If you’re looking for something yummy but low calorie for Valentine’s Day, I’d consider CHOCOLAT White Chocolate Organic Body Butter. I know you can use some zero calorie chocolate in your life! Rich body butters and real vanilla extract for silky delicious skin. I like the whole white chocolate slant too; many chocolate body products are overwhelming, but vanilla extract tends to mellow chocolate scents out.

If you’re not into chocolate, a basic vanilla body treat like the certified vegan SHEA YOU LOVE ME Vanilla Bean Organic Body Butter will still spread candy-like Valentine’s Day love. Both of these would be cool as Valentine treats for a girlfriend too.

If you’re looking for a sweet homemade Valentine’s Day gift, try whipping up a batch of homemade Organic Lavender Vanilla Sugar Scrub.

+ Juliet’s Room Organic Skin and Body Care

Burt’s Bees Super Shiny Lip Gloss would make a nice quick stocking stuffer for a natural kind of girl. IF you don’t mind the Burt’s Bees and Clorox deal. Warning – small rant coming right about now…

Personally, I’ve been thinking about the damn Clorox issue for months and months, and can’t come to a totally firm decision. I don’t buy Clorox cleaning products for sure, or support their whole “Look at us and our Greenworks products” issue when clearly they still support bleaching away the environment like mad. I don’t think the whole Sierra Club getting paid to support them deal is cool either. So you could say that I’m not on board with Clorox.

That said, I always did like Burt’s Bees. It’s was a little depressing when Clorox bought them but at the very least, at least Clorox isn’t totally greenwashing. They don’t  hide stuff about their “green” products, which to me is a bonus, as some major companies do try to trick consumers.

As of right now, I’ll still buy a Burt’s Bees product now and again. Mainly because I really like their Beeswax Lip Balm. I’m looking for one I like as much, but haven’t found one yet. I’d like to find a nice organic one; we’ll see. Anyhow, For my birthday I got a trio set of the Burt’s Bees Super Shiny Lip Gloss. My trio came with all the colors you see above, except Zesty Red.

I liked them overall. They’re nice and shiny, plus taste yummy. I can’t quite place the flavor (each is a bit different) but tropical fruit comes to mind. My favorite color is the Sweet Pink. I don’t love the Pucker Berry color, because it seems to accentuate lip problems – for example I accidentally burnt my lip in a freaky incense incident (don’t ask) and for about two days I had a little scar. The Pucker Berry color made the scar stand out (bleh).

They’re also made with natural ingredient and don’t dry out your lips. I’d recommend all but Pucker Berry as a good stocking stuffer. While I didn’t try the Zesty Red, it’s a cool color that resembles other lip glosses I have and like, so I’m betting it’s cool.

Now, what do you think of Burt’s Bees? Are you still using their products or did you quit?

Super Shiny Lip Gloss

+ Burt’s Bees

Product: Cinnamon & Clove Comfort Natural Aroma Shower Steamer from Verikira Naturals

Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Calcium Sulfate, Sodium Borate, Witch Hazel, and Essential Oils

Basics: This product is a shower steamer, which means you unwrap the steamer, place it in the far corner of your shower (away from the water), and as the heat and moisture activates the steamer, the essential oils are released into your shower, creating an aromatherapy shower experience.

Company information: Verikira Naturals creates specially formulated products for home and body, using natural and organic ingredients, essential oils, vitamins, minerals, and extracts from flowers, herbs, fruits, leaves, and roots. Verikira Naturals products are certified by the Vegan Cosmetics Organization and they follow the Natural Ingredient Resource Center (NIRC) criteria for labeling natural ingredients and products.

Two nice company perks include their handy consumer Education Center and their Pink Grapefruit Pink Ribbon Collection which supports breast cancer research. They also won a 2007-2008 American Package Design Awards Certificate of Excellence.

[Steamers also come in Peppermint Awakening and Eucalyptus Revival]

What I think:

I really liked these shower steamers. I tested two of them. One when I was healthy and one after I caught this flu I’m dealing with. Both times the steamer was a nice shower addition, but when you’re sick, it’s REALLY nice. I’ve felt terrible for a week, and this made my shower nice and relaxing, even though I’m tired and coughing. Cinnamon is a natural flu and cold fighter, and while of course, the shower steamer didn’t cure my flu, it did relax my senses and thus help ease up the body aches.

Other pros:

Subtle scent: Because they’re made with essential oils vs. chemical fragrance, the scent is subtle, calming, and lingering, without being overpowering. I like heavy scents, actually, and while this was scented enough for my taste, it would also be chill enough for someone not into heavy scents.

Easy to use – no mixing oils, no whipping up anything, just unwrap, and place.

Beautiful packaging – perfect as is for gift giving – no wrap required, thus saving paper resources. The steamers especially are nice, because they come in a long box, that would fit nicely into a stocking OR you could place individual steamers in many stockings or gift baskets.

Bonus – it left my bathroom smelling delicious for a couple of days after I used it. Too bad they don’t make home cleaning products!

No stain – my first steamer didn’t get all the way used up, but it didn’t sit and stain my shower either, it washed away with plain water.

Product cons:

I’m not sure about the recyclable of the box. There’s no recycling label on it. The label, foil, and paper decoration inside the box are for sure recyclable, but the box is an odd material. I couldn’t find info on it, but I’ll still try to recycle it. UPDATE: After posting this I heard back from the company who notes, “The shower steamer frosted box is made with 100% virgin polypropylene which is recyclable and Verikira Naturals tries extremely hard to use recyclable packaging at all times. Also, the crinkle paper inside is also recyclable.“ Nice. So, now we know, and this con becomes a full on pro. 

I think that if you’re really into green living, one whole shower steamer is too much. I take semi-quick showers to save water and the first steamer I used was only half gone by the time I was ready to jump out. My suggestion is to cut them in half. Which is a con, considering they don’t tell you this, but a pro, in that the product lasts longer. The only way you’ll get through one of these per shower is if you take REALLY long showers.

Safety note: These look like brightly wrapped candies. My seven year old son thought they were little chocolate oranges. Because my son is well-past the eat anything stage, I’m not concerned. If you have little ones though, this is a product to keep tucked away.

Cinnamon & Clove Shower Steamer score:

Five out of five pretty trees! I liked these a lot. They wouldn’t be on my list of products to buy right away, for myself, just because I have a basket full of essential oils. However, I would absolutely give these as a gift to someone. Great for birthdays and holidays. I also think that out of the box, they’d make cute wedding, or baby shower favors, along with other treats.

$24 – Cinnamon & Clove Comfort Natural Aroma Shower Steamer

+ Verikira Naturals

Long story short; sharp object and me have a long and dangerous history. If I use the best of the best razors to shave my legs, I still manage to get cut. Heck, if I use a plastic spoon to shave my legs I’d likely manage to get cut.

I’m always on the lookout for items that minimize my insane sharp object issue, so trying out new shave products is old hat. However, vedaDUDE Glide is not old hat by any means.

Basics: vedaDUDE Glide is an organic shave gel, made by vedaPURE, that may be meant for guys (hence the DUDE), but lacking facial hair (thankfully) I tried this product out on my legs.

Ingredients: Organic Aloe Leaf Juice, Meadowfoam Seed, Organic Bilberry Extract, Organic Sugar Cane Extract, Organic Orange and Lemon Extract, Cranberry Extract

What I think:

Honestly, I think I’m in love with vedaDUDE. Soooooo many perks…

• Glides on perfectly.
• It only takes a small amount of gel to cover the average sized leg (an organic bargain).
• Smells great – very clean, not overpowering, and leaves a slight fresh scent lingering after your shave is done.
• Not sticky like most gels.
• Rinsed off cleanly.
• Left my legs feeling moisturized before I had even put lotion on.
• Best of all – NOT ONE CUT. I don’t know if they put magic fairy shave dust in this stuff or what, but for me, no cuts is pretty much unheard of. I was in shock. A shave gel that doesn’t require bandages is a perk to me.

Cons:

• I like a little more color in my gels usually. Although colors are usually bad because of preservatives and chemicals, they do aid in the not cutting your legs to shreds deal. In this case it wasn’t an issue, but if you like a colored gel, this one isn’t.
• I can’t tell if the container is recyclable, (nothing marked) and I can’t easily find this info on the vedaPURE website. I’m gonna give recycling a whirl anyhow, but some info on this would be helpful.

VedaDUDE Glide score:

+

Six out of five pretty trees! I’ve used other decent shaving products, (razors, gels, creams, etc), some of which I’ll be reviewing soon, but this, hands down, is my favorite shaving product to date. I wasn’t even trying to be careful, yet walked away cut-free. I highly suggest this gel; it’s worth every penny. If shave challenged me can use it, then imagine how nice it will be for someone who is more savvy with sharp objects. Toss in the fact that it smells great and is organic, well, go them!

Check out this and other products at vedaPURE; by the way, I think this gel tossed into a gift basket would make a great holiday gift as well.

SAVE MONEY: Right now, vedaPURE is hosting a holiday gift special – simply enter the code holiday at checkout and get 10% off your entire order.

$20 – vedaDUDE Glide

+ vedaPURE