Image via islandteashop.com

With green tea having taking the top place for health tea of the decade, white tea has been pushed into the background somewhat. Despite the lack of buzz around it, though, white tea remains perhaps your best choice of tea for your  overall health and well-being.

What is it?

“White Tea (Chinese: báichá) is a slightly oxidized tea derived from the buds and leaves of “Camillia sinensis”, a plant mainly cultivated in China. It contains large amounts of polyphenols, a natural antioxidant that seems to protect against cancer by neutralizing free radicals and boosting the immune system. It also appears to improve cardiovascular function by reducing bad cholesterol as well as fighting bacterial infections, fungus growth and dental plaque.” Excerpt from White Tea Benefits.

Why is it so great?

Everything great about white tea stems from the amazing antioxidants that it contains. Check out what it can do for you…

It helps you lose weight – Green tea is famous for revving up your metabolism. Well, white tea does it too! Aim for 5 cups per day to maximize the effect it can have.

It could prevent cancer- Despite this research still being a bit iffy, the antioxidants in white tea have been shown to inhibit cancer cell growth

It’ll stop you getting sick – The antioxidants boost your immune system, prevent colds or allowing them to dissipate quicker as well as fighting other bacteria and viruses.

It’ll make you look younger – White tea has been touted a youth tea for its ability to expel free radicals from the skin and promote a youthful glow in any age of skin

It will help your pimples – Along with getting rid of free radicals, white tea will also fight bacteria that causes acne and pimples

It will help you to balance - White tea contains low caffeine, which will give your adrenals a bit of a break. You may start to notice your anxiety and stress levels lowering.

Try some for yourself. YES, it is pricier than it’s green competitor but we say it’s worth the extra change if it means better overall health in the long run. Aim for 3-5 cups per day combined with healthy diet, exercise and relaxation/meditation and you will never look back!

As requested via our Facebook page, here are some quick time-saving beauty tips for you all. I hope that some of them come in handy for you and save you some much needed time and money.

Image via WeHeartIt.com

1. Cure Puffy Morning Eyes

• Leave 2 spoons in the freezer overnight and apply them to your eyes as soon as you wake up to treat eye bags/puffy eyes.
• Another puffy eye treatment is to make some caffeinated tea with 2 tea bags then put them in the fridge overnight. In the morning, pull them out and place them on your eyes. The caffeine that remains in the bags are great at reducing the appearance of sleepy eyes.

2. Lips Looking Like a Chapped Mess?

• When you’re brushing your teeth, scrape over your lips with your toothbrush to exfoliate them. Apply a lip balm or oil once you’re done!
• Another way to exfoliate is to mix sugar or salt with a bit of oil and rub them over the lips.

3. Need to Save Some Time in the Morning?

• Use your hair conditioner all over your body in the shower to let it double as a body moisturizer.
• For the quickest made-up face, simply conceal blemishes and dark circles, apply a pinky peach blush, some mascara (brown or black, depending on hair color) and put lipgloss on your cheekbones and center of your lips. For those ladies with rosacea or reddish discoloration, apply a cooler based powder according to your shade.
• If your hair’s a mess, learn to perfect a chignon bun or a french brain. Both can look very on trend if done correctly and are easy to do on dirty hair.

4. Problem Skin?

• It is always hard for people with problem skin as you need to invest more products and time into your beauty routine. Try to put some more focus into finding a good skin care routine that suits you rather than makeup to cover up your problems. The better your skin quality, the less makeup you will require in the long run. Start by finding a good cleanse/tone/moisturize routine first then move on to acne treatments, rosacea treatments, wrinkle treatments etc.

5. Embarrassing Feet Caused by Heels and/or Neglect?

• Cure dry, cracked and questionable looking feet and toenails by applying loads of lotion or body oil (i.e. coconut) then putting a small plastic bag followed by a sock over your foot. By the morning, everything would’ve absorbed and your feet will be feeling oh so fresh and moisturized. Also, summer’s coming so apply a quick coat of a brightly colored polish so your feet look beautiful in those sandals.

6. Frame Your Makeup Look

• Feel like your makeup look needs a little something extra? Get into the habit of always shaping and filling in your brows with a pencil/powder 1 or 2 shades lighter than your eyebrow color. It frames the whole face, polishes your look and makes you look younger!

7. The Never-Fail Cat Eye

• For quick but standout eye makeup (that looks like you put more effort into your beauty regime than you actually did), do a quick cat eye with liquid or gel liner. You may not be able to get it perfect in the beginning but it will come with practice. Here’s a hint, draw the flick at the same angle to the outer-lower waterline and fill in accordingly.

8. Banish Lipstick Anxiety

• Worried about taking a drink or giving a kiss in fear of smudging your freshly-lipsticked pout? Opt for a tinted lip gloss or lip tint instead. They are easier to apply than lipstick and their pigments usually last longer without the need for touch ups or lipliner.

9. Speed Up with Mineral Powder

• For the quickest foundation application, apply a face primer then find an amazing mineral foundation (naturally, our favorite is our Alexami’s Mineral Foundation Powder!) and apply it with a dense kabuki brush. Mineral powder also provides buildable coverage so just wait a few minutes in between application of the layers or apply a spray of setting spray between each layer of coverage.

10. Oily Hair, Don’t Care

• Do you suffer from hair that turns into an oily, lifeless mess too quickly? Keep some transluscent powder on hand and sprinkle it through the hair as required. Grab a comb, brush it through and perform a glorious hair flip and BOOM! Gorgeous tousled locks in an instant!

11. Stop it, You’re Making Me Blush

• Skin looking a bit sallow but you don’t have any blush on hand? Easy. Simply apply your lipstick as a blush by warming up your fingers, swiping them over your lipstick with your middle and ring finger then quickly applying to your cheekbones in upward motion. Keeping the lipstick warm and applying it quickly will allow it to blend easier.

My apologies for the DIY posts. I’m on a creative buzz lately and I love sharing these ideas with you ladies to try out for yourselves!

This week, I’ll be showing you how to make your own matte nail polish using Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadows and it’s SO easy…

What You’ll Need:

1. Alexami Mineral Eye Shadow (or another eyeshadow pigment). I’m using the color Blue Green.

2. Clear nail polish

3. Mixing container (I used an old contacts case)

4. Toothpick

How to do it:

1. Pour equal amounts eyeshadow to clear nail polish. (I use about 1/8tsp of each which is still way too much for one hand.

2. Stir with the toothpick until no lumps remain.

3. Apply with an old polish brush (or clean off the one to your clear nail polish)

4. Finish with another top coat of clear polish if you wish and you’re done!

Here’s how mine turned out:

Pretty simple, no?

Try it for yourself and let us know how it goes.

For Part 2 of our Greenify Your Life series, I’ll be giving you guidance on how to find yourself a safer foundation. I have listed ingredients found in both powder and liquid foundation so we can kill two birds with one stone.

Alexami's Mineral Foundation Powder

What ingredients should I be looking to avoid in my foundation?

Fragrance (6-methylcoumarin, parfum) – Now, fragrance is a hard one because it is the one product that gets a free pass in the ingredients list. The manufacturer is not required to list the actual ingredients in the perfume, rather, they are allowed to simply clump it all into the one ingredient: ‘Parfum’ (or other such word). This means that you have no clue if this is a safe product for your skin which is worrying as some fragrance ingredients are proven to cause photosensitivity but you’d never know what was the causal ingredient! Best to keep an eye out for products that list essential oils as their fragrance or are up front about what goes into their fragrance.

Silicone Emollients – These are found in approximately 80% of all concealers, primers and foundations. The silicone allows for smoother application but it also creates a layer on top of the skin, causing the skin to be suffocated of oxygen. Over time, this can cause certain skin reactions, breakouts and a duller complexion.

Petroleum based products (Paraffin, mineral oil, petrolatum) - These petroleum products are also found in the majority of skin products and, too, suffocate the skin and clogs the pores causing the same issues as silicone. This goes for your ‘timeless’ Vaseline too (We recommend using paw paw ointment instead!). These products have also been under heavy scrutiny due to the fact they are the cause of many serious health ailments.

Parabens (Propyl, Butyl, Methyl, Isobutyl, Ethyl etc) - Parabens are used to stop fungus and bacteria from growing in your makeup. They are found in almost every beauty product for both males and females. There is research done to suggest they may be linked to the cause of breast cancer due to the fact that they mimic estrogen within the body. The jury is still out on whether these man-made chemicals are bad for the body but have a read of both sides of the argument to form your own opinion. To be safe, I would say opt for products that have parabens near the bottom of the ingredient list rather than the top.

There are a million other ingredients that we could also list here, but we’ll start with these common ingredients for now.

So, how do you Greenify?

Phase 1.) Read the ingredients label of your foundations. Any foundations with the aforementioned near the top of the list, get rid of them ASAP.

Phase 2.) Research online or in stores for highly reviewed foundations that do not contain huge amounts of the above products. They do not have to be from an organic brand, necessarily, just slightly more safe on the skin. Naturally, we would guide you towards Alexami’s Mineral Foundation Powder, which is free of these ingredients.

During this product transition, if you have been using products with heavy amounts of silicone etc, your skin may go through phases of drying or over-oiling. This is a natural occurrence as your skin begins to normalize to your new product.

Phase 3.) Once your new safer product is empty, try your best to convert to a completely natural and/or certified organic product free of all the nasty ingredients. Or better yet, perhaps your skin will heal itself and you’ll be able to go out with barely any foundation at all!

As an afterword, please know that some people get iffy about whether certain ingredients are actual harmful or not. I have gone off personal experience and research but please understand people react differently to different products. For example, I know people who prefer silicone in their foundation routine, and don’t believe there’s any harm in using it. Remember, there is no firmer knowledge than through your own personal experience and broad research so I suggest that you use this as a starting guide and go from there.

With the recent influx of new information on the dangers of most mainstream cosmetics, it is no wonder that PR and marketing firms for those companies are having to alter their approach to how they market their products to the customer. This begs the question – Are you being greenwashed?

Image via svtea.com

What is Greenwashing exactly?

Greenwashing is a spin technique used by companies to make their products appear like they are environmentally friendly, organic and/or natural. I’m sure you have all seen the labels with the pretty images of leaves and green colors or the use of matte, papery product labels that even tell you they are ‘Organic’ or ‘All Natural’ despite the ingredients list being practically made of ALL the chemicals to avoid and the packing being anything BUT biodegradable.

How are they allowed to lie to the customer?

Unfortunately, it is not illegal to promote on the label that their product is ‘Natural’, ‘Green’ or ‘Organic’ even if it isn’t. So, the marketing masters of the business disguise their chemical filled products with aesthetically pleasing labels in the hope that you’ll trust them. What they can’t hide, however, is the need to list ingredients right on the bottle and also the fact they can’t legally put a ‘Certified Organic’ label on their packaging.

Australia does have a policy that say they will punish companies that provide misleading information on their labels but some still manage to slip through the cracks.

How do I avoid being Greenwashed?

Despite the pretty labels and the alluring idea that your old favorite makeup brand has listened to their customers and come out with their own “natural” products, you must ALWAYS. READ. THE. INGREDIENTS. Be a smart consumer and don’t always trust the big brands. The ingredients label never lies. If ‘Green Tea Extract’ is the 30th ingredient on the list after a myriad of 10 syllable chemicals you don’t recognize, chances are that you are being fooled.

Also, make sure to look out for the ‘Certified Organic’ label. This doesn’t always make for a ‘greener’ or healthier product but it does help you know if the company is being truthful in their product promotion or not.

Ladies, now’s the time to check your beauty pantry and ask yourself – Are you being greenwashed?

Well, the temperatures are finally falling for us Southern Hemisphere folk and we must remove our cute summer dresses and swimsuits and replace them with our fav cozy, chunky knits and jeans. So, to get us all in the mood for this new season, I thought it fitting to give you all some beauty-spiration with a quick look at some of the latest beauty trends!

In The Nude

Though our summer tan may be peeling away, that doesn’t mean we can’t keep looking naturally radiant and flawless all year round. The nude face trend isn’t disappearing off the runways anytime soon. So, put your best face forward by keeping the focus on concealing under eye bags/circles and other imperfections, using luminous face creams and making sure keeping hydrated throughout the day.

Get the Look with Alexami’s Mineral Illuminating Powder, Perfect Puff Mineral Foundation, Vegan Lip Gloss, Herbal Mineral Mascara and a Microfibre Facial Cloth to exfoliate and clean the skin.

Look at Me Liner

Black liner will never become an obsolete beauty product. Bring it into the new season by using it as the focal piece of the face by either using the boldest black you have in your beauty pantry or by winging it out so much people will think you can probably fly. Take note of how Lanvin did it this year but tone it down to suit your style and occasion. Wear it with a bare face and nude lip for the day time or a darker plum lip for the evening.

Get the Look with Alexami’s Mineral Matte Eye Shadow in Black (mix with jojoba oil or water to make into a gel/liquid liner) and Herbal Mineral Mascara.

Up In Smoke

Every woman loves a smokey eye when hitting the town but the runway for this season have been showing that the smokey eye can easily be worn during the day too. Just make sure to steer away from the vibrant blacks and browns and towards softer colors that compliment your skin tone. Green eyed ladies, think a scrumptios eggplant purple. Blue eyed gals, opt for earthy grey-browns.

Get the Look with Alexami’s Mineral Matte Eye Shadow and Herbal Mineral Mascara.

Turn Around, Bright Eyes

(For our more daring ladies)

This final trend is for the less conservative ladies out there who want an easy but attention grabbing look – The colored mascara! Seen on a few runways over the past couple of seasons, we’re wondering if this look will catch on like it did back in the late 80s/early 90s. For now, we’re loving the way Stella McCartney used it in her F/W12 show. Play it up to your skin tone with different colors (we’re thinking dark purples and golds).

Make your own colored mascara by warming up a eye pencil of your choice with a lighter then depositing the color onto a spoolie or disposable mascara wand. Before the formula dries, apply generously to pre-curled lashes. Voila! Cheap colored mascara!

•••

I hope you have gained some inspiration from these looks. Show us if you’ve tried out any yourself in a comment or on our Facebook wall.

Happy Autumn everybody!

Images via weheartit, Tumblr, Style and NYT

If you have been living under a rock this past week then you may have missed that Sunday was the evening of the biggest red carpet event of the year – The 84th Academy Awards!

This year brought some stunning looks with an obvious trend and focus on enhancing natural beauty, something we here at Alexami strongly approve of. So, we thought we would give you all a few of our favorite faces of the evening and how you can recreate their look!

Emma Stone

Firstly, we have cutie Emma Stone. This look is perfect for almost any occasion and will suit you gorgeous gals with cool and paler skin tones.

1. The Base – On a clean face, apply Alexami’s Mattifying Primer to prepare the face. Follow with Alexami’s Mineral Foundation Powder in Matte, in the color that suits your skin tone.

2. The Eyes – As a base, apply Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadow in Pearl White with your finger all over your lid and up to your brow. Then using a blending brush, lightly dust Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadow in Candy Pink over the lid and just above your crease. For the liner, dip a brush such as Alexami’s Vegan Angle Brush into a small bit of water. Dab of any excess moisture onto a tissue then using the slightly damp brush, dip into Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadow in Matte Black. Line the very inner corner of your top lid and continue along the rest of your eye making sure to stay close to your lash line. Apply another line just above the one you made to thicken the line out slightly at the outer lid. Moisten your brush again if necessary then finish with a cat eye flick tapering to a fine point just beyond your outer corner (refer to image). Finish the eyes with Alexami’s Herbal Mineral Mascara in Black and lightly fill in your brows with the technique of your choice (either shadow or pencil).

3. The Lips - Exfoliate and moisturize the lips with lip balm. Follow with Alexami’s Mineral Vegan Lip Gloss in Raspberry. Then pucker and press your lips to a tissue to mattify the gloss slightly.

4. The Cheeks – Being careful to keep this very subtle, lightly apply a dusting of Alexami’s Perfect Puff Minerals Blush in Candy Pink to the apples of your cheeks.

Octavia Spencer

Next up is something for the darker, warmer toned beauties using Octavia Spencer as inspiration. Her look, as Emma’s is very versatile. It manages to be sultry but not too dramatic at the same time.

1. The Base – On a clean face, apply Alexami’s Mattifying Primer to prepare the face. For a more radiant finish, make your own liquid foundation (for tutorial, click here) with Alexami’s Mineral Foundation Powder in the color for your skin tone. Apply to face with a sponge by blotting it onto the skin. Contour the face with Alexami’s Mineral Bronzer in Medium/Dark, focusing on your cheekbones, temples and under the chin.

2. The Eyes – Using your finger, apply Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadow in Camel all over the lid and up to the brow. Using a shader brush, press Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadow in Cappuccino over the lid up to the crease. Put Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadow in Black onto a small/medium blending brush and tap off excess to avoid any fall-out. Guide this into the outer crease of the eye and from the outer edge of the lid to the center. Blend well with a larger blending brush. For the liner, dip a brush such as Alexami’s Vegan Angle Brush into Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadow in Matte Black and apply along the upper lash line. Finish the eyes with 2 coats of Alexami’s Herbal Mineral Mascara in Black and then lightly fill in your brows with the method of your choice.

3. The Lips – Exfoliate and apply lip balm to your lips then follow with Alexami’s Mineral Vegan Lip Gloss in Bronze. Blot the lips with a tissue to mattify the gloss slightly.

4. The Cheeks - Using a blush brush, apply Alexami’s Perfect Puff Minerals Blush in Coral pink along your cheek bone. Finish by highlighting your cheekbones with Alexami’s Mineral Illuminating Powder in Gold.

Jennifer Lopez

Despite the controversy over Jennifer’s small ‘wardrobe malfunction’, she still looked radiant and amazing as always. This look is so great for the evening and would suit neutral to warm skin tones.

1. The Base – Same as Octavia’s above.

2. The Eyes – Using your finger, apply Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadow in Soft Peach all over the lid and up to the brow. With a small/medium shader brush, apply Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadow in Aubergine to the outer crease and into the inner part just below the eyebrow, avoiding the very inner crease (reference image above). Blend out well with a blending brush. Using the shader brush again, apply more Aubergine below the eye, focusing more on the outer side. With a clean shader brush, apply more Soft Peach over the lid, avoiding overlapping your defined crease that you just created. For the liner, dip a brush such as Alexami’s Vegan Angle Brush into a small bit of water. Dab of any excess moisture onto a tissue then using the slightly damp brush, dip into Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadow in Matte Black. Thickly line your top lash line to the outer edge. With the excess powder that remains on the brush, line the very outside of your lower lash line and pull it up into a flick (as seen in picture). Now, using Pearl White and the damp brush technique, apply another line just above the flick you created. This opens and lifts the eye. Finish by filling in your brows and applying 3 coats of Alexami’s Herbal Mineral Mascara in Black along with false lashes if so desired.

3. The Lips - Exfoliate and apply lip balm to your lips then follow with Alexami’s Mineral Vegan Lip Gloss in Clear. Blot the lips with a tissue to mattify the gloss slightly.

4. The Cheeks – Jennifer has very slight contouring which will be created with bronzer during the base application. To make the whole look pop though, apply Alexami’s Mineral Illuminating Powder in Gold to your cheekbones and the bridge of your nose.

We hope that you enjoy these looks and give them a try for yourself! Let us know how they turn out!