Here's the Guv'ner, Mrs. Bagnet: Lush Guv'ner Powder Deodorant

Dixie

So, it appears that I am still on my quest for a deodorant that suits my natural scent and works through the day. As I wrote in my review on the Lush Aromaco and Coconut deodorant, I felt the Coconut wasn't quite right for me, that it matched my natural scent too closely and therefore didn't really deodorize. I think that I still stand by that. (Who knows if that will be a permanent stance though. The body is weird.)

G.T. Dave's Enlightened Raw Kombucha: Out-Hippy Your Friends!

Dixie

"Just try it, you'll like it." Famous last words of the person at the other end of the spoon before a young child clamps their mouth shut, refusing to try a new food. Well, I can't really promise that if you try kombucha that you will like it, but at least you will have an interesting new food experience under your belt. Plus, if you enjoy being smug and out-hippieing your friends, then kombucha will probably give you some bragging rights. At least until someone bops in holding a bottle full of wheat-grass and aloe chunks. Ahem. Not that I have done either of those things.

Kombucha is a polarizing taste experience. It seems cliche to say you will either love it or hate it, but it's really the truth. There just isn't a whole lot of middle ground. My good friend Wikipedia tells us that kombucha is an "effervescent fermentation of sweetened tea that is used as a functional food." What that means in normal people speak is that it is bubbly fermented sweet tea. A batch of kombucha starts with a culture that contains bacteria and yeast, similar to sourdough bread, and ends up as a tart brew that can be mixed with various juices and good-tasting substances to create a delightful drink (or a puzzling concoction, depending on your taste preferences). Besides the end result of the taste, a properly brewed batch of kombucha contains probiotics and amino acids.

Dixie's Guide to Fall and Winter Perfumes

Dixie

Despite popular belief, Florida actually has seasons. True, the Sunshine State may have long, humid summers but we do eventually get around to fall and winter. We just don't get all that snow and shit that the rest of y'all do. Basically, we can all bring our winter fashions out of storage without having to worry about snow tires and road salt. All of the cuteness, none of the back-breaking labor. And, with fall and winter fashions comes fall and winter perfumes. 

During the summer, I tend to wear perfumes with citrus notes - scents that are fresh and energizing because Lord knows perfumes are the only fresh scents after a day spent in and out of the heat and humidity. But in fall and winter, I like a heavier, more earthy perfume to warm my senses. These are a few of my stand-by favorites:

Physicians Formula Organic Wear 100% Natural Origin Mascara: Green Good?

Dixie

I will never learn. I mean, I try but I don't. One day I'll learn to stick with the mascara that works, but until that day I will continue to peruse the mascara sections of the drugstore, looking for a new and possibly exciting formula to share with you Hot Inkers. Now, I'm kind of a secret hippie; we all know this. So when I saw the Physicians Formula Organic Wear 100% Natural Origin Mascara on sale, I might have squealed in the middle of CVS. Just a little. Not loud enough for the lady browsing in the vitamins and supplements aisle to hear me. Ahem. After my squeal, I was skeptical, but decided to buy it anyway. Hot Ink gives me an excuse to experiment.

Dixie Tries It: Make Your Own Toothpaste

Dixie

What the hell is irium?

So, I mentioned I'm secret hippie, right? Come with me down the hippie rabbit hole, we're going to talk about making your own toothpaste. It's surprisingly easy and nothing at all like brushing your teeth with a poultice of patchouli and kale, like you would it think might be.

Buying toothpaste kind of sucks. It's expensive, no one tells you the difference between extreme whitening or 3D whitening, and you never know if it's going to one day peel the inside of your mouth off. Standard toothpastes have the unfortunate tendency to scrub away parts of my flesh and natural (or "natural", depending on the brand) don't clean my teeth worth a damn. Seriously, if you buy the Tom's of Maine SLS-free toothpaste, you might as well take lessons from Jessica Simpson and rub your teeth with your sleeve. And some of the ingredients of other brands...I'm not sure how the hell tea tree or myrrh are supposed to clean my teeth. But, I digress. Anyway, so I figured I had nothing to lose when my mom sent me a recipe for homemade remineralizing toothpaste from Everyday Paleo. It could not possibly be any worse than that Tom's SLS-free crap.

The Baby Bear Porridge of Lotions: Shea Moisture Organic Raw Shea Butter Lotion

Dixie

Once upon a time there was a little lady in Florida who was searching for a lotion to keep her skin soft in the winter. So, she went on a quest to the hippie food store and to Target (naturally) to find her one true moisturizer.

This one was too greasy. That one was too light. T'other one didn't last through the day. But the Shea Moisture Organic Raw Shea Butter Lotion that smells of frankincense and myrrh? Why, that one was just right! This is the story of a product that dry-skinned ladies and gentlemen everywhere will rejoice to find at their local stores.