Y'all, this weekend was a banner weekend. Between the farmers market, grilling out and playing in our yard, working on the garden at our farm, hanging with friends and running at the park, we were outside every minute. The sky was blue, the pollen count was down... it was perfect. But it quickly reminded me that it's time to step up my outdoor essentials gear! It's that time of the year that I fill a bucket by the back door with sunscreen, bug spray, sunglasses and all of the other stuff that we need to keep us healthy and happy while we enjoy the great outdoors. So I thought I'd share some of my favorite natural based outdoor beauty essentials for spring!

First stop? Sunscreen. I love Alba brand for my face wash and that love has translated over to their sunscreen: adult facial sunscreen and adult lotion sunscreen. For the kids, I'm obsessed with BabyGanics sunscreen (it smells good! it comes in different types so I can use the stick for faces, the spray for Lu's blonde hair and the lotion for the rest! it doesn't have any of the "bad stuff" in it!) and use all of these on a daily basis: kids spray sunscreen, kids lotion sunscreen and kids stick sunscreen. We have used this SPF chapstick before, but most of the time I just use the stick sunscreen on the lips and then follow up to moisturize with this chapstick.

Also, you've got to keep the bugs away with some good insect repellent. Again, back to being obsessed with BabyGanics, I swear by this insect repellent. I am a mosquito magnet (and I'm pretty sure I'm allergic because every bite I get swells up to freaky proportions and everyone around me starts worrying I'm going to swell into a balloon) so I also play it safe by wearing these insect bands. I may wear one on each wrist and one on each ankle, don't judge.

For after-sun care, I have a bunch of favorite things, but that's probably a whole different post! Some of my favorites, though, are this kids lotion, and for me, this restorative, thick face lotion
and amazing hair detangler/leave in conditioner. I always feel like I've treated and restored myself after I use those products.

What are your favorite outdoor beauty product essentials?!

Korres Quercetin & Oak Antiageing and Antiwrinkle Face Serum

Korres Wild Rose 24-Hour Moisturizing & Brightening Cream

Origins A Perfect World for Eyes

St. Ives Blemish Control Green Tea Scrub 

Alba Botanica -Hawaiian Facial Cleanser

Burt's Bees Intense Hydration Day Lotion

Last year, I made it a personal goal to enhance my skin care routine. While my lovely golden age of thirty is certainly not old, I ain't no spring chicken. I started shopping a few natural products and began testing them out to find out what worked best for me. Then I got pregnant again, like a minute later (hey, Little Lady June!), and my skin went wack with preggo hormones and I sort of gave up on really setting roots with my new skincare routine.

But, here I am, six month post-partum and ready to get my skin back on track. Through several trials and tribulations, I have finally mastered a mostly natural skin care routine that I love.

Let me start by saying that I prefer to use products without parabens, dyes, phthalates, sulfates and other crazy chemicals (yes, that's a scientific term). I'm sure there are some other outrageous, wrinkle-preventing mega beauty products out there but while I'm nursing and have kids licking my face on a daily basis these natural products are a priority for me.

So. My nightly routine. Wash off the makeup/pureed sweet potatoes/craft paint from my face with the Alba pineapple wash. My friend Courtney introduced me to this product line and I love it. The cleanser gets all of my makeup off and leaves me feeling clean but not too squeaky, if you know what I mean. Plus the pineapple smells delicious. When I don't have makeup to wash off or sometimes to wake me up the mornings, I wash my face with the St. Ives scrub just to give myself some extra buff. The green tea extract in the St. Ives scrub makes my face feel totally refreshed, it's awesome. And now I sound like a commercial. FYI for you pregnant mommas out there, there is salicylic acid in the St. Ives green tea scrub so I didn't start using this product until after LLJ came along.  Both the Alba and the St. Ives products can be found at the drugstore, which is great on the wallet and convenience factor.

Next, I use the Korres face serum. I'm pretty new to this product, but I love the natural ingredients and their firming/smoothing technology. I put one squirt in my palm and use on my face and neck. Next, I follow up with the Korres moisturizer which IS. THE. BOMB. Seriously, y'all. I love it. I took a brief hiatus from it when I stopped working for six months earlier this year because I thought, self, you don't need to pay $40 for moisturizer. I tried a few drugstore varieties and couldn't find anything I loved. Now I'm back to the Wild Rose moisturizer and I'm obsessed. It's the perfect weight- not too heavy, not too light and feels great, even under makeup. Love it.

Then my tired little eyes and their friends, Bags McGee, get a nice dose of the eye serum. Something about the tea extract in this makes everything feel better in the world of puffy eyes. I've even had friends remark that my eyes were looking good once I regularly started using this product.

As for the St. Ives lotion, it's a little heavy for me to use ever day, but I keep it in my purse for when I'm having dry, patchy moments.

So there you have it, my six favorite natural skin care beauty products. I like that I have a good mix of drugstore and "nicer" products. Next up, I need to lock down a great vitamin routine. Any suggestions? I have been taking prenatal vitamins since the summer of 2011 (yes, seriously) so I am way behind in the vitamin world!

 Hey guys. Just wanted to throw out a quick thank you for your support and love last week. My car accident was no fun, but I'm lucky to be surrounded by so many amazing people (including you virtual peeps!). I really appreciate it. I'm feeling 100% and my car is in the shop making it's way to 100% as well. Thanks again for the love, y'all are the best!

Many, many weeks ago, I asked y'all to help me figure out a new makeup and skin care routine. And I'm fiiiinally back to report to you on the skin care side of things.

You guys gave SO much good advice, so thank you. I seriously sat down and took notes as I read through the comments... y'all know where it's at when it comes to beauty routines. You showed me and my teenager-worthy skin care routine up, that's for sure. I'm certainly glad I'm keeping up with my New Year's resolution to stay on the ball and step up my game in this department. Y'all have inspired me!

My problem is that I've (annoyingly) decided to narrow down my beauty options to mostly all-natural products free of certain things like parabens, phthalates and fragrances. I've mentioned it before, but I'm kind of on an all-natural kick lately and I'm trying to implement all-natural products throughout my life (like my all-natural DIY multi-surface cleaner!). And beauty products are no exception.

When I became pregnant last year, I tried to take some "no no" beauty products out of my regime, like anything with salicylic acid, etc. But it wasn't until recently that I decided to get a clean beauty routine going. See, HDawg does this adorable thing where he kisses me on my cheek. Except his version of a kiss is opening his mouth as wide as he can and plopping it on my cheek. I love it. Every time. The more slobbery, the better. But there's a problem with that... follow me. A few weeks ago, David gave me a kiss on my forehead right after I had washed my face. He immediately pulled away and looked like he had licked an ashtray or something. Apparently my face wash and lotion tasted like poison. I realized then that I had no clue what ingredients were in those products... for all I know, it could be poison. Okay, not literally, but you know what I mean. And my little HDawg was literally licking that stuff off my face every night. Hm. 

I've done some research and found that a lot of the ingredients in beauty products are not the safest for us. In addition to making sure my face is lick-worthy for H, I want to pick up a regime that I can maintain for the rest of my life, whether I'm preggo in the future or I have more babies making out with my cheek or if I'm just trying to be healthy for myself. Sooooo, to make a long story even longer, I have decided to try and use mostly all-natural beauty products. Unfortunately, that means I had to rule out great products that you guys recommended like Retinol and most name brand aging products. Wah.

And, just for the record, I'm totally not judging anyone who would rather use traditional beauty products. Hey, I'm not totally opposed to those products myself. Just the other day, I dabbed on some of my old acne solution on a problem spot. I just figure that if all-natural, safer products are available that are better for me and my family, I'll try them.

Have you guys fallen asleep yet?

On to the product reviews.

To start, I took Julia's advice and I've started taking my makeup off with a hot (like, steaming hot) wash cloth. No extra makeup remover gunk, just good ol' hot water. It feels great after a long day, that's for sure.

Next up, I use a face cleanser to freshen up. I chose this Origins foaming cleanser for every day use.

Origins anti-aging serum

This serum is silky-soft and lightweight, which is key in my book. I didn't want any heavy duty anti-aging products as I was afraid they would be too heavy and cause breakouts. This stuff rocks. Of course, it will take awhile for me to review whether or not it helps in the anti-aging category (check in with me in 20 years? will there still be blogs in 20 years?!), but it feels great. I layer it on after I wash my face.

After the serum, I use this Origins product around my eyes. It. Is. My. Favorite. Seriously. I literally can't speak good enough about it. Within a few days, I noticed that my eyes and the lines around my eyes were firmer, no joke. The bags/dark circles that have permanently set up shop under my eyes since I had HDawg have lightened up. My eyes generally seem less puffy. Even David, the guy who didn't notice when I got six inches cut off my hair, mentioned something about the difference. I love it!

Okay, now here's where I'm still having trouble. Moisturizer. Blah. I've tried three different brands over the last few weeks (Origins' A Perfect World, Aveeno Positively Radiant Daily Moisturizer and Kiehl's Ultra Moisturizer- the last two are not all-natural, paraben free, etc. by the way) and I'm still not happy. I've disliked them for various reasons (too heavy, too greasy, not natural). I'm ready to stop playing Goldilocks and find the right fit! I think my next try may be Korres (which some of you recommended in my last post) or bareMinerals. I'd really just love a natural lightweight oil-free daily moisturizer for normal to dry skin. Any suggestions?

*UPDATE*


I have found a new moisturizer that I loooooove. It's Korres Wild Rose cream... it's natural, light, moisturizing and smells faintly of cinnamon and roses. I've been using it for about a week and I highly recommend it. My face has no more dry patches, which is awesome and says a lot more than most other moisturizers. I don't feel like it's too heavy under my makeup. I'm still waiting to see how my skin reacts in terms of bumps or blackheads (TMI), but so far, so good!

Alright, well those are my two cents! I hope you find what I've learned so far to be helpful. And if you've got any more insight, bring it! The more I learn, the better. If you're looking for more skin care or make up advice (I will be doing a natural make up review soon!), check out the comments in this post. They're legit!

Hi friends! Happy Friday. As you know from my proclamation here, I've made it my personal quest in 2013 to better my personal appearance. That sounds totally superficial, but after spending 2012 growing and delivering a baby, I thought I'd treat my body to looking fab in 2013.

Yeah, that's just me being SUPER pregnant last August.

Sometimes it's not that easy to stick with this resolution. After all, HDawg prefers spit up on all of my clothes, isn't a big fan of waiting for me to get ready and generally prefers my hair like this.

But, when I can, I try to make an effort. So far, I've worked on sprucing up my hot momma fashion and I got a new hair style. Now I'm ready to up my game when it comes to makeup and skin care. There's just one problem. I totally suck at makeup and skin care. Like, I'm clueless. I realized the other day that I've been using the same Clinique foundation product that I started using when I was 15. Um, yeah. Time to update my makeup routine for this almost thirty year old!

Speaking of being almost thirty, I also need to work on my skincare routine. I have zero clue where to even begin at my age to treat and prevent aging on my skin. 

Here is where you guys come in. I would love to do some research, test some products and come back to all of you with the results. And the inner hippie in me would really like to try and stay away from chemical-ridden products and stick with the more natural stuff that is out there. But where do I start? Do you have any ideas about products you've seen out there that you've been wanting to try? Any tips or suggestions about products you use religiously? Have you seen any blog posts or magazine articles lately that have inspired you or been informative about makeup or skin care? Please feel free to email me or leave some ideas or links in the comments if you've got any insight. I'd really appreciate if you could help me get started on this makeup and skin care journey!