Beauty By Shea- Raw Shea Butter Review & Giveaway!

Today I am reviewing Beauty By Shea's Raw Shea Butter. I have been wanting to try to make my own body butter and I have been looking into a lot throughout the last couple months. I am newly on a mission to slowly start making my own household products! I want to eventually get to making my own lip gloss, laundry detergent, air fresheners, etc. So I figured why not start with lotion?

First of all, the Beauty By Shea's raw shea butter shipped so quickly! I got it just a couple day after ordering it! It came in its own package that is moisture controlled and has a "ziploc" closure! I think it is perfectly packaged and I love how the company takes so much pride in packaging the product efficiently!

As I said I decided to start with a whipped body butter! I got the recipe here! The recipe is:

• 4 oz. unrefined shea butter
• 2 tablespoon base oil; for example extra virgin olive oil
• 10-20 drops essential oil(s); optional, for example you can use lavender oil
• mixing bowl
• electric whisks mixer
• one clean empty 8 oz. jar, or two 4 oz. jars, because volume will be increased

Steps for making whipped cream:

1. Before you start to prepare whipped shea butter, make sure your unrefined shea butter is on a room temperature. Do not melt or heat it! Put your shea butter in a bowl and mash it with a fork. The same way you make a mashed potato.
2. Add base oil(s) and mash it little bit more.
3. Put the mixture into the mixing bowl. Mix it on a high speed with electric mixer for approximately 5 minutes.
4. Believe it or not, this is it! Optionally, you can add chosen essential oil(s) and mix it few minutes to blend it with your whipped cream.
5. Put whipped cream in a clean jar(s) and close it. Keep it in a dry, dark and cool place. Room temperature is fine.

While making whipped body butter, I found this shea butter to be extremely smooth and soft! It is easy to work with and has great texture! I love the smell and when it is mixed in with the essential oil it is an AMAZING body butter! My homemade body butter is way better than anything that you can make in a store AND I know EXACTLY what went into it, the atmosphere it was made in, and who made it!

Here is what the company has to say about their product:

Organic Raw Unrefined Shea Butter From Ghana- Ivory.

• 16 oz (1lb) of Pure Organic Unrefined Raw Shea Butter from Beauty By Shea is made with extra care to ensure you receive the purest Raw Shea Butter. Beauty By Shea Organic Shea Butter is double filtered, first in Ghana, and then at our US Lab where it is manufactured into our 1lb bricks, packaged into our heat sealed bags, and sent straight to Amazon thereby preserving the natural richness, and purity of the shea butter for our customers.
Beauty By Shea 100% Ivory Organic Raw, Unrefined Shea Butter is imported directly from Ghana, and is 100% pure and natural, nothing else added!
Naturally rich in essential vitamins for beautiful skin, Beauty By Shea Organic Shea Butter will nourish your skin with Vitamins A, E, F & K. Use this Beauty By Shea Organic Raw Shea Butter daily and often for beautiful, moisturized, luminous skin.
Raw Organic Unrefined Shea Butter is perfect for topical use on skin and hair, and the perfect essential ingredient for homemade lotions, soaps, conditioners and more!

If you make your own body butter (or anything involving shea butter) or if you are thinking of giving it a try......You should most definitely consider using Body By Shea's Raw Shea Butter! Do you already use Shea butter and have any good recipes to share? I would LOVE some tips, tricks, and/or recipes! Please share in the comments!

Do you want to try making your own body butter? Well it is your lucky day! Enter here to win your own package of Body By Shea Raw Shea Butter!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Sieva Stretch Mark Cream and Cellulite Cream Review

Today I am finally reviewing the creams that I was chosen to review! I received Sieva Stretch Mark & Scar Cream AND Sieva Cellulite Cream to review about 2 1/2 weeks ago. I wanted to try the products to give an accurate review, of course! So now that I have been using the creams for just about 2 weeks....its time!

I am going to start with the Sieva Stretch Mark & Scar Cream. I chose to use this product on my stomach area and sides. I have had two children and young while I was pregnant. With that being said, I was not very health conscious while I was pregnant. With my first pregnancy I gained about 75 pounds (!) and by the time I got pregnant with my second child, I still had not lost all of the baby weight from the first pregnancy. Then I gained about 45 pounds with my second child. Now.....as you can imagine gaining that much weight caused a LOT of stretch marks. I have tried a few creams like cocoa butter and lanolin oil to no avail. I did try the Mederma Stretch Mark Therapy but at almost $50 a tube, that just was not a feasible option for me. 

Now, after about two weeks of usage of the Sieva Stretch Mark & Scar Cream, I can honestly say that I CAN notice a difference. I am not saying that my stretch marks are gone and I have perfect skin! I am saying that there IS a noticeable difference. My stretch marks have lightened and are not as deep as I think they looked before. 

I started using the cream once a day for about 5 days and then I upped it to twice a day after that. I will continue to use it two times a day because I think that has caused a change faster and it has not caused any side effects or poor reactions to my skin. Unfortunately, I do NOT have before and after pictures because I am embarrassed and would rather not post pictures of my naked body all over the internet...lol. However, I did share the companies before and after picture below. I do want to let all of you know that this product is made in the USA and is FDA approved!! Both absolute positives in my book!!!

While I chose to use the Sieva Stretch Mark & Scar Cream on my stomach area and sides, I chose to use the Sieva Cellulite Cream on my hips, thighs, bottom and upper arms. Now, I have lost some weight over the past year or so and i think I notice the cellulite more now than I did when I was a little larger. Since noticing it.....which I really just started noticing (or should I say paying attention) this summer while I have been wearing shorts and tank tops and swim suits!   

I have been using the Sieva Cellulite Cream for about two weeks. Of course the first week I looked in the mirror everyday (stood on my toilet so I could see...lol) to see if there was a difference. I was starting to get a little let down because I didn't really notice a change. I was using the cream once a day for about 5 days and then started applying twice a day. So about a week after using it and feeling very discouraged, I was going through our most recent vacation pictures with a friend. I noticed, in one of the pictures, that I could see cellulite on the back of my thighs and it was worse in the pic than it was on that day when I looked in the mirror. So I decided to go look in the mirror. Take a nice long, hard look at the back, side, front, and inside of my hips, thighs, and bottom! Then......not look again until a full week had passed! (SN: This cream is made in the USA and is FDA approved! AND....there is a 100% Money Back Guarantee!)

Best decision! I found that after that week there IS a difference! I can see less cellulite than the last time I had looked. I am very excited! I can tell my skin is tightening and firming! I am actually very impressed (and glad I stopped looking daily because I may have stopped using the cream)! I am continuing to use the cream until it is gone and I have decided not to purposely look for about 2 weeks and then I am going to try and go a month! Hopefully by next summer, I will have a complete different outlook about my body! Again I do not have before and after pics however here is the company's before and after :) 

Now 2 weeks into using both products, I would definitely suggest anyone looking for a Stretch Mark/Scar Cream or a Cellulite Cream to take into consideration Sieva's! They are a company with products made in the USA and FDA approved and they WORK! The products are affordable too! You can purchase the stretch mark/scar cream HERE and the cellulite cream HERE! 

Do you have a favorite stretch mark cream that you like to use and it WORKS? How about a cellulite cream? Let me know in the comments! I would LOVE to see any before and after picture if you are comfortable with sharing!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Australian Tea Tree Oil and Paradise Coconut Oil Review

I am excited about this review! I was chosen to review Apothecary Extracts Australian Tea Tree Oil. I have heard such great things about tea tree oil and have been wanting to give it a try in my shampoo. Not long after I was chosen to review the tea tree oil, I was chosen to review Paradise Coconut Oil as well! This worked out really well for me because I recently found out that my daughter has scalp psoriasis! Her scalp is so dry and itchy and she has been digging at it so bad that she was developing sores on her scalp and her hair was no longer there in certain spots of her head. I didn't want to put a ton of chemicals and prescription drugs on her skin and into her body....so I did some research! I found that some people use a mixture of tea tree oil and coconut oil to treat it naturally. So I thought....why not give it a try!

I took about 1/2 a cup of coconut oil and combined it with about 15-20 drops of the tea tree oil extract and mixed them together. I have applied it once a day for about a week and the results are already amazing! I am so happy that I found something natural and less harmful to use on her skin and it works amazingly to treat the areas. She even says that it stops the itching all night while she sleeps! To be completely honest.....I can not stress how happy I am that I found this tea tree oil and coconut oil combination.
This is my little dolly's before and after of her scalp:

This is after just one week and applying the mixture just once a day! I think the results are remarkable!

There are other uses for tea tree oil as well. You can add it to your shampoo bottle and shake it up to combine. This is supposed to help your hair be healthier. It is also said to help prevent lice in kids' hair! I figure what a great benefit, especially with summer coming to a close and the kids going back to school. Not only those but there are so many other GREAT uses for tea tree oil, here are a few more:

1. Helps heal and soothe sunburns.
2. Heals skin infections naturally.
3. Relieves itchiness from rashes as well as helps reduce rashes.
4. Can be used as an all-purpose cleaner: Fill a spray bottle with 1-2 tsp. of tea tree oil and the rest of the bottle with water.
5. Treats acne
6. Helps to prevent lice naturally; just add a few drops to your shampoo.
7. A few drops in your pets’ crates or beds keep the fleas away.
8. Removes ticks; just add to skin, and the little stinker will usually unlatch.
9. Cures toenail fungus and Athlete’s foot.
10. Helps remove skin tags
11. Naturally cures bad breath. (Swish some tea tree oil and water in you mouth.)
12. Can be used in a homemade toothpaste
13. Has been found as an effective treatment for warts
14. Soothes insect bites.
15. Treats ringworm
16. Treats psoriasis and other skin conditions.
17. Relieves asthma or other breathing conditions when a few drops are added to a humidifier.
18. Works as as antiseptic on small cuts.
19. Keeps your bathroom fresh
20. Relieves earaches; mix 1 drop of tea tree oil with 1 tsp. olive oil, drop mixture into the ear and then remove by tilting head.
21. Freshen laundry: Add a few drops in your washing machine to scent your clothes. Also, if you forgot to put the clothes in the dryer, run again with tea tree oil to remove mildew. You can also scent wool dryer balls with tea tree oil.
22. Helps freshen carpet
23. Can be used in several homemade kitchen cleaners
24. Cleans mold: Mix apple cider vinegar and tea tree oil and scrub mold; place outside to sun-dry.
25. Can be used in a homemade natural deodorant

The coconut oil is an extremely versatile product as well. You can use it for so many things! I love coconut oil! Since I received mine, I have used it as a moisturizer, in place of vegetable and olive oil in recipes and as a scalp treatment for dry scalp. I know that, besides the scalp treatment I made for my daughters scalp psoriasis, our families favorite thing that I made with the coconut oil has got to be the zucchini brownies that I made :) They were so delicious! We ate the whole pan in two days!!! (recipe at the end of the post!)

As I said.....coconut oil is very versatile! Here are a few other uses for coconut oil:

1. Remove your makeup
2. Add to sweet beverages (like smoothies or hot cocoa)
3. Leather shoe cleaner
4. Remove stickers from merchandise
5. Season cast-iron frying pans
6. Furniture polish
7. Lip balm
8. Toothpaste
9. Insect repellent
10. Guitar string lubricant
11. Mascara brush cleaner
12. Butter substitute
13. Treat lice
14. Blemishes and acne
15. Flea treatment for animals
16. And the list goes on and on...

Do you have any good recipes or uses for tea tree oil or coconut oil? Let me know in the comments! If you would like to purchase this tea tree oil you can do so here! The coconut can be purchased HERE!

Zucchini Brownies Recipe

Ingredients:
1 3/4 Cup flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
1 egg
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate chips

Directions:
~Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
~combine dry ingredients (flour, baking cocoa, baking soda, salt) in a large bowl.....stir in zucchini
~In small bowl combine wet ingredients (egg, sugars, yogurt, coconut oil, vanilla)
~Add wet ingredients to other bowl with dry ingredients.....stir until combined
~Sprinkle chocolate chips on top (and i chopped up a couple reese's cups and sprinkled them on there too)
~Bake 35-40 min. or until knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

eSutras Organics Golden Flax Seed Review

I have been trying to get my family to try new things and eat healthier. I figure every little bit helps! With that being said....I was actually very excited when I was chosen to review eSutras Organics Golden Flax Seed!

Flax seeds are an amazing natural product that have so many benefits when you add them to your diet! For example....

• Lowered blood cholesterol levels
• Gluten Free
• Lowered high blood pressure
• Increased energy, vitality, and stamina
• Increased sense of calmness under stress
• Reduced threat of blood clots
• Protection against cancers, particularly hormone sensitive cancers such as breast and prostate
• Better regulation of blood sugar levels
• Eases inflammatory tissue conditions, including arthritis
• Alleviation of dry skin, eczema and psoriasis
• Enhanced immune system
• Increased metabolic rate with a positive impact on weight management
• Helps with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
• Natural laxative

Just to name a few! So when I got my flax seed I decided to try out a new recipe! I made a Blueberry Zucchini Bread (Recipe at the end of this post)! Let me just say.....this bread did NOT last long in my house and I made a 9x13 pan of it! Even my kids loved it!!! 

This flax seed made the perfect addition to my bread! You can purchase the flax seed that I used HERE for just $5.00 for an 8 Oz. bottle. A little flax seed goes a long way and so this bottle will last you quite a while. There are so many ways to add flax seed into your diet.....you can add it almost all cookie and bread recipes, sprinkle on your cereal, yogurt, oatmeal, etc.....add to smoothies.....and so many more uses! eSutras Organics Golden Flax Seeds are now a staple in my home! 

Blueberry Zucchini Bread Recipe:

Ingredients:

3 Cups All Purpose Flour                                        2 1/4 Cup White Sugar

1 Teaspoon salt                                                       3 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

1 teaspoon baking soda                                           3 1/2 Cups shredded zucchini

1 teaspoon baking powder                                      1 Cup chopped walnuts

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon                                  1 pint fresh blueberries 

3 eggs                                                                     2 Tablespoons flax seeds

1 Cup Coconut Oil

Directions:

1. Grease one 9 x 13 pan (or two 8x4 pans). Preheat oven to 325 degrees F 

2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl. 

3. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture and beat well. Stir in zucchini (do NOT press or drain the zucchini) and nuts until well combined. 

4. Sprinkle half of the flax seed over the top and then mix in well...sprinkle other half in and mix until well combined. Fold in blueberries. Pour batter into prepared pan. 

5. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for at least 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan and completely cool. Slice and ENJOY! 

Do you have any good recipes that include flax seed? Please share in the comments! 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.