical particles that turn food into energy. However, when these free radicals get out of control, they can attack the body, damage our cells and possibly cause premature ageing, heart disease and skin diseases. Consequently, it is important to have a diet rich in antioxidant vitamins and minerals such as vitamins A,C, E and zinc in order to keep the free radicals under control.
How do people become zinc deficient?
It seems that zinc deficiency is a modern affliction because of nutrient poor soil, poor diet and stressful lifestyles. It is unfortunate that these days the levels of zinc found in our soil is drastically reduced which lowers the levels in our food. Our highly processed, refined foods and our over-consumption of sugar and carbohydrates all contribute to the decreasing levels of zinc in our diet. Vegetarians, especially, can be at risk of zinc deficiency because the main source of zinc is meat. Not only does eating a poor diet reduce our zinc levels, but suffering with stress can deplete zinc too.
How do you know when you have a zinc deficiency?
The signs and symptoms of a zinc deficiency vary from person to person. There are, however, a few common symptoms to watch out for. These include dandruff, poor wound healing, sleep disturbances, diarrhea, hair loss, loss of libido, skin dryness, rashes and reduced fertility. If you suffer with any of these symptoms and have psoriasis as well, then you could have a zinc deficiency. If you want to definitely find out whether you are zinc deficient or not then seek the advise of your doctor or nutritionist.
What research has been done on zinc?
In a recent study, the use of a zinc sulphate cream was shown to be effective in treating psoriasis, as well as inducing a complete remission in a high percentage of cases. Another study showed that topical zinc pyrithione (an active ingredient in major anti-dandruff shampoos) was highly effective in the treatment of psoriasis. Even though not a lot of research has been done, the studies that have been completed conclude that zinc is certainly beneficial in the treatment of psoriasis.
How do you treat a zinc deficiency?
Firstly answer this question – are you eating a diet which is high in sugar and refined carbohydrates such as cookies, cakes, white rice, pasta and bread? If you have answered yes, then you need to think about eating wholemeal bread, brown rice, brown pasta and avoiding sugar foods. Great sources of zinc are oysters, pork, chicken, beef, lamb, chickpeas, baked beans, pumpkin seeds and cheese. Unfortunately, even if you take a high level of zinc, only a small percentage actually gets absorbed by your body, especially from non-meat sources. If you suffer with psoriasis and you are also a vegetarian, then is would be worth considering taking a zinc supplement.
Treating psoriasis with zinc
Apart from changing your diet and adding supplements, there are other ways of taking zinc to treat your psoriasis. A good way is to use it in the form of a cream, for example DermaZinc Cream. DermaZinc is an effective treatment for the symptoms of mild to moderate psoriasis. Another great product that has been FDA approved and clinically proven is the Zkin Zinc system which consists of a cream and spray.
The good news is that if you think that zinc deficiency may be the cause of your psoriasis, there is something you can do about it: improve your diet, reduce stress, take supplements and use zinc creams.
You should remember that zinc deficiency is only one possible cause of psoriasis and there are many other triggers. To learn more about possible psoriasis causes and the various methods of psoriasis cure, visit my Clear Skin Guide website.
