Tamanu Oil Lab Review

I recently had the lovely opportunity of getting to know Jeannine, a fellow green beauty enthusiast, who happens to own her own brand of high-quality, non-toxic, and organic oil blends. All of her oil blends feature one specific oil, known as Tamanu oil. These beautiful oils can double as both body and facial oils, and in my opinion are some of the absolute BEST facial oils I have yet to try within the green beauty realm (& I've tried many). The particular blend I fell in love with is the "TΔMΔNU Calm" blend seen in the picture above! Let me brag about it -

My "cannot be without" facial oil - 

1. It's formulation is impeccable and this oil blends beautifully into the skin without leaving

a greasy residue behind, and it works incredibly well under makeup! 

2. It has an aromatherapy aspect to it that makes the blend perfect to apply in the evening before sleeping (take a minute to yourself, massage the oil into your skin, and enjoy the soothing scents it has to offer). 

3. This oil has an incredible price point in comparison to a lot of others on the market. Her blends range from $28 to $32, with the calm blend being $32 (see coupon code below).

4. I have been using this product for a few months now, and it could not have come at a

better time. I was battling a horrible breakout due to the RMS beauty foundation, it contains coconut oil, and my skin reacted very badly to it. I finally pinpointed the foundation, but by then, it had done its damage, leaving behind some scarring which this oil has helped to nearly eliminate! 

5. I have noticed a huge reduction in overall redness, scarring, and breakouts since I began using this facial oil AM & PM! In the morning, I use it alone under my SPF and foundation, but in the evening, I oil cleanse, follow with my beloved MOSS Skincare salvation balm, and finish off with the calm blend. I can't begin to tell you how much of a blessing this oil has been to my skin! I'm currently using up my second bottle if that tells you anything...

MOSS Skincare Review - Part II

One word - merveilleux 

Photo by Celestyna, Moss owner

Modern Organic Sacred Skincare 

Lately I've found myself caught up in other ventures of my green beauty journey and I've been neglecting my sweet blog, but I am back today to share with you all an updated review on some new products I purchased from MOSS Skincare. Needless to say, I have been just as blown away as I was with my initial introduction to this brand through MOSS's sample kit! If you missed my first review you can find it here.

So as you may have read in my first post, I sampled and fell in love with the salvation balm and beurre celeste, which is an oil cleanser/mask combo. So much so that I ordered full size products of each of those beauties. I also purchased a few new products without sampling them, and I will share these below! {I'm overwhelmed with excitement}

Quick overview of MOSS: this line provides unique
skincare products, many of which are specifically geared toward

acne sufferers depending on your individual skin type. This
line is divided into 5 subgroups -

1. oily, unbalanced skin, blemishes

2. very sensitive skin, rosacea, eczema, inflammation 

3. hormonal, cystic, &/or adult acne {my main current issues} 

4. blackheads, congested, dull/rough skin 

5. acne scars, dry, damaged, &/or aging skin

MOSS Skincare Review

One word - merveilleux 

photo from MOSS

Modern Organic Sacred Skincare 

I originally saw moss products on Instagram, and I immediately began following the account when I found out this green beauty line was geared specifically towards acne prone/inflammed skin. Upon visiting Celestyna's {moss skincare creator extraordinaire} website I was absolutely amazed to learn that she has skincare not only geared toward acne but she does NOT group "acne" into one large category like so many other lines. Instead, products are geared towards subgroups such as

1. oily, unbalanced skin, blemishes 

2. very sensitive skin, rosacea, eczema, inflammation 

3. hormonal, cystic, &/or adult acne {the first two in this category = my EXACT struggle} 

4. blackheads, congested, dull/rough skin 

5. acne scars, dry, damaged, &/or aging skin

Makeup Brush Cleansing

Hello, my loves! Today I wanted to post a trick I've learned about cleaning makeup brushes. I know there are a ton of brush cleansers out there, but this is more of a DIY deep cleanse for your brushes that I do weekly! Keeping your makeup brushes/sponges clean attributes greatly to your skin's overall health. I've begun double cleansing my brushes, just as you would double cleanse your face: First, you cleanse with an oil {I use hemp oil} and you then follow with any cleanser {I use organic baby shampoo, but I've had to use my Aleavia prebiotic cleanser as of late since I haven't gotten around to buying the baby shampoo!}

Oil Cleansing Method

Today, I want to discuss my experience with the oil cleansing method {OCM}, and what "recipe" of oils I use! I discovered this method over a year ago on Pinterest, but I didn't begin to research it until around this past Fall. I first stumbled across Mommypotamous' blog which you can find here, and you can also google "oil cleansing method blog" and a ton of how-to articles will pop up! I found her blog to be most helpful, and she also has a troubleshooting post found here that includes tips and tricks to beginning the OCM.

Photo by: The Essential Wellness

Okay, down to the nitty-gritty; I researched essential, conditioning, and astringent oils like Mommypotamous mentioned in her blog, and I decided to create a recipe of a 1:4 part oil: 1 part astringent oil to 4 parts conditioning oil because I have normal to combination skin {I'm oily in my t-zone, dry around my nose and cheeks}. I also have really sensitive skin as I've mentioned in previous posts, so I knew I needed to completely avoid castor oil. Many blogs recommend using castor oil, but it's extremely potent and harsh, so unless you have very oily skin and are not sensitive in the least, I would not recommend using castor oil. I decided to try 1 part grapeseed oil to 4 parts hemp seed oil, and I added a few drops of tea tree oil, carrot seed oil, lavender oil, and jojoba oil {as you can see, nearly any oil can be purchased on Amazon!}. It turned out the 1:4 ratio was a little too oily for my skin, so I stepped down to a 1:3 ratio of the grapeseed to hemp seed oil and that was much better, and currently what I'm using. There are a lot of factors that come into play when choosing an oil blend, such as your skin type as well as your skin concern {i.e dryness, blemishes, oiliness, etc.}, so do research to determine what's best for you individually. I oil cleanse in the evening only and use this process to remove all my makeup and build up from the day. The steps are super simple: