Archive for pampering
Beautiful High Vibrations
You may well know by now that I’m BIG into ‘choosing natural’.
It’s my belief that a high vibration (which attracts ‘the good stuff of life’) comes from putting good food in and ON your body, as well as by exercising, resting… and all the other ways that I reveal in my freebie e-booklet called 7 Ways to Recharge Your Vibration & Attract the Riches of Life.
I’ve been searching high and low for a ‘natural’ nail polish that would NOT be full of toxic ingredients. (Anything we put on our nails eventually makes its way into our bloodstream, and we breathe in the fumes as we apply it, too…) Finally, I’ve found a range that comes close to achieving this.
The SpaRitual range is vegan, and contains no formaldehyde, toleune or dibutyl phthalate (DBP), and uses recycled materials in its packaging. Isn’t that fab? It may not be COMPLETELY natural, but at least it’s better than the current conventional nail varnishes out there on the market. If you’d like to read more about the harmful nail varnish chemicals you’d want to avoid, check out this FAQ page.
Understandably, this range is not a low price when compared with your usual mainstream, ‘drugstore’ nail varnishes, but it’s competitively priced when compared with higher-end varnishes. I’d highly recommend that you check it out. In Australia head here (they’ll send them out to you in the mail) and in the US head here.
A colleague of mine is currently doing R&D to create a completely natural range of water-based nail varnishes, to complement the rest of her natural skin-care, make-up and haircare range, so when they’re available I’ll test them and will let you know where you can get your (beautifully manicured) hands on those!
Isn’t it great that ‘living naturally’ means we can now add splashes of shine and colour with innovative products like these?
Summer Love
OK, OK, so it’s not actually summer here… but I know it is for some of you!
I’m craving the feeling of the summer sun on my skin, and today I did this vicariously by (finally) taking half an hour to flick through the fabulous June edition of the online Matchbook magazine.
Sunshine fairly burst from its pages, and I soaked it all up! Aaah…
Here are a few of the things I loved from this edition:
- an article called ‘10 Things You Didn’t Know About John Lennon’ (I can’t believe he was only 40 when he died – that’s my age! Oh, that fact isn’t one of the ’10 Things’, BTW!);
- an article about the legendary Rita Hayworth (and how you can create a little ‘Rita’ style in your life);
- an article called ‘How to… Pack a Summer Picnic’, which includes the accoutrements you’ll need for a Classic Picnic, Rustic Picnic, Romantic Picnic or Modern Picnic (plus recipes and a list of famous picnics on film – cute!); and
- an interview with New York–based designer Cynthia Rowley – she certainly lives a vivid life!
If you’re needing a boost, my advice is to take some time today to revel in beauty. Reading a magazine like Matchbox might be just one way to do it!
Hitting the Highway for our Summer Break
I’ve taken an awfully long break from connecting with you on the blog, so I thought you might like to see what I got up to during my time away.
Well, just after Christmas, we packed up and headed north to Queensland. We wanted a really good, long summer holiday, spent with family and friends. After a very busy 2011, we couldn’t wait to unwind completely.
We drove up the Newell Highway (of course), and I just loved the changing roadside scenes, including dramatic cloud/storm formations, grasses blowing in the wind, and avenues of beautiful bushy trees. I’m telling you, if you haven’t been to Australia yet, you MUST come see this breathtaking country!
We used to drive this road once or twice a year when I was a child, but I don’t remember it being this beautiful. Or perhaps I just didn’t truly appreciate it, back then.
Not long after we arrived at my mum and dad’s, I planted myself on their back patio and gazed out at their dam. I don’t know if it’s something in the air there, but it was SO easy to relax. We indulged in a few goodies, nattered, watched movies, hugged each other, and laughed and laughed and laughed.
The girls enjoyed an outing to our hometown’s local museum, which hosted a ‘Creative Capers’ craft session for little ‘uns. It must have been 35 degrees in the shade, but they loved it anyway!
After our time with family, we cruised on down to the beautiful Gold Coast to stay with close friends. The beach at Surfers Paradise was, as usual, stunning. Just look at those white-capped waves. This really is the lucky country.
Not long after a beach outing, we headed to Build-a-Bear – our friends had given Evie and Bella vouchers for Christmas, so they came with us to be part of the creation experience. Honestly, the girls adore their new bears.
On our drive back home to Victoria, we encountered Cunningham’s Gap, which I’ve never before driven through – spectacular! And just look at those cloud formations. I loved soaking up such gorgeous vistas.
One of our final stops on the way home was at the Parkes’ Observatory in, of all places, the town of Parkes. Does that satellite dish look familiar? It featured in the movie The Dish. Fascinating history (one we didn’t get to stop and appreciate on all my childhood trips – my Dad was always keen to keep going and get to Melbourne in record time. He did allow the odd toilet break, which was nice…).
And now, we’re home. After what I believe to be our ‘best summer ever’ (as a family), we’re ready to launch back into life, all refreshed and reinvigorated. If you subscribe to Rich Radiant Real in the box on the upper right, and I’ll keep you posted on all the goodies I’ll be bringing you this year!
Here’s to a fabulous year of prosperity, health and happiness. Mwuh!
Reveal Your Naked Beauty for Good Vibrations!
I have a passion for personal development, and I usually have several books on the go at once (see this post for pic of just a few books that have appeared on my bedside table in recent times).
I just HAVE to tell you about this one – it’s a life-changer. The luscious e-book called Naked Beauty, by Shakaya Leone of Earth Empress, is an absolute gem.
Shakaya was my special teleseminar guest last month, and on the call we spoke about this book, and a program she’s created called The Beauty Cleanse.
We spoke about how important it is to look after yourself; in fact, to treat yourself as an empress. Doing so not only honours the Source that created you, but it FEELS GOOD, and while the latter is good enough reason on its own, the act of feeling good helps you attract the good things of life! The law of attraction responds to high-vibrational beings.
There are heaps of mindset approaches you can take to attract whatever it is that you want, but if your physical being isn’t honoured, you won’t attract as easily, and you won’t enjoy it as much anyway! Can you imagine really enjoying the riches of life if you’re feeling sick, tired, run-down, ugly, overwhelmed and run dry? What would be the point?
I can’t stop flicking through this book (I printed it out and put in a binder). The design is beautiful, the words speak to your soul, and the advice – if you apply it – really works! Shakaya speaks of really loving and honouring our body-temples and our souls, and includes heaps of natural beauty recipes that you can make at home – I love the Aphrodite Opal Emulsion (a beautiful moisturiser for cold weather) and the Priestess Peppermint Foot Treatment. Don’t you just love the delicious-sounding names?
Listen fellow Sistar, do yourself a huge favour and invest in Shakaya’s book. It’s only US$29.98 and is available for instant download, so you can start applying its heartfelt and transformational wisdom straight away. Are you ready for that? (In other words, are you ready to say ’yes’ to life?)
Click here to invest in yourself.
PS I’m an affiliate of Shakaya’s, so if you purchase her exceptional Naked Beauty e-book, I will receive a commission – but I only ever recommend products and services that I truly believe in, so you can be assured that the quality of this product is, quite simply, top-notch!
How to ‘Get Gorgeous’, Naturally
In just a few minutes, we’ll be starting this month’s free Rich Radiant Real teleseminar, with natural beauty expert Shakaya Leone.
Shakaya will be opening Mother Nature’s treasure chest, and revealing beauty secrets that will make you look and feel sensational!
Come join us, won’t you?
Head here to register:
http://www.richradiantreal.com/teleseminar-sign-up/
If you miss the live call, you can still sign up for the call for a couple of weeks – you’ll receive the download link in the initial email.
A Melting Moment
We love spending time together as a family, so on Saturday Darren, the girls and I drove to the pretty country town of Daylesford. It only took just over half an hour, which is better than the nearly two hours it used to take us from Melbourne!
The trip was interesting not only for the beautiful rural scenery (and it was a sunny day, which always makes us feel good), but because we periodically slowed to follow bunches of cyclists who were racing.
Once in Daylesford (contented sigh… it really is one of my favourite places), we visited the cute-as-a-button Lark Store, had a scrumptious afternoon tea, and headed to the town hall for the Daylesford Makers’ Market.
Inside were many talented craftspeople presenting their wares, including Julie Andrews of Urthly Organics. Bendigo-based Julie makes a scrumptious range of body and lip butters, face and skin creams, vegetable soaps, toothpastes… and melting moments for the bath.
I LOVE finding sources of natural skincare (you know I’m always banging on about living naturally, so that your vibration is high and therefore in high ‘attracting’ mode), so I came away with a brown paper shopping bag full of goodies.
As I type, I’m inhaling the aroma of the range’s ’Australian organic lemon-scented ironbark body butter’, which includes ‘love’ as its first ingredient (love THAT!), followed by ingredients such as lavender, aloe vera, certified organic shea butter, unrefined cocoa butter… and the list goes on. I tried this body butter yesterday, and it’s so creamy and rich – great for dry winter weather.
I had also bought some ‘melting moments’ (see the pic above – doesn’t it look like a block of chunky chocolate?), which make your skin silky smooth. I bought these because I realised that it had been quite a while since I had a relaxing bath, and what better excuse than to road-test these for you?
You run very hot water at the start, drop in a melting moment block so that it starts melting, and then adjust the water temperature as the bath fills.
The melting moments come in packs of three, but here’s what an individual ‘moment’ looks like:
Just like a hunk of white chocolate, don’t you think?
And yep, my skin really did feel silky afterwards. Lovely. Thank goodness there are two more moments in the pack. Can’t wait to do some more ‘unwinding’!
If you’d like to try some gorgeous, natural skincare, Julie sells her goodies at the St Andrews market near Melbourne, but you can also purchase them via her Facebook page.
Wishing you many ‘melting moments’ of bathtime bliss…
The Sweet Smell of Success
It’s so important that we treat ourselves well – and that we let ourselves feel the anticipation of receiving something beautiful.
I promised myself that upon launching my website, I’d reward myself with a special scented candle. For a couple of months now, I’ve had my eye on a gorgeous candle from the gift shop at my favourite nursery – Acorn Nursery. The candle I’d coveted was a soy-based, fragranced candle from the UK, packaged in a lovely tin.
However, when I went in to purchase said candle, I spotted a range of Australian scented candles. Ecoya candles have only been around for a few months, but apparently they’re proving very popular. And I can see (and smell) why. Pictured above is the candle I decided to purchase (I’ll save the UK tinned candle for next time!) – with a sumptuous sweet pea and jasmine scent. I have it burning in front of me as I type, drawing me in with its mesmerising glow. Soon I’ll be taking it off to the bathroom, to fill the room with scent while I soak in the bath.
The candles are made from a soy wax, and have lead-free cotton wicks. They also smell heavenly. In fact, this sweet pea and jasmine scent has made me resolve to plant sweet peas this spring, in anticipation of inhaling the flowers’ sweet, spicy aroma on hot summer days, and of drinking in their glorious colour. Yes, something else to look forward to! (My research indicates that I’m going to have to purchase the older varieties of sweet pea, to ensure that the flowers are full of scent.)
Have you planned some pleasure for your not-too-distant future? Do you have something to look forward to, even if it’s just something simple? Have you thought of planning a reward for your hard work on a project – or for no reason at all? Perhaps you could plan to enjoy something that will tantalise your senses, such as a scented candle, a massage, an afternoon leafing through new books in a bookstore, or a meal at your absolute favourite restaurant?
Perhaps you’d like to share what it is that you do to add richness to your life? I’d love to hear!
So now, I’m off to soak. Bliss…
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