Today on TreeHugger there is an excerpt from a New York Times article about Burt’s Bees and it’s founder. Apparently Burt’s Bees was sold to Clorox in November but was actually sold originally years ago. Very interesting article, you should check it out. Personally I have been off of the Burt’s Bees bandwagon for a while. They have great marketing and are readily available almost everywhere but really most of their products are not natural and the ingredients list is purposely vague sometimes. Like, I want to know what kind of fragrance is used. The merger with Clorox makes their Bill for Setting The Natural Standard sort or disingenuous. After I checked out their baby wash on Cosmetic Database, I was floored at how high of a hazard rating it has along with most of their other products. I became rather disillusioned but I don’t want to rain on anyone else’s parade. They have quite the following so my opinion is just a drop in the bucket. Decide for yourself.

Post from: Pretty by Nature

Post from: Pretty by Nature

My father has a small garden, and the tomatoes are plentiful – so much so, that we cannot keep up with how many he has. Yesterday, I helped him make pots and pots of tomato sauce to freeze and use throughout the colder months. Lucky for me, I was able to have eight containers all to myself!

When we were finished with the sauce and saw how many more tomatoes we still had, he said that there must be some way I could make some of these tomatoes work for me in a beauty way. So I came home, did some research, and will be enjoying a tomato mask today, courtesy of My Beauty Recipes.

Homemade Recipe for an exfoliating facial mask made from ripe tomato.

Ingredients

• 1 overripe tomato
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. instant oatmeal

Directions

Puree all ingredients in a blender.

Apply to your face and let it soak in for about 20 minutes.

Rinse with plenty of warm water.

I found many more beauty recipes that use tomatoes. The ones that caught my eye were for using the tomato juice in hair, and one for making a paste for dark under-eye circles. This recipe seemed most suited for my skin, so I thought it was a good one to try first.

Post from: Pretty by Nature

Or, you need a gift for your boss who only uses Organic products. Hmmm…

If you are not well versed in natural and organic beauty products, and how to differentiate between them all, you just might have had a problem selecting the perfect gift. Thanks to a new partnership of Gifts.com and Sephora, your gift giving decisions have just become easier.

Gifts.com and Sephora have teamed up to bring you the “Gift Guide to Natural Beauty“! The Gift Guide breaks it down for the beauty product novice and even gives you product recommendations from the experts.

They break down what is natural, organic, botanical, and even recyclable, making your selecting a breeze.

Post from: Pretty by Nature

Parabens are a group of chemicals widely used as preservatives in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. They can be found in shampoos, commercial moisturizers, shaving gels, cleansing gels and personal lubricants. Parabens have been found to cause skin irritation, contact dermatitis, or allergic skin reactions.

There was also a study showing parabens present in breast cancer tissue samples, this was linked to use of underarm deodorants, but many say there needs to be more research carried out before a causal link between parabens in cosmetics and breast cancer can be proven. You might not see the word parabens, but that does not mean they are not there, as these chemicals might be listed as methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben or butylparaben. source:Treehugger

In glancing through just a few of my bath products, I notice many – too many, parabens listed. And while the main stream cosmetic industry deems Parabens to be “relatively” safe, I am going to be more vigilant in trying to use Paraben-Free products. How about you?

Some product lines that are Paraben-Free include: La Roche-Posay, Jane Iredale Products, and Skyn Iceland.

Post from: Pretty by Nature