From what I gather, and this comes from the spot-on daily weather reports from my Facebook friends and family from across the country, it seems like we have all been hit pretty hard this season with bitterly, cold weather. With these single-digit temps, our skin suffers along with us, and exposed skin and extremities (feet, hands, knees and elbows) take the brunt of the lack of warmth and humidity, as well as spending too much time in dry, heated homes and offices.

One day at my favorite local Dave’s Health store, a representative from MiraCell was demonstrating their skin care products. My dry, cracked knuckles were instantly soothed, and experienced none of the stinging, burning or reactiveness that can often result from lotions and creams with fragrance, alcohol, petroleum, or what MiraCell would call “skin addicting” ingredients. (more…)

Good enough to eat and made in Salt Lake City, UT, Sherri owner of Blissful Bean, created an all-over body scrub that uses active, organic ingredients like Coffee, Cacao and Cinnamon that not only stimulates the circulation of the skin – it firms and tones as well!

Along with spending a ridiculous amount of time on the internet and at stores checking out the latest and best beauty products, I absolutely LOVE to browse around in health food store isles! The other day, one of my favorite local Whole Foods health care specialists and I got talking about skin. As it turns out Sherri, who has an extensive amount of experience and passion for skin care decided to develop a body scrub of her own. It has the most adorable name,”Turtle Scrub,”which is a sugar-based formula, artfully combined with Coconut Oil, Coffee, Cinnamon, and Cacao.

After getting my hands on a tub of Turtle Scrub, I did my homework and tested it out in the privacy of my own shower. Opening up the lid, I took a generous dollup of the most gorgeous smelling coffee scrub and proceeded to give my arms, legs, abs, shoulders a good once over.  I experienced a mildly warming, tingling sensation on my skin, and after rinsing, my skin felt moisturized but not with a greasy residue, and looking and feeling noticeably more healthy and glowing. All day, I continued to have that “rub your arms” feels so soft reflex. Without a doubt, this product is seriously addictive (and you can’t blame the caffeine on this one), it is a must-try for those who want to create and maintain seriously soft, gorgeous-looking skin.

To learn more about Turtle Scrub and how the all natural, active ingredients work to benefit your skin, visit Sherri’s Blissful Bean website!

Okay, before you go dowsing yourself  with kamikazes and cosmopolitans hear me out and read the rest of the post… Then you can plan a night out with your girls if you want. I’ll have a Roy Rogers please!

So we all love Lush, that’s a given. But until recently I’d only loved it online since I don’t live anywhere near a brick and mortar location. Mr. Mo and went over to Seattle to catch a Pearl Jam concert (yes, it WAS flippin amazing, thanks for asking) and in order to burn some time we stopped by the Bellevue Square mall. Just so happens that Bellevue Square has a Lush location inside. Entering  Lush is like nothing you’ve ever experienced. It’s a lovely, soothing experience that even had Mr. Mo tweeting “What is this place? I feel so relaxed all of a sudden”. It was during my divine hand treatment that I discovered Ocean Salt Face and Body Scrub.

This scrub has fine and coarse sea salt that makes me love it as a facial exfoliator. It has a tangy earthy smell that comes from things like grapefruit and lime with vodka. Hold onto that thought, the vodka will show up again later. Some of the other awesome ingredients in this scrub: avocado butter, coconut fat, seaweed, violet leaf and lanolin.  These all help to smooth and soften skin, but they don’t leave a slick oily feeling like a lot of salt scrubs. There’s nothing worse than losing your footing on the bare floor because you’re all slippery from the scrub you used, or is that just me?

So why the vodka? As explained by the Lushociate (Lush associate), the vodka helps to brighten skin, and I’m sure the citrus juices help with that as well. Sure enough, my fair skin was practically glowing when she got through with me. The color was much more even and the alabaster tone made me feel like a roman sculpture. I fell in love instantly and scooped up a tub to add to my quickly growing pile of goodies. I would caution you not to use this if you have large blemishes or broken skin since cuts+salt=ouch, but otherwise it’s a refreshing experience. A big tub(8.8 oz for $32.95) is spendy if you plan to use it as an all over body scrub, so I try to limit it to mostly face and upper body. I like to follow it with my new glob of shower jelly, so fun. If you want a special luxe item to really pamper yourself and love a nice tough scrub then this is it!

A well-deserved repeat post, and after using this morning was again feeling the love for this itty-bitty towel!

Towels. They are a functional, everyday, commonplace household necessity.  How many of you remember the type of towel you dried yourself off with after leaving your shower or bathtub recently?

After Mo wrote a wonderful nano-silver based soap, “What doesn’t this soap do?”, the same company sent us a set of their towels to try out.  They are quite small  (37 X  65 cm), unbelievably soft, promise to be anti-bacterial, odor resistant, and 7 times more absorbent that regular towels.  As Mo and I both discovered, Cyclic towels turned out to be most absorbent, addictive, coveted items in our households! (more…)

Lately, between my daily mommy & work responsibilities (and taking on a new Pilates class), by evening my neck, back and hips are screaming, “Uncle!”  And unfortunately, as bedtime approaches I find myself having a difficult time winding down.  Here are some simple (and cheap) ways to de-stress and relax before bedtime that do not require medication.

Jen’s PM Unwind Check List:

1. No TV or news (hey – it’s depressing stuff), no loud music.
2. Consume a generous portion of ice cream in a mug on the back porch and watch the kids play and take in the breath-taking hues of a Utah pollution-created sunset. (more…)

Random things that crossed my mind, but never quite made it into their own post…

Last week Aromaleigh had a killer 50% off sale on their Rocks! sonic collection. I know, I know, I would’ve told you but I was on vacation and didn’t hear about it myself until only a few hours before it was over. I bit the bullet and bought the sample set of the whole mineral eyeshadow collection, since I have been wanting it for ages. I threw in a full size sealant, which allowed me to get a full size Elemental Hue for free, and the whole kit and caboodle (plus 3 additional free samples) was at my door in under a week. Honestly, it’s a great deal. Except for one baggie which inexplicably showed up practically empty, I can get 5 or more uses out of each color, depending on how I choose to use it, and with 80 colors (plus all the other samples I already owned) to choose from I may never need to buy eye shadow again. Yeah right, who do I think I’m kidding?! At the suggestion of our very own Deco Diva a while back, I went out and purchased a 3 ring binder and filled it with collectible card inserts. (more…)

A while back, Mo reviewed a super neat-o all natural skin care line, Garden Girl Skin Care.  Garden Girl was born out of a passion of providing natural skincare and promoting a healthy lifestyle.  Adore their name! I would like to consider myself a bit of a garden girl.  My garden this summer has had a slow start, due to an unusually cool start to our summer here in Utah. Got a bunch of heirloom tomatoes growing, peppers, cucumbers and squash and a few varieties of herbs.  I guess you could call it a salsa garden.

Time to get off my garden tangent and get back to this skin care review!  I recently got hold of Garden Girl’s Break Free fruit acid gel for oily/problem skin, $50.00 (4 oz.).  The gel contains a combination of glycolic, lactic and pyruvic acids.  This fruit acid peel was created to benefit those who suffer from break-outs and have sun damaged skin.  These AHA’s gently remove the outer layers of damaged or thickened skin.  Garden Girl claims that by using Break Free regularly it can improve dry skin, treats age spots, can improve oily and acne prone skin, and will decrease fine lines and wrinkles.

My response?  (more…)

Admit it, you’ve been up late at night or early in the morning and found yourself watching an infomercial. It’s okay, we all do it from time to time. Heck, my 7 year old would rather watch infomercials than cartoons, and he’s constantly telling me about the latest thing I just have to have. One of those things is Smooth Away.

You’ve seen them on TV and in stores, “flex crystal” pads which stick to an applicator and effortlessly buff away body hair. “Removes hair instantly & pain free” the box boasts. “Discovered in Europe!”, “No chemicals”, “No razor burn”, throw in the coupon I found and you’ve got a perfect storm for some beauty experimenting my friend. At about $9.99 at big box and drugstores everywhere, the dollar off coupon made it seem like a worthwhile risk, so I snatched it up and headed home. (more…)

Coconut Oil.  Since the write up “Skin Care Health with Coconut Oil” last week all the gals at my office are taking their daily tablespoon of the good stuff (and thanks to Sean)!

I wanted to add an additional review of a fabulous body butter that I discovered that uses coconut oil and has made my legs, arms, elbows and heels feel especially yummy this summer!  Those gosh darn heels of mine have been especially needy.  During the summer I spend a lot of time barefoot in my yard, and the elements are not always kind to your skin.

Sumbody’s Pure Coconut Butter combines nourishing Vitamin E and moisturizing essential fatty acids made from the milk of Virgin Coconuts.  Don’t know exactly what qualifies a coconut to be virgin or not, but whatever works! (more…)

Opinions from three Beauty Reviewers can’t be wrong.  Read on about what we think about Basa Body skin and body care products…

From the keypad of Mo:

In case you didn’t know, coconut is good for your outside AND your insides. My sister in law regularly uses it on toast in place of butter, and it’s one of the main ingredients on a great body cream she sometimes makes me. Alas, until she gets her formula fine tuned, I have to buy my lotion elsewhere. Basa Body uses organic virgin coconut oil in their products, and I believe it really makes a difference. I’m not nuts about coconut’s scent, so I find the light citrus tang very pleasant. I really enjoy how quickly this absorbs, you’re rubbing it in and then *poof*, it’s gone and your skin is soft. I would love to try the chocolate cherry truffle soap, it sounds fantastic and nourishing. In the Kiss Me Pack ($29.99 + shipping) you’ll receive the chocolate cherry truffle soap, a mint truffle soap, the Basa Body stick, and the Basa body coconut oil lotion. (more…)