Green beauty and eco lifestyle blog
Hello Lovelies,
Welcome back! And welcome of you are new here πππ
How are all of you, I hope life is treating you well? I’ve been thinking about my favourite products lately and which ones are long standing ones, and I have came up with a blog post on the spot – let’s see my ride or die favourites from 2018 still used daily today?
Continue reading “18 Natural & Organic 2018 Favourites I Still Use Daily”
Hi Lovelies,
Welcome back! And welcome if you are new hereΒ πππ
How are all of you, I hope You are well?
Today I am coming at you with a review of a new product from a brand I already love and respect – please come forward Quiet Earth by Inner Senses!*
Continue reading “Inner Senses Quiet Earth Mask Review [AD]”
Hi Lovelies,
Welcome back! And welcome if you are new hereΒ πππ
Firstly, let me just say that Love Lula is the only subscription box I am getting, and I am really happy with it! I’ve been getting it for around a year and a half maybe, and I have to say they do a very good job at including a good variety of products, apart of a few tiny missteps of too many scrubs or face oils in a row, other products were a delight to discover, and I have to say I am looking forward to each new month in anticipation to what’s to come – Christmas or Birthday present for yourself each month, anyone? They ship worldwide, and the price is 14.95Β£ monthly recurring for UK customers, and for us international gals there are two options of three months (52.50Β£) or a year (210Β£) including post and packaging. Green beauty boxes are a great way to discover new items you might have missed otherwise, and I love that anything coming from LoveLula is cruelty free and guaranteed not to have any toxic ingredients – they have very strict criteria for any product they accept, and that is taking the guesswork off your shoulders. International boxes sometimes differ from the UK ones due to Love Lula not being able to ship nail polishes or perfumes.
Continue reading “Love Lula Beauty Box April 2019 & A (mini) Giveaway! [AD]”
Hello Lovelies,
Welcome back! And welcome, if you are new here πππ
So as I mentioned in my weekly musings post here, I have a new found love and a new hobby of creative journaling, and some of you wanted to know more – so this post is for you!
You see, I might have a *thing* or two or three or four or five or six or seven about cute stationary, and I had for years. One of the things I was looking forward to every single year was opening a brand new diary, but in all honesty, I never found them quite fitting to my needs. I mean how can anyone fit everything they need to jot down into those measly ten lines a day? I can barely fit all I want to write down onto the whole page – until I get bored/ frustrated mid April and forget about the whole thing until October or something. As I need to keep track not only of the household stuff but also blogging affairs, I spilled over to spreadsheets, which isn’t quite also me – too rigid and not creative enough. So my life was forever changed when I discovered creative journaling is a thing on Instagram – search #creativejournaling and also #bujo and yours will be too! True to my style I soon fell down the rabbit hole. Continue reading “Let the creative journaling begin!”
Hi Lovelies,
Welcome back! And welcome if you are new hereΒ πππ
How are all of you, I hope You are well?
If you read any of this kind of posts (see here & here) you will know what they are all about, but if not, let me tell you. in these kind of posts I am letting you into my world behind Green Life In Dublin. If you tried your hand at blogging, you might know how much of hard work goes into it – everything from taking decent pictures to testing the products (six weeks for skincare, no less in my case!) to hours and hours of research on newly discovered brands, products and ingredients, to actually finding time to put the review together – it is just a lot, man. And don’t get me started on the other side of blogging, the upkeep of social media! Sometimes I am on top of things for weeks, but other times I am drained, not going to lie. Coupled with busy family life and work with their own stresses and struggles – that’s a lot of plates to spin. And I feel deeply tired. Today is the last day at kids school before Easter Break, and I am typing this straight after the school run, even before my breakfast, all while trying to remember my today’s to – do list in my head and trying to mentally calculate how to cram everything I need to do in less than two hours, because today is a short day at school. All of the rooms need hoovering and mopping, I have a mountain of clean clothes on the dryer racks staring at me right now, with loads of washing waiting. Hello, my name is Renata, and I am never caught up with the laundry, ever. My mind is drawing a blank on what to prepare for dinner later today, and let me confess I am not looking forward to the kids playdate later today. The friend stays over for four hours at a time, so you can imagine the noise and the mess – I am feeling drained just thinking of it. Now that I am typing all of this, I am kind of realizing I have been running on empty all this year past New Year’s Eve. You know Blue Monday? Well, it kind of is still going strong for me.. I think I need a break.
Ok, pull yourself together Renata, people are not here to read about you losing your marbles – and besides, when you are tired, learn to rest, not to quit. I thought of quitting for a second, when I had hell after posting a bad reaction to a certain brand’s product. What happened next, the brand owner immediately flagged me to this green beauty heavyweight, who came down like a ton of bricks on me – her email hurt far more than my burned face. The brand has to deal with negative publicity because of my actions, I now lost all my credibility and so on. I will spare you the details and the names, but I won’t ever forget it.Being far away from everything and everyone in this Green Isle, I keep forgetting that everyone else is connected and can and will use those connection to shut mouths. So, all this aside, let’s look at the things I have been doing/ reading/ watching /brainstorming lately? In no particular order, here they are.
The latest reading list can be seen on my IG post here:
See my thoughts on these books in the comments. Any recommendations for good books in the health and wellness realm are always welcome, so please feel free to share. And thanks for the Dublin City Libraries for making this possible π
I don’t know how about Your country, but here in Ireland climate change is happening in front of our very own eyes – it is 12th of April now, and yet the grass is frosted in the mornings, what is happening? I am not the gardener of any sort, but I think that is not a good news for plants &Β I assume it will affect the produce. The wind stays freezing cold even if the sun is shining, I haven’t felt brave enough to ditch my winter jacket yet. Imagine feeling hot and cold at the same time? Yes, that’s me most days. The last winter jacket I had from Next was not wind-proof at all, so I spent the last two winters shivering cold, even though Ireland is blessed with mild winters, the temps dropped below 0 for about a week only. Now that we are technically well into the spring, there’s still so much of colds and coughs going around. We missed quite a bit of school due to illness in winter, so despite feeling majorly under the weather, we are soldiering on – I give the kids NYR Organic Elderberry Syrup & NYR Organic Thyme & Honey Syrup – feeling kind of panicky, because I am on my last bottles of both. Mentally taking note to watch out for 20% off NYR sale, haha! We have had a couple of storms this winter, but thanks God nothing like The Beast From The East last year – that experience has left me scarred. Up until then I was lax about the demand-supply of products, but funny (not!) how a bit of snow can stop the entire country in it’s tracks when they’re not used to it! I still remember camping in the bedroom for a week straight because out east facing living room was 5*C FRIGGING DEGREES WITH NOT ONE BUT TWO HEATERS ON! I had to wear a coat and a hat inside to go cook some sort of a dinner, which consisted throwing something into the over and then quickly running back. It was even less funny when we ran out of the food on the day three, ventured out into the cold only to find all the nearest supermarkets and convenience shops closed within ten mile radius. (except for one Russian shop, which saved us then).Β So my mind, fuelled by the anxiety, is now panicky before every winter and I feel the need to stock up on absolutely everything I could possibly need to last us the winter. If you want to see what natural remedies, teas & homeopathic remedies I tend to stock on, let me know and I will be happy to put that blog post into schedule come next autumn. It wouldn’t make much sense before it, would it? For those of you with you with no patience (like me), there’s this post right here on my natural arsenal against colds & flu (with a fabulously bad pictures to match) and a post on OreganolP73, which is the natural antibiotic I use here. The products are mostly the same, if I find something that works, I stick with it.
Umm, for some reason I can’t see the captions on any IG posts when I browse on my laptop, only on my phone – does anyone else have this problem too, could you let me know?
I have been upping my trusty Tea Which Keeps Me Well In Winters – that applies for any time of the year, plus it is delicious, so I think you would benefit from reading that post too π Other tea favourites of the moment include matcha, Yogi Throat Comfort and Numi teas with turmeric, which are the best kind of turmeric teas around. I scored them very cheaply from Holland & Barrett a while ago, and now seeing how good they are, I would be happy to pay their worth – only to find out they have been discontinued. Just my luck, huh? Something else I am looking into in natural health realm, is liposomal vitamin C, a thing that is new for me – which is supposedly the best vitamin C on the market, made in a way that it bypasses the digestive tract and goes directly into the cells?? I have to be honest, I balked at the price of it – 50β¬ for 30, way out of my price range as it is, You need to take two packets per day, which makes it last for 15 days, meaning it’s 100β¬ for a month for me alone. So if I wanted to get it for my family for four winter months, I would need to spend I-need-to-sit-down-for-this 1600β¬!! I know, I know, you can’t put price on health, the health is a foundation of everything. But even if I had that much money to burn, I’d put it away for a house deposit if I am honest. So my curiosity was piqued immediately if there’s any way to DIY it, and turns out there is! There are lots of videos on Youtube, which I am not going to link because I don’t have makers permissions to do so, but now that you know, you can search for them yourself. Unfortunately all of them used a sonic jewelry cleaning machine (say what?) and I don’t have it. I have left my research there and then, with a thought to come back to it the first chance I get, which never happened… Anyone knows anything about DIYing it? Any tips, clues or links to clean food grade Vitamin C (not produced in China) would be appreciated. Also, any holistic tips on exposed gums? that’s another thing worrying me greatly. I have been doing this DIY oil pull from the Nadine Artemis awesome book The Renegade Beauty, which is basically coconut oil with probiotics and I am experimenting adding things like turmeric and coconut charcoal to it. If you want to see the rest of my super simple DIYs, see thisΒ post. Oh, by the way, this book is absolutely awesome, I highly recommend it. If you buy only one book this year, this is it π Your mind will be blown, promise.
I also took a bunch of new photos for my Natural Beauty In TKMaxx post on my recent visit to Blanchardstown store, so keep an eye for that, I am going to update the post really soon.
What else? I have been doing Oprah’s and Deepak Chopra’s 21 Days Meditation (it is still on, look for it on social media!) but I just can’t do it for the life of me.. Seemingly simple act of stopping my thoughts for 15 minutes is impossible for me. I try to do it while the kids are at school and I am home alone, but the monkey brain can’t be silenced no matter what I do – the best I have done is sitting still for about seven minutes and then getting up to continue doing stuff on my to do list. I have also been watching The Truth About Cancer The Eastern Edition and taking notes, but only from episode 6 only. Also I recently discovered Mark Hyman’s The Doctor’s Pharmacy podcasts, they sound good! Now that I think back, maybe I should have added all those with the reading list to my recent Favourites post?
What also should have been added to that favourites post is my new found love for creative journaling, something I also wasn’t aware of before. I always had a *thing* for cute stationery, notebook, diaries and such, finding them not quite suited for my needs, I am now jumping for joy at the thought of creating my own! I am working on my post of it, as I am still a beginner and not sure if I want to share my scribblings versus true art I see on other people’s pages. If you are like me and in any way inclined towards journaling, just search #creativejounaling or #bujo (short for bullet journaling) and your life will be forever changed π I predict you might part with your cash in your nearest art and craft store soon after, just like I did.
That’s it for today, see you here next Tuesday, my posting days. I think I will publish prepared posts in the next two weeks, but will skip the social media thing to give myself a bit of a break, I hope you are cool with that?
Please like and share my posts on social media, it really helps to get the green beauty word out β and you will forever have my gratitude!
Hi Lovelies,
How are all of you? I hope You are well?
Sunshine and improving weather had me all interested in make up again, so here I am putting together this simple and yet pretty natural make up look for you. Special shoutout to Live In The Light, whoΒ exclusively carries Pure Anada products and has sent me new lip & cheek rouge by Pure Anada to try. I chose a shade Isabella* and I am absolutely in love with it, can’t put it down ever since discovering it.
If you follow me for quite some time, you will know that I have so much love for Pure Anada, I have used their make up for years and they are always featured in my Yearly Favourites. Pure Anada products are really pure with no fillers, minimal beautiful ingredients, and they do work beautifully, so if you want a nutshell of a review, here it is – I am in love with the products and I will be back. And I need to purchase multiple backups of their mineral foundation as I never want to be without it! They do samples for only about a dollar of nearly all the products, and they are really generous samples, they will give you about two weeks of use I would say? And in that time you will definitely be able to make up your mind if the product is for you or not. My first order was full of samples, and I came back for full sizes for nearly everything, and I think you won’t regret it too. They say if you are ordering only samples, you can use the code “samples” to bring your shipping cost to only 2$ – so see if it works for you. It didn’t for me, but I am an international customer, plus the shipping is very affordable at round 7β¬ (that’s 10 Canadian dollars for you), so I didn’t mind too much.
I am not sure if all of their products are vegan, but they clearly state it in the description if they are. The company also does skincare and body care, as well as nail polish and adorable sets for little princesses.
I also wrote about Live In The Light online store too, all will be listed at the end of this post for those of you interested. For now, shall we start talking about the make up? I thought you will never ask!
Continue reading “Pure Anada Natural Make Up Look & Products Reviews”
Hi Lovelies,
Welcome back! And welcome if you are new here πππ
Umm, a little confession here – despite being so happy with the latest Love Lula beauty box (not one but two make up products, you people!) I am sort of late posting about it.. Insert blushing emoji here. Love Lula is the only subscription box I am getting, and I am really happy with it. I’ve been getting it close to two years now, and I have to say they do a very good job at including a good variety of products that are a delight to discover. Continue reading “Love Lula Beauty Box March 2019”
Hi Lovelies,
Welcome back! And if you are new here, welcomeΒ πππ
Today I am coming at you with a short post on what you can find in the beauty section in your local TK Maxx, or TJ Maxx for my US green beauty sisters. This has been my secret weapon for years, and I I hope more of you will discover this great place to shop and save a bit of money too. This is especially great for people like me, when you have no Wholefoods or Detox Market or any place indeed where you can get anything your heart desires under one roof in your city. A good few stores are now jumping on the natural beauty bandwagon, but when you actually look into the selection, it is oftentimes very expensive or just plain greenwashing brands and products. So what’s a gal to do? Apart from going online, check out TK Maxx! Continue reading “Natural Products in TK Maxx”
Hello Lovelies,
Welcome back! And if you are new here, welcome πππ
*photo courtesy of The Detox Market
Hope you are all well! Today my post is more aimed at my US and Canadian readers, which makes a big portion of my followers – THANKS GUYS!! . The main reason for my post is to let you know that TheDetoxMarket.comΒ & TheDetoxMarket.ca are both giving awayΒ awesome Bliss Bundle, valued at more than 240$ (300$ CA) that will be added to all orders 200$ US (260$ CA respectively) – no code needed. (One bundle per customer while stocks last, and some exclusions are applied, make sure to read the small print)Β Of course The Detox Market ship nearly worldwide, but bear in mind the postage ain’t cheap, so it is up to you to weigh your options
Let’s see what’s in the amazing bundle first and I will talk about my favourite products as a suggestions to what you might choose to get to that 200$ US/ 260$ CA order, ok?
And now for my recommendations in form of my own favourite products. I’ll list them all with the links to the reviews or links to posts where I talk more about them in great detail where apt. You just pick and choose whatever you want to get, ok?
My Holy Grail of all green beauty shampoos, and I never want to be without it ever again. Sounds quite dramatic, but hear me out – I have suffered two years of bad hair days trying to switch my shampoo to a clean version, and after two friggin years I wasn’t sure whether to cry and go back to the conventional shampoos or tear my hair out (or rather bird nest at that stage) and keep persevering with natural shampoos that never worked for me. Until RAHUA happened. See full review here and you will know that even though this is quite pricy for a shampoo, to me, it is worth every penny. Last for six months and never gives me any scalp issues 99% of the shampoos did. My Holy Grail if You will.
Rare Indigo is a miraculous product for my dermatitis prone skin. Get this, one sample pot of it was enough to impress me so much that I included it into my Yearly Favourites in 2016, the year I discovered it. I went on to purchase a few full sized versions of it since. I have also had The Bean mask and the The Vitality Elixir Facial Serum, both of them are dreamy. See full review here. The ingredients in each product are outstanding – and I dream of the day I will come into money and will be able to treat myself to the whole Mahalo collection without giving any thought to budgeting.
Another version of the balm with the ultra healing blue tansy in it (hence the blue colour). After a few samples I splurged on a full size this year, and I am in love!
W3LL People is a brand that has my heart, even though they left EU a while ago. Their Bio Tint Multi-action Moisturizer with SPF30 quickly took over as my favourite facial SPF product, and mascara is amazeballs too. Dreading the day I will run out of both. I am about to reviews them soon, but in the meantime check my thoughts in a bit more detail here and see me using a few products in this post titled Natural Make Up Look Using Natural & Organic Products – sans filters, no less!
Ps. W3LL People, if you are reading this – you need to come back to the EU ASAP! I’ll start a campaign if it needs to be! Yes, I am that serious.
Those Caffeine sheet masks are so great – they make your skin red carpet ready, no less. Whenever my skin is seriously misbehaving – red, blotchy, irritated, dry in places – I always reach for it and it never disappoints. See full review and my tips on how to make them work 3x longer here.
Another Holy Grail and a firm favorite – I am never without one for the last five year. I love all of them, but Moon Balm is my nr1 – it has different texture than the rest of them and it is perfect for nights and winter time.
Two things are absolute standouts for me – their Duet Perfecting Concealer and Pinkibelle, one of their Aria lipsticks. All of the line seems really nice and pure, samples I’ve had never disappointed me and I plan to pick up more products in the near future. Now let’s talk about the products I absolutely love – the concealer is the most full coverage concealer green beauty has to offer. It is one of the hardest working products in my stash – used daily for the last five years, or more, I can’t really remember when I discovered it. I tried numerous clean concealers since, but I always go back to it.Β A true Holy Grail indeed! See reviews on it here and here.Β Pinkibelle is more recent discovery and a favourite for very subjecting reason – it is my perfect nude I’ve been looking for for so many years! See me modeling it here.
Living Libations products are one of a kind when it comes to quality, once you will try, soon you will want everything! Sea Buckthorn Best Skin Ever, Dew Dab, shampoos, Zest The Best, Everybody Loves Sunshine with Zinc and dental products are what I’ve tried to date, and I am in love with all of them. Can I have a lifetime subscription to all of them please? And every product I haven’t tried, please?
RMS Beauty Mod Palette
Cult classic in the green beauty, this brand needs no introduction. See me working their Mod palette here.
Another great natural make up brand I’ve used and never reviewed – oops! Love their foundation, primer and multiples.
Any of their supplements is great, and now that are on sale, even better!
Ah, Lotus Wei – you had my heart since the first spritz and swipe… Not only these flower essences work on a cellular level, bu they also contain essential oils and smell ahmaaazing (flower essences don’t smell of anything interestingly enough) and I want to own every single one of them! Review here for those of you interested.
Amazing line for troubled skin like mine. The cleanser is really gentle and their Bio Regenerating Rosehip Oil is stuff of the legends – seriously, it has been on every editor’s “best products” list. For a good reason I’d add, it is seriously the best. It contains oil not from the rosehip seeds, but from the fruit itself too, making it superior to other rosehip oils on the market. One bottle lasts over a year, and if you are looking for natural alternative for retinols, look no further!
I was a lucky duck to win this via Instagram competition, and I have to say I love it a lot. Does not irritate my sensitive skin at all. This is one of the products that you can FEEL working on your skin – enzyme exfoliant will reveal new skin underneath in no time. A repurchase for sure!
And if you still will have some space left over, you can get either gua sha or jade roller – you know you want to π
Now, on your marks! Ready, steady, shop!
Don’t forget to tag me on any of the social media and let me know what did you got – I want to know π
Please like and share my posts on social media, it really helps to get the green beauty word out β and you will forever have my gratitude!
Tata for now, see you here Tuesday, my regular posting day.
Hello Lovelies,
Welcome back! And if you are new here, welcome πππ
How are all of you, I hope you are well?
I had my eye on Sarya Couture MakeUp as soon as the brand appeared in Love Lula – it is a couture cosmetics line created with the finest natural and organic ingredients, so naturally it called my name. Imagine my delight when Love Lula asked me if I’d like to try some of the products – are you guys kidding me, yes please! After a little while of testing the products, here I am with my first impressions review and a make up look. Want to know more? You are in the right place!
Continue reading “Sarya Couture Make Up First Impressions Review & Make Up Look [AD]”
![Inner Senses Quiet Earth Mask Review [AD]](http://www.greenlifeindublin.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/IMG_20190405_123532__04-1200x1200.jpg)
![Love Lula Beauty Box April 2019 & A (mini) Giveaway! [AD]](http://www.greenlifeindublin.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/ll-box-april-1200x1200.jpg)
![Sarya Couture Make Up First Impressions Review & Make Up Look [AD]](http://www.greenlifeindublin.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/sarya-1-1200x1200.jpg)