New product alert: Bath & Body Works Signature Naturals

With all the promotional email I get from Bath & Body Works, you think they'd mention something about a new line?! I walked into the store today to find a giant display for Signature Naturals! Yes, Bath & Body Works has produced a line of products that is 95% natural!! This is GREAT news because while I love Bath & Body Works' scents, most of their body lotion has parabens in it, and others have mineral oil and petrolatum, which aren't a complete deal breaker but I'd rather avoid petrochemicals.

I asked the manager about it and he said the line just came in this week and they are one of the limited number of stores selected for a trial run - that means it does have the potential to not become a regular line. So of course I had to support their new venture and buy some! They were included in the buy-3-get-2-free or buy-2-get-1-free Signature Collection promotion, and I had a coupon for a free Signature Collection item with a $10 purchase or more. So I ended up getting 4 products (the photo above only shows 3 because I got 2 of the same kind) for the price of 2! They are the same price as the normal SC items, $10.50.

They have three scents available: Fresh Lemon - "a bright citrus blend of fresh hibiscus, sunkissed lemon and orange oil", Lotus Flower & Mango - "a beautiful blend of passionfruit, white lotus and bergamot oil", and White Tea & Lavender - "a fresh blend of tea leaves, lavender petals and mandarin oil". They have body lotion, body wash, and fragrance mist in each of the 3 scents.

Ingredients for the Fresh Lemon body wash (photo edited for readability)

 Ingredients for lemon body lotion:

Ingredients for White Tea & Lavender body lotion:

The good news is, even if these products aren't available at your local store, you can still buy them online. They're pretty hard to find on the website (why are they hiding it? It should be on the front page if they want it to succeed!) so here's a direct link to the collection: NEW! Signature Naturals Collection. The BOGO promotion is also running online, so you can take advantage of that as well as 20% off with the coupon code SPRING20 - you can also try code S113992 for 20% off and a free travel sized Signature Collection item (add item to cart before using code). Coupon codes are not stackable but you can still get 3% cash back with Ebates.

New product alert: EOS hand cream and body lotion!

Love it or hate it, everyone's heard of eos (evolution of smooth) because of their cute little sphere lip balms. Although their lip balms aren't quite moisturizing enough for me, I've been thrilled at the brand's concept since they first came out - they're natural, organic, paraben-free, and have really cool packaging - not to mention they're downright cheap compared to other natural brands! For months they only had the lip balm and shave cream, but now they've introduced two new products to their line: hand cream and body lotion.

The products have been buzzed about in magazines for a while now, but it was only last week when I saw them for the first time in person!

The hand lotion is 97% natural, free of parabens, pthalates, lanolins and dyes. The above photo only shows the "nourish" hand lotion with blue packaging, but there is also a "refresh" one with green packaging that contains cucumber extract and is cucumber scented. It retails in their online shop for $3.99, but Walmart had it for $3.27.

The body lotion comes in three types: nourish (revitalizing care for normal to dry skin), active (refreshing care for normal to dry skin), boost (for dry to extra dry skin). They are also 90-97% natural, free of parabens, pthalates, lanolins and dyes.

The "boost" lotion contains both mineral oil and petrolatum (that is the 90% natural one), while the other two do not contain petrochemicals. All retail for $7.99 in their online shop, but were only $6.97 at Walmart.

I'm currently inundated with body lotions and it would be silly to buy any more before I use up some of what I have, so I'll wait until I can get a good deal on these before trying them - but I will definitely look forward to it!

DIY All-natural sugar scrub treatment for dry hands

Like a face scrub, hand scrubs are great for polishing away the rough spots and dead, dry skin, leaving your hands soft and smooth. After experiencing a hand scrub at a popular beauty store, I decided to see if I could whip something up myself using things I had in the kitchen.  This is an extremely simple way to get the luxurious feel and moisturizing benefits of an expensive hand treatment for merely pennies! Bonus: it's all natural!


Ingredients

• Sugar - regular table sugar will do
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Coconut oil (if you have none, use any thick and creamy hand treatment or body butter)

Step one: Pour a little sugar in your hand. The amount doesn't really matter, but probably around half a teaspoon.

Step two: Pour enough olive oil on top of the sugar to cover it completely.

Step three: Rub hands together, scrubbing the palms, backs and in-between fingers for about one minute.

Step four: Rinse sugar off hands with warm water and gently pat dry.

Step five: Scoop out a dollop of coconut oil and massage into your hands until absorbed. Follow with cotton gloves, if you have them, to lock in the treatment and prevent the oils from rubbing off.

Your hands will never feel softer! As with any scrub, use only once or twice a week to avoid over-exfoliating your skin.

New Neutrogena Naturals!

I stumbled upon this new line at Target yesterday, Neutrogena naturals. Everything is free of dyes, parabens, chemical sulfates, petrochemicals, and phthalates! The ingredients are itemized and explained on the backs of all the prouducts.

So far the line includes cleanser, cleanser + makeup remover, scrub, bar soap, and lip balm - all very reasonably priced! I'm excited that major companies are taking the step to become more conscious of the chemicals they put into their products.

Check out their site here for more information!

20% off plus free shipping at organic Aromafloria

Aromafloria is an excellent eco-friendly company that produces gentle, natural, fair-trade and organic skin care products. They have firm guidelines to make sure everything that goes into their products is good for you and the environment - and no animal-derived ingredients either.

Through Sunday they're having a special 20% off sale with the coupon code GIFTS2010. Shipping is free through December 31st as a special holiday promotion too! They're also including a free travel size of Healing Waters body lotion with all orders - a triple whammy of deals!

If you're looking for natural skin care products - now's your chance to try them at a discounted price. I have one of their body butters and it's my favorite!

All-natural EO Products Giveaway!

 
Leslie Loves Veggies is hosting a fantastic giveaway of EO Products. EO is a top-quality brand that boasts all-natural products free from artificial colors, fragrances, parabens, and SLS. I haven't yet tried them but several of their items have been sitting on my Amazon wishlist for a while :)

Six winners will receive products from their new holiday collection! Click here for the giveaway!

DIY natural skin care: Baking soda exfoliator

We all know that baking soda is good for making cookies and deodorizing your fridge, but did you know it's also a great DIY skin care tool? One of the many properties of baking soda is oil and dirt removal, so you can scrub pretty much anything in your house with it to make it clean and fresh, but it's also gentle enough to use on your skin.

Baking soda is very finely ground, so when used as an exfoliator, it leaves your skin super smooth. It's also less abrasive than other natural exfoliants, like those made from crushed nuts or shells, which are unevenly textured and can damage your skin.

Make a paste of 1 part baking soda and 3 parts water, or just mix a little bit into your favorite face wash to turn it into a luxe exfoliant.

I use it to scrub away the peely skin I get from using benzoyl peroxide. It gets all the flakes off and leaves my skin incredibly smooth!

Other beauty uses for baking soda:

• Make a paste and spot-treat acne
• Mix in with your shampoo for a clarifying wash
• Add a half cup to your bath water for a relaxing soak
• Put a couple teaspoons in some water for instant DIY mouthwash