Three Things I’m Obsessed With – Products For Grownups August, 2019
Summer is wrapping up, but before the golden days slip away, I want to share my “Three Things I’m Obsessed With August” list. My August product review roundup features a really compelling non-fiction book, the popsicles that are taming my ice cream obsession, and the amazing non-toxic sun protection products I’ve fallen in love with.
Check them out and be sure to let me know what you think in the comments.
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo
The minute I saw this post and recommendation from Liz Gilbert, I put my name on the list at the library and (for once) my timing was perfect.
I devoured this book in just a few nights and I had to keep reminding myself that it was a TRUE story and not a novel. It took the author, Lisa Taddeo, ten years to find the three real woman that are profiled in this exploration of sex and desire. Each woman’s story is unforgettable and they were each engaged in very different intense sexual/emotional relationships:
- There is Maggie, who met her lover when she was a seventeen-year-old high school student and he was a married schoolteacher.
- There is Lina, a mother of two who leaves her marriage and rekindles a flame with her high school sweetheart.
- And there is Sloane, gorgeous and happily married, whose husband likes to pick out her extramarital sexual partners.
I identified with each of these women and their stories were haunting, a little depressing, and oh so compelling. This isn’t your typical summer beach read, but this book is oh-so-worthwhile.
And, it was recently announced that Taddeo will write and produce a TV series for Showtime based on the book.
Beautycounter Sun Protection
Everyone thinks about Colorado as a winter destination, but we get over 200 days of sunshine per year. And in the summer, it’s hot as hell! Because I’m outside a lot (walking the dog, gardening, bike riding), I wear sunscreen every single day, year round.
About a year ago I decided that I wanted to start switching to safer, non-toxic cosmetics. The U.S. has not passed a major federal law governing the cosmetics industry since 1938. (Ahem—that’s over 80 years.) While the European Union has banned or restricted 1,400 INGREDIENTS from personal care products, The USA has banned or restricted only 30. That’s really not good enough.
Switching products can be time consuming and expensive. So I decided to start with the products that I used most often (and that I used a LOT of). Sunscreen and a tinted moisturizer with an SPF were at the top of the list. And Beautycounter’s liberal 60-day return policy made trying new products risk free!
- For my face I use: Dew Skin Tinted Moisturizer (I wear shade #2 year round.) It’s very sheer and forgiving so it works when I’m tan and in the middle of the winter. It has enough coverage to make your skin look even and smoother, but it doesn’t look like you’re wearing foundation.
- For my body I use: Beautycounter‘s Countersun Sunscreens which come in both a lotion formula, a spray formula and also a tinted spray formula (that I haven’t tried yet.)
Chemical vs Mineral Sunscreens
Most of the sunscreens you’re probably most familiar with are known as chemical sunblocks. These products actually absorb into your skin, ultimately absorbing UV rays so they can be converted into heat and released from your body. Active ingredients in these sunscreens typically include avobenzone, octinoxate, and oxybenzone. So, for these chemical sunscreens to work properly, those chemicals need to be fully absorbed into your body. Your skin is your body’s largest organ. Do you want to be ingesting chemicals that are known to be harmful* to your health?
That’s why mineral sunscreens are a safer alternative. Mineral sunscreens use ingredients (such as zinc and titanium dioxide) to physically block the rays from your skin. They actually reflect the sun’s rays. And, as an added bonus … zinc never expires as a protective agent! All sun protection products are required by law to list an expiration date, but if you’re using a mineral sunscreen, you don’t need to throw out the unused portion at the end of the summer. You can save it for next year!
Beautycounter’s triple-tested Countersun is the market leader in safer, mineral sunscreen. It offers all of the benefits of sun protection without the dangers associated with many of the products you can buy at your local pharmacy or grocery store. And it’s reef safe, water resistant for 80 minutes, fragrance free, and doesn’t leave a weird white cast on your skin. I’ve been using it all summer, in blistering heat, and I have not gotten sunburned, nor has it caused my skin to break out.
*** IMPORTANT: If you are unsure of the ingredients in your current sunscreen or cosmetics, check out: EWG.org/skindeep
This is my go-to resource to search and learn about products and ingredients. Just go to the web site and enter the name of the product you want to research. You’ll instantly see its toxicity rating based on the ingredients. And, you can learn more about why those ingredients aren’t good for you.
If you want to learn more about taking care of your skin, check out this article from Withinthetrend.com
Healthy-ish Popsicles
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that ice cream is my love language. But I can’t eat ice cream every single night. Enter these healthier popsicles from Whole Foods and GoodPops.
At under 300 calories, they’re a sweet treat that leave me feeling a little less guilty. And, they are the BEST popsicles I’ve ever had. I’m particularly enamored with the coconut ones (although I so wish they used coconut milk as the dairy source instead of dairy milk.) But some of the other flavors (strawberry, caribbean mix, lime, mango) are dairy-free. But for a purchased popsicle, they’re pretty darn tasty.
Every Tuesday I try a new product and post a (brutally honest) review. This is not an ad. I have received no compensation for this post. Check out all of my other review posts HERE.
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