The bare, no-makeup look this season is hard to achieve when you’re trying to hide blemishes and skin imperfections. You can actually achieve this flawless look by replacing your makeup with skincare.

Replace your makeup with a dry oil containing Cacay Nut.

The Cacay Nut was discovered in the Colombian Amazon and has been proven to help restructure the skins surface and help to reduce wrinkles. It is the only ingredient that contains a natural retinol, which is great for women with mature skin who don't want to use harsh ingredients, but still want results.

If you want healthy, glowing skin all year round, regular exfoliation is so important. 

However, you need to make sure that you’re getting the right exfoliant for the job. There are a couple of reasons why using a volcanic pumice exfoliant is extremely underrated and actually trumps any other scrubs out there.

• It makes your skin glow

Pumice stones offer an immediate glow because the granules that come from the pumice stone are so fine that they exfoliate deeper than any micro bead ever could. Granules from the pumice stone are also great for blood circulation, making your skin look naturally pink, alive and bright. Also, by exfoliating to the deepest level, you’re actually causing fewer dead skin cells to come to your skin’s surface, giving you smoother looking skin instantly.

• It treats dry skin

• Soften cracked heels

Pumice stones are most commonly known as a foot and callus scrub. They’re a great and natural way to help smooth cracked heels and restore your feet. Pumice scrubs are able to take exfoliating further than the regular pumice stone. The best way to soften those cracked heels is to soak your feet in water for 5-10 minutes, and then scrub your feet with the pumice. Use this amazing remedy least twice a week.

• Eliminates clogged body pores 
  
  

  You can instantly improve the complexion of your skin by massaging with volcanic pumice. Its thin volcanic granules can help to eliminate impurities that cause those embarrassing body acne flare-ups. If you exfoliate regularly, you’re clearing the pores and preventing any clogged pores and body acne from returning. 
  
  

Overall, a pumice exfoliant is a great natural alternative to body scrubs and will always help to keep your skin alive and bright.

Shop our pumice exfoliant here >  Exfoliating Pumice Soap

Getting started on a new skincare routine can be confusing and intimidating, especially if you're not sure which products work best for your skin type. Instead of trying to figure out which skin type you are (leave that to a skincare specialist for now), we’ll cover the basics that are appropriate for everyone.

What You’ll Need and Why

A simple skin care routine would include a cleanser, an exfoliant and a moisturizer. We’ll go through each one of these steps in detail to ensure you’re doing them properly.

• Cleanser
  Someone once told me that they only use water to wash their face, and they didn’t understand the need for a cleanser. The reasons why cleansers are important are because they remove any impurities, dead skin cells, and other types of pollutants on your skin. Proper cleansing also helps to unclog your pores, preventing skin conditions like acne. Also when your skin is clean, it even allows you to better absorb your moisturizer. Make sure the ingredients in your cleanser don’t include fragrance, parabens. Many people find fragrances to be very irritating, and parabens are full of toxic preservatives.

How to Cleanse: Cleansing should be done every morning and evening- but especially at night! If you’re not getting rid of stubborn makeup and/or other impurities before bed, it can cause a build-up of oil on your skin, causing acne and spots.

• Exfoliant
  Exfoliation can be tricky (especially if you’re new to it) but it’s essential to any skin care routine. This step should be done approximately two to three times a week in order to give your skin a deeper cleanse that you can’t achieve with a cleanser. The reason why you would want a deeper cleanse is to remove the buildup in your pores, to help break up whiteheads and to smooth the texture of your skin. Exfoliating even enhances circulation, leaving you with a more radiant glow! However, over-exfoliation can actually hurt your skin. Don’t push too hard when you’re exfoliating; apply a gentle pressure because if you press too hard, your skin will be left red and over sensitive.
  

  
  How to Exfoliate: Apply your exfoliant in gentle circular motions around your face and neck. Do this for approximately 1 minute and rinse. If you have frail capillaries or you notice sensitivity or redness when exfoliating, limit your exfoliations to once a week.

• Moisturizer 
  If daily use of a moisturizer is already part of your morning routine, you are starting off on the right foot. Moisturizing helps to do the obvious, to hydrate, but also helps to minimize the look of wrinkles, soothe irritated skin and helps to clear up acne. Overall, moisturizing daily will just improve your skin’s healthy functioning and leave it feeling smooth.
  
  How to Moisturize: Put a small pea-sized amount of moisturizer to your palm and rub your palms together, warming the moisturizer before application. Apply it to your skin in gentle circular motions all around your face, chin and neck area. Remember not to over-apply your moisturizer, this will end up clogging your pores and can leave your skin feeling and even looking greasy.

Simple Tips to Maintain Clear Skin 

Wear SPF
Suncreen is a must-have if you want to keep your skin looking young for years to come. Not only does applying an SPF prevent signs of aging like pigmentation, but it also prevents wrinkles and dehydration. Applying SPF over your face and neck can be done just after moisturizing and before applying makeup.

Drink Water
Skin hydration comes from more than just your moisturizer; it comes from within. Drinking your 8 glasses of water per day will definitely leave your skin looking radiant.

What to avoid

Avoid Touching your Face
By touching your face, you are transferring bacteria directly onto your skin, causing pimples and other unwanted impurities. If you feel the need to touch your face, do so with a tissue or towel. For those of you who are looking to remove access oil, try oil absorbent papers instead of trying to wipe it off yourself. Touching your skin will actually increase the amount of oil on the skin rather than reducing it.

Don’t Pop It
All of those unattractive pimples and black/white heads might be enticing to pop, but try and steer clear of this. You might think you’re getting rid of them, but you’re only giving yourself temporary relief. Popping and squeezing makes pimples stand out even further and might actually leave you with some ugly scars. Leave your pimples alone- they’ll eventually just go away leaving you with scar-free skin.

Cleanse, Exfoliate and Moisturize

Hopefully by using these steps you’ll be able to cover the basics for your new skin care routine and maybe in the future you can move toward a more advanced routine, with toners, serums and masks! But for now just remember: cleanse, exfoliate and moisturize.

Essential Oils are concentrated oils that have been extracted from plants, flowers, fruits, sap, seeds or the skin of the plant. Some are even extracted from trees, bark, roots and leaves. Essential Oils have incredible properties. They have been known to relieve symptoms such as pain, fatigue, inflammation and to kill germs. They are also able to positively affect physical, emotional and mental health. 

There are several methods that are used to extract essential oils. They can be extracted using Distillation, Expression, Solvent Extraction or Enfleurage, however enfleurage is rarely performed today.

When extracting the oils, some companies use chemical solvents and are still able to label their oil as ‘natural’ or ‘pure'. They could be combining their essential oils with other chemically produced scents so it’s important to always look for 100% pure essential oils to ensure they do not have any chemicals and you’re getting the essential oil in a more natural state. 

Enfleurage

Enfleurage is the best way for an essential oil to be extracted. It is one of the oldest methods of extracting essential oils and is now considered an ancient art that is passed down from generation to generation, rarely used because of its high cost. It involves placing the flower petals on a layer of glass with a thin layer of fat (chassis). The oil is diffused into the fat, then collected and extracted using a natural alcohol. Once the alcohol evaporates, what is left behind is the 100% pure and absolute essential oil. Enfleurage is the only way to extract delicate flowers like Jasmine, Tuberose and Gardenia. 

Calendula, also known as Marigold or by its latin name Calendula Officinalis, has been used for centuries for its wound-healing properties and its ability to soothe even the most irritated skin. Calendula is a great healing flower that people can grow right in their own home. It has incredible anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, astringent, antifungal, and antiviral actives. It is most often used externally in order to disinfect and treat the skin however it can also be ingested as a tea.

Calendula is traditionally used for disinfecting and treating skin ailments like eczema, minor burns, infections, rashes, wounds, athlete’s foot, cold sores, conjunctivitis, chapped skin, bruises, acne, yeast infections, bee stings, diaper rashes and other irritations of the skin. Calendula has also been known to be very effective on rashes of the eyelid and on arm and shoulder areas.

It’s a great ingredient to look out for when buying creams, compresses, salves, ointments or oils.

In fact, many mothers have found that calendula is an ingredient that is great for soothing diaper rash! I love coming across products that I know are not only safe for me, but safe for my baby. 


Applying Calendula

Calendula in the form of a salve/ointment can be an extremely convenient daily first-aid kit. It provides relief to almost every skin ailment and has important vitamins to nourish your skin, even after the ailment is gone. It absorbs easily, not leaving a sticky residue on the skin and it doesn’t contain water like many moisturizers do. This is extremely important because water-based moisturizers cause your skin to feel moisturized at application, but once the cream is absorbed, your skin becomes dry again. Calendula has the ability to penetrate deeply into the skin.

Calendula Tea

Many herbalists believe that Calendula is the perfect tea to drink if you’re looking to help heal your digestive tract and ulcers or to soothe gallbladder inflammation and sore lymph glands. It is high in Vitamin A and contains the essential properties to stimulate the immune system, perfect to drink when you feel a cold coming on.

Our Calendula ointment is one of our best-selling Florivera products. We've heard multiple stories from our clients about how the ointment has helped them on different parts of their body, from eczema on the eye to diaper rash.