Product Review: First Aid Beauty!

Not only does my daughter have food allergies, but she and I both have extremely sensitive skin, and now my newborn son seems to be following suit. Dry, itchy skin is one of the most annoying things to have to deal with every day. I’ve always struggled with a dry face and finding a lotion that would actually help moisturize without making my face oily was hard to come by. I’ve tried everything – things from the aisles in Target, things my friends were selling through multi-level marketing, home remedies – but nothing ever really worked the way I wanted it too. Then I had my daughter whose skin was even more sensitive than my own and I really struggled. She’s had eczema since she was a baby and even creams, washes, and lotions labeled for eczema seemed to irritate her skin more. We saw a dermatologist and have basically stopped using everything except Vaseline and medicated prescriptions from her doctor. It’s been rough. Add in the food allergies, and the often unclear ingredient labels that are found on cosmetics products, and I felt hopeless that I’d ever find something for her to use besides sticky, messy, Vaseline.

I was talking about my own skin at work one day and a coworker (who used to manage a Sephora store) recommended a product to me. She told me that she even had some extra and she’d bring it for me to try. Thankfully, she followed through and I was introduced to First Aid Beauty.

One of my favorite things about it is that their ingredients are VERY clearly labeled and they have even more details about each product on their website. The product that I first used was their “Ultra Repair Cream”. You can use it in your face and body. After using it myself and LOVING it, I finally decided to try it on my daughter’s hands. Her hands are always one of her worst places for dry, itchy patches, but I don’t like using the steroid cream from her doctor on her hands for fear she’ll put them in her mouth. I had been wanting some sort of lotion to use on them, but again… almost everything contains fragrances and alcohols that actually just make her skin worse. I finally decides to give the First Aid Beauty a try and to my delight – it worked! Not only did it not cause extra irritation, but it actually got rid of her rough, dry patches of eczema!

Photo taken from firstaidbeauty.com

All of First Aid Beauty’s products are animal cruelty-free and have over 1,300 ingredients in their “no-no” list. The Ultra Repair Cream I mentioned above is Gluten-Free, Nut-Free, Soy-Free, and Vegan! It does, however, contain oat, so if that it an allergy for you, you’ll want to avoid this product!

A few days ago, I decided to buy one of their kits so I could give a couple other products a try. It came with their Ultra Repair Cream, Facial Radiance Pads, Ultra Repair Hydrating Serum, Pure Skin Facial Cleanser, and their Ultra Repair Lip Therapy. My face has seriously never felt this good. I’m always leery of exfoliating pads because sometimes they seem to make my dryness worse, but in this case, they really helped to get rid of the dry flakes and the serum and lotion helped to keep my face moisturized throughout the day. I’m officially hooked!

Kit purchased at Sephora.

As with anything, I’m not naive enough to think that this product will work for every person. But if you’re like me and you (or your kids) struggle with eczema and overly dry skin, this may be something to try – especially if you also have to contend with food allergies and get scared of cosmetics products that don’t REALLY tell you what is inside them. Knowing that this lotion is vegan and nut-free means that I can feel safe letting my daughter use it despite her milk, egg, and peanut allergies! I always recommend reading labels for yourself and doing some research before trying something new, so I’d encourage you to head over to firstaidbeauty.com to check it out for yourself if you are interested.

*This is NOT a paid advertisement. This is strictly a product review of something I’ve actually found useful. 🙂

Brand review! Oat-ly Ice Cream!

Today is my daughter’s 2nd birthday! Unfortunately, we had to cancel her birthday party because the flu has hit our home HARD and 3/5 of us are sick (including her and me). We still tried to celebrate a little with some Asa allergy-friendly ice cream! She absolutely loved the Oat-ly chocolate, non-dairy, vegan “frozen dessert”! Asa is allergic to dairy, egg, and peanut which makes most ice creams impossible for her to eat – but this was perfect.

Also, I tasted it and it honestly tastes just like chocolate ice cream! I think if I served it to people without them knowing they wouldn’t even know the difference! We will definitely be getting this again! Can’t wait to try other flavors too!

*We bought this at Target for those wondering where you can find it!

Yummy Vegan Biscuits

Biscuits and gravy has always been one of the best meals my husband makes. He’s been dying to find a way to let our daughter try them but her dairy and egg allergies have made that difficult. Today he adapted a recipe found on Pinterest to make vegan biscuits and they were DELICIOUS!!! We’ll attempt gravy soon and I’ll share once we find a good recipe. But for now I’ll leave you with the biscuit recipe! PS – they were taste approved by everyone in our house! Once again, I’ll include exactly the items we used for those that may not know where to start with using good substitutes, but feel free to modify to your favorite brands if you want!

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 cup Country Crock Plant Butter (sticks – chilled and cubed)
  • 3/4 cup Oat Milk (we used Silk brand) chilled in the freezer

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and place the cubed plant butter and oat milk in the freezer.
  • Combine sugar, salt, flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a mixing bowl.
  • Use a pastry cutter (or a fork if you don’t have one) to add the chilled cubed butter into the dry mix. This will make the mixture a course ground consistency.
  • Add the oat milk and work into the flour to form a crumbly, soft dough. Pour out onto a floured surface and knead into a 5-6 inch rectangle. Fold in half and knead a total of 3 times. You should end with the same 5-6 inch rectangle.
  • Roll the dough out with a rolling pin and cut about 6-8 biscuits using a biscuit cutter or the mouth of a juice glass. Reknead the remaining dough and repeat these steps to cut more biscuits.
  • Brush with melted plant butter and bake for 11-14 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

**This recipe is dairy and egg free. The Country Crock plant butter, however may contain soy so you’ll want to swap that for a different vegan butter if you have a soy allergy!

If you try this recipe, make sure to let me know how you like it! It’s definitely going to be our go-to biscuit recipe from now on!

The best vegan chocolate chip cookies!

I finally made the best chocolate chip cookies that I’ve ever made! And they’re vegan! The best part – no one would ever know! And I say that not as a crunchy mom who thinks all vegan things taste great. I say that as a sweets fanatic who is skeptical every time I find a vegan baked good. I promise, these won’t disappoint! I’m going to include the exact ingredients I use for those of you that may not know where to start with buying allergen-free ingredients. Feel free to revert to your favorites if you want though!

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 3/4 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup vegan butter (I used Country Crock Plant Butter sticks)
  • 1 egg equivalent of Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer
  • 1/2 cup Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Mini Chips (or however many you want)
  • Splash of Oat Milk (if needed to make dough the right consistency)

Instructions:

  • Set oven to 350 degrees F
  • Microwave the butter until melted but not hot (about 40 seconds)
  • In a large bowl, mix the butter with both sugars
  • Stir in vanilla and egg replacer (after you’ve let the egg replacer stand for 1 minute)
  • Add the flour, baking soda, and salt.
  • Mix dough until soft. This is where you will add the splash of oat milk if needed. I feel like it helps the consistency get just right! You want the dough soft and a little sticky but not overly sticky.
  • Stir in chocolate chips
  • Scoop out dough with a medium cookie scoop (about 1.5 tbsp) and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet (I used parchment paper)
  • Cook for 8-12 minutes. Cookies will still look a little underbaked but that’s what makes them chewy and delicious!

I hope you enjoy these cookies as much as my family did! My food allergy daughter’s birthday is in two weeks and I’m definitely going to be making a big batch of these for her party! If you make them, comment and let me know how you liked them!

***Please note that these cookies are egg, dairy, and peanut free. If you follow this exact recipe they will still contain gluten and have the possibility of containing soy (the Country Crock Plant Butter may contain soy).