Supernatural Botanicals

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Our Farmers Market Collection of soaps are always in demand in the summertime.  Raspberry-Lemonade has a sweet and tart combination that just screams summer.  Our Sun-Ripened Strawberry soap smells exactly like a fresh, sweet, just-picked strawberry from the vine.   Savannah peach has a true juicy-peach scent and is wildly popular.  Your mind instantly goes to Savannah.   Yuzu is our citrus soap, bursting with grapefruit and orange scents.  Perfect for summer.  Crisp and sweet.  Our big 6 ounce bars feel great in the hand, and are beautiful for gift giving.  Made with all natural ingredients, our soaps are perfect for the face and body.  After you’ve washed your face with an amazingly scented soap, you’ll never go back to ordinary cleansers.  They wake you up, and the scent stays with you.  Fantastic!  Visit our entire Farmers Market Collection.  Sensational!

Strawberries are a natural source of salicylic acid, which is the main ingredient in acne-fighting agents found in over-the-counter acne fighters.  But if you want an all natural approach, utilize those strawberries and yogurt in your fridge.

Strawberries are a natural source for salicylic acid, and yogurt is extremely smoothing to the skin.

Simply mash 1/4 cup of fresh strawberries and 1/4 cup of yogurt or sour cream until smooth.  Liberally apply to acne-prone skin.  Leave on for 15 minutes, then rinse with water.  Then, simply watch your clear skin emerge.  It’s as simple as that.

Tea-tree oil is used to treat mild, occasional breakouts.  It is distilled from the leaves of an Australian shrub.  Tea-tree oil contains antibacterial and antimicrobial compounds called terpenoids that help kill bacteria. 

Studies testing tea-tree oil against the gold-standard acne treatment, benzoyl peroxide, have shown that while the latter works more quickly, tea-tree oil is equally effective over time and results in fewer side effect, such as dryness and redness. 

To tighten facial skin and make pores practically disappear, try this at home spa treatment.  Beat egg whites (either by hand with a whisk, or use a stand mixer…preferable) until they become ultra white and frothy. 

Apply the foam to your entire face, and let dry completely.  Gently rinse, and pat dry.  It makes your skin look younger and healthier. 

Make this a habit!  Hot towels placed on the face and chest are one of the easiest ways to feel ultra relaxed and ultra zen.  This is an easy spa treatment that can be created at home for everyday use.  You can elevate the experience with aromatherapeutic benefits by applying a few drops of essential oil to the towel.  Lavender’s aromatherapy benefits are to calm and relax the mind and body.  A citrus essential oil will produce a cheerful mood and enliven the spirit.

Simply saturate a white hand towel with water.  Wring excess water from the towel.  Place towel in the microwave in 30 second intervals, up to two minutes.  Be sure not to get the towel too hot and burn your skin.  Place several drops of essential oils (optional) directly to hot towel.  The heat will instantly release the essential oil’s therapeutic benefits.  Place hot towels on face, (leave a breathe hold) and upper chest.

Lie down and relax for 10-15 minutes with the towels draping your face and chest.   Feel free to re-microwave your towel(s) if it becomes too cool.

Make deep relaxation with aromatherapy a habit.  It relaxes not only the body, but also the mind.  It’s a perfect way to decompress at the end of the day.  It’s also super beneficial for the skin, opening up pores, allowing the skin to breathe.

This is a great at home spa treatment that can be done every day, and cost you absolutely nothing.  Love that!  Try this today!

   Need to clear a blemish up immediately?  Try crushing an aspirin with enough water to make a paste.  Apply directly to break out, and leave on for 10 minutes, then rinse.  The main ingredient in aspirin is salicylic acid which speeds up healing by encouraging exfoliation. 

   Island Coconut Spa Soap was our highest selling soap of the summer.  Summer + Island Coconut…makes sense, right?  To our surprise, the sales have remained strong straight through the winter, and now into the new year.   I guess it’s not a summer thing?  And lets face it, smelling good and having great skin is a year ’round thing. 

It’s called Spa Soap because everything about it personifies luxury, from the thick hand-cut 1.5 inch soaps to the sensational aromatherapeutic benefits it provides.  I knew this soap was a winner immediately; and after daily use on my face and body, it lives up to its reputation.   Proven in clinical trials not to cause breakouts or dry skin out.   This is a must try!  …believe the hype. 

As we continue to fight the good fight in saving our skin from aging, try these tips in your fight.

1.  Keep up the good workout:  The get-happy vibe from your lunch-time Spinning class can also help lower levels of cortisol, a hormone that peaks during times of chronic stress, causing a surge in free radicals and inflammation all over your body, including your face.  Regular exercise helps keep stress and cortisol levels in check. 

2.  Sleep more:  While you snooze, your body has a chance to repair cells and reset hormone levels, including your cortisol.  8 hours a night…..make it happen.   

3.  Take a supplement:  As part of your diet, omega 3 fatty acids help water, oxygen, and vitamins penetrate skin cells.  Besides, how easy is this to accomplish?  Painless!

4.  Wear caffeine, don’t gulp it:  A little java can make you feel more alert, but sipping it all day long keeps cortisol circulating in your blood.  The constant stimulation puts your body in a stressed, heart-pumping state.  Use caffeine in face or eye creams to constrict blood vessels, leaving skin tighter and fresher. 

5.  Try a massage or yoga:  Any activity that makes you breathe deeper and easier is a good stress alleviator. 

6.  Wear SPF 30 daily:  Read labels and choose a sunblock formula with titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, or a combination of both.  Sun worshipers beware, your skin looks 50 when you are 30.  Keep the sun off your skin, especially your face.

7.  Load up on antioxidants:  Think of free radicals as little arsonists running through your body, starting fires that damage healthy cells beyond repair.  Antioxidants are the firefighters that put out the flames before they can potentially get out of control and cause serious diseases such as cancer as well as premature skin aging.

8.  Don’t over exfoliate:  Inflammation makes skin sensitive and less able to tolerate harsh chemicals.  If using a heavy-duty exfoliator, restrict it’s use to once or twice a week. 

9.  Treat breakouts right:  Stress can increase acne, studies show.  That’s because excess cortisol inflames and clogs your pores, causing bacteria to pool and pimples to erupt.  Use Benzoyl peroxide to keep breakouts at bay.

10.  Shop smarter:  Make better choices when buying facial soaps or cleansers.  Avoid products heavily laden with oils and perfumes.  You know what my friends and I won’t go without, right?  

    I wouldn’t dream of washing my face with anything else.  Why would I?  I’ve had so much success with these face and body spa bars.  Gorgeous, glowing skin and no breakouts…what’s not to love? 

     Just about every cosmetics line is now producing mineral makeup. In case you haven’t watched the infomercial 3000 times, mineral makeup is a power foundation formulation made from titanium dioxide, bismuth oxychloride, and mica (primarily).  In trying many different lines, I’ve came to a few conclusions about this alleged miracle face dust.

On the whole, yes, I like the feeling of mineral makeup. It feels as if you have no makeup on your face whatsoever. Mineral makeup is obviously easier to apply than a liquid foundation, not having to worry about the ever-present non-blended ring around your face. It blends very well. It also reduces your makeup application time, of which I love.

The downside, and you knew there would be one, is that mineral makeup offers very little coverage. If you have freckles on your face that you’d like to cover, mineral makeup isn’t going to be doing you any favors, contrary to the claims. I’ve also noticed that you need to apply the mineral makeup about every four to six hours as it seems to disappear with each hour. That being said, I have not tried every mineral makeup on the market. But I have tried at least 10 different lines and have found that most don’t offer great coverage. I hope to be proven wrong on my lack of coverage theory, because in practice, I can truly appreciate the mineral makeup concept.

We will continue to explore this. Supernatural Botanicals is also developing a mineral makeup to specifically cover those freckles, along with any other imperfections your face may have. In my estimation, mineral makeup is truly a great idea that hasn’t reached its full potential, full potential being full coverage, and creating a makeup that fits every woman’s needs.

If light coverage, aka, the freckle-less, is what you love, I strongly encourage you to try mineral makeup. I can tell you, it certainly feels better on the skin and is better for the skin, causing less breakouts, making aging of the face appear to be less so, etc.

For more information on mineral makeup, check out these great reviews. /”.http:http://www.mineral-makeup-reviews.com/Mineral-Make-Up-Reviews.html/

****Update:  Leeza Gibbons’ Sheer Cover may just have me eating my own words about my dislike for mineral makeup due to lack of coverage.    I purchased the starter kit of Sheer Cover at Bed, Bath, and Beyond in light/medium (I’m a blond.)  It did a good job of covering the freckles I so hate that pepper the bridge of my nose.   It’s lasted all day during sweltering dog-days of summer.  It’s lasted through some sweltering workouts, even 60 minutes of cardio.  Looks really natural, blends right into the color of your neck.  I refuse to say I adore this product at this point, because I’m leery to fall in love with a product with only a weeks’ use, so I’ll let you know in a few more weeks.  Thus far, it’s fantastic.  It’s so fast and simple to put on and cuts your makeup application time in half.  Love that!

My former fav, Revlon Color Stay, has taken a backseat to Sheer Cover….at least for now.  I still need to get caught in the rain, run a relay race, sit in the jacuzzi, steam in a sauna, and bake cookies all day long in a hot kitchen before I’m convinced, but I have high hopes for this magic dust. 

I’ll keep you posted!