Alex Curtis, RD LDN

Between writing the guest list, booking vendors, and searching for “the dress;” using green-friendly practices were on the top of my to-do list. With a little creative thinking, it is not overly difficult to throw an eco-friendly bash. I’m sharing a few of my favorite tips to help keep your carbon footprint down.

1. Use real dinnerware and glassware or buy compostable.

Using real plates, napkins, silverware, and glassware were very important to us while we were shopping for caterers. Not only does it look nice, but it cuts down on the amount of plastic headed to the landfill. If this isn’t possible, you can also find compostable dinnerware online that is made of post consumer-recycled materials that completely decompose.

2. Donate leftovers.

Many local food banks or soup kitchens will take leftovers from your meal as long as it has been safely handled. Talk to your caterer beforehand to see if this is an option to reduce food waste.

3. Send e-vites for Save the Dates and/or invitations.

We sent our Save the Dates through Paperless Post. Not only does it cut down on the amount of paper used, but it was extremely easy to use! You can upload your excel list of contacts, link it to your wedding website, add a form for guests to fill out their mailing addresses, and customize the design.

4. Buy a pre-owned wedding dress, shoes, veil, etc.; or buy something you will wear again.

You will only wear your wedding dress once, and this way it will help cut down on costs! I lucked out and found my dream dress in my exact size from someone who bought two dresses and only needed one. I will also be wearing shoes that I can wear for other occasions and use antiques for my other accessories.

5. Gift plants for wedding favors.

This can help increase the oxygen in the air and reduce greenhouse gases. It is also a practical gift that looks beautiful displayed on a table or place setting. Some of my favorite ideas are potted succulents, air plant displays, or planted herbs.

Do you have any eco-friendly tips? Share in the comments below!

This post contains an affiliate link. The words and reviews are my own.

Like most girls, I get excited about the prospects of new makeup. The colors, the textures, the chemicals…wait, what?! 

Check the label of your beauty products-do you recognize any of the ingredients on the list? Most of these products are comprised of harmful chemicals and substances that are considered neurotoxins. There are over 13,000 chemicals in beauty products, of which only 10% have been evaluated for safety. Laws don’t require beauty companies to disclose their ingredient information to the FDA either, so most products end up being unregulated. The average US woman uses 12 personal care products and/or cosmetics a day, containing 168 different chemicals, according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG). While most men use fewer products, they’re still exposed to about 85 such chemicals daily, while teens, who use an average of 17 personal care products a day, are exposed to even more. 1

Many beauty products contain harmful endocrine-hormone disrupters like BPA and pthalates. These products can disrupt the natural hormone processes of our body like undesirably increasing the production of certain hormones or decreasing production of others; turning one hormone into another; interfering with hormone signals; telling cells to die prematurely; competing with essential nutrients; binding to essential hormones; and accumulating in organs that produce hormones. 2

Most of these chemicals are simply unnecessary, too! I’ve found great products that give me deep, pigmented colors, creamy textures, and the same lasting-power as conventional makeup.

Below is my simple, go-to, everyday makeup routine with product reviews. I usually start with a light face moisturizer as a base and a bit of concealer to cover up any blemishes or dark eye circles.

Au Naturale

I love Au Naturale‘s Creme sticks! They are super pigmented and creamy. They’re quick and easy to use on-the-go as well. I simply dab a bit with my fingers and blend–no makeup brushes or sponges required. The ingredients are full of good-for-your-skin ingredients like jojoba seed oil, castor seed oil, and organic lavender. The sticks are formulated without animal bi-products, synthetic preservatives, nano particles, gluten, parabens, fillers or toxins; and they’re 100% natural, cruelty-free, vegan and made in the USA. With a rating of 1 on the EWG database (the lowest toxin rating), you can’t help but be impressed!

Step 1: I use just a tiny dab of the Sherbert and Sweetheart blushers on my cheeks and blend with my fingers. They give my cheeks a cheery sun-kissed look.

Step 2: Next, I rub the Creme Bronzer with my fingers and spread on the contour lines below my cheek bone, sides of my nose, and the top of my forehead and temples. The bronzer has a bit of a sparkly, copper tint to it, so use in small amounts.

Step 3: Finally, I’ll use the Celestial Cream Highlighter on the tops of my cheeks. This gives me a nice dewy shine. I like to use extra of this highlighter stick when I’m doing a fuller makeup look.

Optional: The creme sticks can be used as a multi-purpose lipstick or eye shadow, too. For eyeshadow, simply blend a bit of the colors on the lids, and use the highlighter near the tear-duct crease and right below the eyebrows.

Honeybee Gardens

Honeybee Gardens is my go-to mascara. It goes on smoothly, doesn’t clump, and feels silky on the lashes. It’s vegan, gluten-free, and made with USDA organic ingredients. Even better, it’s formulated with olive oil and avocado oil to hydrate the lashes–it truly is a Truly Natural Mascara!

Step 4: Lastly, I finish with a sweep of Honeybee Gardens’ Truly Natural Mascara in Espresso.

Step 5: Voila, done! So easy and takes about 2 minutes. Now you can use all of that saved time in the morning to make some Baked Banana Oatmeal for breakfast–mmmm, delicious!

What’s your go-to makeup routine? Let me know in the comments below! 

Sources

1:https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/05/13/toxic-chemicals-cosmetics.aspx

2:https://www.ewg.org/research/dirty-dozen-list-endocrine-disruptors?gclid=Cj0KCQjwzIzWBRDnARIsAAkc8hHcNsqcbW3mWByKstzSnNmSJGn5tISrC1eLP9sXbc2s6xoNDE9t5ZcaAikyEALw_wcB#.WsQVr9PwaCQ

It’s that time of year again! Time to celebrate all things allergy-friendly and gluten-free. Last year I attended the Gluten-Free, Allergy-Friendly Expo in Schaumburg and had a blast learning and sampling hundreds of gluten-free foods.

Doesn’t this look like fun? Come join me April 7th and 8th at the Schaumburg Convention Center. Use these codes to get early bird discount tickets HERE:

30% off  w/ code EARLYBIRD (thru 3/6)
20% off w/ code ADVANCE (thru 4/6)

In the meantime, cook up some yummy gluten-free goodies to celebrate like these favorite recipes on my site:

Comment below if you plan on attending–I’m so excited to see you there!

I love painting my nails. Do you know what I don’t love? Chemicals! 

Traditional nail polishes contain some of the most toxic ingredients like formaldehyde, camphor, pthalate, and toluene:

• Toluene, which is made from petroleum or coal tar. Chronic exposure linked to anemia, lowered blood cell count, liver or kidney damage, and may affect a developing fetus. In nail polish, toluene is used to give the polish a smooth finish.
• Formaldehyde, a skin, eye, and respiratory irritant, and a known carcinogen (formaldehyde exposure has been associated with leukemia specifically). Formaldehyde is used in nail polish as a hardener and preservative. (source).

Many of the chemicals found in nail polish are known endocrine disrupters that can severely alter the hormone-producing glands. Check out this study’s findings:

Pubslished in..Environment International, found that all women had a metabolite of triphenyl phosphate, or TPHP, in their bodies just 10 to 14 hours after painting their nails. Their levels of diphenyl phosphate or DPHP, which forms when the body metabolizes TPHP, had increased by nearly sevenfold. (source)

It is extremely alarming that even small amounts can effect the endocrine glands. Young children and pregnant women are at an even higher risk.

Thankfully, I’ve found a few new nail polish brands that are completely non-toxic, safe for both children and pregnant women to use, and water-based.

SOPHi

(From top right, clockwise: Pretty Shore About You, Snow More Cold Feet, Lost in London, Eiffel of Love, Mi Amore)

I love this nail polish! It’s a newer brand from the makers of Piggy Paint, and they have tons of fun colors. It glides on very smoothly and if applied correctly it lasts about a week for me with no chips. It’s also pretty inexpensive compared to most non-toxic nail polish brands for only $7.99 a bottle. It’s non-toxic and there’s no odor. You can read more about it here. I highly recommend also buying their Prime+Seal system and their nail polish remover to use with their color polishes. The colored polishes dry matte, so the Prime+Seal protects from chipping and adds shine. Also, the nail polish is near-impossible to get off without their remover (I’ll explain more about this below).

Keeki Pure & Simple

($9.99. Left: Glazed Donut, Right: Hot Cocoa. Nail polish remover, cuticle rejuvenator, chapstick)

Keeki Pure & Simple is another water-based brand I love. Completely non-toxic and safe for all ages. The company also owns the skincare line I reviewed a few weeks ago. The first thing I noticed about the nail polish is that it smells amazing! Instead of that awful, headache-inducing smell of normal nail polish, it smells like chocolate!! You could take this nail polish anywhere and paint your nails in public without having to worry about the smell. Again, I highly recommend you buy the base coat and top coat to use. The cuticle rejuvenator is also wonderful to use! I have pretty dry skin, so I lather this on daily. The nail polish remover is non-toxic, too, but it takes an extremely long time to take off the nail polish.

Tricks to using water-based nail polish: 

Water-based nail polish is wonderful because it is non-toxic and covers the nail well. It also drys and hardens extremely fast! However, there are a few tips and tricks to using it. This is how I prepare my nails:

• Clean hands with soap and water, push back cuticles, use nail rejuvenator, and file.
• I like to take a little bit of the Keeki Pure & Simple Nail polish remover and wipe over the nails to remove all oil. Can also use a bit of rubbing alcohol.
• Apply all coats thinly and make sure each coat is completely dry before adding another. Dry with hair dryer between coats to help harden. Make sure to paint the tips of the nails, too.
• Start with base coat.
• Apply 2-3 coats of color.
• Apply 2 coats of top coat.
• Apply one more coat of base coat to seal.
• Do not get nails wet for at least an hour after painting. I like to paint mine at night so it is ready to go the next day.
• *Bonus! Soak nails in olive oil and a few drops of vitamin E after removing nail polish to nourish nails and help them grow.

One negative about water-based nail polish is that it takes forever to get off! The SOPHi brand nail polish remover probably works the best, but you will be spending more time than normal trying to get the nail polish off. However, it is still a non-toxic nail polish remover that I feel good about using.

What are your thoughts on regular vs. non-toxic nail polishes? Do you have favorite brands, tips, and tricks? 

I spend a lot of time talking about digestive health on Spoonful of Sugar Free because it is such an extremely important organ in the body. However, did you know that the largest organ in the body is actually our skin? Not only is it extremely important that we are conscious of what we put inside our bodies, but we also must be conscious of what we put on our bodies because our skin absorbs 64-100%* of what we put on it! Think of all the skincare product, nail polish, hair product, makeup, perfume, and lotion you use-at least 64% of that product is being absorbed through your pores and into your body.

Check the label of your beauty products-do you recognize any of the ingredients on the list? Most of these products are comprised of harmful chemicals and substances that are considered neurotoxins. I encourage you to check out EWG.com and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics to read more about what these chemicals do to the body. EWG even has a huge database ranking the safety of thousands of beauty products.

For the last few years I have been researching and cleaning up my beauty routine as much as possible to include only organic and non-toxic products. I feel so much better using products that I know are made safely and organically, and I can tell an immediate difference from using certain all-natural products compared to their conventional counterparts (especially in regards to migraines!). Therefore, for the next few posts I’ll be sharing some of my favorite all-natural beauty brands.

To begin, I’ll start with a rather new-to-me skincare product line, KPS Essentials. Natalie, the creator, has such a wonderful story to share that I can’t help re-sharing! She is also super sweet to talk to, so I feel comfortable buying from someone who has such a passion for all-natural living like me. Here’s how KPS started:

In 1987, Natalie was selling cosmetics for Nordstrom when a 5.9 magnitude earthquake shook the city. She expected to find a mess when she stepped into the stockroom later that day. What she discovered was far worse: the “high-end” products had eaten through the carpet and pad, exposing the concrete subfloor beneath. It was impossible for her to imagine what this would do to a person’s skin.

Their skincare line contains only organic, food-grade ingredients. You can literally eat the lotion, the ingredients are that safe.

My review: I really love this line. I don’t normally use a lot of face products since I’ve been blessed with pretty good skin, but I do have somewhat dry skin, dark under-eye bags, and some fine lines. I can definitely tell a difference in my skin’s hydration and complexion immediately after applying. My face seems more radiant and even-toned, and it appears to have reduced my dark under-eye bags. I also love, love, love the ingredients. It uses organic blends of oils and essential oils as well as antioxidants from CoQ10, green tea, vitamin E, and vitamin C. The overall product smells amazing!

Natalie left me a great explanation of how to use the product:

1. Apply Aromatherapy Cleansing Oil all over face–this was my absolute favorite product out of all the products. It smells great and is a great way to cleanse the skin naturally through oils.
2. Dab Probiotic Toner on face with a cotton pad–I wasn’t a huge fan of this toner because I like certain witch hazels more, but it did do a good job at toning my skin. It smells like kombucha/apple cider vinegar.
3. Mix together Renu C+ Serum and Antioxidant Repair Serum and apply all over face–I like to concentrate these on my under eye bags and forehead creases.
4. Voila! Beautiful, great-smelling skin.

KPS also has some really interesting looking “DermaNu” technology that is supposed to heal scars and hyper-pigmentation. You can read about that here, but since I do not have these problems I cannot personally comment on the effectiveness from my experience. If you do have these problems and have used KPS before, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Thanks to KPS Essentials for letting me try their products! Please note that I received these products complimentary, but the review and thoughts are completely my own, honest opinion.

What are your thoughts on conventional vs. organic skincare products? Are there certain products/companies you prefer? 

*References

Brown et al. The role of skin absorption as a route of exposure for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in drinking water. Am J Public Health. 1984 May; 74(5): 479–484.

Kasting and Kretsos.Skin Pharmacol Physiol 2005;18:55-74.

Robinson et al. The Importance of Exposure Estimation in the Assessment of Skin Sensitization risk. Contact Dermatitis 2000; 42:251-259.

https://www.kpsessentials.com/our-story.php#