Honest Essentials Bundle Review // One Year Later

Hopefully it isn't any secret that I love all things eco. (though I don't post about it enough!) I made the decision in college to switch over a lot of my products and habits to be greener and cleaner, and I have rarely regretted any of it! There are still things I am working on, and I am not 100% good at anything. I'm human! I just do my best, and I always strive to do better. :)

You guys DEFINITELY know that I am typically very very busy. We are usually out of the house or entertaining at least three nights a week, we work "full time", and travel frequently. This often leaves me cleaning in a flash, or not having time to run to the health food store for eco cleaners, and not always having time to make my own cleaners, etc. This is one reason I LOVE the Honest bundle.

I am not being sponsored by them, though how cool would that be?! - but seriously, I share my REAL opinions with you guys, always. 

Anyhow, we started our bundle in June of 2015, and after more than a year of bundling, I have a lot to share with you guys. So read on if you are interested!

What is it?

We do the Honest Essentials Bundle (they also have wellness, and baby related bundles). With the essentials bundle you can choose 5 items monthly (mixing and matching), pick when it ships (we do every 6 weeks), and it gets delivered to your door. The cost for this bundle is $35.95 per month (plus shipping), and you can cancel at anytime.

What Can You Choose?

With the essentials bundle you can choose from personal care (shampoo, soap, tampons, bug spray...), cleaning items (detergents, dish towels, dryer sheets, cleaners...), kiddo related (diapers, wipes, creams...), and other "add ons". (Add ons are items that don't fit into your 5 items, but can be added on as an extra item - where you can save up to 25% on each.)

Pros & Cons

Pros: 

• It's really easy. 
• Mixing and matching is convenient and quick.
• You can choose how frequently you want to get your bundles.
• You get an email when it's time to update, you can swap your items easily, and you don't have to think of it again. 
• You know that the company holds itself to a high eco-standard and makes safe and healthy products.
• We have really loved almost every product that we have tried in over a year! That's pretty impressive considering how many different things we have ordered! :) 
• HUGE selection of products that are included in your 5 items. Even huger if you consider the add on items.
• Many products are offered in multiple (natural!) scents.
• Even the shipping materials are eco. They are also good quality - I reuse mine a lot, and it's always easy to recycle as well. :) 
• We often get coupon codes via email to add on a free item, or get a discount added to the bundle. That's always a nice surprise!
• Their customer service is awesome, any time I have a question or concern they are quick on the site chat, and very helpful! 

Cons:

• There have been some concerns related to sulfate in the detergents.
• There have been complaints about the sunscreen. - I haven't had any issues with their sunscreen!
• As just two people, we don't go through many of these cleaners that quickly! So sometimes, we feel like we are getting them too close together. But now that you can get more personal care items, it's been better. I do sometimes wish that we could change it to every 7 weeks or 8 weeks though. - you CAN adjust the shipping date to make it come later though, which is a plus! :)
• I don't love EVERY product I have tried. But I really don't expect to either. 
• Sometimes popular items are out of stock, and you won't be able to add them to your bundle. This doesn't happen often for us.
• I forget to update my bundle sometimes (#usererror ...) 

Bottom Line:

We love our Honest bundle. We get consistently great customer service, good quality eco products, and it fits into our busy schedule. It saves us time and money. While we don't love EVERYTHING about bundling, we do love almost everything. It makes it just a little bit easier to get our chores done, and gives us more time to spend together. That's what's HONESTLY important. :P

I can only imagine that as a parent (someday) this will be AMAZING. Safe diapers and baby products being delivered. Yes, please.

If you would like to try a bundle, or purchase anything from their site, please use my referral link! :)

I would love to share some un-boxings of the bundles, and specific thoughts on specific products if you guys are interested. Would you like to see/hear more?! Let me know in the comments.

Have you tried the Honest bundle or any other bundling service? What did you think of it?

Have you made any eco-friendly product or habit switches in your life? Do you have any goals to? Looking for ideas? Check out my post 12 Easy Ways to Go Green in 2016!

Side note: I LOVED Jessica Alba's book that came out before her company, read my review of it here if you are interested. :) I found it VERY informative and inspiring!!

XO,

Alexandra

DIY Watercolor Mani for Valentine's Day // Lazy Girl Basics

I love having polish on my nails, but often when I try to do something super fancy... it fails. Which is such a bummer. We've all been there right? The first step is done, you go to add the easy half moon or tip... and the whole nail is botched. Surely I'm not the only one.

Well this manicure is great* for two reasons:

1) It's easy, and it doesn't have to be perfect. (shaky hands? no big deal, lack of polish finesse? even better). In fact this mani looks better the more varied it is!

2) You can actually do this on top of a chipped mani. Yep. Those once pretty nails can be refreshed starting with the second step of this process. No more chips, pretty nails again!

Sound good? Here we go.

Supplies & Prep:

Prepped Nails (w/ base coat applied & dried)
1 Light Colored Nail Polish (I used 100% Pure's 12:51)
1 Darker Colored Nail Polish (I used Essie's 'Jelly Apple' (red), but also liked 'plumberry' (pink))
Top Coat
Remover etc. for touch ups

1) Apply your lighter color to all of your nails. Be patient. Let dry.

2) Apply darker color over the top of each nail. Start about halfway down and fill in with strokes to the top. Do this in strips to give it a more 'painted' type look. You can decide if you want to use less polish and make it look watercolor-y or more polish, which will look more like an oil painting. Don't worry if some parts are thicker than others, if there are curves or indentions in your polish, the variance will make it look more artsy. :) Let dry, completely.

3) Add top coat. Let dry again. 

Another way you could try this mani is with a darker color on the bottom and a metallic color over the top.

I personally think this would be really pretty with a lilac and a plum, or a gold over a bright pink. Or black with nude or white. See? really anything works. :)

You are one step closer to being a manicure master.

What are you planning for this weekend?

My v-day inspiration, here, and outfit, here.

Happy Valentine's Day!

XO,

Alexandra

*Disclaimer: It's not for everyone, it's kind of got an artsy flair to it, you can't be into perfection. But, if you want to go with the flow, and don't mind asymmetry... this is for you!

I LOVE 100 Percent Pure!!!

When it comes to makeup I have 2 requirements:

1) It's good for me and the earth. Free of nasty chemicals, non-natural fragrances and harsh ingredients.

2) It does it's job without a ton of work on my part.

And it doesn't hurt if it has pretty packaging :)

Upon a lot of research and investigation I found a company called 100 Percent Pure, and fell in love.

100 Percent Pure is a business dedicated to protecting the earth and our health by using chemical free, natural and gentle makeup, skin care and hair care products. They pigment and scent their makeup with things like fruits and chocolate which leaves you with really gorgeous hues and extremely yummy scents.

I have tried many of their products, and am ordering more all of the time. I thought that since this blog encompasses so many lifestyle topics, beauty might as well be another one! :)

I am looking forward to reviewing specific items in detail. But right now I'll just leave you with a taste of my top 3!

*all images (below) via 100 Percent Pure*

1) Luminous Primer Vitamins + Antioxidants With Resveratrol -$26

This stuff is AH-MAY-ZING. Changed my life. And since I favor tinted moisturizer to foundations, it helps it last all day! :) I cannot completely describe my love for this item. I was over-the-moon about the cyber Monday surprise that made this primer just $10(!!!) with free shipping! HOORAY! Buy it here.

2) Fruit Pigmented Raspberry Lip Butter -$1

This little pot of tinted gloss is so convenient and pretty. I am not a gloss girl by nature, but this is something that I actually use quite a lot! My favorite way to wear it is to layer it over a sheer bright pink lipstick! Plus, I can just throw it in my bag and not worry about it losing it's lid or breaking.. it's very easy. (makeup requirement #2... ) Buy it here.

3) Fruit Pigmented Cocoa Plum Eye Shadow -$15

This is my go-to eye shadow. I wear it quite a bit more than I had expected! I find myself wanting to wearing it to work several (if not every!) day of the week! This color is so gorgeous, a smokey bronzey plum that's not too dark and not too purple... but also not too brown! It's the best of all worlds and I will probably be wearing it for the rest of my life! Buy it here.

So there you have it! My top 3 from 100 Percent Pure. Check out their site they have so many amazing products all of which I feel safe and comfortable using! 

I am excited to start a little bit of beauty blogging here for you guys!

What is your favorite natural beauty product? 

Let me know in the comments!

All for now,

Alexandra 

The Honest Life Book Review

A while back I had heard that Jessica Alba was launching an eco-friendly line of hygiene and baby products, I had forgotten about it until I saw her new book The Honest Life at the bookstore. 

I read the back and flipped through it, quickly finding that she is serious about going natural, and not just when it's glamorous! It was filled with gorgeous photos of her and her family, her daughters are absolutely adorable!

The book covered many topics ranging from cosmetics and hygiene to recipes and baby-care. As soon as I started reading it, I couldn't put it down.. and I have read quite a bit on eco-friendly living! I learned so much about topics currently relevant to me and even more about baby/kid stuff that I will be so happy I learned somewhere down the road.

I now have some great tips and resources for finding chemical free makeup, candles and home improvement materials. I also learned some scary things that I want to tell everyone I know, like how "tear-free" baby shampoo has a chemical in it that numbs your baby's eyes so it doesn't sting! (Can you believe that?!) And that baby diapers contain a chemical that has been outlawed in tampons! YIKES! 

But it's definitely not all scary facts. It contains a lot of brand recommendation for products that Alba herself has tried. She also includes some of her own healthy but delicious recipes as well as tips for entertaining. My favorite part is that she has done so much research that she knows where you can find the no VOC paint in CUTE colors, where the best organic lipsticks can be found and how to purchase healthy art supplies for your kiddos. She's not settling into being boring and beige to be green and healthy! I love that she is so boldly taking on this stereotype! 

I really admire Alba's dedication to making her home and her products safe for her family, her self an the world. She did such an amazing thing by writing this extremely accessible book. I think that readers will thoroughly enjoy what she has written and learn a lot from it.

It also inspired me to check out her company's line of products. Most of the items are geared toward babies, children and mothers, but there are some that anyone could use. I think that I will order the hand soap, lip balm, sunscreen and naturally fragranced  soy candles next time I need one of those things! Check out her website here.

Have you read The Honest Life? What did you think?

All for now,

Alexandra

For my eco-friendly posts check my #green tab above!

ACURE Organics: The Perfect Skincare Line

*Welcome! I know that this post is still really popular, even though it was written in 2012! I'm delighted about it, and I wanted to let you know that I still use these products today, 5 years later, and I'm still not being paid by ACURE to recommend them! Thank you for stopping by!*

The beginning of this is dense, but stick with me! Its VERY important and you get to the good stuff when you scroll down I promise! :)

If you are like me your skin is not perfect. {this already sounds like a Proactiv commercial... don't worry its not..} I had acne from the time I was 11 or so until the present. I have always struggled to find something that works for my skin. I've now found it, and I couldn't be happier.

...a little bit of the story...

Before our engagement party in June 2011 I was offered a free facial from a popular skin care brand. The consultant was extremely nice and the products looked great. I got swept up in wanting to be a part of a group and a company that had so many good values. However along the way I realized that what was IN the products reflects a big part of that company's values. My face started to feel sticky after I used the products, some even hurt a little. So I decided to look up the ingredients and was truly disappointed with what I found. Full of parabens and chemicals that can't be easily translated into something recognizable. I was really torn on what to do. I had made this great connection with the consultant as well as another person and I didn't want to ruin it. I really believed in some of the things that the company implemented, but the ingredients were too important to overlook. I just couldn't get my skin accustomed to something so bad for me and bad for the environment.

So I sent it all back, cleared my head {heh, heh}and went to the Merc, our local health food store. There I was in a daze, I had no idea what to look for in natural skin care products, but I needed to just dive in. It was then that I stumbled across ACURE organics.

and now I am in love.

ACURE organics is made in Florida by a family owned company with some great morals. ACURE products are all made from natural ingredients {no parabens, synthetic fragrances, sulfates, thalates or artificial colors} and contain some fair trade and organic ingredients as well. They do NOT test on animals. Their packaging is made from Post consumer recycled content. They donate much of their proceeds to charities that focus on cancer research, including Bright Pink.

I was really blown away by the wonderful values of this company!

Here is what I bought & Why I like it: 

Facial Cleansing Gel superfruit + chlorella growth factor

Great Cleanser!! Its light and foamy! Removes makeup and dirt really really well! Lasts a really long time, you only need a small amount to effectively clean your face. Its a bit pricey for the size but again, it lasts a LONG time because you don't need to use a lot each time. 

{this picture was taken after 5 months of use!}

Cost: ~$15

facial toner rose + red tea

This toner really really helps my skin. I am really fair so I tend to get pink and red splotches, this toner is fantastic!! Plus I like the smell. This is going the fastest for me.. but I think I use more than I need to... ;)

Cost: ~$16

seriously firming facial serum

This is a product that I bought separately after I had started the entire line, but its quite possibly my favorite part! Its a really nice oil {you only need a tiny tiny bit!} that firms your skin. I'm only 21 so I really don't have very many "fine lines" but I do have some acne scars etc. This serum is full of antioxidants and antinflammatories that really firm my skin in these trouble areas and I can actually see a BIG difference in the appearance of my scars! This stuff is magic! {but not full of hormones or plastic-y chemicals!}

Cost: ~$23

 Oil Control Day Cream

This is a really great moisturizer for day! Its light and keeps oily skin under control {great for summer}. You only need one little pump from this tiny bottle to cover your entire face, so like the cleanser it lasts a while. This doesn't leave your face sticky! The one downside is that if you use this after the firming serum it takes away some of the oil in it. So I would avoid the area you added the serum to, or just use the serum after.

Cost: ~$19

chlorella growth factor + pomegranate night cream

This night time moisturizer is really great. Its thicker than the day cream and helps firm your skin as you sleep with their chlorella growth factor. Again, one little pump from this small bottle covers your entire face. Bonus: your face isn't left sticky!

Cost: ~$20

superfruit + chlorella eye cream

This is the product that I have bought most recently. I bought it because I had been wearing more eye makeup and it was starting to irritate the skin around my eyes when I removed it. This cream is really nice. It really reduces puffiness and redness under the eyes. It also reduces fine lines which is a bonus. You only need a TINY bit each time, which means that this will last a long time like the cleanser. 

~$19 

So overall I spent $112 on 6 products, that are lasting a LONG time! So far MORE than worth it!

The new products are good for me, good for the earth and my skin looks and feels great! 

I have been using them for almost a year and I could not be more pleased! I am still using the original bottle of almost everything!

If you are interested in ACURE organics, check your local health food store or click here to buy online.

For a list of things to avoid in your skin care products click here.

If you have any questions feel free to ask! The health of your skin, body and of the earth are very important! So don't take your products lightly!

A great way to start is to switch your products as your run out of them, {rather than buying a whole new line} your skin and the earth will thank you!

I have since bought a few more of their products that I will be blogging about soon! Stay tuned! :)

All for now,

Alexandra

Earth Friendly Product Swaps and Reviews

I have made it a goal for the past two years to use some of my spending power to support the environment (and my own health) by purchasing environmentally friendly versions of the products and items I purchase. 

Obviously this can often be more expensive. Organic food is extremely expensive and the other eco-friendly products are sometimes more expensive as well. I can't afford to be a Merc member or buy all organic food/clothes etc. But I can slowly switch over many of my products as I finish them to make more earth friendly choices. In my experience its usually worth the extra money, especially if its something that you don't use up as quickly. 

Since I don't have my own home/apartment I am mostly talking about hygeine and beauty products right now. So here are a few of my favorites and why! I will tell you what they are, why I like them, why they are good for the environment, approximate price range and give you a link to a website where you can purchase each item. However many if not all of these items can be purchased at Target, Health food stores and the like. :) 

Here we Go!

Toms of Maine Natural 24 Hour Odor Protection Deodorant in Fresh Apricot

This deodorant is great. And I was skeptical about natural deodorants thinking that they wouldn't work but this one works for me and smells great. Plus it uses so many great ingredients that are much better for me and the earth and best of all it doesn't have aluminum in it which has been linked to many health problems including breast cancer in women! It also comes in several other wonderful scents and unscented varieties.

Price: ~ $5-7

Purchase Online, here.

Toms of Maine Whitening Toothpaste

This toothpaste is easier on the environment(maybe not the very very easiest but much better than normal toothpaste). It has a nice minty flavor and doesn't leave your mouth full of slimy residue. Seriously I used some of Kyle's normal toothpaste when I forgot mine one day over the break and I had really really rine a lot to get all of the residue out. 

Price: ~$5-6 

Purchase Online, here.

Preserve Toothbrushes

Preserve toothbrushes are amazing things. Basically its a normal toothbrush made out of recycled yogurt cups and new nylon bristles. They cost about the same as a regular toothbrush. The bristles are good for your teeth and dentist approved (I asked mine). The best part about these toothbrushes is that when you are done and buy a new one you can mail back the used one (in the wrapper from the new one) to the company and they will recycle the plastic once again! Postage is paid and everything!! I really really love these toothbrushes! And they come in multiple cute colors :) You can find them in the Lawrence Target and I'm sure other common stores.

Price: ~$3-4 

Purchase Online, here.

Kiss My Face Shampoos and Conditioners

Personally so far I have only tried the "Whenever, Frequent Use" kind, but I'm sure the others are just as amazing. This particular shampoo/conditioner set has the most lovely lime-green tea scent. Its super fresh. It leaves my hair soft and clean (no soapy residue in my scalp). And my bottles lasted me quite a while! So it was worth the cost! The best part is that it is made of all certified organic ingredients, with no animal ingredients and is not tested on animals!!  

Price: ~$5-6 per bottle

Purchase Online, here. 

Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip balm in Peppermint

This lip balm is a classic. I tried it once and never went back, nothing works on my lips besides this lip balm. It smells great, moisturizes well and isn't too shiny. There really is not downside unless you are concerned about the use of beeswax. Burt's Bees while not organic still uses many "natural" ingredients (almost all) and makes even these tubes recyclable!100% natural.

Price: ~$3-4

Purchase Online, here. 

*note

I have tried they honey, pomegranate and SPF versions as well but don't like them nearly as much. But that could just be me. :) 

Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream

This stuff is so awesome. Waxy, yummy smell and moisturizes my often dry and flaking cuticles. It last forever as well. And because this is in a waxy form you can put it on and do things immediately you don't have to wait for a lotion to dry or anything. 100% natural.

Price: ~$5-6 

Purchase Online, here. 

Burt's Bees Coconut Foot Cream

I could talk about the wonders of coconut all day. I'm obsessed. But this foot cream is ridiculously awesome. It super thick and moisturizing. The best time to use it (I think) is before you go to bed, apply it liberally and then put on thick socks and go to sleep! In the morning you will feel moisturized! :) Lasts forever.98.6% natural.

Price: ~ $9

Purchase Online, here. 

Final Word: Most all of these product containers can be easily recycled. All can be found at local supermarkets and health food stores. None of the companies test on animals. All are priced reasonably and last for a long time. And they are all companies that strive to put as many organic and natural ingredients in their products as possible keeping the chemicals and aluminum out!

I think that is all for now! The rest of my makeup/hygiene supply is pretty well stocked (since forever) basically a lot of Christmas gifts etc that I don't want to waste so until some more of them are gone this is it for my earth friendly product list. However I think razors will be next because as I was searching the preserve website I noticed that they make razors in addition to toothbrushes!!! ( I hope that they are also carried at Target!) Another goal I have is to try making some products, skin masks, scrubs etc. (but I will write about that later!) :)

If you would like to search for companies that do/or do not test on animals here is the website to use! Its good to know and it has shaped the way I buy my products!

What are your earth friendly product goals? And what are your favorite products?

Alex