Tag: green beauty

Ayurvedic Beauty Routine Essentials

Rasasara Skinfood is the one skin care line that has all your Ayurvedic beauty routine essentials covered!

Rasasara Skinfood has taken the guess work out of creating your dosha specific Ayurvedic beauty routine. This product line is 100% natural, cruelty free, and vegan. Every product is tailored to  specifically address the skin care concerns associated with each of the three doshas: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. Rasasara unlocks the power of establishing the healing practice of beauty rituals specific to your dosha. Take their quick skin type test to get you started. If you already know your dosha and you’re ready to dive right in, check out these amazing starter kits.

 

VATA (dry/mature): Vata types feel the cold, have fine, delicate skin, tiny pores, tan easily & are cool to touch. Imbalanced Vata skin becomes dry, flaky or rough & prone to fine lines, especially on the forehead & around the eyes.

BALANCE VATA skin with the warming, softening & moisture rich ingredients found in the Rasasara Vata range, which is especially suited to mature and dry skin.

Included in the Starter Kit:

Vata Hydrating Mist
Vata Face Nourishing Oil
Vata Herbal Face Exfoliant
Vata Face Cleansing Bar

PITTA (sensitive/combination): the skin is sensitive, imbalanced and feels the heat. Note their warm glowing cheeks, are often lightly freckled or dotted with beauty marks & burn easily. Imbalanced pitta skin is prone to conditions such as redness, acne, rosacea, an oily t-zone & broken capillaries.

BALANCE PITTA with cooling, calming ingredients found in Rasasara’s Pitta range.

Included in the Starter Kit:

Pitta Hydrating Mist
Pitta Face Nourishing Oil
Pitta Herbal Face Exfoliant / Mask
Pitta Face Cleansing Bar

KAPHA (oily/congested): Kapha skin type is classically pale OR rich olive skin which looks smooth, soft & lustrous. Imbalanced Kapha skin can appear sluggish, may feel damp or a little oily & be prone to blackheads or congestion.
BALANCE KAPHA skin with the application of stimulating & detoxifying ingredients found in Rasasara’s Kapha range.

Included in the Starter Kit:

Kapha Hydrating Aromatic Mist
Kapha Face Nourishing Oil
Kapha Herbal Face Exfoliant / Mask
Kapha Face Cleansing Bar

Tridoshic  (suitable for all skin types):

DIY Probiotic Face Masks for All Skin Types + Vegan Option

Fun fact for the kids: During World War I, British agents of the Secret Service Bureau (later known as MI6) used invisible ink to send top secret messages back and forth. This invisible ink was actually comprised of nothing more than semen. The pioneer of this mode of communication, you might ask? The man’s name was, in fact, Sir Cumming… True story. I don’t really know why I felt the need to preface these DIY beauty recipes with the story of Sir Cumming. There’s too much penis–I mean Freud in discussions of psychoanalysis anyway, so I won’t even bother trying to unpack that. Instead, I’ll just go ahead and share these recipes that use one of my all time favorite green beauty ingredients: kefir.

Kefir is an amazing source of lactic acid, a natural skin alpha hydroxy acid (AHA). Lactic acid gently buffs away dead skin cells and minimizes the appearance of age lines and wrinkles. Kefir also contains up to 35 different strains of live bacteria that help nourish, revitalize, and balance skin. Probiotics, yo! It’s also gentle enough for skin prone to eczema, psoriasi, and acne.

DIY Kefir Face Masks

Cucumber + Kefir

For Normal/ Combination Skin

Grate one small cucumber into a small strainer over a bowl. Gently press the grated cucumber into the strainer, collect the juice, and discard the pulp. Add about 2 tablespoons kefir to the cucumber juice and mix thoroughly. Apply to your face and let sit for about 20 minutes. Gently rinse off and enjoy softer skin.

Egg White + Honey + Kefir

For Oily Skin

In a small bowl, combine the 2 tablespoons kefir, 1 egg white, and 1 tablespoon raw honey. Mix together and apply to your face for 15-20 minutes. Gently rinse off with warm water. The egg white helps tighten pores, while the antibacterial qualities of the honey help heal skin.

Egg Yolk + Olive Oil + Kefir

For Dry Skin

Combine 2 tablespoons kefir, 1 egg yolk, and 1 teaspoon olive oil in a bowl and mix well. Apply to your face and let it sit for 15-20 minutes. Wash off and gently pat dry. The olive oil and egg yolk helps restore your skin’s natural moisture.

***PRO TIP: For those of you that are vegan, or for those of you that just don’t like yogurt (I’m pretty sure Joseph McCarthy has your name on a list somewhere), you can substitute the kefir in these recipes with oat milk. Oat milk is also amazing for sensitive skin and will leave your skin feeling hydrated and smooth.

DIY Botanical Winter Salt Scrub

“The best things in life are free. The second best things are very, very expensive” —Coco Chanel

Sometimes there’s a happy place where luxury is just affordable. This homemade botanical winter salt scrub is in that happy place. This scrub contains coconut oil, thyme essential oil, lavender essential oil, fine sea salt, and Epsom salt. Salts are packed with minerals which enhance the skin. The magnesium in Epsom salts reduce inflammation while the sulphates flush out toxins. Thyme essential oil stimulates blood flow. It helps heal bruises, sprains, and other injuries. The oil is antiseptic, antispasmodic, diuretic, and a good decongestant. Lavender essential oil is another natural antiseptic. It helps to regulate over-excretion of sebum, and over time can help visibly reduce scarring. Lavender also tones and firms skin by boosting circulation, supplying adequate oxygen and nutrition to skin cells. This helps in keeping skin cells healthy.

You guys, this scrub is a game changer. Add this into your weekly beauty routine to keep your skin smooth and hydrated all Winter long!

DIY Botanical Winter Salt Scrub

Ingredients

  • ½ cup Coconut Oil (you can also substitute this with olive oil)*
  • ¼ cup Fine Sea Salt*
  • 1 cup Epsom Salt*
  • 10-15 drops Lavender Essential Oil*
  • 5-10 drops Thyme Essential Oil*

Directions

  • In a small glass bowl, mix the salt and oil together (I use a fork to mix it)
  • stir in essential oil until well blended
  • store in an air tight glass container
  • to use, simply spoon a small amount into your hands, gently rub it on your skin, and rinse it off with warm water

*The ingredient proportions here are just an approximation. I usually make these homemade products by eyeball the ingredients, so just play around with the proportions. The idea is that you don’t want the mixture to be too oily, or too crumbly!

Source: Cleanse by Hepzabeth

Green Beauty Trends to Look for in 2018

Fact: Queen Elizabeth I wore lead based makeup that brought all the boys to the yard, but tragically turned her skin a very permanent and sickly shade of gray, and lead to blood poisoning that eventually contributed to her death. Fact: Today, the beauty industry, ignoring the newly discovered power of milkshakes, still uses a bunch of poisonous additives that over time have some awful side effects. Fortunately, the past few years have given rise to the green beauty movement. More and more companies are ditching the harmful chemicals and opting for a natural ingredient approach to cosmetics. That’s good news for us die-hard, natural beauty DIYers. So what can we expect to see more of in 2018?

Celestial Skin Care

It should come as no surprise after the unreal fascination with the Solar eclipse of 2017, but the beauty industry is tapping the heavens for the next big thing. Companies like Girl Undiscovered and Terra Luna Beauty are leading the pack with their cosmically inspired lines. Girl Undiscovered has launched a crystal-infused, three-piece facial collection that includes the aptly named Stars Aligning Organic Face Elixir. Meanwhile, Terra Luna Beauty has bath time covered with its range of tub soaks like the Moon, UFO, and Saturn Detox Baths.

Ayurvedic Beauty

I’ll be honest, I never really got into the whole K-beauty thing. For some reason I always thought that there was an emphasis on skin lightening which kind of freaked me out. This year, we can look forward to the next international beauty craze coming from the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Brands like Reshma Beauty and Ranavat Botanics each offer a line of skin care products that draw on the Ayurvedic tradition. Believe me when I say that Reshma’s affordable turmeric bar soap is a game changer, while Ranavat Botanic’s range of masques and toniques, though pricier, are well worth their weight in saffron.

Clean Make Up Finally Gets Bold

So if you’ve been on this natural skin care journey for a while, you know that the color variety and the staying power of a lot of these natural make up brands hasn’t really stacked up next to the more commercial brands. Well, that is sooo 2017. This year, the natural beauty industry is getting a bold make over (pun definitely intended). Bold colors that last is the name of the game. Luk Beautifood has literally taken our favorite smoothie ingredients and turned them into a colorful line of lipsticks. They even have a Toxin Free Starter Kit Bundle that includes lipstick, lip stain, mascara, and an eye pencil. What’s missing? Oh yeah! Eye shadow! Josephine Cosmetics continues to do some pretty amazing things with eye shadow as part of their organic make up line. To all my natural beauty fashionistas out there, we can finally say goodbye to sticking to earth tones! Go bold or go home!

Meanwhile, On the DIY Beauty Front…

As always, I will continue to experiment with natural beauty recipes throughout this year. I can’t wait to recreate some of these facials, masks, and toners in my kitchen and bring them to you! In the meantime, you can check out some of my favorites by following these links to some homemade, natural beauty recipes for your face, body, and hair.