Purely Pleasures: Natural Comforts & Cosmetics - A Review

Purely Pleasures can best be defined by a portion of their mission statement:

"Combine one girl's love for beauty with another girl's interest in natural living, and you get Purely Pleasures: Natural Comforts & Cosmetics. We are dedicated not only to providing our customers with quality products at significantly reduced prices, but also 100% natural products that truly heal, soothe and transform for truly luxurious pampering and beauty. We believe that beauty begins with health."

After reviewing several of their products, I wholeheartedly agree with the above statement. Knowing that their products are 100% natural is one thing, but actually feeling their natural goodness is even better! There are no synthetic preservatives, dyes or chemicals and most products are 100% vegan! Okay, now to the goods... I received the following products (all pictured) to review:

• Oat Face Scrub: I have tried many different types of facial cleansers/scrubs and more often than not, these products really dry out my already very dry skin. Not so with the oat face scrub! I love this stuff. It leaves my face smooth and feeling so fresh! It really does "polish away dry, dull skin and reveal a smooth and soft complexion...." One night I even forgot to apply my moisturizer, which doesn't happen too often because I can FEEL my skin cracking when I do forget, and my skin was fine.
• Polishing Sugar Scrub (Raw Honey & Poppy Seed): This is for daily use "to polish and keep your skin as soft as silk." Applying this stuff was a little distracting because it smelled sooo good, I kind of had the urge to bite my shoulder mid-shower. After rinsing the scrub off, I did feel like I still had an oily/honey-ish coat still on me, so I simply washed off with soap/body cleanser. When I stepped out of the shower I couldn't believe how luxurious my skin felt. It felt so hydrated, moisturized, delectable. I love that you can customize your scrubs with various "added pleasures" they have available, like honey and poppy seed in my sugar scrub.
• Exfoliating Sea Salt Scrub (Rose & Chamomile): This is for weekly use (deep exfoliation). You can feel this stuff working to rid your body of dull, dead skin. After using, this too left an oily coat, so I also washed off with soap afterward. At first, I was discouraged by the oiliness, but have now realized that this is the key to my skin feeling so vibrant and wonderfully moisturized post-shower. Other scrubs I've used make my skin feel clean, but extremely dry as well, unlike these Purely Pleasures scrubs. And, I know these oils are all-natural, not harmful chemicals that are bad for my body.
• Lip Lush Organic Hydrating Balm (Peppermint): LOVE! I'm a lip balm/moisturizing freak, so I was so excited about this. It has a cool, soothing peppermint tingle while working its hydrating magic.
• Bath Powder (Ground Orange Peel): Unfortunately, I have no tub to soak in, but I'm sure it's as wonderful as the rest of the Purely Pleasures products.
• and my FAVORITE... Mineral Eyeshadows in the following colors: Evil Queen, Emerald City, Stardust, Ancient Orchid, and Stormy Skies: I love makeup and these mineral pigments did not disappoint. The colors are so vibrant and fun and provide great coverage. And, there is no creasing or fading. I really liked the versatility of the eyeshadow -- I could tone down the eyeshadow for a day at work (Stormy Skies pictured right) or really glam it up for a night out with the hubby! You can also use it dry (normal eyeshadow wear) or wet (for eyeliner and a really dramatic effect).

Overall, I was very happy with the Purely Pleasures products. They have even more products on their website--from sugar waxes to finishing veils--and everything is so affordable! Affordable, luxurious, natural, refreshing, glamorous!! If nothing else, you have to check out their mineral pigments (eyeshadows) because if you don't see a color you love at first sight, you can create your own custom color here!!! After you're satisfied with the color, you get to name it yourself and they will feature it in a special spotlight section of their website. How cool is that?

Shop
You can shop for affordable, luscious Purely Pleasures products HERE.

Win
One lucky Moana Saves reader will win a Purely Pleasures prize pack! Up for grabs are 5 full size Purely Pleasures mineral eye shadow jars (winner will choose their colors), one mineral eye shadow brush, one mineral eye liner brush, and one organic Lip Lush (winner will choose either peppermint or original).  This giveaway is valued at $25.50.

To earn a mandatory entry in the Purely Pleasures giveaway, head to their website and subscribe to the newsletter on the Purely Pleasures Giveaways page (plus you'll get the scoops on their products and sales!).

To earn an additional entry, do one (or all) of the following and leave a separate comment for each thing you do:

1. Become a Google Friends Connect follower of Moana Saves (in the sidebar).

2. Become a Networked Blogs follower of Moana Saves (in the sidebar).

3. Follow Moana Saves on Twitter. 

4. Follow Purely Pleasures on Twitter.

5. Tweet about this giveaway (limit one tweet per day) using the following:
#Win all natural mineral eye makeup, blushes & lip balm from @purelypleasures & @moanasaves #giveaway ends 3/7 http://bit.ly/gV4Emi

 

6. Subscribe to the Moana Saves feed via RSS reader and/or email updates (in the sidebar).

7. Like the Moana Saves Facebook page.

8. Like the Purely Pleasures Facebook page.

9.  Subscribe to the Purely Pleasures Youtube channel.

Only one person per email/household/IPaddress can enter this giveaway.  He/she must be 18+ years old and reside in the U.S.  This giveaway ends on Monday, 3/7/11 at 11:59 PM HST (Hawaii Standard Time).  One winner will be chosen randomly via Random.org.  I will notify the winner via email and he/she must respond to claim the prize within 48 hours or I will draw another winner.

I was not compensated for this post although I did receive a product sample to facilitate the original review.  Any and all opinions here are mine.

Review and Giveaway of Jenulence Mineral Makeup

First Born turned fourteen this past September and that's the age when the hub and I decided she could wear makeup.  She hasn't started wearing too much--a bit of mascara and some gloss is as fancy as she gets.  But she has been worried since she's in her high school's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream (as Helena, woot! woot!) and last year when she used makeup for the school's production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, she missed her last performance (as an oompah loompah, lol) because her face swelled in an allergic reaction to the makeup she used.

Enter Jenulence, a line of mineral makeup that uses all-natural minerals and cosmetic pigments.  Some information about the Jenulence philosophy about skincare: "We understand that skin is a living, breathing and detoxifying organ, which absorbs a big portion of what we put on it. It has been calculated that over her lifetime the average woman can absorb as much as five pounds of different chemicals from cosmetic and skin care products. Every 'Natural' or 'Botanical' cream and skin lotion always contains synthetic preservatives, emulsifiers, solvents and artificial fragrances. All these ingredients could be damaging to our immune system and health."  The company's motto is If you can't eat it, don't use it on your skin!  Even if you don't have sensitive skin like First Born, Jenulence offers safe, health-conscious products that are free of synthetic preservatives, talc, nano-particles or micronized minerals.

Jenulence's makeup line includes loose mineral foundation, concealers, eye shadows, eyeliners, blushes, bronzers, body shimmer, finishing and setting powders.  If you're not sure which product to try first, you can purchase a mineral makeup gift set to get you started.  We were lucky to receive the Perfect Skin Mineral Makeup Gift Set to review and the kit came in a lovely organza pouch.

And how did Jenulence work for us?  The first picture on the right is First Born's "before" picture.  The second photo beneath it is her "after" picture.  We used the Natural Olive foundation/concealer for the base, Red Grape mineral blush on her cheeks and Medium Tan Warm mineral bronzer on her eyelids.  Can you see the difference in her forehead?  The mineral makeup does a great job of hiding blemishes without looking too heavy and provides a lovely, glow-y look.  The mineral blush sculpted her cheekbones and the bronzer on her eyelids made her blue eyes pop.  We were both really pleased with her look--me because she still looked natural and she loved it because she was pretty.

Our verdict is that Jenulence is a great all-natural cosmetics line.  While it is imperative for First Born to put products on her skin that are pure so they won't trigger a reaction, Jenulence is great for anyone who wants to achieve a finished, flawless look that also happens to be all-natural and non-toxic.  To shop the Jenulence line of cosmetics and skincare, click here.

To win 1 set of 2 gorgeous Jenulence eyeshadow colors (you pick the shades),  follow the mandatory entry requirement below and any optional ones you'd like.

To earn a mandatory entry, go to the Jenulence website or the Etsy shop and tell me what fabulous product you would love to try in the Jenulence all-natural cosmetic line. Mandatory means that if you don't do this first, all of your other entries will be disqualified.

To earn an additional entry, do one (or all) of the following and leave a separate comment for each thing you do:

1. Become a public follower of Moana Saves via Google Friend Connect (on the right side).

2. Subscribe to the Jenulence newsletter.
 
3. Follow me on Twitter.

4. Follow Jenulence on Twitter.

5. Tweet about this giveaway (limit one tweet per day) using the following (leave the tweet URL in your comment):
#Win 1 set of 2 eyeshadows from @Jenulence and @moanasaves http://bit.ly/bOx6TF #giveaway ends 12/04

6. Like the Moana Saves Facebook page.

7. Like the Jenulence Facebook page.

8. Subscribe to my feed via RSS reader (right side) and/or email updates (left side).

9. Grab my button and put it on your blog until the giveaway is over.

10. Put Moana Saves on your blog list.

Only one person per email/household/IPaddress can enter this giveaway.  He/she must be 18+ years old and reside in the U.S.  This giveaway ends on Saturday, December 4th at 11:59 PM HST (Hawaii Standard Time).  One winner will be chosen randomly via Random.org.  I will notify the winner via email and he/she must respond to claim the prize within 48 hours or I will draw another winner.

Mahalo to Jenulence for providing the samples for this review and a prize for this giveaway.  I did not receive compensation for this post.  Any and all opinions are my own.