Spotlight On: Lavender

Lavender is beloved for its soothing and healing properties. The aroma has both relaxing and stimulating properties. It is also antiseptic and anti-inflammatory which makes it perfect for irritated and damaged skin. Lavender has a long history of use as a healing agent in creams, lotions, and salves and is valued for its aromatic and cell-regenerating properties It is commonly chosen to reduce the appearance of wrinkles, scarring, and stretch marks.

Antiseptic and anti-inflammatory- perfect for burns, rashes, and irritated and damaged skin, and it is commonly used as a healing agent in creams, lotions, and salves. It has cell-regenerating properties and is used for reducing wrinkles, scarring, and stretch marks.

DIY Gardener's Salve

This time of year is great for getting out in the garden! But it can be rough on our hands. Care for your hands by making your own Gardener's Salve from the Mountain Rose Herbs blog - click here.

Grow Through What You Go Through

Grow through what you go through. Give yourself permission to feel emotions as they arise and to be patient - processing our emotions and healing take time and a willingness to sit with uncomfortable feelings; it's a process that cannot be rushed. Be as loving with yourself as you can and reach out to friends or mental health professionals when it feels like more than you can bear. We need your light and voice in this world. 

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day - we take a moment today to remember and honor the brave men and women who lost their lives while serving our country. We also want to thank all those who are serving and have served. 

Wear Gratitude Like A Cloak

"Wear gratitude like a cloak and it will feed every corner of your life."   
- Rumi
 

Take a Walk Today

Take a walk today and be with nature. 

Gratitude

"GRATITUDE is not a passive response to something given to us, gratitude is being awake in the presence of everything that lives within and without us." - David Whyte

I try to remember this and keep it with me everyday

Spotlight On: Brown Sugar

Brown sugar is an amazing skin care secret weapon! It is a fantastic exfoliator for all skin types. It is gentler than a salt scrub yet strong enough to scrub away dead skin cells and make way for radiant skin. The natural glycolic acid in sugar helps condition and moisturize skin. We love it for smoothing arms and elbows! 

Sugar moisturizes on its own, but since most sugar scrub recipes include oil, it provides even more moisture and allows your skin to achieve more of its natural balance. We love it so much it's in both our Citrus Bergamot Sugar Scrub and our Awake Coffee Scrub! 

Product Highlight: Citrus Bergamot Sugar Scrub

Our Citrus Bergamot Sugar Scrub is a customer favorite because it’s jam packed full of moisture. Our most popular scrub leaves skin glowing, smooth, and hydrated. Sugar scrubs are gentler on the skin than salt scrubs and, sugar's alphahydroxy acid helps loosen dirt and slough off dead skin cells. Did we mention this scrub moisturizes, too?

Spotlight On: Bergamot Essential Oil

It may look like a weird lumpy lime, but this is a gorgeous essential oil. If you've ever had Earl Grey tea, you've experienced Bergamot. It provides the distinctive herby, citrusy component to this iconic tea.  

 It’s also used in perfuming because it blends beautifully with many fragrance notes including those of Lavender, Cedarwood, Neroli, Rose, Clary Sage and Black Pepper (Rhind 2014). 

In aromatherapy, bergamot is valued for its anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antifungal properties. It works in massage oils to reduce tension and soothe tight muscles. On an emotional front, it is used for soothing depression and anxiety in a diffuser or in massage blends. 

Important to know: It is phototoxic, meaning that it may cause a burning reaction on skin exposed to direct sunlight.  How to stay safe? Avoid direct sunlight or tanning beds for up to 18 hours after applying Bergamot to the skin. Always dilute Bergamot before using. It may be used safely (no phototoxic response) on the skin in a blend at no more than 0.4% (approx. 1-2 drops per 1 oz/30 ml of carrier). Or, choose an FCF-free Bergamot oil which has had the phototoxic components removed.  For more info on essential oil safety, see Robert Tisserand's encyclopedic text, Essential Oil Safety. 

My mission...

Life wisdom. 

Wildflowers

You belong among the wildflowers. you belong somewhere you feel free. A great song and we love this beautiful art with it!

What makes you feel free?

Love is Love is Love

In honor of Long Beach Pride this weekend, we wanted to share this wonderful quote from Lin-Manuel MIranda that we love so very much. Love is love is love is love...

Happy Pride!

I used to..

I used to think that if only I were some other way than I am - thinner, smarter, rich, etc. only THEN would I be happier, but I am learning (and forgetting then remembering again) that happiness comes from being who I am and feeling what I actually feel without trying to bury it. It's for sure a lifelong practice but it's worth it.

Wise woman Brene Brown has this to say, “Understanding the difference between healthy striving and perfectionism is critical to laying down the shield and picking up your life. Research shows that perfectionism hampers success. In fact, it's often the path to depression, anxiety, addiction, and life paralysis....The dark does not destroy the light; it defines it. It's our fear of the dark that casts our joy into the shadows.” 
― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection
 

 

Ingredient Spotlight: Arnica Gel

Arnica is a medicinal herb valued for its anti-inflammatory properties. It can be ingested (i.e. as a homeopathic tincture) or applied topically to the skin for pain and swelling. It is often found in creams and gels to support healing for a wide variety of inflammatory issues including insect bites, muscle and joint pain, chapped lips and acne.

We use it in our Cool After Sun Spray to soothe skin that needs love after being out in the sun or wind.