What you need to know about skin care

Have you ever not washed your face before bed and awakened to a bunch of little pimples? Probably. Have you ever eaten a bunch of French fries, chocolate, or junk food and had your skin erupt in an epic breakout in the next day or two? Who hasn’t! The relationship between your skin and your body is symbiotic, mutually reliant, and interdependent. It’s important to realize that the foundation for healthy, radiant skin starts on the inside.Your skin is the largest and fastest-growing organ of your body and accounts for 6 to 10 percent of your body weight. All of your cells require good nutrition, proper hydration, oxygenation, and detoxification to thrive. What you put on your skin is just as important as what you put in your body. With this in mind, healthy skin can be achieved by making positive, well-considered choices in relation to your mind, body, and spirit. In addition to your skincare regimen, you want to pay attention to additional factors that can contribute to healthy skin, including:

Sun exposure

Eating habits

Hydration

Exercise

Environmental pollutants, and more … All of these factors combine with your genetic makeup and overall wellness to comprise the health of your skin. And while skincare products can help combat and correct some of the inherent issues and skin conditions, it is best to think of healthy skin holistically, as part of a completely healthy you. After all, a healthy you is a happy you. Keeping that in mind, let’s take a look at the simple things that make the recipes in this book decadent, healthy, and inspiring!

Fresh Ingredients Throughout the series of B&G recipes, you will find many formulations that call for fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers. Just like the food you eat, these natural skincare ingredients are best used when fresh. Fresh ingredients are at their peak of vitality, and plants that are picked at their peak and used immediately will contribute their nutrient-rich vitality to the recipe. You’ll also find superfoods in quite a few of the skincare recipes due to their high concentrations of vital phytonutrients that greatly benefit your skin. But no matter which recipe you make, remember that fresh is best!

Make the Right Size You’ll find both single use and large batch recipes throughout the book. Most of the single use recipes are made with fresh, perishable skin food ingredients and are intended to be used immediately. The larger batch recipes can be made ahead of time and used in your daily facial care routines and weekly home spa rituals. You’ll also find a variety of recipes that make multiples, such as the B&G Bath Fizzies and B&G Body Butter Bars that you can creatively package as party favors and gorgeous handmade gifts for your loved ones.

Natural and Organic For us, organic is a lifestyle. Our company, B&G, was founded on organic principles. Our main goal when we started the company was to offer consumers highly effective, ultra-luxurious botanically based products with incredible natural scents. The recipes you’ll find throughout the series of our recipes allow you to create your own natural and deliciously scented products in your own home. So, when shopping for the ingredients, keep the quality of the final product in mind or you can simply order it from us so you can be assured of the fundamentals we are talking about here. Your creation will only be “organic” if the raw materials you source are organic. Unfortunately, if the ingredient isn’t organic, then you can almost guarantee that it was grown with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and/or is a genetically modified ingredient. We make conscious choices to limit my exposure to manmade chemicals in our environment, and we encourage you to do the same. We are a firm believer in the benefits of organic farming for our food and water supply, for our skin care products, and for the overall health and well-being of our planet Earth and all of Her inhabitants.

Aromatherapy and Herbal Skin Care Many of the skin care recipes in our series will benefit all skin types, and others are intended for specific skin types and conditions. You may wonder how the same facial cleanser could benefit dry, maturing skin and also be good for oily, acne-prone skin. Well, many botanical ingredients are adaptogens, or balancers. This means that, as the plant substance makes its way through the bloodstream, it attends to the specific needs of the individual person. For example, a product can be either calming or stimulating depending on the person who uses it. While this concept is not widely accepted in Western medical philosophy, it has been effectively employed for thousands of years in traditional Chinese medicine, as well as Ayurvedic medicine, which has a similar concept called Rasayana. Additionally, all skin types benefit from increased cellular health and regeneration. Many of the skin care preparations included in our recipe series are formulated as tonic skin conditioners to promote vitality and support balanced oil production in all skin types.

The Home Spa It is important to set aside some “me time” every once in a while to enjoy a home spa ritual. This is a completely self-directed nurturing experience that benefits every aspect of you, including physical and mental detoxification, stress reduction, raising self-esteem, and increased overall health and well-being. You may also want to have friends over for a home spa party where you cook up a fabulous array of homemade skin care treats to enjoy as a group.

Whether you create a meditative solitary spa day or a boisterous home spa party with friends, the goal is to pamper yourself, nurture your skin, revive your spirit, and restore balance to your entire being. During these home spa sessions, deliberately leave your daily worries at the door and surrender to relaxation and replenishment. This is your “me time” to nurture health and vitality in your mind, body, and spirit. You have committed to a sensory journey with the sole purpose of making positive improvements to your overall well-being. Create the home spa recipes in this book for your enjoyment, your beautification, your stress release, your joy.

Above All, Love Yourself True beauty comes from being happy and feeling beautiful. Using fabulous skin care and home spa products just feels good, makes your skin happy, and makes your heart glow too. With that in mind, here is our favorite and most valuable beauty secret, the simple thing that you can do every day to enhance your inner glow and outer radiance. Are you ready for this? All you have to do is look in the mirror at least once each day and say to yourself: “You are so beautiful. I love you!” If this seems hard, do it anyway! The more you do this, the easier it will become. Just take a deep breath, inhale love, and exhale peace. This simple process actually goes really deep, to the core of your being. It can bring emotions and deeper issues to the surface. And that is a good thing! Your heartfelt emotions are a beautiful reflection of you. “You are so beautiful. I love you!” Just simply say those words to yourself, every day. Soon after you start this, people in your life will notice a new sparkle in your eye or a bounce in your step. Don’t be surprised if you start to receive random compliments on the peace and radiance that you carry. And it comes from making this simple statement your reality. The more you say this, the more you feel it; believe it, and live this truth deep down in your core: You are so beautiful! The point of the skin care recipes and the advice you’ll find throughout the recipe series is to help you feel beautiful. Because when you feel beautiful, you project a beautiful, happy vibration out into the world. The simple and enjoyable act of preparing these recipes is nurturing in and of itself. Making these recipes nurtures your creative side and reinforces a healthful lifestyle that you can feel good about. The “me time” that you proactively set aside for a home spa experience is a loving, nurturing gesture of self-love. And you, my beautiful darling, deserve every minute of it! So, look forward at the recipes that will enrich your body, your mind, and your spirit …

#skincare #beauty #health #wellness #bg #bloomandglow