Search Results

How a Cult Skincare Company Transitioned to Being a Fully Vegan Brand.

Medik8 is a brand I’ve known about for some time now, having first come across them at Mi:skn Clinic, where their products are used post-Omnilux (you can read more about my experience with that here!). Having always been a high-end, cosmeceutical brand since inception, I assumed that Medik8 being 100% vegan was probably out of the question, however they have always been cruelty free which is hugely important to me.

Recently, Medik8 made the transition to becoming fully vegan – and I wanted to dig in and find out more behind the decision & what exactly was involved, so we spoke to Director of Research at Medik8, Daniel Isaacs. Read on to discover more about the brand’s fascinating journey!

Can you share a little bit about how Medik8 started and the story behind the decision to create the business?

Medik8 was born out of a passion to deliver the benefits of serious skincare science without needing to compromise on the demand for ethics, transparency, sustainability and beautiful textures and fragrances found in natural brands. Elliot Isaac’s mission (founder of Medik8) was, and still is, to demystify the anti-ageing skincare industry with his trademark CSA Philosophy of ‘vitamin C plus sunscreen by day, and vitamin A by night’. This simplicity plus the end of choosing between results or experience is the secret to Medik8’s success.

What was behind your decision to transition to a 100% vegan skincare company?

Over the last 5 years, veganism has become a growing movement. This lifestyle extends way beyond just a diet. It involves what cosmetics you use, what household products you buy or the clothes you wear, to name but a few. In the UK alone, the number of vegans has quadrupled over the last four years. The reasons why are clear; according to The Vegan Society if the world went vegan, it could save 8 million human lives by 2050, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two thirds, and avoid climate damages of $1.5 trillion.[1]

With consumers becoming increasingly conscious of whether a product has been derived from an animal byproduct or not, vegan beauty products make it simple and provide a guilt-free moment of indulgence. You can also rest assured that Medik8 do not test on animals nor ask others to test for us. This includes finished products and products within development or production, as well as ingredients used within our products. We are animal lovers and look forward to the day when animal testing is banned worldwide forever.

Vegan beauty is a no-brainer. Better for the planet, 100% cruelty free and often of higher quality, vegan products are exceptionally easy to swap to and you don’t lose any efficacy with the product.

Were you driven by your customers / social media to make the change?

We have always had a huge Vegan following and always listen to our fans, but ultimately this is something close to our hearts and at Medik8 we wanted to take full responsibility for our actions. We understand that having a beauty regime filled with vegan skincare is beneficial for the planet and your skin.

What is the process involved for Medik8 in transitioning to being a fully vegan brand?

We conducted a full audit of all our products in 2018 and discovered that only 5 of our products were not vegan. This was due to some legacy formulas containing ingredients like yoghurt. We then set ourselves the goal of making every single Medik8 product completely vegan by the end of 2019, which we have achieved.

Our Ultimate Recovery Intense is a rich, restorative cream for dry, compromised and post-treatment skin. It used to contain silk serica (derived from the silkworm), which we replaced for allantoin. Allantoin is a natural component in comfrey root, which helps to support natural wound healing, speeding up skin renewal and softening the skin.

Advanced Night Restore is a deeply hydrating cream that works while you sleep, featuring an intelligent moisturisation complex of ceramide, fatty acids and (non-vegan) cholesterol. We now use a combination of synthetic cholesterol and a plant-derived form of cholesterol called phytosterol. Phytosterol gives structure to the plant’s cell membrane the same way cholesterol does for our skin. They both function similarly in enhancing the skin’s natural lipid barrier to lock in hydration.

Balance Moisturiser uses a high-performance blend of prebiotics and probiotics to rebalance the skin’s natural microbiome, promoting a healthy-looking, radiant complexion. While the probiotics were previously based on fermented milk-derived lactobacillus, they are now obtained from the fermentation of plant-based lactobacillus extracts – 100% vegan!

We also removed beeswax from our White Balance Overnight Repair and replacing it with vegan emulsifiers, plus removing non-vegan yoghurt extract from our Surface Radiance Cleanse.

What would you say to other businesses considering making the switch?

As a brand we have a responsibility to our planet and our customers, we believe everyone should be taking the steps to better themselves and be transparent with their consumers.

Thanks to Daniel for taking part in this interview with us! If you’d like to find out more about Medik8, hop on over to their website, Facebook or Instagram.

Beauty & Wellbeing Crushes: My Favourite SPF 50+ Facial Sunscreen, kX Pilates Subiaco & Adalase.

Bonjour! I hope you’re reading this while having a brilliant hair day, feeling super-nourished, and with a cup of tea (or wine) in hand.

I really love sharing my current favourite products, exercise classes & wellness treats with you – so let’s get cracking!

To Save Face SPF 50+ Sunscreen

This facial sunscreen is my go-to every single day of the year – rain, hail or shine. When I was younger I didn’t wear facial sunscreen and as a result I have a little spot of sun damage on my left cheek. Once it started appearing I quickly sprung into action and as such now make sure to pop some of this on under my makeup each day. It doubles as a primer and I love the way my makeup looks with this as a base so much, that I often use it in the evenings as well!

10/10!

♥ Reformer Pilates in Subiaco

kX Pilates Subiaco

I’ve been having a little bit of a love affair with ClassPass lately and have slowly been discovering my favourite places to stretch & sweat, creating ever-changing weekly routines that work for me. I love it!

One of my faves is kX Pilates in Subiaco. This is a reformer studio that offers 50 minute classes and goes the extra mile by incorporating weights, yoga stretches, ball-work and more to create seriously shaking muscles and a toned butt & core. I’ve been to around 4-5 classes so far, and all of the teachers are friendly, helpful if you have any new or ongoing injuries, and will work you to your personal maximum ensuring you leave each class feeling like you’ve had a fantastic workout, but not been pushed past your limit. Which is my favourite way to work out!

Do yourself a favour and check out kX Pilates in Subiaco if you’re looking to tone up in 2018 (and beyond).

Adalase

This one is really new to me – during a delicious gnocchi & wine catch up with my naturopath Marnie Downer (see her, she’s the best!), I mentioned that despite making a number of changes to my diet and supplements, I was still struggling with dairy & sugar based skin breakouts. While I generally try to avoid both of these with varying degrees of success, sometimes there’s cheese and crackers at work or a party and I just can’t help myself… and then instantly regret it when an acne cyst starts popping up within 2 hours.

Cue: Adalase. This is a chewable vegan Vitamin A supplement, somewhat of a miracle, and tastes slightly like liquorice. At first I wasn’t into the taste but grew to really like it! There are 60 tablets in a bottle and for me Marnie recommended I super-dose and take 6 per day (!) and then go down to 1 per day. This proved difficult and I ended up having 2-3 a day, I just broke them in half (they are about the size of a 10 cent piece) and nibbled on them throughout the day. I then went down to 1-2 a day.

Since I have started taking this supplement, around 1-2 months, I can hand on heart say that I have not had ONE new pimple – and I’ve indulged in cheese, icecream, sugar and alcohol. Along with plenty of good things of course 😉 But generally regardless of how much goodness I put in my body, if I stray from the 100% healthy eating path it soon shows up in my skin, and I haven’t gone more than a few weeks without a zit since I was about 13 years old – so that’s 20 years!

I would love, love, love if anyone else with hormonal/cystic/general acne or pimples wanted to try this and let me know how they go with it – it’s been a confidence saver for me.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of the above, if you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them below so we can have a chat!

Be well,

xoxo

Weekly Wellness Crushes: Calm Down Tea, Sauna Highs and Fresh Haircuts at Hair Addicts Perth.

I hope the start of your year has been full of wonder, joy & lots of wellness treats. This week I’m excited to get back into sharing my crushes with you – the little wellness snippets that are brightening my days & making me feel amazing. I can’t wait to start sharing more of these and hopefully helping you find a new product, fitness class or healthy tip you can add into your life.

Lets go…!

Calm Down Tea

I’m absolutely loving this tea lately because of it’s simple ingredients, yummy taste & peaceful vibes. Containing organic rooibos, biodynamic apple, chamomile & pink rose petals, it’s the perfect cup to brew after a busy day, or even to have on hand at work so you can mitigate any stress as it pops up. You can purchase online directly from Yarra Valley Tea Co. or I’ve also spied it in the extensive tea selection at Fresh Provisions Mount Lawley.

Sauna Highs

Recently I’ve been resdiscovering the wonders of your stock-standard gym sauna. For a while I was off these, mostly due to not having stepped foot in a gym for a while, and the thought of having to talk to sweaty men in an enclosed space made me slightly uncomfortable. However I dusted off these concerns and booked in for a Swim Session @ Beatty Park through ClassPass. In this session you can use any of their indoor & outdoor pools, steam room, spa and the sauna for three ClassPass points, which works out to be $5 – a saving of $6 from their regular casual swim passes – win!

The dry heat of the sauna is perfect after a few casual laps of the 50m outdoor pool, and luckily for me the few times I’ve been noone has been in an overly chatty mood, but if they are and you don’t feel like talking you can always just close your eyes and pretend you’re meditating. It only takes 5-10 minutes to start sweating up a storm, and the heat tends to have a magical calming + invigorating quality to it that will leave you feeling energised and present at the same time.

I like to squeeze in a swim, followed by a sauna, another swim, another sauna, DONE.

Block Colour Package @ Hair Addicts Perth

Let me preface this by saying I’ve never been “Becky with the good hair”. On a good day my hair could manage as passable, or “not bad”, but a combination of laziness, lack of skill and a penchant for only seeing a hairdresser once a year (!!) in my previous life meant that bad hair days were more common than good ones.

Fast forward to being 33 years old, single, and FINALLY having found a fantastic hairdresser in the form of Jess @ Hair Addicts Perth, I’ve now declared 2018 the year of “no more excuses, good hair is important, you’re making a booking every 2.5 months, no questions asked” – and I’m super excited to have my locks looking and feeling good all year.

The photo above was taken directly after I finished my latest appointment a couple of weeks ago, and I hand-on-heart can say that my hair has NEVER looked that good before. Ever. I honestly didn’t even recognise it as my own hair. That result was achieved after a colour, Olaplex treatment (my first time having this and I am a CONVERT!), wash, head massage, cut, blow dry & waves added in. All in all I believe it came to $190 which is an absolute bargain, and I almost don’t want to share this hidden gem of a salon because I’m scared I wont be able to get an appointment easily anymore!

The regular cut, colour, blowdry package is $150 at time of publishing, which is out of this world reasonable. Run, don’t walk, to get your hair cut with Jess or any of the babes at this gorgeous hair salon which is located in Tuart Hill.

Questions? Comments? Leave a message below!

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

My Personal 2016 Wellness Wrap Up!

♥ local lunar babe @chi.borrello

Hey 2016! You were actually an awesome year for me, thanks for existing and allowing me to exist through you. I love to reflect, so the following are some of my health & wellness highlights:

Self-care became the top priority. After a few years of insane stress + anxiety, working 24/7 & zero holidays, all of that changed when I finalised the sale of my old business. Actually – it took a little longer if I’m being honest. At first I felt relieved, but also out of sorts. I’d been working so much that it felt wrong to have downtime, so I started freelancing & picked up a few ongoing marketing clients who were all AMAZING, and the extra money was terrific, however I was back to working 7 days a week and exhausted. Any days off I had from my regular job I was face deep in other work & I was burning out. Something had to shift, but I wasn’t sure what it was quite yet. All of this lead to…

Another life changing Bali trip (full review to come soon!). In June I spent 10 days in Ubud with my boyfriend & bestie, and it changed everything. We decided to create a DIY yoga retreat, this meant 2-4 yoga classes per day, meditation, incredible vegan food, loads of coconuts, cold-pressed juice & kefir, Ayurvedic treatments, pool time, a little exploring & lots of rest too.

It was here that I realised what I had been doing. I was focusing so much on work that I had absolutely no time to take care of myself. Being constantly tired, daily 2-3 hour afternoon naps, fluctuating moods & regular junk food cravings had become my new normal. I knew what I had to do.

As soon as I returned home I contacted my clients, thanked them for being wonderful & bowed out. I now enjoy 2-4 days off a week for the first time in around 5 years and have never felt healthier.

♥ Sunshine + cats!

Moving House + Sunshine!. Prior to my Bali trip, probably the biggest event of the year occurred. I moved house! From my teeny tiny falling apart-ment of 6 years, containing zero sunshine opportunities & zero landlord fucks (the place was practically in disrepair, but I did love it), to a giant, beautiful old house with a cat, huge backyard, plentiful slices of sunshine, AIR CONDITIONING (a big deal!!!), fireplace, amazing kitchen and a million other great things. Let it be known that having space to dance around, a couch outside to enjoy the morning breeze & birds, loads of flowers & trees, and a little bit of heating/air conditioning does wonders for your overall wellbeing – who knew 😉

Seeing a Naturopath. I wrote a big article outlining the reasons why I saw a Naturopath when I was feeling healthier than ever. And I can now attest that it’s absolutely one of the very best things that happened last year.

I’d seen Marnie a few years ago and loved her down-to-earth approach. I was already feeling great, but knew I had a few lingering deficiencies that could be improved upon. Actually they were pretty important ones! My iron was incredibly low (just below the lowest acceptable minimum) and my vitamin D levels weren’t great either, more than likely due to living in the no-sunshine-home mentioned above.

Both of these have a huge impact on mood and energy. Having struggled with intense chronic anxiety and low energy in my life, I knew it was time to get on top of these once and for all. I’m now spending a little bit of time in the sun every day, taking Vitamin D supplements to help & taking Iron supplements too. Interestingly, low iron is a pretty slow fix. It may take up to 2 years to get the levels to their peak, but I’m feeling better every day and excited to continue on this journey to full health. If you need a Naturopath I can, and always do, highly recommend Marnie Downer in Mount Lawley / Inglewood.

♥ Running around Lake Monger

Running. I’ve always found it difficult due to the aforementioned anxiety and low iron, however in June of last year I decided to recruit a friend and finally give it a real go. We decided on Couch to 5K, which is an 8 week program available as a phone app or you can just time your runs (the app is much easier!). This program does as it says and gets you from the couch, to being able to jog without stopping for 5K.

I have a confession to make, however! Due to my yoga teacher training, other fitness classes that need to be taken as part of my job, sicknesses, weather and general life – my pal and I are actually only up to ‘Week 5’ of Couch to 5K!!! But we’re both okay with it. At the beginning neither of us could jog for even 60 seconds and we are now able to cruise through 5-8 minute runs without collapsing. We’ll get to the full 5K this year 🙂 The mental and physical benefits have been fantastic – increased confidence, calmness, flatter stomach, better sleep, increased overall fitness – the list goes on.

If you are able to stick at it 3 x per week as the program suggests then you will get there much quicker than us, as we’ve only been able to squeeze around 1 per week in.

Hot Yoga Revelations. Listen closely, I’m about to share something that might change your life, as it is starting to do so for mine. So, as you may have gathered I do a bit of yoga and take a few fitness classes, partly because it makes me feel fantastic & partly because my job at lululemon requires it (cool job!).

What I’ve only JUST realised after all this time, is how incredible I feel the day after a hot & sweaty yoga class, but the kicker is that it HAS to be in a heated room. Why? I have absolutely no idea yet! All I know is that the day after sweating it out in warm to hot yoga, I feel INCREDIBLE. The only way I can describe it is a childlike feeling of joy and contentment that permeates through the whole next day and often lingers into the next.

You best believe I’ll be experimenting more with this in 2017!


So that’s my wellness year laid bare for you, I’d absolutely love to read your personal wellness discoveries of the year – and if you have any exciting plans for 2016, so share with me in the comments below!
🙂

Be well,

Annette xo

Healthy Fast Food: Freshii is Coming to Carillon City, Perth!

Call me a wellness nerd, but nothing excites me more than hearing about a brand new way to get healthy, nourished and feeling amazing in our little city. It’s the reason I started this website and I can’t wait to start sharing more healthy discoveries with you again over the coming weeks, months and years!

Working in the Perth CBD, I often feel a little strapped for super healthy & quick lunch options that don’t break the bank and don’t require prep (very little kitchen space at my workplace).

During my lunchtime wanderings (read: desperate search for healthy vegetarian food) last week, I stumbled across an exciting new addition coming soon to Carillon City Food Court – FRESHII.

With the motto of “Eat. Energize” emblazened upon the wall, and promises of healthy bowls, salads, burritos, fresh-pressed juice, soups, frozen yoghurt (& more!) I instantly got excited and started Googling the heck out of this new store which might be about to change my lunchtime life.

I wasn’t disappointed. Freshii is a “healthy-casual” franchise that started in Canada and has been exploding in popularity worldwide.

One of my favourite things about the chain, despite it not having opened here yet, is that the majority of their options are vegetarian & vegan, with the OPTION to add tofu, falafels, or meat. This gets me really stoked because I have found that most places in Perth do offer 1-2 vegetarian options, but the majority are for meat lovers. It looks like Freshii are turning that on it’s head by making 90% of their menu vegetarian, and then allowing the meat lovers a look in. WIN-WIN! In my mind this is how it should always be done and I imagine it would be good for business too.

Having just returned from an amazing trip to Bali, the promise of “bowls” is what delights me the most. A quick browse of their website reveals not one, not two, but FIVE vegetarian bowls brimming with healthy ingredients for us to enjoy!!! DID I MENTION I’M EXCITED?

Buddha Bowl

rice noodles, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, crispy wontons, green onions, spicy peanut sauce

Pangoa Bowl

brown rice, avocado, aged cheddar, cherry tomatoes, black beans, corn, cilantro, lime wedge, fiery bbq sauce

Helloooooooooo baby!

They also have a Superfood Soup, serve breakfasts including delicious sounding porridge, AND you can grab a 3-day juice cleanse from them too. What can’t this company do?

Needless to say I will be first in line when they’re open for business (no word on a date yet) & I can’t wait to give them all of my money.

Have you heard of Freshii before? What is your fave place in the CBD to grab a healthy lunch? I’d love to know so please comment below! 🙂

Love & wellness,

Annette xo