Scrubby Soaps & Heavenly Honey

I don't know where all you ladies are from, but if you live in Illinois you will know that today was so stinkin' gorgeous that it actually felt. Like. Spring. Yes. Amazing. Too bad I had to be stuck in an office all day! Luckily I had last Friday off to prepare for family coming over this past weekend, and Friday was also gloriously spring-like. I was actually walking around outside without a coat on. Geez, you'd think we'd been in a deep freeze for months—oh wait, we have. So it's about bloody time. :)

Anyhow, on to more important things. I needed to share a couple of wonderful little items I've come across in the past couple of weeks. First of all, we have to start with charcoal. Yes, charcoal. I've been reading a lot about how activated charcoal can help suck out dirt, oil and other impurities from your skin. It sounds weird, but it's all the rage right now, so I decided to try it. I couldn't find a reasonably-priced charcoal face product online, and I was a little wary about some of the products that claimed to perform miracle-like skin rejuvenation. I mean, nothing is that perfect, right??

What ended up happening was that I found myself at a trunk show. It wasn't even a beauty trunk show; it was for these amazing purses (by MoJo Re-Creations... so cute!) at this cute little boutique in Lemont, Aurora Rose. And I came across this beauty.

Photo from ButterduckFarms.com

Butter Duck Farms is a well-known brand 'round these parts, seeing as they're from Bolingbrook, IL. I've seen them several times at farmer's markets and summer festivals, but never got around to purchasing anything. When I saw this activated charcoal soap at Aurora Rose (oh, and a delicious-smelling alpine cedar soap), I grabbed it up, took it home, and immediately washed my face.

AND. I. LOVE. IT. For real, I can honestly say it's the best facial soap I've ever used. My skin feels soft, smooth and bump-free. After using it for about three days, a cheeky bump that was about to flourish into a not-so-cheeky pimple shriveled up into oblivion. It's a wonderful product, smells great, and keeps my combination skin in check.

All right, on to my second find. In case you weren't already aware, I have something of a honey addiction. Okay, so I have about ten bottles of raw honey in my cupboard and you know what? I'm not ashamed! Eh hem. Basically, I love anything having to do with local, raw honey. I just love tasting seasonal honeys one after the other and noticing the subtle flavor differences. That's what brought me to Honeyrun Farm.

Photo from Honeyrun Farm's Etsy Shop

I ordered the sampler above ("sampler" being a light term, since these are nicely-sized 8-ounce bottles) plus the Spring Black Locus, Lemon Verbena- and Lavender-infused sampler. The floral notes in the seasonal honeys are so wonderfully different from one another, that having six bottles is totally okay. The flavors are so subtly different, especially to a honey-happy gal like myself. The lavender-infused honey is INCREDIBLE in chamomile tea, by the by.

The owners, Jayne and Isaac Barnes, make this awesome raw honey and cold-process soaps on their family-owned bee farm in Ohio with chemical-free practices (which I love, of course!). I also ordered the soap sampler gift package and found myself with six luscious, great-smelling handmade soaps that I've been having fun trying out every day. I also ordered fresh bee pollen, which is loaded with protein, B-complex vitamins and free amino acids. It's great for your skin, gives you energy, and actually helps boost your immune system! (source) I love sprinkling it on greek yogurt and granola (with a drizzle of honey, of course!). If you're a honey hound like yours truly, I highly recommend checking them out!

That's all for now, cookies. Enjoy the weather while it lasts! Hopefully we'll see some spring blossoms soon!

xo

It's Almost Spring ... Kind Of!

By Just2shutter at freedigitalphotos.net

The first day of Spring is Thursday, March 20; so you know what that means, right? Hopefully no more bouts of unforgiving snowstorms, nasty droughts and bizarre polar vortexes. I've had about enough, and I'm sure you have too. I long for the days of warm, fresh breezes filled with the scent of blooming lilacs and honeysuckle; the days of high sun, cool drinks and the seemingly never-ending aroma of barbecues and freshly-cut grass.

Okay, I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. It's spring, not summer, for crying out loud. I'm not necessarily one to have the most optimistic attitude, but I am just so done with this freakish winter I've turned into a positive-touting guru. It's kind of disgusting, actually, but it's getting me through slopping around in slushy snow and ruining unsaid numbers of great shoes.

All right, let's get to the point. As you all may be aware, I had a full-time job in the real world which recently turned into another full-time job in the real world... thirty miles away from my apartment. Yeah. So, needless to say, I've been giving Piękny Cookie about five percent of what little time I have during the day. Um, last blog post was? Yeah, it's been awhile. One good thing about driving upwards of two hours to work every day (Chicago traffic + snow + ice + overly-careful drivers = NIGHTMARE) is that I get plenty of time to think and formulate new ideas. Which is why I came back to this blog and decided to get a little more disciplined about its upkeep.

The other reason I'm back is because I will be introducing my new Spring collection of perfumes (squee!) on March 20. I have four fantastic new scents that I just know you will all love (I know I love them, anyway). Plus, I will be re-vamping my shop just a tad and begin offering perfumes in collections. I don't really have a great collection area in my shop, and I'd love to be able to offer you guys packs of goodies for a discounted price. So, keep on the lookout for some new yummy scents coming your way in Spring!

Also, you may have noticed that my shop is lacking in the lip balm department as of late. Late last year I decided that it was in my best interests (financially) to discontinue lip balms and tints. The demand for them was minuscule in comparison to my perfumes, so I decided to focus all of my energy on fragrances. Sad news for lip balm addicts, but great news for anyone who loves great-smelling, moisturizing perfumes

Along with my new Spring collection, there may be a teensy little surprise for all you Facebook fans out there, so pay attention to your newsfeed mid-March for updates! I hope you all have a great rest-of-the-crappy-winter; don't worry, ladies, Spring is almost here!

xo