October 2020 full moons were a little extra special as one was a blue moon!
Halloween Eve almost full Hunters Moon
Blue moons are when a full moon occurs twice in one month. Maybe it was All Souls Day magic or Samhain magic in pre Christian Celtic celebrations marking the end of the harvest and start of winter that gave October 2 blue moons or the autumn fall equinox working it’s magic. Or just how the Earth’s orbit did it’s thing.
Waning Harvest Moon Dawn waning Harvest Moon
October’s first full moon, Harvest Moon was on the 1st. It’s 2nd, the 31st a Halloween Blue Hunters Moon which was also 2020’s smallest moon. Some name origins are the Harvest moon clears the fields for hunters to see prey in the now clearer fields under Hunters moon which can be in November. Other names for Hunters moon are Sanguine or Blood moon which can again be associated with hunting or leaves turning colour. For me it’s one of the sadder moons as the days are getting shorter and colder weather’s coming.
Visiting a friend I couldn’t stop admiring her rug in the living room lounge. It was so nice to sit on (she has a 1 year baby so you’re on the floor playing) I got thinking that’s what’s missing with my sofa. I had a look at some, saw the price and left it for when there’s more pennies at the end of the month until I went to HM Home. Knowing it probably wasn’t going to be big enough I got it anyway as I liked the texture and colour. It’s more or less the size of a yoga mat, way too small for the sofa so I added to my ‘office’. Checking online HM Home have the same version in larger sizes however maybe too big and on the pricier size. I wasn’t prepared to pay €99-199 for a rug when the first one was €29! I decided to wait until the sales however I found by chance looking again in HM Home the next size up at €39. It’s not the perfect size as it does doesn’t go. I’m happy and that’s the main thing. It feels so nice under my feet and separates the room into a living room from the bikes. In the office/spare room it again separates the room and while the desk can get messy, it gives it a bit of luxe feeling. HMHome España currently only sells the 2 larger sizes here.
Spring
The first official day of spring, winter returned but as quickly as it returned it disappeared with almost a week of blue skies. This winter has been grey with few fully sunny days. I’m not sure if this is due to climate change as usually winter’s here are sunny. The temps are going up and that makes me happy feeling warm sunshine, seeing trees getting dressed, changes in light. This time last year Spain was in it’s 5th week of lockdown with only being allowed out for work unless can work from home, food, pharmacy, doctors. I could only watch spring from the balcony and while the light was getting brighter and spring warming up, inside was dark.
Gyms Reopened
Back in February Catalunya allowed gyms to reopen! While the whole of Spain has a curfew, the central government gave regional governments the power to reduce covid-19 transmissions bar total home confinement again. Catalunya I think was one the strictest, but we were allowed out. Some weeks only in our towns although exercise we could travel further. Gyms were closed for a while October to December to be closed again in January. For now they’re back open with restrictions but I’m so happy to be training in a gym again and back climbing indoors (this girl is a bad climber for outside climbing. It’s complicated, gym climbing’s easier to get to).
I have a few requirements when it comes to cosmetics and skin care: cruelty free, natural, clean, vegan better. I do my best to avoid the nasty ingredients such as SLSs, parabens, PEGs, silicones, etc. Petrochemicals are the sneakiest with so many derivatives and aliases. I also avoid palm oil and it’s derivatives as I prefer orangutans. Coconut oil marketed as the good oil I’m also cutting down on as it can be just a damaging crop as palm oil. If I do get products with these ingredients in I try to get organic or sustainably sourced. With make up it’s a little harder so I go for cruelty free brands. I prefer products with less plastic and thankfully more brands are aware consumers don’t want unnecessary plastic (or governments are telling them less plastic). My skin type’s oily sensitive, acne prone and now wrinkles. I know nothing stops those lines, but if I can delay them then….
I think I found this in Target on holiday last year. I had been making my own deodorant for a while and wanted to try one without baking soda. While baking soda isn’t all that bad, it’s alkaline and skin’s slightly acidic. Over time this combo can leave skin more vulnerable to infections, pollution and sun exposure as the skin’s natural acid mantle and moisture barrier is damaged. I can’t remember how much it was, checking the price it was around $14 plus tax. It was for sure a holiday buy! I was drawn to it’s almost plastic free packaging too. The only plastic was the safety seal. The jar’s glass and the lid metal. Easy for recycling or repurposing. The safely seal according to their website is slowly being transitioned to a recyclable liner. The foam liner can be sent back to them for Terracycling.
I was also curious to try to to see how it was compared to my own deodorant. Arrowroot powder the first ingredient is the binder. I use cornstarch in my own as that’s what I can buy in Spain. I’ve tried searching for arrowroot to see if it makes any different but can’t find any. Magnesium hydroxide is the baking soda alternative that helps stop odor causing bacteria on the skin’s surface without impacting the dermis or absorbed by it.
No surprise my Easter weekend was spent taking advantage of being able to go to the zoo a few times. I could have caught the train or gone someplace else, but no where is as green tropical green, filled with wild birds that are more used to humans to pose and is free. Free for me being a member*.
One of my favourite insects were out too, bumble bees. I like bumble bees. They happily ignore everything around them apart from flowers. By design unlike honey bees, they shouldn’t be able to fly, yet they do. Happily flying flower to flower collecting nectar and pollen, pollinating plants. Growing up I used to see loads of bumbles bees, now living in a city seeing them makes me feel warm inside. Unlike honey bees, they live in a smaller colonies. Sadly like honey bees, their populations are in decline due to pesticides, habitat loss and climate change. No bees, no human food. Bees do about 80% of pollination work on cultivated crops. No human or machine can replace their work! It’s estimated without bees humans would be able to survive just 4 years.
There are ways you can help these gentle giants by planting wild flowers, native flowers or bee friendly flowers in gardens or on balconies. It might not be much, bumble bees might not even come, but other pollinators will. Choosing food if possible with less pesticides so the demand for reduced pesticide food goes up and prices to the consumer down, using less or even better no pesticides gardening. Buy organic food if you can (and help the price of organic food go down!) as they usually use less pesticides. Being mindful of what type of honey you buy. Some honey the bees aren’t kept in good conditions. Support local beekeepers, build homes for native bees, put out a bee bath, plant trees in gardens for bees to rest in! More ideas here!
Welcome back to another Beauty Finds! This edition Sioris Stay With Me Day Cream!
I have a few requirements when it comes to cosmetics and skin care: cruelty free, natural, clean, vegan better. I do my best to avoid the nasty ingredients such as SLSs, parabens, PEGs, silicones, etc. Petrochemicals are the sneakiest with so many derivatives and aliases. I also avoid palm oil and it’s derivatives as I prefer orangutans. Coconut oil marketed as the good oil I’m also cutting down on as it can be just a damaging crop as palm oil. If I do get products with these ingredients in I try to get organic or sustainably sourced. With make up it’s a little harder so I go for cruelty free brands. I prefer products with less plastic and thankfully more brands are aware consumers don’t want unnecessary plastic (or governments are telling them less plastic). My skin type’s oily sensitive, acne prone and now wrinkles. I know nothing stops those lines, but if I can delay them then….
I discovered Sioris in Miin Cosmetics last year. Initially I was a little skeptical. The packaging is minimal, I didn’t want a plastic packaging brand again (dream on Nat) but I wanted to try new moisturisers. Their own site is mostly in Korean so I rely on stockists for product and brand info such as Miin Cosmetics. I believe the packaging is minimal with investment in the actual lotions and potions. Previously I was using Kora Organics and Honest Beauty moisturisers but I wasn’t happy with them. Kora Organics lotions (from douglas.es) are expensive for what they are, Honest Beauty, Honest Hydrogel Cream (from douglas.es) I liked, but couldn’t find what their hyaluronic acid sources were. Honest Beauty last year dropped a vegan line which had me questioning the hyaluronic acids used as they can be animal derived.
I decided to try Sioris Stay With Me Day Cream which the girls at Miin Cosmetics recommended. My skin in a day or 2 looked so much more healthier I went back to purchase the You Look So Young Night Cream and A Calming Day ampoule. Sioris isn’t an organic brand but everything they use is natural, mostly vegan and seasonal. Yes, seasonal. They use seasonal ingredients in many of their products. This also means that sometimes products aren’t available due to selling out fast until the next batch. Their prices aren’t cheap, but they’re not too expensive being mid range price with a little going a long way. All products are nasty ingredient free save one below. The products also are fragrance free, with no artificial fragrances or perfumes added so the smell of products is subjective. Some say it smells bad, but honestly it doesn’t smell of anything. Their Forever Young Night cream does as it contains tamanu oil, but the scent dissipates quickly and I’ll take that scent over artificial heavily scented or perfume any day.
So far most Sioris products I’ve used I’ve liked. Stay With Me Day Cream is a Daily Moisture Cream formulated with Schisandra fruit to help hydrate the skin intensively without being oily. Jeju Calendula and Ceramide also help soothe and strengthen a weakened skin barrier.
The cream has a slight pink hue which varies from batch to batch as it doesn’t contain any colouratives. The only ingredient that is on the bad list is butylene glycol. It’s rated 1 on ewg safety list and it is in the first 1/4 of ingredients. I’m hoping however all the other ingredients cancel out any damage done. It’s first ingredient is citrus junos fruit or yazu fruit which renowned for it’s high vitamin C properties (I’ve just started a yazu serum: by Urang (Miin Cosmetics here. Yes, I love Miin Cosmetics!) which it packed with it and have noticed a huge improvement in skin tone). Schisandra fruit is renowned for it’s skin calming and restorative properties. I’m in! Calendula calms skin and acne.
natjtan 