A hot topic on Twitter this week has been Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s promotion of her book, The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide, and while I have not yet read the book–though I am eager to–I liked what she had to say on The View about it.  I also like that I’ve heard that there is a cosmetic section in the book.

Of course, whilst all this drama (that I’m not sure I agree with) has been going on–Elaine Monarch of The Celiac Disease Foundation announced that: the inaccuracies in this book are potentially dangerous and detrimental to celiacs and to those yet to be diagnosed if people self diagnose and start eating GF–I have been busy on my quest to find a safe gluten-free dog food for our adopted GWP Waylon.  Waylon seems to be better off with less gluten in his diet, but I am also being a bit selfish in the matter and trying to avoid contaminating myself three times a day as well (via handling his food).

Isn’t it just amazing when you consider all of the small and unexpected ways in which you can get glutened?

Anyway, it’s a bit off topic from gluten-free beauty, but handling your pet’s food can most certainly cause you to ingest some amount of gluten, so do be careful!

Exciting stuff! I may have a new addition to place on Naturally Dah’ling tomorrow: Juice Beauty’s Oil Free Moisturizer.

Months ago I received some generous samples from Juice Beauty’s founder Karen Behnke at the Global Green Green and Gorgeous Event. While I did love my sample of the Hydrating Mist, I quickly realized that it contains “oat extract” so was unable to add it to my routine.

But the Oil Free Moisturizer was a wonderful light weight face cream which would be great for the summer and especially for men (sorry fellows, but technically speaking you have larger pores and more oily skin). I’ve e-mailed Karen to ask about the product’s Vitamin E and what it is sourced from.

I’ll keep you posted on the results!

I’ve started trying out some of my samples and have these reports thus far:




100 Percent Pure Body Cream-It’s no secret, I already ADORE this product, but I don’t usually look beyond my fav. scent of Honey Almond. So the Fuji Apple and Coconut are new to me, and unworthy of stealing the crown for My Favorite Scent. The Coconut is nice, not too sweet or powerful, and the Fuji Apple is somewhat sweet, and not overpowering, but neither will be stealing the spot from my top scent. All of these scents, however, are gluten free!

Suki Exfoliate Foaming Cleanser-This is a product I’ve sampled before. After a solid recommendation I once purchased a trial kit of Suki’s very highly regarded products. While there were some hits and some misses, this was one product that I did like, but just did not love. It’s a unique product in that it is a sort of sugar scrub for the face, which also foams. But in my opinion the sugar could be ground finer and I believe I’d prefer if this product were more of a paste than it is now. As far as the ingredients state, this product is gluten-free, though I would contact the company to be sure.

The other samples that I’ve recently tried out are some from Ann Marie Borland. I tested out the four part Regeneration Series and was actually quite impressed. What I am not impressed with, however, is a) the fact that I’ve contacted their company and had great difficulty in reaching anyone to verify that these products are in fact gluten-free, and there are enough ingredients in each to want verification and b) if shopping online, you cannot simply order from Skin Botanica, but have to use Drugstore.com or the Borlind Boutique which frankly, is not quite so easy to find.

Well, moving time is quickly approaching.  This is not the first time I’ve moved cross-country.  Though it could well be the last.

As I pack up and take inventory of all our belongings, I’ve cleaned out, recycled, donated and thrown out what I could.  In the process, I’ve taken stock of what samples I’ve tried as well as the many that still wait patiently for their day in the sun.

When Naturally Dah’ling was first begun, I purchased product after product in search of the BEST.  Now I’ve wised up a bit and hoarded every sample I’ve been offered.  Now I’ve just over a month to try, verify and report on as many as I can, in an effort to take just a little less with us on our move.

Now, these are just small samples, so if I LOVE it, I’ll add it to the site (providing it’s met all criteria), if I LIKE it, it could require a retry at a later date, if I DON’T LIKE it, bye bye–no second chances this round, sorry!

Here reside my lovely little samples:

I’ve been tagged by Maryland Celiac of The Gluten Free Optimist to fess up to “Seven Things You May Not Know About Me.”  Thanks so much to MD Cel. for including me, and here are my (lucky number) seven things:

1. We are currently in San Francisco, but very happy about moving to North Carolina this summer!  Since we are from the south we will be happy to be closer to our families, and we are thrilled for the gluten-free dog to finally have a backyard to roam in!

2. My fav. new toy–a coffee grinder. I have been grinding things like crazy for the past two weeks. Best recipe yet is to grind equal parts of macadamia nuts, flax seeds, sesame seeds and almonds, adding in 1 tsp. vanilla extract, almond extract and a few Enjoy Life chocolate chips. I pat it down into a 1/4 thick on a greased pan, then bake on 220 for 20 minutes.  YUM!

3. In my earlier 20s, I wrote nightlife reviews for AOL–for fun! The pay was unfabulous, but it was great fun, an excuse to go out every night and earned the occasional free drinks.

4. We had a wonderful day at the beach today, and it was actually the first Saturday in a while that I have put work/ the computer down.  It was really, really nice.

5. The one product I really cannot live without–okay, two products: 100% Pure’s Healing Balm (for face, and even sunburn) and Amelia’s Soaps. Can’t live w/o great moisture!!

6. My g/f “idol” is Shauna of Gluten Free Girl. She is so talented on so many levels, and has helped bring gluten-free to a level that I am not sure any author before her had.

7. On a whim, we drove 9 hours north to Oregon to adopt our gluten-free dog after learning about him via Petfinder.com  We met (and adopted!) him on Saturday, and turned around and drove right back home to get our boy situated that same night.

So here are the seven bloggers who I am tagging:

1. Gluten Free Optimist

2. The Gluten Doctors

3. Gluten-Free Inspired

4. Buen Provecho

5. Gluten Free Travel Site Blog

Back to Naturally Dah’ling

After receiving an inquiry on this topic, I did some research on one product in particular: Bausch and Lomb ReNu MultiPlus Multi-Purpose Solution.

First of all, I checked the ingredient list and there are no ingredients that raise any “gluten flags.”  Here is a pretty comprehensive list of gluten-containing ingredients: http://naturallydahling.com/ingredients.html

Next, I called the company and they said that they do not use or add any gluten to their products, but they cannot guarantee that the raw ingredients are not contaminated on some level.

This might sound like an indefinite reply, but it is not an unusual one.  Many companies do not want to risk  liability for causing harm to a person’s health; therefore, they do not label or guarantee that their products are gluten-free.

My advice is to see how your eyes react.  Some people do have itchy eyes after eating gluten, so first eliminate it from your diet for a month or so.  If your eyes still bother you, then you may want to consider trying another brand.

I was in the midst of a natural, surgery-free “facelift” to NaturallyDahling.com when Afterglow Cosmetics called offering to sponsor me in a YouTube video.  They sent a box full of cosmetics and vegan brushes, which I quickly fell in love with!

I truly value Afterglow’s committment to natural, gluten-free cosmetics, and their red carpet worthy cosmetics are utterly impressive. As a result, I have added several new favorite Afterglow products to the site, and have just wrapped up one of my very first (of many) videos featuring their buzzy-worthy, professional finish products in a comparison/contrast to those of Jane Iredale which are wonderful for everyday beauty.

Please visit the newly updated NaturallyDahling.com and don’t forget to check out my new product comparison video:

Take care!!!

kristen
author/creator
www.naturallydahling.com

Today I received just a little reminder of why I use the products that I do.  After having run out of my Hamadi Leave-In Conditioner a week or so ago, I grabbed for an “organic, gluten-free, paraben-free, sulfate-free, glycol-free” conditioner that I have had stored in the back of bathroom cabinet for longer than I care to admit.

After several uses though, my scalp seems in quite a bit of disharmony, it is as if my scalp is protesting–I won’t grow beautiful healthy hair as long as you use this junk on me!  Seriously.  So I have stopped using it, but since it is labeled as “gluten-free” I am not sure why my head hates it so.

And then I did a bit of research into the ingredients.  And found one in particular that I was unfamiliar with, and do not want to be:

• Stearalkonium Chloride — A chemical used in hair conditioners and creams. Causes allergic reactions. Stearalkonium chloride was developed by the fabric industry as a fabric softener, and is a lot cheaper and easier to use in hair conditioning formulas than proteins or herbals, which do help hair health. Toxic.

Nice.  You know, when I bought this (relatively cheap) product in a drug store, I did think it was too good to be true, and it was.  Needless to say, I have just ordered more Hamadi.

Hi Everyone!

Though there are some amazing gluten-free resources out there, I don’t typically take the time out to mention them.  I just wanted to recommend taking a look at some of these excellent gluten-free news resources.

Celiac-Disease Author Kyle is very much in tune with celiac new and happenings, his site is updated remarkably often, linking to blogs, articles and resources alike that you may not yet know about.

Texas GIG’s Google News Feed For newsworthy updates of global gluten-free information, this site is certainly worth bookmarking.

GIG or Gluten Intolerance Group of North America is a site I recently learned about, with is great for staying in the national loop of all events gluten-free.

And if you haven’t yet, please check out a new site that my boyfriend, Search Engine Consultant (and Expert) and I recently built.  GlutenFreeFox.com is the world’s first gluten-free search engine, customized to give better, more helpful gluten-free results than your average Google Search Engine.  I also welcome any feedback and suggested sites to add to our search engine!

Have a wonderful New Year’s!!

Kristen

I am so thrilled to see that people (and publications) are taking notice of the sizeable growth of the gluten-free industry–more awareness means more knowledge, more research and more diagnoses! 

This does have me thinking, obviously gluten-free is going to be a big food trend in 2009, but what about make-up trends?

So here are some of my favorite picks for make-up tips in 2009:

-Lengthened Brows

-Exaggerated Eyeliner

-Pop Lip Color

I’ll be working on some video demonstrations and pics to upload soon!