Greenify Your Laundry

When it comes to greenifying my laundry routine, I was a little nervous. I tend to be choosy about my soaps and dryer sheets and I wasn't sure I wanted to throw my old, non-green favorites away. But after a single trip to the Whole Foods laundry aisle, I can just about promise you that I'm never going back. There were a ton of great, natural, affordable (and nice-smelling!) options there that I couldn't even start to go into them all. But here are two of my current favorite laundry products:
For laundry soap, I wanted something that would be effective at cleaning but not at all harsh on my clothes. Ecover Ultra Ecological Laundry Wash does the trick for me. It's nice to my clothes, doesn't fade the colors, and leaves them clean and smelling nice. The lavender scent is plant-derived (unlike the synthetics at the regular grocer which I actually hate) and I find it herbal but light. It's also a high efficiency product, which cuts down on product and packaging waste.

Dryer sheets are one of those products that aren't strictly essential, so if I really wanted to be green I could go without them. But I really like the way they make my clothes soft and non-staticky, plus their scent usually lasts longer than that of a detergent. I found true love in Mrs. Meyer's Dryer Sheets, which are biodegradable and the essential oil scents are strong enough that I only need one for a large load at the laundromat (vs. the two or three I used to use). I like the Lemon Verbena scent currently, but they also come in Lavender, Geranium, Baby Blossom, and Basil. And at $8 for 80 sheets, they're not too expensive to use frequently.

So there you have it, my new "green" laundry routine and I'd love to hear your thoughts or suggestions. :) Have you ever used "green" cleaners?

PS: If you aren't much for dryer sheets, you could scent your laundry by adding essential oils (like lavender) to your wash to lightly scent the clothes- just make sure whatever you add won't stain or bleach. You could also add a drop to a clean washcloth and add it to the dryer for the same effect without the waste.

Images: Laundry wash from Vitacost, dryer sheets from Mrs. Meyers Clean Day

Local Goods (the Etsy way)

We all know that buying local is good for us. Local goods don't require as much packaging and fuel for transportation, making them green-friendlier. Plus buying local supports your city's economy and keeps small businesses afloat. The trick, of course, is finding local goods that you actually want to buy. Which is one of the reasons I'm in love with Etsy's "Shop Local" feature (thanks to my friend Hilary for introducing me to it!). Using their Shop Local search, you can buy handmade products (and some vintage too) made right in your very own home town, or at least very near by.

I did a search for my city and here are just a few of the things I found:
A cute clutch just big enough for summer essentials (wallet, keys, sunglasses, chapstick).
A mellow scent (the seller claims it can calm a rowdy 2 year old).
Black and white photography (my favorite)- this one is titled "blight 2007."
All-natural with an attitude. This tank is made from organic cotton, and the print is "inspired by the art nouveau movement and modern tattoos".

Go here to search for Etsy shops in your area. But before you do, tell me- do you ever try to buy things locally?

All images belong to their respective Etsy sellers (see links).

Greenify Your Makeup: Part 1

Over the past month or so I've been testing out natural makeup brands to replace some of my old, chemical-laden stuff as it wears out. The website MakeupAlley (MUA) has been a great help for finding some of the lesser-known makeup brands and in learning how to apply them. I'm not even close to having replacements for all of my old makeup (especially since I'm only replacing things as they run out) but I have found a couple of rave-worthy brands already.

100% Pure was one of my first favorite green beauty brands, and I've written about them before. Their products have great, mostly natural ingredients lists without synthetic chemicals or any artificial fragrances. They're not cheap, but they do come highly rated and might be worth a splurge every now and then. I'm currently loving their Pure Peach Concealer in White Peach. It brightens dark undereye circles and contains both caffeine and antioxidants like green tea to nourish the sensitive skin there. You can easily get 100% Pure products through QVC, Amazon, or their website.
The first time I tried mineral makeup, I hated it. It itched my face and made me break out in horrible cystic acne all over my chin. It turns out that many well-known mineral brands contain a lot of talc and bismuth, which act as skin irritants for many people. Thanks to MUA, however, I discovered Everyday Minerals, which creates affordable mineral makeup that is free of talc and bismuth. Their makeup comes in tons of colors and it doesn't itch my skin at all. Right now I'm craving Net Surfing eyeshadow, a gorgeous amythest with pink shimmer (above). The best part is the prices, which (unlike 100% pure) don't send my wallet away crying. A set of 6 full-sized products of your choice goes for $34 on the website, and you can get a sample kit containing 5 sample products of your choice for free- just pay shipping, which only ran about $3 for me. You really can't go wrong with decent minerals that run less than the stuff at the drugstore.

Have you ever tried any "green" beauty/skincare brands? Would you?

Images: Concealer, amazon.com. Eyeshadow, everydayminerals.com.

Greenify Your Hair

So as some of you know, awhile ago I officially jumped on the green bandwagon. I want to become more eco-conscious by looking critically at the things I own: those that I need, those that I like, and those that are inevitably wasted. What I don't want is to contribute to the idea that in order to be green you need to toss out all your old stuff and buy new, super-expensive "green" things (that may or may not be all that "green").

That said, as I have been trying to greenify my beauty routine by cutting back on the number of products I own (because, ahem, I own a lot), and picking more natural alternatives for ones that I keep around. And since I know you all will keep me accountable, I thought I'd share my new (much simpler) hair-care routine with you.

Image: drugstore.com

When it comes to shampoo, my stance is that it all gets washed out of my hair anyway, so I'm not terribly picky. I just need something that get my hair clean without drying it out to straw. Shi Kai shampoos do the trick for me- they clean my hair without the use of SLS or other harsh chemicals, and they don't strip it of its moisture. The Color Care Shampoo is my favorite for being pretty gentle and non-drying. The Everyday Shampoo does dry my hair out a little bit, but nothing conditioner can't fix. Better yet, both can be found at Whole Foods or just about any online drugstore, and they're pretty inexpensive ($5-7 for 12oz, depending on where you get it).

Image: iherb.com

My hair is thick and tends to be dry, so when it comes to conditioner I tend to be more picky. The hardest part of switching to green products was finding a conditioner that would moisturize without the use of dimenthicone, which is found is just about every drugstore moisturizing conditioner. I finally found a friend in Desert Essence Red Raspberry Conditioner, which moisturizes using jojoba oil and contains vitamins A and C plus calcium, magnesium, and almond amino acids for healthy, shiny hair. It keeps my puffy hair relatively non-puffy, without making it flat or greasy looking. It also doesn't hurt that it smells amazing, like sweet raspberries on a summer day. And like the ShiKai shampoo, it's relatively easy to find both in stores and online, and it won't break the bank ($6-9 for 8oz, and a little goes a long way).

Image: vitacost.com

As far as styling products go, my hair is admittedly non-picky. It's straight and thick, so I typically look for something that will will add shine and keep it from puffing up mid-day, plus protect it from any heat styling I might do. For me, Giovanni Direct Leave-In Conditioner has worked wonders. Just a dime-sized amount keeps all of my hair under control without being greasy-looking. Plus it does it with natural oils instead of silicone, so I don't have as many issues with build-up. And, as you might suspect, it's also relatively easy to find and inexpensive ($5-8 for 8.5oz).

What do you think of my new hair routine? Does anyone have other natural products I should test out? If so, I'd love to hear them :)

Pumpkin Pie For Your Face

I don't do a ton of product reviews here on OHP, because I don't want the blog to turn into one big advertisement. But when I come across a product that really impresses me, I can't help but share it with the world.

One product that I've been loving lately is the MyChelle Incredible Pumpkin Peel. I picked it up from Whole Foods on a whim after hearing tons of good reviews for it on MUA. It's supposed to detoxify and exfoliate dead skin cells to promote skin regeneration- I'm not sure if it does all that, but it DOES make my skin feel ridiculously soft and it seems to help fade some of the red spots I have from past acne. Plus it looks and smells SO much like pumpkin pie batter, that it makes me think of Thanksgiving at Grandma's every time I use it (but please don't eat it).

The best part is that this peel is almost entirely made of organic ingredients, plus there's no animal testing. It seems pricey ($25-ish for 1.2fl. oz., eeps) but I've used it 4 or 5 times and barely put a dent in the jar, so it should last awhile. All in all, I think this might be my next big love.

Photo via iherb.com- which seems to have the cheapest price for MyChelle products. I got mine at Whole Foods.

Signature Style

Thank goodness it's Friday- I've had a super busy week and I am so looking forward to being lazy and visiting friends and maybe, just maybe, doing a little shopping.

Today I was doing a little online window shopping and I realized that I really don't have a signature style. You know how some people always dress in a particular way and it just seems to fit them so well? Yeah, I'm not one of those people. I'm a mixer-and-matcher. Sometimes I'm pretty sure I don't even bother with the matching part, I just love things from all different kinds of styles. Occasionally I feel like I should try to develop my own recognizable style but then, I guess I have more options this way. Maybe it's why I own so many clothes...

Three completely different tops that I love (above, from top):
Lunch Break Top from Cutiemus
Striped Slub Top from Forever21
The Brewster Sisters Blouse from ModCloth

What about you? Are you a signature style person or do you like to mix it up?

Fabricadabra!

Aren't these pillows from Fabricadabra super cute? I sort of have a thing for bold, geometric pillows. I have neither the money nor the space for these ones- but in another life, I would totally buy them up :)

If you had more money/space, what's the one home item you would buy?

Images: Fabricadabra

Monday Random List

I can't think of too many intelligent things to say on a Monday after 4 hours of sleep. So here's a bunch of stuff that I've been thinking about instead :)

My walls are feeling a little naked lately, so I've been eyeballing all sorts of art that I'd like to see up there. I love this Red Wattlebird print from Etsy.
Summer is coming, and I am sans air conditioning. I'm going to need more fans (and this vintage one looks way cooler than my ugly plastic dustcatchers).
Whenever I go to Aveda to get my hair cut, one of my favorite parts is the delicious herbal tea they serve there. My only beef is that they only give you a teeny little dixie cup's worth. Now I can get 4.9oz of it (!) off of their website.
They need to make more moisturizers with high SPF. Preferably ones that won't make me look like I dunked my face in oil. This Aveeno one is promising, but it only has SPF 15, which is not going to work for this pasty white girl. The search continues.
In addition to the perfect sunblock, I've been searching high and low for the perfect white casual dress that I can wear with flipflops all summer long. This Modcloth one was in the running because of the cute stripes on the skirt, but unfortunately it's sold out.

All images via their respective websites (see links).

Crafttastrophe Shoes

All images via Crafttastrophe (see links)

Thanks to my friend Hilary (hi Hil!) I now have a new obsession: hand-painted shoes. In particular, those from the Etsy shop Crafftastrophe. I could be a little biased because I'm typically a fan of anything awesome made in Ohio, but doesn't this store have the coolest shoe designs? I picked out a few of my faves for you all.

From the Top:
Teal Green Feather Flats
Classic Tattoo Wedges (for those of us who are too wimpy to get real tattoos)
Gears and Pearls Heels
Carnival Dots Heels
Neon Bacteria Heels (okay, so maybe I'm a nerd, but I think these are the coolest)

What do you think of my new crafty love? Would you wear hand-painted shoes?

100% Pure

Lately in the attempt to be less of a planet-murderer, I've begun the painful process of reducing my large collection of bath and beauty products and trying to replace some of them with more natural alternatives. During the spending hiatus, I realized that if I cut back on the number of products I use, I could afford better, more natural alternatives. The switch to natural has been challenging though, since companies have gotten into the act of marketing almost completely unnatural products as natural, and then charging twice as much for them. One $15 shampoo which I'll decline to name contained almost all the same synthetic ingredients as my current drugstore shampoo with a bit of tea tree oil thrown in at the bottom, and it was marketed as "containing natural ingredients". Riiight.

The good news is that if you look, there are product lines out there which do utilize (mostly) natural ingredients in their products, and don't attempt any label-trickery. One that's come on my radar just recently is 100% Pure. They are 100% natural and 100% vegetarian, and they have some pretty awesome-looking products. They aren't super-cheap, but they won't require you to take out a loan against your house, either. I haven't tried any yet, but I am definitely considering ordering some for when my decidedly non-natural current products run out.
A few that are tempting me (pictured above, from top):

• Organic Coffee Bean Caffeine Eye Cream ($19) contains natural caffeine for those of us whose plan to get back to nature doesn't include looking like raccoons in the morning.
  
• Organic Pomengranate Antioxidant Hydration SPF20 ($26) is one of their more expensive products but think of it this way: it's a moisturizer, antioxidant, and sunblock all in one.
• Cherry Honey Facial Scrub ($18). Unlike many "natural" scrubs, this one does not contain ground-up seeds or pits which have sharp edges that can scratch and irritate delicate facial skin. Instead, it uses jojoba beads to get the job done.

Have any of you made the switch to more eco-friendly products lately? If so, what brands have you tried?

Images via 100% Pure's website (see links)

ThinkGeek: Because we're really all huge nerds inside (yes, even you pretend-cool people)

ThinkGeek is one of those websites I can count on to have lots of funny and sort of genius stuff at any given time. They especially have a great collection of silly office supplies, which I amused myself by flipping through this weekend.

A couple of my faves:
Origami sticky note pads. So you won't feel so bad about the fifty billion sticky notes littering your walls (it totally counts as recycling).

Paper voodoo notepad. For your a-hole boss when he wants to you to come in on Saturday. Again.
And my personal fave, inanimate object stickers. No real use to these, I just think having a face on my stapler might be amusing.

Alright, so they're all pretty silly/useless items (and I'll admit, probably a little immature) but- funny, no?

All images via thinkgeek.com (see links)

If I had lots of disposable income...

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Anthropologie makes some of the cutest dresses ever. All three of these would be great for today (it's in the 70's and sunny!) with cute sandals. I'd also wear the first one, which is more of a tunic than a dress to be honest, with skinny jeans or capris. And I just LOVE the braided straps on the third one.

All images via Anthropologie

Etsy Finds: Pretty Birdies

Lately I've been loving anything with a bird on it, seriously. I'm blaming it on spring, along with all my other obesessions this time of year (see below for some yellow lovin').

Some of my favorite bird-related etsy finds:

• Pretty mint-green bird pillow (from joom).
• Polka-dots AND a cute birdie? I'm pretty sure this notepad is designed for me (from boygirlparty).
• I don't wear a ton of necklaces, but I'm drawn to the whimsy of this pretty bird one (from VirginiaGeiger Jewels).
• A take-it-everywhere blue canvas tote with an adorable birdie print (from Kainkain).

(PS: I will be getting links to the items up later, but you can also do a seller search on etsy if you like them- Internet Explorer hates me right now and has crashed about six times every time I try to open etsy to get the links. And this is why I normally use Firefox.)

Dress Love

By Dace via Bliss

This dress has been making its rounds on the blogworld and I figured I'd go ahead and hop on the bandwagon. I just love LOVE the soft oversized plaid print and the unusual neckline. Target needs to get hoppin' and make me a more affordable knockoff, but I have a feeling I'm just going to have to sit here and lust after the original.

Mini Smellies

Fragrances are fickle things: you never know how they're going to treat you until you try them out for awhile. Which is why when I'm thinking of trying a new fragrance, I usually look for a mini version. They're less expensive, and I can always buy the full size after I run out if I really like it. But honestly, by the time I get through 1oz. of the stuff, I'm usually ready to move on to something new. I guess I'm fickle, too.

I'm considering the 1oz. bottle of Fresh Sugar Lemon, which can be had on Sephora for around $25. I don't wear a lot of perfume when it's warm outside, so this would probably last me most of the summer.

What's your perfume habit: full sized all the way or do you like to try 'em before you buy 'em? Or do you forego the smellies alltogether? (PS: Sometimes I just like to smell like soap.)

Image via Sephora.com- where you can find all sorts of mini smellies.

Surprising Clearance Dresses

I must be in a shopping mood today, given my earlier post on colorful coats and now this one.

But I saw these two dresses while flipping through the interwebs and just had to share, as both are from places I don't normally look for inexpensive dresses.

via urbanoutfitters.com

I love all the cute, hip clothes at Urban Outfitters but I feel like a lot of their dresses are a wee bit overpriced. At $25 (on clearance), though, this pretty Kimchi Blue Graphica dress is a steal. They show it with tights, but I'd wear it with flat sandals on warm spring/summer days.

via Alloy.com

And while I know Alloy has great clearances, I have always thought that they were a little bit teeny bopper for my taste. Then one of my friends suggested I take a second look, and I found this cute metallic stripe jumper. It has a sexy/girly feel that wouldn't look totally out of place on someone outside of Jr. High- and it's on clearance for less than $20.

Lesson learned: keep your options open. You never know where you'll find things you love.

In-Between Jacket

I don't really have an in-between seasons jacket, so pretty much every morning in March/April consists of me trying to decide if I want to wear a coat and be hot or wear a sweater and be cold. This cute hooded jacket might just solve that problem. Plus, how cute are the green and yellow colors? They make me think of spring!

(via Buckle)

Tank Dresses: Yay or Nay?

via Frances May

Right now I am loving the idea of comfy, sexy tank dresses for the summer. But there's a little voice inside of me that thinks they might make me look a little frumpy or plain. What do you think?

This one by Alexander Wang would look cute with my new sandals and long, beachy waves. Too bad I don't have $226 or wavy hair.

I took a Blogger Break.

Sorry I've been MIA for a couple days everyone. I decided to visit my grandma and give the computer a rest, since it IS my Spring Break and all. Together we were lazy, watched tv, shopped, and ate way too much candy. Which is totally my idea of a good time.

via Kohls.com

Plus I picked up these cuties from Kohls, and since they were a gift from grandma they technically don't count against the spending hiatus. I know, I'm such a cheater. :)

It's back to your regularly scheduled blogging from here on out though.

What do you do when you visit family?

Spending Hiatus Update: Week Nine

Money Poster by Howard Sokol via allposters.com

I can't believe I'm on the tenth week of my spending hiatus right now! Who knew three months would go so quickly?
Week nine comes in three parts: the confession, the distraction, and the temptation.

The Confession:
I bought nail polish. AND lipgloss. Clearly there was a sale at the drugstore. Want to know the really ironic thing? The nail polish chips easily and the lipgloss is way too light and frosty.
Lesson learned. Things always seem way more necessary/appealing in the store.
Also, I'm potentially making another purchase soon. I've been looking for non-ugly lamps for awhile now, and I found two that I love on Craigslist for a total of $5. Not only is this an incredibly good deal, but it may not be around for long. I'm sure that's cheating big-time, but considering I've been looking for these types of lamps for awhile, I think I might go for it. Thoughts?

The Distraction:
Last week was plenty busy with exams and lots of studying. I also...

• Saw the OSU/Siena basketball game in Dayton. Lets just say I was not happy with the guys in black and white stripes and leave it at that, shall we?
• Got Jeni's Ice Cream with Nathan and walked around North Market looking at all the goodies. So much fun, and now I've decided I should go there more often to pick up fresh produce and homemade foods from local people.
• Went errand-running with Hilary in what I'll call the Great Navy Blue Shirt Expedition. Hilary started a new job this weekend (congrats hon!) and who knew v-neck navy blue shirts were so freaking hard to find?

And finally, The Temptation:
I have to admit I'm already starting a little post-hiatus shopping list. Some of the items are just for fun, others are ones I'm seriously considering. A few of my picks:
Cute colorful sandals from American Eagle (which I wrote about back here).
Clinique's Up-Lighting Liquid Illuminator to de-dullify my skin. (via TDO)
Room Sprays to make my apartment smell pretty (and not like Febreeze). (via RiverCitySoaps' Etsy shop)

You can read the rest of my spending hiatus posts here.

Dear Readers: what are your confessions/distractions/temptations?
PS: Check out my centennial post celebration below :)