Dr. Woods Shea Vision Liquid Castile Soap | A Dr. Bronner Dupe for Cleaning Brushes

A possibly good enough or equally fantastic dupe for Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Castile Soap  is available locally.  It was Anna of the YouTube channel Vivianna Does Makeup who mentioned using that to shampoo her brushes.  Liquid castile soaps for some reason, no derogatory angle meant, paint the picture of Amish origin for me which is a good thing.  They’re supposed to be 100% natural, completely free of nasties, and reliable cleansing multitaskers…not just for yourself…but oh yeah for your STUFF as well as an all around cleaner.  The way liquid castile soap is used is it’s to be diluted 1 part product to 4 parts water (a smaller part diluted is recommended when for yourself). I picked up these 2 variants of Dr. Woods Shea Vision Castile soap just  a few days ago from Healthy Options for ergh, how much…need to double check if Php275 or Php375, I’ll edit it in.  What I like about the Shea Vision castile soaps of Dr. Woods is they’ll strip the dirt and grime but rehydrate or moisturize non-greasily with glycerin and shea butter.   I got the peppermint scented one to match my J&C Spot Cleaning Solution which is also minty and I got the milder fragrance free baby formula just in case.  The baby fragrance-free formula is practically the same make, just without Peppermint Oil, and is a little less viscuous and more gloopy but works just as well.  The baby variant would also be wonderful if used as a substitute for detergent on intimate apparel like your delicates if you’re the sort that gets skin reactions to laundry detergent.  What I love is that these lather nicely even if they’re free of parabens, pthalates and sulfates.

 

INGREDIENTS: Purified Water, Saponified Coconut, Hemp, and Olive oils (w/ retained glycerin), organic shea butter, Vitamin E, (Peppermint Oil), Sea salt, Citric Acid, and Rosemary Extract. (Certified Organic by Ecocert S.A.)

For my makeup brushes I measured 2 overflowing caps of product diluted in 1 cup of water.  That 1 cup solution was good enough to clean about 10-12 powder and foundation brushes, the biggest tools which use up the most solution.  They rinse clean and when they dry what’s important is my brushes feel like they did when I first bought them.  To find out how I wash my brushes read my brush cleansing post here and just substitute this solution for the Joy solution and use the same method.  I use olive oil to clean my tiny lip and eyeliner brushes.   I’d been looking for a good makeup brush deep cleansing alternative that was more suited for facial brushes in contrast to dishwashing detergent like Joy Antibac (some people mind when they find out brushes were cleansed with detergent) and this range by Dr. Woods seemed to tick all the checkboxes.  Earlier, I used this to clean something other than makeup brushes.  Epic proof fail in the sense that I didn’t take a before shot of how grimy these two pouches looked already before I washed them, but believe me when I say it did the job well and they smelt so nicely of fresh peppermint when I held the dry pouches to my nose.

Today I used 4 caps of the Peppermint Castile soap in about less than a liter of water in a small wash bowl to soak my beansprout illustrated pouches which were due for a wash.  What I like about this for my utility pouches is Dr. Woods soap will remove any dirt but it won’t bleach the natural canvas of my pouches and it won’t fade the illustrations either.  I soaked these for about 2 hours then after I gently rinsed and hand wrung them of excess water then used a hairdryer to get them dry.  To check these out look them up at your local Healthy Options boutique.  This Liquid Castile soap stuff is therapeutic to work with because it’s so gentle and I now actually am mentally making a list of more stuff to clean…aha, I have one more brush set that needs work (rubs palms with glee).

Rethinking Skincare & Application | Top Advice From the Top

After reading hundreds of blogs, talking to local professionals, and pouring over professional sites about skincare I was steadily becoming a self-righteous “skinnie” (with sensitive skin) believing full well that I probably knew a lot ’til I came across these references and felt like I got my ear twisted. I watched the following two videos (which I will link in of course in the post), firstly about skincare products with the unsinkable Caroline Hirons and secondly a Part 1 ITG cleansing video intimately done with world renowned and accredited facialist Isabelle Bellis. First off, let’s hear some skin principles and recommended products. Please know you shouldn’t be pressured to get THESE exact products just listen to what you need to avoid (although we would get them all if we could in a heartbeat wouldn’t we?) Caroline Hirons, the revered skincare brand expert and editor of the Beautymouth.com lovingly pushed presents her product picks to Nic and Sam Chapman aka the pro MUA Pixiwoo sisters on their BodyTalkDaily YouTube channel

“Trained in over 100 brands and a globally qualified advanced facialist.
Developed bespoke facials and trained teams internationally for top brands in the UK, USA and Far East. Now working as a Consultant to brands and retailers in the Beauty Industry. Advises brands on the route into market, where they should be selling and why and puts brands into those retailers.” – Beautymouth.com

My UK Spring Beauty Giveaway! | Nationwide ‘Til May 31, 2013

What rocks this nationwide (Philippines only) UK beauty giveaway is it is a leap forward into spring (globally niweiz), it will blind you with coral pink, and frankly these bits of beauty aren’t readily available in retail here. I still haven’t made up my mind on whether I should sneak in past all of you and join in myself under an alias LOL (I kid alright).

LOVELY LOOT:

• Soap & Glory Pulp Friction Body Scrub 250ml £8.00
• L’Oreal Elnett Hairspray (Extra Strength) travel size 75ml £2.39
• Jo Malone Travel Candle(Lime Basil & Mandarin) 60g £22.00
• Rimmel London Apocalips Lip Lacquer (Stellar) 5.5ml £5.99
• Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer, (Medium3 /MAC NC30) £4.19
• Maybelline SuperStay 14-hr Lipstick (Stay With Me Coral)
• L’Oreal False Lash Telescopic Mascara WP (Black) £10.99
• Givenchy Bloom Compact Mirror, w/ red velvet sleeve (gift w/ purchase)

All this stuff is seriously soooo hard to give away. To join simply follow the instructions given by the Rafflecopter widget at the end of this post, there are 3 required actions and 1 bonus action for more entry points. In the meantime click Read More to jump to close-up photos of the prizes and what I know about the praises sung of them. The trivia about a couple of these is quite compelling. The Rafflecopter mechanics follow immediately after.

Soap & Glory Sugar Crush Body Scrub | Hello Yum Hello Smooth

One of the brands I was way too excited to get my hands on in London was Soap & Glory a beauty range that actually looks like a bath & body first cousin of Benefit Cosmetics…they’re not related though. These guys do bath and body like nobody’s business.  They do an excellent blend of clean and gourmande scents with a balance that’s uniquely hard to come by.  This Sugar Crush Body Scrub seriously does not smell sickeningly sweet to me…it’s a yummy, tart sort of sweet.  It makes me think of those sweet cola jelly bottles with a zesty dash of tart lime.

I made a mad dash for this at the Soap & Glory shelf and contemplated getting this or the body wash.  I thought having the scrub which is more “touchworthy” in experience would set me off better the first time around. It’s got moisturizing and smoothing almond oil which I fully believe in aside from the scrubby bits of brown sugar and macadamia grains. The better way to use this so you get a thorough scrub and don’t waste product is to not have the shower running while applying this. Slather it on and rub generously…it isn’t painfully abrasive but it’s abrasive enough to be your smooth operator. As you will see in a bit I soooo needed this scrub right now as I delightfully thumb-type this from Norway. For a moment for truth’s sake, let me show you the semi-disgusting reason why I’m ever so glad I bought this when I did (believe me this was the compromise…showing my leggings instead of my scaly legs).

Don’t.judge.me…lol, and I have been bathing don’t you dare suggest that I wasn’t! What you’re seeing right there are my leggings having been pulled inside out so you can probably guess in what sort of state my lower legs were…it was not a pretty sight. I’d been faithful in moisturizing my face and hands here in Europe but I’m afraid I can’t say the same for my body. I used the scrub 2 nights ago and it set me straight for a day and a half but coming to Norway really dried up my legs again so it was time to convene with this star find once more.

“Use in the shower once, twice, or three times weekly, depending on the level of scaliness you struggle with. (Four times-even-if you’ve ever been labelled ‘old lizard legs’.)”

Two hours ago I used the Sugar Crush Body Scrub on damp legs with my feet in warm water sitting on the side of a hotel tub. It’s best on legs that aren’t too wet so the dense thick pasty consistency with the grains can exfoliate to the fullest. Whats lovely is you don’t just get the physical exfoliation…the almond and lime oil just makes the job a smooth, moisturizing, and nourishing experience and once you rinse your legs off you get a soft supple feeling that suggests no lotion required…but because we’re in a really dry country I still finished off my legs with my fave Nivea Baby Smoothy Cream which you can get in Manila. However you could walk out the door without doing so…because this is just a really fantastic scrub that moisturizes and doesn’t just exfoliate. Love this stuff.

Maui Island Secret Browning Oil – Will Knock Your Socks Off

Sooooo…yeah, another tanning oil for you, but please know that when I feature something somewhat redundant it just means I was blown away.  Some guests who were common friends arrived at the resort I’m currently at and one of them, a lovely lady named Sunday, planted herself by me on shore as I was tanning.  She had an arsenal of tanning oils at her disposal and she ever so randomly planted  herself beside me (also probly’ coz my mother headlined my tanning quest) offered one of them and said if I recall correctly (don’t match me per word) “Have you tried this one?  Ito daw talaga ang the best.  It’s made in  Hawaii…someone told me that Rissa Mananquil, you know her?…also uses it.”  Indeed, leave it to the Hawaiians, people of perfect tans, to bring forth some of the best tanning oils in the world…and I’m not just talking about Hawaiian Tropics.  Meet the so-they-say revered original Maui Island Secret Browning Oil, word has somewhat gotten around for awhile, and it’s finally gotten to me.

Key Ingredients: Kukui Nut Oil, Passion Flower Oil, Macadamia Nut Oil, Aloe, Maui Coffee Extract, Green Tea Extract, Vitamins A, C, and E.

“Our Browning Formula promotes the fastest, darkest natural sun tan while hydrating your skin and infusing it with nourishing oils and vitamins. We recommend that you have a base tan before using this as it contains no SPF. Combine with SPF for extra sun-sensitive areas where needed.”

Before I talk about this Maui wowie, need to get this other thought out of the way, first.  As you regular readers know I’ve been testing out another previous tanning oil I posted and honestly, I actually wasn’t disappointed with the the initial results considering that Ritual’s Real Tan Browning Oil is 100% organic.  As expected the results were NOT as instantaneous as more chemically charged, mass-produced oils like Hawaiian Tropics (sorry I haven’t posted a picture of myself, I will soon) since Real Tan by Ritual has an extremely short ingredients list. Read more to know why I now prefer this over the previous tanning oil I first blogged about.