Eco-Chick · The modern girl's guide to living green & fabulous.

Budhi Teen Care: Foundation for Healthier Skin

I’m obsessed with washing my face. I never go a night without it. No matter how exhausted, or what a late night I’ve had, I go to the sink and take all my makeup off, and make sure to put on a ton of moisturizer. I don’t do it just because I love to go to bed with fresh, clean skin, but I do it because it is essential as a teen, and for skin down the road! I was blessed to be free from acne, but I have extremely dry skin (and it only worsens come the colder months).

No girl wants to worry about their skin issues, but the search for a product that works is difficult. With so many different products out there choosing the one for you can be a challenge. But, Budhi Teen Care might be the solution! Budhi is the Sanskrit word for intellect, and makes skin and hair products for teens so they can be confident, and not feel conflicted over their skin issues, plus they are made with EcoCert certified ingredients, which means they are made with nontoxic ingredients that are good for skin and the environment.
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Skin Deep Moisture: Yamerra Shea Butter

Sun and swim leaves skin parched on these uber hot days. Recently a friend turned me onto an organic line of shea butters that leaves skin smooth and hydrated. Using organic raw shea butter, essential oils, vitamin E, and organic nutritive botanicals, Yamerra has created a homemade line of body products that provide moisture and lightly fragranced skin.

In flavours such as honey vanilla, tangerine grape, mango, and jasmine sage, these unique body butters are unlike any naturally scented creams or butters I’ve tried in the past. The honey vanilla is my favorite. There is nothing reminiscent of synthetic vanilla in this mildly woodsy blend of honey, vanilla, and jojoba.

I love to support local, small-batch production that avoids preservatives, parabens, phthalates, and artifical fragrances. Yamerra manages to avoid all the bad stuff, and you come out smelling like a jasmine sage or vanilla honey dream. Yamerra is super yum.

Summer Skin: Smooth and Gorgeous, Naturally

Don’t let summer get you melted and messy; try some natural skin care to enhance what you’ve got and keep it simple. Nature’s Basin is a new online store for natural and organic skin care products and makeup; here’s what Kendra Smith of the site recommends for the steamy months.

Wear sunscreen: It’s the number one skin care tip all year round, but especially in summer. Even with all the recent hubbub about people being deficient in Vitamin D (which the body synthesizes with sun exposure) sunscreen is essential protection. Since there are concerns about many synthetic sunscreen ingredients as well as mineral ingredients that have been broken down into nano particles, go for a mineral brand that doesn’t contain nano-ized ingredients, like SPF 30 Sunscreen from Soleo Organics.

Fake it, don’t bake it with bronzer. A mineral powder tinted to color skin like the sun instantly wakes up the face and makes you look “done” with little effort. Apply it in double C shapes on each side of the face, from the forehead around the eye to the cheekbone, and then down and around again to the jawline. You can follow up with a bit applied to the nose, if you like, since this replicates how sun falls naturally on the face. Add blush to the apples of the cheeks to complete the look. We like Christopher Drummond Natural Makeup Bronzing Powder.

Switch to lighter daily moisturizers and makeup. Increased sweat in the summer heat can make for skin that’s more supple and moist than in winter, but sometimes more clogged and dirty as well. Lighter makeup and daily moisturizer can help skin keep its natural balance. Trade foundation for a tinted moisturizer, like Suki Tinted Active Moisturizer, and be sure to keep up with your cleansing regimen.

On the other hand, continue to use the super-emollient hand and foot creams you employed to keep your skin soft in winter. Because your hands and feet are more exposed now that summer’s here, extra-moisturizing creams will keep them looking pretty. Exfoliate hands and feet first to get them ready to receive the moisture (extra dead skin can get in the way). Products to try: Weleda Birch Body Scrub or Suzanne Aux Bains Gentle Body Scrub, Weleda Organic Foot Balm, and Suzanne Aux Bains Nourishing Hand Cream.

Bambola Beauty Review: Premium Natural Skin Care

Okay, I’ll admit it. For all my tinkering in homemade natural beauty products, there are times when those recipes go horribly wrong… like the exfoliating citrus mask that gave me an ugly rash the week before my wedding. Some things are best left to the pros, and let me tell you, if you’re going to trust your skin to any company, you might as well trust it to a team of chemists working with all gentle, safe, natural ingredients – like Bambola Beauty.

Founded by a mother/daughter duo with decades of combined experience in natural skin care, Bambola Beauty offers a range of premium products that allow you to customize your own routine based on your skin type. They sent me an adorable little set of tiny samples to try, and while all the products were nice, there were two standouts: the Acai Anti-Oxidant Cleansing Crème and the Volcanic Mineral Scrub.

Read my review of Bambola Beauty… More »

Bringing Natural Products to the Masses with SEED Body Care

“Natural products just don’t work as well.” Every time I hear this I wonder, when was the last time you experimented a little with different brands? Perhaps this blanket statement was a bit more accurate a decade ago, but natural body care products have made incredible strides lately and as far as I’m concerned, many of them work even better than conventional products.

But, that’s still the mindset among the mainstream public, who often pick up soap, shampoo and lotion at the grocery store based on advertising or what’s on sale. People are becoming more aware of the health hazards hiding in these products in the form of parabens, phthalates and toxic fragrances, but they’re still convinced that non-toxic alternatives are somehow subpar.

Enter SEED Body Care, a new brand that’s determined to prove that theory wrong. More »