Posted on Leave a comment

Breathe in. Breathe out. The true innate power of a simple inhale and exhale….

This week we are talking about the power of your breath.

How something so seemingly innate and ‘ordinary’ can have a profound impact on your overall state of health and wellbeing when understood and used to its highest potential.

It might seem too simple.  A bit too good to be true. That the humble act of being more consciously aware of your breath and by simply appreciating the pause that it offers you, could change the trajectory of your life completely.

This week is a little different when its comes to the expert.

This week the expert we are talking too is me.

LOL.

But in all seriousness – I have earned the title.

I first became aware of the power of the breath when studying the practice of Pranayama in my Yoga Teacher Training course back in 2014.

In Yoga we learn MANY different ways to use and express the breath.

From calming slow techniques right through to the Breath of Fire which can ignite even the smallest idea into action.

What I want to talk to you about today though is what I consider the most effective breath practice – the art of the slow inhale, pause, slow exhale, pause, repeat.

And sometimes even more importantly – that pause between the breaths.

The power there is infinite.

Ecktart Tolle says “One conscious breath – in and out – is a meditation’

And its true.

We are all rushing so fast from here to there and back again that we so rarely stop and take a pause.  Taking a conscious pause between breaths whenever we are aware enough to do so – can – and will – change everything about the way you feel.

Our bodies are magical.

 

Let’s have a look at how one simple breath can take you from a state of stress and overwhelm into a space of calm and serenity…

So bloody simple and so bloody effective.

Breathe in for 4 counts.

Hold for 4 counts.

Exhale for 4 counts.

Wait for 4 counts.

REPEAT as often as needed.

This type of slow conscious breath is one of the ways that you can stimulate your Vargas nerve which when activated will;

  • Rapidly turn off the stress, hyper-arousal, and fight/flight via the relaxation response.
    • Sharpen our memories.
    • Fight inflammatory disease.
    • Help you resist high blood pressure.
    • Block the hormone cortisol and other oxidizing agents that age and deteriorate the brain
    and body
    • Block systemic (body-wide) inflammation – a major factor behind aging and poor health.
    • Help us overcome depression and anxiety.
    • Help us sleep better.
    • Raise levels of human growth hormone.
    • Help us overcome insulin resistance.
    • Turn down allergic responses.
    • Lower chances of getting stress and tension headaches.
    • Help spare and grow our mitochondria- this is a key to maintaining optimal energy levels and
    not harming our DNA and RNA.
    • Affect our overall ability to live longer, healthier, and more energetic lives.

And you know what – that isn’t even the complete list because its limitless.

The benefits of bringing this practice into every day or even better every possible opportunity that presents itself (think traffic lights, toilet, washing the dishes, etc…)

We have created a FREE breath-work track that you can download simply by clicking on this link.  It’s basically me walking you through some breaths that you can listen to and use until you feel confident to do it on your own.

Every new habit begins with one first step.

Make this yours.

In peace…

Posted on Leave a comment

What does our skin actually do and why is knowing that important??

summer sun skin care

This reminds me (again) of the great song from The Sound of Music….

Let’s start at the very beginning…. A very good place to start…..

So – what actually is your skin other than the largest organ of every human body and why is it important that you know more about it??

I’m going to explain this like I would if I was talking to my 10 year old.

  • It will hopefully make it heaps easier to understand and sink in.
  • I can then use most of this copy for a Glow article on the same topic – ha! I’m all for best use of my time these days.

You might have been surprised to discover that your skin, is, in fact your bodies largest organ.

It’s considered an organ because by definition, an organ is a group of at least two different tissues that work together to accomplish similar functions and the skin contains both epithelial and conjunctive tissue.

 

Let’s talk about why we believe it’s the most important organ of all…summer sun skin care

It covers and protects EVERYTHING that’s inside your body.

Without skin, your muscles, bones, and organs would be hanging out all over the place.

Kinda important.

It also:

  • helps keep our bodies at just the right temperature
  • Stops nasty things from outside your body getting in &
  • allows us to have the sense of touch

Your skin is made up of 3 different layers that all have a distinctive role to play.

The epidermis is the top. It’s the outer layer of the skin that you can see and touch. This is the layer that ends up dry, aged, dehydrated etc if we don’t look after ourselves properly.

The dermis is the middle of the three layers and is where most of the action happens.  Nerve endings, blood vessels, sweat glands, the hair shaft and more are all found in this layer. This is also where collagen and elastin are produced. More on them later.

The third layer is called the subcutaneous layer and it is made up mainly of fatty tissue which acts kinda like a cushion and an extra protective layer for everything underneath your skin.

All new skin cells are formed first layer of the Epidermis called the Stratum germinatum

In this layer they are all plump, soft and hydrated.  Its also the only time from that point onwards that they are still connected to the dermis and all the goodness from the capillaries.

When the new cell is fully formed and ready to leave ‘home’ they begin the journey upwards to the surface of your skin which takes between two weeks and a month.  As new cells journey up – the older cells up top on the surface lift off and float away. (and its also why we exfoliate our skin once a week to help that process along a little)

So in actual fact the skin you can see is already ‘dead’ and ready to move on (or off more accurately!) but when we are talking skin ‘dead’ really means tough and strong which is what we want the surface cells to be so they can continue to protect us as well as they do.

It has been  measured that we lose approximately 30,000-40,000 skin cells PER MINUTE so in the time it has taken you to read this you have probably lost about 50,000 dead skin cells.

HOW FUCKING INCREDIBLE IS YOUR BODY!

(Mum’s – Ill delete that line from the Glow copy promise!)

So why is this information important?

Because the health (which = the look) of your skin is determined by the health of your cell for that entire journey.

Just like us humans, a skin cell has different needs in the different stages of its short and important life span and when we know how to take care of our skin cells in each of those phases – that’s how we end up with skin we love!

Easy right?!

We asked our good friend Gemma who has been in the skin industry as both a therapist and a make up artist helping 100’s of clients take care of their skin for over 20 years to answer some questions for us on the best ways to nourish and nurture your skin cells at every phase of its life.

Firstly Gem – thanks for being here with us – we know how ridiculously busy you are in your clinic so it’s much appreciated!

Can you tell us your go to’s for looking after a skin cell firstly as its being created in the first layer of the epidermis?

Hydration/water… our skin is an organ, our largest infact. And just like the cells in all our organs they are made up of water. Only a small % of your water intake is received by your skin cells, and if they don’t receive water they will dehydrate and therefore not function correctly if at all.

And as it moves up to the surface level – how can we give it everything it needs here??

Once your cells are hydrated enough to function at capacity we need to keep them as healthy as possible by quenching our skin’s thirst from a topical level. So applying a really good hydrator such as hyaluronic acid and a tonic mist followed by an occlusive type moisturiser to lock that hydration in so it doesn’t evaporate and escape.

How much of a role does what we eat play in the health of our skin cells?

I’m a big believer that a lot of what we eat plays a massive part on our skins health. Trying to eliminate inflammatory products in our diet as much as possible such as gluten, dairy and sugars (where’s the fun in that I know!) But seriously if you’re causing inflammation in your gut, not only will you be uncomfortable but your skin will pay for it. Sometimes in the form of periorbital/perioral dermatitis, rosacea, and acne just to name a few. This is because our body isn’t going through the proper forms of waste elimination so it finds the next biggest escape route- yep back to that big organ- skin!


And lastly – if you could go back 10 years and give yourself one suggestions on what to change to improve the health of your skin – what would you choose?

Hmm that’s a good one- ok, you don’t have to always be of the mindset that you need to “remove” the surface of the skin to be able to rebuild it. But you do have to strength it and get to the cause of the problem before you can fix the surface. Gone are the days of peel peel peel till it’s all gone before trying to fix it!

Mel will be chatting with Gemma LIVE later this week on Instagram so keep an eye out for more details about that.

The available information on skin health is a very overwhelming space with lots of different opinions and so-called facts and it can be really fucking hard to work out what’s right for you.

So many products also claim that using their product will solve ALL of your skin complaints.

BUT… (and as the part owner of this skin care business it takes a lot of courage say this)

Because there are so many factors that affect the health and look of your skin sometimes finding the ‘answer’ is really hard.

My personal skin story is one where right now, I still don’t really have the answer as to why my skin is redder and seemingly more unhappy than it ‘could’ be.

Our skin is a mirror of what’s happening inside – this is true – but even when you are doing EVERYTHING you can to ensure that your skin is happy and healthy – the answer is sometimes really difficult to find and can take a long time and a lot of perseverance.

Ill share my story another time because I do believe it’s imperative that I do that but today is about you and your story.

That’s why we have introduced FREE 15-minute chats with us so we can come up with a plan that unique to you, your lifestyle, your not negotiables and your skin.

If that is something you think might help you find clarity and peace then please click here to book a time.

We are also going to launch a FB membership group in November this year where our own A Team including Gemma above will all be available to answer questions and join conversations about anything and everything skin.

And our Skin is basically a by-product of everything else in our life so these conversations will be about pretty much anything and everything.

One rule – what happens in the Bubbles chat stays in the Bubbles chat.  That’s the energy we are building and creating for that space now and its almost ready.

Till then tune in next week when we chat ‘Breathwork’ and the extraordinary difference some intentional inhales and exhales can make to the way you feel.

See you then. xx

(ref https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/skin.html)

Posted on Leave a comment

How laughter is one of the fastest ways to build immunity.

So, I’m sitting in my car (its where I write these days) and I’m wondering how to start this important love note to you all.

I’m feeling REALLY done with all the stuff that’s going on right now and yet I was torn because I also wanted to reach out and share with you how Mel and I are moving through this and what our go to ritual’s and processes are…

I looked up and as I did – a gorgeous girl skated past.  Not only was she handling that skateboard like an absolute pro – she was also singing, bopping to music AND walking her dog.

YES!!  Thank you, universe, what I want to tell you is obviously important so here goes.

Our favourite 3 ways to stay calm in the chaos…

  • LAUGH MORE.

Did you know that 1 minute of anger supresses your immune system for up to 6 hours while laughing INCREASES it for as long as 24 HOURS!!

How fucking cool is that!

Not convinced?

Ok – here are 17 more reasons to dig out that old Ace Ventura DVD;

  • Boosts your immune and circulatory systems
  • Enhances oxygen intake
  • Stimulates your heart and lungs
  • Relaxes muscles
  • Triggers the release of endorphins (natural painkillers)
  • Eases digestion
  • Soothing to stomach aches
  • Relieves pain
  • Balances blood pressure
  • Improves mental functions (alertness, memory and creativity)
  • Improves overall attitude
  • Reduces stress/tension
  • Promotes Relaxation
  • Improves sleep
  • Enhances quality of life
  • Strengthens social bonds and relationships
  • Produces a general sense of well-being

(sources will be listed below)

So, your number one remedy – whatever it is that makes you laugh do it more often and for longer.

Laughing and feeling good regardless of HOW or WHAT it is you are laughing at (I’m looking at all of the old school Adam Sandler movie lovers out there right now) will have you feeling grounded and calm in the chaos.

For me – I couldn’t be happier about watching my favourite Friends episodes every day or playing a silly board game with my kids.

PS – for those who also love Friends – my favourite is the one where they PIVOT the lounge chair up the stairs… Ross – he gets me ERRY time.

Bhahahahaha.
  • PRIORITISE some daily self-care even if it’s just one longer breath every morning and night.

So bloody simple and so bloody effective.

Guys – seriously – this is all you need – if you want to change the way you feel about anything.

STOP

Breathe in for 4 counts.

Hold for 4 counts.

Exhale for 4 counts.

Wait for 4 counts.

REPEAT if needed.

1-2 of these breaths will switch your nervous system from stress response AKA flight/fight/freeze over to Healing response AKA ‘rest and digest’ immediately.

This type of breath is one of the ways that stimulates the Vargas nerve which when activated will;

• Rapidly turn off the stress, hyper-arousal, and fight/flight via the relaxation response.
• Sharpen our memories.
• Fight inflammatory disease.
• Help you resist high blood pressure.
• Block the hormone cortisol and other oxidizing agents that age and deteriorate the brain
and body
• Block systemic (body-wide) inflammation – a major factor behind aging and poor health.
• Help us overcome depression and anxiety.
• Help us sleep better.
• Raise levels of human growth hormone.
• Help us overcome insulin resistance.
• Turn down allergic responses.
• Lower chances of getting stress and tension headaches.
• Help spare and grow our mitochondria- this is a key to maintaining optimal energy levels and
not harming our DNA and RNA.
• Affect our overall ability to live longer, healthier, and more energetic lives.

Please find more ways to stimulate your Vargas Nerve by reading that article in full using the link below.

SO many AHA moments while learning about the Vargas Nerve. Link below is worth a read. Promise you will love it.

Other things you might want to try while prioritising self care;

  • Walking outside in nature – with bare feet where possible.
  • Reading a book even if it’s only for 10 minutes.
  • Talk to someone you love for no reason at all except to connect with them.
  • If you have kids – get really fucking present with them. Play, dance, sing, watch what they love to watch with them, bake cookies etc etc.
  • Swim in the ocean. Soak up all those amazing negative ions and it’s even better if it’s cold because if you read the rest of the Vargas nerve article you will learn that’s another way it can be stimulated. WIN WIN.
  • Eat something you really really love to eat and savour every. single. mouthful. And do it at your favourite little café so you are supporting your ‘team’ while you are at it.
  • If you can – make a small sacred space in your home. It doesn’t have to be big and it doesn’t have to be there all the time – it can just be something super simple to set up. Some crystals, a candle, some oracle cards – whatever floats your boat.  Then just sit in that space for a few minutes a day and practice gratitude and presence.

For me – I dedicate the first hour of my day to Yoga stretching (which includes above breathwork), meditation, journaling and reading in that order.  I have a 2.5-year-old, so I never really know how long I’m going to get so breathwork is always first.

Im using a ‘pop up’ sacred space right now because I am living in a two-bedroom unit while our house is renovated and it’s worth it.  It’s worth the 2 extra minutes to set it up and be in my own space for as long (or as little) as I get to have.

I’ve also been finishing my showers with ICE cold water since learning about how beneficial that can be to my immune system after discovering the WimHof Method – that’s a whole different conversation but wow – if you wanna know more about that I’ve included a link below.

The legend Wim Hof

I smashed a slice of toasted banana bread today too because yum.

  • Sensible conscious choices around cleanliness and immunity.

This ‘situation’ is the most perfect ‘creation’ to remind us about being more sensible and conscious around our cleanliness as a whole.

I made the choice not to vaccinate my youngest daughter Lucy and to instead immunise her using homeopathy so that was when we really turned the ‘sensible and conscious’ corner around cleanliness in our family.

I’m more recently noticing everyone around me beginning to make similar choices – choices, that in all honestly, we shouldn’t have needed any excuses to persuade us into being more conscious about but we did, and it has, so let’s look at some of the different ways you can do this;

  1. Hand washing more often and for a wee bit longer. I know – DUH – but this belongs in the number one spot because it’s really our first and easiest line of defence against unknowingly spreading any germs we might be carrying both to ourselves and to others.
  2. Refrain from touching your face and biting your nails. I personally see this as a positive because my go to in times of stress has been to nail bite and now I’m SO aware of it that my nails are actually growing really nicely… Seriously though – it’s a big one so just become aware of it and make the change as you notice yourself doing it. ZERO guilt required when you do catch yourself.  This is key.  Just a little ‘whoops’ and moving on is all you need.
  3. Self-Isolate if required. This current ‘climate’ has coined this term or maybe more so made it way more prevalent and I really like it. Self-Isolation is SO fucking important in general and we all need to do it more often not just in times of chaos or when we feel like we might be coming down with something – actually – if we did all self-isolate more often this craziness could have been avoided completely because it’s my belief that this is the overall learning we are all going to gain from this if we are the kinds of people who look for the blessing in times of challenge and chaos which I know you all do otherwise you wouldn’t still be reading this.
  4. Be a little bit more aware of what’s going into your body. Let’s up the high vibing foods and supplements like fruits, vegetables (especially things like garlic and greens) vitamin C, diffusing and using essential oils like peppermint, eucalyptus, lemon, rosemary & frankincense, restorative tea’s over coffee (most of the time), reduce all refined white ‘bum glue’ high gluten foods, drink more clean/pure water etc.

We have about a thoooooussand articles on all of these topics on our website but if you want or need any extra help – shout out and we will be only too happy to share what we know or point you in the right direction.

I also have an incredible Naturopath down here on the Southern GC. Nicky Wood, who has written a very thorough well researched article on this virus WITHOUT the fear mongering and including ways to recognise if you might be infected and which solutions to use when.  I can’t link the article as it was only sent out as a newsletter and isn’t up on her website yet BUT if you want to read this please let me know and Ill will forward it onto you.  Email me at kate@bubblesorganic.com.au for this (and whatever else you want to ask)

Every single thing we do can come down to one very simple and yet completely powerful line;

 

BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD.

 

So, let’s all do that instead of getting caught up in any fear mongering or hysteria because being solution focused is just a nicer place to be.  When you feel some fear creeping in – and you will because #human – take a long deep breath, call your best friend, make a tea or watch Ross make Fajita’s for the 34th time and know that it’s all going to be ok.

Sending you all LOVE & LIGHT.

(PS – links to all the things I have mentioned are just below…)

Now is the time to shine even more brightly friends.

Shine Shine SHINE.

All our love

IMPORTANT LINKS

Ian White from Australian Bushflower Essences shares his thoughts.  Mel and I have signed up to become Bushflower practitioners in June this year which is super exciting – especially after listening to this!

https://youtu.be/rsLm_wjpXeQ

Vargas Nerve article.

https://www.arcvic.org.au/34-resources/402-vagus-nerve-exercises

The legend Wim Hof and his amazing resources for raising your immunity.  He has a FREE app where he teaches all of the techniques you need.  Such an amazing and generous soul.

https://www.wimhofmethod.com/

The article on how laughing raises your immunity.

https://www.cncahealth.com/how-laughter-boosts-your-immune-system-reduces-stress-and-more/

Posted on Leave a comment

Meditation and Mindfullness are not the same thing.

 

Mindfulness and Meditation are not the same thing.

I feel like these two words get confused and used synonymously all the time.

As we are about to launch a new product that includes a daily mindfulness practice – I thought it might be a good idea to get some clarity around it.

Let’s do some quick definitions to get us started;

Meditation; to focus one’s mind for a period of time, in silence or with the aid of chanting, for religious or spiritual purposes or as a method of relaxation.

AND

Mindfulness; a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.

Now I want to tell you a little bit about my own experience with both.

Meditation – for me – took A LOT OF PRACTICE.  Like it took me going to a 4 day ALL day meditation workshop where I meditated for 9 hours each day (seriously we started at 6am and finished at 6pm and just had short breaks) to really get it.

And I did get it and back then – when I had the time to integrate that into my daily rituals I freaking loved it.

I was up at 4am every single morning and id start the day with 60-90 mins of meditation.

That quickly became my daily minimum requirement.

Then I had another baby.

And I discovered almost overnight – that things were going to change.

I was loving my long quiet morning meditation practice so the idea of letting go of that, was hard.

At that point in time it didn’t feel like anything less was going to be enough.

Fast forward 2 and a bit years, lots more reading, experiences and life later, and I now have a much more balanced and ‘whole’ point of view.

EASE.

Ease is where it’s at.

If what I am trying to achieve is not cultivating EASE for me and my family, then I’m out.

I still love a long meditation and when I do get the chance to sit and balance all my chakra’s with Joe (my meditation guru and teacher Dr Joe Dispenza) – I jump at the chance but on a daily basis – in my life as it is right now – that’s just not an option that cultivates EASE.

This is because meditation (for me and most other people I know) requires solitude, silence and preferably no interruptions.

That right there, can make meditation feel unachievable for most of us.

But guess what.

The me that didn’t believe that I would ever find that bliss bubble experience without my intensive morning ritual – was wrong.

Turns out simple, daily practices can have the same – and in my case – even more profound benefits than a block of morning meditation.

Why??

Because EASE.

When your life situation means to have an hour or even 30 minutes to yourself uninterrupted equals LOADS of organisation and other people and their schedules etc – then it kinda takes the ease out of it if it’s a daily occurrence.

So, when I felt the call to give more back to myself – to invest more in self-care than I currently was – I decided to start with the short (once considered too short) 15-minute meditation and to read.

Not just any old book.  Something that captured my attention and left me feeling better than when I started reading.

The book I chose changed everything.

It’s A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle.

And guess how he makes change feel???

Like EASE.

Fuck it feels good to have someone who really knows his shit tell you it’s that easy.

Here are a few of the gazillion things he says that hit me right in my solar plexus.

“being aware of your breath forces you into the present moment – it is the key to ALL transformation”

“the ego may be clever but it is not intelligent.  Cleverness pursues its on goals and intelligence see the larger whole in which all things are connected”

“just be aware of the ego. Simply being aware of it decreases its power.  You need not do anything at all except be aware”

That – right there.

Just being aware is the key.

There is nothing else you need to do.

Thank you, Eckhart, because like you, I am already doing SO much.

So in essence, he is saying that it’s as simple as connecting an awareness of your breath to everyday habits.

 

Washing the dishes, be aware of your breath.

Driving the kids to school, be aware of your breath.

Standing in a line waiting, be aware of your breath.

Going to the toilet, be aware of your breath.

Brushing your teeth, be aware of your breath.

Cleansing your skin, be aware of your breath.

 

This then creates space between all of your thoughts and that space, is where peace and EASE reside.

And that my friends, is MINDFULLNESS.

One of the most exciting things about reading this book is this is EXACTLY what we have been working on here at Bubbles with our new product range Skin Potions.

Skin Potions is not just skincare.

It’s skin MINDFULLNESS.

It’s like having a little Eckhart with you while you clean your face.

It’s taking the opportunity to mash up some mindfullness – some conscious breathing – with your skincare.

We are all (well I assume so if you are reading this) already taking the time to take care of our skin at some point every or most days. Some of us do it twice a day.

What if we decided to use that time more consciously…??

We recently asked 10 of our favourite people to use Skin Potions for 6 weeks and to report back to us on what they thought.

We are almost finished the 6 weeks now and here is just a snippet of what a few of them have had to say;

 

“for a chick who doesn’t really love baths…. I’m taking 2-3 a week now as a HUGE ‘ahhhhhhhh’ at the end of both good and ‘tricky’ days”

“I’m using and LOVING everything skin potions.  I ADORE the information postcards. They are magic, and I’ll be using them religiously from now on…”

“I love the earthiness of them all and I just mix up whatever I want in my jojoba pretty much daily – something is shifting – I’m not sure how to explain it but I feel more balanced and calmer than before I started using them”

 

We cannot wait for you guys to get your hands on this stuff.

It’s been a long time coming but trust me – oh so worth the wait.

If you want to be one of the first to know more about this new paradigm in skincare then please send us an email to hello@bubblesorganic.com.au and we will be in touch as soon as they are available.

Sending BIG love to you all for a fabulous sunny weekend.

Till next time.

Posted on Leave a comment

Our K.I.S.S. three minutes (or LESS!) skincare routine.

Because let’s be honest.  If I told you it was going to take you 40 minutes (or in my case even 15) to commit to a daily skincare routine most of you would either smile and agree and then walk away laughing at me under your breath OR you would love the idea and then only days later be left feeling potentially overwhelmed by it and then if you can’t find the time you’d feel guilty for not taking care of your skin properly.

We don’t want either of these things to happen.

That’s just silly.

My daily skincare rituals take me under 3 minutes.  I can probably smash them out in under 1minute if I wanted or needed too (which I don’t most of the time but more on meshing mindfullness with skincare next week) and it really shouldn’t be taking any of you much longer than that.

Here are our suggested ‘ON WAKING’ & ‘BEFORE SLEEP’ skincare routines/rituals.

NOTE – We have always and forever approached our routines as ON WAKING and BEFORE SLEEP.  This means that even those of you who have shift work jobs can use these same routines without having to get confused by ‘morning and night’.

Our cleansing stars.

ON WAKING.

If you have cleansed your skin right before going to bed the night before you do NOT need to cleanse your skin again the next morning.. This is something the beauty industry made up so you would use more product and they make more money.  The End.

Our first recommended step for on waking is to either spritz with a face mist or hydrosol OR to compress your skin with tepid water, a soft cloth and your chosen essential oil.  I LOVE this as the way to start my day – its an absolute addiction of mine.

Quick Compress instructions here;
Fill your basin with just enough tepid water to soak your face cloth.  Add 2-3 drops of yoru chosen oil – I love Bergamot in the morning as it is nature’s anti depressant so it lifts your energy and also calms any residue stress from the day before allowing you to quite literally start fresh each day.
Soak the cloth, gently wring it out leaving it quite damp and press gently into your face.  INHALE allllll the goodness and smile – then repeat as many times as you like.. I like to do it 3-4 times.
On the last compress – leave a bit more dampness on the skin so that when you pop on your cream or serum it can take hold of all that goodness and bury it deep into your skin as you massage it in… mmmmm YES!

You are now ready to start your day and go make magic happen.

BEFORE SLEEP…

Its the end of your day (whatever time that is for you) and you want to slide into bed and feel clean, grounded and ready to sleep.

First step – cleanse.

We have a variety of different cleanse options available depending on what you like.
In the picture I have used our Creamy Clean as that is our most popular way to cleanse.. I personally swap between that and Jojoba quite regularly depending on how Im feeling.

Massage your chosen cleanser into your face and décolletage making sure all the make up and daily build up of grime is cleansed from your pores and then use the same soft cloth with tepid water to gently remove the cleanser.   You can use the compress method here to cleanse too using Bergamot which is an incredible natural cleanser.

There is no need to ‘double cleanse’.   This too is another beauty trick to encourage more use of product and more money spent.  The only time you will need to double cleanse is if you wear quite heavy make up and you can still see and feel it on your skin after the first cleanse.  I wear a natural mineral make up plus mascara and brow powder every single day and I only ever cleanse once.

Once you have clean fresh skin you simply apply your chosen serum/moisturiser and massage or press that gently into again both your face and décolletage.

Sometimes I use our oil based serum and other times I use the cream – sometimes I use both.  All depends on the condition of my skin at the time and how Im feeling really.  One is enough in most cases but we also recommend both for some skin conditions we are helping people heal.

Now you can choose to add some short and VERY beneficial mindfullness steps into your skincare routine – they don’t even extend the time it takes by more than 1 minute and yet they make an incredible difference to your health and wellbeing.

We’ll chat more about that and some weekly routines very soon.

BIG LOVE

Posted on Leave a comment

How to heal unhappy skin with one simple yet powerful vegetable…

Hello lovelies.

How is week 2 of 2019 going for everyone??

One of the BIG intentions I set for this year was to be a more conscious eater and it wasn’t for the love of the animals (even though I do love animals and believe that kindness to all beings is SUPER important to increasing the happiness vibes of our planet) that was the driving force behind my decision…

It was the current state of my skin which is on and off redness, itchiness, bumpiness and pretty much unhappiness.

SO today we are going to talk about Hydrochloric Acid and celery and how they are a match made in heaven.

Who can guess how these two seemingly opposite objects go hand in hand???

Who else out there is all over the Medical Medium and his theories on self-healing.

HOLY SHITBALLS!

This information is blowing my mind.

Now I first about him back when Lucy was a newborn so about 18 months ago now and I bought all the books and read them but with the whole life being turned upside down by a baby thing – I guess I kind of forgot about them for awhile…

Now I’ve spoken to you guys about the Doctrine of Signatures many times before.  It’s one of my most favourite topics to discuss.  For those of you who haven’t read any of that info and don’t know what it is here is a brief rundown.

The doctrine of signatures, dating from the time of Dioscorides and Galen, states that herbs, fruits, vegetables, plants and flowers that resemble various parts of the body including our internal organs can be used to treat ailments of those body parts.

So, for example celery – what would you say it represents in the human body – what does it look like??

If you said bones, you would be CORRRRRRECT!

Some more examples are;

Walnuts for our brain, carrots for our eyes and tomatoes and capsicums for our hearts.  Ill char more about this over the next few months…

Now mother nature doesn’t stop there with celery either.

Not only does it look like bones it has the same content of sodium as our bones do too!

I KNOW! (insert super excited face emoticon here)

Until recently that is pretty much I knew about celery but that changed recently when I discovered something that BLEW MY MIND.

This shiz is seriously just so cool and the more you know the more addictive it is.

So, what as Hydrochloric acid (or HA) have to do with this because I know you know that we do NOT eat that…

Well HA is what keeps our stomach healthy.  When the levels of HA in our stomach is too low – food that should have been fully digested in the stomach instead travels down into our intestines and takes up residence there where it begins to go rotten and give off a toxic gas called causing all sorts of lovely things like bloating and leaky gut.

Yes, delicious right.

Wee Disclaimer;
This content is taken directly from the books and or posts from the Medical Medium (whose name is Anthony btw).  Some of the information is scientifically proven and some is yet to be discovered by modern science.   If you don’t know much about the Medical Medium, then this won’t make much sense but let’s just say he gets his information from somewhere magical….

There are many things that cause the levels of HA in our stomach to lower to unhealthy levels – stress being a BIG contributor amongst other things like unhealthy foods, DDT (a common pesticide used by farmers, other environmental factors like pollution and the list goes on.

I have had red inflamed itchy skin on and off since my early thirties… I have always thought that my second pregnancy caused it as that is when it flared up for the first time but now I am leaning more towards that being simply a trigger for something that was lying dormant and would have eventually surfaced with or without pregnancy.  My second pregnancy was riddled with stress too so when you put it all together it makes a lot of sense.

Gotta love a bit of good hindsight.

Anthony says that Rosacea is simply another variety of eczema that flares up only on the face.  Mostly the cheeks, nose and forehead…   I already knew that skin conditions were related to the liver but Anthony believes it this the liver has EVERYTHING to do with all things skin..

As a company that makes. sells and teaches its clients about skincare – this is pretty important information for us to be aware of.

So, our liver releases derma toxins (which are formed by viruses feeding off the heavy metals and toxins in your liver) to the surface of the skin to protect you.   The skin knows your liver is getting overwhelmed with pathogens and their by-product and toxins and in a panic – it pushes poisons up to the surface in a rush to help.

Once again our body and the universe as a whole as far as planning goes is doing this to HELP US. Not to punish us. 

These derma toxins which are at least far away from your internal organs now, do make life uncomfortable. They are highly inflammatory to skin tissue, causing blemishes, cracks, scabs, flaking, scarring, bleeding, and rashes of all kinds.  The associated irritation occurs because of tiny nerve endings all through the epidermis (NOTE – until now I have believed that there are NO nerve endings in the epidermis as we are taught in beauty college that they finish in the dermis… so much learning!!) When inflammation occurs, the nerves get squeezed and pulled apart causing itchiness, discomfort and outright pain of the rash.

The level to which these symptoms disrupt your life can depend on the type of viruses present and the levels of heavy metals and toxins in your liver.

So interesting isn’t it.

We have always said that GREAT SKIN BEGINS WITHIN and I guess this has never felt more accurate than right now.

Now its also SUPER important of course to nourish your skin on the outside too which is why we make the amazing all natural and organic products we do so that you can use delicious products that align with all types of skin healing and restoration.

We are about to start running workshops both in person and online to teach you how to make your own skincare potions using our all organic bases and pure essential oils.

I am currently using only pure jojoba, a few essential oils and our Calm Mask on my skin right now as I want to ensure that I don’t overload it.

When you are healing a skin condition its all about LESS is more.

If you want help with which oils and products would be best for your own personal healing journey that is what we LOVE to do and you can contact us on info@bubblesorganic.com.au ANYTIME to have your questions answered.

(I am a fully qualified clinical aromatherapist too btw so oils are kind of like oxygen for me – they are THAT important because they seriously have THAT much impact)

Ok – so how does celery fit into all of this??

Well apparently, good old once seen as quite boring and used only for Grandma’s chicken soup celery is quite the magical healing miracle food that when juiced will become your ultimate healing weapon.

One of the reasons it is SO healing is that it raises hydrochloric acid in the stomach so that food digests with ease and doesn’t putrefy which prevents a multitude of gut related disorders.

Here is an image Anthony posted recently with a very brief summary of the benefits of celery.

To see more information on each of these points please go to his Instagram feed @medicalmedium to read this and MANY other posts and testimonials from people who are now enjoying the radical healing benefits of Celery juice.

Anthony also remind us of the Spiritual Lesson that each food offers us and with celery its about resisting the need to overcomplicate things…  Drinking celery juice is the simplest of measures – sometimes its actually too simple that people right it off completely or add other vegetables because they assume this MUST be more helpful but turns out – its not.
He asks us to look at other parts of our lives where we are overcomplicating things when a more simple approach is the best….

That right there is my motto for 2019…
Choosing to go down stream and WITH the flow not against it and looking for a more simple way to do life in general.

So TRUST ME when I say that is is SO worth reading this stuff and seeing for yourself.  I have 3 of his books now and absolutely love all of them.  I’ve just ordered the most recent book which is liver specific when I learned that he believes all skincare issues stem from liver issues..

I have been juicing celery first thing each morning for a few months now BUT initially it was a bit haphazard. If I ran out I just missed a day or had a smaller cup and if I didn’t feel like it one morning id skip it and have a tea instead (which was my usual morning ritual…) BUT as of the 1st of January I decided as a part of my intention to live more consciously of which eating more consciously is a HUGE part – that I would commit to the 16oz (which equates 473mls that Anthony recommends) each and every day for 3 months minimum.

My 500ml cup of celery juice ready for drinking!
A whole bunch cup up and ready to be juiced.
How pretty are they when you look at it from this angle…

I’m making some other food changes too which I am thoroughly enjoying and Ill share some more of that soon but for now I’d love to encourage you to read a bit more on the wonder that is celery and jump on board with what seems like hundreds of thousands of people globally who are now loving this Celery Juice Movement.

Like seriously – celery is selling out down here on the coast.  I now have to pre-order it because it’s a cold weather vegetable and to buy it spray free/organic it is getting difficult!  I have used supermarket celery when I’ve needed too – I just made sure to give it a really good wash with the special vegetable wash I have…

Anthony suggests having it on an empty stomach so that’s what I do but you can have it at any time during the day if that feels too hard to start with.

Baby steps people.

It’s all about moving in the direction of where you want to be, but we can move as slowly as we need too to avoid overwhelm and the possibility of throwing in the towel altogether.

I’ve been looking for an answer to my sometimes-irritated red itchy skin for what seems like forever so I was happy to jump on board 100% and give it every chance of helping my heal.  For me this is just step one.  The next step is checking out his heavy metal detox juice and starting that too…

One step at a time….

Celery juice for the WIN!

Have a fabulous weekend.

Lots of green juice love.

Posted on Leave a comment

5 EASY ways to stay sane this December

Ok so we’ve told you before – probably a few times – that we LOVE LOVE LOVE this time of the year.

But as I am sure you all know – it can come with a potentially scary flip side if you don’t stay aware of how you are feeling and check in on both your energy and sanity levels regularly.

I had an awesome session with my go to Mindful Coach Carmen this week about a weird painful feeling I have been getting in my hands lately (promise this is leading somewhere).  Ive had it before, a long time ago, when I was going through one of the toughest times in my life so far, so I knew it was connected somehow to how I was feeling because a) everything is and b) last time as soon as we cleared the issue the pain completely disappeared and yet doctors were telling me I had arthritis and would have pain for the rest of my life without medication.  This time I went straight to Carmen.

The solution – among other things – was to teach myself how to feel relaxed at home again by creating a sacred space where I go to take a breather at some point during my day.  Like lots of working Mum’s, my home is my work as well as my play and my supposed sanctuary and I hadn’t realised that this space where I should feel content and happy – was in fact becoming somewhere I needed to escape in order for me to really melt into feeling relaxed.  Not ideal when I love being home and spend lots of time here.

Then this morning, a chat in our family group text (how good are family group text’s lol.  So many hilarious moments happen in ours almost daily – the best!) about something similar one of my sisters was experiencing, changed my mind on what I was planning to write about today and I decided instead to see if I could come up with a short (hahahahaha short….), easy to implement guide for staying sane in this festive season and for as long as you like after that as well really.

So here goes;

5 EASY ways to STAY SANE this December

1 – Create your own sacred space.

Straight out of my session to you – create yourself a space where you can sit and be alone even for 5 minutes each day and regroup.

Stop over thinking this if you are already doing that.  You do not need to go to kmart and buy a new chair, rug or cushions (but totally do that if you want too!).  My space has my Yoga mat, a pillow and a book shelf where I have a candle and a few books Im reading right now.

A candle is great because that action of lighting a candle is a great little way for your brain to go ‘oh – ok its slow down time – got it’.  By starting with 5 minutes its doable for almost all of us.  I say almost because I know that for some of you even 5 minutes will feel like forever if its been a long time or ever since you have done anything like this.

You can spend as much time there as you wish but 5 minutes is a minimum.

When you are there just do whatever you like.  It might be as simple as sitting and breathing and nothing else.  You might read. You might stretch and if you are really lucky you might even lie down in Savasana (on your back with your palms facing upwards) and have a wee nanna nap.  Ahhhhh one day Kate – one day.

2 – Ground. 

Ive been reading up on this a lot lately as I am writing our new 21 day program that will go alongside our Clean Three Skin Detox kit and boy is there some power in standing barefoot on the grass/sand as a daily habit.

Like BIG benefits.

Here are just a few;

* Grounding neutralizes Free Radicals
* Grounding improves sleep, pain management and stress
* Grounding improves inflammation and immunity.

So how do you ground?  Take off your shoes and stand on the grass or sand or dirt and just breathe.  You can just stand there if you like but doing it consciously or mindfully will improve how effective it is.  I usually close my eyes and use the time to visualise something Im working on manifesting. I always feel so zen after a good grounding session at the beach. Super powerful to do it there so give it a try if you can.

3 – Random acts of Kindness. 

Everyone seems to go at a life or death pace in December and if you accidentally get in the way of one of them in a shopping centre god forbid.  People who should be enjoying themselves buying things for those that they love – are running around acting like mad people instead. SO this is where we can Be the change.

Be the ones who are sharing love instead of insanity. Smile at those crazed out people because underneath their seemingly frightening exterior is probably a stressed out Mumma trying to get everything done before she runs out of time.

Let’s all commit to at least one random act of kindness every single day.. It could be as simple as smiling at a stranger, helping someone who looks like they need some help, NOT engaging in road rage or shopping centre carpark rage even if someone does something super annoying, paying for someone’s coffee or Yoga class or whatever they are paying for after you pay.  I love to leave my coin change in the self serve machines at the shops – just little things like that.

I always buy a few presents for the Kmart Christmas Tree and the kids love choosing and wrapping them so that’s a good one too.. Or donate a few nicer things – things you still in fact love – to charity and make someone else’s day.

All of the above will make you feel giddy with happiness and happiness is the best way to avoid getting stressed.  Oh there is so much more I could say here but Id still be writing next week.  You guys will just have to come to our retreats and workshops next year to here all the juicy stuff.

4 – Hang with those who LIGHT YOU UP!

Arrange a catch up with the people who you love most EVEN if time is running out – actually ESPECIALLY if time is running out.

MAKE THE TIME.

It doesn’t have to be an extravaganza or hours and hours of time.  Meet at a street doing Christmas lights and chat as you walk around, or meet for a quick morning tea and juice/coffee in the park OR if you have too organise a Face time chat with a group of you and share a glass of wine – even if its in different places or my favourite – somewhere I can see the ocean one late afternoon – think picnic rug, dodgy christmas carols, a drink and ALLLLLL the cheese and crackers – and olives – and quince paste… Oh food is just the best thing in life isn’t it!

Being around the people that make us feel shiney and happy is SO important for our energy levels and our sanity.

Its so easy to say we are busy or can’t fit it in but we should be treating those people with the same importance as eating or brushing our teeth because doing things that replenishes our energy is what keeps us LIVING rather than simply existing.

And lucky last………

5 – Finish your shopping SOONER rather than later. 

Because NOBODY wants to be in the shopping centres in that last week before Christmas.  Well actually I used to love it.  And it can be fun if we are feeling organised and ready but if we are the ones still trying to find stuff its just plain stressful.

We can help you out with that right here right now.

Our Christmas Packs this year are the best yet – just like a fine wine we are improving with age and so are our packages.

Like seriously.

Starting at $15 for all those small gifts you need and secret santa’s right up too $99 with the pack that really does have it all!  (the $99 pack is worth $184 RRP so maybe buy that one for yourself!)

Click here to see them and find out more.

Peace out my loves
Posted on Leave a comment

Antioxidants, Free Radicals, the Acid Mantle & Summer (and what they all have in common…)

Oh, how I love that wee tingle of the sun on my shoulders.  That time of the day before it’s too hot and annoying but warm enough to leave you feeling all glowed up and fabulous.

The BEST.

It also had me thinking about adding more Anti-oxidants onto my skin and into my meals again as the sun – more specifically UV RAYS – are one of the major causes of free radical damage which is the fastest way to age your skin prematurely.

I’m sure for most of you it sounds a bit like I’ve started using Word of the Day toilet paper in that paragraph so let’s rewind a bit and I’ll explain it all properly.

Ageing is a natural part of life – Unfortunately our skin often ages faster than the rest of our body because it ‘sticks’ out more.  Our skin is exposed daily to the environment which is why we need to protect it.  But what effect does our environment have on our skin;

What happens when you peel an apple?
A – it goes brown.

What happens when you don’t paint a tin shed?
A – it rusts.

All forms of deterioration or ageing are from the number one ageing factor – OXIDISATION OR FREE RADICAL DAMAGE.

Here is a little bit of science behind Free Radical Damage….

The smallest particles that make up matter are atoms.  An atom is so small that a single drop of water contains more than a million billion atoms.  Every skin cell is made up of millions of atoms.   Every atom has many electrons spinning around it – all perfectly balanced.

When oxidisation takes place, this balance is disrupted.  In simple terms – what happens is an electron is stolen from a complete ‘good’ atom by a free radical.  In brief – a free radical is an atom with a missing electron looking for a replacement.

This is the major factor in the aging process including the aging of our skin.  This stealing of electrons continues until more and more atoms are being left with electrons out of balance so what do all of these ‘unbalanced’ atoms do?

They steal another complete atom electron and the process just goes on leaving behind a trail of damaged atoms because even though they might have replaced their missing electron – they are still considered damaged because this new random electron is not their own.

This free radical damage is why scars and lines stay even though our skin replaces itself every 28 days – the damage is programmed into our cells and the DNA is altered to replicate the damage.

So how do we STOP free radicals ageing our skin??

To prevent free radical damage also referred to as oxidative damage, the best way is to cover up and protect so that the oxygen does not attack!

How do we stop the apple going brown?
A – we put it in an airtight container or use lemon juice

How do we stop the tin shed from rusting?
A – we paint it!

Now we can’t put our skin into a plastic container can we – so the answer to stopping free radicals attacking your skin is ANTI OXIDANTS!

Topical and internal antioxidants provide protection against environmental damage to the skin and are the most effective way to slow down the ageing process.

Think of the words – Anti and Oxidant.

Anti which means to be opposed to and oxidant – SO – anti oxidants stop the oxidisation process or the free radical damage by providing that missing electron, so your atoms don’t go on an electron stealing rampage.

It really is that simple!

So what are the causes of Free Radical Damage?

We are exposed or introduced to Free Radicals in two VERY different ways.

  1. Over exposure to the sun, pollution, cigarettes and other environmental factors and toxins (these are the ways we want to minimise OR avoid completely!) and
  2. They are also produced by our body everyday – just by breathing we are producing them, and by exercising – (we of course want to keep doing these things!)

Free radical production is unavoidable which makes it even more important to start doing something about it!

So how do we counteract the production or introduction of Free Radicals??

One of the major causes is cigarette smoke – Smokers increase their cancer risk by 85% and it is also one of the quickest and best ways to age and damage your skin.

Another major cause of free radical production! The UV rays break down collagen and elastin fibres & damage DNA which all leads to wrinkles, discolouration and poor skin texture.  Sun is essential for good health and getting some between those warmest hours of the day when the sun is highest in the sky is FABULOUS but be sun smart and take it easy.
Use a good mineral make up that is also SPF or a natural sunscreen that has a physical blocker in it NOT a chemical and use a hat to cover up.

How does our skin naturally fight Free Radicals??

Your skin possesses a built in anti oxidant defence system to deal with oxidative stress, especially exposure to UV rays – it is called the Acid Mantle.
The purpose of the Acid Mantle is to keep bacteria away and to protect the skin from all the ‘bugs’ out there.  Just like putting a lemon on the apple, this protective layer also protects your skin from oxidisation and free radical damage.

What is the Acid Mantle??

The acid mantle is a combination of sweat from your sweat glands and the sebum (your skins natural oil).  The two are secreted onto the surface of the skin to form this invisible protective layer.
(NB – Secretions are used by the body – excretions are substances the body has no use for like toxins)

How does the Acid Mantle work??

Have you heard of the term pH?  pH stands for ‘potential in hydrogen’ and is measured on a scale of 1 – 14.  With most acidic being 1 and most alkaline being 14 with 7 being neutral.  Your skins pH must be acidic to be healthy and functioning to its best ability hence the term ‘acid’ mantle.

Dry skin has a higher acidity and oily skin is more alkaline.  Skin acidity helps maintain water in deep layers of the skin tissue keeping it moist and hydrated.  The perfect pH for healthy functioning skin is 5.5 – 6.5.  This allows bacteria to be fought off and not grow.  When the skin becomes very alkaline bacteria and fungus grow rapidly with equals pimples, rashes and fungal infections

How to know if your skin is the right pH?

After washing your skin does it feel tight or squeaky clean?

If you didn’t put moisturiser on, would your skin feel dry or like it would crack if you smiled??

If you answered YES to either of these questions, chances are you are stripping your acid mantle unnecessarily. Ensure you are using a pH balanced cleanser to clean and remove make up from your skin.  You will know by the ‘feel’ of your skin after using it if it is balanced or not.  Skin should feel soft and dewy – not tight and squeaky clean!

Teenagers with acne are the biggest culprits for stripping their acid mantle – not knowing what to do with their pimples and society and media telling them they should have perfectly clear skin they wash and scrub their faces with every available soap and detergent product which totally destroys their acid mantle and lets bacteria thrive with infected pimples and acne the result.

A good rule is – if it foams – it will strip.  BUT this isnt always the case these days – our foaming cleanser uses a safe and natural foaming ingredient but this isn’t the case in most products that foam. As a general rule though – this works.

So definitely stop using so much soap.

Only use soap on the bits that really need it and use a natural glycerine included soap when you do.  Aromatic showering is a great alternative for body cleansing without soap and using a pH balanced cleanser for the face.

Body brushing is another great way to ensure you get that clean feeling without stripping your skin.  Always brush towards the heart and use brush dry or wet – up to you.  Often feeling ‘unclean’ without soap is simply from years of physiological conditioning of having to use soap head to toe!

Let’s bust another Myth;

 “you must cleanse before bed and on waking”

Why?!?!

(ps we always use the terms ‘before bed’ and ‘on waking’ instead of morning and night because with so many people working shift work these days morning and night doesn’t really apply anymore as a general rule) 

If the last thing you did before going to bed was clean your skin and apply a serum or cream – why when you wake up do you need to clean your skin again – unless maybe you live in a cave and roll around in the dirt while you sleep – then it’s probably a good idea.

Like all things in life there are always times when this myth might in fact apply.  People with excessively oily skin do sometimes feel better after cleaning their skin in the morning – we would suggest misting with one of our face mists first and seeing how they feel or simply with a damp face cloth.  After a few weeks on their new skin routine – the excess oil will start to settle down anyway.

Another time cleansing in the morning might apply is if you went out the night before and didn’t really clean your skin as well as you normally do – then give it another clean in the morning but other than that – a gentle wipe over with a damp tepid face cloth is all you need – or simply apply your chosen cream and sun protection product and off you go!

We like to keep cleansing really easy and we offer 3 options that each and every skin type can choose from.  You simply need to decide if you prefer a cream, a wash/foam or an oil cleanser – all of them are pH balanced and will make sure that your ever important Acid Mantle is being taken care of properly.

You can find out more about our cleansers HERE.

So back to how we protect our Acid mantle and fight free radicals….

How else can we fight Free Radicals?

GREEN TEA!

How many of you drink green tea??

The Japanese have been drinking it for centuries and their incidence of degenerative disease caused by free radicals is very low!  They often look younger than their years – the anti oxidant qualities can be obtained by drinking it hot or cold.

Research is continually uncovering healing and protective effects from green tea both as a beverage and a compound applied to the skin.  Green tea will help fight damage from sunlight and other forms of oxidative stress.  Oxidative stress to the body such as smoke and pollutants in the air which means if you do insist on smoking (to the detriment of your skin) at least drink lots of green tea – drink as much as you like because you cannot overdose on it.

Another way to internally fight Free Radicals is to hold the A.C.E card.

Vitamins that have had the most popularity when it comes to anti oxidant protection are Vitamins A, C & E which are readily found in fruits and vegetables plus other foods.  Vitamin C is also reported to make your skin less sensitive to the sun which is good if you are prone to pigmentation and discolouration.

A high-quality supplement of these vitamins is sometimes required even with a healthy balanced diet as cooking and preparing foods can eliminate the vitamins before they get a chance to even get into our bodies.

LYCOPENE

Lycopene is a carotenoid that is important for healthy skin.  There are approximately 600 members of the Carotenoid group.  Beta Carotenoid is possibly the best-known Carotenoid however Lycopene has twice as much anti oxidant potential.  Found in high doses in tomatoes and other yellow, orange and red fruits like Pomegranate which is also a primary ingredient in our Restore Serum.

A little hint for you – To get the most Lycopene from your tomatoes heat them in olive oil when cooking them as this releases the Lycopene from the fruit – WINNING!

As always we LOVE answering your questions so please if you do want any advice about your skin and how it can feel and look even more amazing please get in touch on info@bubblesorganic.com.au or call 1300 LOVE SKIN.

Till next time
BIG love

Posted on Leave a comment

Soothe. A ‘Roll With It’ CLOSE up.

Ok so its warming up outside and there is the smell of Summer in the air.
My backyard is covered in white clover flowers and what comes with white clover flowers everyone?!?!

BEES!

I want you to please visualise this – it will be way funnier.

We have chickens in our backyard and every morning the kids go up and check they have enough food and water plus collect their eggs. Now this is normally a pretty easy ‘job’ mostly because I don’t have to do it.  Id much rather pay the kids 50c than do that myself.

However lately Troy (Kye and Em’s dad) has been off work healing an injury so the kids have been staying there during the week which they don’t normally do which means I have to do it these mornings and this one morning last week – I also had to take Lu (my 16mth old who is yet to decide to walk) up with me as she was in a DO NOT put me down kind of mood.

Knowing what happened I would have chosen to wait until she was napping.

For some reason I decided it was a good idea not to put on either my big gumboots or thongs and I went up barefoot.

On my way to the feeders as I walked through the clover I was hit with the most intense pain ever under my foot and literally had to start hopping – while still holding Lu – on one foot trying not to scream or swear but holy hell – its been a long time between bee stings and I had forgotten how much they burn!

I then while hopping to the fence had to somehow open the fence with one hard whilst still hopping and holding Lu and on the inside panicking that my other foot would also be stung. Lu is all the while saying ‘Dance’ to me thinking that is what I was attempting. Says A LOT about my dancing skills doesn’t it!

It was not my finest moment BUT we made it back inside and the very first thing I did was – well first I gently pulled out the stinger thingy which also really hurt – and then I grabbed my SOOTHE roller and just went to town on the bottom of my foot.

Now I know I created this product so you might think this is just a sales pitch but it was instantaneously – well – soothed!  I was able to take five, find my centre and breathe which I also partly attribute to the oils as we purposely added a calming element to this blend for that exact reason.

Then about 5 minutes later – I took a dose of APIS homeopathy which actually comes from a bee sting and is the perfect at home first aid remedy for all things that burn and sting.

And I think within 15 minutes – the whole experience was pretty much forgotten, and I was back to playing puzzles.

The poor chickens did not get their food or water checked or their eggs collected until later that day but they are very forgiving – told me they completely understood.  Such good hens.

Now what is it about Soothe that makes it such a useful and kinda essential at home first aid treatment??

The cooling blend takes the sting out of our Summer at picnics, beach trips and even a quiet home BBQ.  Be it an ant, (OR A BEEEEEE!), sunburn, a jelly fish, or even some spikey grass, keeping this one close helps to soothe all things that sting!

Here is a wee rundown of just some of the known benefits of the oils we have used in the blend;

Peppermint;

The queen of essential oils when it comes to pain relief and because peppermint oil has analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti-spasmodic properties, it not only can relieve pain and inflammation but can also calm the spasms that cause muscle cramps.  The cooling powers of Peppermint invigorates the mind. Body and spirit and help to remind us that life is can be joyful and fun!  It basically offers a short reprieve so we can brave the rough waters with a renewed sense of purpose and energy.

Tea Tree;

This little gem is anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, antibacterial, antimicrobial, antiseptic and well pretty much anti all things you want disposed of.  It’s a great skin cleanser – the perfect first response for a cut or graze (diluted of course!) and has super powers when it comes to fighting off germs and foreign invaders.

Not surprisingly – it works similarly on an emotional level too helping you become aware of and to clear negative energetic baggage.  There is no time for toxic relationships with Tea Tree on your side – it prefers to encourage you to make new healthy connections where you feel honoured and respected.

Lavender:

Ahhhh Lavender.  Such an amazing oil and I so wish I loved the smell of it buuuuut alas I do not – the reason I am mentioning this here is that if you feel the same way about any oils – this is completely ok and you can always blend it with one you do love to disguise it a little as long as its complementary (we are going to teach this sort of stuff soon so stay tuned).
I do however LOVE the benefits of Lavender that are seemingly limitless.

The very first and my favourite Lavender quality is how effectively it heals.  It’s so great for burns especially but applying it to any wound can not only increase cell growth causing the wound to heal faster, but it also decreases the appearance of scars.  Winning.

From an energetic space, Lavender is calming and relaxing. It is frequently used for insomnia, anxiety, depression, and natural stress relief. One recent study discovered that the scent of lavender increases the time you spend in deep (slow wave) sleep.   It’s also considered an oil of communication encouraging emotional honesty and supporting you to embrace your true self.

Immortelle:

Also know has Helichrysum – this oil is all about the removal of pain – both physically and emotionally.
The pure essential oil steam distilled from the flowers of the Helichrysum plant is really an absolutely remarkable healing agent. Not just compared to natural medicines but compared to ALL pain-relieving medicines available today.
Like all essential oils it goes to the source of the pain and addresses the cellular physiology that is causing it rather than masking it (which is what options like Panadol and Nurofen do).
From an emotional space Immortelle will help restore your faith and confidence in life itself allowing you to see the blessing sometimes hidden in adversity.  It basically holds your hand while you heal like a trusted supportive friend.

Pretty damn amazing hey.  I am still mindblown by the properties of essential oils and I have been using them for what feels like FOREVER!

If you are still reading this then there is not much more I really need to say is there.

It’s easy to use, has super cute packaging, is well priced and the oils speak for themselves.

Well what are you waiting for?

Get yours RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW.

BIG love

Posted on Leave a comment

BOOST your energy levels by creating more SPAAAAAAAAACE.

So this week I decided to do yet another de-clutter of my house.  I have been slowly de-cluttering my life for the past mmmm maybe eighteen months or so now after a friend and I starting talking about the benefits of minimalism, but it got really serious about a year ago while choosing an outfit for myself one morning.

Remembering back it felt like any other morning in my home.  I, like many other mums, had two kids to get organised for school which even on the most organised mornings can feel like a lot of work – but now I also had a 4 month old baby which changed the game just a little (or a lot).

The only thing I had left to do this one morning was get myself dressed and we were good to go.  Maybe it was the lack of sleep or time to myself that pushed me over my edge but for some reason that morning I could not put two and two together & it threw into completely out of proportion overwhelm.  Like I really lost my marbles.  I threw a Charlotte from Sex in the City and just sat down and cried in my wardrobe.  I decided that having too many clothes to choose from was creating the most ridiculous unnecessary stress and that it was time to eliminate that from my life ASAP.

I know a lot about energy.  Ive spent lots hours researching it and immersing myself into teachings based on it for many years now and yet every day I’m still discovering new ways it can impact my life.

The decision to minimise my wardrobe for example has EVERYTHING to do with energy.

We talked last week a little bit about vibration and that we all vibrate at a certain frequency.  Well if all people and things are made up mostly of energy (99.9999999% energy and .00000001% matter in fact) then of course all of the ‘things’ in my life – and in this case the excessive amount of clothing – is going to have either a positive or a negative effect on my energy and my emotional state of being.

In imagery it’s like going from feeling like this;
to feeling like this;

 

Let me share a recent experience of Mel’s as an example;

Mel moved into a new house earlier this year and for the first time had a home office with an actual door – very exciting times when at her previous house her office was an open space next to the kitchen. Not very conducive to getting work done when you have 3 seemingly ALWAYS hungry children there too.

The thing with having an office with a door though – is it very easily becomes a perfect solution for all of those boxes you don’t want to open yet but that you also don’t want blocking hallways or kitchen cupboards so in no time at all, Mel’s new office was moon lighting as a storage shed.  She could still close the door though and access her desk to get work done so no real harm done right??

After a few weeks in her new home Mel started working with a business mentor – she confided in her that she was feeling a little overwhelmed with her ever growing to do list and unable to focus on tasks without getting side tracked and she was doing a lot but achieving very little.  That her ideas have stopped flowing and she just feels really stuck – we’ve all been there right.  Mel asked her if they could do some planning and work on some time management ideas so she could get herself back on track.

The first thing she asked Mel to do was to unpack every one of the boxes in her office and to begin prioritising having a clear ‘free from clutter’ space to work.  She told Mel that NO MORE work was to be done until then – like zero.

Mel’s first thought was holy shit. I actually have to get some stuff done this week or Im going to be even more behind but out of respect for her mentor – she started unpacking.

She told me that after unpacking just one box – a solution to an idea she had been sitting with for awhile popped into her mind like a lightening bolt.

It was like a high five from the universe.

With every box she unpacked the easier it all felt and what had started to feel heavy and hard began to feel light and effortless.   Idea’s were flowing again and that long to do list actually began to look exciting rather than overwhelming.

Why??

Because if we choose to surround ourselves with clutter and mess physically – then we will begin to feel cluttered and messy emotionally.

Of course there are times when clutter and mess works – many artists thrive on this creatively and it can also be effective in idea dumping sessions but when you are working on something that requires focus and attention it is debilitating and completely distracting.

Same goes for your home.

Messy cluttered home = Messy cluttered head space.

So when I made the decision to ‘capsule’ my wardrobe – little did I know that this seemingly simple choice was going to spiral into one of the most important changes I have made in my life to date.

Over the next few weeks I am going to share how this decision evolved into a personal commitment to live more intentionally – more consciously – and how that has impacted my life and the lives of those around me.

This week – just to give the process a try yourself – pick something REALLY small to de-clutter.  It might be your car’s glove box, the good old ‘top drawer’, throwing out those pen’s that don’t work but you keep, the top of the fridge, your wallet/purse or if you wanna get a bit more crazy – your make up or costume jewellery box (eeeeeeeek I still haven’t done my make up).

Pick something small and see how your feel when you let that shit go.

Ok welcome back…

Are you with me on how important this is?  Cause I really need you feeling me on this.

Lets get back to the basics. We are all about helping you guys have great skin and where does great skin come from??

GREAT SKIN BEGINS WITHIN.

Full stop.

This stuff – the decluttering – falls under the element that we call – FEED your Mind.  And just like we detox our bodies to reset – we must detox, declutter and hit reset our mind regularly too.

Until you understand how important this part of it is – the inside mindfullness stuff – all our products will do with any of your skin concerns is maintain or help prevent it from getting worse.

Of course this is important too but the REAL healing of anything physical begins with the emotional and that my friends is an inside job.

Its takes much longer to fill your mind with new beautiful thoughts and idea’s when it is jammed with rubbish and clutter.  Just like trying to put the groceries away in a pantry that jammed with food you never eat or food that is out of date and not yet thrown out.  I once found a packed of something that was 4 years past its best before date.

Yep – go ahead and smile – you know exactly what Im talking about and I know you have been there too.

If we first clear the clutter – then we can make room for new inspirational ideas to flow on in or in the case of the pantry – food that isn’t covered in a layer of green fur….

If everything is energy (and it is) then everything is always moving and change, coming and going.

Change is the one constant we can always rely on.

If we have a BIG physical block (ie the clutter and things and stuff that no longer align with us) then this flow is interrupted.

I believe that if we are not properly prepared for inspiration and idea’s or if we block them with our old clutter – that they simply choose someone else who is more ready than we are.   I first heard of this concept in the book Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert and it just clicked.

HUGE aha moment for me.

The other thing that can happen is that if we are lucky enough to be gifted the idea – but then we don’t have the energy or space to act on it – that it will again move onto someone who is.  This is something we are going to unpack more deeply in our workshops and retreats because its best done in person, but the first and most important step is to everything we can to ensure there are no unnecessary blocks in the way.

A great way to start is doing a BIG brain dump of everything that is consuming your energy and thoughts right at this point in time.

When I do this – I like to use a piece of butchers paper so once I have done my first dump – I can then hang it up somewhere I walk past regularly and add to it for the next day or so.

I also like to have 4 different colour highlighters for this process – its the Virgo in me that loves for it all to be neat and easy to understand once Im finished with it LOL.

So the key is to write down EVERY single thing that is on your mind right at this very point in time including tasks, thoughts, ideas, etc etc.

Like EVERY single thing.

If you want – you can break it up into different areas like work and home.  For me the lines blur too much so its just easier to do it all at the same time.

For example some of mine right now would be;

I am so frustrated that I have no door on my bathroom.
I get annoyed that I have no kitchen bench space – especially when everyone is in the kitchen at the same time.
I wish that I could have more than one wine without it making my breast milk alcoholic.
I need to start meal prepping more.
I need to get my eyebrows done like STAT.
My car needs a service – like a month ago.
Email Mel about essential oil idea.

You get the idea.

Its a dump of your to do list meshed with your current feelings and emotions meshed with ideas and inspiration you are yet to dive into.  And well anything else that feels right to you.

Now remember – these are YOUR thoughts and yours alone.

Some of them might seem hurtful to important people in your world, some might seem completely irrational and some even untrue.  That is all completely ok and trust me after taking LOADS of people through this process, it happens pretty much every single time.  For whatever reason if these feeling and thoughts are in your head – they are blocking energy so they need to be acknowledged.

Even when they don’t make any sense to us consciously right now.

If you do have some stuff come up that will cause unnecessary friction in your life should someone else see them – then hanging it up in your kitchen probably isn’t the best choice for you and it might be best to write in down in a journal and to work on it privately.

If you leave out the thoughts that scare you or make you anxious then you are pretty much leaving them in there to contaminate all the new ones so just see this for what it is – a dump – and feel excited that the toxic shitty feeling stuff is coming up – if its coming up then its clearing out and that is a really positive thing.

Add anything that pops into your head from ‘write proposal for meeting with blah next week’ to ‘get waxing done’!  This could be a SUPER long list or it might be short – just as long as everything you think of is written down – it is right.

We now have to turn that list into 3 more much shorter – much easier to manage sub lists.

So grab your highlighters (who else LOVES shopping in Officeworks for things they really don’t need like mini highlighters??)  and the next step is to choose which of the following categories each item on your list fits into.

Here are the categories;

M – Maybe Later

I – Important

N – No Thanks

D – Delegate

Do you like how they form the word MIND.  Pretty clever aren’t we.

SO;

Maybe later – these are the things that can wait until tomorrow or later in the week/month (we are going to create another list for them!) Anything that you know you can leave till another time goes on this list. Highlight all the Maybe Later items in one colour and then write a new list with all of those things on it.  We call it Maybe Later because some of the things you put on here will magically become less important as they await your attention…

Important – these are the things that you need to focus on TODAY and today only!  These are the things that REALLY have to get done in the next maybe week or so.  Lets highlight these items in a different colour and write them out on another new list.

No thanks – these are things we can delete completely!  Anything that you read back to yourself and realise it just doesn’t matter or if its something emotional and no longer has any charge or power over you (sometimes simply writing it down can do that so don’t be surprised if it has happened) – no need to highlight these things.  Just go over them in a black marker and forget about them completely.

Delegate – are the things we can give to someone else to do.  Anything you find that you know someone else can do or can help you with – highlight them in your third colour and write them up on the final list.  Then I want you to write the name of the person you think can help you if you already know who that is and if you don’t just leave that blank until you find someone.
Double check through this last list and make sure that nothing on here is urgent and if it is move it to the IMPORTANT list and cross it off DELEGATE.

Then move all the other items on DELEGATE to MAYBE LATER.

You should now only have 2 lists – IMPORTANT and MAYBE LATER.

Anything new that pops up gets added to the MAYBE LATER list unless it is urgent and then it can go on the IMPORTANT list straight away.

Now lets move straight to our IMPORTANT list and get started.

A very important step that most people forget when it comes to writing to do list is next to each of the tasks, write down the approximate amount of time its going to take to complete and then next to that write down the date you are going to complete it by.

I find that when I work out the time its going to take it’s usually much shorter than I thought and it helps me manage my time for effectively.   With the date – this is all about holding yourself accountable for getting the tasks completed.  With REALLY important stuff I usually ask someone else to help keep me accountable by checking in to see if I am on track to have it finished.

If when you read a task you realise there are a few smaller steps that need to be completed in order for this task to come to fruition – work it back in your head to the first step and add that to the IMPORTANT list underneath the ‘main or parent’ task and write down the time for that first step only.

With the emotional stuff – it can be tricky putting a ‘completion date’ on those things but decide when you are going to take a step rather than find the solution.  Its more about choosing to act and setting the intention to take a step in that direction…

Remember – one step at a time.

Once that IMPORTANT list is finished – go back to the MAYBE LATER list and restart the process all over again – you will find that things have changed since you did it and rather than just jump straight in work out once again what’s the most important, what can go, what can wait and what can be delegated.

And if you are anything like me – you will pretty much keep continuing this process for the rest of your life. I sometimes have a few lists on the go because I haven’t had a chance to re-do the steps BUT at some point every week I go back and do it again.

What we have talked about today is focused purely on decluttering your mind.

What this will allow you to do is to see ALL things more clearly and with a clear mind you will begin to notice the other things in your life that also no longer align with who you are or who you want to be.

Becoming aware of the things and stuff that no longer align is the first step in decluttering your life in a bigger way.

You can use a process just like this one to begin decluttering your entire life – to start living more intentionally and surrounding yourself only with ‘things’ and also people – that really make your heart smile.

We are going to take you through processes like that in our workshops (both online and in person) and our retreats that we have coming next year and it will become more clear each time you hear it but if you do have any questions or need extra help please get in touch with us on info@bubblesorganic.com.au or 1300 LOVE SKIN.

Take some time to remind yourself WHY this process was important in the first place – to remove all the old junk that no longer aligns with you and is possibly clogging up both your life and in turn your skin and make room for new inspired thoughts and idea’s which can only lead to clear, glowing skin.

Tune in next week when we re-introduce to you our skin detox kit Clean Three which would work alongside a process like this so perfectly.

A deep cleanse of the mind with a deep cleanse of the skin because;

Great Skin really does BEGIN WITHIN.

MUCH love
Posted on Leave a comment

What the word COMMUNITY means to us…

I don’t know about you guys but the word COMMUNITY is up there with one of the MOST important words EVER for me.

And that’s not just right now while I have a toddler again and need my peeps more than ever so I don’t end up rocking quietly in the corner of my house after ‘one of those days’.  For me this has always been something of GINORMOUS importance.

Mel and I come from a big and VERY close extended family.  We all get along (like genuinely no faking), we support each other through thick and thin, and we laugh so much that some of us even start snorting (not mentioning any names Angela and Leigh ha!) and maybe that’s where this started for us – that contentness that being a part of a loved up community/group of people enables us to feel.

Something we have wanted to create at Bubbles for longer than I can remember is a Community just like that – where even those who snort when they laugh are welcome.

We have had a few different ‘membership’ style groups over the years but nothing has ever really stuck but we have learned something new each time and we are ready to give it another go and this time create something so damn good that each and every one of you will want to be a part of it.

We did  a survey last week and we asked you to answer a few questions about Bubbles products and we also wanted to find out how interested you guys were in being a part of a group like this – (now please imagine I am Grant Denyer here while you read this) “and the survey said?!?!?!

a RESOUNDING HELL YES!

This excites us so much!

Some of you said that you don’t really know because you aren’t sure what that is/means.

When I was talking to Mel about the survey responses she said its probably a bit like how she feels about Yoga.  She says she quite often wants to join a Yoga class but doesn’t because she hasn’t done much of it and feels like she might be ‘that’ person in the class who has no idea what they are doing and she ends up talking herself out of it.

So we decided to explain our plan for this ‘community’  in a bit more detail so that we can convert all of you to a yes as well.

We know we want to create it and be a part of it but there really isn’t much point if nobody else wants it so when we read your responses and saw that SO many of you are just as keen for this as we are it made our hearts smile so big.

Firstly – thank you! Thank you to those of you who took the time to answer the questions for us – its so appreciated and we are eternally grateful.  We are waiting another week to see if we get some more responses (HINT HINT if you haven’t done it already!!) and then we will get started on your surprise gifts based entirely on the answers YOU gave us.  FUN!

So what are we thinking and more importantly what do you guys want from this community we are going to create?

Well for starters how do we define ‘Community’

For us its a sacred space (both online and in person) where like minded people connect and create friendships and support networks that uplift and elevate the energy of every participant in the group.   Its about compassion and presence, laughter and tears and everything else in-between.

And when we say laughter – we mean the type that leads to lots of snorting.

Let me tell you a little bit about energy and vibration.

Im going to keep this as simple as I possibly can because it is a topic I could talk/write about for dayssssssss.

For those of you who don’t know – we are (as in the human race) electrical beings and we are surrounded by an energy field that has a certain vibrational frequency.  Our own personal vibration depends on many MANY factors and we all vibrate at a different frequency.

Some of our frequencies are similar (think friends, people you love being around and places you love visiting) and some are super dooper different (think people who give you the heebie jeebies when you walk past them and places that feel heavy and unsafe).

The higher the frequency/vibration – the happier and more joyful you feel.  Its in the low frequencies where emotions like anger, fear and apathy live.

Research has shown that when someone who has a high frequency is around someone who has a low frequency – that higher vibrating energy LIFTS the low vibrating energy up.  It has been said that 1 person who is vibrating at what they describe as ‘Love or above’ which is simply a way to measure vibration (we can chat more about this scale later and definitely in this group!) can lift the vibration of over 100,000 people who are vibrating in those lower energy fields.

It has always been a dream of mine to create a group of people so damn happy and loved up that we can lift the energy of all of Australia up.  Imagine the possibilities in a country where very few people are living in low vibration.

On a smaller scale – imagine what it could do for our group and all the people in it.

God its gets me so excited to think about it.

I know – if this is new information to you my VERY brief explanation might make me sound a wee bit esoteric and crazy due to the lack of content I shared BUT I promise you this stuff is legit.  Ive seen some very cool transformations at a family level with the clients I used to work with and promise we will chat more about it as time goes on so that you understand it too.

So that is probably the WHY we wanted to start the group and here are our thoughts on some of the other inclusions;

* a online forum where we initiate conversations around all things skin and self care.  We will bring in ‘experts’ in certain fields to join our chats and answer any questions you might have. This will eliminate the need for you to be on Facebook for be a member of this group which is something that was super important to us.  Its a costly step but we believe so so worth it.
* Access to most of our online programs that we are busily writing for you as we speak and discounted pricing on all of the others.
* Some sort of discounted pricing on our products based entirely on the products YOU love.
* Something new that we have just started tossing around is a virtual book club.  We would have a monthly live webinar where we would talk about whichever book we are reading.
* A second live webinar each month where we chat about a topic that either we or a member might choose or it might be something prevalent at the time.. who knows…
* And of course – our members will get the pre-sale offers for all of our new workshops and retreats we plan to start running in the new year.

And that is just getting us started.

So if you have any idea’s you think would help make this a community you would LOVE to be a part of PLEASE do share them with us by replying to this OR send an email directly to me at kate@bubblesorganic.com.au and ill add the idea’s to the overgrowing file.

And as always if you have any questions or queries you can contact us anytime on 1300 LOVE SKIN or info@bubblesorganic.com.au.

MUCH love

Posted on Leave a comment

Let’s divide and conquer.

The policy of maintaining control over subordinates or opponents by encouraging dissent between them to prevent them uniting in opposition is known as ‘divide and conquer’.

How does this policy apply to your skin?

Our skin cells arrive to the epidermis 28 days after being made in the dermis. Over the years, our skin loses its ability to get rid of old cells fast enough. We can support our skin by removing the dead cells, which stimulates new cells being produced in the lower layers, and the more you exfoliate the more cells divide to replace the old ones leaving skin looking fresh! But the top layer does actually have a job to do: protection from bacteria entering (acid mantle), protection from ultra violet light, and to act as a waterproofer. So yes, you can have too much of a good thing; pick one day a week and stick to it.

While cells dividing to create new cells is good, careful timing for the cell turnover is important because collagen and elastin are produced at a certain point. If too much of a good thing is had, the skin produced can become weaker i.e. creating redness and thinning.

Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHAs) have been used since Egyptian times! AHAs naturally form as fruit acids and dissolve the stuff holding the cells together so the old cells can be removed to reveal the new cell underneath. Once your skin gets to the point where it needs to be exfoliated, it has hardened into keratin—a protein we just lust after to have more of in our hair. One legendary AHA (Papaya) has a digestive enzyme called papain, which breaks down protein. Its legendary status is attributed to the papain enzyme only going after the dead skin cells, rather than the living cells, all while dissolving the cement that holds them both together. Papain goes about its business without stinging or burning too.

Our SMOOTH face polish contains papaya and kiwi fruit extracts. And it has another one of nature’s gifts: jojoba beads. We’ve shared our passion for Jojoba before, but another credential for Jojoba is its beads that gently buff away dry and lifeless surface skin cells, unblocks pores and improves the skin’s overall health and appearance.

So teeny tiny and so VERY VERY effective…

Following on from Ingredients we LOVE and those we avoid and why, I think you can guess that papaya is 100% on the LOVE list. But here’s one we don’t and you’ll find many big brands use ‘microbeads’, which are plastic particles that are toxic and are environmentally UNfriendly.

Microbeads can be found in some facial scrubs, toothpaste and body wash, but they may also be in lipstick, eyeliner, sunscreen, deodorant, nail polish and other care products. They’re commonly listed as the following ingredients

 

  • Polyethylene (PE)
  • Polypropylene (PP)
  • Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
  • Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)
  • Nylon (PA)

Three household names are known offenders including ‘Clean & Clear’, Neutrogena, and Cetaphil, which many GPs and pharmacists will recommend for ‘troubled skin’. Check out http://www.beatthemicrobead.org/product-lists/ for more info.

And, as you know, we only use natural ingredients from plant extracts, fruit and seed carrier oils, organic clays, and active botanicals. Anyone with concerns about sensitive skin, eczema, dermatitis, rosacea, and acne, SMOOTH face polish is safe and good for your skin. It’s just all in the technique—be extra gentle when massaging in and use cool, tepid water to remove😊

So, let’s go forth and divide and conquer!

Till next time

MUCH love

Posted on Leave a comment

I can’t tonight sorry – Im washing my hair…

 

Last week, we zeroed in on one BIG tip that could change the game. And, Oh My Omega, it was a good one! (read here with ‘Shout your skin a drink.)

Now that we’ve got your face immersed in some amazing essential fatty acids with our Restore Serum and its omega crew (namely: 3, 5, 6, and who could forget 9—love that guy), let’s look at healing and nourishing our scalp with jojoba.

Like our Mexican favourite, Jalopeno, the ‘J’ is pronounced as a ‘H’. Jojoba (Ho-Ho-Ba) is more a wax than an oil. Its structure mimics that of our skin’s sebum (25-30 percent liquid wax ester), which makes it really easy to assimilate into the pores and keeps things moving in and out of the skin’s layers. It will not cause clogging or congestion, the opposite in fact. This is why its loved by almost all skins, regardless of the type.

As I lamented the other day, my scalp has been dry and all a bit itchy and scratchy this winter. Part of the solution is to get all up in the grill of our Balance Hair Serum as Mel demonstrated on our Instagram page. Our Balance Hair Serum will nourish, protect and most importantly balance your scalp and hair. Being a pure natural wonder, Jojoba will moisturise the scalp providing nourishment and hydration deep down where it is needed, but will simultaneously help balance sebum production to avoid greasy unmanageable hair. In this serum though, jojoba doesn’t do all the heavy-lifting; it is in cohorts and perfect harmony with rosemary, lavender, sage.

 

 

 

Here’s how those guys help:

  • Rosemary—discourages hair loss and boosts growth. (Also amazing for the memory, so take a trip down that lane while in the shower!)
  • Lavender—super healing and gets to work on burns and wounds.
  • Sage—antifungal, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial etc. The list goes on.

Following on from Ingredients we LOVE and those we avoid and why, I think you can guess that jojoba is 100% on the LOVE list. But here’s one we don’t and you’ll find it swimming in a common household go-to for scalp issues—Head and Shoulders.

 

Oh hi, parabens, fancy seeing you here!

Parabens are preservatives used to prevent bacteria growth and other microbes and is commonly found in anti-dandruff shampoos for storage and use, among other mainstream ‘skincare’ products. You’ll find parabens listed as “benzoate” in Head & Shoulders’ list of ingredients. But as with most chemicals, there’s a lot of different terms they hide under. As we explain on our website our ingredients, parabens are not one of them because they:

  • are toxic and made from synthetic ingredients
  • prevent moisture from getting into and out of the skin
  • have been linked to immunotoxicity
  • can cause allergic reactions.

 

And, as you know, we only use natural ingredients from plant extracts, fruit and seed carrier oils, organic clays, and active botanicals.

So, immerse your scalp with our special Balance Hair Serum blend and tell your friends, “I can’t tonight sorry, I’m washing my hair”!

Much Love

Posted on Leave a comment

Shout your skin a drink.

Last week, we offered 18 hints and tips on how to restore your skin back to health. (Does winter have you feeling dry, flaky and a bit irritated.)

Today, we’re zeroing in on one BIG tip that could change the game for you. And, Oh My Omega—it’s an oldie but a goodie!

As a general rule, our skin loves to ‘eat’ what our body loves to eat. In the Winter months our bodies crave nourishing warming foods like roast root vegetables, delicious soups and many glasses of pinot noir (ahem, I mean herbal tea). And when Spring warms us up on the outside, our insides switch to cool-down mode and we salivate over fruits, salads and all things fresh, green and crunchy.

Regardless of the season, for our body to function optimally, we must ingest essential fatty acids (EFAs) and two of them are vital: Omega 3 (alpha-linoleic acid), and Omega 6 (linoleic acid). The body cannot naturally synthesise or produce EFAs, which means they must be sourced from our diet and topically.

EFAs are ‘essential’ because they are the building blocks to make other ‘special fats’ necessary for bodily functions like hormonal production and brain development. In fact, EFAs assist membrane formation that surround and protect every cell in your body. They also maintain the ‘water barrier’ in the upper layer of the skin, which prevents moisture from evaporating. So, lacking in EFAs will majorly affect your skin health and how it looks…ergo, we LOVE them!

But this is next level important in winter.

Given the cold makes our skin “parched as bro”, we should help it out with a daily drink of our Restore Serum.

We’ve formulated this serum using only the best organic oils and active ingredients that have the proven ability to restore, soothe, and heal your skin, with the list of heroes below. But while you might have a penchant for making your glass of wine really count and maybe push the boundaries of its brim: less is definitely more with serum oils. You might even like to prep the skin by opening it up with a shower or bath first, so the oil will go the distance and be absorbed nicely. Again, as last week’s newsletter explained, don’t make the water too hot or it will end up dehydrating your skin.

  • Certified Organic Rosehip Oil (Omega 3): Extra nourishing, used for skin pigmentation and scarring, useful on psoriasis, dermatitis, eczema, anti-inflammatory, healing and regenerating properties, anti-ageing.
  • Pomegranate Oil (Omega 5): Really high in antioxidants, works in synergy with Seabuckthorn oil for amazing results, improves elasticity, reduces wrinkles and prevents ageing, calming and healing—gentle enough to use on rosacea and eczema skins, anti-ageing.
  • Seabuckthorn Oil (Omega 3, 6): Vitamins A, C, E & K, More Vitamin C in weight than oranges, potent antioxidant, used to treat burns and wounds topically, great for acne and rosacea, 120 compounds and minerals, used for scarring and radiation burns, considered a “natural healer”.
  • Kukui Nut Oil (Omega 3, 6, 9): High in essential fatty acids, small molecular structure so it penetrates easily, high linoleic acids, soothing and softening, especially beneficial for very dry skin but light enough to use on oily skins.

It’s also worth touting that Pomegranate oil and Seabuckthorn oil are an absolute power couple. When blended, they work in synergy to give your skin more antioxidants than a whole orchard of oranges (it 100% knocks it way out of the ballpark…or orchard in this instance).

These are just some of the reasons our clients refer to Restore Serum as ‘Liquid Gold’.

Drink up!

Much Love

Posted on Leave a comment

The Dry Skin Blues… (and 18 tips on how to heal it)

Holy freezing.

I don’t know about all of you, but I am feeling this cold snap ALLLL over my body.

I have all those kinda frustrating things that happen when I don’t change my routine for the climate like dry scalp and hands, itchy flaky skin, dry lips and around my nose.

Not ideal.

BUT had I been taken my very own advice – the same amazing advice anyone from Bubbles would give you – I would probably be feeling a little less irritated by it all right about now.

Does you skin feel a little like this in Winter???

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, let me talk you through what I am going to do to first heal and restore the condition both the weather and my I guess laziness created and then how I am going to prevent it from then on – or minimise the impact of these weather conditions at the very least.

Im going to work through each of the elements so you can see how each one plays a very important role in me re-creating great skin;

 

 

 

 

 

Oh so important – I need to moisturise from the inside out.  I am personally choosing to use a product called ‘Crowning Glory’ by a.po.te’ca.ri/ which I bought from my hairdresser as it focuses on the scalp which is for me the most irritating part.  The ingredients however will also benefit ALL of my skin.

I’m also going to start taking some clean fish oils everyday.

I’m going to eat lots of healthy fats like avocado, salmon, nuts and seeds etc.

I’m going to start adding an extra tablespoon of coconut oil to my porridge or just eat it off a spoon.

I’m going to start swapping out a black tea when I feel like the 4th one for the day (in this weather tea is life) with a herbal tea like peppermint or lemon which is the equivalent of a glass of water to ensure I stay extra hydrated.

I’ll also remove any and all artificial/refined sugar again – I have slipped a little bit lately and just need to recommit here.

Meat and wheat free days.  Because I know that it takes WAY more energy for our bodies to digest meat and wheat (even organic which is all I eat these days) I will have some meat and wheat free days to allow my body the space to heal more easily.

MAINTENANCE

When it comes to nourishing from the inside there are many different options available.  These are simply my choices because I enjoy them and they work for me.

As a rule – we need to ingest Omega 3’s and 6’s because our body doesn’t make them itself so a clean source of fish oils or flaxseed oil can be SUPER beneficial all year round.

Water – DRINK it always.  Swap it for herbal tea if drinking water in Winter doesn’t excite you but always drink it.  Approximately 2 litres a day but again this varies depending your body size and lifestyle choices.

Minimising or removing refined sugar is something we do recommend but of course again – its all completely up to you.  I will always enjoy a sugary treat every now and again – right now I get Olibolen (amazing dutch donut with apple and sultana’s covered in icing sugar) EVERY Friday night and I begin looking forward to it on Wednesday. Even more so when I’m committed to it being the only sugary treat I have.  It makes it more exciting – well for me anyway.

And of course load up on as much fresh fruit and vegetables as you can – always..!

 

 

 

 

 

I’m going to really commit to reading or researching something that isn’t work related for a minimum of 15 minutes each day to keep my mind active and excited about life.

MAINTENANCE

15 minutes is 1% of your day so if you can commit 1% of your day to something fun and stimulating for your mind – you will reap MASSIVE rewards.

This is a great Not Negotiable for everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

Ahhhh here I am going to add some extra Pranayama breathing each day as I know that when I take the time to focus on my breath – even for 5 minutes – the hormones released by my brain at all the healing hormones I need to help my skin feel soft and fabulous again.

I’m also going to spend another minute or so each day visualising that my skin is healthy and happy again.  The book I am reading at the moment has so much research on just how powerful visualising is – and it’s SO simple too.

MAINTENANCE

You can of course partake in as much Pranayama as you like but we only need to commit to about 5-10 minutes per day for it to have a huge impact on our vitality and happiness.

 

 

 

 

 

Here I am going to make sure that I am keeping my blood and lymph moving around my body and not getting stagnant and slow like it is probably feeling about now by doing some really simply cardio.

I’ll go for a walk OR do some star jumps and high knee’s in my lounge room if it keeps raining.

I will also commit to my Yoga stretching at least once a day.  I do a set of the same stretches each morning that I know switch my body on and prepare it for the day ahead. (If you want me to put in some images of the daily stretches I do please let me know by commenting below or sending an email to info@bubblesorganic.com.au and Ill add them to the blog)

MAINTENANCE

This is a bit like Fuel and a very personalised element however we do recommend moving your body every single day in some way.  Might just be taking the stairs instead of the lift OR lifting weights as you watch TV but it’s a great idea to do something every single day.  That way you can’t use the excuse of it being your day off either.

Stretching for me is a BIG Not Negotiable especially as its so simple and quick.

 

 

 

 

 

Here I will firstly STOP using really hot water for my showers/baths.  This is the fastest way to dehydrate and dry out your skin.  If your bathroom is cold take a small heater in and warm it up so that you don’t feel tempted to turn the heat up like I have been.

Ill remember (or REALLY REALLY try to) dry body brush before EVERY shower I take.

Read more about Dry Body Brushing here.

I will use SMOOTH body polish before my showers maybe twice a week – just gently to remove the dry lifeless skin and to leave my skin coated in delicious oil which protects and softens my skin.

For some extra info on all things polishing see our blog here;

Once or maybe twice a week – Ill gently warm up some Jojoba oil – add some Lavender and Sandalwood too it and massage it into my scalp, put a shower cap on and leave it to work its magic overnight.

For my hands Ill use gloves as often as possible when using water especially warm water to make sure they don’t get any worse (this is actually SO important!) and Ill rub some jojoba or body butter into them during the day too.

As for my face ill stick to my usual routine – I never skip my face it’s the rest of my body that tends to get a wee bit more neglected when it’s cold – and cleanse with a cream or oil cleanser – and follow with Restore Serum which I will use twice a day instead of just the once like I am now.

MAINTENANCE

Hmmmm another tricky one without personalising it – hence the reason we are going to start running workshops and retreats to help you guys with this because skin care isn’t a one size fits all deal.

Body Brushing once a day is super beneficial.

Not using super-hot water – always a good idea.

Id only polish once a week at the most once the healing has taken place.  If you love the feeling of a body scrub and want to do it more often you can use softer mediums like flour – besan/chickpea flour is used daily by Yogi’s to keep their skin soft and smooth.

Warm oil scalp treatments are SO relaxing and if you have time a beautiful addition to your skincare rituals.

Daily face ritual – a forever Not Negotiable.

Does this all sound easy or would you guys like some video tutorials on stuff like this??

If you would PLEASE let us know as we are planning to do some but can absolutely start here if that is something that would help you guys out?

If any of you want a more specific treatment plan for something you are wanting to heal and restore yourselves, please do let us know – we’d love to help wherever we can.

Call us on 1300 LOVE SKIN or email info@bubblesorganic.com.au.

I’ll keep you all posted on my progress.

Till next time beauties..

MUCH love

Posted on Leave a comment

What are your Not Negotiable’s…?

So this week we decided to try something a little bit different.  

Our first video blog. 

If you follow us on social media you will have seen that Mel posted ALLLLLLLL of the video’s I did before getting it right.  #funnynotfunny. 

And when I say right – this isn’t scripted so it wasn’t about getting it correct – all of those different video’s are something hilarious.  First I could NOT keep it under 5 minutes which was a goal of mine, then a delivery arrived right when I was almost finished a really good take, then a plane went over, then another plane went over (I live right near Gold Coast airport so it happens a lot) and then right when I finished one I was the most happy with – Lucy woke up so that was that.  I apologise for the abrupt ending – I checked the time about 10seconds earlier and noticed I had 10 seconds to go so it ends kinda quickly but we can perfect things like that as we go along.  

Or not. 

We will see. 

Ok so this video blog is based around our self care education and this is where we focus on how to maintain your ever important energy levels.  

Our energy levels pretty much determine all the other parts of our life don’t they.  

You know yourself if you are exhausted or completely worn out from whatever it is you do all day – its so much harder to be patient, compassionate, happy etc etc. 

Now Im not saying that there is an expectation that you are bright and cheerful ALL the time. 

Not at all. 

BUT if we WANT to be any of those things – compassionate and patient especially – we quite literally can’t if we don’t have the energy to.  

It takes much less energy to be apathetic.  

There are two key ways in which we can ensure our energy remains high. 

1) to commit to completing activities/actions that expand or boost our energy levels as needed (daily/weekly/monthly/yearly and so forth) & 

2) to avoid or limit our time with activities/actions and anything else that drains our energy levels. 

I chat a little bit about both in the video – I tried to keep it to 5 minutes maximum as I tend to talk a lot so I was mindful not to over stay my welcome but I could have talked for much longer on both sides.  I might actually do a longer video with more info in it so those of you who are interested can watch more.  Ill add that to the blog sometime next week. 

Back on topic (see what I mean!) 

So I chat a bit about both and I also promised to add an image of my Not Negotiable’s for you to see.  I asked my daughter Emmy who LOVES writing lists to do it up for me in pretty colours so I can see it and remember it more easily;

Emmy’s gorgeous adaption of my Not Negotiable’s.

 

Those two yellow ones that are hard to see are;

1) Yoga stretching for a min of 15 minutes 

2) Pranayama for a min of 5 minutes.  (Pranayama is yogic breathwork that releases all the happy hormones like Seratonin and Dopamine.  The BEST! All things we will be teaching at our retreats and in our workshops)

This is something we have chosen to include in our workshops and retreats because as you know we believe that Great Skin Begins WITHIN and if you are feeling low on energy for too long it will begin to show in your skin. 

 

Our skin is our bodies largest organ and it filters whatever our kidneys can’t handle which is fine every now and again but if it has to do this continually – things begin to shut down. 

We always recommend working from a space of prevention rather than cure and things like being aware of how much energy you do and don’t have and how to correct that and keep it in check, is imperative to having optimal health and wellbeing. 

We will chat more about energy all the time as understanding it really is the key to being the happiest and healthiest YOU. 

MUCH love 

Posted on Leave a comment

Ingredients we LOVE (and those we avoid) and WHY.

 

We know A LOT about the skin and everything that goes with it. That’s why we do what we do. Some was learnt from the diplomas we both hold, but we learned a whole lot from our personal experiences.

I (Kate) have super sensitive skin—well I used to—since using the correct ingredients I’ve built some resilience; however, I still treat my skin with a bit more TLC than others.

Mel had her skin stripped down to raw red, very sore skin by a beauty therapist MANY years ago now and it took us a long time to heal and restore her skin. She ended up with early onset rosacea temporarily (to explain for those who don’t know rosacea usually only effects mature aged women so getting in her 20’s was early early), which we’ve healed but like me—she needs to tread carefully too.

These are two big motivators to not only keep making you amazing skincare, but to also share our knowledge with educational workshops and courses so you feel more empowered. To begin with though: I’ll share the ingredients we love (and those we don’t) so you can decide if you want more information through our workshops or online course.

We’ll explore one we LOVE (and one we don’t) each week.

One we LOVE to use.

Papaya Extract

We use a certified organic extract of pawpaw or papaya in our Be Smooth Face Polish and it’s included in the exfoliation base product given in our workshops and retreats.

When we talk things we love—we research it in its entirety (not just on the skin). You will probably always get too much information from us. It’s just how we roll.

Here are just a few reasons why we choose this extraordinary ingredient:

  • Many nutritionists suggest eating paw paw with meat to aid digestion as it contains a digestive enzyme called papain that breaks down the protein. You may already know why this is great news. Given our skin is made up of 25 percent protein in the form of keratin (often touted asa key ingredient in hair-care products) the papain enzyme helps to dissolve dead skin cells on the surface of the skin without destroying the livingones. This removes the risk of over-exfoliating and taking the cells to the Hayflick limit, which means the cell has divided to its maximum capacity and cannot renew—making it lifeless and dull.
  • Mainstream skincare mostly uses alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) to break down keratin, which is the ‘cement’ that holds the cells together. Whereas our beloved paw paw works on the actual dead cells too—so much safer, especially for sensitive skin or skin that becomes flaky easily. It is much less likely to sting or burn like most AHAs can. I could almost say WON’T sting or burn as it’s that rare, but as someone with sensitive skin, I understand how cautious you should be. Always use anything new sparingly until you gauge your skin’s reaction.
  • Like all fruits, eating paw paw provides antioxidants to protect you from free radical damage, but paw paw is also mega rich in beta-carotene. This is what gives it that gorgeous yellow-orange colour. Beta carotene is a well-researched, free radical scavenger and precursor to Vitamin A, which is essential for great skin. More on Vitamin A later.
  • Paw paw also contains lycopene, found in all red, orange, and yellow fruits (belonging to the carotenoid group) that our bodies’ require for normal growth and cell development. When part of our diet, they are basically preventing the signs of ageing from the inside out! Lycopene can also change the colour of your skin giving it the appearance of a tan, safely. That alone is a great reason to eat this delicious fruit as far as I am concerned.
  • With three times the Vitamin C of an apple, twice as much as a banana, and one third as much as an orange we could probably stop there. But wait there’s more: paw paw also contains magnesium, iron, copper and manganese along with potassium and significant amounts of riboflavin, niacin, calcium, phosphorous and zinc. (And, exhale).

So, in a ‘paw-paw nut shell’, if you use our products containing Papaya Extract and eat paw paw/papaya—it’s really a win-win.

Now let’s take a wee look an ingredient we don’t love. Period.

One we choose NOT to use.

Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS)

At Bubbles, most ingredients that we choose not to use, are considered ‘safe’ when used at percentages equal to or lower than what industry research recommends. That said—unless you’re sure the product you’re using only contains said ‘safe’ amount, you never really know exactly because we (i.e. the beauty industry) are not forced to comply with any regulations around the ingredients we use. What this means is companies don’t actually have to use these ingredients at the recommended safe percentages because nobody is holding them accountable.

Nobody except ALLLLLLL of you that is.

This is one reason we feel it’s best to avoid them completely. Then you know for sure right—it’s really the only way to be really REALLY sure it’s safe.

One of our workshop modules is on skin safe ingredients and understanding the way ingredients are listed on products e.g. what the order means and why they always use the big long words that are almost impossible to pronounce rather than the more common, much easier shorter versions.

Ok, so back to SLS.

Here are just a few reasons why we prefer to NOT use this guy:

  • It is a known skin irritant. If you have a dry, itchy scalp or red, inflamed skin, sore red gums, or stinging itchy eyes—SLS will most likely be the culprit. Used in MANY shampoos, toothpaste, body washes, soaps etc. etc.—this VERY cheap ingredient is widely used by the cosmetic industry.
  • It is actually a pesticide and herbicide. Used in higher concentration than what is ‘recommended’ (again it is only recommended) in skincare this guy is used to kill pests on your vegetables. The makers of SLS applied for approval as an organic pesticide but was declined because of the environmental damage it causes.
  • It can permeate body tissues. Studies from the US have determined that SLS can permeate the eyes, brain, heart and liver. Eeeeeeeek.

Given this ingredient is in toothpaste means it’s being ingested.

And yes, if you can believe it there are SO many more reasons to avoid this guy but this article is just about piquing your interest. For those who want more, our workshops and online courses are opening soon.

Now, we’re not suggesting that you go through your whole house madly disposing of all the SLS products. We just want to help build awareness and curiosity about what you put on and in your bodies, so you can decide where to from here, based on correct information. It’s always about choosing where to start.

For me, I slowly transitioned out everything with SLS’s and pretty much any ingredient that I believe is toxic or harmful based on how much of it is in the product, but it was a slow process. And it’s taken a long time to work it what works, what smells and feels good. But for me it’s worth it. (and way more worth it than the gals at L’Oreal believe!) It’s the most important thing I can do for my family. But that’s me and like my friend Myleigh from The Clean-Living Clinic says – what YOU can is enough. And it’s SO true.

We will roll out more of this insight monthly and invite our friends like Myleigh to share some of their wisdom too, so stay tuned peeps.

Until next time

MUCH love

 

Posted on Leave a comment

Cleanse.

 

 

 

 

Something we thought might interest you is a word of the week.

SUPER simple concept.

We choose one word and we chat about it.

Full stop.

If you read the word at the top of the article and you have zero interest in it – you don’t read on.

If you do – you do.

you do you do. LOL.

Don’t mind me while I laugh at myself and my less than amazing copywriting skills.  (Hurry back from your holiday K2 – we miss you and your incredible word smithing)

I thought I’d start with Cleanse because when it comes to the skin – that’s where we start.

You would think that cleansing would be such a simple process – not much to it.  It’s sole purpose is to clean the skin of dirt and other environmental impurities which seems easy enough right??

Weeeeeellll – Not so much.

A LOT of different important things have to be considered when it comes to cleansing or more specifically a cleanser BUT once we get that part right (and we always do) then the step for you as the cleanser user is in fact super simple.

SO, what are these different and important things we need to consider when formulating a cleanser??

Firstly, the formulation needs to be pH balanced.

What does pH balanced mean you ask?

I have borrowed some words from ‘How Stuff Works’ to explain this because they have nailed it;

https://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/cleansing/products/ph-balanced1.htm

Because buzzwords like “pH-balanced” are common advertising tools in the health and beauty industry, it’s easy to ignore them and purchase a product regardless of its pH. However, when it comes to skin cleansers, pH levels do make a difference.

Your skin has a pH level of about 5.5. Skin — or at least the outermost layer of it — is slightly acidic.  The acidic layer (also known as the acid mantle) helps your skin retain moisture and keeps germs out. To help maintain this protective layer, use a cleanser with a pH level similar to that of the skin itself. If you use a soap that’s too alkaline, it will break up the acid in your skin, causing dryness.

The pH level of most skin cleansers is slightly higher than 5.5, so the cleanser can break down dirt and oil on your skin. However, soap — especially bar soap — typically has a pH level of 9 to 12, which is too high if you’re trying to keep your skin moist. Cleansers with lower pH levels leave your skin intact instead of breaking down the fatty tissue that serves to protect it.

Ok so I may or may not have mentioned this already but one of the reasons Mel and I are SO passionate about skincare is our own journey and not so amazing experiences with products over the years.

Mel was recommended a product (which will remain unnamed because it doesn’t have any impact on the story) by a trusted skin care salon in her twenties and the product completely stripped her skin.  What that means is that the protective layer mentioned above was pretty much destroyed with a product with a WAY too acidic pH and Mel suffered for months with red, inflamed and very sore skin that took a long time to properly heal.

So, it must be important to use a skin cleanser that says it’s pH-balanced, right? Yes and no. Most soap-free cleansers on the market today have balanced pH levels. The words “pH-balanced” on a cleanser can be a wee marketing tactic however if I had to choose between one that said it was pH balanced and one that didn’t (assuming I was happy with everything else in them) I would go with the one that says it was.  OR be more curious (one of my favourite words and actions of all time) and find out more about the company who makes it.

The next question is usually which cleanser is right for my skin type? Well here at Bubbles we have never used or been too concerned with someone’s type.

Why?  For a few reasons but mostly because we are only interested in one type and that’s healthy.  With our products it doesn’t really matter which inherent type you are.  This gets misdiagnosed ALLLLLL the time anyway so it’s just better not to waste too much of your precious energy on that question.  My opinion (and this is only an opinion) is that many skincare houses utilise all the different skin types to sell more product.

My brain doesn’t compute this though because if everyone can use one type as long as its gentle isn’t that easier?? Anywhoo – let’s not get distracted.

As far as cleansers go – I figured (while formulating our products. did you guys know I wrote and created the recipes for all our face range??) it just has to clean and do no harm.  I have super sensitive skin so gentle is a priority where possible in ALL of our products.

This means you don’t have to look at 5 different cleansers and wonder which one is best suited to you.

We have 3 ways to cleanse your skin and you choose based on the feeling you prefer.

Let me explain;

Cleanse Creamy.

The original and my personal favourite.

Its creamy and oh so gentle but gets EVERYTHING OFF!  I wear make up every day because it’s my sun protection product and because I just love how amazing I look and feel with it on (we can arrange the amazing Jane Iredale products for you too if you like – just email us at info@bubblesorganic.com.au or ask your Skinologist*) and I only ever need to do one cleanse to remove it.  You might need to do 2 depending on the make-up you use but that’s pretty standard across the board anyway.  Its pH balanced of course and only has a light but delicious scent. It’s the best.

Cleanse Foaming

We formulated this product because a few of our regulars asked us too – yep we do that kind of thing here when we can – and this can also be used on every skin HOWEVER I don’t love the feeling on my skin because I do have slightly more sensitive skin than most – I can  use it if I have too and I have and its fine BUT its not my preference.

It has an organic surfactant (the ingredient that creates the foam) so no soaps or drying agents found here. It smells SO good – it has a warm spicy vibe to it and it also removes my make up in one cleanse.

If you are a soapy/squeaky clean feeling lover, then this one is for you.

And Jojoba Oil.

This product has its own blog because it has THAT many benefits and is really truly that amazing – it’s the base oil in most of our range and it’s what we recommend when someone is healing a skin condition or if someone wants the simplest natural approach possible.  I’m not going to chat benefits of Jojoba here but basically this is an all in one product.  You can cleanse with it – remove it and apply again as your moisturiser.  I always have a bottle of Jojoba handy just in case I want to use it and I go through phases where it’s all I use because I can sense my skin needs a break.  We also offer the option to add essential oils to jojoba too.  If you want to know more about that contact us on info@bubblesorganic.com.au or ask your skinologist*

We will teach you all of this and more in our upcoming workshops and retreats too.

And then we have the additional cleansing option which is;

Compressing.

This is where you use an essential oil, tepid water and a microfibre cloth to compress your skin clean.   It’s another super simple and very pure way to cleanse.  I love this as a pick me up in the morning, but I prefer to use one of the above 3 products at night as I find that’s more effective for removing make up.  If you don’t wear make-up, then compressing at night is another beautiful option for you as you could then choose calming soothing oils to help you drift off to sleep.   I add these oils to my serum or face cream if I need them.

Also stuff we are going to teach… SO excited to start these workshops and retreats – can you tell?!?!

So how often do we cleanse??

This is a skincare industry myth I have been enjoying busting for years!  The old ‘you must cleanse your skin morning and night’ trick.

DO not fall for it.

If you cleaned your skin before going to sleep and all you have done is sleep, then you do NOT need to clean it again in the morning.

Exceptions to this rule might be people with VERY oily skin but even then, using a quick compress should sort that out.

We have always used ‘before bed’ and ‘on waking’ rather than night and morning as we have lots of shift working clients where morning and night doesn’t really apply.

So here is what we suggest;

On waking;

Mist with either Hydrate or Calm face mist OR

Compress with chosen essential oil

Followed by either a serum or face cream,

Finished with your chosen sun protection.

You can cleanse here if you want too.  Of course you can if you love that.  But don’t ever feel like you HAVE to that’s all.

Before bed;

Cleanse using chosen cleanser.  If you use heavyish make up cleanse twice.

If you don’t use make up you can still use a cleanser, or you might choose to compress.

Followed with serum and/or face cream.

The end.

No need to wonder about skin type.  Just use the one you love to use.

You can also cleanse in-between your day and night if you need to re-apply make-up too of course.  You can use it as often as you wish.  You just don’t NEED to in order to have amazing CLEAN skin.

So that’s Cleanse in a nutshell.   

All of the directions

Any questions send them through to us on info@bubblesorganic.com.au or ask you Skinologist.

* a Skinologist is someone who works with us and sells our skincare for us after lots of fun training.  They get a pretty awesome commission for doing it too.. If that is something that interests you send us an email or phone us on 1300 LOVE SKIN.

Posted on Leave a comment

The FIVE Elements of Great Skin.

Most of you are now aware that we make skincare products.

Pretty great ones if we do say so ourselves.

Did you know though that we don’t believe our skincare alone is all you need to have great skin?

What do you mean I hear you asking – what on earth is better than Bubbles Organic for our skin?

The answer to that question is nothing – but only as far as skincare products go.

When it comes to creating and more so MAINTAINING great skin you need more than just amazing positively charged lotions and potions.

You need;

The FIVE Elements of Great Skin.

Today let’s look what those five elements are as a group and then over the next few weeks we will go into more detail about each of them individually.

SUPER important piece of information before you read on – We have created VERY easy ways to integrate these elements into your daily routine.

 This is NOT about adding to your already ever increasing to do list – we know – we have them too and one day we are going to work out how to cross something off WITHOUT adding something else lol – BUT seriously though – effortless simple ways coming at ya.

So here we go;

 

 

 

 

This is where we chat about all the things we use on the outside i.e. products and the ingredients we put in them – why do we use them and what is their role in the product. Plus, other delicious loving your skin things like body brushing, coconut oil, exfoliation etc etc.

 

 

 

 

All things nutrition. We chat here about ways to fuel your body rather than feed it. Why we avoid refined white foods and sugar MOST of the time. What does the theory 90/10 mean and why is it important? How do we stay hydrated and what is all the fuss about water??

 

 

 

 

This is where we focus on how we FEEL. Are we grounded and using our energy for the right things?? Are we resting and taking time out for ourselves? Are we looking after ourselves first? Are we being present with the people that matter to us enough? This is where we help you find soul-FULL clarity!

 

 

 

 

This is about why it’s important to keep our primary mode of transport strong, flexible and lean and hints and tips on cool ways to do that. We can do very little if our body decides to stop moving. We NEED to treat it with the respect it deserves.

 

 

 

 

Our brain is a muscle just like those in our arms and legs and we have to move it or lose it! We also need to fill it only with positive and calming thoughts… In this element we will chat about how, what, when and most importantly WHY…. Let’s become experts of the amazing machine that drives our every thought -because “thoughts” equal “things” and so we only wanna choose the good ones!

And that’s the Five Elements in a nutshell.

When you join us on our retreats you will get to experience each of the elements every day to see first-hand how easy it really is and to give you some variety and options too to keep it interesting.

Tune in next week when we chat NOURISH your Soul (my personal favourite to bang on about) in a bit more detail.

Till then

MUCH love x

 

Posted on Leave a comment

How much do you wanna know PART 3…

These recent Bubbles instalments have become a story that I hope never ends.  Well I guess that’s the point really, but I hope you’ve enjoyed them as much as I enjoy writing them.

So right now—if you’re following along we have just gotten CLEAN.  If you are new to this (firstly WELCOME!) or want to recap you can do that here.

Now that your skin feels lighter and has enjoyed a nice relaxing break from any nasty chemicals and toxins, it’s time to get intentional about what we do put on it from this day forward.

Intention is a VERY powerful word.  Alone it can change the outcome of pretty much every situation.  Our intention or what we intend for an outcome to be, drills down deep into the core of who we are.

We’re hitting that solar plexus again this week.  If you felt that there—you KNOW it’s your truth.

The fact that we’re all SO unique with different perceptions, feelings and experiences is one of the BIG reasons we decided to put you guys in the driver’s seat decide what goes into your skincare products.

Currently, you can select from what well now call our ‘essentials range’, with complete peace of mind that you’re only using the very best natural and organic ingredients on your skin. We make sure of that and always will.

Lavender oil. Not my favourite oil but SO SO full of amazing benefits for the skin and soul.

But in our essentials range, you can’t do is change any of the ingredients including the super powerful pure essential oils we use in every formulation.

In the shortest essential oil summary of ever if you aren’t already aware:

Essential oils are the potent liquid elixir found in plants and trees that when extracted and used correctly can help heal your body, mind and spirit.

Here is a snippet from last week’s post to further clarify:

Essential oils, which are essentially the building blocks of plants, are assimilated beyond the skin’s epidermis (the outside layer) through the sub-dermis into our bloodstream. Given blood’s job is to carry and build things, feeding it with essential oils is the greatest gift you could give your body.

The number of different essential oils available is MASSIVE, so to simplify this process we use and recommend 14 skin specific essential oils that embody everything and more than you’ll ever need to care for and nourish your skin.

 

Jars of yummy mask base

Each oil works on a different emotional and physical ailment; and when blended and used in synergy they become even more incredible—not only doubling in potency but can increase in effectiveness by up to 4 times.

Mother Nature really does provide pretty much EVERYTHING we could ever need.

At Bubbles HQ, we know which nourishing base ingredients to use. Skin is what we know and do perfected over many years. We’ll continue to whip them up for you with pure joy and positive energy,  BUT what we don’t know is what YOU need both physically and emotionally in that moment you applying the product.

As much as we would love to be there with you (and we kinda will be but I’ll explain that part later) we want empower you how to do it yourself!.

Let’s take a quick look at how we plan to deliver this amazing knowledge.

Step One—Get to know us.  All of you can skip this step if you want too because you are already on this special mailing list, which means you  have a pretty good idea of who we are and why we are banging on about what we are banging on about.  However, should you choose to we will be offering a variety of 2 hour workshops across Brisbane and the Gold Coast initially with other locations being offered as time goes on.

Step Two—Get Clean. A one-day workshop called Getting CLEAN.  This is a prerequisite for Step 3 and will be offered in person (across Brisbane and the Gold Coast initially) and we’re in the planning stages of an online version too.

Step Three—Get intentional. Ok so this is SO freaking exciting – our very first offering of a three-day Retreat to be held somewhere in the amazing Great South East to get us started and in other locations around Australia as the word spreads about just how incredible this three-day Retreat actually is.

Let’s share a few bite size pieces of this Retreat to really get you salivating for it;

  • The perfect amount of juicy content (including both Soul and Skin Anatomy done Bubbles style) that will be interesting and inspiring. Filled with aha moments but will be over before you start feeling twitchy
  • LOTS of hands-on workshops so you feel in love and super confident about your own little home apothecary.
  • We will talk the Five Elements of Great Skin: FEED your Mind, MOVE your Body, NOURISH your Soul, FUEL your Body and of course PROTECT your Skin.
  • I don’t know about you but when I’m using my brain—especially if it’s something I’m really excited about—I get an insatiable appetite, so we’ll make sure you are always fuelled with the most delicious and nourishing food you can imagine.
  • We will bend and stretch and reach for the sky with daily Yoga and walks in nature, and dancing…. Yes dancing. Don’t ask. Some things are best kept a secret.
  • We will connect on all levels of our being with the other kindred seekers on a similar quest for living in intention.
  • We will do NOTHING. Yep—there will be allocated times dedicated to doing absolutely nothing.  You might choose to sleep, read, wander, maybe swim if the location has that option, or whatever feels right for you.
  • Wine, cheese and chocolate. Oh we will eat LOADS of nourishing wholesome foods too but I have run a few of these Retreats now and the wine, cheese and chocolate sessions to finish the day are always a HIT!
  • Loads more but we haven’t even really gotten started organising it yet and we love a good surprise…

You can be as involved as you like and make some BFF’s for life OR you can sit quietly and observe. The choice is yours.

It’s YOUR Retreat after all.

MUCH love (and Happy belated Easter!!)