**REVIEW** Ancient Greek Remedy (best oil blend EVER) UPDATED

UPDATE: I sent a question to Greek Bliss about their foot balm and body butter. I heard back and they were nice enough to send me a code to try their foot balm and the soap. I will, of course, be doing reviews on those products asap.

*** *** ***

Almost exactly 2 years ago, I got to try this

It's Ancient Greek Remedy Oil sold by Bliss of Greece

I used it as a nighttime rest treatment, putting some on my neck and bosom to help relax me. The scent was very soothing and calming. I loved it. Then I packed it down with the rest of my many many oils when I got ready to move. When I got settled here in the new place, I didn't unpack all of my oils, just the ones I use on my hair or to clean.

The other day, I was looking for my black pepper essential oil and found the Greek Therapy Oil in the box. Oh, joy! 

Now as some of you know, I've been losing weight on the intermittent fasting regimen. Anytime I lose or gain weight, I take special care of my skin. I will use a lot more moisturizer until my weight stabilizes. In the past few weeks, I've been going extra heavy on the body lotion. Last night though, I went back to the product page and looked up the Ancient Greek Remedy's product page. I remembered how much I liked it but wanted to refresh my memory about the different ways it could be used. This is the full product description with my highlighting notes:

Ancient Greek Remedy Oil is made of 100% PURE Blend of Organic Sweet Almond, Cold pressed Olive, Lavender and Grapeseed oil with Vitamin E, VEGAN, GLUTEN and GMO FREE. Multi purpose moisturizer packed with hair skin and nails vitamins, promotes natural health and beauty solutions which are superior than any single oil. each one from the 4 magical oils is a source of unique Vitamins and antioxidants that together create the ultimate solution all for your health needs.

OLIVE OIL is full with anti aging vitamins and hydrating squalene, making it superb to use as firming body oil for smooth and even skin tone. reduces facial dark spots, promotes healthy soft and beautiful hair, help thickening thin hair, good for wavy, curly, straight & afro hair.

LAVENDER Oil is one of the most well known essential oils in aromatherapy, benefits include its ability to Reduce anxiety and stress, migraine and headache relief, improves sleep apnea, prevent pregnancy stretch marks, Stop chronic scalp itch and cure dandruff, Effective treatment for skin discoloration, Acne scars, rosacea, eczema, psoriasis, alopecia, seborrheic and atopic dermatitis.

ALMOND OIL is rich in hair and Skin care Vitamins includes, monounsaturated fatty acids, proteins, potassium and zinc, which explains why its a favorite massage oil and great for firm skin, optimal for treating hair loss and damaged hair, best natural toenail and cuticle Softener.

GRAPESEED OIL due to their nutritional and medicinal properties grapes been used in many home remedies for centuries. GrapeSeed Oil provides lasting moisture for rough hands, feet and cracked heels, tighten loose skin, frizzy hair and healing flaky scalp.

I was wasting this by only using it to rest better!

I want to share a little note about something in the product description. Somewhere is mentioned something about a "fine mist" spray bottle. Unless the design has changed since 2016, the bottle does not have any kind of a "mist" spray. The oil comes out in little squirts which seems normal since it's too thick to "mist". I just wanted to point that out.

Of course, now I am using it all over. When I twisted my hair last night, I put some of this oil on my scalp. I also used some on my feet. To moisturize my body, I mixed this oil in with some of the other carrier oils I have. I can't afford to waste this. 

I'm kicking myself for not having used this on my feet and torso before now. The oil made my skin feel like silk. I had always just slapped some on and went to sleep and I was a little worried that the lavender would be overwhelming for all-over use. Not a problem. The lingering scent is very mild, maybe because I mixed it with other oils. I do know that I will be using this every single day until I get down to my goal weight. And I will keep using it on my feet - which is the one place my psoriasis attacks. 

When it comes to using things on my face, I don't normally go with anything scented. I did test this on my face (concentrating on the blackhead-prone nose area) and was happy there was no irritation from the lavender. I like it best though on my lips first thing when I wake up. After I brush my teeth, I wipe my mouth and it feels better for having had the oil on it.

At the time that I first got this oil to review, I didn't have to buy it. I had gotten this and another soothing oil and the other one was good but very, very pricey. Thank goodness when I checked, the Greek Remedy oil has a better price. Currently it's at $14.99.

One final thing: if you decide to order this and, like me, want to get 2 bottles, you have to make separate orders. For some reason, the seller won't allow you to order more than 1 bottle at a time. I have submitted a message asking why this is and I will let you know when I find out.

In the meantime, you can go over to the Bliss of Greece page to learn more about their other products. The Buy links direct you to the products on Amazon.

Peace
--Free

**REVIEW** Natural Nail Polish Remover

Out of all the "natural" products I've tried or heard of, I never even expected to see nail polish remover. I guess, I just never thought of something strong enough to strip nail polish could be natural.

When I saw this being offered to reviewers, I applied mostly so that I could prove how awful it would be. I'm not always a big old ball of positive sunshine/ Go figure.

As soon as I opened the bottle, first thing I did was a sniff test. And... Nothing. I smelled nothing. Since I always have or am getting over a cold, I had someone else sniff this. They also smelled nothing.

Interesting.

Also interesting is that this looks and feels like an oil. Almost like a cuticle oil or some other very "thin" oil-based product.

Next test was to just try it to see if it would work. I was going to be putting this stuff to an extreme test by using my toenails. I was wearing 2 coats of polish that I'd done a couple of weeks before. Since the original coating, I'd been adding polish to the tips. (It's finally sandal-wearing weather, so...). I would guess that, all told, I had 2 coats in the center and at least 4 coats along the tips. I'm too lazy to re-do my whole nail more than once a month. Which is why I only tested the polish on one nail for the time being!

This is what I started with:

It might be time for a pro pedi!

I started with couple drops of remover on a cotton ball. Then I wiped at the nail a couple of times, like I do with regular polish remover. The ball picked up just a tinge of the color, but my nail was still fully polished. Huh. Maybe I was doing something wrong.

I was.

When I went back to look  more carefully at the actually look at the instructions on the bottle, I see this:

Ohhhhh..... LOL! I really do have to learn to pay attention to instructions.

Starting over, I added about 3 drops to a fresh cotton ball, then let it sit on the nail. Still, I didn't wait a full 5 minutes. I barely waited a whole minute. I think I lasted about 45 seconds before I started rubbing the ball across the polish, and... wow.

No drying, no ash/residue, no smell. The used cotton balls didn't even stick to me like when I use regular removers.

I have to say, I'm impressed. I used only 2 cotton balls (and ended up using a full dropper of remover) and managed to clean all the polish. I still never did wait as long as directed.

Not only is there none of the unpleasant odor if regular removers, this one had even more positives. For one thing, if you look at the photo of the cleaned nail, you can see that the surrounding skin looks more conditioned and moisturized. Because of the lighting, it's harder to see the effect on the nail itself, but it was also conditioned and shiny. My cuticles (which are naturally very dry) felt and looked better than ever. I haven't had a pro pedi since I was in Texas back in November. Regular salon visits are just not in my budget.

Let's go back and look at the label and what not in this remover (I highlighted the list with a red heart):

My next question, obviously, was how does this work then? I suppose the answer is: It's all about the ingredients. Those ingedients are:

• Methyl Oleate (see below)
• Palmitate
• Linoleate
• Stearate (magnesium or calcium, I don't know) ...
• and other "proprietary" botanical mixtures (Okay)

I can understand why brands keep parts of their ingredients secret. They are trying to sell you something, after all, and not give you the formula. Otherwise, a lot of folks would be mixing up their own Coca Cola in their kitchens. Maybe.

The biggest thing that struck me about this list of ingredients is that the first one is tied right into something I've been talking so much about lately. Apparently, Methyl Oleate, is related to a honey bee pheremone.

Anyway, this stuff really does work. As far as quibbling about what "natural" might mean, I'm not going to push it with this. Since the nail polish I wear is not exactly "natural", I can accept using a less toxic than usual remover.

This bottle should last about as long as the same size bottle of regular remover would. I guess it would really depend on how often you change your polish. After using this correctly (and more than once), I've decided that this might even last longer than regular removers because there's no evaporation like there is with

Finally, you should go over and read the entire product description for yourself. There's info about how this is rated with people who monitor chemicals and such. Also, notice that there is a "no questions asked" refund policy.


Peace
--Free






DISCLOSURE:
In exchange for providing my fair and honest review, I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free or at a discount using AMZ Review Trader. Regardless, I only review products that I have personally used and can give an opinion of.

**Pre-REVIEW** Nature's Bounty Hair, Skin & Nails (UPDATED)

**UPDATE FEB 14**
I will take some photos when I twist my hair and take the polish off my nails. For now, after just about a month use of the supplements, I can report some things: 1) My nails are much stronger than they were when I started. The length is about the same because I keep them filed, but the strength is amazing. 2) My hair did SO well for the first couple of weeks. I didn't pay much attention after that, but I noticed about 3 days ago that I was washing out a lot of what looks like broken pieces of my hair. Kind of alarming, right? The thing is, I have dyed my hair so that could be the cause. Yesterday, I decided to stop the supplements and get back to my regular vitamins (minus the biotin). I want to see if I'm still getting hair breakage after a few days. 3) Last of all, I noticed that, while my skin is much softer to the touch, I also notice that I have some tiny bumps on my face - almost like a breakout or reaction to a lotion. Since I haven't changed anything in my face care regimen, I'm watching to see if laying off the Hair, Skin & Nails will make a difference. 

I will try to follow up soon and let you know.


Skin, Hair, Nails vitamins and supplements have been popular the past year. I never tried any because I 1) hate taking pills, and 2) take enough pills already. I recently changed my mind and decided to try the supplements. Because my budget (if that's what it can be called) is so tight, I had to look for a brand I trust at a reasonable price. Thank goodness for Walmart.

I chose Nature's Bounty Extra Strength Hair, Skin & Nails.

About $10 at Walmart ***

Although I paid just over $9 in-store, Walmart's online price is higher by a few dollars. This is a 1-month+ supply and just about what I pay for any other vitamins, so...

This is what I'm reading about this particular brand:

I'm not sure how well this "multivitamin supplement" is going to work for my hair, skin or nails, but since I have to take a daily vitamin, it's no big deal.

Today is Day 3 of taking the supplement. This is what my hair looked like this last night after I washed and twist/coiled it to dry:

Notice that this is the
"Extra Strength" formula

They look like pearls!

You can see the breakage

It didn't use to be this thin
in between the twists

My nails have always
been strange

(below is an updated photo taken 2/24/16)

I chopped all my hair off to start over

& will blog on that separately!

These, of course, are recent photos (from November/ December 2015) of my hair in various states and styles:

Nov (moisturized)
I like this the best, BTW

Nov (dry)

Dec (flat ironed)

I really do hope that these vitamins work because I feel better when I look better. My hair isn't awful (and not nearly as damaged as it was a year ago), but I would like it to be a little less dry and fragile. Hopefully (please, God, hear my prayer), I will be going back to work this year so some extra energy would be nice also.

When I told my niece that I was starting these supplements, she mentioned that a co-worker also tried a similar product and that her results were visible within the first week. Wow. Of course, I think the co-worker is younger (around 30), so that might be a factor. I'm not looking for miracles, but...

Anyway, I wanted to post the "Before" photo so that I can do a visual update down the road.

One last thing to mention: I have already noticed that my face and lips are much softer/less dry.

Peace
--Free

**REVIEW** Deluxe Botanicals Castor Oil

This 100% pure & organic castor oil by Deluxe Botanicals surprised me. Pleasantly.

It's not the first castor oil I've used, of course, but it's the first "clear" castor oil I've used since I was a kid and my Mom and one of the Grands would make us kids eat a spoonful everyday. Ick.

This one is not for ingesting. It's for the hair, skin and nails.

See?

When I got it, I noticed that unlike, the castor oils I've been buying locally (black ash oils), this one was in a bottle with a dropper. I love having a dropper for oils because they make it easier for dispensing and adding to other bottles.

Where this oil surprised me right off the bat is with how freaking thick is is!

The other castor oils I've used are not thin or watery, but this one is so thick that it reminds me of corn syrup. And that is part of the beauty of it.

Because the oil is thick, I thought it would be too heavy for using as a moisturizer. I don't want a thick, greasy mess left on my hands, and I really don't want to use anything like that on my face, right?

No worries. I did test it on my face (and neck) and it really didn't bother my pores. I just rubbed some water and a drop of the oil in my hands and patted it onto my face and neck before bedtime. I think it helped a lot because the house is really dry with the heat turned up for winter. Ugh!

Of course I mainly wanted to test this on my hands and nails. The Deluxe Botanicals goes on thick, but not too sticky and, after about 2 or 3 minutes (maybe less), it has absorbed completely. I mean completely. My hands (and nails) were very nourished without any sign of greasiness.

When I tested the oil on my body (legs and feet), I got the same results. I just let the castor oil absorb before I on clothing.

Because thisi is a 4-ounce bottle, I'm not going to waste it using it full-body. I added several dropperfuls to a bottle of the lotion I'm taking with me on vacation and left it at that. I'm saving the rest to use on my hair and nails (and my feet).

When I'm not sponge-curling my natural hair, I like to do a 2-strand twist of cornrows overnight. Tonight, I did my twist-rows, then used the castor oil on my scalp in between rows. I want to see how my scalp feels tomorrow when I take my hair down. I will let you know at the finish of this review.

My pre-bed look:

Looking like Celie! LOL

I just oiled my scalp bewtween the twist-rows

This oil is also supposed to be good for acne treatment, but I can't test for that. I do know that when I remembered to try it on my lips it felt great. (If your lips are currently chapped and peeling, apply the oil and let it set for a minute, then do a mild cloth or sugar scrub. I noticed that this worked excellent with some sugar for a scrubbing.) There isn't a strong taste to it, thank goodness. I'm going to try using it a few minutes before I apply lipstick because, for some reason, some lipsticks suck all the moisture right out of my smackers.

Finally, the $14.48 Prime price seems reasonable to me for the 4-ounce bottle because I will be adding this to other products and saving some for direct application. This works well enough to add to my oil purchases in the future and I'm glad that I got to try it out.Also there is a 30-day guarantee. If you don't see results, you get your money back. Good deal.

I checked out Deluxe Botanicals Facebook page and noticed that they share some nice tips and hints. I especially like the "Essential Oil Conversions" chart.

Peace
--Free

DISCLOSURE: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

*REVIEW** Skinology Argan Oil for Hair, Face, Skin & Nails

There are lots of argan oils out there (and I've tried a bunch of them), but this was the first one labelled for such specific use:

 This is Skinology's "Pure & Natural Certified Organic" Argan Oil for hair, face, skin and nails.

Now, to be honest, I believe that any argan oil can be used for the hair, the face, the skin, and for the nails. That's what most beauty consumers do use the oil for in the first place. Though I'm sure there are other uses I don't know about, so far, those are the only uses that I do know about.  (I have heard of people taking the oil internally, but I won't be trying that for myself.) I think the main thing that separates one argan oil from another are the same things that separate any type of products: quality and purity. At the end of this post, I will look at some of the terms used on the label but, for now, let's just talk about how this oil worked for me. (And, by the way, heed the product warning of not using if you are allergic to nuts! Not a ha-ha, but seriously...)

I really liked that this oil absorbed so well - not just coating my skin with an oily residue. A bigger test of how well it absorbs was that I was able to use it on my (kinky/curly) hair and it didn't weigh it down. (I applied it lightly to my damp hair, especially the ends. I'm going to keep using it this way once I trim my ends to see if it helps the condition of my hair.)

Like I said before, all of the argan oils I've used have been for the same purposes, but I can tell that this one does work better than some others.When I replaced my Solar Oil by using the Skinology on my nails and cuticles, I was able to get a lot of moisture out of the tiniest dab of the argan oil.

The other ways I tried this out was to moisturize the edge of my hairline. I tend to get a lot of dryness there since it's a spot I don't concentrate on when I use face creams in general. That gave me the idea of using the argan oil on my face after doing a mask treatment. I just applied small dabs of the oil (especially around my eyes, on the chin and on the forehead), patted it on and let it rest before I rubbed in my regular moisturizer. You know how dry your face can get after doing an exfoliation or mask, right? This method of moisturizing worked so well, I'm going to make it part of my routine.

So, while I'm generally skeptical of elaborate claims on product labels, I have to admit that the Skinology lived up to my highest expectations for an argan oil. Not only does it work really well, but the Prime pricing is great. On top of that, there is a full, no-questions asked, keep-the-bottle, money-back guarantee. By the way, I have used other Skinology products and they have all been of the same good quality.

Now, here is that other info I promised. Try not to nod off while reading it. If you use oils in your beauty routine, this is good stuff to learn about.

The part of the product description for this oil that interested me the most was the "Triple Extra Virgin Cold Pressed" statement. Let's break that down a bit. I couldn't quickly locate information specific to argan oil, but I'm looking at how the USDA (pdf file link) defines terms for olive oils.

• Virgin olive oils are the oils obtained from the fruit of the olive tree solely by mechanical or other physical means under conditions, including thermal conditions, that do not lead to alterations in the oil, and which have not undergone any treatment other than washing, decantation, centrifugation, and filtration...

I didn't find any mention of "triple extra virgin" at that source. When I looked for definition of "cold pressed", I checked out the Wikipedia article on olive oil for an idea of what it means for that oil to be cold pressed:

• Cold pressed or Cold extraction means "that the oil was not heated over a certain temperature (usually 27 °C (80 °F)) during processing, thus retaining more nutrients and undergoing less degradation".[43] The difference between Cold Extraction and Cold Pressed is regulated in Europe, where the use of a centrifuge, the modern method of extraction for large quantities, must be labelled as Cold Extracted, while only a physically pressed olive oil may be labelled as Cold Pressed. In many parts of the world, such as Australia, producers using centrifugal extraction still label their products as Cold Pressed.

Okay. So there you go. If any of you know anything about oils (especially that whole "triple virgin" thing) please share!

Peace
--Free

DISCLOSURE: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

**REVIEW** Organic Rosehip Oil by Valentia

When you think about using natural products - either for health, beauty or nutritional purposes - you start to think of some of those products as staples. Just like you have basic cooking ingredients, you will start to collect basic health and skincare items. Rosehip oil belongs in that collection.

And when you talk about rosehip oil, you have to talk about quality. I pick this one:

A little goes a looong way

I've done a few posts on Rosehip oil and I'm learning more and more about its benefits. This particular Organic Rosehip Oil by Valentia Skin Care is of the best quality that I've tried so far. That't the good news. Some more good news are highlights of the benefits:

• Has naturally occurring antioxidants promote healthy cell development (think: help for lines, wrinkling and early aging)
• The essential fatty acids may reduce appearance of scars and burns and improve damage from acne and other skin issues
• Hydrates the skin to keep it soft
• Great for hair and fingernails (and cuticles)

I like this oil so much that I am using it despite the fact that.... I can't stand the smell.

In general, rosehip oil has a very distinct odor that you're either going to like or hate. Personally, I just don't like the extremely powerful earthy smell. I have read the opinions of other people who really love the scent. Either way, no worries because the scent does not last long. 

With other brands I tried, I had a hard time even using the oil because of the scent of it. I was determined to use this one because I like it so much more. I think there is a difference if production and, possibly, quality. The absorption for this one is wonderful. At first, I didn't want to use it anywhere near my face (read: nose), but after using it on my nails and feet, I was pretty impressed. 

Because I wanted to give this a full review (and because I will do a lot for the readers of my blog), I dived in and, smell be damned, tried using this in every way I could think of:  

• Fingernails. I have only done one hot oil or "glove" treatment so far, but I have applied the oil directly to my nails and cuticles more than once. This works really well if done after using polish remover. It's really quick and easy to rub in a little of this oil on your nails every day. I think I could see a big difference (in shine and feel) after about a week.
• Hands. If applied (very sparingly) about half an hour before I'm going to be out in the cold, I don't get as much drying - either from my gloves or the weather. I don't like to use too much unless I'm going to have time to massage the oil in really well. 
• Body. Using it underneath my usual lotion is great. Some of my body lotions are not as moisturizing as others and using the oil with them seems to "boost" their usefulness. Beats tossing out thin lotions. 
• Knees and elbows. I don't worry about skimping here. I massage in a lot of the oil and let it rest while I moisturize the rest of my body. My elbows are especially dry and just drink this up. After about 2 months us using various rosehip oils (the latest being this one), I am seeing a lot of improvement in the look and feel of my elbows. Before, they used to always feel dry and a little scaly at the end of a day.
• Feet. I'm working on my feet. That's one of my goals for this new year - to get these dawgs back into sandal-wearing shape. I'm using the rosehip oil at least once a day. This helps because I am regularly using various tools and creams to get rid of calluses.
• As a makeup remover. I use various oils for this. With the rosehip, I like to apply and let the oil rest for a while (sometimes for 15 minutes or more) to remove any heavy foundation. When I have the heavier makeup off, I will use just 2 or 3 drops of rosehip to massage the "dry" part of my combo skin. It sbsorbs really quick. (And that smell goes away fairly fast!)
• Hair. I can't use a lot of this on my hair, but I do like rubbing just a couple drops in my palm and smoothing over my hair if I'm going to be tying on a scarf for the day. It helps keep my hair from matting too badly.
• Booster. The oil is really nice for boosting my other face creams and skin care products. I have a ton of face creams that aren't moisturizing enough. I've already rescued two jars by adding just a little more than one full drop of rosehip. Makes a huge difference. 

I saw somewhere online where a user suggested applying a bit of rosehip oil on your eyelashes to get them thick and healthy. I haven't tried that one yet because I forgot about it until I was writing this post. If I try that, I'll hopefully remember to let you know how it goes.

By the way, this bottle is smaller than some of the other brands I've tried, but I have to tell you that a little goes a long way. I use by drops and I don't think that I've had to use more than 3 drops for any application. Sometimes, I just touch the end of the dropper to whatever area I'm treating. 

Bottom line is, rosehip oil is versatile. I have to hand it to Valentia for producing one of such good quality. And, yes, there are some that don't work as well. I'm going to be adding this one to my "favorites" list of rosehip oil. 

Peace

--Free

DISCLOSURE:

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.