stevia?!

we have been using dried stevia leaves to sweeten our tea for about half a year now and slowly the food industry is catching up. so far we've tried stevia mints

(available at lidl supermarkets), stevia mate drinks and stevia chocolate. the one thing i'm personally waiting for is stevia gummy candy. haribo has stevia liquorice, but i haven't been able to get my hands on a pack of those yet. the problem i think is that stevia has quite a strong taste of it's own that doesn't go with everything.

organic? not quite!

some german beauty companies have come out with products that are hybrids between organic and irritant free.

what does that mean? 
they are not 100% organic and thus not as expensive as products that are because those need to be certified. these products are about 95 to 99% organic and irritant free: no silicones, parabenes, PEGs, mineral oils or other "bad" additives.

what's in it for me?
personally i don't HAVE to have a certified product that is 100% organic. my skincare being irritant free is far more important to me so now i get the best of both for a relatively low price.

what are they?
here are two examples for this sort of product...
#1 a very well known german cosmetics brand NIVEA

the good thing about this line is that it contains a lot of different products for face and body and is easily accessible at drugstores and supermarkets. the bad thing is that even though they are not 100% organic they sure are almost the same price as (drugstore own brand) certified organic products .

#2 a drugstore own brand BALEA

the good thing about this is that the products are considerably cheaper than the nivea ones, they are however only available at dm drugstores and there are only the three products available that are pictured above.

HARIBO favourites

all of these are vegetarian, but not vegan (they contain bees' wax):

black cherries
die schlümpfe (the smurfs)
mini mix

and then i discovered this on the HARIBO website...
stevia lakritz (liqourice)

i can't wait to try it!

gummy candy

i love gummy candy! but i've noticed that most of them contain gelatine which makes them neither halal nor vegetarian/vegan. so i have come up with a few options...

keep in mind that i live in germany, so the brands i mention might not be easily available to you :/

first of all germany's best known manufacturer of gummy candy and the inventors of gummy bears:

HARIBO offers a range of halal products, but not many explicitly vegetarian/vegan options.

KATJES is the second biggest company in germany to manufacture gummy candy and they have a wide range of vegetarian products. unfortunately most of them are yoghurt based so they might not be vegan.

BÄRENLAND is my favourite germany gummy candy company. they have little shops and most of their products only include natural ingredients. there are several options containing starch instead of gelatine which makes them halal and vegetarian.

RED BAND is a dutch company and most of their products are made from solely natural ingredients. however i am as yet unaware of a halal or vegetarian range, but if you take a good look there are products that are starch based. i included this company, because their candy is the tastiest by far.

how i stack bracelets

stacking bracelets has become quite the trend these days, so i have started my own project. i have specific ideas of how to do it, though. i like to mix (mostly natural) materials and textures as well as colours. here's what i am currently wearing:

the coloured wooden bead bracelets came as a set from "lust for life" - a (very tacky sounding) local department store.
the brown leather bracelet is by "bijou brigitte" - a nationwide chain of shops that sell costume jewellery.
the skull bracelet is made from some sort of rock or ceramic and i got it from "claire's".
the dark blue braided leather bracelet is from a crafts fair that i went to the other day.

what i am still looking for to add to my stack is maybe a thin silver chain link bracelet and also something braided with thread.

and then there is this (albeit quite pricey) option: noosa bracelets

french skin care

my bf and i are going to paris in summer. and while german pharmacists DO stock loads of french skin care, it's still very expensive over here, so i thought i would splurge at a french pharmacy instead ;) after having watched countless youtube videos and read numerous blogs about french skin care, i would like to let you know what i have decided on getting. it's mostly organic and if it isn't i made sure the products have no irritants in them. i have also decided to get products for every category of my skin care regime, so here goes:

1. eye make-up remover: bioderma créaline H20
2. cleanser: caudalie cleansing solution
3. toner: caudalie eau de beauté
4. moisturizers/serums: embryolisse lait-crème concentré, la roche posay hydreane légère, caudalie vinosource mattifying moisturizer, caudalie vinosource serum SOS
5. lips: nuxe rêve de miel lipbalm, caudalie chapstick
6. body: caudalie zeste de vigne line (bodywash, lotion, scrub, perfume,...)

any thoughts on that? anyone? did you notice how many caudalie products there are in this list? ;)

also i'm still looking for tips concerning hair care products i might want to try. i have very fine hair that tends to have NO volume at all- also i have a sensitive scalp.

organic hair and skin care on a budget

that actually works for ME!

hair:
shampoo and conditioner - yes to tomatoes
(alternatively the eco awesome range by tigi)
deep treatment - the body shop rainforest moisture

unfortunately the treatment that goes with the yes to tomatoes products (yes to carrots leave-in conditioner) contains irritants :/ and the shampoo is sometimes kind of hard to come by (like right now!) which is why i have an alternative option to switch to.

face:
alverde by dm
alterra by rossmann
nonique by schlecker/ihr platz

body:
alverde by dm
alterra by rossmann
nonique/naturé by schlecker/ihr platz

i like to switch things up in my face care routine depending on whether it's summer or winter and in my body care routine, because i like a new scent once in a while. but the brands in general offer affordable organic cosmetics and there's a very wide range of products to choose from! IF you live in germany or the bordering countries that is, because the brands mentioned above are local drugstores' own brands :/ (anyone interested in a product swap, please message me!)

i might throw in the occasional product by lush or the body shop, but i usually stick to my staples AND save some money at the same time ;)