SKINCARE | A Look at Quinoa-Based Skincare with Zue Beauty

On this last day of Earth Month, I bring to you a crazy cool new company I was introduced to earlier this month called Zue Beauty! "Zue", a word meaning the "origin of life" to the indigenous tribes of South America, creates quinoa-based skincare that is vegan, gluten-free, GMO-free and cruelty-free all while creating jobs and partnering with the Paez indigenous tribes in Colombia. These quinoa farmers are given tools and training to more effectively harvest their quinoa crop so there is enough for commercial and personal use. Zue Beauty is also a Certified B Corporation which from what I have read, seems even harder than an EcoCertification! Not only must your products themselves do no harm to people and the environment, but the company's actions and conduct as well! There is green beauty and then there is GREEN beauty and this company caught my eye because of how committed they seemed to not just their products, but to the big socioeconomic picture!

PR samples

SKINCARE | Live Clean Fresh Face Routine - From Cleanser to Night Cream and All the Steps in Between!

I am always wary of blogs that seemingly go through a ton of skincare when we all know that it takes at least 2 weeks to comfortably get acquainted with the products and ideally 4-6 weeks to really know if the products are really working for you. Though I have reviewed what I feel to be quite a bit of skincare in the last few months, many of the reviews are from last year as I take awhile to compile my thoughts. I make a ton of notes along the way because I know I will forget so let's go back to last year shall we?

BATH & BODY | Lush Love Fall 2015 with New Shower Jellies and Scrubs!

I think no matter how old I get, I will always be excited whenever new products from Lush get released. The sight of those black jars makes me want to hop into the shower or rediscover the joys of taking a bath. As Lush is our CBB Brand of the Month and I have yet to talk about Lush this month, even though I have been devouring their products like a madwoman, here are a couple of products I have been loving!

BATH & BODY | c.Booth Skincare by Freeman Beauty Labs – A Whole New Way to Look at Body Care!

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am to be sharing an all new bath and body line that I have been using this month! Even before I started blogging, I had a weakness for body lotions and scrubs and as of June, Walmart Canada has just started carrying what I see as a skincare style approach to bath and body care. As part of the well-known Freeman Beauty Labs (I love their masks!), c.Booth is an incredibly comprehensive, body line influenced by botanically-based ingredients such as sea salt, oatmeal, walnut shells and sunflower and sesame oils. All c.Booth products are of course free from parabens, sulfates, mineral oil and petrolatum. You can see how large the bottles are with the body lotion at almost 1L! Oh, and the other awesome thing? Not a single product featured here is more than $10!

BATH & BODY | *NEW* Limited Edition Body Shop Smoky Poppy Collection Poppy Seed Scrub & Body Butter Review

I did not receive these quite in time for Valentine’s Day to review, but the Body Shop has a very different, surprisingly pleasant scent to share with us for a limited time. The Smoky Poppy Collection is made with genuine, hand-picked poppy flowers from Ankara, Turkey and is unlike most Body Shop scents in that this is one of the most sensually-scented bath and body collections I have ever experienced from them! I had no idea what to expect in terms of scent and was anticipating a blast of floral something, but what I got instead was a smoky, floral that sort of stunned me!  

Montagne Jeunesse Masque Challenge | Week 4: Crushed Apricot and Mango Masque

Welcome to the Canadian Beauty Bloggers Montagne Jeunesse Masque Challenge!

I am a little late with Week 4 due to life in general, but I am happy to report that you will all get to see me in yet one more MJ mask selfie! Week 4 was all about scrub masks for me which happen to be one of my favourite types of masks so my excitement was tangible when the time came to try out the Crushed Apricot and Mango Masque ($1.99).

Bursting with sweet mango this rich facial scrub deep cleanses & revitalizes. Crushed Apricot Kernels remove dead skin cells whilst Aloe Vera softens & soothes, leaving skin radiant.

This masque is suitable for combination, oily, dry and normal skin types since exfoliation is necessary for ALL SKIN TYPES. If there is one thing you need to do to brighten up your skin, it’s to EXFOLIATE. Seriously, it makes a huge difference.

*Earth Day* Kiss My Face | Peppermint Foot Scrub

So far, I’ve talked about earth-friendly products for your lips, underarms, kitchens and teeth, but we can’t forget about our beloved feet! My feet probably stand to take the most abuse and I tend to forget about them because I cover them up with slippers and socks and it’s out of sight, out of mind!

I started using Kiss My Face Peppermint Foot Scrub ($8.95) a couple of weeks ago to see how my feet would respond to some extra TLC and low and behold, I think I might be ready for sandal season!

Review | Bees Knees Bodyworks Grapefruit Lime Soda Sugar Scrub

I am always ecstatic to find beauty artisans right in my own backyard and I have to thank Gen from Onyx and Mick for introducing me to Tricia and her yummy line of bath and body delights Bee’s Knees Bodyworks! This delicious line of goodies comes from Chilliwack, BC about 2 hours from Vancouver and when I started browsing Tricia’s etsy store, I knew right away that I had to have the Grapefruit Lime Soda Smoothie Scrub!