♥ NOOD Turmeric Latte

I’m so excited to be bringing back weekly beauty & wellbeing crushes! There are so many bits & pieces that get me excited about healthy living, beauty & nutrition that I want to share – so this bite-size format is perfect. Let me know what you think and if you have any recommendations for future crushes 🙂

<3 Turmeric lattes at NOOD Cafe

I’m currently obsessed with both the new NOOD Cafe in Leederville, and one of my favourite healthy treats to enjoy is their delicious Turmeric Latte. If you haven’t yet tried this golden milk of the health gods, put it on your to-do list. Turmeric is anti-inflammatory, full of antioxidants, great for the skin & brain, and has a list of benefits about a mile long.

♥ Takeaway Turmeric Latte + Avo on Toast!

The folks at NOOD kindly have some coconut sugar available so I always add a little to sweeten the deal, it’s also completely dairy-free & made with super tasty Almo almond milk (which you can also buy bottles of to take home). Love!

♥ Skin tea (more on this coming soon!) & HUM Runway Ready

<3 HUM ‘Runway Ready’ Supplements

I’ve been taking these supplements on and off for just over a year now, and I can see a huge difference in the growth of my hair & nails + overall pleasantness of my skintone when I am making a regular habit of it.

These cute little pink sachets contain 3 supplements, 1 x biotin capsule & 2 x black currant seed + sunflower seed oil tablets, all of which are meant to work wonders for hair + skin + nails. Importantly for me they are vegetarian and are also really easy to swallow. Bottoms up.

♥ Radical Self Love + Succeed, the next book on my reading list!

<3 Radical Self Love by Gala Darling

In the past couple of months I’ve cut down on the number of work projects in my life, and subsequently have found a lot more time for yoga, cooking, reading & hanging out in the sunshine. I feel super lucky on a regular basis, and despite having to be a little more thrifty with my income, couldn’t be happier with my new lifestyle.

I’ve followed Gala Darling on & off for around 10 years now and have always been a fan of her ideas around increasing fun, celebration & magic into daily life. Her first book, Radical Self Love, is a distillation of her views on how to love yourself more & live a rad-ass life, and I have found myself buried deep in the pages of it most nights. Taking notes, making plans & generally enjoying the good vibes contained within.

At the 3/4 mark, I thoroughly recommend this book, especially if you’re in a bit of a rut and need a little bit of extra inspiration to get out there, be your most dazzling self & kick-start your best life. Check it out here & if you’ve read it be sure to let me know what you think, too!

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

Greens greens greens! There are so many products around these days that make it easy to get a daily dose of green goodness into your hard-working body.

While a green smoothie each day is always on the cards, when I’m wanting to turn it up a notch these are my 3 go-tos for a little extra boost 🙂

1. Matcha Powder – one of the most popular superfoods of the past year or so, Matcha is said to deliver an antioxidant hit with a gentle energy buzz, making it perfect for those who are usually sensitive to caffeine (myself included!). Throw it in your smoothie, bake with it, add it to cold water & shake, pancakes, you name it. With so many Matcha companies around, I like to keep it local with Matcha Tea Co.

2. Clipper Decaf Green Tea – a LONG time fave of mine! You wont believe how much your skin improves if you drink 2-3 cups of this each day. All the goodness, zero caffeine!

3. Sun Chlorella Tablets – Concentrated doses of tiny, green nutrition – these are my new lifeline when I’m not able to have a green juice or smoothie, I carry these around with me and pop one whenever the need for a bit of a nutritional boost arises. They contain 22 vitamins & minerals, help the body renew itself, are a form of vegan B12 & also help the body to remove toxins. I get mine from The Little Organic Society.

I’d love to hear what your favourite way to boost your daily intake of greens is!

Be well,

Annette

♥

Having done IPL before (bikini line), I had a sense of what to expect with the Philips Lumea Precision Plus system (RRP $1,299.95). I assumed it’d be a gentler process purely because the people using it don’t need a course and a qualification to use it.

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The set consists of the handset, two interchangeable heads of differing sizes, a charger and a bag. The head is much heavier than the handle and some care needs to be taken since your hand is sitting very close to the power button. Because I was always using the Lumea after a shower, I’d be lightly steaming, which didn’t help. I ended up wiping off the handset after every second pass or so to make sure I didn’t slip around and accidently switch it off.

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The light is a very bright red, as opposed to the white light of the salon IPL systems. While the flash is bright, it also doesn’t “imprint” on your field of vision. My cat scuttled out of the room two flashes in.

While the interchangeable nozzles attach to the handset securely, you’re also required to press it firmly into the skin to attain the “airlock” that allows you to pull the trigger safely, and if you’re careless and inadvertently drag it along the skin at that kind of pressure you’ll probably knock the nozzle off. This will result in hot glass-skin contact which is unadvisable.

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After the first application, the most noticeable difference was a longer growback period, and many of the hairs when they came through came through a bit stunted – either doubled over, or oddly curled. I have strong, straight leg hair, so this was very noticeable on me.

The regrowth slowdown and cessation seems to happen on an individual hair by hair basis – some follicles immediately shut down, some grow oddly, some are determinedly still growing as they always have. I have big channels on my legs where hair has completely disappeared next to unconcerned normal growth. But as each application comes around, the normal hairs are shriveling up and eventually give up and don’t grow at all. There’s a perverse kind of enjoyment in this.

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Meanwhile on my belly it only took two zaps for this finer hair to disappear, and in my underarms there seems to be the same amount of hair, but the hairs are thinner and finer. But even if I’m still shaving, shaving is a good deal easier and I do not need to do it as often. I’m confident that with repeated applications this lot will slow down and cease as well.

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I’ve used this machine six times and the results have varied depending on where I’m applying. Stomach has been perfect, underarms have been encouraging and a lot more manageable, my legs have been patchy but steadily progressing. I should stress again that my leg hair is monstrous and will almost certainly put up more of a fight than yours.
I’ve done full, 12-session courses of salon IPL, which cost me far more than I’m willing to think about.

The Lumea system is admittedly expensive, but less so than doing it through a salon and it gives you the option of topping up your applications on a whim. All up, you will likely need to use the Lumea more often to get the results of the salon IPL, but salon IPL is also something of a trauma for your skin – it’s a good deal more powerful and the tradeoff is tender, red skin for a while afterwards. The Lumea did not irritate me at all. There wasn’t even any pinkness. I could slather on moisturizer directly afterwards and nothing bad happened. I’m really impressed by this system – would recommend it for those considering IPL through the more traditional means.

Find out more about it on the Philips website!

Product supplied for consideration.

Have you tried IPL in salon or at home before? Leave a comment below with your experiences!

Review by Suzanne, who also blogs over at Don’t They Know Who I Am?

Be well,

xox

♥ My facialist Maryanna Lucror

What better way to start a weekend than with a facial? Make that an ‘at home’ facial using one of the finest skin care brands, Arbonne. Now you’re talking!

The lovely Maryanna Lucror treated me to an Ultimate Facial last weekend, and my skincare resolutions for 2013 (to stick to using one brand) are now set in stone. Luckily, Arbonne is a product that my skin knows and loves (I have never had clearer, more glowing skin than when I used to use it), so I’m looking forward to getting that glow back!

♥ The beautiful Arbon, how amazing does it look?!

Hailing from the Swiss village Arbon, the highly regarded, premium skincare brand is inspired by nature and each product contains clinically proven and botanically based ingredients, which, in combination with meticulous research and testing, exceeds industry standards for purity.

My facial began with Arbonne’s FC5 Purifying Cleanser + Toner, a lightweight formula designed to simultaneously cleanse and tone the skin while visibly reducing oiliness. Ingredients include witch hazel and strawberry cells – yum! This was followed by the FC5 Exfoliating New Cell Scrub, a vitamin rich exfoliant with a slightly clay-based texture. The scrub feels warm on application and tingles slightly as it deeply purifies to reveal fresher, brighter skin. I love this scrub, and use it 3 times a week now!

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My skin was then treated to the RE9 Cellular Renewal Masque – its key ingredients include pineapple, papaya enzymes and algae extract, which function to improve skin tone and texture and minimise pores. What I loved about this masque was that it didn’t dry and harden, which can be very harsh on the skin, particularly if it is sensitive. This masque is actually equivalent to two dermabrasion sessions (but without the risk) so to replenish the skins moisture, Maryanna applied the FC5 Skin Conditioning Oil. The oil hydrates, conditions and softens without being greasy or heavy on the skin.

I have quite dry skin, so to give it that extra moisture boost, the FC5 Intense Hydration Mask was then applied. This is a lighter, gel based mask containing fresh mango, sunflower seed oil and pomegranate extract. The RE9 Regenerating Toner was spritzed gently on my skin, followed by RE9 Eye Crème and FC5 Oil Absorbing Day Lotion with SPF 15.

♥ My Arbonne goodies!

The Arbonne Ultimate Facial was such a treat. It was relaxing, informative and luxurious and a product I really believe in. Since the facial, I ordered the FC5 Complexion Revitalizing Set and have been using it religiously! My skin loves me for it.

To purchase Arbonne or to find out more, contact Maryanna at lucror2010@hotmail.com

Or check out the Arbonne website https://www.arbonneinternational.com.au/

Do you have a favourite skincare brand that you have always used? Or have you tried Arbonne? I'd love to chat in the comments below!

Review by Lucy, Arbonne convert and preacher!

Be well,

xoxo

♥

If the thought of coming home from a day at the office and being whisked away on a Balinese yoga retreat appeals to you… then this is the next best thing! Filmed in the midst of a serene Balinese backdrop, Eoinn Finn's 6 DVD Blissology Project contains a Vinyasa Flow yoga and meditation routine for each weekday and one for the weekend, and at just $30 from Amazon it's a real bargain! Each day focuses on a different area of the body and mind to guide you through the week.

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Eoin is a well-known Canadian yogi and surfer who has studied and taught yoga and meditation for many years. He regularly teaches workshops and holds retreats as well as having a line of DVDs. Eoin was also one of Lululemon’s first ambassadors!

He describes Blissology on his website as “the art of consciously finding the balance between one’s personal desires and our impact on the web of life. It is not just a brand but a way of being. It is a path of interconnectedness and love.”

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Eoin approaches yoga holistically, encouraging us to adopt its philosophy into our everyday lives. There is no reason not to get some yoga practise in every day with this DVD set, with each weekday disc giving you the option of a ‘quickie’ (usually around 30-35 minutes)if you’re strapped for time, or a longer routine of around 45-55 minutes if you are after a more intense session. If you’re new to the world of yoga there are beginner’s options throughout, as well as a reference guide to help you perfect those postures.

If you are looking for more of a challenge, there are alternatives during each session to help you push yourself further. Every routine also finishes with a 10 minute meditation to keep you grounded, present and feeling like you don’t have a worry in the world.

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Practising yoga at home with the assistance of a DVD is a great complement to your usual yoga or fitness routine, and is an excellent option for those of us who don’t always have time for classes before or after work, or who may not be in a position to commit to a full membership or course.

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If you are a true beginner this is an enjoyable introduction to the yoga lifestyle, however I would recommend that you do combine your at-home practise with some guided sessions at your local yoga studio in order to truly understand and master the various postures and sequences, and of course to avoid injuring yourself.

You can even pop the DVD into your laptop, take it outdoors and practise in the park or at the beach… I can’t think of a better way to shut out the world and get some quality me-time in!

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The DVD can be purchased in-store at Lululemon, or online at Amazon. You can also find Eoin’s range of other videos on the Blissology website, which can all be downloaded straight to iTunes.

I'd love to hear if you've tried the Blissology DVD's, or are keen to, and what your favourite yoga DVD's are at the moment – so leave a comment below!

Review by Alice – yoga-lover who would really like to attend a retreat in Bali sometime soon!

Be well,

xoxo