Treat yourself......

.....well!

Be it guys or girls we excel at berating ourselves sometimes and it's not cool for our well-being. I suppose turning 31 this year and learning about different areas in life you just start to see things differently. In my twenties I've spent most of it in a sambuca haze and just didn't question anything and just went with the flow.

But as you push on and think about the future you want to keep yourself aware about things and not just go "Yep, I'll buy this and I'll buy that!" without giving it a second thought! Trust me I was a professional at impulse buying in every sense of the word. Impulsive spending and impulsive unquestioning.

I put so much confidence that those products are going to make you believe that they will transform you and add value to your life but you can also find without them, they really don't make much difference.
I bought this cellulite "new technology" jar about a year ago and my house mate Lainey was just breaking her ass laughing at me for buying it! But I was utterly convinced that this bottle was going to change my life!
I saw the ad before the "Dublin Housewives" (I know, I was going through a vulnerable time cos J didn't have SKY at the time in his place!) and it was advertising this new "crackle" technology. I'm not joking "crackle"....

Yeah so I whizzed around trying to find this bottle that was going to turn my life, my thighs and bum bum around! I even asked the girl in Sam McCauley's to order it from Dublin for me! And paid something like €25 for it! arrghhhhhhhhhh
It claims it will eradicate cellulite by 70% in three weeks - ah but what happens after the sixth or seventh week?? Oh yeah you have to buy another bottle! Good one!

So the crackling began and Lainey's cackling at me hahaah - yep it was the strangest thing and it actually was like popping on my skin - never again. It certainly reduced the "appearance" of it but didn't treat my cellulite! It was just brushing it under the carpet (my skin) for a couple of weeks. I still have the bottle at home and just realised that I was sucked in because I amongst most people are a marketers dream :(
Not any more my beauties, not any more! From now on, in order to get rid of my cellulite, I'm just going to have to do it the natural way by drinking lemon and hot water in the morning, swopping out my tea for green tea one or twice a day and focusing on exercises that tone those areas!

I'm telling you, once you start getting back to basics you start to feel really relaxed, in control and focused.
It's such a rush knowing that we really do not need these things but are brainwashed to think we do.
I can't tell you how cool my bathroom looks at the moment - it's so clean and we only have just the essentials in the bath because everything else is downstairs in my fridge or kitchen cabinets.
Next stop - my homemade, non-toxic recipes to help you guys out to calm the cacks on this materialistic world and you'll get some kick out of making your own beauty products! I'm also going to give you some tips on products that I am now using, instead of the high-brand lines on the market.

Let’s talk about tan baby, let’s talk about you and me

Let’s talk about all the good and the bad things that can be let’s talk about tan!

Oh yeah, a big one for us Irish girls, a big one! My God the amount of photographs that I have of my teenage years using Sun Shimmer Instant tan for a night out and then going in to Centra after FX club for a hot chicken roll and looking down at my legs in horror!!! Like strips of drink spillages all over my little legs and sure all I wanted was to look tanned ; /

Ughhhhh! Our quest for the sunkissed look not only makes the hotter countries laugh but also men laugh too. The majority of men hate tan and can’t understand why we feel the need to have it! They hate the smell and the fake look of it.

I got a spray tan as I was a bridesmaid at wedding recently and I looked like an oompa loompa!

               

Yikes! Orange much?!

I think it’s again about marketing campaigns and how it will make us look thinner! Well I’ll tell you now – no amount of tan will mistake my love-handles from popping out of my bikini! Just plain simple exercise will do that. Now I do like to have a little tan on my legs because compared to my top half these can look bawny! I think Tan Organic is an amazing Irish company and we should be supporting it more. Yes it does give a natural glow but that’s all it should be! Nothing more than that.

See Tan Organic's account of the chemicals currently being added to most tans on the market at the moment:

The quest for a ”safe” tan is not a new one. Ever since the link between skin cancer and sun over-exposure was established, not to mention the aging effects, those of us seeking the brown without the burn have often turned to self-tanners. Shocking medical discoveries show that 60% of what you put on your skin is in-fact absorbed into the body. Many faux tanners contain hundreds of chemicals, parabens and fragrances, so not only are these nasty chemicals drying out and ageing your skin but they are also getting into your blood system. Scary thought. Organic tanning solutions have developed a way of giving the skin a beautiful glow without feeling like your rubbed a science experiment all over your body. With the use of wonderful natural ingredients such as aloe vera, caramel, beetroot and sugar, TanOrganic have developed a 100% natural and organic tanning solution that has passed all the ECOCERT standards. Containing 84% aloe vera, TanOrganic has address all the issues faux tanners had in the past and injected a skin nourishing anti-ageing treatment into the tanning bottle. Now the only Ecocertified sunless tan in the world, this wonder tanning brand has changed the fashion of faux tanning once again and leads the industry towards the organic way of things.

But what I would like to go through are some people that I look up to and think are just so amazing and natural and don’t need any tan and still look good! They prove to us that we don’t need it and more importantly we shouldn't be using it all the time….. fair enough if you want a pick-me-up for a wedding or something! But not all the time.

Even on her wedding day Jessica Biel was just so stunning and so natural! If it's good enough for Justin Timberlake it must mean something eh!?

                        

 Let’s call a spade a spade, we are not supposed to be MAHOGANY.

Oil Pulling - The New Craze!

As just written in my last post, coconut oil is the bomb and last night I tried oil pulling with it! Put a tablespoon of oil into your mouth in the morning time and swish for around 20 minutes. At first you might only last ten minutes but that's ok as it will take time for you to get used to it! Now don't get me wrong I nearly threw up when I put the big lump of oil in my mouth, but once it started to melt it was actually ok!

Just kept swishing about with the oil while I cleansed and my face..... cleaned up my room a bit while J watched the Holland v's Argentina world cup match (seriously!!! getting tired of it.... I know Ireland didn't make and yes of course I then started supporting France, but i'm mucho bored of it now - give me back my baba!)... rant over :D

So yeah, didn't even notice after awhile and don't be afraid of the taste because it's very mild.

Here is the website that I found some nice facts and experience of oil pulling on; Account of Oil Pulling

If you could do this two or three times a week, you'd see the benefits!  I'm going to start doing it when I shower in the morning time and then you brush your teeth as normal afterwards. Three people I know, two girls at work and my sister are already doing it!

Hello you lovely healthy teeth, gums and good bacteria - bye bye dirty nasty mouthwashes!

Benefits of using coconut oil

Ok so to begin with my new healthier choices, my first stop was Coconut Oil thanks to my sisters advice (who used  it religiously when pregnant) but also from my favourite Wellness Mama all the way from Kentucky, USA! Who knew a lovely lady in Kentucky could reach out to a little lady like me in Cork, Ireland to help me with my new found love for green ways.

I can't advocate her enough and her tips. Mama's 101 Coconut Benefits - you have to check this out! Amazing facts on this oil.

So I started off by purchasing my Coconut Oil in Holland and Barrett's in Mahon Point for around €25 but can buy at special offers for around €18!
But well worth it as it's a pure brand and I look for glass containers now rather than plastic. You can get cheaper versions in Tesco for around €10/€12 less but the oil is stored in plastic which I'm not a fan due to the BPA risks. BPA Facts Explained
And put your saavy hat on now again and think of the extra benefits of buying this jar - you can re-use it for more storage like i.e. your extra hairspray liquid or food storage! Think outside the box my beauties and you'll reap the rewards.

This is the brand that I go for and it's a good size - this is lasting me a good two months! AND that's with my favourite French man using it for his hair gel! Oh yeah, I am not messing about - I've even converted him to using it!

Hilarious story, his pal stayed over at our place last week and yes my bf likes to take the piss out of me for my new lifestyle but he was actually advocating the coconut oil to his friend! I couldn't believe it - I'm actually making a difference in his lifestyle too and he's seeing the benefits. Wowza.... :D
So he came home one day last week and told me that JB had used the coconut oil and I quote "Yeah he really liked it and he said it wasn't greasy and was very lightweight! And I said yeah man, and there's no chemicals in it!!!" ahahahahahah - they sounded like a pack of woman's knickers but I don't care - they're being healthy yippppppeeeeee.

The reason why I asked him to try the oil on his hair was because I had a quick glance at his L'Oreal Fibre Putty jar and did not like the contents;

Just a few highlighted that are known baddies and the EWG (Environmental Working Group) can back this information up. Anyhow it's just about switching things up where possible and finding out that they work and you're actually saving yourselves money overall and more importantly looking after your bodies.

Area's that I use coconut oil in my daily routine:

• Cooking
• Shaving my legs
• Moisturising my body
• Cleansing my face and eyes to remove make-up 
• And just last night Oil-Pulling!

With all the above points, I have thrown out my Bioderma Cleansing Water, body lotions (Cocoa Butter/Dove/Nivea),  Gilette shaving foam, Boot's cucumber eye make-up removing gel and plenty more and never felt more liberated!
No more Boot's points for Dee Dee! Whoops! But more money to buy beautiful dresses and shoes in Zara instead - yipppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Sublime natural product and has made my life so much easier!

Toodles!

Junk in the trunk

I really want to make sure that you know you're going to be ok when you change your lifestyle and that it's not that bad.
Yes I must admit that giving up my expensive body lotions, throwing out my shampoos and shower gels was a bit strange at the start. But also extremely liberating to know i'm not a marketing sucker any more! whoo hoo!

There are times where I think, jeesh, going green is quite hard and it's just so much easier to go to Tesco rather than a health shop. But in the end it's pretty much the same thing!
When I began my no-shampoo trial, yes it was quite weird at the start not getting a lather with the likes of bread-soda but the results are just as good now. People forget that your body has to adjust to this change but you have to keep motivating yourself and say this isn't about vanity, it's about my health!
Believe me, I don't want a greasy mop of hair on me or smell from not using a big branded deodorant.... it's not like that at all - but people have this preconceived notion that you're not going to be clean enough :) It's
actually the opposite my dear reader - you're going to be clean on the outside but more importantly cleaner on the inside!

Stay tuned because Dee Dee has just bought her very own 50+ non toxic beauty recipes that I will be testing and telling soonies - oh yeah..... I will be updating this bloggy woggy with those suckers as soon as possible. Although sometimes it will be difficult because it's an American book and i'm lil girl in Ireland to find some products but i'll do my best to source for my EMEA readers.
Happy Tuesday and enjoy your evening/morning

Wellness Mama! My favourite website right now - amazing tips on healthy living!

Wellness Mama

Thanks to this lovely lady i'm not the proud owner of my own natural hairspray! She has so many amazing tips and would really recommend trying out a few....

Absolutely amazing App - and it's FREE

So what IS in my make up bag at the moment that have been replaced?
I'll tell you soon what I am using now but first we have more homework to do hee hee! Stay with me friends, it's worth it!

Well after downloading this amazing app called "Think Dirty" (keep it clean people, keep it clean) it shows you the levels of toxicity in most products that are on the market and that I WAS using!

There are three levels the product is evaluated on;

• Carcinogenicity
• Developmental & Reproductive toxicity 
• Allergies & Immunotoxicities

Take for example, you type any products name.It then scores that product on whether it's clean or dirty. This product received a 10 which is a highly disconcerting score!

It then has a tab which proves why it's so high outlining the ingredients added to it. You can then click the third tab and Cleaner Options which advises on more cleaner brands out there. Oh and this app isn't any marketing gimmick! This is truly just a guide for you to choose more safer and cleaner products on the market and to educate yourself on ones to avoid. Boom! Just another easy peasy way to look after yourself and your health!