Weekly Musings #2 – January 2019

Hi Lovelies,

Welcome back! And welcome if you are new here xo

Hello hello hello there, how are all of you? Hope this new year is treating you well?

I’ll be honest, this “musings” post is not about green beauty or products, so if this is what you are looking for, you may exit here, no hard feelings, promise! I started this section of my blog to let you guys into my personal life more, or my head if you will – these types of post will be more about what’s going on in my life or my thoughts, but always with intentions to be helpful – no ramblings here, promise! I am extremely grateful for you, my readers and the time you take out of your busy days to read my posts, so the last thing I want is to waste your valuable time!

Now that the Holidays are well and truly over and I am coming out of my social media break – in all honesty I got burnout. How do other bloggers do that? I found myself working at all hours of day and night, from answering emails and DMs, some people demand to know the best cleanser or whatnot at two am, and if I don’t reply within two seconds, I find five follow up DMs telling me how rude I am ignoring them! Hello, how about I was sleeping? Are we becoming so accustomed with everything available 24/7 that we expect people to be on 24/7 too, forgetting they are actual people? Do we actually understand that this “instant-download” life style is not what life actually is and not how the world works? That’s something I need to work on in this year, setting clear boundaries on blog/ work/ family time.

So what’s going on? First and foremost I decided to take a leap and to fix my health, so I signed up for a course of TCM or Traditional Chinese Medicine course of treatments to try to fix lots of things that are wrong with me. I went in with the intention of fixing my rhinitis (permanent sinusitis) and very soon I got answers to the health questions that were bothering me for a while too – as soon as the doctor felt my pulse she asked do I have problems with my lungs (yes) and do I have problems with the weak and painful joints (yes), do I feel tired all the time (yes) and do I have a compromised immune system(yes)? Turns out the dampness that is in to air gets into your body and wreaks havoc on multiple levels – how did I not figured that out? The doctor also said that I live in the wrong climate, somewhere hot and dry would be perfect for my constitution. Yes, I instinctively knew that, and I keep telling to my husband that I’ll move to Spain for my retirement, you know, once your life’s work of raising good children, planting trees etc will be done – I am adamant my retirement years should and will be spent enjoying myself in my house seaside. I left the practice with lots of questions swirling in my head, how do I make sure I do not get in this state in the future? How to stop that damned dampness getting into my body, what foods do I eat to nourish my lungs, and is that enough? Do I run my dehumidifier at all times? Do I have to save a ton of money for a course of treatments for next fall and winter and try to help myself this way? These and more questions are swirling in my head at the moment, if you have any info to help me out, drop me links, that would be appreciated! The doctor also suggested the same treatments for my younger princess for asthma treatment, but I know she’d jump off the table at a first sight of the needle or cup and I’d never be able to bring her back there ever again – what do I do? Only time will tell  I think?

I am not the one to make New Year resolutions – I think we are always making our aims too high and setting ourselves for a fail, so why do that? Slow and steady is a better way, once you built up a new habit, you can move on onto the next. Doing a big (too big) list of improving yourself on every possible level, like you know, drop X dress sizes, save X amount of money, start driving or speaking another language by X month, be a better wife/ GF/ daughter/ mother/ sister/ friend, do a dry January while completely overhauling your diet to raw/ vegan/ goodness knows what – does that not sound too unrealistic and too taxing? How about we set ONE DREAM and ONE GOAL for ourselves? Wouldn’t that be much more realistic and achievable?

Now for the random bits:

This is one more reason why I won’t let my daughter have “kids” make up sets – I had to trade some of my own make up when she was gifted one of those nasty sets, but it was well worth it for the peace of my mind. See here.

Study shows kids have energy levels greater than endurance athletes – do you need a study to know that??

Chilling new studies on children’s cancers linked to vaccines + autism what are we doing to ourselves and our kids? How the world got so twisted that these new breed of vaccines are forced on us by law when they were never proven safe in the first place? My heart aches over this!

Kudos to France for banning all pesticides linked to killing bees! I sincerely hope all other countries follow the lead!

That’s all for now, see you here very shortly. Sorry for a bit rambly post – in all honesty winter SAD (or winter depression in other words) has me in a tight grip unfortunately. Plus all these doctors visits are a sure way to get even the cheeriest person down, let alone me. It is fair to say I am only muddling through and counting days until the Spring and Summer. I hope you will bear with me xo

 

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Lots of Love,
Renata.

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Green Life In Dublin, green beauty and lifestyle blog
Enjoy my content? A  tip into my PayPal Tip Jar -  will get You my eternal gratitude and more awesome green beauty reviews Your way! I weed out all the greenwashing products so You won't have to.

Living Libations Dew Dab Review /AD

Hello Lovelies,

Welcome back! And if you are new here, welcome xoxo

green life in dublin
Living Libations Dew Dab review

How are all of you, I hope you are well? Today I am coming at you with a short and sweet review of Living Libations Dew Dab, which I was sent for review by lovely Wilma from The Dutch Health Store – who has the largest Living Libations selection in Europe. If you want to see my review of that online shop. see here, and if you want to see what I think of Living Libations dental products, where I talk about Happy Gum Drops, Ozonated Happy Gum Gel & Frankincense Toothpaste, click here and here, where I review Living Libations Wintergreen + Clean Toothpaste & Revitin Toothpaste. If you want my two cents of their haircare, True Blue Spirulina shampoo & Flowers In Her Hair Dry Shampoo, see this post here.

Continue reading “Living Libations Dew Dab Review /AD”

How To Stop Your Concealer From Creasing

Hi Lovelies,

Welcome back! And welcome, if you are new here xoxo

How to stop your concealer from creasing

Today is the day I will spill one of my beauty secrets – I will reveal how you can stop your concealer from creasing. It is a common complaint I hear in the green beauty world – as natural concealers lack the silicones that are in conventional products – and the silicones are exactly the thing that makes the conventional concealers glide so smoothly and also fill in all the crevices, aka fine lines, to give the appearance of smooth perfect skin (but remember, it is only that – an appearance, while it hurts your skin in the long run!)

We won’t go into all those nasty ingredients that are lurking in the conventional concealers and foundations, that’s another post in it’s own, for another time. Since the natural counterparts don’t have those silicones I’d just mentioned, they perform a bit differently, and this is one of those learning curves you will have to get used to it once you will go au naturale 🙂

Don’t worry, the switch is so worth the extra effort – natural concealers are full of natural ingredients that are good for the skin, like coconut oil, aloe, nurturing oils and butters, depending on the formulation. So you will get not only pigment, but skin care benefits from them as well, as I don’t know how about you, but I can rest at night knowing I am doing my skin no harm, only goodness. Having said all that, oftentimes the complaint is that they are creasing – and this is where I am coming to help!

Before you ask, my favourite two concealers are Hynt Beauty Duet Perfecting Concealer & Ere Perez Arnica one. I have reviewed both on my old blog, you will find reviews linked at the end of this post if you want to see more information on them. In my concealer I am looking for the full coverage first and foremost – I don’t get the point of sheer coverage concealers, if I apply the product and can still see my capillaries and dark circles, what’s the point of it, right? I have been a fan of Hynt Beauty Duet Perfecting concealer (available from  Glow Organic Brighton in UK) for a good number of years now, ever since it went through branding change and several packaging changes. Remember Christopher Drummond liquid concealer in a pump bottle? Yes, that’s what I am talking about. Nowadays is it not creamy liquid but rather balmy, and it comes in a glass pot that you swirl your finger in to apply. Still great coverage, and I still regard it as my nr1 – as you can imagine, I have tried a few in my days, but I always go back to this no matter what. Is wasn’t when I first started using it. Anyways, my shade is somewhere in between of light and medium, and as medium is getting too dark by the day (l am getting paler by the day) I need to get another pot in light very soon. Hynt Beauty is an amazing brand with wonderful ethos – and I keep meaning to get more of their products to try and review for you guys. Everything is really natural, and intentionally so, because Meryl, the founder of the brand is a breast cancer survivor – and that’s how the brand was born. Whoops, getting a bit sidetracked here. Can you tell I love to talk? Especially when it comes to all things green beauty?

Side note – please let me know your favourite natural full coverage concealers, so I could check them out!

Now, let’ s get to my actual trick of trade, shall we? There are three steps to it, and it is all really simple, I promise you that! You know I am all about simple and effective, right?

How to stop your concealer from creasing

step 1

Moisturise your under eye area really well.

This stop is not negotiable for me, as a lady on the wrong side of 30s, this is something I never ever forget. It is best if you gave it a few minutes to sink in, especially if you are using under eye oils or balms. I recommend this step even if you are gorgeous peachy skinned twenty something. (if you are gorgeous twenty something and reading this, more power to you, the earlier you start taking care of your skin, the better).

step 2

Don’t over apply! Another major mistake most people make, and I  too have been guilty of it in the past. Yes, it is tempting to blob it on, especially if you have a lot to cover – and trust me, I get it, I too have been guilty of burning my candle from both ends or not drinking enough water (drink enough water and trust me, you will see the difference!). I have extremely dark circles that are hereditary, and no amount of green smoothies/ exercise /sleep or products can cure, and I have acres of it, real estate! Yes, I know I am a lucky gal. So a concealer is a must for me – seriously, if you saw me sans any make up on, the first thing you would ask if I am sick or tired. No, and no, just my life story. So, yeah, less is more when it comes to the concealer – apply a very thin layer and step back to see yourself in a mirror, it really helps to see yourself a step back and not in one of those zoomed in mirrors. More often than not, you will find that one layer is enough. If you can’t see any concealer, go ahead and bin that product, green beauty world has better products, I promise you! If you really need that second layer, promise me you will be VERY light handed with it. You can set or bake your concealer or not, your choice.

step 3

OK, now we are mid day, you are working or running around and you catch yourself in a mirror, and shock horror, you notice that concealer is all creased, the under eye are looks all dry and all this is making ten years older than you are. Fear not, I have just a tip for you – and you can thank me later. I would suggest that you carry a miniature eye cream or oil with you. All you need to do is to gently pat a teeny tiny drop of oil or eye cream over the concealer and TA DA, you are looking perfect again! I carry either my beloved Bella Aura eye cream, which is wonderful and sinks in in seconds, not disturbing my make up; or some lightweight face oil (serum) decanted into teeny tiny cutesy 2ml roller bottle you see in the photo. That all there is to it, told you it will be simple! Not only you will fix your make up mishap, but you will give your skin a hydration boost, which it will appreciate. (and thank you if it could talk). By the way, I have found that using face mists doesn’t work in this case, while it might work for the whole face, I found it either moves my concealer or makes my mascara run, which is so not a good luck! So be a pro and cover your eyes when misting.

 

That’s all for now, thanks for reading!

If you want to read more of my tricks, see here. . For Ere Perez concealer review see this post, for Hynt Beauty Duet Perfecting Concealer review, see here.

 

Lots of Love,

Renata.

green life in dublin
Green Life In Dublin green beauty blog
Enjoy my content? A  tip into my PayPal Tip Jar -  will get You my eternal gratitude and more awesome green beauty reviews Your way! I weed out all the greenwashing products so You won't have to.

 

Love Lula Beauty Box December 2018

Hi Lovelies,

Welcome back! And welcome if you are new here xoxo

Love Lula Beauty Box December 2018

I do realize I am way late with this post, I assure you I had my best intentions to post it on time last December, but time got away from me juggling all the normal work-family-life-blogging duties coupled with intense testing slash judging for The Beauty Shortlist Awards 2019 and Holiday preparations. So I posted this post on my IG page here and promised You to come back a month later, not only with my first impressions, but with a more well rounded review. Here I am, ready to give my two cents on all the products and the box in overall. Ready to get started? I am so ready.

Continue reading “Love Lula Beauty Box December 2018”

Natural Make Up Look Using Cream Products – Natural & Organic Beauty

Hi Lovelies,

 

Welcome back! And welcome, if you are new here xoxo

It’s been a hot minute (or two years, whoops! see here) since I posted about my daily make up routine, so today is the day  showing my all natural make up look of late, using only green beauty products of course. They are all cream products, as you can see from the title. This is my favourite look of late, appropriate for all occasions. If you want to take it from day to night, you only have to add some dark eyeliner and shadow into the outer v of the eye lid. I will link the products and the blog post or reviews where apt. The photos are a real deal, I never retouch or filter them. Putting yourself out there is always scary, and even more so when more so when you are on the wrong side of 30’s, so why do I do it? All for you guys! Shall we get started? Continue reading “Natural Make Up Look Using Cream Products – Natural & Organic Beauty”

The Tea That Keeps Me Well In Winters

Hello Lovelies,

Welcome back! and if you are new here, welcome xoxo

Today I wanted to share another well kept Winter Wellness secret of mine, the secret I’ve been shouting about from the rooftops for the last few months years, haha! Seriously, this post is a result of the multiple Instagram conversations about the things I do in order to stay healthy, where I found myself writing the same recipe to many many people all over again – I figured it would make it easier to blog about it, than share it another forty times, haha!  It gathered so much interest that I thought it might as well do a special blog post about 🙂 So here we go, let’s see what is the fuss all about it? Continue reading “The Tea That Keeps Me Well In Winters”

My Best Love Lula 2018 Products

Hi Lovelies,

Welcome back! And welcome, if you are new here xoxo

Love Lula Best Natural & Organic Products

How are all of You? I hope 2019 is treating You well so far?

Idea for today’s post came via Love Lula Natural Beauty Club post, 5 Best Natural Beauty Products of 2018 of Live Naturally N (see her post here) and that got me thinking – how many of my Holy Grail Products of 2018 actually came from Love Lula? You can see my blogger recommendations here, but as life doesn’t stand still, my Holy Grail product change over time too, due to many different reasons – the brands sell out, products change in formulations, stop working or are no longer stocked by Love Lula. If You want to know my Love Lula* Loves too, You are in the right place 🙂 Continue reading “My Best Love Lula 2018 Products”

2018 Favourite Products – Natural & Organic

Hi Lovelies,

Welcome back! And welcome, if you are new here xoxo

2018 Best Natural & Organic Products

So it is that time of the year, wonderful time of the year, my favourite time of the year – Green Beauty Yearly Favourites time of the year. If Green Life In Dublin Green Beauty Awards existed, these would be it! So let’s get started, shall we? We all know I love to talk and to review good products, so majority of them will have reviews either on their own, or as part of Favourites posts – so be sure to hit that search box either here or in my previous blog with 400+ posts here. Just a reminder, my skin is dry, uber sensitive and dermatitis prone. Hair is thin, but lots of it, with a sensitive scalp to boot. Lucky girl, I know 🙂

 

 

(Full disclosure, some, but not all, of the links are affiliate links, and I  thank You for using them - they are at no extra cost to you as a consumer. All products mentioned here are tested thoroughly by me, and truly my Holy Grail products - I would never recommend anything that isn't my true favourite. Some of the products date back for years and haven't left my Yearly Favourites for well, years! I also want to point out that Google collects data while you browse my blog, but I think we all know that at this point.

MOISTURISER

  • Bella Aura Daily Repair Moisturiser
  • Bella Aura Night Cellular Renewal

My Holy Grail skincare line, see review here.

*Update on why I no longer stand by this brand, even though I still think their products are fantastic here, scroll down to the very end.

  • DrHauschka Rose Day Cream

Holy Grail prior discovering Bella Aura, but still a Hero in winters due to richness, when the temps really drop. See review here.

FACIAL OIL

All amazing for different reasons, but I LOVE them equally. Mahalo has a review here, all others are still waiting their turn. After being a face oil fiend for years and years, I had to give them up due to developing dermatitis (which hates oils) but I still add them for winter, when my skin isn’t coping very well on it’s own in the harsh elements.

WATER/ ALOE BASED SERUM

  • Earthwise Beauty Nap In The Meadow
  • Alteya Organics Rose Otto Regenerating Concentrate

OIL BASED SERUM

  • see facial oils

Healing BALM

  • Mahalo Rare Indigo
  • May Lindstrom Blue Cocoon

Please let me explain why I chose these balms that are both uber expensive – it is purely because I need all the healing help I can get with my dermatitis, which sometimes flares up for no apparent reason, and blue tansy, which is present in both products, seems to be the magic that heals my skin. It is my face after all! While Mahalo Rare Indigo is a firm fave for the last three years (just check my 2017 & 2016 Favourites posts), I wanted to change things up a bit this year and purchased Blue Cocoon, which seems to be equally impressive. Pricy as they are, both jars last a year, which makes me justify the price point for them. I see more blue balms popping here and there, so I intend to try more of them out.

LIP BALM

  • Hurraw

ACNE TREATMENT

DERMATITIS TREATMENT

  • Mahalo Rare Indigo
  • May Lindstrom Blue Cocoon
  • LaVigne Mayan Magic Balm
  • Uliv Skincare

All seriously the best from what I have tried.

FACE CLEANSER (GEL /CREAM/ LIQUID)

  • Alteya Certified Organic Rose Otto Face Wash
  • Dr. Hauschka Soothing Cleansing Milk

BALM CLEANSER

  • Neal’s Yard Remedies Wild Rose Beauty Balm

OIL CLEANSER

face SPF product

  • Kimberly Sayer Ultra Light Organic Facial Moisturiser SPF30 – 120ml
  • Alteya Organic Rose Otto Face Sunscreen SPF25
  • W3LL People Bio Tint Multi Action Moisturiser SPF30

Kimberly Sayer is what I used for the last four years or so, but it might be overthrown by the next two, which are newer discoveries, but oh-so-impressive. I’ll talk about them soon. W3LL People, if you are reading this, come back to EU! I’ll campaign to make it happen if I’ll need to!

BALM WITH SPF (BEACH BALM & LIP BALM)

FACE EXFOLIANT 

  • l’Odaïtès Pépite de la Palmeraie – Gentle Polyphenol Exfoliator

MAKE UP REMOVER

  • Neal’s Yard Remedies Wild Rose Beauty Balm
  • followed by a regular cleanser

EYE MAKE UP REMOVER

FACE MASK

  • 100% Pure Caffeine Sheet Masks
  • Isla Apothecary Refine & Radiate Mask
  • 100% Collagen Boost Sheet Mask
  • Chobs Sheet Masks
  • My own manuka honey DIYs

TONER/ MIST

  • Isun Skincare Ormus Myst
  • Dafna’s Personal Skincare Active Mist
  • Alteya Organics Certified Organic Chamomile Water
  • Alteya Organics Certified Organic Rose Water

FACE /NECK TOOLS

 

green life in dublin
Green Life In Dublin Best Bodycare Products

 

BODY SCRUB

  • Natura Siberica Oblepikha & Honey Body Scrub

BODY WASH

  • Kathleen Natural Sensual Rose Bubble Bath and Shower Gel

Hand cream

  • Neal’s Yard Remedies Bee Lovely Hand Cream (am)
  • Kiss The Moon Love Night Cream for Hands (pm)

Nyr cream is a good all rounder, but Kiss The Moon is a must in winter!

DEODORANT

  • Elsa’s Organic Skinfoods

BODY OIL

  • Inner Senses Body Oils
  • Kathleen Sensual Rose Body & Massage Oil

BODY SPF PRODUCT

  • Green People Sun Lotion Scent Free

 

green life in dublin
Green Life In Dublin Best Haircare

 

SHAMPOO

  • Rahua Volume Shampoo

CONDITIONER

  • Tabitha James Kraan 4in1 Organic Conditioner Amber Rose

HAIR AND SCALP OIL

  • Alchemy Oils Grapefruit Hair Oil

DRY SHAMPOO

 

FOUNDATION 

  • Pure Anada Mineral Foundation
  • English Mineral Makeup Company Mineral Foundation
  • Inika Certified Organic Liquid Foundation

All of them are long standing favourites!

 

BB CREAM

Inika Organic BB Cream Foundation

CREAM CONCEALER

POWDER CONCEALER

  • Pure Anada Loose Mineral Foundation used a a concealer

Setting Powder

  • I do not use it because I have dry skin

BLUSH

  • Inika Peachy Keen (loose)
  • Pure Anada Forever Summer Pressed Blush

BRONZER

  • Inika Bronzer In Sunkissed

MASCARA

  • Inika Long Lash Mascara

HIGHLIGHT

  • Inika Highlighting Creme

EYEBROW PRODUCT(S)

  • Pure Anada Brow Powders
  • Alverde Brow Pomade

EYE PENCIL

  • 100 Pure Creamy Long Lasting Liner

LIQUID EYELINER

  • Couleur Caramel Liquid Eyeliner

SINGLE/ DUO EYE SHADOW

  • Inika Pressed Mineral Eye Shadow Duo in Golden Oyster

EYE SHADOW PALETTE

  • Couleur Caramel Eye Essential Palette Nr1 – Warm

LIPSTICK

  • Hynt Beauty Pinkibelle

LIP GLOSS

  • 100% Pure Peacock Ore

LIP BALMS

  • Hurraw, especially Moon Balm
green life in dublin
Green Life In Dublin Favourite Products

 

NATURAL PERFUME

  • Walden Natural Perfumes

NATURAL(ISH) NAIL POLISHES

  • Glossworks

DENTAL CARE

TOOTHPASTE

TOOTH OIL

GUM HEALTH

MOUTHWASH

  • Weleda Ratanhia Mouthwash

TEETH WHITENING

  • Warpaint 100% Natural Teeth Whitener

TONGUE CLEANER

WELLNESS:

I hope this was in any way interesting and/or helpful to you, and if it leads to at least one person finding a good product, then my work is done. Please be on the lookout for the reviews of many of these products, and let me know your favourites as well, so I could check them out!

If anyone’s interested you can check my 2017 Yearly Favourites here and 2016 ones here.

 

Lots of Love,

Renata.

Green Life In Dublin green beauty blog
Enjoy my content? A  tip into my PayPal Tip Jar -  will get You my eternal gratitude and more awesome green beauty reviews Your way! I weed out all the greenwashing products so You won't have to.