New Yummy Perfumes Up on Etsy!

I just posted a bunch of new perfumes and colognes on my Etsy shop, plus a delicious-smelling sparkle body powder. Check them out!

ORANGE NILLA Perfume Oil

MANLY NILLA Cologne Oil

CUKES & MELON Perfume Oil

BERRY, BERRY WILD Perfume Oil

LITTLE BLACK DRESS Perfume Oil

CUKES & MELON Shimmer Dusting Powder

xo
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It's Makeup Time

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So, I'm excited and I just wanted to let you all know that I've just tagged off one of my New Year's resolutions: finding a natural mascara to replace my Covergirl Lash Blast, which I love, but is loaded with crap I can't believe I put so close to my eyes. I found a mascara through Erzulie Cosmetics in intense black that I can't wait to try. If I've never told you about my absolute obsession with Etsy, I'm telling you now. Etsy is brilliant, especially when it comes to finding natural beauty products (um, hello, Piekny Cookie is on Etsy). Most stores list their ingredients in full, which is a really nice little perk. Plus, you'll find some great sales and unique product; Erzulie Cosmetics, for example, has Black Cherry mascara on sale right now for $7. Sounds so yummy I could eat it.

Black Cherry Natural Mascara by Erzulie Cosmetics

I also went all out and purchased some more makeup from Noella Beauty Works. Eyeshadows in Snowflake and Sugared Plum, both weekly steals. I also went ahead and bought a deep espresso eyebrow powder, which triples as a matte eyeshadow AND eyeliner. How can you go wrong?

Sugared Plum Mineral Eyeshadow by Noella Beauty Works

I'll let you all know how it goes when I get my goodies. I can't wait!

xo
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New Year's Resolutions

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Happy 2012, cookies! I'm sure you all had a wonderful weekend bringing in the New Year. I myself watched movies, ate some delicious pizza from Palermo's and watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; a perfect film to celebrate new beginnings.

Every year, I hear tons of people announcing their New Year's resolutions. Some will keep them, and others will forget them after a few weeks (let's not forget the age-old "I'm gonna lose 20 pounds" resolution!). One of the things I'm striving for this year is to work on filtering out icky chemical products and replacing them with wonderful, natural, non-harmful products. I've already started over the past couple of years. Here are some of the products I love to make my life healthier:

Renpure Organics shampoo, conditioner and hairspray; Piekny Cookie (that's me!) facial toner & moisturizer, lip balms, hand salve, body oil; Noella Beauty Works foundation, eyeshadow and blush; Burt's Bees lip balm (I'm obsessed with lip balm and have TONS of different brands); LUSH bath bombs; and soaps by Heavenly Scent Soaps by local Spring Grove, IL crafter Erin Whalen.

Kiss Me Klimt Bath Bomb by LUSH

That's not to say I don't have higher goals! What I'd like to achieve in 2012 is total natural beauty; a removal of all beauty products harmful for my skin and bodily health. There are things that I use every single day that I need to make adjustments to, including: mascara, hand soap, nail polish (Willow Tree Minerals actually makes non-toxic mail polish, which means I can finally start painting my nails again!), concealer and of course, the dreaded HAIR DYE. I'm still on a quest to find the perfect non-toxic dye, so stay tuned for that.

Caterpillar Non-Toxic Nail Polish by Willow Tree Minerals

And here's the big, big, BIG one: incorporate my love of natural beauty products into my diet! Don't get me wrong, I might still want a few slices of pizza every now and then, but you know what -- I want my entire body to be nourished and feeling sassy my not only changing what I slather on my skin, but also what I put into my belly! About a year ago I purchased The Diet Solution by nutritionist Isabel de los Rios. The website looks a little scammy, but I can assure you, the information you get from her book is excellent. When I started eating organic, natural and healthy foods (and she provies recipes, too; yum!) I started losing the weight. Of course, I fell off the wagon, but my goal is to start again and make a total lifestyle change. We'll see how that works out ... no, no, no ... must. Stay. Optimistic. !

What are your New Year's resolutions? Do you strive to make your life more natural and healthy? Or maybe you want to incorporate the natural life into your diet as well? Lemme know!

xo
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New Perfume Oils!

Stay tuned for several new perfume oils making it to my Etsy shop. Expect to see the new yummy fragrances: Cukes & Melon (cucumber melon), Berry, Berry Wild (wild berry), Orange Nilla (orange & vanilla) and Little Black Dress. Also expect to see a couple other surprises as well! Hopefully I'll have these babies up as soon as mid-next week.

Oh, and a quick reminder. I'm going to start using coconut oil in most of my perfume oils from now on, but there are a few (including the newer ones) that will still have a grapeseed oil base. Send me a convo on Etsy if you would like to purchase a perfume oil, but would prefer a coconut oil base rather than grapeseed. Both are beneficial to the skin, but I like coconut oil because it's a little lighter than the grapeseed. If you'd rather have the coconut, I want to let you know to expect at least a week delay before I'm able to ship because I'm waiting on supplies from my wholesaler. Once I get the goodies I need, I'll be sending those bad boys out directly to you! Cheers all, and have a HAPPY, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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Manic Panic

Just a little side note.

I found some really great information about Manic Panic hair color at Bonzai Aphrodite on my quest for finding a safer hair dye. One of the user comments even claims that her daughter ate a bunch of Manic Panic hair color and was fine! Now, I've used Manic Panic in the past, and yes, it is very mild and pretty safe. However, it contains methylparaben and propylene glycol, both of which aren't exactly good for you.

I must admit, I was pretty bummed out when I saw that it contained methylparaben, a food preservative. But anyway, check out the article. It's really informative and tells you the what's up with Manic Panic.

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My Horrendous Henna Experience

Okay, so I needed to talk about this because, well, I've been trying to turn a lot of people away from chemical hair dyes. And so you should. One alternative I was excited to try was henna. Light Mountain has a suprisingly long list of henna hair colors you can choose from (and they also have amazing box art) and I was looking forward to trying. So I went online, ordered myself a box of Red henna, and waited impatiently for it to arrive.

When I finally got it, I couldn't wait to slap it on my head. It had been months since I'd dyed my hair with chemical color, and my roots were looking a bit ... well, we'll say "shabby," but that's being nice. I had heard from reviews and other websites that henna isn't exactly the easiest way to color your hair, with one of the keywords being "messy." Well, "messy" didn't even begin to cover it.

The directions had me dump a bag of this greenish powder into a bowl with 12 oz. of boiling water. Easy enough. Until the smell hit me. No one ever told me that henna has a very similar to smell to ... uh ... cow manure. Yes. Cow manure. I suppose it makes sense, being botanical and all, but I suppose I wasn't prepared for that.

So, after completing the recommended strand test and carefully following the rest of the directions, I started slapping the stuff onto my head. Let me tell you, not only did the stuff smell of cow manure, but it also had the same unfortunate texture. Kind of like lumpy, green yogurt. So basically, the stuff kept sliding off my head and plopping onto my sink, giving me more disturbing visions of a cattle ranch. I had put a ring of Vaseline around my hairline to keep the henna from dyeing my skin, but that didn't seem to help too much. The second that stuff touches your skin, it's dyed, even if it's only very lightly. Luckily, I have a mass of freckles, so a little splotch here and there wasn't as noticeable.

One other note: I have very short hair. Pretty much a pixie cut. And I had to use nearly the entire box on my head. So ladies, if you have long hair, you might want to buy a few boxes of henna dye for full coverage.

Once I finished putting the stuff in my hair (which took about 20 minutes), I wrapped my hair in plastic as recommended and waited for 45 minutes. Just enough time for my hair to completely absorb the smell of it, even after I rinsed it out (which was also a feat in its own). It had also leaked all over my scalp and my skin was a lovely shade of pizza-sauce orange. However, the color in my hair was nearly non-existent. Just a very small hint of orange-ish highlights and that was about it. At least it dyed my roots, though. Beggars can't be choosers.

Now, I'm sure lots of people use henna to dye their hair. Cleopatra used it, for crying out loud. And I'm sure many of those people have had much better experiences than yours truly. But I think I will be staying away from henna for awhile and just let my hair do its own thing. Smelling like manure for two days isn't exactly my cup 'o tea.

xo
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Happy Holidays, All

So Christmas has passed and everyone (including myself) is a little ho-ho-ho'ed out. But you know, I love Christmas and I really enjoyed handing out homemade Piekny Cookie gift bags to my friends and family. Hopefully they can get some good use out of their sugar scrubs, perfume oils and lotions!

Speaking of making products, I have a whole bunch of new items I'm about to add to my Etsy shop. Just a couple of days ago I added some yummy-tasting Very Cherry and Skinnamon Spice lip balm, my new line of eight ounce bags of bath salt, shimmery Orange Nilla body oil (AWESOME for after baths) and Monkey Farts (yeah, that's right) perfume oil. Please check them out if you get a chance.

Oh, and ALSO .... in honor of the cold, dry weather we're about to get into, I've put my CITRUSH and LAVENDERP dry shampoos on sale for $4, plus discounted shipping, until midnight on January 1st! Dry shampoo is ideal for the winter months because the more you use wet shampoo, the drier and more static-prone your hair gets. And don't even get me started on the damage it will do to the ends. Ugh. With dry shampoo, all you have to do is rub a little bit of the powder into your scalp and roots, let it sit for a few seconds, then brush out. The cornstarch and baking soda in the shampoo sucks up all the grease and keeps nasty smells away. Not that I think any of you lovely cookies smell, mind you. ;)

Anyway, I hope you all have a great New Year! I'm planning on taking at least 20 pounds off my ass this year (my New Year's resolution), but I'm also going to work on keeping my skin and hair healthy and away from icky chemicals.

xo
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