My First Vitacost Haul

Last week I placed my very first Vitacost order and it has finally arrived! I'm so excited to share it. As I've mentioned before, I'm on this journey towards a more natural, healthier lifestyle including all things beauty, skincare, food, home, and fitness. While I was able to find several awesome brands and products from local health food stores and green lifestyle stores here in my hometown, I quickly realized the options are slightly limited.

I rarely ever shop online, but when I noticed how difficult it would be to find green alternatives it became necessary. So I did my research going as far as making a list of almost every product I own, their EWG rating, noting whether they were natural or not, and pinpointing the areas where I was missing natural products. After tons of hours of YouTube watching (mostly Shannon Sullivan and MakeupTIA) and green beauty blog reading, I came up with a hefty order of products for a relatively low price.

Let's go through what I ordered.

1. Numi Organic Tea Indulgent Tea in Chocolate Earl Grey - $6.11 - This was entirely brought on by both Shannon Sullivan and MakeupTIA. I remembered watching videos where they mentioned this tea and I went on the hunt for it at every natural food store I could find. Sometimes I was lucky enough to find the Numi brand but never the Indulgent Tea line. I love tea. I don't need any more tea. But I got it anyway.

2. Bragg Premium Nutritional Yeast Seasoning - $5.59 - I also love cheese. Let's just put that out there now. So when I saw Shannon Sullivan talk about this yeast seasoning that tasted like cheese in a 'What I Eat in a Day' video I knew it would be something I would have to try. I'll be honest...it looks like fish food, but It smells like cheese so I'm hoping it's a delicious alternative to the good stuff.

3. Alba Botanica Very Emollient Sunscreen Lipcare SPF 25 - $1.99 each - This was a much more thought out, practical purchase. With the wonderful weather we've been getting here lately, I've been spending more time outside. Last week, while lounging in the sun I noticed my lips were starting to burn and not one of the numerous lip balms I own had SPF in it. With a little research, I ordered this one, which had a higher SPF than most and had an awesome rating on Vitacost. From what I can tell it's super moisturizing and soft on the lips and it doesn't have any fragrance to it.

4. Pacifica Enlightened Gloss in Opal - $12.00 - So when I was rounding up my order I realized I was getting a few food products, a few body care products, and hair care products but not one totally unnecessary, indulgent beauty purchase (unless you count lip balm as makeup, but I don't... it falls under the skincare category for me). This was a gloss I've had my eye on for a while. I've seen a few swatches of it over Pacifica's Devocean Lipstick in Tenderness, which I already own and it looked beautiful. So yes, this was the last item I added to my cart as a little gift to myself.

5. Organic Fiji Nourishing Lotion in Pineapple Coconut - $12.69 - Another YouTube induced purchase. I noticed I was running low on my usual body moisturizer, one that doesn't have the most natural ingredients and I'd be looking to replace soon. I'm one of those girls that has to put lotion on the second I step out of the shower or my skin will feel itchy, tight, and dry. So I really didn't want to go a day without having a good moisturizer around. I haven't run this one through EWG yet, but I can tell some of the ingredients aren't great, although it seems to be a much better option than my previous lotion. Not to mention, the smell is unbelievable. It smells like pina colada - a favorite for the summer time.

6. Navitas Natural Organic Cacao Powder Raw Chocolate - $11.59 - One of my favorite breakfasts is a chia seed pudding so I'm trying to find new flavor concoctions I can make to keep things interesting. I came across tons of chocolate chia seed pudding recipes and knew I had to get my hands on some Cacao Powder - the good stuff, not the sugar filled junk. I'm also excited to try this in my smoothies for a healthy chocolate fix.

7. Acure Organics Shampoo and Conditioner Moroccan Argan Oil and Argan Stem Cell - $7.99 each - One thing I was completely missing from my natural product collection was shampoo and conditioner. I'm currently using a Kevin Murphy combination, which was gifted to me and I love it but is crazy expensive. I think Kevin Murphy products are fairly clean, at least the conditioner seems to be, but I just wasn't sure. I wanted to go with something that had great reviews on YouTube and Vitacost and rated well on EWG. These products are a 1 and 2.

8. Nature's Gate Sunless Tanner Self Tanning Lotion in Fresh Citrus - $6.60 - I spend my days staring at a computer so I figured it would be helpful to pick up this self-tanner to trick people into thinking I lounge outside all day long. The sun is a tricky thing. Has anyone else noticed that? They tell you to wear hats and long sleeves, put SPF 1000 on throughout the day or stay inside altogether. But then they also tell you it's good to get outside and you need your daily dose of vitamin D. I'm confused. Anyways, the reviews for this lotion seemed really good. Most people said it wasn't too crazy but still did a good job and didn't smell like typical self-tanners. I really can't say whether this is a natural product or not. The ingredients, like all self-tanners, seem a little fishy, but I'm hoping that it is a better alternative than most.

And that's it. If you want specific reviews of any of these products down the road, let me know in the comments. Have you tried any of these products before. Let me know what you thought of them.