I’m really excited to announce a new feature I’ve added to Inspire Beauty, and that is my green beauty “empties”. As you know I’m a huge fan of natural skincare and body care, and I thought it would be fun every few months to do a blog post and video reviewing all the products I recently finished, and talk about what I liked and didn’t like, and would I repurchase them again or not.
Green Beauty Empties Review
Living Libations – Seabuckthorn Shampoo & Shine On Conditioner
I’ve ALWAYS struggled finding good natural hair care products.
Most natural hair care products either dry out my hair or don’t wash it properly. A lot of them make my scalp terribly itchy and make my hair look dull and fried.
For the longest time I’ve wanted to try Living Libations hair care products, but based on my bad experiences with most natural hair care products, I was reluctant. I’m happy I finally did give it a go because I was really happy with the results.
The Seabuckthorn Shampoo cleanse my hair really well, leaves no residue, no itchy scalp, and it lathers really well for a natural shampoo. I also like the light herbal scent and that I don’t need much of it to thoroughly wash my hair. All of this is a plus!
The Seabuckthorn Shampoo washes your hair but doesn’t really moisturize it, but at the same time it doesn’t dry out your hair either. It does what it should, it cleans your hair. Unless you have super fine hair or really short hair, you’d probably need to use a conditioner with it, like the Shine On Conditioner.
The Shine On Conditioner is a light weight conditioner formulated for all hair types. I was a little nervous buying this conditioner because most of the reviews I’ve read are from people with fine hair, and I’ve got thick porous hair that tends to need some heavy duty conditioning. I wasn’t quite sure if the Shine On Conditioner would be rich enough for me. But, it turned out good, as long as I used a generous amount of the conditioner (I probably use about 2 – 3 tsps of Shine On Conditioner, which is a little more than what I’d normally use). Because it’s not heavy and doesn’t leave a coating or residue on your hair, it’s fine to use a little more, and I prefer to use it on the entire length of my hair, not just the ends (most of the time I apply it everywhere but my scalp).
Over the 6 months I was using the Seabuckthorn Shampoo and Shine On Conditioner, I never got any product buildup on my hair like I normally do from most shampoos/conditioners. It worked great at keeping my hair clean, soft, and shiny. I had no flaking, no itchy scalp, and overall my hair felt light and healthy.
Would I buy it again?
Yes. I actually already have another set of them! But right now I’m using Living Libations True Blue Spirulina Shampoo and Conditioner to see what the difference is. (I plan to do a review later this summer comparing them, and review the other Living Libations hair care products I’m currently using).
Lilfox – Siberian Fur Salt Crystal Bath
You probably don’t know this, but I’m a major bath person. I LOVE taking baths. In fact, the house we’re currently living in, I rented it because of the huge bath!
I really liked Lilfox Siberian Fur Salt Crystal Bath soak. It’s made of a blend of Himalayan Salts, Dead Sea Salts, and French Noirmoutier Sea Salts mixed with various pine and lavender essential oils. It’s really fresh and uplifting, and a great soak for a tired body, or sore muscles.
In general, I really like bath salts for problemed skin. When I was younger I used to get terrible breakouts and pimples on my chest and back, and I always found salt baths really helped to clear up my skin (swimming in the sea/ocean helps too). All these years later, I continue to love soaking in baths with salts to maintain clear skin, and to relax my body.
Would I buy it again?
I’ve never repurchased bath products, even products I love.
As I said, I LOVE taking baths, and a big part of the bath experience is the products I’m using. That being said, I like to keep changing up my bath routine and trying new things. Once I finish one bath product, I’m excited to try something else. If I really like a bath product, I’ll definitely try more products from the brand, but I’ll never repurchase the same thing twice.
These bath salts are the first product I’ve tried from Lilfox. I liked it, but now I’ve moved on to using their Orange Blossom Ylang Bang Body Polish which I’m also really enjoying (I use it as a body scrub and put it in my bath too). Based on what I’ve tried so far from Lilfox, I definitely want to continue trying more of their body care products, plus they also have a face care range too (their face masks look REALLY good!).
Living Libations – Frankincense Fresh Truth Toothpaste & Happy Gums Clay Toothpaste
At the end of last year, I featured Living Libations Frankincense Fresh Truth Toothpaste in my Top 5 Favourite Green Beauty Products Of 2016. I just finished it recently, along with their Happy Gums Clay Toothpaste. If you read that review, you know how much I love the whole Living Libation natural dental care line.
The Frankincense Fresh Sensitive Toothpaste is the best natural toothpaste I’ve ever used.
It does take a little getting used to because it’s not like regular toothpaste. You use a small amount on a dry tooth brush, and even though it doesn’t foam up – it cleans your teeth and mouth thoroughly and freshens your breath. Nothing I have used compares to it (and I’ve tried a lot of natural toothpastes, and none of them clean my teeth or mouth properly like this one does).
As for the Happy Gums Clay Toothpaste, I find this one to be a lot rougher in texture than the Frankincense Toothpaste. For my sensitive gums, I can’t use any clay toothpaste daily or I start getting tooth and gum sensitivity. I do like this toothpaste for removing and preventing plaque buildup, plus it keeps my teeth bright and white, but I’m much better off only using it once in a while, like once or twice a week for a “deeper” clean.
Would I buy these again?
Yes, definitely!
But, I wish Living Libations would make a much larger jar of the Frankincense Fresh Truth Toothpaste (the largest jar isn’t that big – it does last a few months using it twice a day, but I’d still prefer it being much bigger).
Personally, I would use the Frankincense Toothpaste as my daily toothpaste, and buy the smallest jar of the Happy Gums Clay Toothpaste to use once or twice a week for a deeper tooth cleaning.
Unlike other natural body care products, based on my experience, as long as you keep the products clean and firmly closed, the dental care products can last a long time without expiring (I had the Happy Gums Clay Toothpaste for about 2 years, it never separated or spoiled).
Annmarie Skin Care – Sun Love Natural Sun Protection
This is the older version of Annmarie Skin Care Sun Love. Last year they reformulated Sun Love and when I found out, I wanted to cry (literally!) — Why do companies reformulate?!!!!
I fell in love with this natural sunscreen because it completely cleared up a chronic heat rash I had on my chest.
What healed the rash was probably the combination of the soothing zinc in the formula, and that it was aloe-based, so it had a gel-like consistency. It wasn’t oily or greasy (in fact, it could be a little drying, which is probably what helped heal my rash too).
And then something terrible happened, they stopped selling it and announced that they were reformulating. And I thought, ohhhhh nooooooo!
Sometimes reformulations can be a much better version of a product, sometimes not (have you ever fallen in love with a product only for the company to announce they are reformulating?! If so, you can relate to how I was feeling!)
Annmarie Skin Care did release their new Sun Love earlier this year and I do have it. But the new formula is much more creamier, more moisturizing (I had a suspicion that they would do that), and with the humidity and heat here, I’m not sure yet how my rash-prone skin will react to the richer formula.
I’m still testing it out. Next month I’ll be doing a review of a bunch of other natural sunscreens, so I will definitely include it in my review.
Would I buy it again?
If it was the old formula, yes, of course!
As for the new formula, it’s too soon to say…
