Its still winter.
Oh yes.
Still.
Georgia girls like myself, with cinnamon freckles sprinkled over peach-white skin
…..don’t fare so well in extended frosty weather.
Pixie and I both have had eczema flare ups;
mine intensifying on my cheeks and neck
—with hers plaguing her little elbows, knees and chin.
Its quite wretched really.
You see, we’ve been sojourning at my Mother’s house here in the Big City Apple
and the chlorinated water of the suburbs is only exacerbating the problem.
We miss the well water of home very much.
It is far kinder to super sensitive skin.
On to business though:
I have found a glorious new thing to cure our winter skin woes!
Introducing, RawElement.
RawElement is the business and brain-child of Etsy Organic Team member, Julie
(who can also be found at the Indie Beauty Network).
She began making her products for herself after realizing that her medicine cabinet arsenal of beauty was merely a throw-back to highschool chemistry class.
When requests from family and friends began to pour in,
she decided to take her skills to Etsy.
I first came in contact with Julie via our mutual friend Cubical Chick.
We were both commenting to a post regarding skin issues and I thought Julie offered the perfect advice.
After doing a bit of sleuthing to find out
who this organic skin-care guru actually was–I discovered her sweet little shop.
Julie kindly sent me a few of her products to try and while at first the only one I used religiously was the cocoa butter face cream (swoon–smells like vanilla marshmellow fluff and works miracles on dry cheeks) now I am a complete believer in her chamomile body butter.
And this has a backstory—-so bear with me:)
When I first received Julie’s products in the mail, I danced about in happiness over the sweet little tins they arrived in. I lovingly read each recycled-paper label, and seeing that they would last longer when placed in the fridge, I immediately did so. I planned to draw myself a hot bath later that night and open each one and try it out (plans I was greatly looking forward to, I might add). However, that night my computer mysteriously started flashing at me and making buzzing sounds, and in my fear that Mac-Death was imminent,
I completely forgot my plans for “me time”.
I ended up spending the remainder of the wee hours of the day on the phone with Mac Support.
(kind, kind folks that they are)
A few days later,
still realizing I’d yet to test out the new yummies that were waiting for me in the icebox,
– I must state here that I delight in using the word icebox –
I set out once again, to get right to that much needed bubble bath
followed by glorious organic lotions<3
However, when I went to try out the largest of the tins Julie sent,
the Chamomile body butter, it smelled ODD.
(In all truth and honesty like a big, hairy wet dog.)
I was vastly disappointed and assumed
perhaps it had either spoiled in transit or something was wrong with my nose.
I wrote Julie the next day and told her.
She was completely apologetic
and said that perhaps the organic oils had spoiled,
although she had never run into this problem before.
I agreed to just put the rancid tin aside to either send back to her or toss out.
Poor tin of lotion—it was so pretty too.
I ended up leaving to spend the week at my parents house so that Wolf could tear out our living room wall (yes, we are still working on our endless remodel).
Apparently as I was packing, Pixie somehow managed to find that errant jar of Chamomile butter and toss it into my suitcase without me seeing. Then one night, after bathing her at my Mum’s and seeing how terribly her skin was irritated (I’m assuming from the endless winter+city water) I started digging in my bag for some sort of lotion and came across the chamomile tin. I don’t know what made me think to try it again but, I am so glad I did. Whatever it was that had given it an odd odor (might I sheepishly offer that perhaps it was my own fridge?) was completely gone. COMPLETELY! It now was resplendant with the delicate scent of chamomile blossoms and entirely has eradicated Pixie’s eczema issues. The cracked red areas that looked so painful before are now buttery soft and healing. I am so thankful that I gave that jar a second sniff and that it didn’t get thrown out. It is certainly a miraculous product for relieving winter woes, and I will be purchasing more as soon as this jar is empty. The fact that RawElement products use only natural and organic ingredients makes me happy to have something so natural to put on my babies skin.
RawElement carries a whole host of lovely products
that stick close to nature to give your skin a healthy glow.
From the Peppermint Pouty Lip Balm to the Bun in the Oven body bar–
Julie has crafted a line of yummy, safe and perfectly packaged body products
(the little tins could be reused for a trillion different things!).
Through the weekend I’ll be sharing the rest of MY favorite skin solutions
and I can’t wait to hear what YOU love.
I am thrilled to be able introduce this wonderful Etsy shop to you,
and also pleased to announce that Julie would like to give one of you the chance to try out her wares<3
Here’s how to Enter
to win your choice
of 2 RawElement products:
1. Visit RawElement and comment here with your favorite two items.
2. “Heart” RawElement on Etsy
3. Tell me YOUR favorite winter skin solution<3
Please leave a separate comment for each method of entry!
Fine Print: Please leave a valid email address in your comment so I can contact you.
If you prefer, leave a comment and then send me an email.
Winner will be chosen via random.org and has 48 hours to respond.
Open to worldwide entries. Contest ends 11:59 pm March 20th.
Disclosure–I received product from RawElement for the purpose of writing this post
–I received no monetary compensation and every opinion stated is my own.
My goal is to share what I love with you–and hope you get as excited about it as I did:)
"May the love of
our Lord be with
you. Now and always
may you stay blameless
'till He comes."
I like the nail and cuticle butter. The skin round my nails are perpetually chapped due to excessive use of detergents and soap.
We don’t have winter here But if we did, I’d have to use loads of lip balm cos even in tropical humid weather, probably some moisturizer for dry knees, elbows and ankles.
Chamomile body butter and cocoa face moisturizer are my favorites.
“Hearted” RawElement on Etsy.
My favorite winter skin solution is using Aveeno moisturizers often.
I like the Green Tea-ser Rejuvenating Facial Scrub – 2oz . We also don’t have winter here in the Philippines but your product will keep me moisturized all day long.
i like the two to tango body butter and the vanilla-honey be sweet lip balm…they sound yummy!
my fave winter skin solution is body butter even on my face some times…
What a fantastic shop! I love that Raw Element products are vegan. It’s hard to choose only two favorites, but I suppose that my front-runners are the green tea facial scrub and the Fancy Fingers cuticle balm.
I’ve been applying a bit of homemade whipped shea butter to my face and hands every evening. It has really helped my skin stay soft, despite the dry, artificial heat we use indoors.
Thanks!
My winter skin fix? STAYING INSIDE!!!
sexyveg@gmail.com
The cup of josie cream and the brown sugar body scrub look divine! Wow.
sexyveg@gmail.com
Thanks for hosting such a cool giveaway!
I like the Chamomile Body Butter – 6 oz (made with natural ingredients)
Vanilla – Honey be Sweet Lip Balm – 1/2 oz (made with natural ingredients).
jswandrn at gmail
I like the Bun in the Oven – Belly Bar – 3 oz (vegan and made with natural / organic ingredients)
I am half Japanese so I love anything green tea!!
Green Tea-ser Rejuvenating Facial Scrub
Hearted your shop!!
My fave 2 are: Cocoa Face Moisturizer and Cup of Joe-sie Coffee Bean Creme. I LOVE coffee and chocolate.
Thank you so much for introducing a wonderful little shop. I hope to see more goodies in this one!
Hearted!! Definitely!
I don’t get winters, unfortunately or not, but I get really dry and hot weather so I use loads of Kiehl’s lip balm! And their body lotion is good too!
Thanks again for the great giveaway!
I would so love to try the Brown Sugar Body Scrub and the Cup of Joe-sie Coffee Bean Creme. Been wanting to try fresh’s brown sugar scrub so maybe this will turn me from it.
I use lots of Rosken body lotion during the dry months. No winters in my country though. But I get lots of those pesky dry spots
I hearted Raw Element.
These sound absolutely amazing! I like the green tea-ser facial scrub & definitely the peppermint pouty balm! easyecotogo at gmail dot com
I tend to rely on olive oil. I put it on after my shower but before drying off. I get really dry skin in the winter & this has made a huge difference for me.
oh, I can’t decide, which product I like the best…. but I think I prever the Lipbalms…but the coffee bean cream sounds also fantastic…
I don’t use something special in winter beacause I always hate something of the products…often its the smell, or the lotions don’t dry up, but my cheap store-brand shower gel moistens during shower. But in this cold winter I had to use lotion and then I used what was on hand
I like the look of Lavender Dead Sea Salt Body Scrub and Cup of Joe-sie Coffee Bean Creme
For winter, my secret is eating flax seeds (in smoothies), as the Omega-3 oil keeps my skin from drying out.
I love the face moisturizer, and have used it on my legs during the dry winter months, and the lip balm is amazing, and the baby balm is wonderful!! I love everything I have tried from Raw Element,
I have always used clinque moisturizer.
I’d love to try the Citrus and Sunshine Body Scrub and Brown Sugar Body Scrub. I bet they both smell amazing!
I “Heart” RawElement on Etsy (mexyplex)
My winter skin solution is to leave my humidifier on all day and night to make sure the air isn’t too dry.
The “Cup of Joe-sie Coffee Bean Creme” looks just fabulous! … and I LOVE the scent of coffee (: The “Two to Tango – Mango Body Butter” looks wonderful as well. Winter + Michigan = Dry skin and no mangos!
Mango Body Butter & Coco Face lotion would be my picks-
I try to do a really good scrub at least once in the winter to get rid of all the dry skin than like to hang on during the winter.
The Lavender Dead Sea Salt body scrub and Green Tea-ser Rejuvenating facial scrub looks great!
My favorite winter skin solution it to use Vaseline on my feet then wearing socks to make them soft!
I would love to try the Butter My Baby – Bum Balm – 2 oz (vegan and made with natural ingredients) and the Green Tea-ser Rejuvenating Facial Scrub – 2oz (Made with organic ingredients). They look really nice!
busybbee05[at]yahoo[dot]com[dot]au
Hearted Raw Element on Etsy (busybbee05)
busybbee05[at]yahoo[dot]com[dot]au
My tip is to try to resist to have showers or baths to hot as this will dry out your skin even more.
busybbee05[at]yahoo[dot]com[dot]au