No, I am not talking about some new metal band. Nor am I referring an industrial city that has seen better days. I am talking deodorant here. Weird huh?
A friend of mine recently shared an article regarding the cancer connection to environmental toxins as well as things we put in our bodies and on our bodies. Skin is the largest organ of the body. It reminded me I wanted to share some great alternatives to traditional deodorants and antiperspirants. Brace yourself. Just kidding! I am not going to get all preachy here, it’s up to you to investigate and decide for yourselves. Our family made the switch a couple of years ago to deodorants free from Aluminum, parabens, petrochemicals, Propylene Glycol, and artificial fragrances and synthetic dyes. If you are like me, when you switch to something you haven’t tried before, you try them all. These remain my favorites for various reasons and I switch back and forth between them.
A few of my favorite alternatives to traditional deodorants and antiperspirants
The Healthy Deodorant: This smells the best! I love it. LAVANILLA or vanilla and water for Peace. This one for sure will make you feel like you have just stepped out onto the most beautiful beach. I found this at Sephora before we left CONUS. It is available online on their website.
Lafe’s: Active Citrus & Bergamot. One of the complaints of natural deodorants is they don’t keep you from perspiring. Well guess what folks! You are meant to perspire. Expelling toxins out of your armpits is natural. This product does a great job for active people. I found it of all places at Giant (local grocery store in VA)
Schmidt’s: Rose + Vanilla and Charcoal Magnesium, how could you go wrong? The Rose and Vanilla has ingredients like baking soda, coconut oil, cocoa butter and vitamin E. My son brought me this after I had used and liked the other one. I prefer the Charcoal Magnesium even though it has a more masculine scent. But they both work about the same. These can be found at TJ Maxx or online at Amazon.
If you have tried any products such as these please share in the comments on Facebook or here on Poppy’s Loaded Purse. I am always on the hunt for good products we all can love!
Let’s switch travel gears here and talk packing our overnight bag. Do we all want to feel and look our best while relaxing or being active on summer holidays? You bet! It doesn’t matter if we are leisurely enjoying a tropical destination, on an action-packed city break, or an outdoor adventure, we want to step out that door in the morning looking fabulous. Guys, don’t run, these can be used by you too. Here are my top two favorite picks for any kind of trip:
The secret is out on this uber-nourishing secret
A Dynamic Duo you will love
Kesaradi Oil: Dubbed as Ayurveda’s Skin Brightening, revitalizing, uber-nourishing secret. Well the jig is up! Secrets revealed here. It arrived in this beautiful cylinder from Iyura. The instructions say three drops for the day and three again at night applied to clean face. This little brown bottle is a signature blend of Precious Saffron, Rose and 16 Ayurvedic Herbs. I use it only during the day because of a special treat in #2 below. In just a few short months, my face is brighter, softer, and some tiny lines are even disappearing. It has evened out my skin tone as well. I absolutely love the way my face feels. Truly like a baby’s bottom! Also, they now have a night time product called Manjish Glow Elixir. The key ingredient is Indian Madder which is used to give the skin an even-toned, clear appearance according to their site. I have yet to try this one but it’s on order and I can barely wait! The two can be purchased together for $76.50. Check out these great products and a full list of ingredients on their beautiful website The Ayurvedic Experience
tip: when using this product during the day, allow a little time for drying and absorption
Youth to the People Youth Duo Mini: A superfood face wash and superfood moisture cream. This mini duo is action packed! Kale, green tea, spinach and vitamins make for a crisp, residue free wash and light weight yet moisture packed cream (w Hyaluronic acid). After a long day of fun this IS exactly what you need. Youth to the People is a California Based Company using cold-pressed extracts made in the USA and 100% vegan ingredients. This dynamic duo is for ALL skin types and small enough to fit in any overnight or beach bag. All materials completely recyclable. We are going to use the little pots to make lip balm. The facewash bottle is small enough to reuse for other favorite travel products. Available online at Sephora.
Honorable Mention
Honorable Mention
It’s worth mentioning my honorable mentions. I do like Too Faced Hangover RX 3-in-1 prime, set, refresh spray. It’s claim to fame is true but with a small cost. Most of the ingredients are good and pure and it does come labeled silicon, alcohol and oil free. There are however several ingredients that are listed in the Cosmetics Database as low or moderate hazards primarily for allergens, contaminations and toxicity. Let me stress LOW. The same is true for two other honorable mentions. Cocoa Butter Formula Skin Therapy Cleansing Oil for face, and Cocoa Butter Formula Skin Therapy Oil for face, have great ingredients and come with a label of no mineral oil, no parabens and no phthalates. Sounds good to me. Staying out of my quest for no negativity, I love both, they fit in your overnight bag but… be warned.
If you have some favorite facial products you never leave home without share them! We are not keeping secrets here!
When we moved to the UK in 1999 my children were one, three and five. It was our first time living abroad and I wanted to see and do everything. We tried, a lot. We saw Thomas the Tank Engine and road on one of the trains, we went to Stratford Upon Avon to learn about Shakespeare and Teletubbies. We went to Legoland Windsor, Windsor Castle, the Tower of London, Stonehenge, Cardiff, Warwick, Edenborough and beyond. I had the pages of the National Trust Publication dogeared. I can’t remember when it occurred but somewhere in the first two years the older boys said one Friday “Mummy what are we going to do this weekend?” I replied, “Lever Castle”. Then hear respectively “not another castle!” and “not another castle!” like little parrots.
Were we having fun? I thought so but when I thought about it again, some weekends my aggressive schedule of seeing everything to infinity and beyond was a bit aggravating. Not just for them, but me too. Many times, it rained. Many times, we got pouty. Many times, we just plain weren’t having fun. I knew I had to come up with a better plan.
And then I discovered Center Parcs. Brilliant! Even more exciting is the amount of Center Parcs in Europe in all the right places. Center Parcs are holiday villages centered around an Aqua Mundo (indoor water park) complete with shops, restaurants, groceries and gaming in a large tropical setting. Many parks also have outdoor pools, and or lakes. Usually there are lake activities like boating, fishing, banana boats and swimming, and paddle boards. Inside, the Aqua Mondo offers lazy rivers, giant water slides, wave pool, dive school, white water rafting and snorkeling. Outside activities range from tennis, soccer, archery, zip line, bike rental,s family bikes and golf. Some have indoor pirate ship with endless amounts of sand play, high ropes courses, bowling and disco. You can sign up for kids clubs, cooking class or scuba diving. Others offer elaborate spa features and fine dining options. There are simple villas or VIP villas, boathouses and treehouses. Each property is relatively unique but offers the indoor tropical paradise. It really is a resort destination in and of itself.
We moved around from UK to Turkey then back to the US. Eventually we moved back to Europe. This time I had one littler one and a huge age gap. How do we satisfy all palates of travel? Not to mention small crowded hotel rooms with not enough beds. The answer is simple. In Amsterdam you can see Anne Frank House, take a canal cruise, shop the market, eat at the floating Chinese Restaurant and still be back in time to surf in the Aqua Mondo at De Emhof. In Belgium, you can spend one day in Brussels, see the Manneken Pis, the Flower Carpet and still enjoy lovely afternoons and nights at De Vossemeren. At Bispinger Heide in Germany you can hit an amusement park, visit a village lost in time on a carriage ride through the Heide and still make it back to Center Parcs for tropical fun.
What I realized as a mom was, if I wanted to see and do the things we wanted to see and do as adults here in Europe we needed to make it just as fun and enjoyable for our kids. I could go to the Flanders Fields/ WWI museum or Bastogne by day and still promise my kids afternoons and evenings of endless fun relaxing, swimming and playing in a lovely destination. They came to love them and look forward to the “boring old things” and “stupid sites”. The other beauty is I could do them myself if Superman was TDY or such. Superman’s, like other servicemembers or military civilians, job required quite a bit of travel away from us. It became my travel passion to help military families get some balance, sanity and recreation during long separation from their spouse.
Center Parcs can be booked well in advance to get a great
deal. They offer short and long breaks and mid-week options. If you need a
winter break that gets you out of the cold or a summer holiday that gets you
the most out of your family time, pick a park! A really great time to go is during American
school Holidays vs. European school holidays. It’s a great option if you are
coming from the US also. You can select a few in different countries and see as
much as possible. Take my word for it, if there are things you want to see and
do here and have children who might not enjoy a full itinerary of city, culture
and the like, Center Parcs is for you.
Great for families with babies, young children, older kids who like a bit of variety and active adults. Don’t let bad weather, small kids or whinny tweens and teens stop you! Maybe you know someone you want to share this with, please do. And Lastly, get Packing!
Let’s be clear. I am not talking in the sense of beer goggles here. Nor am I talking about just any man. I am talking my Man and spray starch. That’s right spray starch. So Superman gets his clothes laundered as a work perk. But no one irons like he does. Between me and you, it might be a bit of OCD. He got sick and tired of breathing in all the fumes making his shirts all crispy. Of course you have to look pressed everyday so what is the solution….. make your own.
Any vodka will do
Where am I going with this and vodka? Well vodka is made of potatoes which are naturally starchy. Mix it with water and viola! A great spray starch. We even added drops of lemon essential oil for a nice refreshing scent. Lavender or wild orange would work too. Superman was clear though, he was not going around smelling like flowers or being chased by bees. So lemon it is.
These are from Doterra. From L to R Wild Orange, Lavender, Lemon.
We ordered these blue glass bottles from Amazon. There is definitely science behind choosing blue or amber glass. And glass for obvious reasons. Truthfully, your new spray starch will keep better naturally in a light blocking glass bottle than anything else. These came with pretty black and chalk labels.
From Amazon
Can be found in convenient travel sizes too.
I like to remind Superman whenever he asks “does this look okay”? “Huny, you are going to be the best dressed most handsomest man there!” And I mean it. I think if I was in kindergarten they would call me a bucket filler. I mean why not send your man out the door feeling like a million bucks.
If you are going to give it a try: mix 1 part vodka to 2 parts water. Add EO by the drop to your desired scent. Breath Easy friends! This natural spray starch is going to help keep your purse loaded, although you may be down a bit on the vodka. Happy pressing!
It’s not like I forgot. Life. It became a little busy and things got complicated. Then it all changed and here we wound up in a real life fairy tale. That is the short story!
I will be brief here because I intend to update my bio, eventually. So in between then and now, our son got married to our beautiful daughter in law, I had a second brain surgery, spent months recovering ( it took it’s toll on me for sure), then I dusted off my skirt readjusted my ponytail and started a great job on a contract in Quantico. Too short lived, well enjoyed and just like that …..poof, Superman gets a job offer in the beautiful Garmisch- Partenkirchen Germany. And so the next chapter of the tale begins, abroad. Living in the GAP.
Here we are in our Drindls- A traditional dress for Bavarian women and girls. We opted to find a less expensive shop outside the center of the village proper. I am hooked however and there are a few more I might add to my wardrobe whilst we are here. Oh and not to mention the beautiful Alpspitze and Kreuzeck in the background- Wish you were here Today!
Okay so why am I telling you this? I am so excited to add three more elements to Poppy’s Loaded Purse! Look for new titles under “Meet me at the Weekend” -a blog focusing on short weekend travel finds and hidden gems, “Wish you were here Today” -blog posts for day travel and exploring for expats and enthusiasts, and lastly “quirks and life anomalies living abroad”- because let’s face it, some things are different, difficult and weird, and it’s healthy to have a good laugh about it.
A day ago I ran into a sweet friend I had not seen since the holidays. Naturally I asked what she had been up to. She says ” the other day I went to Dublin for the day ” …….and viola! something sparkled inside me. Actually more like firecrackers under the squirrels bottoms inside my incredibly large brain.
Now those of you who know me well, know two things. One, my brain was herniated outside of my skull for a number of years. Does that mean it is large? Well, I like to tell myself that. Quite possibly it is a bit squirrelly. Two, I love travel, any where. But especially off the beaten path, where no one knows where I am, I could pop in anywhere, that is where you will find me. I even like getting lost and finding my way. In fact, I probably have been told to get Lost!
This is our 5th duty station overseas. I am looking to add to my 22 countries visited. Some will be repeats. I promise to keep it fresh and new. In interest of OPSEC most everything will be after market. Between the fun and chaos of the last year and a half, lil Mama and I have picked up some interesting finds. All things we can Love. I will share those too. It’s the whole point really! I am so excited to get started on what I started two summers ago! Thanks for joining me. I hope you stick around.
New ideas, new places, new ways to load your purse, your backpack, your beach bag and overnight bag. Get packing! Let’s go explore things we love together on Poppy’s Loaded Purse.
Allow me to introduce my number one favorite thing: A little Black Dress. Wait! First meet my BFF and doppelganger, Lynn. We have many things in common such as we grew up on the same street, we like dry salad, Champagne, and cute summer dresses. I married Superman (see my bio), she married Ironman (no really, he has done many). I am an outfit repeater. So is she. Not that I feel the need to confess, but I am.
I recently purchased this cute number on sale for $15 at Old Navy or at Old Navy Dresses . It went on holiday to the beach with me. I wore it on a 4 hour drive back north, arrived late in the evening, slept in it. Wait did I just reveal that? I got up took a shower and put it back on for an appointment in Georgetown. Then went to lunch. Back on the road, I made it back down to the North Carolina shore by dinner. That was a fast 24 hour turn around!
Enter another BFF Chrissy who had arrived in NC the previous day and after a day at the beach was ready for dinner. She handed me this gorgeous coral colored fringed Monroe by LuLaRoe. Chrissy always says “you will not have a bad day if you are wearing fringe”. I have such good friends! Off to dinner we went . That’s nearly 28 hours in the same dress.
This black dress is so amazing! It still looked freshly laundered. You can wear it traveling, out for the day, as a beach cover up, to dinner, add and subtract accessories as needed. It can be rolled, folded, even worn to bed. I am not going to lie, this is by far one of the most favorite things I have bought all summer!
I propose a toast: here’s to BFFs and Little Black Dresses and things we can all Love!
File this under: One for your Overnight Bag, for your Holiday Bag, for your Beach Bag, and Keep your Purse Loaded. We are not breaking the bank on this one.
