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Hello all!

Well, it’s Thursday and getting to the end of a long and busy week. With all the madness of the Silly Season in full swing, I thought it fitting to give you guys an excuse for some weekend pampering.

I’ve come up with some easy face mask recipes, made with products you will usually find in your cupboard and are both healthy for you and affordable. So, why not take half an hour out of your hectic schedule and give them a try!

Note that you may amend the recipes slightly to allow for desired consistency.

♦ The Blemish Banisher ♦
For Oily or Acne-Prone Skin

Ingredients

• 3 Strawberries
• 1 Tbsp of lemon juice
• 3 Tbsp of honey
• 1/4 Tsp of activated charcoal (optional)
• A few drops of essential oil (optional – tea tree or lavender)

Directions

1. Blend all ingredients together until at desired consistency.
2. Place a warm damp cloth over the face for 2 minutes.
3. Apply mixture evenly with the back of a spoon or a brush, making sure to avoid the eye area and putting focus on the oilier parts of the skin (i.e. the I or T zone).
4. Leave on for 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Wipe face clean with a damp cloth.
6. Spritz face with toner (See Extra Tip below).

♦ Moisture Magic ♦
For Dry Skin

Ingredients

• 1/2 of an avocado
• 1 Tbsp of olive oil (or other nut oil)
• 1/2 of a ripe banana
• A few drops of essential oil (optional – lavender, rose, sandalwood or ylang ylang )

Directions

1. Blend all ingredients together until it is a smooth paste.
2. Apply to face with a brush, the back of a spoon or your fingers.
3. Leave on face for 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Wipe clean with a damp cloth.
5. Spritz face with toner (See Extra Tip below).

♦ The Summer Soother ♦
Sensitive or Sunburnt Skin

Ingredients

• 1/4 Cup of oats
• 1/4 Cup of natural unsweetened yoghurt
• 1 Tbsp of aloe vera gel
• A few drops of essential oil (optional – lavender, rose or chamomile)

Directions

1. Blend all ingredients together until it is at a desired consistency.
2. Apply to face gently with your fingers, being extra careful over very sensitive areas. Make sure to not rub these areas to hard as this will cause even more sensitivity.
3. Leave on face for 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Wipe clean with a damp cloth.
5. Spritz face with toner (See Extra Tip below).

♦ Exfoliating Mask ♦
For most skin types (except sensitive skin)

Ingredients

• 1/2 Tbsp of natural sea salt
• 2 Tbsp of natural honey

Directions

1. Mix the ingredients in a small container.
2. Place a warm, damp cloth over the face for 2 minutes.
3. Using your fingers, gently apply mask all over the face in circular motions, allowing the salt crystals to exfoliate the skin.
4. Leave on for 15 minutes.
5. Rinse off with a warm, damp cloth.
6. Spritz face with toner (See Extra Tip below).

♦ Milk ‘n’ Honey ♦
For Normal or Combination Skin

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp of natural unsweetened yoghurt
• 2 Tbsp of natural honey

Directions

1. Blend all ingredients together until it is at a desired consistency.
2. Place a warm, damp cloth over the face for 2 minutes.
3. Apply mixture to face gently with your fingers, the back of a spoon or a brush.
4. Leave on face for 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Wipe clean with a damp cloth.
6. Spritz face with toner (See Extra Tip below).

♦ Extra Tip ♦

For a totally relaxing at-home facial experience, put two green tea bags into boiling water then put into the fridge or freezer until they’re cold. Remove the bags and put them over your eyes while your mask is setting to diminish puffiness and soothe the skin.

With the tea formed from the tea bags, put into a spray/misting bottle and put back into the fridge. After you have used your mask, spritz on some green tea as an all natural (and inexpensive) toner and skin refresher.

Enjoy your weekend everyone! And let me know how the face masks go!

Lara

Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope your week is going well.

Today, I just wanted to share with you some info about one of our AMAZING stockists- Living Valley Springs Health Retreat.

The beautiful team at Living Valley Springs. Image courtesy of LVS.

LVS is a very unique health retreat situated in the beautiful area of Kin Kin on the Sunshine Coast of Australia. The co-founder, Gary Martin, set up this retreat after studying natural medicine and deciding he wanted to create his own sanctuary where people could come to heal their bodies naturally and begin a healthier lifestyle.

The retreat consists of naturopaths and therapists that study and cater to your needs to help you heal and grow from the inside, out. They have noted success with such conditions as addictions, allergies, arthritis, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, candida, constipation, depression, diabetes, hormonal dysfunction, menopause, multiple sclerosis, non-hodgkins lymphoma, prostate hyperplasia, toxic exposure and much more.

Andrea Hogg is the beauty therapist manager at LVS that Alenka had the pleasure of meeting at Mukti’s training at Maleny, Sunshine Coast. She is very passionate about Alexami. She is also a knowledgeable and helpful beauty advisor that her customers trust.

A guest enjoying a cleansing clay wrap. Image courtesy of LVS

We’re so happy to have them on board as one of our stockists and commend the work they are doing for people.

Check out their website here if you’d like to read more! Or leave a comment if you’ve ever been to the retreat and let us know how it was!

Last month (October), I had the fantastic opportunity to visit our distributors in Slovenia (my homeland) and Belgium. Luckily for me, it wasn’t just a business trip. I was also able to meet up with some friends and family and visit some amazing places.

Unfortunately, I did have the worst flu I can remember throughout the whole trip but in spite of that, I still managed to run two very successful seminars, had my professional photoshoot done and got the chance to meet and be interviewed by some great beauty editors from some well respected magazines in Slovenia. I could not let the sickness get the better of me since I only had 14 days to do everything! I guess everything is possible if you put your mind to it!

In today’s blog, I will be chatting to you about my trip to Belgium.

Typical Belgium Architecture

Typical Belgium Architecture

In Belgium, I was staying in Roselare which is 120km away from Brussels. It is a very vibrant city that is centrally located in the province West-Flanders which provides ample opportunities to travel easily to most places including the coast of the Belgium province. I particularly enjoyed my stay in the beautiful RB Bed & Breakfast which was a renovated house from the 1920′s with a very cosy and unique atmosphere. It was situated in the very center of Roselare. They also had a very personal approach to each guest. The owner had been working and traveling for 22 years but, after his career in politics, he chose to settle down in his home town and open a BnB. His mission was to offer a warm and inviting atmosphere to his guests- the warmth he hadn’t felt numerous times through his travels.

My room in Roselare R&B Bed and Breakfast

My room in Roselare R&B Bed and Breakfast

While in Roselare, I also ran a seminar for our existing and potential Belgian stockists, all of whom were professional beauty salon owners. The organization of the seminars was brilliant as was the participation by the people involved. I was able to speak with new potential customers about toxic and non-toxic ingredients that can be found in their cosmetics and also explained to them the philosophy and story behind Alexami. I must say that the awareness about toxic cosmetic ingredients, as well as the expected standards of cosmetics, is far higher in Australia than any of the other countries that I was visiting. I am very pleased to see many new international stockists coming on board!

During my stay in Belgium, I was also able met with our distributor, Barbara, her husband and her daughter. What a nice and friendly family owned business! She and her husband took me out for a slow food dinner with the top 20 chefs in the world, which was one of a kind experience. We had around 10 different entrees and every dish was a masterpiece! Not to mention the taste of each dish was exquisite. We ate over 3 hours, had very little portions and tasted so many different flavours. I wasn’t even sure what each ingredient was on the plate until I tried it. I asked Barbara to take some photos as I didn’t want to forget such an amazing culinary experience. It was so unique and so much fun!

I truly enjoyed my stay in Belgium and would like to thank to my distributor, Barbara, for making my stay even that much more pleasant and enjoyable.

I left Belgium after 4 days and still had the flu but I’m pretty sure that the six huge Vitamin-C tablets given to me by the owner of a beautiful beauty institute in Roselare, Sophie Colette, helped me to get well sooner. I am sure these were the main reason that I felt SO much better next day when I continued my trip in Slovenia.

I hope you enjoyed my little recap of my adventures. I’ll talk to you all soon!

Alenka

A friend recently told me about a great new ‘natural’ skin product she was using, and when she started rattling off a list of its ingredients the top of the list was mineral oil.

When I stopped her to mention mineral oil wasn’t really the most desirable ingredient for sensitive skin, she seemed confused. “But mineral cosmetics are supposed to be great for sensitive skin, right? Aren’t mineral oils in the same category?” she quizzed.  She was shocked when I explained that although the term mineral oil has a healthy and natural ring to it, mineral oil has nothing to do with mineral cosmetics, or even vitamins and minerals – it actually refers to a by-product of petroleum.

Mineral oil is made during the distillation process of turning crude oil into petroleum to make gasoline for our cars and other petrol-based products. Some other names for mineral oil are the less appealing terms ‘liquid petroleum’ and ‘petrolatum’, so it’s no wonder most cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies list the product under the less innocuous-sounding mineral oil moniker.

Although mineral oils have enjoyed popular use in baby lotions, ointments and cosmetics for decades thanks to its seemingly-remarkable moisturizing and water repellent properties, it’s now commonly accepted that mineral oil is residue-forming and comedogenic – meaning it can block pores and cause acne. Petrolatum and mineral oils do not absorb into the skin because the molecules are too large to penetrate, therefore they stay on the surface and provide a barrier between the skin and the air. This makes it really useful for anti-chaffing products like nappy ointment and lip balm, and a popular additive to moisturising creams. However the barrier-like properties of mineral oil can also suffocate the skin, interfering with skin’s natural ability to eliminate toxins while trapping dirt and bacteria. Healthy skin needs to take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide, and it can’t do that when it’s covered in a dense film. When ingested, mineral oils can also block the body’s natural ability to utilize vitamins and minerals. It’s factors like these that led John Hopkins University to name mineral oil in cosmetics and moisturizers as the number two cause of skin aging behind sun exposure.

However as it’s a cheap ingredient, mineral oil is still used extensively in everything from hair care products to makeup removers. Many companies claim mineral oils are perfectly safe, but since September 2004, the EU has banned the use of petroleum jelly due to the carcinogenic contamination found in products containing petrolatum. The ingredients for which these impurities are of concern are used in one of every four personal care products.

So it may be wise to avoid mineral oil – or at the very least limit your exposure by being aware of how much of it you’re putting on your skin. Unfortunately however, it’s not always easy to identify mineral oil amongst ingredients as it has many guises and names including the following you should keep an eye out for:

* Liquidum paraffinum

* Paraffin oil

* Paraffin wax

* Petrolatum

Alexami cosmetics do not use mineral oil, and/or it’s derivatives, in any of our products. All Alexami products are proudly mineral oil free.