Natural Eczema Remedies

Hey guys,

January is always bone-chillingly cold! The air is dry, the wind is gusty, and snow is literally everywhere. Even with these cold temperatures, I can't help but love winter. It's perfect weather to curl up with a book and a nice steaming mug of peppermint tea. It's also the perfect time to wear thick chunky sweaters with comfy leggings pretty much everyday. Yup, I love winter alright. However, I hate what it does to my skin. It makes me so dry, and can sometimes even make my eczema flare, which is a common winter skin woe. I hate the idea of constantly slathering myself with steroid-filled hydrocortisone, so after endless trial and error, I found a few natural, EFFECTIVE ways to alleviate my eczema. Here are some of the remedies that worked wonders for me!

1. Shea butter - This is easily one of my favourite eczema remedies! Shea butter is rich in vitamins A,E and F and also in fatty acids, making it wonderful for healing scars and accelerating your skins renewal process. It can heal not only eczema, but also burns, sores, psoriasis and other irritations you may randomly develop. It can get a little greasy, so I suggest using it mostly at night. Make sure that you get unrefined Shea butter, as it is much more effective.

2. Coconut oil - Coconut oil in anti-inflammatory, ant-fungal, anti-bacterial and is also known for its high level of antioxidants. It is rich is nutrients and lauric acid, both of which will help to soothe your skin, combat itchiness and deeply moisturize. Like Shea butter, it too is amazing at healing damaged skin, which is why it is so excellent for those of us who suffer from eczema. Not only can you apply it topically, you can also take it internally by incorporating it into your everyday diet, which will help to treat your eczema and dry skin internally. I personally love spreading coconut oil on toast! It's also amazing as a healthy baking ingredient.

3. Camellia Oil - This stuff is golden. Seriously. This oil is cold-pressed from green tea plants, and is the best oil I have ever used on my face. It is incredibly moisturizing and incredibly calming. It soothes redness, heals irritations and is generally wonderful for all skin types, whether your skin is sensitive, mature, dry, or acne-prone. When it comes to treating eczema, I use camellia oil fro treating any on my face, and use the above two for treating any on my body, like my arms or elbows.

I hope that these remedies work with helping you to alleviate your eczema, or even just very dry skin!

What do you use to help combat eczema?

The Unexpected Causes of Your Breakouts

Breakouts suck. I break out, my friends break out, pretty much everyone on this planet has had a breakout at some point in their life. Most people credit it to teenage hormones, but if that were the only cause of zits, why do so many people break out in their adult years? The truth is, there are many unexpected things that could be causing you to break out that you never even thought of.

1: food allergies - I believe that food affects our skin very strongly. So while you may be eating all your fruits and veggies, there could be other things that you're eating  that could be causing acne, such as dairy and gluten. These are two huge food allergies that many don't think about. You could possibly have an intolerance or food allergy to something which in turn could be causing you to breakout. If you think your eating habits may be the culprit, try an elimination diet where you cut out certain foods one at a time and see how your skin responds.

2: Your phone - Your phone harbours tons of bacteria; think of all the places your phone has been! And that's what your putting against your face. Try to clean your phone more often, or better yet, use earphones or an earpiece when talking on the phone. You may notice a huge difference in your skin.

3: Your hair styling products - Yes, your favourite hairspray or curl cream could be behind what's causing you to break out. Especially if you constantly have your hair down, which could be irritating your skin if your hair is constantly brushing against your face. When applying hairspray, take care to cover and avoid your face. Also, perhaps give more natural hair styling products a try. Coconut oil is probably the best conditioning treatment out there that works really well as a styling cream as well.

4: Your pillowcase - your pillowcase gets dirty like everything else, so imagine the repercussions of putting your clean face against a dirty pillowcase every night? Especially if you use hair products that may transfer onto your pillow and thus your face. Try washing your pillowcases more often, and try sleeping with only clean hair.

And there you have it! Sometimes acne can be caused by the things we never think of. I hope that this post has been helpful to you. Let me know in the comments of any other unexpected things that could cause breakouts! Good luck!

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!

The Magic of Contouring

Today I am going to talk about an amazing way you can use makeup to fake gorgeous skin. Flip through any magazine, see any celebrity on the red carpet and they all look flawless; what are they doing that makes their skin look so freakishly magical? Well, let me tell you. It's all in the way their makeup is applied, relying heavily on the use of contouring as well as Highlighting. Here's a great example of a makeup look that has employed these techniques:

And another:

See how their skin looks as though it's glowing from the inside out? It's all achieved by using bronzer and Highlighter to contour and sculpt their faces.

Bronzer should be used in the areas you want to recede, like the hollows underneath your cheekbones, your temples and the sides and top of your forehead to create a sharper, slimmer face. You can also use it along your jaw for a slimmer jawline. Highlighter should be used on the areas you want to bring more focus too, like the top apples of your cheeks to create a plump glow, as well as your brow bone and inner corners of your eyes to bring more light into your face and make you look more awake. Also try applying it to your cupid's bow to create the illusion of fuller lips.

Be sure to find the right bronzer. Blondes should use a lighter bronzer than a brunette would use, and be sure you find a bronzer that's the right tone for your skin tone. Certain bronzers have more golden tones, while others are more rosy or even more coral. Also, determine whether you want a matte bronzer or a shimmery bronzer.

With Highlighter, most basic ones are flattering on all skin tones, but certain tones do work to illuminate certain complexions more. Women with dull complexions would look beautiful with a pink-toned highlighter, and those with super pale skin may want to try out pale highlighters that resemble moonlight as opposed to gold. For the most part though, I do believe that gold is beautiful on most skin tones.

So guys, remember to just take your time and try out different products to see which ones suit you best. And I also suggest you watch a couple makeup tutorials on contouring if you're not familiar with the proper way to contour. You don't want to look like an oomph loompa after all!

Here's a great tutorial on how to contour!

Have fun!

Chug That Water for Clear, Hydrated Skin

I know, I know, I know. You've probably heard this dozens of times, but if you want good skin, it is essential to drink tons of water throughout the day. The recommended amount is eight glasses a day, however, I will go even further and recommend at least twelve if you really want to see a difference.

I felt that it was important to remind you all how important it is to drink water because as of late, I have been noticing just how little water everyone around me drinks. It's common sense, yet it's very easy to forget. So yes, carrying around that heavy water bottle sucks, but it's worth.

Instead of buying plastic water bottles, I suggest you find a stylish reusable one that isn't too heavy. It's better for the planet and having it around will remind you to drink up - the more you drink the lighter the bottle will be!

So while that's easy enough, many had told me that the reason they don't drink enough water is because they don't actually like the taste of water; they find it too bland or "boring." I totally understand, so here are some great ways to spice up your water.

1. Detox water - slice up fruits and veggies to create your very own infused water. It tastes amazing and  the added nutrients from the fruits and veggies will work wonders on your skin, and even help control cravings and stabilize your weight. Some great fruits to use are lemons, limes, strawberries, oranges and apples. Cucumbers are also great to use, as is mint for more of a refresher.

2. Sweeten with stevia - once you've got your detox water, you may choose to add some stevia for some guilt-free sweetness. Once of my favourite combos is lemon, strawberries, stevia and mint - it's like healthy strawberry lemonade!

3. Have some tea - The best ones are green, white and herbal. These are great as there are so many different kinds - you'll never get bored of trying new teas! You may love raspberry tea, or mint tea, or nettle tea; the possibilities are endless. Teas are also a great way to warm up in the winter.

With so many wonderful ways to stay hydrated, theres no excuse! Drink up that water and watch your skin glow!