My Morning Glow Booster

I always look kinda puffy when I wake up in the morning. Even so, when it comes to my skin, I always feel as though it looks its best in the morning.

So you've just woken up, hopefully you're well-rested, and you want to do whatever you can to maintain that fresh-faced glow. I have found a surefire way to start your morning right and give your skin a boost of essential vitamins and minerals. So what is this fabulous secret?

A green smoothie of course!

(Isn't the colour so beautiful??)

Seriously, though. The day I started drinking green smoothies for my breakfast, I started noticing an immediate difference in my skin. After drinking it, I swear I look more radiant, and the long-term benefits are extreme. My skin is much clearer, and if I do get a zit, it heals much faster, and the discolouration left behind fades much more quickly. Plus, you feel absolutely amazing. Combining fresh fruits with greens is super cleansing in the morning, and I truly believe in starting your day off with a pure, healthy breakfast.

You may miss your morning cereal at first, but in no time, you will be addicted; addicted to feeling great and the awesome beauty benefits!

So get creative and make yourself a green smoothie using your favourite greens and fruit. If you're wary of tasting the greens, try spinach. It's fairly mild, and when blended with fruit you can hardly taste it. Kale is an amazing option too, as is chard, collard greens, arugula and romaine. As far as fruits go, use whatever you want! My go-to recipe is lots of kale, an apple and frozen mango, all blended with cold water and the juice of 1/4 of a lemon. It's incredibly refreshing, and absolutely delicious. Feel free to add some chia or flax seeds as well for an added dose of omegas.

Green smoothies are an absolute game changer when it comes to your skin. You'll never know until you give it a shot!

If you already drink green smoothies, what are you favourite recipes?

DIY Fruit Peels

Today I am going to share a form of exfoliation that is not as well known as most types. We all know the importance of exfoliation; it helps to remove dead skin cells, thus renewing your complexion, making your skin softer, smoother and more youthful. Exfoliation is also critical for those hoping to fade any dark spots and marks from the sun or past acne. One of the most common ways to exfoliate is by using a manual scrub - these scrubs contains ingredients like ground walnut, sugar or jojoba wax beads, and when used in a circular motion they help to buff off dead skin. You can also exfoliate through intense professional peels, and while these yield much more drastic results, they're often expensive, and also pose the risk of being too irritating, especially if you have sensitive skin. So if you're tired of your usual scrub but don't want to shell out the money for an expensive peel, why not try a DIY fruit acid peel?

These all-natural peel are great for those whose skin cannot handle physical abrasion from typical scrubs. All you need to do is mash up some fruit and leave it on your (clean) skin for about ten minutes and voila! You skin will feel silky and much clearer. The reason this works as well as it does is because fruit contains live enzymes which actually work to digest dead skin cells, making this method of exfoliation much more gentle than having to scrub them off. Also, it's much more gentle than typical peels which use glycolic or salicylic acid to eat away at dead skin cells. These acids are not natural and are thus much more irritating, and can make your skin much more sensitive to the sun. 

You can use many different kinds of fruits - citrus fruits are much stronger, so unless your skin can tolerate it, definitely dilute these fruits with other gentler fruits. Citrus fruits include lemon, lime, orange,  kiwi and pineapple. These offer a stronger peel. For a milder peel use fruits like banana, peach or papaya. With these gentle fruits feel free to kick it up a level by perhaps adding the juice of a citrus fruit. One of my personal favourite fruits to use is strawberries. These gorgeous berries make my skin super soft. Also, feel free to mix your fruits with some equally beautifying raw honey, which is both moisturizing and anti-bacterial, making it great for acne-prone skin. 

This is a super fun DIY facial treatment that can yield powerful results when used regularly. I suggest using this only once a week as too much exfoliation is never good. So good luck, and be creative. You never know which fruit will be your favourite! 

Bare-faced Beauty - Go Makeup Free

I absolutely love makeup. I think it's so fun and empowering, allowing you to play up your best features, change your look and make a statement. However, I firmly believe that we should take at least one day a week to go make-up free. Here's why:

1. Let your skin breath - Many don't particularly believe that skin needs to breathe, but I beg to differ. No matter how healthy or natural your makeup is, it can't be good to constantly have makeup caked on all day, every day. You need to allow your skin to do it's thing and allow some fresh air to hit your face. You don't want to risk clogged pores.

2. Confidence booster - I know it sounds weird, but I truly believe that going without makeup is an essential practice that contributes to healthy self-esteem. Makeup is powerful stuff - it can completely alter your face, and I think that it's important to know that we can all still be just as gorgeous bare-faced as we are all dolled up. Going makeup free more often will help your become more comfortable without all the makeup, so that you don't always feel the need to make up your face every time your step out of the house. I mean, let's face it, sometimes there's no time, or there's an emergency and we don't get the chance to do our makeup. Being comfortable in your own skin is sexy, and you'll be much happier for it.

3. Some occasions simply don't call for it - Which occasions do I mean? The gym, for one. Or yoga class. You should strive to never work out with makeup on ( unless it's mascara or a cute lip colour). The beach too; You should be able to dive into the ocean without worrying about your makeup melting off of you.

So do yourself a favour and dare to go bare! You're beautiful, so embrace all that you are in your natural state.

My makeup free days are sundays - do you have a designated makeup free day?

Good Luck!