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beauty: the search for the holy grail april2011There was a time when I molded, sculpted, and armored myself to fit in, belong and conform to what others, our culture, and the media expected my life and my beauty to look like. In my quest for what true beauty means, I found that beauty means so many different things and yet it all comes down to one sure thing…..all that is beautiful is a reflection of mother earth -nature. When you’re in nature, you become natural. When you’re natural, you’re in your own personal state of rhythm, balance, abundance and joy. You are unique and beautiful. When you are present with yourself and true to your own authentic way, you move through life strong and passionate in who you are. You are beautiful. In the sea of skincare products, quick fixes, makeup redos, laser, collagen and botox, there is no relief found to replace true beauty waiting for you naturally. So ladies, get your asics gels going and take a walk, hike, or run and get real, get natural, and get beautiful now. To rejuvenate from the hustle and bustle of the city life I love so much, my heart is free and I'm shining in my own beauty when I'm camping out in the wild, watching the deer, hawks, wild turkeys, or a coyote go by. Feeling the sunshine, walking on mother earth, loving the silence, and being in deep connection with all that really matters makes my heart sing. Back at Nanskin, I devote my days to solving skin issue- acne with dry, patchy skin, the first flare of Rosacea, the reoccurring blackhead syndrome with enlarged pores, lines that are now becoming permanent, or that one tormenting volcanic cyst with battle scars that cannot be covered up. I'm here with results that work and the skincare to back up my claims for immediate skin successes. How do I do it? My secret to success is my devotion to what's real. I step out in nature, ground in my own personal truths, and bring it all back home. So if you're not willing to get natural and get real in nature, I invite you to come hang out at Nanskin. Luxuriate in a soothing facial, pick up your fav skin treats, and in my presence capture a taste of my essence as I share with you my latest sweat lodge adventure or camping trip escapade and let me inspire you to see that when you look deeply in the mirror at all your imperfections and uniqueness, your reflection is your personal gift of beauty to be loved, nurtured, adorned and shared. Shine on! BEE BEAUTIFUL...may2010When I think of beauty I think bees. Anything a bee makes is regenerative for your skin and body and makes you beautiful. I start each day with a luscious concoction of green tea, almond milk infused with "Really Raw" honey. What I love about this honey is the pollen, propolis, honeycomb and live enzymes that are an inch thick topping you dig through to get to the creamy rich honey below. I then juice up a green drink of organic greens in my "Green Power" twin gear juicer. Into my concoction I add 2 Tablespoons of Bee Pollen I buy in the bulk section at Rainbow Grocery. Into that I add a formulation of Royal Jelly and Propolis from YS Organic Bee Farms. I used to be extremely allergic to bees and have to carry an EpiPen where ever I travel. I eat so much bee product daily that bees now buzz by me and say hi and fly away. When I get a small cut I put honey on it for quick healing. I slather honey on my face in the shower or bath and leave on for a few minutes to bump up the hydration and get that dewy fresh look daily. I attribute my radiant health, beauty glow and well being to all the deligent work these bees have done to create the ultimate beauty nectars- honey and bee pollen. Each day at Nanskin I finish my facials combining equal parts mask to honey to recondition the skin. Lip balms are mixed with honey for a delicious quick fix for dry chapped lips. At home you can apply your favorite raw local honey to your face and freeze with the Beauty Globe for the freshest dewy glow- day, night or anytime in between. Dry skins love Orange, Blackberry, Lavender and Wildflower honey. Oily Acne skins love more astringent ingredients- Eucalyptus, Thistle, and Sage honey. When I mention I'm a raw foodist the first question I'm asked is "Where do you get your protein?" Did you know that bee pollen is the most complete and perfect whole superfood available containing over 185 nutritive substances? Pollen is 35% protein. Bees put the collected grain of flower pollen into a single small pellet. Each pellet contains 2 million flower pollen grains and a teaspoon contains 2.5 billion grains of flower pollen! Bee pollen contains every amino acid. It contains most every vitamin including A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12, C, D, E, folic acid, rutin, inositol, and biotin plus all the necessary minerals and trace minerals, calcium, phosphorus, iron, selenium, iodine, chlorine, boron, zinc and molybdenum. Also included are over 5,000 enzymes and co-enzymes. All of these substances are in a totally predigested absorbable golden yellow beauty nugget with a yummy taste. Bee pollen’s benefits are amazing. Besides being the perfect beauty skin healer, it’s the latest greatest cure for allergies, weight loss, depression, migraines, and PMS. Mix honey with equal parts cinnamon and you create the ultimate cure for colds, arthritis, upset stomach, toothaches, fatigue, heart disease, hair loss, and bladder infections. Both honey and bee pollen increase energy, enhances mental stamina, activates the thymus gland, cleanses the blood, are a great source of anti-oxidents and are anti-viral, and increase longevity. When you're reviewing the endless array of skin products on the market and all their promises of eternal youthful beauty, know that nature's tried and true beauty secret is all about the bees. Eat bee pollen daily and slather yourself inside and out with honey and taste the essence of ageless timeless beauty. Bee powerful and beautiful now! Raw beauty.....get back to nature and be beautiful now!jan2010When you enter into the Nanskin sanctuary of pamper beauty, you’ve probably been drawn in by a jar of electric green veggie concoction radiating on the desk or the oversized glass jar with mysterious seedy looking green biscuits that you must find out more about. That’s the sign that Nan’s claim to fame is still being a "Raw Foodie" and still going strong and deeper into it since her raw immersion in 2004. On my search to find true beauty it was only natural that I found “Raw Foods”. Your skin shows everything you do to it, and everything you put in it detoxifies through the skin. Eating “Raw” is simply the best way to love up your body and shine radiately. Not only will you feel more vibrant than you’ve ever felt before, you will look and feel younger each day, and dare might I say most likely you won't be doing frequent trips to the doctor for meds anytime soon! My first introduction was simply getting a juicer and committing to juicing fresh greens each morning. It doesn’t matter what brand of juicer.... just get one and go for it! Juicing keeps the integrity of enzymes in food intact, gives you more energy than cooked food, cleanses your blood and all your internal organs, takes less time for your body to digest than dairy, wheat or flesh, and makes you look and feel beautiful and young. And yes, leafy greens contain more protein than steak or chicken! I start each day with a green juice consisting of some of my favs: kale, spinach, parsley, celery, cukes, fennel, mint and to sweeten it either oranges, apples, pears, pineapple, or watermelon. And yes you've got permission to combine fruit and veggies! After juicing for a few months daily, I then made the big switch from coffee and dairy to green tea with raw honey and freshly made almond milk. Coffee is hard on your kidney and liver, strips vitamins and minerals, and holds fat on your body. Green tea is healing for your immune system, flushes fat, and has a higher more feminine vibration than coffee. Energizing Green Tea Mate from Mate Factor is coveted by all those in search of the perfect green tea. Make the switch and feel the power! When Cafe Gratitude first opened in March 2004, I entered to find a book calling from the shelf- “The Sunfood Diet Success System” by David Wolfe. I could not put this book down! When I finished reading it, I proclaimed my new passion to be Raw Foods and the true quest for the connection between beauty and Raw began. “Eating for Beauty” by David Wolfe and “Spiritual Nutrition” by Gabriel Cousens are my "Raw Bibles". I quickly purchased a Vitamix blender and a Excaliber 9 tray Dehydrator and immersed myself fully by making fresh almond milk, raw crackers, raw soups, and other wildcrafted luscious raw concoctions going heavy on the chocolate nibs. I studied with Elaina Love for a year taking all of her Raw classes. I lost 25 lbs. of unwanted puffy flubber and look 10 years younger. Could Raw be the newest cure for stress, depletion, migraines, depression, Menopause, and aging? Deeper into the Raw beauty life, I discovered juice fasting as an excelerated healing tool. I headed for the solace of Harbin hot springs where I camped out for long weekends juice fasting, luxuriating in the healing waters, and basking in the sun. That’s right, did you know that sun is actually healthy for your skin and entire life force? However, if you're consuming artificial sweeteners and soft drinks, processed foods, radiated vegetables, taking medications especially Birth Control, or Antibiotics, or food that contains Antibiotics you will dark spot and grow barnacles (skin tags) from the sun!! Fasting was a huge piece in working with unhealthy eating patterns, portion control, eating to please others, and drinking alcohol as the main reason to connect socially. Fasting makes you lighter and brighter and releases your attachment to unhealthy food myths and rituals you set up for yourself that are totally outmoded. For instance, are you working with an outdated operating system like the four food groups you were taught in elementary school? Do you dare see the movie " Food Inc." and get back to me? Are we even going to discuss the benefits of hard alcohol? There are none! Take a really good look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself that most important question. What direction are you going in your personal health and aging process? Are you considering beauty treatments with IPL light therapy, micro-dermabrasion, and lasers? Look closer at yourself and the way you truly love yourself. Maybe the answers are within your own true knowing.....of creating a new "Health is Wealth" paradigm for yourself by getting back to the basics....what nature has to offer. Maybe start by eating a simple salad instead of a pizza at 10PM , ordering a green tea rather than a late, or buying that stainless Breville rather than a grilling pan. Just when you think hippies on a budget are the only ones going green...guess again! If any of this" raw talk" has got your attention and your gander up, I'm always up for a one-on-one and would love to show you my newest raw creation when you step into nurturing hands at Nanskin -the newest raw treat "Nan Water"- pure water charged with bee pollen, royal jelly, propolis, ginseng, goji and inca berries and ginger root. Drinking water was never this fun!! So back to that question...how does your beauty look and feel right now? Get back to nature and be beautiful now......go Raw! Pate your skin to beauty nov2009We all know that it's not so much what you have but how you use it. And in the world of Nanskin there's a new buzz going around. It's called "Pate-ing". And it refers to a new concept Nan invented in 2009, applying skincare products to the face. It consists of taking three complimentary products- usually a cream, a serum, and a butter -taking a dab, a dot, or two drops of each product on your fingertips and applying them to your face together...creating the ultimate application- the "Pate". Nan's fav is the Hyaluronic Serum, the Vitamin Bliss Cream, and the Jojoba Butter. The feel and look is incredible- a combination of slick, dewy, and plump. What you get using three products together is more beauty and more bang for the buck! Going back in skincare history, in the early 1970's and 80's, the concept of "cleanse, tone, and moisturize" was the standard. Then in the early 90's a new era of "base layer repair products" arrived on the scene (check out the video in my press section for fun! I'm one of the first to ride the edge of the new Glycolics). "Base layer repairs" meant you would cleanse with a cleanser, pat your face dry, apply a base layer repair product- -either a cream or serum of Glycolic Acid, Vitamin C, or Bleach and let it dry thoroughly and then apply a cream on top (which prevented dryness and flaking from the repair product). Savvy American skincare lines offering these products instantly became "repair lines" which were above and beyond the traditional European lines famous for heavy creams, toners, essential oils, and ampoules. In the early years of developing Nanskin this trend immediately launched Nan's line into becoming a "repair line" known for unbuffered, dermatology-strength Glycolics, Vitamin C -Ciel Cream, and Licorice Kojic Bleach, and exotic fruit and food acid peels such as the Razzleberry, Cherry Turnover, or Blue Agave Peels used in her facials for deeper repair; thus setting her line above and beyond the humdrum typical esthetician buying into someone else's dream. This repair concept has been tweeked recently with the onslaught of Serums - a liquid which contain the very essence of each repair product. Nanskin lover's apply the D-Bold for firming, the Hyaluronic for water-binding, the Major C for oxygenating and strengthening capillaries, and the ultimate EGF Serum for instant tissue repair.
Women are natural researchers and investigators when it comes to beauty treatments, skincare products, and beauty adventures. Ladies follow my lead and get your glow on with these fun pates: Serious Nanskin lover's invent your own Pate to beauty and get back to me with your truths and results. If you're curious about these products especially if you've never heard of them remember Nan has a generous sampling program included with her facials for your beautious pleasure. Enjoy....and remember to walk in your own natural beauty always! |