Yep – still on my quest for a great natural mascara. This time, it led me to Sephora where I found Tarte Lash Hugger mascara. Love that it’s free of parabens, mineral oil, propylene glycol, phthalates, sulfates, fragrance and dyes. Sounds familiar, right? Right away I was excited. So how does it compare to the Kiehl’s Mascara that I reviewed earlier?

First off, the ingredients list is much smaller and appears more natural. Another plus. But the application of the product is totally different from Kiehl’s. As I had said, Kiehl’s goes on thick and a bit clumpy. But it definitely made my short and straight lashes stand out. I would say the Tarte mascara is more, hmmm… refined? It’s not as heavy and the brush has a lot of very fine bristles so after one coat, my lashes are less dramatic than Kiehl’s – but also noticeably less clumpy. So overall, I think I would have to go with Tarte as my “go to” mascara, but Kiehl’s is good when I need to put on make-up fast and am less worried about how natural it looks.

I think I can now put this search on hold. I am happy with Tarte Lash Hugger, and at $18 for a 0.19 oz tube (at Sephora), I will want to use this up before I invest in checking out another mineral mascara.

This is a fun little special this week. Just in time for holiday travel (ok – it won’t be in time for Thanksgiving but it will be for December travel!). We are offering your choice of TWO travel sized products with every order of $25 or more.

Now, for those of you who are already Garden Girl customers, you know that we usually pop in a travel-sized sample with every order. Well, this week you get TWO and you get to CHOOSE which ones you get! Choose from:

• You’re Fresh face wash for normal/combination skin
• Oasis for Faces face wash for dry/sensitive skin
• At Long Last face wash for oily/problem skin
• Even Ste(pH)en toner
• Nature Nurture face cream with AHA’s for normal/oily skin
• No Worries face cream for dry/sensitive skin
• Starting Over microderm scrub
• Cookies + Cream face masque with vanilla beans
• Break Free fruit acid gel
• Chill Out, Alive, Jump Start OR Mellow lotion
• Hand it to You hand cream
• Hugs vanilla body butter

Want to find out how to get the free products? Sign up for our email list by clicking on the link on our homepage at www.gardengirlskincare.com. Hurry – the offer expires on Saturday, November 28th at midnight!

I get a lot of people asking me what products I use around the house, so I thought I’d make a quick post that summarizes all of the things that I use. I’d love to hear from you if you have other suggestions!

• Vinegar/Water solution (I know you’ve heard me go on and on about this one before so I won’t go into detail – suffice it to say that most general cleaning is done using a spray bottle filled with this. Bathrooms, kitchen, wood floors etc.)
• Trader Joe’s Sage All Purpose Cleaner (good general cleaning spray if I want to use something other than vinegar and water)
• Bon Ami powder (my mom has always used this – it’s excellent for cleaning pots and pans, tubs/showers/sinks/toilet bowls etc. It’s at the grocery store in a yellow can, right next to Ajax and Comet)
• Borax (a great all-purpose powder that you can use to boost the power of your laundry detergent, and you can also use it for scrubbing bathrooms)
• Baking Soda (zillions of uses for cleaning and freshening)
• Green Works toilet bowl cleaner (this is a new find for me – it’s easy to use and very fresh and clean smelling, and surprisingly powerful.)
• Trader Joe’s powder dishwasher detergent (works almost as well as Cascade but it’s earth-friendly and doesn’t have those harsh chemicals)
• Trader Joe’s Laundry Detergent – OR Kirkland Natural Laundry Detergent from Costco. (Both are great! And both work well with front-loading washers).

I know, that was not an especially exciting post, but it gives you a good list of some products to check out if you haven’t tried them already.

The thing that I’m dying to try is a steam cleaner. I’ve got my eye on one, so hopefully soon I will be able to check that out and let you know what I think. If you have one – I’d love to hear from you!

I have been curious about Carol’s Daughter hair products for awhile, so I finally decided to try one. Carol’s Daughter products are typically for ethnic hair, however I have read on many beauty sites that most of the products are great for all types of hair. And when you read the ingredients – at least for the Mimosa Hair Honey – you can see that they are great, natural ingredients:

Zea Mays (Corn) Oil, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender), Salvia Officinalis (Sage) Leaf,Trifolium Pratense (Red Clover), Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary), Rosa Damascena (Rose-petal Red), Malva Moschata (Malva-Blue), Urtica Diocia (Nettle), Beeswax, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) Fruit, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Fragrance, Alkana Tinctoria Root, Annatto Seed.

This product has no water in it so it is actually free of preservatives, which is a bonus!

I was looking for something quick and easy to use after drying my hair to soften the ends and add a little shine. I didn’t want anything that had silicone or other icky ingredients – I wanted something natural. So my search led me to Hair Mimosa Honey – it is designed to reduce frizz and add shine.

Well, as you can see, there is certainly a lot of oil in the product. I had read on some review sites that you only need a little – and that is absolutely true. A tiny bit goes a very long way. If you use too much, you can quickly make your hair look like it needs to be washed again. So literally I lightly run my finger across the top of the product (which has the consistency of a thick salve). Then I rub that in my hands then onto the ends of my hair and then through the rest of my hair.

So what do I think? I would say it is pretty good for a natural styling product. I’d give it maybe 3 of 5 stars. Not amazing, but definitely not bad. But the thing is, I have very thick, coarse hair. I’m thinking that this would not work well on fine or thin hair – it’s pretty oily and I would guess that this would make thin hair look greasy.

I’d say that I would recommend it if you have thick, coarse and/or dry hair and you’re looking for something to make it softer and silkier after you style it. But I’ll still be on the lookout for something that I don’t have to be so careful using.

On a side note, I was disappointed in seeing that they use fragrance which I’m guessing isn’t phthalate-free. I actually find the scent a little strong. It’s supposed to be citrus-y but it seems like citrus mixed with a perfume-y scent – not really my thing…

I know – I’m on my soapbox again. But seriously, this BPA thing is getting bigger and bigger. This week, the results of a study of the impact of BPA exposure on humans was released. And the results are not good.

In case you aren’t familiar with BPA – or bisphenol A – it is a chemical compound that is a synthetic estrogen. It is found in all kinds of products including neoprene water bottles and other #7 plastics, as well as the plastic lining in canned foods. It is so prevalent that it has been found in the urine of 93% of the US population. And it’s something I have blogged about many times in the past.

Well, the chemical companies have been hiding behind the idea that there hasn’t been any proof that BPA is harmful to humans (only animals). So according to today’s Washington Post, researchers in China did a study of “634 male workers at four factories in China who were exposed to elevated levels of BPA. They followed the men over five years and compared their sexual health with that of male workers in other Chinese factories where BPA was not present.”

Guess what? There was a clear link between the men exposed to BPA and erectile dysfunction as well as other issues. The Post article stated: “The men handling BPA were four times as likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction and seven times as likely to have difficulty with ejaculation.” Uh oh. The most troubling finding was that the thing is that the men started having issues within months of starting to work at these factories. It was not something that needed years to build up.

So here’s my 2 cents, despite the fact that there have been numerous other studies showing the dangers of BPA exposure, this one – with its connection to “ED”, will get the most attention… But regardless, it’s time for this issue to get some serious attention. BPA needs to be banned. Period. Banning it in baby bottles and formula cans is a start but we need to just ban it across the board.

Meantime, continue to avoid #7 plastics unless it is clearly labeled as “bpa free” – and also try to minimize your use of canned foods.

If you want to learn more, check my other posts about bisphenol A.

Yesterday I picked my share of a 1/4 steer of local grass fed beef from a small local farm. My sister was the coordinator of this adventure and when she mentioned it to me I told her we definitely wanted in. I was very curious about what we’d get – how much would it be, how would it be packaged, would we have to do any of our own cuts, how would it taste etc. So when I went to my sister’s to get it, I was surprised at how “normal” it all was.

The farm from which we bought the beef, Berry Hill Farm of Sherborn, MA, raises the cows on their property and feed them a very healthy grass diet. They send it to an FDA approved facility. Then what we get is actually pretty “old school”. It comes to us frozen in packages wrapped in freezer wrap and labeled clearly with the cut. We got ground beef, a sirloin steak, a little tenderloin, some stew beef, some stir-fry beef, a pot roast, and a couple of small steaks.

So cool! Tonight we cooked our sirloin steak. Grass fed beef is definitely different from what you get at the supermarket. It tastes a little more “natural” – or at least that’s the only way I can think of putting it. But that’s not in a bad way. It was delicious! It’s funny – we aren’t big meat eaters in general. We stick to a lot of meatless meals or poultry. So this will be a lot of beef for us – but once I started to research, I understood the benefits of this type of beef.

Grass fed beef:

• has less total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and calories
• has more vitamin E, beta-carotene, vitamin C, and a number of health-promoting fats, including omega-3 fatty acids and “conjugated linoleic acid” or CLA
• has been raised on feed of grass. Commercial beef are typically raised on genetically modified grain and soy, and are often given ‘filler’ feed that is cheap and plentiful including municipal garbage, stale pastry, chicken feathers, and candy. Eew. For real.

There’s a great site that is a terrific resource: www.eatwild.com. If you are interested in exploring the possibility of getting local beef (or poultry, eggs, etc) this site can connect you with resources in your area. It also has some great information on the benefits of eating locally grown meat and poultry. There’s also a great article from Mother Earth News that speaks to the benefits of grass fed beef.