Entries from April 2009 ↓

I recently experienced the worst breakout that I’ve had for over a year which was just devastating. All of those nasty emotions came back and I honestly didn’t want to leave the house without wearing makeup. I felt especially ridiculous blogging about skin care when I didn’t feel that great about my own skin, so when I get a breakout it sure hits me hard!

BUT it was a blessing in disguise because it gave me the opportunity to try all of those natural treatments that I haven’t been able to test because my skin has been too clear. So …

I’m very excited today to give you my most recent acne treatment plan which I’m confident will work very well for the majority of you. So if you’re fed up and finding that nothing is working, then either give this plan a go or use it to tailor make your own treatment.

The difference between a treatment and a cure

Please keep in mind that I don’t like to call this treatment a “cure” because it’s not getting to the actual root cause of your acne. It’s impossible for me to provide a definite cure that will work for all of you because we are all unique individuals with bodies that sometimes work a little differently to each other, so the root cause for me may not necessarily be the same for you.

If you really want to cure your acne, then you’ll need to get to the root cause of it and fix it at that level. It could be a Candida problem which requires a strict anti-candida diet, an overloaded liver which may require several liver flushes and perhaps even a bit of colonic irrigation, or it could be a hormonal issue … among other things. So while you’re on your journey to learning what your root cause is and how to treat it, this plan will help you to clear your skin at the surface level so you can at least get a little more emotional happiness and a little more confidence with your appearance.

But this is plan is very likely to still clear your acne! Continue reading →

I’ve been a bad, bad girl … I have not cleaned my makeup brushes in a very long time. Well ever really. So it’s no wonder why my skin has been a little temperamental lately now that I’m starting to wear more makeup again!

A dirty makeup brush can mean more acne because every time you use it you’re potentially picking up toxins, dead skin cells, oils and bacteria that are sitting on your skin, so next time you use it you’re putting all of that yucky stuff right back on again. Especially if you’ve been using your brush when you’ve got active acne. Anything you touch your face with or apply to your face should be clean, clean clean, so keeping your makeup brush toxin-free is essential.

Washing your brushes will also extend the life of the brush. Which makes sense if you think about it. Anything you look after, take care of and regularly wash is naturally just going to last longer. So if you’re like me and made a big investment when you purchased your top quality brush, then you want to make sure you get as much use out of it as you can.

And this goes for all sponges and tools that you use to apply your makeup. Everything needs to be regularly cleaned!

How to wash your makeup brush

Continue reading →

I’ve had a lot of great inspiration from vegan cookbooks. I’m a vegetarian not a vegan but when I don’t drink cows milk or consume dairy products my skin is a lot better without it, so the recipes in vegan cookbooks are great for me.

Especially recipes for cookies and cakes which usually contain quite a bit of bad stuff for the skin – processed sugar, cows milk, butter, gluten etc. You’ll find that a lot of vegan cookbooks not only provide dairy-free recipes, but they also are a little healthier so they provide alternatives to processed sugars and gluten as well.

And you don’t even have to be a vegetarian to enjoy vegan cooking. If you’re a meat eater then you’ll definitely benefit from cooking a vegan or vegetarian meal every now and again because it will most likely add a few more vegetables into your diet.

Here’s a video I recorded about cooking vegan foods –

Very Yummy Vegan Chocolate Cake

I can say confidently that hands down this is the best chocolate cake I’ve ever baked. It beats all the “normal” chocolate cake recipes I’ve made (you know, with milk, butter, cane sugar, etc). I even fed it to my chocoholic meat eating friend and he loved it too and went back for seconds!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups of spelt flour (I use wholemeal but this is up to you)
• 2 cups of xylitol
• 3/4 cup of cacao powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking-soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 6 Tblsp safflower oil
• 2 1/4 cups of filtered water
• 2 Tblsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (the real stuff!)

Loving preparation

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour into a 9″ x 13″ square baking pan and bake for 35-40 minutes.

I prefer this cake without icing, but you can top with nuts, berries and coconut. Or you can melt a little organic vegan dark chocolate over the top.

Recipe source:

This recipe has been modified from the “Big Momma Freedom Chocolate Cake” in Vegan Fusion World Cuisine by Mark Reinfeld and Bo Rinaldi. I highly recommend this book!

So I survived the meditation retreat. In fact even better than that, I loved the meditation retreat so I was a little sad when it ended and surprisingly not too happy about ending my period of silence either.

I was so worried about not talking for five days in a row because I’d never done anything like that before. I guess I was having more the fear of the unknown. But not talking was a wonderful experience. It calms the mind down a lot which is fantastic for a restless mind like mine, and fantastic for meditation practice. The calming of my mind also made me happier and happier so each day I felt even more refreshed, excited about life and a general feeling of ..happiness.

We weren’t allowed to talk to each other or look each other in the eyes for five days. Reading was discouraged and no mobile phones, computers, iPods etc were allowed. So all I did for the five days was eat, sleep, meditate and do yoga. And I was in heaven!

I also mentioned in this video that my skin has been unkind to me over the past three weeks. I’m certain this is due to consuming high quantities of cows milk which is something I hadn’t done for years. But in an attempt to calm down my vata and possibly put on a bit of weight, I started consuming cows milk again. Unfortunately this gave me a bad breakout and even worse hay fever so I’ve gone back to cutting all cows milk out of my diet. My skin is still not recovered but it is slowly getting better.

Please note that diary is not going to give everyone acne. But if you’re acne prone, have a weak digestive system (like mine currently is!), or allergic to milk then it will likely affect your skin by giving you a breakout.

And as usual, if you have any questions or comments about this post, please write in the box below.

Love and peace everyone!

I recorded this video in response to a question by Laura, who wrote the Acne Dysmorphia article. If you haven’t read her story I highly recommend it, especially if you ever feel down or depressed about your acne – Living With Acne Dysmorphia – Desperation For A Clear Complexion

And here’s the link to the Lady-Comp, that little contraceptive device that I said I’d link to – Lady-Comp natural contraception

I really only covered this massive topic very briefly in this video. In the future I’d like to do more videos and articles about the emotional side of dealing with acne because I think it’s something that isn’t talked about often enough, and pent up negative emotions can lead to bigger problems like skin picking, OCD and acne dysmorphia (even though I don’t like giving stuff labels).

So please let me know in the response box below if you’d like me to discuss some element of the emotional side of your skin condition that I haven’t touched on yet, or only touched on lightly.

Much love, peace and happiness to you all!