love beauty and planet's murumuru butter and rose body wash

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Hey loves, beauties, and planets! See what I did there? ;) Today I’m reviewing a body wash from Love Beauty and Planet, a great company that’s been very highly recommended to me recently. Love Beauty and Planet is one of the most holistic, sustainable beauty companies out there. I decided to give their Murumuru Butter and Rose Body Wash a try.

If you’re a frequent reader, you know that I love learning about the ingredients in the products I use and what they do. Love Beauty and Planet is cruelty-free, sulfate-free, paraben-free, and dye-free. Their ingredients are ethically produced and sourced from all over the world. 

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In addition to sourcing good ingredients for their products themselves, Love Beauty and Planet’s bottles are made from reused plastic, so as long as you make sure to recycle your container, you’re helping the Earth without even trying. How cool is that? I really admire companies that not only make an effort to be ethical and sustainable, but also build those values into the framework of their brand. 

As far as this body wash goes, I can’t say enough good things! I picked the Murumuru Butter and Rose Body Wash because the bottle said it provided “bountiful moisture.” My skin gets super dry and itchy in the wintertime especially, and I felt like every body wash I tried would irritate me. 

I definitely made the right choice: this body wash is insanely hydrating and gentle on my skin. Murumuru butter, which is one of my new favorite things to say, is known for its moisturizing qualities and smells heavenly, especially paired with rose. I feel so silky soft and pure when I come out of the shower. I feel and smell refreshed. It gives me such a positive boost. This is also probably due to the murumuru butter, which is an anti-inflammatory!

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I’ve written before about how showering is a really big part of my self care practice, and this body wash really adds to the process of loving my body while I wash all the dirt and grime of the day off of it. The scent and its hydrating qualities make me look forward to showering even more. Also, very nitpicky, but I really love that this bottle is a pump. It just makes things a lot easier. 

If you couldn’t already tell, I’m over the moon with Love Beauty and Planet, and I’m really looking forward to trying more of their products. Which should I grab next? Let me know in the comments!

lime and lotus organics' purify activated charcoal masque

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Hello hello! I’m so excited to share this cruelty-free product review with you all today. As soon as Dr. Stephanie Zgraggen emailed me about her all-natural skincare line, Lime and Lotus Organics, I knew I had to share this brand with you all. As a holistic doctor, she started her brand when she was tired of recommending harmful, chemical-filled products to her patients. Like a badass, she created her own skincare brand! She sent me a bottle of Lime and Lotus Organics’ Purify Activated Charcoal Masque to review, and I fell in love. Thanks Dr. Zgraggen!

First of all, I’m such a fan of the ingredients in this formula. This masque is paraben, phthalate, petrochemical, and gluten-free. I’m familiar with almost all of the ingredients on the bottle. The only one I had to look up was sulfone, which turned out to be a sulfate. The formula itself smelled so delicious, like a vanilla cupcake! You guys know I love a nice-smelling beauty product. It’s not thick or sticky, which pleasantly surprised me. I’m assuming it’s because this masque contains only the most essential ingredients.

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I also love the bottle itself. I find it so much easier to apply this masque with a pump, and it’s fun to share with friends! I did this masque with three of my friends, and they all loved it as much as I did. I wanted to share it with my mom, but she’s allergic to sulfur, which was the only obstacle I came across with the ingredients.

This masque is made with white willow bark, aloe vera, pomegranate seed oil, and activated charcoal, all of which contain great anti-inflammatory and detoxifying properties. I use this masque once a week to give my skin a little tune-up since it addresses every concern I have with my skin. It makes me feel so relaxed, refreshed, and renewed. The front of the bottle says “Detox, Tone, Hydrate,” and this masque definitely checks all of those boxes. 

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I really can’t speak highly enough about this masque and this company. I’m so excited to offer you guys 20% off your purchase from Lime and Lotus Organics with my code, CLNKSTER! Make sure you hurry, because this code only lasts for the next month. If you really can’t wait, I have a surprise coming with Lime and Lotus soon. Stay tuned!

For more information about going cruelty-free, check out PETA’s Searchable Database or Cruelty-Free Kitty’s alphabetized list of cruelty-free brands.

benefit's BADgal BANG! volumizing mascara

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Hey beauties! If you’re new here, I love mascara. I have really small eyes and very long eyelashes, so I like to play them up when I do my makeup to make my eyes stand out. I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect cruelty-free mascara for a while now, and I think I finally found it. I’m so excited to share it with you guys!

I had heard a ton of buzz when Benefit first released their BADgal BANG! Volumizing Mascara, and I knew that I needed to give it a try. This mascara is formulated with aero-particles similar to those used in space. Yeah, like outer space. They’re super light, so the formula boosts your lashes without weighing them down.

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For the most part, when I apply mascara, I go for precision instead of length, quality over quantity, if you will, which is why I’m such a huge fan of this wand. The brush is longer, so it covers more surface area at one time. Its bristles are perfectly spread apart so it really grips your lashes and gets the formula on very precisely. Sometimes a little bit of excess comes out, but it’s easy to work with it to get the amount you need. I love how flexible the wand is.

Because of the lightness of the formula, I never look clumpy or cake-y. I get a really natural look from it, which I love. I never use mascara on my lower lashes because it looks too clown-y on me, but when I use this mascara they look very natural and defined. I love using the brush to shape my lashes in general. Now that I’m at the end of my little tube, I’m using it to top off my lashes when I use other mascaras.

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I bought the smaller tube at first because it was cheaper and I wasn’t sure how I would like it, but now I’m definitely running back to Sephora to get the larger tube. This is definitely my new favorite mascara, hands-down. I’m so happy I gave it a try. I very highly recommend it! Have you use anything from Benefit Cosmetics? Let me know in the comments and maybe I’ll grab it on my next Sephora haul!

Anastasia Beverly Hills' Ultra Matte Eye Shadow Single in Fresh

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I used to play with makeup a lot when I was little. I had a Bratz glitter makeup set that everyone was jealous of. But I didn’t start ~seriously~ wearing makeup until my sophomore year of high school, and it was super gradual. Over time, I’ve learned more and figured out what works for me, but that never included eyeshadow. It just kind of confused me, to be honest.

Then, I got Urban Decay’s NAKED3 palette for Christmas, and I started wearing eyeshadow almost every day. I feel like my look is incomplete without it! Even if I don’t go all out with a cute blended look, I’ll try to rub a light pink in the crease.

Long story short, I completely underestimated how much I used Strange, the pale color in NAKED3. Since I don’t use anything on my eyebrows (yet), I rely on a nude shadow to make them pop. I also use it to prime my lids and highlight my inner corners. So when I realized that I literally couldn’t get anything else out of my pan (RIP), I decided to try a new nude shade.

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After wandering the aisles of Sephora and rubbing an absurd amount of lipsticks on my hand, I decided to try something from Anastasia Beverly Hills, since they sell individual eyeshadow shades and I’ve heard awesome things about their products. Their nude shade Fresh, an ultra matte “ivory pink,” was perfect for me since most of the other shades I use are rose gold-y. It was pretty close to Strange.

Guys, I love this eyeshadow SO MUCH. I love how soft it is and how it glides onto my eyelids. I honestly love it more than Strange! The color is still relatively even with my skin tone, but it pairs so well with the other shades in NAKED3 and gives things that pop that I need in a nude shadow. I need to head back to Sephora soon to get a full palette from Anastasia Beverly Hills. If you have a favorite ABH palette, let me know in the comments! I’m really disappointed that I hadn’t tried them until now.

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I also just really love the fact that Anastasia sells eyeshadow singles. In this case, it wouldn’t have made sense to buy an entirely new palette just for one color. And for it to be so high-quality too? I’ve been blessed.

I honestly don’t even have that much left to say. I was just so happy with this eyeshadow, and I use it almost every day. It’s literally never let me down. I highly recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a new nude shade, or really any new eyeshadow color.

Lush Twilight Shower Gel

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Hello, my loves! You all know that I’m a huge fan of self care. While self care is something that looks different for everyone, for me it’s a combination of things I love to do for myself and things that I need to do for myself. One of my favorite forms of self care is showering! I really love feeling the water on my skin and scrubbing off the dirt of the day. I’m a night showerer, so I process a lot of my day in the shower. And I sing and dance. A lot.

But what’s a shower without some good body wash? Before you get your hopes up about this review, I should tell you that this product is only available seasonally, unfortunately. Last summer, I got some really bad news while I was at the mall with my friends, so we wandered through the stores that had nice-smelling things, like Sabon, David’s Tea, and Lush, to calm down. Smelling things is another one of my favorite forms of self care.

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While I was crying through Lush, a sales associate named Gabrielle asked me what was wrong, and we talked for a bit. She comforted me a lot and gave me this small bottle of Twilight Shower Gel left over from the wintertime. It was probably one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me. It seriously meant so much more than she realized. In her honor, I use this shower gel whenever I need a little boost of self love.

This beauty smells like lavender and tonka, a combination I never knew I needed in my life, let alone my shower. According to Lush’s website, lavender absolute is used to “calm the mind, aid restful sleep, and promote relaxation.” For those of you who had never heard the word “tonka” used in a non-toy truck context until now, the tonka bean is commonly found in Brazil, Peru, and Costa Rica. It’s commonly used to reduce inflammation, which makes sense as to why it’s used in a comforting shower gel like Twilight. Tonka absolute is known for its “sweet, comforting aroma.” To be honest, I thought it was cinnamon until I wrote this post, so I guess it’s somewhat in that ballpark. I’m fully aware that cinnamon is not sweet, just go with it.

Basically, Lush assembled the perfect dream team for a shower gel designed to relax you to sleep. I loved using it at the end of a long day. Aside from the mental benefits of this shower gel, it made my skin super soft and smooth. I truly felt cleansed after I showered. I also loved using it to shave my legs! Literally the only downside of this shower gel is that it’s only available seasonally.

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On the bright side, this shower gel is inspired by the Twilight Bath Bomb, which Lush’s website says is also made with lavender and tonka and smells very similar. If you’re not into bath bombs, they also have a Twilight Body Spray that’s also made to help you drift to sleep. Lastly, there’s the Sleepy Body Lotion, which is pretty self-explanatory. It’s also full of lavender and tonka, as well as almond oil and cocoa butter, so if you have a nut allergy, please use caution!

I feel like my experience with my Twilight Shower Gel encompasses how I feel about Lush. They’ve built a brand that assists with self love, from their sales associates to their processes to the ingredients in their products. I love popping into Lush whenever I pass one, sniffing through some of the new bath bombs, and having a chat with a really cool sales associate with a nose piercing. I always feel like I deserve the world when I leave. Thanks, Lush!

For more information about going cruelty-free, check out PETA’s Searchable Database or Cruelty-Free Kitty’s alphabetized list of cruelty-free brands.