Give Scent

After living two years in Italy, and then returning to teach yoga retreats in Sicily, Elena Brower fell in love with the culture, the pace, and especially the scents. In particular, she discovered a Sicilian almond oil blend that inspired her to create a scent of her own. Wherever Elena wore her scent, women and men alike fell in love with the captivating fragrance. In collaboration with Alexandra Lyon Perelman and a boutique US-based fragrance shop, The Fragrance Shop, they recreated the blend, paired it with summery citrus and vanilla to round it out, and GIVE was born.

GIVE is made with pure oils, not tested on animals and a portion of the proceeds benefit Women for Women International, an organization that supports female survivors of war and conflict with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency. GIVE scent really lives up to the name!

There’s something special about Give’s sweet-smelling blend of almond oil, grapefruit, spicy vanilla and leather - a flirty aroma/fragrance with staying power.

Visit their website to purchase the beautiful scent.

DollyMoo

 

DollyMoo was created by two sisters, Amy and Nicci. They carry body oils, scrubs, lip balms, bath salts and facial serum . Their products are bad with healthy ingredients and are all hand-made.

Here are the products I loved:

Vanilla Oat Body Scrub: The intoxicating scent of vanilla, the soothing power of oatmeal on the skin, this company is built on love and you can feel the love on this body scrub. The salt blend in the scrub is great of removing dead skin, while the oatmeal and grape seed, vanilla, and vitamin E oils soothe and moisturize the skin. This is a great pre-shaved scrub, just scrub, rinse, and shave. It comes with an ultra cute little scoop, it ensures that you get just the right amount of products out without using too much. You can also recycle the scrub jar by planting a little flower in it, or storing sugar or flour, or herbs.

Lilac Body Oil: The succulent essence feels centered, as if suspended between the carriers, that holds beautifully for an impressive length of time until it transforms into the quiet solitude of its floral heart. You feel a nostalgic twinge with this subtly fragranced oil that will undoubtedly remind of you some enviable perfume you encountered when you first started shopping for your personal scent. It’s integrity has been kept in tact very nicely, bringing a a meditative, calming experience.

Lip Balm: I really like the way they feel, taste and smell.

Their body scrubs, oils and lip balms come in more delicious scents. Checkout their collection here.

 

Plume Natural Perfumery

 

The days when a woman walks into a room, accompanied by a cloud of perfume, and leaving an indelible fragrance footprint in her wake are so over. As more and more woman are learning about the danger of phthalates—a fragrance stabilizer used in most synthetic perfumes that can wreak havoc on hormones—perfume as olfactory assault is losing street cred. Natural perfume, besides being a healthier choice, is a subtler one, uplifting the mood of the wearer and making only her most intimate circle privy to the richly textured scent hovering on her skin. Plume Natural Perfumes are a collection of 100% natural perfume oils and solids that are hand-blended using traditional European perfumery techniques. All Plume perfumes are infused with a swoon-worthy blend of pure organic and botanical essences. Plume strives to provide customers with a luxurious scent experience that is subtle and personal, free from synthetics and chemicals, and enriching to the senses.

They also have a variety of silver and brass vintage-inspired lockets filled-to-order with your choice of solid perfume.

I love their Gingerbread & Fir: Apart from making me crave ginger cookies, it is a gorgeous scent. It has all the warmth that I expect from a good Fall or Autumn inspired scent and it has the perfect amount of gourmand notes. Wear it and indulge in some ginger cookies or a spice chai tea.

Checkout the perfume scents here.

Balance Oily or Combination Skin with Dr. Hauschka

Dr. Hauschka is one of the leading luxury brands on the market and one of my favorite splurge-worthy brands. Dr. Hauschka is a line of products focused on helping your skin regenerate itself naturally and maximize its power of healing. I tried the Daily Face care Kit and can’t wait to buy the big sized products now. Here are the list of the products best for oily and combination skin that I used:

Cleansing Cream: A very important core product in the Dr. Hauschka facial skin care range. This cream deeply cleanses but also maintains the pH balance so that the acidic barrier protecting your skin is not broken down. It maintains and supports the skin’s natural moisture level. Cleanses deeply, removing dirt particles and skin secretions.

Clarifying Toner: Specially formulated for oily and blemished skin, this toner refines the appearance of large pores. Extracts of anthyllis, calendula, nasturtium, echinacea, witch hazel and daisy combine to balance oil production and soothe skin.

Rejuvenating Mask: Softens acne scars. Normalises dry, pale skin with large pores. Stimulates dry skin to produce more moisture. Stimulates pale, depleted skin after stress or illness. Moisturising and soothing for sensitive, reddened skin. Improves the blood circulation, relaxes and decongests inflamed skin.

Facial Steam Bath: This product will open up your pores to allow you to unclog them and relieve them of excess sebum and dirt accumulation. Even if you wash your face everyday (as you should be!), there is always some excess that isn’t easily removed because it’s so deeply lodged into the skin’s pores. The Facial Steam Bath will liberate your skin of toxins which can create excessive oil or acne.

Cleansing Clay Mask: is a great follow-up step. With the same natural ingredients and botanicals, it will absorb excess sebum and dirt build-up so you can easily rinse it away and put your best skin forward.

Normalizing Day Oil: it contains apricot kernels, almond oils and St. John’s Wort (a natural healing herb). It helps control the sebum production of oil glands that have been overworked during the hot and humid summer. This will help balance the oil on your skin to prevent it from becoming too oily or from overly dehydrating throughout the season.

They have products for all skin types. Check their collection out here.

Essence of Vali

I recently tried some samples from Essence of Vali which is a NYC based company that sells 100% natural aromatherapy products. They carry oils, mists and balms that does magic on you, they can solve all of your problems such as, sleep problems, stress, pain or if you want balance in your life get the Balance Restore Mist or if you want some passion in your life try their Passion products and so on. I highly recommend them to you. Their mists can be used as a body spray as well

I fell in love with the Sleep Bedtime Balm: Sleep Bedtime Balm is used to help ease you into a peaceful sleep and comfort you during times of stress. Some people report that it helps unclog their sinuses. Dab the balm above the upper lip and on pulse points. Some people like to use it as a lip balm. It is wonderful to use during the day when you are feeling anxious or stressed out.

Relief Massage and Bath Oil: The ingredients of this mixture contains: Jojoba oil, essential oils of lavender oils, peppermint leaves and birch bark. This mixture combines together to help relax the body, penetrate into the muscles and soothe away pain.

Check out the other products here.

 

Massage with Oil

Massage therapy has been used throughout the centuries as one of the simplest forms of medical care. Today it is still widely practiced for pain management, to help alleviate emotional stress and to promote relaxation. Massage has also been shown to improve the function of the circulatory, lymphatic, immune and nervous systems and may improve the rate at which the body recovers from injury and illness and of course other then taking oil baths, an oil massage will give you the aromatherapy effect and relaxation as well. Try it and you’ll know it how a body and head massage feels. I feel it helps me to perform better during the day and my mind just works more faster, whatever it is, it works. You can use any oil for a good massage and when visiting a spa make sure they carry only clean products.

Oils for Healing

For centuries women in Asia and South Asia have been using the healing treatments of oils for their mind and body. It gives you a good fresh and relaxed mind that a busy and stressful women might need. It even helps your body to relief stress. You can use any oil such as, coconut oil, lavender oil, olive oil or jojoba oil. Here’s what I do: I fill the tub with warm water and add a few drops of oil and then get in. For more magic turn off the lights and light your candles. You will also get the effects of aromatherapy by this which is so relaxing that I can’t even describe it to you.

More Benefits of taking oil bath:

1. It clears oily substances from the skin of total body and facilitate the same to transfer heat from its inside to outside.
2. By giving healthy cold to our body we can have good appetite and feeling of taste.
3. Healthy cold prevailing in our body prevents many diseases like jaundice, cancer and other viral diseases.
4. We can get healthy, deep sleep and good concentration in our daily activities.
5. Side effects of severe diet control can be cleared by this good healthy habit.
6. Skin and hair health can be maintained as it removes surface tension on the body.

And you can find organic, raw oils from any health food store

Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is the practice of using the natural oils extracted from flowers, bark, stems, leaves, roots or other parts of a plant to enhance psychological and physical well-being. The inhaled aroma from these “essential” oils is widely believed to stimulate brain function. Essential oils can also be absorbed through the skin, where they travel through the bloodstream and can promote whole-body healing and there are also sprays that can be used to smell and it works the same like an oil would work. A form of alternative medicine, aromatherapy is gaining momentum. It is used for a variety of applications, including pain relief, mood enhancement and increased cognitive function. There are a wide number of essential oils available, each with its own healing properties.

I am looking for more and exciting Aromatherapy brands I love to carry them with me in my bag because you never know when you need to spray some on

Some 0f the famous and really good ones I know are as following:

1. Intelligent Nutrients (http://www.intelligentnutrients.com/cart/categories.php?category=Aromatics)
2. Tata Harper (http://www.tataharperskincare.com/shop/aromatherapy)
3. Essence of Vali (http://essenceofvali.com/)