Thursday, February 27, 2014
Whenever I buy or get to review something local, I always get excited and want to yell, "LOOK! Look what this person that lives in my state made! Isn't it awesome?" It could be a rock pet and it'd still be awesome because it came from my state ;)

But these aren't rock pets. They're all-natural soaps, lip balms, lip scrubs, face masks, bath fizzes and sugar scrubs (oh my!) from Teresa at Naturally Clean in CT and are free of preservative and chemicals. Connecticut reppin'!


Bath Fizzies
Who doesn't love bath fizzies?! Place one in your bath and get ready for smooth skin! These bath fizzies come in adorable heart shapes with shea butter to moisturize and rose kaolin clay to detoxify. They have no scent before or after fizzing out which I thought I'd be bothered by but I think I was too focused on how soft my skin was after using these! Just be super careful because these can make your bath tub a slip-and-slide.

Ingredients: aluminum free baking soda, citric acid, shea butter, rose kaolin clay

Cocoa Lip Scrub
At first I wasn't too sure about this one. It doesn't exactly smell like, "Hey, come put this on your lips!" but it's not a bad scent. It's just different. After placing a pea-sized amount on your lips, rub your lips together for about 30 seconds and wipe it off (or lick some off - same thing). It tastes way better than it smells and holy toledo - my lips were soft and smooth which does not come easily in CT winters. I've been using this for a few days now and it's hands down been my lip saver. 

Ingredients: unrefined fair trade african shea butter, grapeseed oil (ah, that might be the scent!), organic sugar and cocoa powder

Seaweed Facial Mask
Oooh, a seaweed mask? Don't mind if I do! Scent is a mix of green tea with seaweed (you can barely smell it but it's there). Directions say to mix 1-2 teaspoons of powder with milk, water or even yogurt to whatever consistency you want. Apply to face and rinse after 5-15 minutes. Teresa uses this with half parts honey and applies it to her face for 20 minutes. I ended up using water because of course we didn't have milk nor yogurt. I think yogurt would've been such a fun consistency! After taking it off, my skin felt nice, refreshed and clean!

Ingredients: seaweed, oatmeal, green tea

Lip Ambrosia
Hello, my new favorite chapsticks! Teresa (from Naturally Clean in CT) sent me two. One is coffee flavor (which is AH-MAZING!) and one is no flavor but smells like coconuts (double AH-MAZING!). Both of these lip ambrosia's left my lips feeling so soft. I swear, I'll never buy another chapstick again. Where have these been all my life? 

Ingredients: coconut oil, beeswax, almond oil, cocoa butter, apricot oil, honey, vitamin e

Brown Sugar Vanilla Body Scrub
I love a good body scrub. My skin is constantly drying out and New England weather never helps. In the shower, I rubbed this on my elbows, knees and all over my legs. This did leave my skin EXTREMELY soft but I also felt slightly oily. Also, make sure to mix this before you apply as it does settle!

Ingredients: brown sugar, sugar, grapeseed oil, vanilla and vitamin e

All Natural Soap
When I first opened the package, I was greeted by a delicious lemon pez smell. THIS WAS IT! Swoooon. I rarely use bar soaps. I have nothing against them. I just have always grabbed a shower gel over a soap bar. This may have changed my mind. I already talked about the scent (have I mentioned it smells like lemon Pez!?) but I think what surprised me the most was how much it lathered. Wow! It left my skin feeling squeeky clean. The only (minor) issue I had with this is that it scratched my skin. I didn't even notice washing with it, but afterward I saw tiny scratches on my body and checked out the soap to find tiny little pieces of herbs (??) in it. You can kind of see them in the picture. No big issue and clearly they didn't hurt since I didn't notice until the end but something kind of noteworthy. Note: Make sure to keep this upright so they can drain and aerate! 

Ingredients: saponified organic palm oil, organic sunflower oil, organic coconut oil, organic olive oil, unrefined shea butter, lemongrass essential oil and lemongrass

All Natural Soap
The soaps come in a whole bunch of yummy scents: Orange Flower, Lovin' Lemons, Ginger Paradise, Bergamot Euphoria, Cinfully Honey, Orange Kick, Margarita Thrill, Black Currant, Cedar A-Peel, Ginger Lime Punch, Lemongrass, Peppermint Patty, Naked Oats and Italian Goat. Teresa was nice enough to send me five different soap slivers to try out as well. Unfortunately, they didn't have names so I'm not sure which is which but guys, they all smelled amazing! All are preservative-free and have no chemicals. They are scented with essential oils.

Overall: It's funny how big of a difference using a natural product vs. a not-natural product has on your body. Each product left my skin feeling soft and clean. I noticed that my normal soaps left residues that I just got used to but after using this all-natural soap, I noticed my skin feel clean without drying. My favorites were the lip balms and the all natural soaps!

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