Monday, February 8, 2016

100%pure Vitamin C Serum review

I've been wanting to try a vitamin c serum for awhile now, and thanks to my mother I've been using 100% pure's vitamin c serum since Christmas.
100% pure vitamin c serum 
It has a very nice consistency, it feels similar to aloe, and it does have it in it which is nice instead of it having glycerin as the main carrier, which I'm not that big of a fan of using on my face. Aloe works much better on my face than glycerin and I've noticed everything soaks in better with the aloe than with products I've used with glycerin. A lot of vitamin c serums I've seen have glycerin in them so I haven't wanted to try those. This one doesn't have glycerin until the very end of the ingredients, which is kind of weird but I haven't had any problems with my skin getting all weird from it like I've had with other products, so it must not be enough to effect it. The pump works pretty good too, I've never had a problem with 100% pure's bottles not working. The only thing is that it isn't glass like a lot of their other products. It's not a big deal, I just like glass better.

Vitamin c serum is supposed to boost collagen production, brighten the skin tone, and stimulate cell renewal. I haven't really noticed any changes in collagen, but then again I haven't had a problem with that yet and I do take a collagen supplement so anyway on to the parts that I have noticed. So far my skin tone has gotten more even especially where I still have skin discoloration from being pregnant. Vitamin c serum is much gentler than using something like lemon juice to lighten your skin, and it seams to even it out better than just lightening it which I really like since I don't want the rest of my skin to lighten, just the scars and the "mask of pregnancy" around my mouth. It got rid of several scars, but the one I was really wanting it to take care of was a larger one on my cheek. It got rid of that one within just a couple of days. Another thing that I've really liked about it is that since my skin is combination, both a more oily T spot and my cheeks and jawline getting really dry especially when I'm stressed, it has helped keep the dead skin that dosn't like to come off easily on my cheeks and jaw from sticking. By sticking, I mean even with harsher scrubs (that I'm not very fond of for many reasons) it just dosn't like to come off. So I end up with layers of dead skin making it even harder to get those spots to get moisturized and happy. It seams to have helped with redness as well, but not as much ass the brightening serum did. (I'll do a review on this one later.) I tend to get bumps of skin (kind of like little skin tags) around my eyes that I usually get rid of with lavender oil, but the vitamin c serum has taken care of those without me needing to add lavender. I don't usually put much around or on my eyes so I hadn't been using the serum on or around them, but once I got a couple of little bumps I decided to try it out and I didn't have any irritation and it got rid of them within a few days. Not quite as fast as the lavender oil, but I didn't need to add one more step to my routine which was nice. 

Other than that the only other things is that the smell is nice. It's very mild with no added fragrance. It is also very easy on my sensitive skin. My skin has a tendency to get red and irritated by anything that it dosn't like, and I haven't had a problem with this serum at all. I've been using it for a month now and haven't even used 1/3 of the bottle so even though it's one of the more expensive things that I use on my skin it ends up not being to much with it lasting so long. Also since it is a vitamin c serum it's very shelf stable so I don't need to worry about it going bad. Over all I am extremely satisfied with this serum. I've never used it by itself, I've only used it without a moisturizer a couple of times, and even though it was alright, my skin felt better using a. moisturizer. 

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Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Kid friendly kombucha recipe


Kombucha is supper awesome, I love it and it makes me feel great. My son also really likes it. He likes any kind, any strength, any flavor, it doesn't matter, he loves it! I, on the other hand am much more picky about my kombucha. So why is this post called kid friendly? Because it doesn't have any possibility of caffeine, and anyone who doesn't like really astringent things and likes there kombucha on the sweet side will like this kombucha. Personally it's a little sweet for me, but it's really difficult to make this kombucha very sour/astringent because of the natural sweet quality of the red tea. This is how my mother makes it since my dad prefers it. I've never seen this kind at the store so more than likely the only way for you to get this kind of kombucha is by making it yourself. Also this is a great way to make it if you don't have much time and have a tendency to forget about it since it can take more brewing time than other teas. In fact, you can actually just let it set in the water until it cools. Green rooibos tea however dosn't work the same as the red. 

It's very easy to make. Simply boil a gallon of filtered water, dissolve a cup of sugar into it, and steep 5 teabags of red/honeybush tea for 5 minutes or until the water has cooled. Once it is cool mix it with a cup of starter and your scooby, or a bottle of plain kombucha that has some culture in it. Cover with some cheesecloth, or a tea towel and let it sit for 4 days to 2 weeks depending on how warm your house is. 2 weeks if it's in the 60's, 4 days of its about 80, and a week if it's average. If you are using a bottle of kombucha to start it, a scooby will start forming on the top. You will know if it is done by a scooby being formed, it being slightly fizzy, and by it being about as sour a lemon aid. Or if you've ever had one of those apple cider vinegar drinks, it's about like that. Maybe like sweet and sour sauce, but not nearly as sweet. And maybe not even as sour. Man I'm doing a weird job of explaining this. 

You can put it in smaller jars and let it sit for a day and it will get fizzy. You will want to put you scooby in a jar with a cup of kombucha to save in your refrigerator until you want to make another batch. Also, you can simply empty out your gallon jar, wash it and put you scooby and cup of kombucha back in and start another batch. It's really up to you. 
It tastes pretty good mixed with other juices too, and if you want to get rid of some of the sugar from that, then do a second ferment by letting it sit on the counter for a day or two. My toddler prefers his plain and in his Thomas the train sippy cup, but you can enjoy in whatever vessel you see fit. 
I hope you enjoy your kombucha, or as the small creature stealing my bracelets off my arm calls it, juice. 

Find my original post on kombucha Here

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