Practical advice for winter skincare

Although we’ve entered winter a few months ago, it’s only been in the past few weeks (month or so) that the cold has truly set its foot down over here with temperatures going as low as –23 Celsius (yes, minus 23!). Cold and frosty winds – the greatest enemies of our skin during this cold season.

I don’t think cosmetic products used during winter greatly differ from those that are preferred during the rest of the year, but they still must be used regularly. Even one day when you have not followed all the steps leaves a trace of evidence, or at least that’s what always happens in my case.

So to prevent entering spring with a tired and visibly marked skin complexion, I recommend considering the following tips:

1. Hydration as the basis of everything
   Hydration is essential! Using various heat sources affect water balance in our skin and bodies overall. Drink plenty of fluids (water, hot tea, fresh juice) and do not forget about room humidifiers.
2. Do not skip over any part of your cosmetic routine
   On both body and face, cleansing, toning and nourishing the skin add up to a valuable routine which is essential to be followed daily, both at morning and in the evening (whether you used makeup during the day or not).
   A gentle cleanser or preferably one homemade of suitable oils mixture will first easily remove all impurities. A toning floral water will remove any remaining residues. And a blend of face creams, lotions, butters and oils will nourish your skin. Avoid using non-organic soap on your face and never leave the house before applying cream.
3. Eat well
   Eating well doesn’t mean you must eat more, but that you should make sure to include as many vegetables and fruits, nuts and seeds, soup and fish in your diet  and as little heavy/greasy meat as possible.

These are just three, very simple tips, which are highly effective and can be easily followed with just a little willpower and organization.

 

What are your tips for a beautiful and healthy skin during this frosty season?

Zooming in on travel, gratitude and gifts

Long time no travel writing, right? I’ve been a bit under the weather writing-wise, but let’s fix that right now as my newest travel article is up for your viewing pleasure on Milliver’s Travels.

I am giving Smart Tips for Your First Time in Paris, so feel free to drop by and let me know what you think. Even if you will not visit Paris any time soon, it is timeless info.

Oh, and for a cookie, I suggest you leave me a comment while you’re over there

~~~

Speaking of photos.

Yesterday I read this blog post over at Positively Present and felt immediately inspired. It’s a 30 day photo challenge with the theme ‘Gratitude’.
You already know how much I love taking pictures, so I’m thinking this awesome way to stay present will also go so well with November being the month of Gifts in the Love Project.
To take part, I downloaded the .pdf document to my phone, so I’ll have the list with me at all times and I’ve already set up a Facebook album with the photo from Day 1. To share with you as the month progresses, I’ll link to the album again later on.

This challenge couldn’t have come at a better moment to give me a nudge towards taking more photos, as I was just thinking that I’m not taking nearly enough of them lately.

Time to add my camera as a permanent fixture of my backpack’s contents again

Anyone else feel like joining this photo challenge?

 

PS: you have to be my friend on FB in order to see the album, but I’ll probably make a collage of these at the end of the month to have all the pics on my blog as well.

Greening up your pregnancy

Today, I welcome guest blogger Christina Lopez to Life’s a Stage, who will teach us a little bit about greening up pregnancy.

 

In general, most pregnant women are inclined to make themselves more aware of what they are putting into and on their bodies. This period is time to evaluate what is important for both the baby and you. Most women are choosing to live a green lifestyle; opting to make their home and world a better place for a child. By following these simple tips you can color your world green during pregnancy and keep both you and your baby in tip-top shape.

For Everybody

By eating organic produce, dairy and meat products will help reduce pesticide levels in your blood stream. And when available, choose hormone-free and humanely treated meat products.

Homemade Honey Beauty Recipes

For this week’s Homemade topic blog post, I’m pleased to feature a guest post by Alexis Bonari. She shares some excellent tips and recipes, and I have to admit: I can’t wait to try them all out!

 

There’s a reason honey shows up repeatedly in commercial beauty products. In fact, there are three of them:

1. Honey is humectant, meaning it draws moisture from the air. The Greeks and Romans put it on wounds to keep them from scarring, which makes honey a great acne remedy as well as one for dry skin.

2. Honey, especially darker varieties—namely Manuka honey, which is made by bees that feast on the same bush from which we get tea tree oil—contain antibacterial properties.

3. Honey contains antioxidants, which explains why Cleopatra and other ancient beauties used it to acquire a youthful glow.

Instead of spending wads of money on overpriced spas and chemical-laden commercial products, why not go straight to the source? Make these spa-worthy recipes with natural ingredients you probably already have in your pantry!

Basic Honey Face Mask

· 2 tbsp honey

· 1-2 drops tea tree oil for problem skin

· 1-2 drops lavender oil for oily or irritated skin

· 1-2 drops chamomile oil (or chamomile tea) for dry or stressed skin

Massage gently into relatively clean face and rinse with lukewarm water after 10 minutes. This is an easy morning or weekend regimen before toning and moisturizing.

Honey Exfoliating Scrub

· 1 tbsp honey

· 2 tbsp finely ground almonds or oats

· ½ tsp organic yogurt (full fat for dry skin, skim for oily skin)

Mix in a small bowl or the palm of your hand and massage gently over your face, working from your forehead down to your nose, cheeks, then chin. Leave the mask on for 10 minutes and rinse with lukewarm water.

The honey moisturizes and kills bacteria while the yogurt exfoliates. The almonds or oats work double-duty as exfoliants (instead of those plastic micro-beads that just pollute the ocean after they go down the drain!) and as moisturizers.

Honey Firming Mask

· 1 tbsp honey

· 1 egg white

· 1 tsp clay, flour, or glycerin

Form a paste with the ingredients and massage onto face. Clay will draw impurities from your pores while glycerin cleanses. Although flour won’t really do much for your skin, it will keep the already beneficial honey-egg white mixture on your face instead of your toes! Rinse with lukewarm water after 10 minutes.

Cucumber Honey Eye De-Puffer

· 1 tsp honey

· ½ tsp chamomile tea

· 2 tsp cucumber, peeled, seeds removed

· 1 tbsp aloe vera gel

Don’t put the tea leaves in boiling water—it just scalds the leaves and not only makes a bitterer cup of tea for drinking, it doesn’t release the most beneficial nutrients. Instead, warm up filtered water (like Brita water) to the temperature of a hot bath and steep the tea. Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, blend the cucumbers, aloe, and honey until smooth; add the tea. Put into a small glass jar and refrigerate for up to one week. Gently apply it an hour or so later when it’s been chilled to your under eyes.

Honey Hair Care

· ¼ cup honey

· ¼ cup olive oil or half an avocado, peeled and destoned

Mix the ingredients in a bowl and apply to hair. Slap on a shower cap and try the Cleopatra bath (see below) for 30 minutes and then shower and condition as usual.

Cleopatra Bath

· ¼ cup honey

· ½ cup organic milk or cream

Lovely Cleopatra knew what she was doing. Pour these ingredients in a warm bath and let it moisturize tired skin, revealing a more youthful, glowing you.

 

Bio: Alexis Bonari is currently a resident blogger at College Scholarships, where recently she’s been researching trade school student loans as well as McDonalds scholarships. Whenever this WAHM gets some free time she enjoys doing yoga, cooking with the freshest organic in-season fare, and practicing the art of coupon clipping.

Olive oil face mask

Olive oil face mask

20 ml olive oil
3 tablespoons of cosmetic clay 
a few drops of hot water

Mix all ingredients until creamy. Apply covering your face and neck and allow it to act for 15 minutes.

Recommended for dry and sensitive skin.

20 minute hand care session

Hands are often neglected while we deal with our daily skin care.

In the best case scenario we apply hand cream once a day, but there are days when we probably don’t even do that. And then, without even realizing it our hand get very dry hands, and over time they will be the first thing that will show our true age regardless of how well our face looks.

So, from time to time, it’s a very good idea to give them more attention, which needn’t take more than 20 minutes – and the results are excellent!

20 minute hand care session

First, prepare a bran, brown sugar, finely ground almond kernels scrub to which you add a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate.

Mix 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a bowl which you’ll heat over a steam bath for 3-4 minutes. Apply the warm liquid on clean hands, focusing on each finger, the cuticles of the nails, each nail in part (the effect is more intense if you don’t have nail polish on).

Cuticles can be pushed gently with a wooden orange stick, and in time will strengthen the nails.

Wrap your hands in saran wrap, then cover them in a towel. After 5-10 minutes, remove saran wrap and towel and rinse with warm water.

Repeat procedure every week.

Your skin will be very smooth and your hands will thank you.

Read to Write and Find Your Voice

Today I have the distinct pleasure to feature a guest post by Maria Rainier, who took my simple idea and turned it into the excellent string of words you’ll read below.

 

Can you learn how to skateboard by reading the manual that comes with your helmet? Can you become a yoga master by watching instructional YouTube videos? Can you become a lumberjack by appreciating paper? Can you—never mind. You get the point.

You can’t write well without writing at all. Writing, however, is one of those rare skills that you can hone—and hone extremely well—by observing its product, by reading.

When you read frequently and mindfully, you improve your grasp on language. You learn that there is no “a” in “definitely” and you start to use “their,” “there,” and “they’re” accurately even in Facebook where, apparently, proper English doesn’t translate. With more words, styles, and turns of phrase at your disposal, you can more easily think of unique ways of saying what you want to say. This makes you memorable; it gives you a voice.

You also learn that despite what your stuffy high school English teacher said in those hours-long lessons on grammar in that chalk-dusted room, accomplished writers break the rules of proper language etiquette all the time. They write ridiculously long sentences like the one I just wrote. They write short ones. And they start sentences with “Or,” “But,” and “And.” Although your writing needs to remain intelligible, breaking these very rules artfully actually gives you voice.

Here’s what you do (noting that this is not an overnight project):

1. Go to the library or used bookstore and pick up a couple of books by different respected authors in your chosen genre. Try to discern a voice in each book by each author. Analyze this voice. Why did the author choose to write this way or from this perspective? Does the voice change? What does it add to the story? What does it do to the story to make it different from the others you’re reading?
2. Next, go back to the library or store and pick up a few more books by one author in your chosen genre. Does the author give each story a different voice? Is it the same voice? What does the voice add to the story and could the story have gained or lost something by telling it through another voice?
3. Next, return to your book haven and pick up books from an aisle of another genre. Variety is the spice of life, to quote my (and everyone else’s) mother. Find out what gives these authors a voice in their genre. Reading the newspaper will rarely give you hints on how to reach that pitch you can call your own, but it will certainly teach you to simplify your sentences. Reading Charles Dickens may not help you create snappy images when you believe a description of someone’s overcoat shouldn’t reach more than 30 words (never mind 30 paragraphs), but Charles will teach you to diversify your language. Reading the latest bestselling thriller when you want to be the next Pulitzer Prize winner may make you want to tear your eyes out, but you get to glimpse at what the masses read. You can’t win a prize unless someone reads your work, right?

 

Bio: Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education where she writes about education, online universities, and what an online degree means in an increasingly technological world. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.