My Favorite Shower Essentials

Please raise your hand if daily showers are deemed a necessity in your life. Alright me too.

Growing up in a house full of kids, showers were the one thing I absolutely loved. My young naive self would stay in there for hours. But my friends, the prep - that was the best part. I'd save up my allowance and hit up the Bath & Body Works sales as if I were prepping for an Armageddon. (Priorities am I right?). With my mom being an Avon rep the hoarding of bath products tripled.

Then I realized it's probably smarter to store canned foods and stop being so wasteful with water. If anything its better to maximize my time with products that ooze spa-bliss. Enter Molton Brown, a favorite I discovered on the UES thanks to its proximity to Hunter College. The line is full of luxurious scents and amazing exfoliants. Whenever I run out of a particular scent I play Russian Roulette and try something new from them.

This month I went with Eucalyptus in body soap, lotion, and the body scrub. It's definitely not your typical floral fragrance but it reminded me of my first sister trip to Australia and how amazing the air smelled. When applied the scent isn't powerful (which I love) and combined with the shower's steam basically feels like aromatherapy. Molton Brown also carries travel sizes of everything (it's a bit more affordable if you want to give it a go) but I think I'm going to bottle up a little bit of this and pack it for my trip.

Pro tip: their exfoliator is UH-mazing and comes in a pretty big tub that has lasting power. The sugar granules purify the skin, soften and exfoliate, and the mint aroma helps lift your mood. If you're into sunless tanning, I recommend using the exfoliator before hand to help create a smooth base for application.

Shop the line:

A New Routine: Good For You Cleansing Oil

Today's shop has been sponsored by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. As always, all opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make this blog possible! #ANaturalClean #CollectiveBias

I’ve mentioned my flare-ups with hormonal acne in the past and wanted to dive into a few products that help keep the whiteheads at bay. I know, doesn’t sound very glamorous does it. Now image how I feel walking into meetings with these huge beauty brands and a major break out – not cute when you’re trying to do a major pitch.

I’ve tried everything under the moon (including derm visits) to help keep the situation under control. Although my skin can handle a lot I’ll admit it’s not always gentle on my skin. For August I figure it’s time to let my skin to breathe (i.e. take a makeup cleanse), simplify my skincare routine, and use products that are all around gentle and natural.

I did some research online and learned that washing with cleansing oil is not only gentle on the skin but really effective at washing away the day’s gunk from your skin. Some oils can even have an aromatherapy effect on you – depending on its scent. The second part of my research took me to Target, where I always end up leaving with more items then needed. Oops! 

The Burt's Bees section in Target.

Target carries some amazing brands but wanted to stick with Burt’s Bees since their products are always 99% natural and their natural ingredients guide is made readily available on their website. I beelined straight to the Burt’s Bee Facial Cleansing Oil - a new product from their line - easily found in the skincare aisle at my local Target as shown below. I decided to grab their Natural Acne Solutions Pore Refining Scrub as well since I love to use 1x a week to get rid dull skin and dark spots (it works wonders on elbows + knees as well). If you use Target's Cartwheel app make sure to save 10% with this deal.

For a simplified cleansing routine all I do is first apply the Facial Cleansing Oil onto dry hands and massage over my dry face followed by a rinse. I'm never left with oily skin either. Once a week I follow this with the exfoliator, which follows the same directions except on wet skin. So far I love the ease of this perfect duo and how my skin feels moisturized (not at all oily) and refreshed. There haven’t been any new breakouts either - this cleansing oil is non-comedogenic (won’t clog pores). At night the scent of the cleansing oil lulls me to sleep.

Overall my skin has been feeling hydrated and clean at a time it needs it the MOST with this duo.
Have you tried Burt’s Bees? Which product is your favorite?

Learn more about Burt's Bee Facial Cleansing Oil and what other bloggers are saying about it!

Real Talk | How to Save Big Online

It's no surprise that I am a huge (HUGE) online shopper. But before I click the CONFIRM ORDER on my cart I always make sure that I'm ordering the best deal. Same goes for when I'm in store; before purchasing I make sure I'm paying the absolute lowest, am getting cash back, or can find coupons of some sort (i.e. Cartwheel for Target).

With the busy school season and holidays ahead it's only right that we start planning ahead and start shopping smart now.

There are so many tips I could share for today's post but for the sake of time let's talk cash back websites. The way they work is really simple. You log onto your preferred cash back site and browse your favorite store on the site or with a bookmarklet. The site will let you know how much cash back the store is offering, along with special coupons to use for the day and after making a purchase you've earned cash back. Depending on the cash back site you'll either have to hit a quota to receive your cash back (usually pretty low) or they'll pay you out quarterly via PayPal or check.

In case you're wondering, cash back sites are affiliate sites - they just choose to share their commission with us and viola CASH BACK.

There are so many cash back sites it all really depends on preference. But for me, my two favorite contenders are ShopAtHome.com & Ebates.com. Before making a purchase I compare the two and see which site is offering the highest cash back or best deal for that store - so yes, I vary a lot between the two.

This won't be the first time you hear about ShopAtHome.com on the blog. I've actually partnered up with them in the past to bring awareness to their site. It's an easy to use site and they offer 110% cash back guarantee on participating vendors and tend to have some really amazing deals that are only for their members. They tend to pay out once you've reached the $20 threshold and have an app so you get the latest deals straight to your phone (great for in-store coupons). If you follow me on Twitter I'll normally tweet out some of the best deals they're having for that day, so make sure you're following me if you haven't already.

My other favorite cash back site is Ebates.com - these guys are the OG in the cash back game. They're extremely similar to ShopAtHome.com - you need to hit at least $5.01 before they send out a cash back check (or PayPal) with this site. Another difference is that they send out their payments four times a year. One great thing however is that you can layer on the coupons and they have better Amazon deals too.

P.s. These sites aren't limited to clothing sites. You can book your next vacation, groupon, movie ticket + more with these two websites and earn cash back on virtually anything. It's pretty amazing so sign up for both today!