More vlogging

Here is the link to my video blog on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/cupidian335/videos

I've been posting a lot of videos recently including one that will be posted tonight of November's Eco Emi box!!

Check it out!

I'm vlogging!

So I recently tried my hand at a blog video and it went smoothly enough that I might try to blog in that format as well as my written blog. If you're interested you can check out the first vlog here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_49l1yBNb5Q

Eco Emi October Review

Got my Halloween treats from Eco Emi a few weeks ago!

As you can see the box had a Halloween theme with purple tissue paper and the cutest little orange gauze pouch with spider webs and glitter on it. There was a little leakage from one of the products but it cleaned up easily with a little water and didn't get on any of the paper products.

 

The products in October's box were:

 

Dark Chocolate Mint Cups by Sun Cups - This candy felt a little melty so I stuck it in the fridge right away. It contains dairy and my husband doesn't like mint so I'll give it to a friend. I bet it's delicious!

 

Fuchs Soft Pocket Travel Toothbrush by Lotus - This is a travel toothbrush (the kind where the case becomes the handle.) Definitely a useful thing to have for travel.

 

Spicy Chili Seasoning Mix by Simply Organic - I'm not a huge chili fan but I bet I can incorporate this into other dishes as well.

 

Pumpkin Jack O'Lantern by Botanical Interests - Sweet! Pumpkin seeds :) As much as I loved eating them as a child, I'm excited to actually plant these next year. I love garden surprises!! Also included an online coupon to Botanical Interests which I will definitely have to check out.

 

Organic Shaving Cream by Grass Roots Essential - This was a small tin of shaving cream. It recommends placing in the fridge before using so that's where mine ended up. Only problem is I never remember to take it out before taking a shower :/ Have a feeling it might get forgotten about.

 

Natural and Organic Dry Shampoo by Eco Friendly Living - This is a good sized sample pot of dry shampoo. I'm not sure if I used it wrong but it seemed to make my hair a little grayer than usual. The packaging said to shake it out of your hair and I tried to comb it in so maybe that was my issue? But I'm not sure how you would shake it out of your hair?? I'll have to experiment with this one.

 

Vegan Caramel Brownie Gel Eyeliner by All Natural Face - I think this is the product that was leaking a little. The packaging felt oily. I've noticed that with my All Natural Face lip gloss too. May just be an issue with their packaging. At first I was kind of underimpressed with this one. I felt like I didn't need more liquid eyeliner, especially brown. Also the applicator was a brush and I prefer applicators that are like a marker. However, after actually using it, I think I really like it. As long as I let it dry well the brush worked fine and the brown shade was really nice.

 

Vegan Mineral Warm Honey Eye Shadow by All Natural Face - A small eyeshadow pot with copper eye shadow. I love this! I thought I couldn't wear brown eyeshadow until now. This shade looks really good when paired with a nice green for fall. I'm very impressed with the All Natural Face.

 

Bonus - Potionwitch Apothecary Honey Bee Lip Balm - This is a pot of lip balm that was not mentioned on the product card. It contains honey and I have plenty of lip balm so I will probably give this to a friend.

 

I thought this was a pretty good box this month. I loved the little Halloween pouch, the All Natural Face products, and the pumpkin seeds. Looking forward to the next few boxes now that Christmas and winter are approaching! 

Latest Vitacost Haul

A few months ago I realized I was placing an order with Vitacost almost every month. So I did myself proud and waited several months before placing this order. While I forgot to order one of the main items I "needed" (St. Claire's Ginger Pastilles), I think I made some pretty good choices.

Here's what I picked up:

Ecover Dishwashing Liquid - This is my favorite dishwashing liquid right now. I feel like it does slightly better than 7th Generation (although I love that brand too.) It's really good at cleaning caked on food.

Preserve Recycline Triple Blade Razor - Sooo excited about this! I have made a large portion of my purchases cruelty free but razors were one of the items I had not extended this philosophy to. I found these on Vitacost and they were Leaping Bunny Approved. You get a reusable handle made of recycled yogurt cups which is also recyclable when you choose to dispose of it. The razor comes with 2 cartridges and only costs about $5. You can also buy 4 more replacement cartridges at about the same price. I think I will definitely do a separate review on this once I try it out!

Thayers Cucumber Witch Hazel Toner - Love Thayers toner and cucumber is one of my favorites. I like how cooling it is and love the smell. If you are not a fan of cucumber there are many other scents to choose from.

Desert Essence Organics Pumpkin Spice Hand Repair Cream - This had been out of stock and I was able to snatch one up just before I placed my order. I love pumpkin scents around this time and since I also love this brand thought this would be a win-win. Unfortunately it does not smell like pumpkin at all. Now it does contain pumpkin so maybe that's where it gets its name from? The cream comes out dark but absorbs quickly into the skin. It's non-sticky and does a very nice job of moisturizing. My hands get very chapped in winter so I will definitely be using this even if it doesn't smell of pumpkin.

Desert Essence Coconut Shampoo - I love this shampoo and it is my second time purchasing this from Vitacost. It's like $3.50 so is really too good a deal to pass up. Eventually I'd like to try some Beauty Without Cruelty hair care products too.

Desert Essence Gentle Nourishing Night Cream - Hmmm, are we sensing a trend here? This is also a second time purchase and a great product to have in winter. It contains argan oil and aloe vera and is so incredibly nourishing when used as a night cream. I seriously wake up and am amazed at how good my skin looks. This small jar costs a little over $10 but will easily outlast its six month shelf life. You only need a little.

Every Man Jack Post Shave Lotion - I bought this for my husband (love that he is interested in trying cruelty free and natural products!) It's a brand I've seen at our local Whole Foods and seemed to have some good reviews. Not Leaping Bunny approved but the packaging claims to be cruelty free.

Vitacost is a great place to find cruelty free and natural products at really affordable prices. If you're interested in checking them out you can use my referral code below to save $10 on your first order of $30 or more. And I'll get the same savings. It's a win-win! :)

https://www.vitacostrewards.com/VbK1GTE

Eco Emi September Review

Hi, all! I just saw on Facebook that they are shipping out October's Eco Emi boxes and figured it was time to post my September review! Life's been a little crazy recently so I apologize for the delay. I received my September Eco Emi box in a rather battered condition (not the fault of Eco Emi.) As you can see the post office left me a long note apologizing for its state. I love the US Postal Service but really? WE CARE in bold print. Not really congruent with the end result. Oh well. I suppose it's expected that this sort of thing happens eventually.


 

Inside the box everything appeared to be fine.

 

 

 

This month's box contained:

 

Organic Peru La Florida Coffee by Cool Bean Perks Coffee - This is a small foil packet of coffee (enough for 3 servings.) We don't currently have a coffee maker for loose ground coffee but have plenty of friends who do and will love this.

 

Mint + Acai Whitening Gum by VitaCare - I've had the lime and mint flavor before and liked it so much I ordered some from Vitacost. This flavor is good as well but the combination is a little unexpected. Fruity and minty at the same time. It's a nice thing to have in my purse.

 

Organic Sweet Orange Deoderant by Only Nat Cheryl - This is a chapstick shaped deodorant sample (it's in my purse now and I'm so scared I'm going to use it as chapstick by accident one day!) I really love my Crystal deodorant and don't feel the need to switch so I'm just going to carry this with me as an emergency/travel item. I was intrigued by the ingredients: organic coconut oil, organic corn starch, baking soda, essential oils, cocoa butter and candelilla.

 

All Purpose Healing Salve by the Natural Choice Apothecary - This sample came in a small pot. Useful item to have stashed away for emergencies or when winter makes your skin really dry.

 

Ginger Peach Iced Tea by Mighty Leaf Tea - This is a giant tea bag you can use to make a pitcher of iced tea. I'm not a big fan of peach flavor and can't see myself making a whole pitcher of tea, but we'll see...

 

Cleansing Towelettes by Desert Essence - A sample of towelettes for facial cleansing. These are great to have when you travel and don't want to bring soap or facial cleanser. Love the brand Desert Essence!

 

Organic Mayan Riviera Honey Moisturizing Exfoliant by Zola Jae- This is a good size sample of sugar scrub. I love sugar scrubs! It does contain honey though so not truly vegan.

 

Ochre, Juicy Orange Flavor Lip Gloss by Purely You Minerals - This is a little pot of lip gloss with an applicator. The card that came with it indicates this would normally come in a tube. Personally I hate lip gloss that you have to apply with fingers or an applicator. It's a nice consistency, does taste like oranges, has a nice pinky-red color and just the right amount of gloss. Also contains Vitamin E and essential oils to moisturize. I would definitely consider buying this if it came in a tube (only $7 for full size.)

 

Assorted Crème Foundation by Lauren Brooke - I love that this sample came with several different shades. I don't like when they send out only a mid-range shade because I am usually too pale. The formula contains argan oil, which I love, so I'm excited to try these out. Full size it is $27 so a little on pricey side.



Pretty good box this month. Looking forward to October's that promises to be filled with treats!

 

Vegan Cuts Beauty Box September Review

My September Vegan Cuts Beauty Box arrived a few weeks ago and I was glad to see a good sized smallish box. This felt mama bear right in size.

As you can see, there was enough room to keep items from being smooshed together but small enough that you felt like you were getting something. I think they got it right this time. Here's what the box contained:

Beauty Without Cruelty Shampoo - This is the blue bottle above, a good travel size sample of shampoo. I've gotten a sample of their shampoo before and I loved it so really looking forward to trying this one.

Manic Panic Creature of the Night Shadow and Liner in the color Raven - I was really excited when I saw this because it came in fun packaging. It's kind of like a little vampire coffin. Very Halloween appropriate. However, I was really disappointed on opening the packaging to see it was a black shadow and liner...I don't really wear black eye shadow a lot so I won't get much use out of this. Would have much preferred something more versatile like a deep purple and black or something. It does include a nice brush that should make applying liner easy so maybe I'll use both the cream and shadow as a liner! It's also got a cute mirror on the inside. It's so cute!

Weleda Body Lotions - The box came with four mini travel size body lotions by Weleda. I wanted to try this brand and was thrilled that one of the lotions was Sea Buckthorn but a tiny bit disappointed that a lot of the box was filled with Weleda stuff. I mean, what if you don't like body lotion? Besides Sea Buckthorn, there was a Citrus, Pomegranate, and Rose. I really like the Sea Buckthorn and Citrus scents and find they absorb very quickly into the skin which is good. Definitely a convenient size too. I've got one in my purse and one in the office.

Weleda Citrus Refreshing Body Oil - A little sample packet of body oil. I don't really use body oils. I prefer lotions. But it doesn't take up much value or space in the box so I'm ok with it.

Good Clean Love Personal Lubricant - A little sample packet of lubricant. Kinda funny story about that. I didn't think it was that alarming to get this, but Vegan Cuts sent out an email (AFTER I'd already opened the package) alerting parents of its presence if they were giving it to children. I can't see children getting that much of a kick out of these boxes and I don't think they'd even know what it is. The timing was just pretty funny because its likely most people had already opened the box.

GladRags Pantyliner - GladRags is a company that makes reusable sanitary pads. The box came with a code that you could enter on their website to get a free pantyliner with free shipping. A little extra work but I can see how it's better for the company and the environment since some people may not want this item. I was pretty excited. This is a great example of something I've wanted to try but don't want to spend money on until I've tried it. It came in the mail the other day. It looks like something I could sew myself! Hmmmm.

Bonus Item? Beauty Without Cruelty Lipstick in Azalea - This wasn't listed on the card so I'm guessing it was an extra item? I was definitely excited about the lipstick because I've never used Beauty Without Cruelty makeup before that I can remember and I like their shampoo. The color choice was  a little much for me. HOT pink. Could be fun for Halloween or mixing with other colors to make a different shade. The packaging is nice and it seems like it's really good quality.

I liked this box. There were a lot of fun items and it felt like a good value. I don't know how much use I will get out of the items but that's always part of the risk. I have decided to cancel my subscription as this is the third box and I just don't feel it's better than my $5 cheaper Eco Emi box. I also like the idea of having an extra $20 in my pocket each month! I might re-subscribe at a later time but for now I think this is the right choice for me.

Coming soon...September Eco Emi Review

Kashi Hummus Crisps Review

I was really psyched to be chosen by BzzAgent to participate in the Kashi Hummus Crisps campaign. Finally a product I can truly get behind! Unfortunately when my free bag got here I discovered it contains milk and is not vegan. :( And the flavor was Sea Salt and Olive Oil! Why do you need to add milk to that?!? I've noticed that several of the Kashi snacks recently have contained something making them not vegan. A little disappointing from a company that purports to be eco-friendly and healthy. My husband, of course, was thrilled to eat them for me.

Like most Kashi products it has great ingredients for the most part: Chickpeas, rolled oats, hard red wheat, rye, brown rice, triticale, barley, buckwheat, brown rice flour, etc. Each serving contains 3g fiber, 3g protein, and 5g whole grains. It's 120 calories for one serving.

So how were they? My husband thought they were tasty but not mind-blowing. He liked the portion you get for the low number of calories. It was a satisfying snack. So if you're vegetarian or just looking for a healthy snack, check out Kashi Hummus Crisps. If you're vegan, I still highly recommend the brand just check the ingredients before you buy. Kashi makes some great vegan frozen meals such as the Mayan Harvest Bake or Black Bean Mango. Great ingredients that you just don't find in other brands.

Are you interested in trying Kashi Hummus Crisps? I've got a stack of coupons good for $1.00 off two bags. Let me know if you'd like one on Facebook or post a comment with contact info so I can mail one to you. The coupons don't expire until 12/01 so you have plenty of time to match it with a sale.