Dare You To...

This past winter was rough, and my nails were certainly feeling it by the time spring rolled around.  Throughout March, they felt thinner and broke often.  By May, I was also suffering from dry, itchy skin, and was desperate for change!


The timing was perfect to team up with Eu Natural, who kindly offered me the opportunity to try their Biotin supplement for hair, skin, and nails--learn more from their website here or check out their supplements on Amazon.

Biotin (a.k.a. Vitamin H, Vitamin B7, and Coenzyme R) is a part of the "B complex" vitamins.  As such, it is water-soluble vitamin that helps with the metabolization of amino acids and fats and with the production of new cells and fatty acids. 

Signs of biotin deficiency may include brittle nails; hair loss; eyebrow or eyelash loss; red scaly rash around eyes, nose, and mouth; conjunctivitis; dermatitis; and lethargy.
"Since biotin is a building block for cell production, if it is deficient in your body, you are goin…

Today, I bring you a hodgepodge of some things I'm loving lately:



The Calorie Myth. I love Jonathan Bailor's message.  I know the book's tagline sounds gimmicky, but his "eat more, exercise less, but smarter" message is really important, and is supported by scientific research.  Just give it a read, or enter the giveaway to win a copy.  Giveaway ends TODAY, so enter now!












Gel polish.  Okay, I'm late to the game on this one.  My fingernails are pretty healthy and strong, so I  always avoid weakening or damaging them with any fancy acrylic/gel/fake business.  However, I recently went on a trip (recaps coming soon!), and wanted my nails to look good and stay strong for the whole week.  I hear that the new gel polish doesn't do damage to the nails if it's used only once in a while.  Really, I just didn't want to worry about my nails chipping or breaking while I was away, so I finally bit the bullet and tried getting the gel polish everyone's raving a…

Here's a dare I've taken on that people have noticed.  I've gotten compliments on my glowing skin, and some have asked me what I'm up to.  If you want to stop worrying about what's on your face and finally have glowing, balanced skin, then this post is for you.

Just as I got rid of the unpronounceable ingredients in my body lotion, I wanted to avoid the artificial cleansers in my face wash, too.  What good does it do to use coconut oil to moisturize my face, if I'm still washing it with strange chemicals twice a day?

Well, I'd heard of "oil cleansing" before, and you may have, too.  There's a website dedicated to it (The Oil Cleansing Method.com, and it's outlined extensively with various options in The Skintervention Guide by Liz Wolfe.  THere's also a helpful tutorial on Mommypotamous.

It may seem counterintuitive, but using oil topically actually helps balance your skin.  It's nourishing, cleansing, and moisturizing.  It helps …

Go find your lotion.  Face lotion, body lotion... whatever it is that you apply on a regular basis, take it out.  Turn it over.  Look at the ingredient list.  Count the number of ingredients you recognize.  How many words do you understand?  How many words can you pronounce?  How many of the listed items do you think came from nature?



How many do you want seeping into the largest organ of your body: your skin?

If you're cool with rubbing all that garbage into your body, that's your choice.  To each, his own. Personally, I'd rather ditch the man-made chemicals for something nature made, something my skin might recognize as naturally moisturizing.  I also don't want something that will actually dry out my skin and make me become addicted to the lotion.  But, again, that's just me.  If you feel similarly or simply want to try another, more natural approach to moisturizing, read on!


Today's dare: Swap your daily lotion for coconut oil.  

I was a little skeptical at…

(For my male audience, I apologize. This one's for the ladies!) 

This is a dare that, for too long, I avoided, denied its importance, neglected.  But finally, about a year ago, I came around and gave in and decided it was time to start cleaning my makeup brushes.



This is SO necessary!  It's really disgusting to think about how much old makeup is dried up in there.  Being lazy, I'd sooner have bought a new brush than deal with washing my own.  However, after some research and experimentation, I learned that it's really not that hard at all, just one of those inconveniences that seems like a bigger deal than it is.

The internet is a wonderful resource for "How To" anything.  Finding sites and videos was incredibly easy.  With so many options to choose from, I browsed a bit before choosing to follow this one, which shows several techniques:



But there are tons more, so you  can search for one that appeals to you!

I still remember after that first cleaning, seeing…