Is skin journaling right for you?
To preface, it’s important to acknowledge the transition of our skin throughout the course of our day. Your skin will not be the same from when you wake up, workout, eat, go to work, socialize, drive in your car to when you get home and wash your face at the end of the day. Your skin is working really hard to function with you throughout those transitions so that your fighting off free radicals, regulating your temperature, protecting you from UV rays (both sun and your daily screens), as well as how the rest of your body is responding to those same transitions. At the end of the day, our skin has exhausted itself from all of the work it happily does for us. So when we engage in negative self-talk throughout the course of its endless work for us, each cell hears your resistance and starts to respond accordingly. Call it woo-woo, but the more you shut down and think your skin isn’t working for you - the more it will start to dim your inner radiance. Believing in that inner radiance and showing gratitude for your skin is easier said than done, and that’s how skin journaling can help you get to that next step.
Intuitive Self-Care
Last week I was so honored to host an event with Michelle of Holisticism and Nicole Webb, who’s a reiki practitioner who uses muscle testing as a modality for intuitive healing. We were able to partner to discuss the innate wisdom that our body holds. I found myself speaking to a group of incredible women who were all prioritizing themselves by making the time to attend an event that would focus on their self-care. Sometimes I feel like a kettle boiling over and the burnout is real. I know all of you can get the same feeling when our work and personal lives get congested with the non-stop to do lists. This is where self-care comes into play, but only up until the last few years did I really start to determine the difference between self-care and escapism.
2018; the year of finally loving the skin you're in
I honestly can’t believe we are in our last week of 2017. I know that when 2017 started I was sitting high with expectations but was also riddled with anxiety with what was to come. The shifts that have occurred were not always what I expected. Some have been what I have feared, but others have truly changed me for the better. Now I feel grounded in what I anticipate may be the first ever year I finally feel comfortable in my skin. It’s easy to look like you have it all together but when certain things finally do click in your life it can shift your entire perspective. I try my very best to educate all of my clients that when they finally surrender to let this shift happen they actually start to love the reflection in the mirror. So today I want to talk about why 2018 is the year of finally loving the skin you’re in…
What's your intention?
Every day we set an intention for ourselves, whether we are conscious of it or not. I get to work on a diverse group of people all the time and there are two major things that I see as a commonality amongst my clients time and time again: 1 - They all have skin (duh) and 2 - There are disconnects with their intention for themselves and intention for their skin. You can’t commit to being healthy or loving to yourself and exclude your skin in that factor. Your skin is part of the package people so it’s important to remember that you can put forth just as much love in your skin as you do everything else. So how do you start setting intentions for your skin? Here’s how to do it.
Intuitive Skincare.
This weekend I had 3 clients in a row tell me about their person experience with strong intuitive pulls. The first noticed some strong coincidences between her and a new person in her life. The second was very specific in the signs that she asked the universe for (and received them). And the third had a gut feeling about a previous skin therapist she worked with. Sometimes you just know things and there is no rhyme or reason behind it. That is your intuition tapping in to help guide you. That “I just know” feeling is not something that is taught but it can make the most impactful shifts when you listen in. When I first started my skincare practice I had to really tune into my intuition. Most spas that I had worked for had a set protocol and formula to what they wanted their services providers to follow so I felt silenced in a lot of what I truly wanted to convey to my clients. The good thing is that behind closed doors in the treatment room I would usually break the rules and talk about what I felt was truly going on. Whether it was my intuition telling me that my client needed a quiet facial to soothe their nervous system or that they needed to talk about what was really going on in their lives, I wouldn’t structure the facial around selling product or upgrading the treatment. I knew that when I was going to start to build my practice, I would have to create an environment in which I could build the treatment as it needed to unfold. Those intuitive pulls became so much more powerful once I dropped the tight structure of a spa’s idea of what works for the client. I use those same instincts to decide what to use on skin, whether it’s my own or yours. So how can you tap into that yourself? Here are my top 3 intuitive tips for the best custom skincare.
Reading between the lines...
Just the other day I got to catch up with an old friend that I worked with at my first job as an esthetician. We were on the phone for over 2 hours catching up on the years that had passed by. While reminiscing she reminded me that as early as 19 years old I approached my skin care practice the same as I do now - with an integrative approach. It sort of hit me that I have always just looked at skin care a certain way that may not have been the norm back then but is slowly starting to become mainstream. I have been asking about diet and hormone health since day one because I recognized early on that skin is a reflection of our health and we didn’t have to suffer with the imbalances without finding the root cause first. When I meet someone for their first appointment with me I send over a 12 question health history consultation that scratches the surface on your internal health. I need that background to shed some light on what I can do to your skin as well as an understanding of where you are physically and emotionally. I want to break down why I ask certain questions to help you gain a better understanding of how it’s all connected and why I have to read between the lines...
Spiritual Awakening.
When coming up with the title to this week’s post I honestly attempted to find synonyms for the word “spiritual”. Nothing seemed to fit the essence of what I wanted to write about so I decided to stick with it however I had a visual of my readers immediately clicking past an article of this subject. What would spirituality have to do with skincare? If you hear me out you will make the connection I promise. The mind, body and spirit approach is necessary for a full recovery for any sort of imbalance going on in our lives. I believe that we all have a strong intuitive sense of what we need. Whether it’s our basic human instincts to choose foods that are will nourish us to who are the people we want to spend our days with. A lot of my daily decisions and practices are based on my intuition. I try to help my clients tap into their intuition by giving them the power to choose what’s best for them and creating connections between mind, body and spirit. Whether it’s by asking the right questions that lead them to the answer they had in them all along, or it’s by honoring them if something is not resonating with them. I don’t force upon a practice that doesn’t work but I also help you breakthrough the blocks when nothing seems to be progressing. It’s taken a long time for me to tap into my own sense of intuition and release some of the blocks that hold me back from living my most abundance life, but it all started with my acceptance of my spiritual path and the awakening it lead me to.
Why I love the dentist
I am one of those people who actually likes going to the dentist. My mom worked at a dentist from when I was 10 to 28 so I basically grew up around the office. It was also my first job assisting around the office so I understood the culture of preventative care which is why I’ve never had a cavity or any oral care issues. When I moved to LA back in 2012 I didn’t have health insurance and could not find a dentist for the life of me. All of a sudden a few years had gone by and I started to notice some plaque on my teeth. I knew that proper oral hygiene is the key to overall good health but months became years and all of a sudden I blinked and found myself 6 years without my teeth getting cleaned professionally. Trust me, I barely admitted it to my mother or myself because I felt so shamed about it. I was relying on my genetically good teeth and ability to always brush my teeth and floss but I knew it wasn’t enough. That is when the incredible Dr. Karla Solis came into my life. I was introduced to her over a year ago and she has brought me back to a place of faith in my oral care because not only does sitting in a dentist chair feel oddly nostalgic and comforting to me but also she’s an incredible holistic dentist. I saw her yesterday and we got to talking about some similarities in our fields and that’s what I want to talk about today.
Holiday Reminders
We tend to forget what the holidays are really about. Right before the festivities a lot of us actually end up getting sick or even sad/depressed because we are not taking the time for ourselves like we do the rest of the year. Here are some reminders on how to shift your perspective and enjoy the holidays healthy and happily.
Keeping up with Skin Food Talk
I have been blown away with the response my partner in crime, Tara Curran and I have received since our first "SKINFOOD" talk at SOHO House in West Hollywood. We have been working together for so long and we were finally able to create something really special. I would really love to invite you all to come to our first ever "Beauty and the Belly" brunch on Sunday March 6th at 12. The brunch is a great way to share our "SKINFOOD" talk and create a conversation about your skin, nutrition and overall health. Please RSVP now and we look forward to brunching with you soon! xo
becoming an esthetician
When I was 18 I was in college and spiralled into a huge pit of depression. I didn’t gain the freshman 15, I actually lost a significant amount of weight because I had no appetite. No appetite for food, no appetite for socializing, no appetite for life. I struggled to find my identity after high school because I was so involved and busy that I never sat and thought about what I would be once I graduated. I took a lot of safe routes; went to the same college as my sister, became roommates with my best friend since middle school and chose the most generic major I could think of at the time ...