Welcome back! And welcome, if you are new here xoxo
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!”
Welcome back! And welcome if you are new here xoxo
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 🙂
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 & 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). 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 🙂 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 – 50€ 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 100€ 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 1600€!! 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 this 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 🙂 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 🙂 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 – and you will forever have my gratitude!
Green Life In Dublin, green beauty and lifestyle blog
Enjoy my content? AÂ tip into my PayPal Tip Jar -Â 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.
Welcome back! And if you are new here, welcome xoxo
Pure Anada make up look
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 (Code GREENLIFEINDUBLIN15 saves You 15%) who 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 7€ (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!
Welcome back! And welcome if you are new here xoxo
Love Lula Beauty Box March 2019
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”
Welcome back! And if you are new here, welcome ???
Natural Products in TK Maxx
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”
Welcome back! And if you are new here, welcome xoxo
Sarya Couture Makeup review
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!
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?
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!
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
Green Life In Dublin, green beauty and lifestyle blog
Enjoy my content? AÂ tip into my PayPal Tip Jar -Â 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.
Welcome back! And if you are new here, welcome xoxo
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 posthere.
Today I am coming at you with a review of Rahua Voluminous Shampoo. If you want to hear my opinion and experience with it, you are in the right place 🙂
Welcome back! And welcome, if you are new here ???
Please vote for me in the #UKBA19 Awards in the Green & Eco category
In my near decade of blogging I have never asked anything of you, my lovely readers, but now I will – could you please take a minute (not even that, a few seconds) of your time to vote for me in #UKBA19 awards?
THANKS IN ADVANCE ?
All you have to do is click a heart next to my blog, Green Life In Dublin, which can be found in the second row.
![Sarya Couture Make Up First Impressions Review & Make Up Look [AD]](https://www.greenlifeindublin.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/sarya-1-1200x1200.jpg)
