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GP: My Natural Beauty Skinspiration

By: Natasha Uspensky, CHHC

A weird thing started happening when I reached my 30’s: Instead of layering on the anti-aging products and slathering on more makeup to simulate my teenage skin, I found myself opting for a much more natural makeup look and and a more simplified beauty routine.  Gone are my black rimmed eyes and foundations.  No more do I turn to multi-step systems with harsh cleansers, gels and creams.  And guess what?  Not only does my skin look way better than it did when I was 20, but I also feel way more confident that the products I do use are going to actually improve the health and quality of my skin, in addition to its appearance.

One of my icons in this transition has been Gwyneth Paltrow, who has long been the face of fresh-skinned, glowing, natural beauty.  You’ll seldom see her walking the red carpet with a heavy, done-up look.  She’ll typically focus on one area of her face to emphasize for a more dramatic look (bold lips, with muted eyes; or smoky eyes with a nude lips), but more often than not, she’s seen about town with gorgeous, natural-looking eyes, a peachy blush, and some lip gloss.  The epitome of natural gorgeousness.

I’ve taken a few pages from GP’s book in creating my daily skin care regimen. Check out my 6 daily steps to getting that natural, gorgeous glow:

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Natural Summer Makeup Essentials

jcrew summer makeup Summer heat, humidity and sun present an annual makeup quandary that can either leave us melting into an oily, streaky mess or going uncomfortably bare. Neither option is particularly alluring, and neither embodies that glowing je ne sais quoi  that we’re going for.

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Winter Beauty Essentials Giveaway!

I am super excited to introduce our February giveaway, featuring some of our absolute favorite Winter Beauty Essentials!  This goodie kit is a veritable who’s who of amazing organic beauty companies that we love.  Inside you’ll find:

  • A full-size bottle of Voila Natural Pure Organic Argan Oil for gorgeous skin, hair, and nails.  {Check out our article on argan oil for more details on how this magical beauty ingredient will totally change your life and revolutionize your beauty.}
  • A full-size bottle of Surface Skin Care Acai & Blueberry Body Lotion for super antioxidant skin protection, repair, and brightening.
  • A full-size bottle of Surface Skin Care Acai & Poppy Seed Body Wash for gentle exfoliation, renewal, and anti-aging.
  • A full-size bar of Purity Apothecary Organic Lavendar & Vanilla Soap with coconut oil and shea butter for soft, hydrated winter hands. {Stay tuned for our review of Purity’s amazing line of skin and body care products!}
  • A full-size pot of Verita Argan Butter Lip Balm in Jasmine Blossom Tea for combating those chapped winter lips!

Total value is over $100 of beautifying items!

TO ENTER:

  1. Sign up for our mailing list to get awesome exclusive content, tips, and special offers delivered right to your inbox (never more than once a week — usually less than twice a month!)
  2. Follow us on Twitter or Instagram (or both for an extra entry).
  3. Leave a comment below with your number one favorite way to stay beautiful in the winter!  It can be a food, beauty ritual, self-care practice, whatever keeps you radiant!

You’ve gotta complete all three steps to enter the giveaway!  We’ll announce the winner next Friday afternoon (EST) so make sure you enter before then!

So excited to share our favorite beauty tools with you!!

xoxo,

The OB

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And Our Winner Is…

Kate!

Congratulations! And thank you to everyone for entering!

Stay tuned for our next giveaway, coming up in the next couple of weeks!

A Natural Wellness Spell for Your Skin

A Natural Wellness Spell for Your Skin | The Organic Beauty Blog

By: Kristina Tortoriello

Witch hazel is my skin savior at the moment. Specifically, Thayer’s witch hazel astringent pads are kicking bad skin’s butt.

Sales in similar products have picked up of late, the trend has seen an internet boom with health blogs (hi!) singing it’s praise- so what exactly is the craft behind this covetous self care must-have?

To start, this favored foliage is deciduous, found in mild, temperate regions of Canada and the US. It’s garden-friendly, and not a particularly fussy plant, so upkeep stays simple. When in bloom, the flowers are fairly acidic which enhances natural astringent qualities. Like magic! All of these factors point to a practically ready-made home remedy. (And it strikes a resemblance to the hazelnut plant- which would explain the ‘hazel’, but jury’s still out on the ‘witch’…)

The medicinal properties of witch hazel have long been cultivated for personal use. Apart from clearing the skin, it retains the skin’s moisture, refreshes pores, soothes troubled under-eye bags, and staves off irritating derma-dilemmas like rashes, sunburn and razor burn. Bonus points: It removes the grease and grime from your hair line!

…It’s also a pretty effective, high quality product, I’ve found, for the low price it averages.

Bewitched yet? For a face the fairest of them all, check out any of the Thayer’s Natural Remedies products.

Extreme Skin Nourishment from Biao Beauty

By: Natasha Uspensky, CHHC

Biao’s Beauty Rejuvenation Collection

It’s no secret that dry, winter skin is something that plagues many of us, and is yet another reason to dread the coming of  these darker months.  Well, I am happy to report that you can cross this winter bummer of your list!  Introducing the Beauty Rejuvenation Collection from Biao Beauty.  This line of hyper moisturizing, extremely nourishing products are your key to dewy, glowing, soft skin all winter long, no matter what mother nature throws your way!

The secret to this amazing line of products is a potent one-two punch of Epicalmin TCM and babassu oil.  Epicalmin TCM is a synergistic blend of three plants traditionally used in Chinese Medicine which have amazing protective and anti-aging effects on the skin.  When combined with babassu oil, which improves skin’s elasticity, suppleness, and moisture, the result is an amazing combo for youthful, glowing skin!

I’ve been using the Rejuvenating Night Creme, which leaves my skin feeling like absolute silk.  Loaded with other powerful skincare ingredients like olive oil, vitamin E, lavender and honeysuckle, the cream is also intensely healing for sensitive skin or skin prone to eczema or psoriasis.  The rose scent, which is absolutely heavenly, comes from palma rosa oil, which is not only yummy smelling, but has powerful oil regulating and cell regenerating effects, making it perfect for reducing the appearance of wrinkles or scars.  I wake up in the morning with glowing, supple skin, that, I kid you not, barely even needs a brush of powder to look flawless!  This is definitely my new favorite night cream.

The Rejuvenating Mask is also a vital addition to your winter toolbox. Not only does it totally drench your skin with intense hydration and essential nutrients, it also detoxifies, deep cleans pores, and combats premature aging.  Ingredients like green tea, sunflower seed oil, and vitamin A add even more power to the line’s already powerful herbs and oils. The mask goes on like a thick cream, and I definitely felt something tingling under there.  When I washed it off, my skin looked like I had just gotten a facial.

Organic Beauty-Biao Skincare

Sprouting boxes! How beautiful!

These formulas are, of course, all natural, and free of parabens, sulfates, synthetic fragrances, synthetic dyes, petrochemicals, phthalates, GMOs and Triclosan.  To boot, the boxes — which come with such warm fuzzy reminders such as “Remember to think beautiful thoughts to create positive energy during this skin beautification,” (adorbs, right?!) — are also plantable and embedded with a mix of seeds including Baby Blue Eyes, Black-Eyed Susan, and Siberian Wallflower.  How’s that for eco-friendly! (Click the photo to enlarge and see the seeds sprouting when you soak the boxes!)

To celebrate this beautiful line, we’ve got a couple goodies for you!

First, we’re holding a giveaway!  To enter, just complete the following 3 steps by this Sunday, November 24th:

  1. Follow us on Twitter!
  2. Leave a comment on Biao’s Facebook Page sharing what makes you feel beautiful, inside and out!
  3. Leave a comment here sharing that you’ve completed the two steps!  Bonus if you share your answer here too ; )  We want to know!

Second, Biao Beauty is looking for 15 women between the ages of 35 and 55 to test their product!  If you’re interested, fill out the form here to be one of their testers!

Here’s to perfect, glowing, winter skin!

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Our giveaway is now closed… Congratulations to our winner, Erica Jones!