My Favorite Skin Care and a Mother's Day Giveaway

As I have moved toward more organic methods of gardening, my awareness of what non-organic practices affect (like the food on our table, skin care, and the environment) has steadily increased.  And as knowledge increases, so does sorrow. Realizing what "mineral oil" really means (found that out on an episode of Dirty Jobs) was the wake-up call that began my journey away from mainstream skin care practices.  And when you realize that your skin is your body's largest organ, and brings an alarming amount of what you put on it INTO your body, your label-checking broadens from just your food to include your skin care as well.  Which has led me to a lot less skin care purchases at the store.

After paring down products that contained things I didn't want on my skin, I had little left.  I used nothing to cleanse my face but a mixture of extra virgin olive oil and castor oil (and scrubbed with a hot washcloth), and nothing to moisturize but coconut oil.  Oil dissolves oil, so without soap my skin brightened, cleared, and felt softer after cleansing.  I thought I had found the most natural, complete skin care I needed.  

My incredible photography shoot in the nursery. Ha.

Then I attended a Savvy Boheme party, and BOY was it an educational experience!  Keri passed around the products she has formulated from raw and natural sources, and also blew our minds with the science behind why her products work.  Like how the sugar in her scrub creates alpha hydroxy acid when used on your skin -- but it contains real, live ingredients that work on your skin in a way that pharmaceutically formulated products simply can't.  Amazing.  And each item I tried intoxicated my senses with the aromas of coffee, rose, lavender, citrus, cocoa or rosemary. But I thought I had all I needed with my oil cleanser and my coconut oil.  So I bought a deodorant (that works - without aluminum!) from her and took home a tester of Anouk raw whipped shea butter, and thought I was done.

Whipped Shea Butter - light, creamy, heavenly

It wasn't until I used that whipped shea butter that I realized what I had been missing.  Though it was effective against blemishes because of its antibacterial, antifungal properties, the coconut oil didn't keep my skin soft all day.  It left it dry half-way to lunch.  Turns out it's an astringent, and couldn't touch the whipped shea's effectiveness as a moisturizer. Plus, the Anouk whipped shea butter's aroma of lavender and vanilla was just the pampering this mother of three little kids needed to get going in the morning.  Or mid-afternoon.

Raw Sugar Scrub - when you cleanse with oil rather than soap, your skin no longer needs to compensate for lost sebum, and ends up being less oily overall. Counter-intuitive but true.

 And it's all thanks to Savvy Boheme! Now I get to spread the love in honor of Mother's Day: Keri is giving away Savvy Boheme's complete cleansing and moisturizing set, the Facial Trivium, to one lucky reader.  This set includes the super-moisturizing Raven's Balm, the amazing African Black Soap, and the Raw Sugar Coffee Scrub in Tall Americano (a combined value of $57).  Which smells incredible, by the way.  Like coffee at a cafe outside Paris with citrus trees swaying in the morning breeze, I'd imagine.  Win this for your sweet mama, your hard-working wife, your daughter, your neighbor, or yourself.  Every mama could use this kind of pure pampering.  The contest ends Mother's Day at midnight, and the winner will be announced the next day.  Enter below!  

Win this!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please note that Savvy Boheme has not offered me any compensation for my review or for holding this giveaway - both were my ideas.  This blog is a wonderful way to me to give back to small businesses by promoting them in my little circle, and this is a business I truly believe in.

Renee's Garden Giveaway Results

What a beautiful day we have here in East Texas!  Thank you all for stopping by, and thanks to those who participated in the Renee's Garden Seeds Giveaway yesterday!  Using a random number generator, 5 winners have been chosen from the comments section.

The winners are:

Danielle M.
Deborah Hanna
Stefani C.
Amanda
Rachel

Please shoot me an email at theconservatorygirl(at)hotmail.com with your first and last name and mailing address to claim your prize!

Zinnias will be popping up all over the place!  Your comments came in from NC, TX, GA, TN, and SC!  I get such joy from seeing comments here and where friends are hailing from.  Thank you all again for giving me the honor of reading my blog, and hope your weekend is fantastic!

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore, Dream, Discover. –Mark Twain

Renee's Garden Seeds Giveaway - Ended

I've talked about Renee's Garden - about how I love their wide variety of seed offerings, from heirloom to certified organic to hybrid to completely unique; that their seeds are always the first and most likely to germinate for me; and that they pledge that they "do not knowingly buy or sell genetically engineered seeds."  That last one is particularly important to me.

Well, today I have a real treat.  You know how giving is so much better than receiving?  People, today I get to give you something (something other than my questionable photography skills and opinionated musings).  Today I shall hold a giveaway in honor of Spring!  

Now whether Spring is truly on her way, we shall see.

But we shall celebrate regardless, lest we go crazy waiting. Nothing like a little fun to buy us some time and sanity!

Since this is my first time hosting a giveaway in some time, I'm glad I get to stack the odds in your favor.  

I am pleased to announce that 5 winners will receive a packet of Renee's Garden "Granny's Bouquet" Zinnias!  

They are perfect for the flower-lover and the vegetable gardener alike, as they sport a stunning variety of heirloom beauty as well as attract beneficial insects (including pollinators) to the veggie garden.  I've read that zinnias attract song birds and hummingbirds as well.  The lucky recipients should receive their seeds just in time to start indoors, and in plenty of time to start outdoors this season.  And each seed packet from Renee's Garden includes clear, easy-to-follow instructions on how to plant and care for the seeds, so do not hesitate to enter even if you've never gardened before.  Every gardening adventure is a valuable learning experience.

"Granny's Bouquet" includes old-fashioned, hard-to-find varieties in orange, scarlet, cherry, violet, rose, salmon, cream, gold, yellow, and chartreuse!  And at a mature height of around 3 feet tall, they'll make the perfect border backdrop or companion plant for your tomatoes and cucumbers.

Here's how to enter:
               1) Leave a comment below with your city and state - let's see where everybody hails from!
               2) Agree that you will give your permission to Renee's Garden to add you to their monthly newsletter if you win.

To further stack the odds in your favor, "Like" Renee's Garden Seeds on Facebook  -- that will give you two entries in this contest!

Now get to it! The contest closes at 8am tomorrow CST, and the winner will be announced Friday!

And in the meantime, visit Renee's Garden seed catalog online and check out all the seeds and seed collections they have to offer!

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This contest has officially ended.  Thanks for stopping by!