Posts Tagged ‘fragrance’
Give your mood a boost without toxins – The safest scents for home and body
“Fragrance” is a largely unregulated term, with the sweet smell of many products actually being the most toxic component. Companies aren’t legally required to disclose what goes into their fragrances, so it’s no surprise that many commercial perfumes, home sprays and air fresheners are full of unsafe chemicals. Toxins in home and body fragrances are bad news for anyone, but especially bad for expectant mothers and children. Chemical fragrances cause harm to the skin and respiratory system, and can have a lifelong affect on the various systems of little bodies. Scents are specifically designed to linger, so it’s especially important that we choose safe fragrances for use around our families. Fortunately, there are healthy alternatives that will let you enjoy mood-lifting aromatherapy without the dangerous side effects.
Fragrance for body
A Perfume Organic are hand-poured perfumes out of Manhattan. The scents themselves are certified USDA organic, and the packaging is not only recyclable, but is embedded with flower seeds for you to plant and enjoy. A Perfume Organic products are also fair trade, vegan and cruelty-free. The brand offers five scents to choose from, or select the sampler pack to mix and match your own signature scent. Prices are comparable to department store fragrances but much better for your family and the environment. — If you act within the next 24 hours or so, you can pick up these fragrances at a great discount through my affiliate LovingEco.
Harvey Prince is my favorite fragrance brand right now. I was lucky enough to review their line of non-toxic scents and I am a legit fan. My favorite scents are Ageless, Eau De Lite, and Coupling, which are rich enough to wear alone and also smell amazing layered. You can read my Harvey Prince review here.
Essential oils are another healthy way to wear fragrance. Pure oils should always be diluted in neutral carrier oil such as coconut oil or organic body oil, and can be applied to pressure points (I like wrists, neck, and on my hip bones) for a highly therapeutic fragrance. Grapefruit and other citrus oils can offer an uplifting effect while scents like lavender are known for their calming properties.
Scents for the home
Those home air “fresheners” you see advertised on television? Toxic toxic toxic! I refuse to review brands like Glade on this blog for a reason – Because they’re disgusting! There are healthier brands you can try – Method
Adding plants to your home will improve air quality and flowers will give your home a natural, fresh scent. Avoid naturally toxic plants (duh) and keep even safe botanicals out of reach of small children – It only takes a few minutes of boredom before they’ve ripped off every leaf and petal in classic “loves me, loves me not” fashion.
Create your own home spray. This Freshen Up spray from The Well Daily uses white vinegar and essential oils. If you’d rather shop than DIY, scroll down on their page for some healthy aromatherapy options you can buy, including these aromatherapy diffusers
- – The Well Daily is a website and daily email I discovered recently. Browse the site or sign up to have a fun wellness tip delivered to your inbox each day. I highly recommend it!
Brew fragrance on your stove top. Boil orange peels in a large pot along with a handful of cinnamon and cloves for an aroma that will fill your entire home.
Burn non-toxic candles. I am obsessed with candles, but they are not necessarily a safe fragrance option. When shopping candles, high-end versions are typically safer – Definitely avoid the dollar store for candles, although you can find some cute glass candle holders for cheap! Candles that produce soot around the rim are actually releasing that carcinogenic soot into the air.
If you are a candle lover like me, don’t fret – Inform yourself with this great post on avoiding toxins in candles and go on enjoying your scented candles guilt-free! Your best option is 100% soy or beeswax candles, which are safe and clean-burning. I personally love-love-love Bluecorn Naturals soy candles.
Harvey Prince AGELESS Fragrance review & giveaway
I received a set of Harvey Prince scents for the purpose of this review – All opinions are completely my own. This giveaway is sponsored by Harvey Prince. This giveaway is now closed ~ Congratulations, Sujaan!
- – -
I recently received a set of fragrances by Harvey Prince to review. While great for all seasons, I found these scents to be a great pick-me-up for winter. Just a dab lasts all day long and best of all, all of their fragrances are completely free of parabens and toxins. As a mom, having a totally safe go-to scent is important, and I love that I can confidently recommend this brand to my readers.
Who is Harvey Prince?
Our mother is our inspiration: she radiates warmth and turns heads wherever she goes. Harvey Prince is a salute to breathing magic into every moment, and taking on every day with confidence. We hope your new fragrance will bring out the magic you have inside of you.
Harvey Prince scents are crafted using high-quality, eco-friendly ingredients. Most mainstream perfumes are loaded with chemicals – When you see “fragrance” listed on any product, that term is completely unregulated and is often the most toxic component in beauty items. Harvey Prince fragrances contain NO parabens, phthalates, PCBs, BPAs, GMOs, or sulfates. I am constantly cuddling my son, not to mention nursing and sharing a bed with him, so having a safe scent is very important to me. (Those chemicals can stay in your body for years – It is recommended that you start avoiding them before you even think about trying to conceive. They are especially dangerous for little developing bodies but by no means safe for adults either.) I love that Harvey Prince cares about their customers and the environment as well as their product. The result is a guilt-free everyday fragrance.
About AGELESS
You can read more about the science of Harvey Prince anti-age perfume – I just love the way it smells! The scent is mostly light, slightly fruity and floral, but just musky enough to smell grown-up. Ageless uses pink grapefruit and mango to counteract smells of aging, and also carries notes of jasmine, tuberose, ylang ylang, and sandalwood.
EdenFantasys for sexy spring cleaning and gift giving
This is a sponsored post but all opinions are 100% my own.
If winter is the time for love, spring is all about lust, and EdenFantasys has the perfect accessories for a summer romance in the making. Their products also make for fun and sexy gifts. This month I purchased a goodie bag’s worth of toys and body products for one of my very best girl friends and I am happy to report that she was thrilled with them. I placed the order for her birthday and the discreet package arrived at her door just two days later with standard shipping – That is great service!
Every order comes with a free toy so my bestie received two vibes, as well as some Silky Sheets body spray. I know that all friends aren’t as comfortable sending this sort of gift, and EdensFantasy does offer a lot more than just adult toys. They sell all sorts of lotions and potions as well as scented aromatherapy candles that would be the perfect accent to your spring cleaning!
The Importance of Organic: Beauty Products
We often talk about the importance of eating organic, but many women slather on beauty products as often (more often?) as they take in a meal. I’ve always loved eating clean organic produce simply for the way it tastes and feels, but being pregnant gave me a reason to be even more diligent. As I was re-accessing my fridge, I also took a hard look at my beauty routine.
I started by switching to brands I trust for shampoo and lotions, my top choice being Yes to Carrots
I feel like I’d be lying if I didn’t mention the huge “emergency” bottle of Tresemme shampoo under our sink, but the majority of products – and especially any we have brought into the home in the past eight months – are choices that I am proud of. Like with food, every change counts. Chemicals in beauty products are in small amounts (it’s why the companies get away with it) but build up with each toxic product you use. If you aren’t sure about a particular product, I encourage you to look it up, even if the brand has a ‘green’ reputation. Also: The words “organic” and especially “natural” are not regulated, so look for products marked as “USDA Certified Organic” to avoid greenwashing.
Buzzword: Paraben-free. Why are parabens bad? “Parabens imitate the chemical makeup of our hormones and can cause the body to over react or react to the chemicals which it thinks are hormones and consequently won’t produce enough natural hormones for the body to properly function.” (Examiner)
I’d heard awhile ago about the Cosmetics Database but was kind of scared to try it before this week, and for good reason – the results are scary. Knowledge is power but that doesn’t mean it’s pretty. For instance, I spent the better part of 2004-2005 slathered in The Body Shop’s Mango Body Butter. Even Burt’s Bees, which I had trusted wholly in the past, doesn’t score great, and neither do LUSH
The last big hidden toxin in my bathroom is fragrance. Seeing my fave SJP Covet fragrance rated at a toxic 10 on Cosmetics Database is an eye-opener, so my next mission is to replace my (and the husband’s) scents with healthier alternatives. I’m not going to toss my remaining parfum but rather save it for special occasions and use sparingly (and not buy them again). It is no surprise that perfumes and colognes are so toxic, as it is the fragrance in most bath and beauty products that makes them so unsafe.
Some products require possible toxins as their active ingredients (many acne products, for instance) but it’s hard to justify having even possibly hazardous chemicals in body wash and perfume. Like with the food industry, the fucked up part is that truly safe products are the exception and there is no rule that toxic products carry any warning.
Some products don’t have a comparable organic and/or natural substitute, but using those that do I can feel the difference (in my hair, skin) as much as you can feel the difference when eating clean and organic, which is a much bigger motivator for me than fear.
How much do you worry about what you put on your body? What are your favorite safe/organic beauty products? Any products you can’t live without even though you know they likely contain toxins?
© 2012