Sibu Beauty - Review and Giveaway!

Sibu Beauty is a remarkable company with products focused around the sea buckthorn berry. I hadn't heard of this superfruit before so I was intrigued. The sea buckthorn berry is an orange berry that is rich in Omega (3, 6, and the rare 7) fatty acids, which are beneficial to our health and protect against free-radical damage. It is harvested in Tibet and Sibu makes a point of ensuring fair wages and safe working conditions for the people who harvest the berries.

I've had the opportunity to try a few of Sibu Beauty's products. I've tried the revitalize and renew liquid supplement, which is a juice primarily made from the sea buckthorn berry. It tastes like a yummy fruit juice, kind of exotic, and is a beautiful orange colour. The juice promotes healthy hair, nails and skin, and is a great source of those Omega fatty acids.

The repair and protect sea buckthorn facial cream is fabulous. I love the smell and the light consistency and the subtle citrusy scent of this cream. I also love the packaging - it comes in a glass bottle with a pump, very high-end in style and looks great on my counter! The Omega 7 in the cream helps boost collagen production.

I also tried the cleanse and detox sea buckthorn facial soap. I liked the smell initially, it is (to my nose) kind of like a mix between orange and jojoba, but now that my high-intensity pregnancy smelling superpower has kicked in I find the scent too strong. But while I was using it, before I became a bloodhound, I liked the way it left my skin feeling soft and clean, and I did not feel that my skin was dried out or screaming for moisturizer. The soap is all natural and lathers up really nicely.

The last item I got to review was the sea buckthorn seed oil. This oil is used as a topical treatment for skin problems (and I'm, unfortunately, like a poster child for skin conditions). I really was looking forward to testing this one out. It is 100% therapeutic grade organic sea buckthorn seed oil. Very intriguing. BUT... sadly for me, the package insert instructs to consult your health care practitioner if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, and because my doctor has never heard of it, I decided to live on the cautious side and haven't tried it. It's probably fine but with my history, I'm not taking any chances. So this one I can't weigh in on, but would love to hear if anyone has!

My photo doesn't really do the products justice, but here it is (and please excuse my freak show of an orchid):
Sibu Beauty has VERY generously offered not one, but two fantastic packages, so two of my lucky readers will have a chance to try their natural products:

Package #1: Sibu Beauty’s Beauty & Wellness Package (ARV $55.85 US):

• Cleanse & Detox Facial Soap,
  
• Revitalize & Renew Liquid Supplement,
  
• Repair & Protect Facial Cream.

Package #2: Sibu Beauty Anti-Aging Package (ARV $69.95 US):

• Cellular Support Gel Caps (note to my vegetarian friends: these do contain gelatin),
  
• Age Defying Eye Cream,
  
• Sea Buckthorn Seed Oil.

The giveaway: One winner will receive the Beauty and Wellness Package, and one winner will receive the Anti-Aging Package!

How to enter: Head over to Sibu Beauty and let me know what product intrigues you, OR one thing that you learned there. Make sure I've got a way to contact you if you're the winner! Also (and this is mandatory!) - please leave in your first comment WHICH of the two packages you would like to win!

Extra entries (please leave an extra comment for each. If you already do any of these things, leave the comment - you do get the entry for it!):

• Visit the Sibu Beauty Blog and tell me something you learned there.
  
• Follow Sibu Beauty on Twitter (leave your Twitter name!)
• Follow me on Twitter (leave your Twitter name!)
• Tweet about this giveaway for ONE entry, this is not a daily! You can use this if you like:

  Win 1 of 2 @Sibu_Beauty prizes at Emily's Latest. Natural, Organic and Gorgeous! @emilyisland http://bit.ly/dbgvwX US/CAN 8/26
  

• Like Sibu Beauty on Facebook (leave your first name and last inital for verification)
  
• Follow my blog (publicly) – 2 entries, leave 2 comments
• Add my blog button to your blog– 2 entries, leave 2 comments (please leave a link to your blog)

I will be verifying comments so please actually do the things you say you do ☺

Please be sure to include your email address if it’s not public in your blogger profile! Anonymous comments without a way to contact you will be rejected. Canadian or US mailing addresses only, please. Giveaway ends August 26th at 11:59 EST. A winner will be drawn the next day, announced here, in a separate post and emailed!

Prize will be shipped by sponsor. Note for Canadian entrants: Sibu Beauty is not responsible for customs or duties that Canada may charge. For what it's worth, I was not charged any additional fees at the border on my order.

Fear

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. A tragedy in my friends' life has had me reflecting on the nature of parenthood and what a giant precipice we stand on, those of us who undertake to be parents.

After my first pregnancy, I changed. I lost not only my first baby but my innocence. (Just for the record, I'm speaking only for myself here - of course my husband went through all this with me). My naive expectation that "it couldn't happen to me" was shattered.

My second pregnancy came and went so fast that I didn't really have a chance to feel anything but a dull ache where the hope that should have come with a BFP was missing. Pretty much the moment I learned I was pregnant, was the moment I learned that it was ectopic. I knew it couldn't possibly end well, so all I wanted was for it to end quickly (that didn't really happen either, but that's another story).

This time around... I've passed some milestones, important ones for me. I passed the first ultrasound appointment without hearing the worst news. I passed the point where my first baby died and instead had the joy of seeing my first fetal heartbeat on the ultrasound (you bet I cried). I passed the point where I lost that first pregnancy. We survived weeks and weeks of spotting and even some full out bleeding - all is still okay. I've seen baby's heart beating three times now, and heard it on the fetal doppler at my OB's office. I've made it through the scary first trimester, dealt with morning sickness, slept more hours than I thought I could. I've made it to here and now.

And each day I am celebrating the fact that "Today, I am Still Pregnant." It's my mantra for this pregnancy. It is enough to calm me when I feel anxious.

With all that has been going on around us lately, I realize now that this capital-F Fear is not going anywhere. For the rest of my life.

Parenthood has been something I dreamed of, expected, longed for, and am hopefully in the throes of achieving. I honestly can't wait to be a mother. I have big plans for this little one. But with all the happiness, discoveries and pleasures of parenthood comes the price - Fear. I can't imagine there is ever a moment when you don't know as a parent, in the back of your mind, that it could all come crashing down.

Sometimes it's a news story that reminds us how fragile life is. This summer, I keep hearing about drowning deaths of children. Sometimes it's our own losses that come back to haunt us - knowing that anyone, at any time, can be gone, just like that. I've lost family that way; here one moment, and gone the next, no warning. Sometimes it's the slice-your-heart-open kind of unexpected tragedy that hits someone you know and care for, throwing any belief that things happen for a reason out the window.

I admit it - I'm afraid. I'm afraid of bad things happening. I'm not a pessimist, and I don't mean I'm spending my days shaking in a blanket, but I'm definitely no longer the woman I was ten years ago, or even a year and a half ago. Things have changed. I've seen bad things happen. It's not logical, it's not predictable, it's not fair.

I keep my fear in a small box, lid on - and do my best to make each day a happy one. Sometimes, though, life shakes that box a little and some seeps out. I wish I could be just "optimistic" without "cautiously" to qualify it. Rewind, and somehow undo. I guess that's life, though.

Parenthood is going to be scary. I am wholeheartedly signing up, but don't think for a moment that I'm not on to the bad monsters under the bed.