Current blog update

New note about comments: Comments are moderated (so are only posted if I give them permission to be posted) and only open to registered users. Any post with links in it will be deleted (sorry I had to do this a while back but I was getting so much spam by companies who just want to advertise on my blog). Thanks for understanding :)

If you have a company or organization you'd like to tell me about (since I don't allow links to websites in the comments anymore), if you are not a registered user and have comments/questions, or if you have questions on environmental issues or crafting, please e-mail me at solarkatsecoblog@yahoo.com. Please note it may take a few days to answer.

Also A LOT of the old entries are not in the links section yet. There are over 200 entries on this blog, so most links to old posts are not posted on the right side of this blog. If you can't find what you need either read the archives by month, do a search in the search engine box at the top of the blog, or you may ask me a question through the comments or email. :)

What's new:

Feb 14, 2010Happy Valentines Day and Chinese New years. Blog post on chinese astrology books and websites.

February 3, 2010My store is finally open, read my post for more details!

January 17, 2010New Eco Living article. Also I am working on a very long article that will be posted within the next couple days (my thoughts on that yahoo health skin care article that was posted a week or so ago).


January 4, 2010Happy New Year! Post on soapnuts Eco Living article. Will be posting more soon.


November 26, 2009Happy holidays! Just a quick article on all my eco living articles over the past year! Still lots of up keeping to do on this blog (comments, etc).

October 5, 2009Hi everyone! I have not updated in like 7 months :( I finally finished my thesis and graduated (yay!). The last few months after graduation I have been working on starting my online skin care and mineral makeup (mmu) business but it has been taking a while, since I haven't been feeling very well (my health hasn't been that good for years, and in the last few months I've been having even more problems). So I've been taking it slow, especially I also just needed some time to deal with a lot of things that have been put on the back burner.

I also have over 50 comments to shift through, many of them are old so don't know what to do with them yet (I didn't know if I should answer them since most of them were posted months ago so the person who posted probably won't see the answer, but maybe I should just in case. I am pretty sure most of them are spam but a few of them were questions).

I am going to try to post more regularly but it is going to take a while to reorganized this blog the way I wanted.

A new post on liquid and pressed mineral makeup is finally up! :)




Cheers!
Li

Happy Chinese New Years! (Chinese astrology information)

Happy Valentine's Day! Also Happy Chinese New Years! Xinnian kuai le!

Today is the start of Chinese New Year, and this year it falls on Valentine's Day :) This year is the start of the year of the metal tiger!

One of my interests is chinese astrology (I am an amateur when it comes to Chinese astrology. My sister is very advanced in western astrology though). I think it is very interesting and I am getting better at guessing what year people are born. Though astrology is about potential and not set in stone, it amazes me how eerily accurate it can be at describing the personality traits of people. Here are the websites of some of my favorite Chinese astrology authors.

Shelly Wu's is a chinese american astrologer. She just updated her site, so has many horoscopes for the year of the metal tiger :) She also has a new book out called 'The definite book on chinese astrology", which I need to get!


Sabrino Liao also writes Chinese astrology books (but as of this writing, she hasn't updated her website for the new year yet. Hopefully she will update it soon).

I also like Suzanne White. She has chinese astrology and western astrology books; and she has a book where she has combines both Chinese and western astrology(to me it makes sense in combining them). Her site is updated for the new year too! :)

Man-ho Kwok's book 'Chinese Astrology: Forecast Your Future from Your Chinese Horoscope' goes a little more in depth than most other astrologers. I don't know if he has a website or not.

Theodora Lau's book Handbook of Chinese horoscopes is one of the first books on Chinese astrology I read. I only have the older editions of her books though so may get the updated version soon but some people on amazon mentioned the older editions are more in depth. Not sure if she has a chinese astrology site or not (I found a website that I think is hers, but it is only an index page and mentions that her book is in the newest print).

My store: Earth Alkemie!

I am so excited!

My skin care and mineral makeup company is finally open! :) Please check it out!

I have named my company Earth Alkemie, which I think is accurately describes my philosophy and how I feel about plants!

I won't be posting about my cosmetic line on this blog (since Solarkat's Eco Blog is my personal blog, and I am keeping my business and personal hats separately ;P), but I just created a blog for Earth Alkemie, where I will be posting sales and news etc. (I am having a sale right now so read EA's blog for more details!) :)

Last EA link: Earth Alkemie also has a forum

Hope you like my aromatherapy & herbal based skin and hair care, and mineral makeup!

Cheers!

Li

Eco Living article on a simple yogurt cleanser/mask (All Natural Skin And Hair Care, Make/Do it Yourself Cosmetics)

A week and a half or so ago, my new Eco Living article was posted! This month's article is on a super simple, multi-purpose yogurt based cleanser or mask for the facial skin, body, or hair. I love this recipe, it makes the skin and hair super soft! Enjoy!

Eco Living article: Soapnuts

Happy New Year!

I forgot to post about my December Eco Living article!

I wrote an article on soapnuts! I love soapnuts for skin care and also house cleaning (laundry, etc). In my article I have a recipe on how to make an all purpose liquid decoction (but for laundry you can use the whole nuts and don't need to make it into a liquid unless you want to).

I still need to write and post my January article. I am not sure what I'm going to write yet but I was thinking maybe a skin care recipe since I haven't written an Eco Living article just about skin care in a while (though the soap nuts recipe can be used on the skin).

Enjoy! :)

November Eco Living article update (Green and Eco-friendly Living)

I haven’t done an Eco Living article update in a while!

A few weeks ago I posted my new Eco Living article on the anb (all natural beauty) mall’s website, which is called: ‘Natural and Organic Products, Part 2: What Is Organic?’. In November's article I defined what organic is, went over the USDA’s National Organic Program’s categories, discussed the difference between natural and organic, and brought up the issues of finding truly organic cosmetics.

Last month I posted part 1 (‘Natural and Organic, Part 1: What is natural?’), which defined the term ‘natural’ and discusses natural and naturally derived ingredients in cosmetics in depth.

Other articles I’ve posted over the last year include ‘Li’s Quick Eco tips on green house cleaning on a budget’, and also ‘Li’s Quick Eco tips on books, packaging, and reusable bottles’. These articles include simple to do tips to lead an eco-friendly lifestyle. I write a lot of ‘Quick Eco Tips’ articles to show that being eco-friendly doesn’t have to be time consuming or expensive (a lot of eco-friendly tips are inexpensive or, while they may be more expensive initially, in the long run they save you money, not to mention they are better for you and your family’s health). I also wrote an article that discusses moisturizers, including the importance of water rich ingredients and oils in skin care, and the difference between moisture/hydration and moisturizers (which are not the same thing). There is also an article on different online plant and environmental resources—very useful in researching ingredients, plants/herbs, or some environmental subjects.

A good past article that many may find useful is my article on autumn and winter skin care that I wrote last year (I also have written one on anb mall’s site on spring and summer skin care, which may interest those who live in the southern hemisphere). Skin conditions can change with the season, and as conditions change, you may need to switch your skin care; in this article I give tips on how to do that for your whole skin care routine.

I've written many other articles (including many natural skin care recipes), and I will be writing another one shortly. Many experts in the natural skin care, aromatherapy, or herbalism fields also have contributed great articles to anb mall too :) I hope you enjoy the articles!

Liquid and Pressed Mineral Makeup List (Natural Cosmetics)

Many women have asked me where to find liquid mineral makeup (mmu) and also pressed mmu. I've previously posted a partial list on liquid mmu on this blog but have written an expanded list and also a list of a few brands of pressed mineral foundation. (This list is longer than the one that I emailed to some people.) Happy sampling!

Here is a link to that old post on a few liquid mmu brands and also how to make your own :) Burt's Bees tinted moisturizer (which is mentioned in my old post) is no longer available.


Where can I find liquid mineral makeup (mmu)?

Monave makes several wonderful liquid mmu. The moisture moose (rose one) is actually good for all skin types (not just normal/dry as they recommend. The ingredients are very balancing for sebum levels in all skin types). They also have one made for oily skin (liquid matte), and also a cream foundation. The company that makes them for Monave is headed by someone with an aromatherapy and herbal background (and she really knows her ingredients). The only drawback, shelf life is about 1-3 months, maybe a little longer for the liquid matte because of the container that one is in. It is actually less expensive to buy one of their face creams (which contain many of the same ingredients as some of their foundation bases, but in different proportions so slightly different in texture) and add your own mmu. I highly recommend their face creams and body lotions.



Real Purity and Dr Hausckha and Lavera and Miessence sell natural makeup (including mascara). Dr Hausckha and Lavera can be found at some Whole Foods, Wegman's, or health food stores. Miessence is organic. Shelf life of Real Purity--a couple to a few months. Dr Hausckha and Lavera probably have the longest shelf life as they are preserved with alcohol, so probably will be fine for up to 3-5 months after purchase (depends on how long they have been in the store, shelf life is measured when ingredients/products were made and not when you buy them). Lavera: check out the clearance section of their website, sometimes they are onsale. Miessence's shelf life probably a few months or longer (assuming their extracts contain alcohol; I've never tried their foundation but have tried their creams, which do).

Paul Penders also offers liquid mmu. They should be available at Cosmetics Without Synthetics' website, which sells many different brands and they have samples (if they don't have it yet--since the liquid kind is new, contact them). Shelf life, I estimate about max 3 months or maybe a little more. Here is the link to Paul Pender's website (where you can read about the liquid foundation, but you'd need to buy from Cosmetics Without Synthetics).

Cosmetics Without Synthetics website also sells some of the above brands too in addition to Paul Penders, so you may want to try here so you can get samples. They sell a lot of natural brands, from skin to hair care to makeup.

Cory cosmetics also has liquid mineral makeup.

Essential wholesale (a diy ingredient vendor) has liquid mmu. They sell mostly in bulk but for a few products they sell single regular sized units too. Nearly all natural to natural based, but there is one ingredient they use in some (not all) of their makeup that I don't particularly care for (Tetrasodium edta). I haven't tried their mineral makeup yet, I may try some of them (except for the ones that contain this ingredient). EW is truly a green company (they are carbon neutral).

All of these brands, the liquid mmu foundations double as moisturizers, so you may or may not need to use a separate moisturizer with it (depends on your skin).

All these companies and websites also sell nice skin care :)

What brands sell pressed mineral makeup (mmu)?


For pressed mineral powders, Every Day Minerals has some (but not all) colors available as pressed. I really like the formulation (they pressed with only fractionated coconut oil and vitamin E, no other additives) but the colors I can wear aren't available. (The one I have is a tad orange for me, but it works well underneath my eyes). They also have a few pressed blushes and sometimes pressed eye colors and bronzers (but the pressed blushes, eye colors, and bronzers are usually rotated, on a limited run). I love the pressed summer bronzer. I am not a blush or bronzer person but have been using this as blush and I love it since it gives just a very sheer hint of color/a glow. (The bronzer was pressed with jojoba oil). I really missed not having makeup in compacts so I love their pressed products. Now if they would only come out with more foundation colors! :)

For the brands below, see links above.

Nvery Eco has one but I haven't used it yet. It is organic though but only has a couple colors. They are an australian company. (Available on Cosmetic Without Synthetic website).

Real Purity has has some pressed (Available on their own website, and some colors are on Cosmetic Without Synthetics website).

Essential Wholesale has some pressed mmu like eye shadows, no foundation yet I think but they keep adding more products.

Not pressed but Cory Cosmetics has a mica free foundation stick too.

Lavera and Dr Hauschka also have pressed but they are talc based which I do not recommend (talc while natural is sometimes contaminated with abestos, and in some studies even the non-contaminated ones are thought to be potential carcinogens. It is a highly debated ingredient on if it's safe or not, personally I think it is better to be safe than sorry).

You can also press your own (mix a few drops of a carrier oil or alcohol in a little blender, and then press into a compact and let dry).

Eco Living: Aromatherapy Milk Baths

My newest Eco Living article is up on anb (all natural beauty) mall's website. This month it is on all natural aromatherapy milk baths (vegan suggestions are included too!). Milk baths are great for the skin, and super relaxing! :) Enjoy!