Daily

Green your routine and reduce your carbon footprint

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There are many ways to celebrate the observance of Earth Day — which is an annual event celebrated on April 22. Today I’m bringing to you a few beauty and sustainable clothing options to support demonstrate support for environmental protection. Let’s keep our Mother Nature healthy.

Arvin Goods| Sustainable, basic apparel for men and women. Its mission to champion affordability with its $8-$25 price range, believing that sustainable fashion should be accessible to everyone. In the past year they’ve scaled from one material story – 100% reclaimed cotton that enables each pair of socks and underwear to save 50+ gallons of water – to three, also working with ECONYL® regenerated nylon in an active line of men’s boxer briefs, and Polylana® fiber (the only alternative to 100% acrylic and wool) in their newest collection of beanies. Fun fact: Their beanies are MADE IN CANADA!
My top picks? Sudio socks ($12), Bikini Bottoms ($18), Bralet ($18)

I’ve noticed and happy to see a rise in both natural skincare and beauty products using clean natural organic ingredients coming out to the market. Many good options out there right now for not irritating my already sensitive hive-prone skin.

100% Pure| Their mission is to make clean beauty/skincare accessible while being 100% cruelty-free, non-toxic chemicals, all while supporting animal-based charities. Starting on Earth Day, for every product purchased, the brand will donate one tree through the Trees For The Future organization (customers can choose between this or donating one bowl of dog food to shelter dogs in need). And on another note, the entire month of April, customers can bring 5 empty products to stores in exchange for 15% off their next product order as part of the in-store recycling program.
My top picks? The Cocoa pigmented bronzer ($38), and the Fruit Pigmented® pot rouge blush ($27)

Puristry| This is a brand I’m excited to try out more, and a new-to-me brand. They’re cruelty-free, vegan, gluten free and non-toxic. From now until April 30 11:59 PM PST,  purchase 2 products and save 10% on your entire order with code BUY2SAVE10; Purchase 3 products and save 20% on your entire order with code BUY3SAVE20; Purchase 4 products and save 40% on your entire order with code BUY4SAVE40 (Note: I’m just sharing the coupon codes, I do not have any affiliation with this brand other than receiving PR for this post)
My top picks? Vine Therapy Serum ($65), Yerba Mate Eye Cream ($48)

Boody Eco Wear| Clothing that is made using viscose derived from bamboo is always going to be incredibly soft and comfortable. It’s also moisture-wicking and thermo-regulating. The original bamboo used requires no pesticides, fertilizers or artificial irrigation to grow. The entire production process is closed loop so no water is wasted and is all recycled. Most of the garments are computer knitted so there is no fabric waste. The packaging is recyclable and printed with vegetable based inks.
My top picks? Full length leggings ($27), Padded Shaper Bra ($19.95), Racerback Active Tank ($36.95)

OSEA| Dare I say I’m saving my favourite for last? California made, family owned, 100% plant based and never tested on animals. Check out to see what’s not in their products. OSEA has been a leader in sustainable, clean beauty for over 23 years. OSEA is helping to balance our delicate marine ecosystem by hand-harvesting Undaria Pinnatifida Algae, which is classified as an invasive species. Over 94% of OSEA products are in glass. Those that aren’t, are in recycled plastic for safety reasons.
My top picks? Essential Hydrating Oil ($36) Anti-Aging Hand Cream ($38), White Algae Mask ($48), Anti-Aging Body Balm ($48)

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Beauty, Daily

Smarter ways to exfoliate your skin

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100Pure-Skin-Brightening100% Pure is a brand I stand behind due to the fact that everything they sell, is organic beauty products, cosmetics, skincare/bath, etc. Everything is free from harmful toxins, free of artificial colours and 100% cruelty free.

So whenever I use their skincare, I know I’m taking the best care of my skin that I can. While I do still have favourite skin care items from other brands that I’m sure you guys all I know I love (philosophy hope in a jar, and the bobbi brown extra eye repair cream). I do still use those, but I also like incorporating more organic, healthy skincare into my regimen too.

Did you know that they’re based out of San Jose, just like me? Random, but they were first founded in Napa, but are now based here in the same city I’m in. That’s how I found them, at first. When I attended an event at Santana Row my first summer here!

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about them on the blog, but I still use a lot of their products (including their super highly pigmented cocoa bronzer which is insane and I love it). But I wanted to bring it to the fore-front again and talk about their $35 brightening scrub + mask. I exfoliate my body on a weekly basis to prep my skin for self tanner, but I tend to exfoliate my face more on the side of twice a week.

I have to ask you guys. Have you ever used a scrub that actually gave you minor scratches? I used a Newfoundland based product on my skin last week, while exfoliating for my tanner, and I noticed it scratched my lower-calf area and made it bleed! I wasn’t happy with it, and I immediately threw it in the garbage since I thought it was a bit too abrasive for my clearly tender skin lol.

I haven’t used the 100% Pure mask on anything but my face, but it’s gentle yet exfoliating enough to sloth off those gross dead skin cells from the week.

Here’s what I use before/during/after a face-mask time.100PercentPure-and-No7

Cleaning my face using Botanics All Bright Cleansing Face Wipes $6.99Boots-No7-Makeup-Wipes

Here’s what the brightening scrub + mask looks like on! And once you’re ready to wash it off, it gently exfoliates your skin. Love!Mask-on

Wash it off, then spritz your face with some No7 Hydrating Mineral Water Spray $8.39.Boots-No7-Spray

Exfoliating benefits + tips:

  • Exfoliating will give you a brighter complexion.
  • This might be a no-brainer but remove your makeup prior to exfoliating. If not, the exfoliant won’t be able to give you a deep clean.
  • Careful which exfoliants you choose, as some granules are more rough than others, which can damage your skin.
  • Exfoliating helps your makeup go on smoother! Try it if your foundation makes your skin look dry/cakey/rough.
  • The benefits of exfoliating are endless, considering it removes dead skin, reduces skin discolouration and pigmentation.

How often do you exfoliate? If you do, which product/brand do you use?

Keep an eye out for the 100% Pure online sales! They have them pretty frequently where you can get so much money off an item if you spend a certain amount!

100% Pure Cosmetics
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Psst! Don’t forget to enter my giveaway here for a Specialized Women’s cycling jersey!

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Beauty

Objects of Desire: 100% pure palettes

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3-100pure-palettesFruit dyed makeup? Vegan and cruelty free? A palette that has eyeshadows, highligher and blush?! All that sound right up your alley? These three little objects of desire would make ideal stocking stuffers this Christmas, or buy them all individually to give to your girlfriends.

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Object-of-desireWhen you buy one of these palettes, you’ll be getting two free brushes with it too. I assume one fluffy, and one eyeshadow one as shown in the photos, but don’t quote me on it.

Three new palettes, tons of fun colours to play around with. All available on 100% Pure’s website (they have free shipping!). All palettes I think would suit anyone as they are pretty much all netural-safe colours with a hint of fun thrown in, in each palette. Plus I’m pretty stoked to see they added a blush to each one of them too. Basically an all-in-one go to look.

Sex-Kitten-paletteThis is the Sex Kitten palette, probably my favourite one as I love soft pinks on my eyes, and that highlight shade on the far left is gorgeous, the pink is the perfect caught-in-the-snow rosy pink.

Punk-palettePunk Princess also has some great colours in it. I’m fairly certain I want to depot and take the fourth colour with me everywhere. It’s like a plum bronze shade, really unique and beautiful on the eyelids. Darken it up a tad with a little bit of black on the outer corner and you have an instant smoky eye.

Mermaid-paletteMermaid palette has some fun greens to play around with. The peach highlighter colour at the bottom doesn’t show up incredibly well on my skin, but if I was lighter or darker, it would make a nice highlighter. I just had my self-tanner on that day, so it didn’t show up well.

pink-purple-100-pure

3-eyeshadow-palettesWhich one is your favourite?

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