Alabu Skin Care - A Giveaway!

Alabu Skin Care is a family run, all natural skin care business. Founded by Maryclaire from a desire for a more simple way of life, Alabu has now grown into an incredible line of soaps, lip balms, moisturizers and more!

More and more people today are also realizing that Maryclaire's vision is one that they have as well. However, while searching for more natural, more organic, and eco friendly products, we are usually left empty handed or having to pay large amounts of money for them.

Alabu offers a great line of products and they are all natural. Every single one. You can trust that the goats milk soap or the almond lotion you are using come from the best, safest ingredients out there. In fact, all of their soaps are made in small batches and used by the family themselves. Every order is guaranteed to be the quality that people have come to expect from Alabu.

For review I received two bars of soap (Baby Me and the Oat and Honey), two lotions (the naturally preserved in original and almond), the vanilla lip balm, and the original Shea body butter.

I have been using their products for a couple months now and all I can say is that I love it! I switched to natural soap about a year ago, but this has been the best I have tried. The Oatmeal and Honey is exfoliating and has a more rough texture that I love. With bar soap, I like it to have some texture. It is very moisturizing and that is saying a lot due to the fact that I have eczema and very alligator like skin. The Baby Me soap is for the boys and is very gentle, unscented, and also extremely moisturizing. Both boys use it and have no reactions what so ever. As a mom, it is so important that my children use the safest, most natural products available.

The lotions come in a 4oz bottle which is perfect for your purse. I also keep some by our guest sink. The original is unscented and very gentle. I used it on Easton after bath one night while he was having an eczema flair up on his face. While it didn't make it go away, it didn't aggravate it either. That is huge! So this is the lotion you want if you have the most sensitive of skin. The almond scented is my favorite because, to me, it smells like chocolate covered cherries. Seriously it smells good enough to eat. The fragrance goes on strong but fades quickly so you don't have to worry about an intense fragrance all day. It is such a treat after I wash my hands. I will say however, that it is a lighter moisturizer and is not for intense dryness. It is great for the every day wear but not a really thick lotion.

The Shea Body butter stick on the other hand, is for those really dry spots. I use it on my elbows and knees and occasionally on my hands. It is a bit greasy but absorbs very quickly and really works great. I love this product so much, as again, I have some seriously dry skin. Plus you cant go wrong with a roll on product. No mess!

Last but not least, is the lip balm. Now here is where I am super picky. I have a brand of lip balm that I use and I only use that brand. However, this one worked just as great as my go to and I loved the vanilla flavor. It is very subtle and Adam took it for himself since it wasn't too girly like my others! I loved it and it really works on some of the worst chapped lips.

When it comes to natural skin care, Alabu is awesome. I love their soaps and light weight moisturizers so much but my favorite was the body butter and the lip balm. We really tested these products out over the winter and they far exceeded my expectations. I have to say thank you to Alabu for making quality, natural skin care that is actually affordable.

The best part of all of this?? One of YOU will win a $50 gift certificate to their online store!! How amazing is that! You know that summer is fast approaching and you will need some great skin care!

All you have to do is visit Alabu online and leave me a comment telling me what you would spend the money on! That's it!

For extra entries (leave a separate comment for each):
1. Follow my blog with Google friend connect
2. Follow me on twitter
3. Tweet about the giveaway and leave me the link (can be done daily)
4. blog about the giveaway and leave me a link

Giveaway will end on April 22, 2011 and the winner will be announced April 25, 2011 . Good luck!

beauty is a beast (the most random post ever)

So in an effort for a little self improvement, I decided to give myself a pedicure. It had been a long time to say the least. Well my friends, want to see what a pedicure gone wrong looks like? here ya go.
Yes that is blood. Nice. It took four hours for it to stop bleeding.
Beauty is a beast, ya know?

Speaking of beasts, we have a gnat problem. It would be funny but it is driving me crazy. Big fat gnats, flying around taunting me all day long. I kill at least 10 a day but they keep coming back. We have never had bug issues here. Ever. Not flies, roaches, spiders. Nothing. But now we have gnats. Big fat gnats.

On a slightly less neurotic topic, have you seen the new releases from Anthropologie? (swoon) I love them.

And that is all. I told you it was random. What do you expect when I wake up at 4 every morning. Why do I wake up at 4 you ask?
Finley. does. not. sleep.
He wakes up at four every morning and will yowl until you wake up too. He has food, water, clean litter, and a snuggly bed with a heating pad. He wants someone to keep him company. So a toddler that wakes we up multiple times every night and a kitten that wakes me for the day way before I should ever be up. Win win if you ask me!
If you have any tips please let me know. I'm desperate. As if a crazy random post like this doesn't scream "help me" enough on its own.

clean and green-baking soda (the good, the bad, the ugly)

Can you guess what this little cutie and I have in common?
We both have horrible hair issues.

Hair is never something I have loved about myself. Limp, baby fine, and with a tendency for dryness, I have never really liked my hair. Then there are my "baby hairs" that choose to stick out of my head like lightning rods at all the right moments. Yep, my hair and I are best friends.

So when I heard about the baking soda epidemic going around and how fabulous it was, I had to try it out. Not only was replacing your shampoo and conditioner with baking soda super green, it also saves you some green. Hair care products can get expensive especially when you use designer products. Or Head and Shoulders. Just sayin.

Anyways, everyone I knew who tried it had rave reviews. Their hair was moisturized, soft, silky, clean, and chemical free. Some said it gave new life to their dull ugly hair. Well, sign me up please!! Maybe I too could be a no poo convert.

So, I tried it.


Before I share my results, I wanted to talk about baking soda and how great it is.
I use it all the time in various ways. To clean with (it acts as a fab scrubbing agent that is also totally safe for small children and the environment), I use it to bake with (obviously), you can use it added to your toothpaste to help whiten your teeth (just dip a tooth brush, with toothpaste already on it, right into some baking soda), and it can even be for you hair as a great clarifying booster.

When I used it as a booster to my shampoo I was blown away by how great it was. I added about a teaspoon to my regular amount of shampoo and mixed together to make my paste. I had simply brought a little cup into the shower and just dumped it into my hand with the shampoo. I then washed as usual and then conditioned really well as baking soda can be drying. The results were amazing! My hair was so soft, like baby soft. It made me think even more about these ladies (and men) who had replaced their shampoo with it completely. If a little was this great, surely a lot would be even better!! My oh my how this thought gets me into trouble every time!

So back to my results. For me it was horrible. I'm just going to be honest here. Not everything that works for some will work for you.
I did it several times, using different formulas in hopes to make it work.
My hair had never felt more dry. Well once, when I spent 12 hours at the salon getting my almost black hair bleached to platinum. That dry. It felt like straw and was horrid. My scalp itched beyond belief and also broke out. I even tried a vinegar rinse as suggested to help condition and it did nothing but made me smell like a pickle all day.
I wanted to love it. I really did. Unfortunately, I am just now starting to get my hair back to normal. There is A LOT of deep conditioning going on at my house.

I have pretty healthy hair despite it lacking movie star quality, but it takes a lot of conditioner to make it that way. Perhaps if you have naturally healthy hair and don't have to use conditioner every shower, then this could be perfect for you. Just be careful. Baking soda, I still love you and all your great uses, but my hair is just not one of them.

I want to go green and do my part. And I do every day. I am slowly converting all areas of our life to be more eco conscious. But at the same time it has to work for us.

So I suppose there is no miracle cure for my hair after all. But that's okay! Duck hair is totally going to become the next trend. Just wait and see.