Product Review: Tata Harper Rebuilding Moisturizer

If you've read my previous posts on Tata Harper products, you may be a little surprised to see this review. To be honest, I'm a little surprised, too. Don't beat yourself up about it. The thing about Tata Harper is that I want to like this brand. They have a lot going for them. The ingredients are stellar (and often organic), they're committed to the environment and sustainability, and they're based in Vermont, which is, like, one of my favorite places ever. I'm also -- despite my best efforts -- not immune to bright, pretty packaging and sparkly little buzzwords like rejuvenating and glowing and pore minimization. Okay, so pore minimization is two words, but you get the picture.

Product Review: Skin by Ann Webb Peppermint Milk Skin Brightening Cleanser

There are a lot of lovely people out there that can get by in the morning without cleansing.

I'm not one of them.

I guess it's a similar compulsion to my need to wash my hair every single day. If I don't wash my face it the morning, it simply doesn't feel clean to me. I can tell myself all sorts of things about the delicate acid mantle and my skin's need to stay moisturized by its own healing oils, but it makes little difference. If I don't wash my face, it feels greasy and unclean to me. My oiliness is the major problem, but then there's also the fact that I'm a delicate princess and I drool and sweat and flounder around all night long.

I've also found that if I don't wash my face in the mornings, my skin looks greasier throughout the day. It can affect the wear of my makeup. There are a lot of perks to having oily skin: reduced fine lines, less need to moisturize, much fewer signs of aging, and a general glow that many folks have to get from a spritz of hydrosol or some kind of dewy luminizer. I am grateful for all of these things. What I don't like is the feeling and look of greasiness, especially at work or when I'm out somewhere trying to look pretty. So I wash my face every morning.

All that being said, I've become much more cognizant of the need to be careful with my face, especially as I get (gasp) older. I don't want to strip my skin of nutrients and moisture, I just want to remove any sweat, dirt, or grease that's accumulated overnight. I want something gentle and refreshing that will provide the proper base for makeup. I used to use raw, local honey --  which works fantastically, don't get me wrong! -- but I think I've found something even better.

Skin by Ann Webb is a local brand here in Austin that is something of a cult secret. I suspect that it will become less so now that it's being carried in several area Whole Foods. This is a brand that I want to talk more about in a later post, so I won't ruin that for you and I'll just focus on the product that got me started with Ann Webb: Peppermint Cleansing Milk.

Product Review: One Love Organics Brand New Day Microderma Scrub & Masque

I received this adorable little sample from the fab folks at the W3LL People Studio in Austin, TX. If you're ever in the neighborhood, I highly recommend you drop by! Not only do they carry the full line of W3LL People makeup, they'll also gladly give you a free mini-makeover ala your typical Sephora, Ulta, or the mall beauty counter. They also offer a wide variety of only the cleanest products for skin care, body care, and a glamorous green lifestyle. I do most of my clean beauty shopping here and I adore the place, as well as everyone who works there. Make sure to get a hug from Christine!

But enough about W3LL People, let's talk about One Love Organics. I'm sure that by now, you're aware of my borderline-inappropriate love affair with their Vitamin B Cleansing Oil. I've been lusting after this brand for a while, and I'm glad that I'm getting the opportunity to try out a few of their products. While their products certainly aren't cheap, the ingredients are pure and high quality, and the price is more mid-range than comparable luxury brands, which I definitely appreciate.

Brand New Day Microderma Scrub & Masque is the epitome of "gentle yet powerful." This phrase -- or similar incarnations -- is thrown around a lot in the green beauty world, but this scrub really takes the cake for me. The main ingredients are simple: corn starch, sweet pea flour, and pineapple extract, providing both manual and enzyme-based exfoliation. This scrub comes in a powder form that is deceptively smooth and silky. But add some water and bam! That same powder becomes a powerhouse of exfoliation. Sensitive- and dry-skinned beauties might take caution, according to reviews, this can be a little too much for your complexion. For oily and blemish-prone skin like mine, though, it works wonders!

Product Review: Stark Skincare Cypress Purity + Defense Oil + thoughts on the brand

 FreshFaced samples. Are you excited? I'm excited. Well, a bit melancholy as well, to see all of these little bits of loveliness go away. It does make room for more samples in the future, though. Anyway, on to the review!
All right guys, we're in the home stretch on my

Stark Skincare's Cypress Purity + Defense Oil is a product I've had my eye on for some time, and I have to say that it did not disappoint! This facial oil is light as a feather but supremely nourishing, containing rice bran oil, apricot kernel oil, sweet almond oil, camellia seed oil, and argan oil, plus some extra oomph with the addition of vitamin E, cypress oil, bergamot oil, and some super-secret essential oils (they're not listed, but I trust Stark to keep me safe from nasties).

Product Review: Bunny Butt Apothecary Complexion Zen

I'm taking a little break from reviewing my FreshFaced samples to chat about a product that I've been using quite a while now, but completely forgot to review!

Picture from their website

I first came across Bunny Butt Apothecary on Etsy and was intrigued by their Complexion Zen cream. When I visited their booth at the Austin Renegade Craft Fair, I couldn't help but snap up a jar of the stuff.