Wonderful Mineral Make-up

Hello all! It's been a few weeks since my last post...so sorry...life has been a bit crazy. I've started teaching around 7 yoga classes a week, so it's thrown our family balance off a little. We've spent the last month adjusting, and I think I'm finally coming up for air! I actually had time to sweep AND mop my floors today...a HUGE accomplishment in my world :-) I love love love teaching my yoga classes, so it's all good....change is good. Again, just adjusting to a new normal.

Ok, so on to the topic at hand, mineral make-up. Let me start by saying that for the past 4 years or so, I've been on a quest to find a make-up that works well with my skin, provides a nice variety of colors, AND (most importantly) is non-toxic. For those of you who do not know that the normal make-up and beauty products we put on are skin are toxic, start researching - http://www.ewg.org/ is a great place to start. You will be floored when you learn how toxic most of the ingredients in beauty products are...and how poorly/loosely regulated the entire beauty product industry is. The more you research, the more you will learn that this industry and it's regulating bodies do not have the customers' best interest as their first priority. Did you know that up to 60% of what you put on your skin is absorbed into your bloodstream??? Know what you are putting on your skin!

Now, for the fun stuff. After many years of looking for and trying different non-toxic make-ups, I think I've finally found a real winner. It's called Sheer Naturals. It is a mineral make-up, and I have fallen in love. Let me explain.

It's a very small company owned and operated by Carrie Hudson, who lives in Texas (I believe right outside the DFW area). All of the make-up is made by her! I've tried all kinds of mineral make-ups (Bare Minerals, miessence, Neutrogena, etc), and I have to say that Sheer Naturals is the best I've tried so far. All of the others have either not been a good color match, haven't offered enough variety in terms of colors, have had questionable ingredients, and/or have been a bit cakey. Sheer Naturals, on the other hand, has a wide variety of colors in foundation, eye shadow, blush, concealer, etc...and they are non-toxic. I was so surprised when I received the samples Carrie sent me, after I had requested them. There had to have been at least 20 of them, and I tried them all. I ended up with perfectly matched foundation, blush, and a few eye colors. I was even able to find a mineral concealer/brighter to finally replace my Bobbi Brown cream concealer that I had continued to use because I couldn't find a safer alternative that matched my skin...YAY! I also LOVE the "plum shimmer" eye shadow...so pretty and natural looking with a little sparkle. Perfect for summer!

Anyway, I highly suggest everyone check the products out. The prices are very reasonable, and because Carrie will send you samples to try before you buy, it's a no-risk purchase. Plus, you are supporting a local small business who is making a product with a conscience. This is so important, in my opinion.

Here is the Sheer Naturals website: www.mysheernaturals.com

Love to everyone!

Paper Towel Challenge UPDATE

It's been a couple of weeks since we started using our cloth (flannel) napkins, and I just have to take a moment to reiterate how much we are loving them! The size is so perfect, and I love the fact that they are flannel...so soft and very absorbent. I haven't even come close to using all of the ones I bought yet because after our meals I usually just wet the used ones in the sink (if they have any food on them); rub in a littel dish soap; rinse in warm/hot water; squeeze dry, and hang them on my dish rack to air dry. The whole process takes under a minute. They dry so quickly, and actually we don't mind using them a little moist when it comes to the kiddos...they feel and function a lot like a disposable wet wipe.

I've also been using them to wrap up Ethan's "wraps" in his lunch.

So, in case you aren't ready to invest in a large quantity of napkins, start with 20 and see how you like them...it's only a $25 investment.

We and future generations will all benefit from being more mindful about the amount of trash we create on a daily basis :-)