S.W. Basics of Brooklyn Cleanser, Toner, Cream, and Vegan Lip Balm Review

I have always tried to find the best skincare products for my face. I have always had sensitive/acne prone skin and a lot of stronger products have left me with red blotchy dry skin or more breakouts then normal.

One major change in my skin was becoming a vegan, my acne disappeared. I still get an occasional breakout but it's nothing compared to my teenage through early 30's. I am now 36 and only break out once or twice a month so to me that is nothing.

For 3 years I had been using DDF products. I used the DDF Glycolic 5% Exfoliating Wash, DDF Glycolic Toning Complex ,DDF Glycolic 10% Exfoliating Moisturizer. When I first started using them, my skin had a glow that I knew was from the products because for a few months in between I stopped using them and felt like my face looked dull and dry. After doing a lot of research on the products, I found out they are owned by Proctor and Gamble and are tested on animals. This alone made me stop using them. Also there are so many ingredients that I don't know what they are in the products.

So I searched and researched so many products trying to find the one for me. I kept reading about S.W. Basics of Brooklyn and how everything is organic and there are only a few ingredients in each product, all natural and vegan also! I couldn't wait to try them. I bought the 1 oz cleanser, 1 oz toner, mini cream and vegan lipbalm. They accidently forgot my lip balm so shipped me out the full flight of 4 of them. I was thrilled!

I finished all of my old products before starting the new ones. I have used the S.W. Basics of Brooklyn products for almost 2 weeks now before reviewing them.

When I use cleansers I am used to a lot of suds and foam, so this cleanser is a lot different, it doesn't have any foaming. I think we all have been grown to believe that foaming and suds mean more clean, for instance shampoos, toothpastes, soaps, etc. But that is not the case at all. This cleanser makes my face so soft and clean. You put a little on a cotton ball and wipe your face and neck. Then rinse with cool water. The ingredients in the cleanser are

• Rosewater*
• Vegetable glycerin*
• Tea tree oil*

*Organic


After I dry my face, I put a little toner on a cotton ball and repeat on my face and neck. The ingredients for the toner are

• Water
• Raw apple cider vinegar*
• Witch hazel from Wild Crops Farm, MO
• Essential oils of clary sage* and sandalwood*

*Organic
 
Then I take a very tiny amount of cream and put it all over my face. A tiny amount less than a pea size will be more than enough for your face and neck. The cream smells very good. The ingredients for the cream are

• Wildcrafted unrefined shea butter°
• Extra-virgin coconut oil*
• Extra-virgin olive oil*

*Organic
°Fair Trade

I then put a little lip balm on and my lips feel incredible. I love the lip balms, the Citrus one is my favorite, but they are all yummy scented! The lip balm ingredients are

• Candelilla wax
• Extra-virgin coconut oil*
• Cocoa butter*°
• Essential oils* (In citrus, cinnamon, and peppermint options.)

There is NO buildup of any product on my face or lips. My face has a nice glow to it and feels very soft. I did not breakout at all from using these products. Normally when I try a new product I break out until I get used to them, but not in this case. I am extremely happy and plan on buying a few other products from them such as the body scrub and exfoliant. They provide wonderful customer service and great products! I highly recommend them!

Two Product Lines that I am loving right now

I have been replacing all of my beauty, cleaning, and household products with natural, organic, cruelty free, vegan, and all around more healthy choices. Two of my favorites are below.

I found Moksa Organics from just searching online for something that was Vegan, Organic, Cruelty Free. When I came across the website I was so happy to see that this company was everything I was looking for and also Palm Oil free in which I just recently learned so much about why we shouldn't use Palm Oil.

I placed my order for the Key Lime Vanilla and Kilimanjaro Body Butter and the Cafe Milan Body Bar. When my package arrived I was so excited, especially with the generous amount of body bar samples. The smell of everything is INCREDIBLE! I immediately tried the body butter and the smell of the Key Lime Vanilla is out of this world. A little goes a long way and it works best if you step out of the shower and lightly dry off and still have a little wetness on your body when rubbing the body butter in, this helps so you don't have to use a lot at a time.

I found already that the body butters are incredible on your lips and hair. Also I put a very very small amount of the Kilimanjaro one on my face and my face is very sensitive and acne prone and it did not break out at all. The soaps create a wonderful later and I look forward to using them, the fragrance just makes me so happy.

I can't say enough wonderful things about this company, Melanie is incredible and so friendly. I can't wait to place another order!

I have never been one to do well with lipstick, I just don't like a lot of makeup to begin with and lipstick especially is just too thick for me. For years I just used Cherry Chapstick, it gave a tinge of color and kept my lips moist but then I realized there was awful ingredients in it (one is sheep oil listed as lanolin) so I immediately started looking for something natural and vegan. I found a lot of reviews on Hurraw lip balms and saw the Black Cherry gave a tint to the lips, perfect for me. I immediately ordered off of their website directly. I absolutely LOVE all three that I ordered, Almond, Black Cherry and Vanilla Bean. They all smell incredible and keep my lips so moist, much better in so many ways then the chapstick that I used for years, my lips are more moist not waxy feeling and the scents are SO incredible! They use organic, vegan and raw ingredients!

House Remodeling In Progress

Right now my house is a mess, we have had a guy here fixing the drywall problems that the previous owner caused (he didn't tape the drywall together) in our sunroom and family room. He has been working on it for 2 weeks and will be next week also. We are leaving for DC next weekend just for a night. I promised my youngest brother we would go for his 20th birthday next Saturday. The Painter will start painting in 2 weeks. First we are having the Kitchen, dining room and living room upstairs and hallway stairs going up and down all painted. That will take a few weeks because it's his side job so he won't be able to do it everyday. After that we will have our family room and sunroom painted, I haven't decided on the colors yet for downstairs. I want to change it all around and make everything nice and new looking. I don't know how many more years I plan to live here, at least until the boys are done with school which would be 4 more years since Graham starts 9th grade and Gage starts 11th. Wow time flew by :(

I received the rest of my chairs yesterday from Allmodern.com I am a little disappointed in some of the finishing on them, I am not sure if they are spray painted, but the Charcoal Gray one I received that came straight From Emeco had a very noticeable flaw in the finish so they are sending a replacement. The green chairs match my paint choice almost perfectly, they also had a small amount of discoloration but not so much, they gave me 10% back. As much as the chairs cost ($260 each) I expected perfection. I love the fact they are made with 111 recycled Coca Cola plastic bottles, that to me makes me feel like I am heading in the Going Green direction that I am aimed for. I have so many things on my mind about what I want to change, my future,etc. I have to take one step at a time. I have everything I want right now but I long to take care of animals, mainly rescue farm animals. I am going to start out by volunteering at Happy Trails, a Farm Santucary in Ohio, it's about 45 minutes away. This will give me time to really think about what I want for my future. I am willing to give up the fancy clothes and numerous vacations we take every year to stay home and care for animals that will love me and that need my love. I am realizing what is really important in life and I don't want to let these thoughts go away without doing something about it. We only live once and I want to make a difference.

When I was on Fab.com looking around I found this skincare line called Sprout Skincare and everything is made with natural products, you could eat it if you wanted to, no chemicals or anything. I took the time last night and made the Face and Body Scrub. It actually came out very well!

 For the Body Scrub, the ingredients said Shredded Coconut, Coconut Oil and Sugar, I put these in a food processor and just added a little more of the sugar and oil until I got the consistency of body scrub, it smells amazing and works very well, I tried it this morning.

 For the facial exfoliant it said Almonds, Sea Salt and Oatmeal. This one I ended up putting some coconut oil in it and still couldn't get the consistency right until I put alittle in my hand with water and then rubbed my hands together and rubbed in all over my face and it was perfect! My skin felt so soft and my make up went on so perfectly.

I stand by my Pure Coconut Oil, this works wonders for blemishes, cuts and dry skin. There is no build up either. One day I went back to using one of my other body lotions that was Bath and Body works and it left a build up on my skin, you would think the coconut oil would break you out because it's an oil but if I don't break out from it, no-one will, it's amazing stuff and you can get a jar of it at Trader Joes or Amazon and many other places for less than $8 and it will last forever if you use it just for your skin/body/hair.


This morning Tom and I went out to my mom's house to pick some fresh vegetables. We came home with Green Tomatoes, Red and Yellow onions, Peppers, Corn and Eggplants.  Her garden is amazing! It's So big and beautiful and has so many different kinds of flowers and vegetables. A lot of hard work has gone into this, pretty much day and night everyday so far this summer.

My mom volunteers her time to helping Club Pet in Transfer, PA, a non kill shelter. She spends her weekends cleaning the pens for the dogs and helping out. This weekend she took a dog from the Trumbull County Pound so the rescue could make room for him and that way he wasn't put to sleep. He is such a sweet dog, his name is Mooney, heartworm positive and starting treatment tomorrow. I hope he finds a good home. We think he may have been abused because he gets scared when you first try to pet him then he loves the attention. I really hope someone adopts him!