Oh La La Oolong

OH LA LA OOLONG

ORIGIN: TAIWAN

OOLONG, MARIGOLD AND SAFFLOWER PETALS, NATURAL TROPICAL FLAVORING
1.75 OZ

The Oh La La Oolong Tea was the second tea from Teazllc. I wanted to try right away. So after Easy Peachy, I broke out the kettle the next day so we could try the Oh La La Oolong. My lovie and parents stood around the kitchen inhaling the stunning aroma of the tea. It is magnificent! What drew me to wanting to try this one so badly was the digestive benefits and the fact that it's supposed to help fight tooth decay (something I'm really battling right now.)

 Oolong tea is well known for treating all kinds of digestive disorders, and I happen to be a person who suffers from extreme reproductive system related issues including a terribly sensitive stomach/digestive system. As  some of ya'll already know, I even suffered horribly from IBS for years. Thankfully, I've been able to get that problem taken care of and put under control lately, but the monthly time always brings really nasty stomach problems for me. Oolong Tea is said to be really, really effective in reducing digestive related and other stomach problems. I'll discuss them more in-depth further below. 


Health benefits of Oolong tea

-Oolong tea is really fantastic for those watching their diet or trying to shed a little excess weight since it is possible that Oolong Tea helps burn fat. Not to mention for some of us, teas like Oolong, Rooibos, etc. help reduce cravings and hunger levels. Having a small amount of Oolong or one of the other teas available at Teazllc right before a meal will often even cut down half of what I'd normally eat. Not always. Sometimes we have a craving so intense that nothing will stop it except to eat/drink what we are craving -- chocolate anyone? That's my big thing, chocolate. I don't believe in total deprivation, but I certainly enjoy that I can drink some tea, gain heath benefits as well as cut down on over eating. A lot of times just the soothing, calming mind set a glass of Oolong Tea brings is enough to cut the cravings, especially if the craving is coming from something like stress, not hunger! That is one thing I tend to do -- eat when I am stressed. I don't eat huge meals normally, but when I am stressed, I will eat and pick and eat and pick. Oolong tea brings me the comfort without the bloating and excess weight.

SO, if you're working on losing some of the excess weight and want to get a little healthier, I highly recommend Oolong tea or many of the teas I've posted and will be posting about. Most of them that I have tried from Teazllc have many of the same wonderful benefits. So it's not only their Oolong tea that will bring you good health.

-Oolong Tea may help reduces cholesterol after only one month of consumption.

-Oolong Tea can help prevent heart conditions such as heart disease.

-Oolong Tea is a safe and effective treatment for most all types of digestive disorders.

-Oolong Tea may promote stronger and healthier teeth and bones as well as fight tooth decay! (that is fantastic news for me! And for others who are at risk for osteoporosis such as those of us on medications that take calcium away from the bones.)

-Oolong Tea strengthens immune system.

-Oolong Tea has antioxidants, which means: fights aging signs, as well as certain diseases and cancers.

- Oolong Tea consumption can possibly prevent type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease.

- Oolong Tea can help prevent as well as reduce skin conditions such as eczema, dry skin, acne.

-Oolong Tea can reduce High Blood Pressure after at least 1 year of consumption. However, I kind of feel like it mini-HBP cases, some where the person isn't experiencing such serious HBP problems but perhaps just a temporary HPB issue due to a onset of stress, drinking it before an entire year has come to pass would seem to be at least somewhat beneficial. Remember it reduces stress too. I personally haven't ever been told I had a BP problem except at one time when I had gone through a pretty traumatic event and had super stress and anxiety. But at my check-up last week, the nurse made a comment on my blood pressure being "really good. Actually very good."  So while I haven't ever had BP problems, I figure that comment from her may be worth noting. I had been drinking the various Teas from Teazllc for a week at the time of my appointment. I haven't ever had them tell me that my BP was anything besides "normal" in the past, so this could be a good sign!

 

Oh La La Oolong taste and aroma:

The aroma of Oh La La Oolong = Amazing! It's even beautiful. Upon opening the little envelope-like pack, I could smell the wonderful, sweet candy-like aroma. It smells of a tropical nature with something that reminded me of a candy I've had. It's very beachy like. Or perhaps it's just because I'd just gotten home from the beach when I tried it? 

Even with it in the kettle steaming away, the aroma is strong. It fills the house and takes on a perfume fragrance. The lovely fragrance was noticeable upon walking in the front door at my house while it was on the stove. 

The taste came somewhat as a surprise to me. After the sweet, tropical fragrance making my family stand anxiously in the kitchen with expectations of pine-apple, pina colada and something sweet, the very bitter taste was not expected. With a couple packets of sugar (and of course ice cubes for my own preference) the taste was less bitter and smoother. The fragrance is noticeable in the taste as well. 

Other neat uses for your used Oolong Tea leaves

 After you've used your tea leaves for drinking purposes, you can do other things with them besides throw them out. As queen of save-everything, I have been able to enjoy my tea leaves even after they've been used for drinking. I'm pretty sure using the tea leaves requires drying them in the sun, but I personally haven't had time for that and I worry I'll mess things up and only make them mold, so I have stuck to putting them in a zip loc bag after use (and after they have dried) and then using them any way I please.

-Use them to clean with. You can clean counters and tables and your shower, sinks with Oolong Tea Leaves! I have rubbed my sink down with a wash cloth full of wet Oolong tea leaves, but I recommend doing some research to learn how to properly use them for cleaning purposes. I've not done much of my research on this, only experimented. They do leave a nice fragrance throughout the house while preparing for drinking, and they also leave a fragrance when placed in a wet washcloth and used to wipe down tables. I even wrapped the dried leaves in a coffee filter and placed in my t-shirt drawer in hopes of leaving a nice fragrance. I know doing this with coffee grains (used) will act as a deodorizer, so perhaps this tea could be of similar use.

- From what I read, the leaves are slightly abrasive. This means use with caution if you don't know what you're doing like me, or if you're like me, it could also mean super-mega-ultra-body cleanser/exfoliator/wash! One of those anyways. I have experimented with the leaves in strange ways! I used the leftover tea leaves from the Oolong Teas to add to my bath water, to put up my nose and to use as a facial "tonic." Before you get any crazy ideas, let me explain why I put it up my nose. Some of the tea was leftover and I added it to the pile of used tea leaves. I had a strange sore bump come up in my nostril two days ago. No idea what is going on, but that sore has been so painful and I noticed a super swollen lymph node under my right cheek. Since Oolong Tea -- and most of the teas offered at Teazllc.com -- has so many fabulous health benefits, both topically and internally, I thought 'why not add a little to that sore in my nose?' That plus drinking the tea would more than likely aid in detoxing my lymph nodes and even reducing swelling as well as possibly eliminate the problem (whatever it is) altogether.

So I just got some of the tea onto my finger and applied to the sore spot right inside my nose hole. I noticed a huge decrease in swelling later during the night and now it's almost gone! Tonight, after having some of the Fujian Oolong tea, I had a thought: wonder if I can stick those used leaves in a blender and make a nice tonic for different uses. I will probably check into doing that and just collect the leaves, put in the blender and then store the contents in the refrigerator to use during baths, for skin conditions, etc. 

The main reason I was interested in doing this is because my neice had developed eczema and while her condition isn't that noticeable at all these days, it's always something I like to continuously improve by adding things to her skin like my blended aloe plant. I could see these tea leaves being useful for tons of different things. 

I recently just had a week in Panama and my goal this year was to get my tan back. This was a week ago and now, you can imagine how much peeling my skin's been doing. So I added both the Easy Peachy's tea leaves and the Oolong Tea leaves all over my shoulders (which were the worst!) and the rest of my skin that has been horridly peel-y and dry. That combined with some intensive after-tan moisturizer has totally stopped the flaking on my arms! It stopped it right in the middle of it all trying to totally peel away. Some was already doomed to peel, but I was able to save the rest of my arms and the skin on my legs! The tea bath soak left me really soft and I even applied some to my face since my nose had been extremely burned.

The Dream Cream

The Dream Cream from Skin Actives is a moisturizer with additional benefits, which I'll discuss in a moment. First let me tell you a small bit about Skin Actives:
Skin Actives has what seems to be a truly endless variety of products for absolutely any skincare need you may have. How is that even possible? Because Skin Actives offers specific products such as the Canvas Base Cream which I'll review soon, that you can mix your very own "actives" in. This may be a little confusing at first, but you have the kind, knowledgeable customer service as well as forums where you can get advice from other users. You can purchase actives for you cream, cleanser or serum and mix to meet your own personal needs. I'm a perfume mixer, but I'm not so expert when it comes to mixing and creating your own skincare product. However, I'm learning and working on trying different things from Skin Actives. I'll be reviewing some that I already have (samples) and then when I've used enough of the samples to know what I'll need, I'll purchase that and let you know how it goes!


You have a lot to choose from with Skin Actives. Rosacea, Eczema and more and more and more! Like I said, I'm not very experienced in mixing the actives or knowing what it is I need just yet and that's why I stuck with sampling some of the pre-made products. Yes, you can buy Skin Active's ready-to-use products! You may already know what actives you want to use, but if not, I encourage you to check into what others have to say. See what others with the same conditions (acne, rosacea, etc) recommend on the Skin Actives forums! They are customers too and share what they like best.
 


What does Dream Cream do?

  

Why, I'm so glad you asked! (Ha.) The Dream Cream is a good, paraben-free moisturizer choice for those who suffer from very dry skin, (ME!)  psoriasis, eczema, rosacea. This has to be the best moisturizer I've used for my dry skin that doesn't leave some type of residue or problem. 

 You can also use Dream Cream around for a cuticle softener and the like. It works wonderfully for softening the cuticles before removal during a manicure/pedicure! 

 Based on my own experience and results with the Dream Cream, I would label it as an intensive, great long-term moisturizer. Usually I rarely will refer to a moisturizer as so great because it's so hard to find one that will really make a difference for my dry skin. 

  The Dream Cream can be used on dry skin, combination skin and normal skin types. As far as oily skin types using Dream Cream, you'll just have to use your best judgement here. For my oily T-zone, the cream did not make it worse or cause break-outs. If you recognize specific ingredients though, that do tend to cause your skin problems then you may want to choose something else, but I'm pretty confident that most skin would respond well to this.

 Skin Actives says that the Dream Cream can be used from basically babies to elders! That's pretty awesome. Babies, teens, those in their 20's-30's, 40's-50's and 60 years of age can benefit well from this.

INGREDIENTS:

 Water, Jojoba Seed (Simmondsia chinensis) Oil, Sea Kelp Bioferment, Shea Butter, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Squalane, Polysorbate 60, Sorbitol, Butylene Glycol, Glyceryl Stearate, Cetyl Alcohol, C14-22 Alcohols, C12-20 Alkyl Glucoside, Stearyl Alcohol, Rosehip Seed Oil, Sesame Seed (Sesamum indicum) Oil, Sweet Almond (Prunus amygdalus dulcis) Oil, Avocado Seed (Persea gratissima) Oil, Coconut Endosperm (Cocos nucifera), Ceramides, Tetrahydrocurcuminoids, Natural Active Peptides, Coenzyme Q10, Sodium Hyaluronate, Pomegranate Seed (Punica granatum) Oil, Astaxanthin, Lycopene, Alpha-D-tocopherol, Tocotrienols, Lutein, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Citric Acid, Xanthan Gum, Potassium Sorbate, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol. 

This dream cream contains SAS antiOx booster with the best lycopene, lutein and more, the antioxidant benefits of cumin (in tetrahydrocurcuminoids), complete nutrition provided by sea kelp bioferment and coconut endosperm, plus the emolliency of shea butter and the essential fatty acids of rosehip oil.

The Dream Cream has a wonderful whipped/mousse like texture and is so rich! When I first began using it, I was used to having to use a large amount of my normal moisturizer so I plunged my fingers in the Dream Cream expecting to need that much and ended up having to put half of it back in the jar! That's a good thing because it means you don't need much of the cream to cover your face. The rich and super creamy cream spreads nicely and evenly over the face.

I like to apply moisturizer before bed and immediately before applying makeup and sometimes I even mix the moisturizer with my foundation so it's necessary to have one that won't interfere negatively with the makeup. Dream Cream creates a nice surface for even application and won't add that shine/greasy look to your face! As for mixing Dream Cream with my foundation, that's not working for me. I have found a better way to actually reap the benefits though.

The problem was, when I would rub it into my face, the Dream Cream would roll up into little Dreamy, Creamy balls! I hate when that happens. The first time I used it, it did not do that, but as I've continued using only the Dream Cream (no other moisturizers or products except my makeup and face wash) it keeps doing that.

So instead, I went back to my old Lumene moisturizer today for mixing into my foundation and it's OK because it doesn't roll up in balls, but it leaves my face shiny as heck. Then I have to add lots of powder to reduce the Lumene grease.

I mentioned that I did not use Dream Cream in combination with any other product. That's because I want to be able to give accurate info on the specific product alone. I do this any time I use a new skincare product. Then, I'll put it in with my other products/routine if needed.

Today I changed it up and had to add the other moisturizer for my foundation. I started using the Dream Cream a few hours before I apply the foundation for the past couple of days so that my foundation won't roll up in balls too. That worked out really well! I could even do this before bed and then wipe the rolly balls off in the AM before makeup. When I did this, even though a lot of it rolled off in those balls, my skin is very velvety and smooth and has a nice, matte finish. This is after using the cream and before using foundation. So I know it's doing nice things for my skin, but it's just not compatible with makeup. Since I'm really liking the results of the soft, smooth and nice looking skin, I'll continue to use it and then let the rolly balls do their thing and then go on with my day.

Everyone may not experience what I did, but I never wash the Dream Cream off due to the way it rolls up. I just use my hands to rub the little balls off that way I'm not removing the Dream Cream entirely.

The Dream Cream can be used on your  face, hands and body.The Dream Cream does not contain parabens which is awesome and if you're a person that's sensitive to parabens or prefers not to use products that contain them, this is absolutely perfect.

Skin Actives says:

NOTE:

Cream may settle during shipping. If this happens use a hand whisk to whip it back to its original texture then place the cream in the fridge for three or four hours.



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