my favorite things: beauty product edition

if you know anything about me, you may know that i'm all about organic/natural beauty products and some of you ladies out there have been curious about the products i use and where i get them. so here you go...but know that this only scratches the surface and there will be more about this in future posts!

the five things you see above are my nearest and dearest beauty products. i suppose i could be classified as a product junkie but since cleaning out my makeup bag and filling it with pure, clean, all natural brands, i have become less of a junkie and more of a lover of quality goods. so now instead of stockpiling tons of gross products, i invest in the good ones made with quality ingredients. here are my must-haves right now:

1. john masters 100% argan oil - this stuff is wonderful. i use it to moisturize in the morning and evening. leaves your skin silky and radiant and has tons of anti-aging benefits! 

2. stark skincare green tea detox clay mask - i have never been a mask user but i love this stuff. i use it 2-3 times a week and it has helped my skin so much! i am blemish prone for sure but this mask has decreased the frequency and intensity of my breakouts, including the hormonal variety. 

3. 100% pure argan oil facial moisturizer SPF 30 - i am an spf freak. and good, clean spf that doesn't turn your skin completely white is hard to come by. i just bought this bottle of moisturizer/spf a couple months ago and its a winner. i typically put it on after i put on a little argan oil, but before i put on makeup. its lightweight, not too greasy and it protects my precious skin from the suns harmful rays! 

4. rms living luminizer - okay i adore this product. its little but its a lot of bang for your buck. i have had one little pot of this since april and its still going strong, probably for several more months. it is a creamy, shimmery luminizer that pretty much creates the perfect, subtle, soft glow on your face. its not overwhelming or glittery. it really just kind of makes your skin look alive. i put it on top of any other makeup i'm wearing. it goes at the top of my cheeks, down my nose, sometimes on my brow bone, and sometimes on my collar bone.

5. ilia beauty lipstick in wild child - i saved the best for last. i love lipstick in general. sometime in 2008 i really started wearing it. and i went all out. i decided if one is going to wear lipstick, it should always be of the red variety. always. even to the grocery store or just around the house but definitely out for dinner or to a party. this lipstick is, in my opinion, THE BEST natural lipstick. its full and creamy and can be intense or not depending on how thick you put it on. and this is the best part: IT LAST AND LASTS better than any "long-wear" lipstick from the drug store that is full of lead and other terrible ingredients. this one is clean and made with organic ingredients. and "wild child" has become my signature shade. 

now, where do i get all of these products? there are several natural beauty product stores on the web nowadays that i frequent. my favorite is nubonau.com for sure. i can't get everything there unfortunately because they don't have every single brand but generally i get most things from there. they have a wide selection, superb customer service [something that is very important to me] and they have this great little points system where every time you make a purchase, you gain points and once you have enough, you can buy products with your points. it's great. 

also. i realize that none of the products are cheap and its much easier to just go to target and buy whatever less expensive makeup that your heart desires..but to me, this stuff is worth every penny because these products are free of those harmful chemicals! i think our health is worth the price tag and thats coming from a girl on a [veryveryvery] tight budget! 

okay i'm done! i hope this was helpful and i look forward to discussing this stuff further.

<3 jojy

p.s. if you have never heard that the chemicals that are in your bath/body/beauty products could be detrimental to your health, check out these resources: nomoredirtylooks.com -a great site for natural makeup reviews and helpful information on avoiding toxic chemicals. they also wrote a book about all of it which is originally how i got started on all this. you can also explore ewg.org [environmental working group] for all kinds of healthy, chemical free living tips. ewg also has a cool feature where you can look up your favorite beauty products and find out how toxic they are! yikes! it's called skin deep. 

(photos of john masters argain oil, 100% pure moisturizer, and living luminizer from nubonau.com. photo of green tea clay mask from starkskincare.com. photo of ilia lipstick from iliabeauty.com)