Swell Skin: LUSH Massage Bars

My boyfriend is one of those manly wood-cutter types. He can cut, split, load, and deliver a cord of wood in a day. What is a cord of wood? My point is this - my man works hard. Working hard usually translates to a sore back, so I give him massages just about every day. I've used a variety of oils on him, but my favorite thing to use is a massage bar. I got one from LUSH last year and that worked perfectly.


LUSH sent me one of their newer bars to try last month. It was one of their Once A Year Massage Bars (similar to this one) made especially for warming with cinnamon essential oil and a touch of glittery gold. I found it to work as well as the first bar, melted nicely, very smooth for a massage, but after awhile I got tired of sleeping next to the cinnamon scent every night and the glittery bits went through my sheets onto my feather bed underneath. Next time I'll pick up a bar that has more of a neutral scent or maybe one with a cocoa butter fragrance like the first one.

LUSH products are made with pure essential oils. They are handmade with no preservatives and they contain only vegetarian ingredients. These bars are great for massages or moisturizing straight out of the shower. They come with a little tin, so you can take it with you (our bars have gone camping with us). The bar is much more convenient than an oil. I've shopped around for a similar product locally and have been unable to find anything that works as well.



Image credit: LUSH.com

Swell Natural Beauty: Crazy Rumors Vegan Lip Balms

The Winter weather can be tough on your skin, as I'm sure you know. Chapped hands and lips are my biggest challenges. Crazy Rumors has 4 vegan Candy Cane lip palms out for the holidays.

Look for Peppermint Twist, Pear & Peppermint, Pineapple & Peppermint, and Plum & Peppermint. Each vegan lip balm is all natural, made with 70% Certified Organic ingredients including Shea Butter, Jojoba oil, pure peppermint essential oil, and just a touch of the natural sweetener Stevia.


The lip balms are available at $3.99 a piece or a gift set of 4 for $15. Perfect for stuffing holiday stockings!

Girl Looks Swell readers can receive a 15% discount if they order they place their Crazy Rumors.com order by December 31st, 2010. Simply use the savings code CR15 at checkout.

Image credit: Crazy Rumors.com

Swell Style: Knit Wedding Dresses

In just a few weeks, I'll be shooting a wedding  for my photography company, Chase Your Bliss Photography. I'm very excited, as this will be a first for me. Up until now I've focused on individual and family portraits. I'm very excited about the whole project and to get ready, I've been looking at lots of wedding photos. I've noticed that even though most brides pick a white or ivory dress, they each like to put as much of their own personality and personal style into that dress.

Today, I found an email from Makepiece in my mail box. Makepiece crafts beautiful knit clothing. The company's aim is to be as carbon neutral as possible, which means the wool they use was obtained through sustainable farming practices.

If traditional wedding attire is not your thing, then take a look at Makepiece's collection Here's an example of a Makepiece wedding dress called Truffle.

You can see their entire collection here.

Image credit: Makepiece