natjtan

Beauty Finds: Sioris Stay With Me Day Cream

02/04/2021by natjtanLeave a Comment

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.

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Lifestyle, Recycle Less

Recycle Less: Zara Home 100% Cotton Shower Curtain Review and DIY Bathroom Mould/Mold Remover

30/03/202130/03/2021by natjtanLeave a Comment

When I started a few years ago reducing my plastic waste, a non plastic PVC, polyester or nylon shower curtain has been low key on my radar list for a while.

I usually opt for PVC shower curtains as they’re easier to keep clean against mould. Urgh. No matter how hard I try it forms. Anti Mould Tip! Not an environmentally friendly way to remove mould in bathrooms around the shower or bath seals. I use eco/bio, environmentally friendly, cruelty free bathroom cleaners however sometimes I need something a little more stronger. I read that soaking cotton wool in a bleach solution placed over night over the mouldy areas can remove it. I was skeptical at first, not thinking it would work well as the mould was in the silicone. Long story short, it worked. I couldn’t believe how well it worked! Almost pearly white grouting back!

Researching plastic free shower curtains, hemp and cotton were the 2 main fibres that came up. Hemp’s the best as repelling water and keeping mould away, however my budget isn’t hemp shower curtains. As the curtain didn’t need replacing per say, I kept an eye out every now and then shopping. Zara Home last year has gone almost to the consumer plastic free. To the consumer. I’m sure the packaging products arrive in store is plastic. The only plastic seems to be tags holding together napkins and tea towels, security tag stickers or elastic ribbons holding product info tags on say linen. They’ve even replaced plastic protective wrap post sale with the only way I can explain it stretchy paper cut similar to cotton string bags. They also do now 100% cotton shower curtains.

100% cotton shower curtain with something else on it. You can tell by touching, it has a protective water repellent layer on it. This is also apparent when it wet. Only the bottom part in the bath get wet both sides. The higher up bit doesn’t on the decorative side. The label and neither does zarahome online say what the coating is. I’ve read that some water repellent coating on waterproof clothing is actually harmful to the environment as it runs off. I could ask, but haven’t.

No flooding has occurred bar from the bathroom design. The previous PVC shower curtain which was easyish to remove mould by wiping with bathroom cleaner and sponge, I washed and left to dry in the sun then vac packed to be repurposed for say painting or replacing the cotton shower curtain you could easily shape around the bath taps and wall not to cause a flood. The cotton one doesn’t stick the wall as good, so I place say a shampoo bottle and bath duck like below so it doesn’t flood the bathroom floor.

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Animal Kingdom, Animals, Lifestyle, Nature, Photography

Winter City Birds

29/03/202129/03/2021by natjtanLeave a Comment

Happy Spring!

Catalunya’s finally easing up some covid-19 restrictions! We can now travel freely throughout all of Catalunya however only visiting other regions in Spain for work or exceptional conditions. Malls have reopened, chiringuitos beach bars, life guards are back for the summer season. Fingers crossed they don’t roll them back in a few weeks. Each Spanish region has been given powers to control the pandemic bar total home confinement, with the central government setting a curfew that’s been in place since October last year. It’s due to end the end of May but with numbers rising again, it’ll probably be in place until the end of the summer.

Birds being as free as they are, are the lucky ones. They can come and go as they please. Only worrying about food and predators. Sometimes I wonder if people are mean to birds, killing them as they can come and go as they please as humans they can’t. They’re free to fly away from danger, they’re not subject to complex human cultures. Well the lucky ones are. Many kept for food, for sport in conditions no one would want to live in, seen as nothing more than money or a commodity (says she who would like another cat and in doing so to rescue one animal, many more will have to be killed to feed it) or persecuted for only trying to feed themselves by eating crops and plants.

Birds, fill the skies with song, colour, pollinate plants, spread seeds, are landscapers, the clean up crews, kept wetlands in check, help play vital roles in natures delicate balance as all over their habits are shrinking due to deforestation and climate change. Did you know that veeries can predict if the Atlantic hurricane season is going to be bad just from the time they leave to migrate to Brazil (something I learnt from Netflix’s Connected)? A tiny bird can sense the weather months in advance. That’s some crazy mind blowing, amazing predictions that could be lost to climate change.

Anyway, some wild zoo birds this winter back in January and February. There’s no way I’d see them in the parks. I think they know they’re safe at the zoo (well not the pigeons the seagulls hunt).

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Beauty and Skin Care, Lifestyle, Recycle Less

Beauty Finds: Ola Tropical Apothecary Hawaiian Body Products Ocean Elements Kai Toner

15/03/202115/03/2021by natjtanLeave a Comment

Welcome back to another Beauty Finds! This edition, Ola Tropical Apothecary Hawaiian Body Products, Ocean Elements Kai Toner.

Kai toner blends Distilled Water to purify the skin, Aloe Vera and Coconut Sugar to exfoliate the skin, naturally astringent Witch Hazel and an infusion of mineral-rich Hawaiian Seaweeds and Nigari to support exfoliation, purification and balancing of the skin.

I found Kai toner in a department store in Honolulu on holiday last year in the main shopping/high street. There were so many local skincare and cosmetic brands I wanted to take them all back with me. Luggage allowance and pennies prevented me. Lets not talk about Target’s beauty department, Ulta or Sephora on the ‘mainland’ either. I’d have needed an extra suitcase just for beauty products as I’d have gone crazy if it was unlimited. We did get another suitcase each, but mine wasn’t filled entirely of beauty products!

Toners are the one product I’m not that loyal with. Creams, cleansers I’ll stick with a brand for a few bottles. Toner’s being the link between restoring ph levels after cleaning and before serums, oils and creams I switch out a lot more regularly. Maybe this because I can tell if my skin likes them more than other products.

Aloe vera, coconut sugar, Hawaiian seaweed and formulated for oily skin had me. Even more so hibiscus flowers my favourite flower. Made in Hawaii, I’m in. Local crafted, I’m in. Sustainably crafted, locally harvested, naturally active and certified organic, I’m always in. I really like Hawaiian Body Products ethics and use of ingredients and materials.

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Animal Kingdom, Animals, Lifestyle, Nature

Winter City Parakeets

01/03/202101/03/2021by natjtanLeave a Comment

No one knows the origin of Barcelona’s parakeet population. Some say they were stowaways on boats arriving in Barcelona Port in the 1970’s, others say they’re descended from Barcelona Zoo or house pet escapees, or house pets released when the owners couldn’t deal with them anymore pre 2013 when it was legal to trade Monk and Collared parakeets, just 2 of the 4 types of ‘Spanish’ parakeets.

Some like me love watching a streak of green as they fly by, listening into their cheeky chatter, watching how they use roads as their own flight paths. Other people regard them as pests that have now travelled further outside the city ruining crops. Some say their nests are dangerous due to how much they weigh if they fell on someone. Barcelona isn’t the only city in Spain with parakeets. Madrid and Valencia are just a few Spanish cites with their own populations.

To be honest, they’re pretty kinda cool birds, happy to share with the pigeons, sparrow, starlings and blackbirds for snacks. The other day I think Parc de la Ciutadella had been closed for most of the day. Only one entrance gate open with a temporally closed sign everybody was ignoring. I had bread for the ducks, my new thing with the covid restrictions so I get my bike ride to a green place which I’m aiming to still do now restrictions are slowing being eased. I wasn’t going to go seeing all the people, but thought the ducks and geese would be extra hungry without their usual snack feeders, which I‘m not one as you can tell the ones that are. A few parakeets lined the pond railing waiting for bread pieces so nobody got fed much that day. Even the seagulls were out hungry. Knowing they wouldn’t stand a chance with pigeons that also wanted in, I placed a few pieces on the railing. Some almost took a piece out my hand, others a little more shy waiting until I wasn’t looking. While I like feeding the ducks and geese, parakeets accepting my bread made me feel extra special! Now the zoo’s back open I’ve been seeing them more relaxed than in the park. Less people around, more trees to nest in. Seeing them too as I cycle flying along streets and ramblas with twigs twice as long as them up into the trees for their nests. That flash of green and cheeky squark lights up my day 🙂