What am I talking about on Periscope?

I'm finally back on Periscope and have decided to teach a different quick topic each day! This is my schedule for the next few days. I invite you to pop over and follow me at @mymovemakeup. That is the handle of my makeup line MOVE Makeup and I do all my scopes there. So in addition to skincare and wellness, I'll also be doing beauty scopes on MOVE Makeup tips :). Be sure to download the app and follow me! 

Breaking Down Your Skin care Whys...

Hello lovelies! How was last week? Awesome I’m hoping!

So in keeping with our monthly theme of Breaking Down to Break Through, today I want to talk to you about breaking down your skincare whys in order to break through what’s keeping you from them! Like how I did that there? ;-).

You all know that holistic skincare is a huge passion of mine. The reason is multi-fold and has a lot to do with the whys of skincare.

Our skin, especially on our face commands a lot of our attention and for good reason. It’s the most un-hideable part of our body and the FIRST thing that most people see when meeting us for the first time. Therefore, our skin is a major part of our first impressions and as such, a major part of our internal self-esteem as well. Imagine what it feels like meeting someone new with a big pimple on your face? I don’t know many people that wouldn’t be at least slightly preoccupied with that and feeling some kind of way.

I know this firsthand. When your face is full of blemishes, acne scars and breakouts, and dark circles under your eyes, it’s really hard to put your best self forward! It’s really easy to cower, to melt into the background, to be meek, and to try to be unseen. It’s really easy to hate on yourself, to have a bleak outlook on everything, and to give up trying to have better. I know because I’ve been there. I’ve allowed myself to be stopped in my own tracks by my own self because of the low self-esteem my mess up skin caused me.

And I’ve also been witness to the growing esteem in myself as I began to learn how to take better care of my skin and actually do it and see the results.

And that’s why Holistic Skincare gets me so jazzed. It’s because just by the simple act of improving your skin, you can improve your life by leaps and bounds.

That may sound like an exaggeration but humor me for a bit.

We imagined having blemished, inflamed skin. Now imagine having glowing, radiant skin. Imagine how confident you’d feel. Imagine meeting that new person now. Imagine how vibrant your smile would be, how easily you would rise up and meet their eyes and welcome them to take a full good look at you. No cowering, no hiding, no meekness, no trying to be unseen.

Feels pretty good right? And holistic skincare is what gets you there and what got me there. Holistic skincare means approaching your skin’s healing from not just one level. It means addressing it on multiple levels, bringing all of the variables into play that affect it, the most important one being your mind. (We’ll talk about that more in a later post). It also means creating a skin care plan and regimen for you that is long lasting and about healing, not just quick fixes.

This is one of the areas that I’m here to help you out with ladies and gents. Holistic skin care is something you can learn and put into practice too and I’m happy to be your guide :-).

This Tuesday, I’m hosting a special FREE Webinar (think of it as a class you can attend over the internet!) on the 5 Steps to Gorgeous, Radiant Skin. I’m going to give you my BEST TIPS – things you can start implementing right after the webinar is over! These are the steps I use and that I’ve recommended to every single client I’ve had as an esthetician. I definitely want to share them with you so be sure to sign up here. That way you’ll receive the special link so that you can tune in on Tuesday.

As always, let me know if you have any questions at all in the comments below. What’s your biggest skin care issue right now? Let me know in the comments and I’ll make a point to address it in a future post!

Thanks for being you ;-)

All about Lemongrass Essential Oil! 3 Uses

Hey everyone! Hope it's been a lovely week for you! It's been an especially awesome one for me since my birthday was Wednesday - yay :)! Sort of because of that, I decided to do a video for you all instead of a written post. I tell you why in the video :-). Soon however, I'll make sure to write everything out like I promised to in the video ;-). Enjoy!  

Self Love, Self Sabotage, Cinnamon, and Nutmeg

Do you ever have that feeling that things are starting to flow. Kind of like you’ve stepped into the river and for once, you are swimming with the tide instead of against it. And it’s Flowing, like a warm caress carrying you along. You’re not even exerting a lot of energy per say, mostly just gloating along in the ebb and flow of the currents warm embrace. And as you go along, you take in more beauty, more fortunate sights, more one of a kind moments, all the while moving forward with intention (for the river is taking you somewhere).

Do you have a good picture? It feels peaceful doesn’t it. Even joy filled right? Well sheesh, that’s how life has been feeling lately. Like things are coming together. Ebbs and flows and all in my favor, some giving me the gumption to go go go, others giving me the cue to take a step back, get my mind right, evaluate, and open my eyes to the next fortunate occurrence.

But I realize that there is a fear cropping up – a fear that some other figurative shoe is going to drop. That something out of my control will happen and smack, dab, bomb – back to the setbacks I’d gotten used to. Back to the complacent thoughts about certains things just not ever changing.

Does that happen to you ever?  You know what it can cause?

Self sabotage.

Yep, that uncanny ability to shoot your own foot in the effort to shoot the villain that you can’t see.  Self sabotage makes you do silly things that the unafraid you would never do. Self sabotage makes you doubt every single action until you’re crippled into no action. Self sabotage takes your sense of control and scatters it all over the place into tiny little pieces that now only resemble franticness.

That’s why self-love and ACTIVE practices of self appreciation are so valuable to me. That’s why this space even exists.

Lip service has never really been strong enough to combat self-sabotage. Thinking good thoughts sometimes just doesn’t cut it. Self sabotage is active even in its ability to shut down activity. We’ve got to be just as active to counter it.  

So I’d like to challenge you to think of all the things I suggest here for you as acts of self love and appreciation. Carve out time for them so that over time, you’ll have a memory file of how much you mean to you. And how much You are in control of you. And how much your active energy devoted to you has made an impact and a difference. Because it will – trust me. Do this and look back even 3 months from now. You will be different and better for it ;-).

And how does this relate to the fear of the other shoe dropping above?

Because it will show you how much is within your control. And it will show you that YOU are the important piece. Not the elusive “what if”. It will show you that YOU being an active participant is what was really moving that river’s current along all that time ;).

Today’s Mini LOVE Fest :-)

Christmas-y sweet mask anyone? How about with nutmeg, cinnamon, and honey?

Alrighty so Nutmeg and Cinnamon invariably remind me of Christmas – those smells drum up images of warm fireplaces, cozy oversized sweaters, hot tea and cocoa and a healthy cup of spiced eggnog :).

Cinnamon and Nutmeg - YUM!

So it’s a perfect time to realize some other ways to experience these lovely spices! Nutmeg and Cinnamon make excellent components of an acne scar healing mask. This mask is super simple to make and can be stored in your refrigerator for about a week or so. I would use it once a week at least and give it a month’s time to work its magic. Remember, skin cells take about 28 days to turn over, so that month is important! Curb your impatience dears ;-).

Why this mask is as awesome as it is simple:

1.       Cinnamon is a natural anti-microbial agent. It’s been used for centuries to fight viruses and bacteria. It also contains powerful antioxidants that help keep healthy skin cells from breaking down prematurely.   

2.       Nutmeg is also a natural anti-microbial agent as well as an anti-inflammatory. It has been used to heal many skin diseases and helps to reduce acne scarring and clear up infections and redness. It contains a number of vitamins that your skin needs for optimal health also.  

3.       Honey is a natural moisturizer that also has powerful anti-bacterial properties. It helps to heal current breakouts faster and also reduces the occurrence of more breakouts.

As an extra benefit, you can also add lemon juice to this mask. It will give an extra dose of anti-microbial activity and also will serve as a natural astringent to brighten the complexion, balance pH, and tighten pores. It also contains tons of vitamin C, a necessary component to building collagen in the skin.

This is one of those mask that you don’t have to worry about using exact measurements. Below is a good rule of thumb.

Cinnamon, Nutmeg & Honey Mask

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

1 tsp honey

1-2 tsp lemon juice

Mix all of these together in a small glass bowl (glass is best if you are planning to store it).  Apply for 10 to 15 minutes and then rinse with warm water. Your skin should be glowing almost immediately :-)!

I encourage you to spend those 10 to 15 minutes of mask time meditating, reading something soul-nurturing, or painting your nails (my go to "love me" quick activity :-)). Just something to reaffirm that You are in control of YOUR time and that YOU are important enough to spend it on YOU ;-). 

Enjoy!

Productivity Hack and Beauty Tip

So It looks like Tuesday is going to be my blogging day :). Even though it is technically a MOVE Makeup day in my work schedule – I guess a little check in on my daily holistic life with you lovelies isn’t a bad thing!

So what was the theme of last week? STRUCTURE! I have to admit, I was a beast last week. I mean, I was so organized. And organization my friends – it’s key. Even for a multi-passionate, free-spirit like myself. When I put it all together, plan it out, and then execute that plan, magical things happen! Whoop Whoop!

One of the things that really got me on task was a complimentary coaching session with a powerhouse biz coach Carmen Tseng. Carmen ‘gets’ multi-passionate folk like me. What multi-passionate means is you have a bazillion ideas and are working on at least a handful at the same time. Um yeah – slowly raises hand – that’s so very much me, lol. How about you?

Anywho, one of the suggestions that Carmen had for me was to give each of my current businesses a day. That means on that day, all I do is work on that business. If ideas come up for my other businesses, write them down, say “thank you brilliant mind!” – and get back to work on what’s in front of me.

Can we say SIMPLE but AWESOME! Sheesh! I mean, why had I not thought of that before? Instead, I was cluttering up my mind and revving up my anxiety trying to do a little of this and a little of that all in the same day. Yes, I made progress but at the risk of my sanity – not really a good trade off right?

So that’s my little productivity hack for you guys today – if you find yourself with a great big to-do list, as simple and DUH inspiring as it sounds – make sure you are categorizing and prioritizing it. And if you can, break it down to days so that your mind gets to use its full mental power in just one area at a time.

I promise you, it’s been KEY to beast-mode Leah this week ;-).

Let me share with you my rocked out list:

1.       Completed a Video Challenge offered by Mimika Cooney to get myself less 'clammy' about doing videos! (Just get out there girl!)

2.       Made a video for a FB Ad campaign to bring in new students at the Leah’s School of Latin Dance.

3.       Revise the web copy on this lovely site of mine so that I’m not making anyone feel like they aren’t a part of this party.

4.       Planned out all my Instagram Posts for @mymovemakeup

5.       Participated in a BLAB for Bribes conference with my biz brethren Bridal Tribe, JfoBeauty, and SemekaPro

6.       Taught a ton of dance classes

Jamberry awesomeness!

7.       Practiced on my own dance work

8.       Painted my nails with Jamberry awesomeness

9.       FELT GOOD!

10.   And probably some more that I just can’t remember ;-).

Yep, pretty freakin’ stellar if I do say so myself, lol :).

TIP of the WEEK!

I can’t leave you without a tip for this week because you know – beauty and wellness – that’s my thang.

Double Duty LOVE for Your Eyes

So we know that as we get older, the sensitive skin around our lovely eyes needs more and more love right? Right. And if you wear mascara, eyeliner, and/or eyeshadow getting it off at night (like you all should be doing – I’m looking knowingly at you ;-)) can be a chore. So I have a double duty tip for you.

Start using Almond oil! Almond oil is wonderfully nurturing for the delicate skin around the eye and it can help reduce the appearance of dark circles over time. And it is crazy simple to use. I have a small squeeze jar on my counter and I apply a few drops to both eyes, over the lids and massaging lightly under my eye as well. Then I wet a cotton ball and wipe gently towards the inside of my eye until all of the eye makeup is gone. I also wipe down the lashes and underneath my eyes at the end to make sure I’ve removed all of the mascara. The excess oil left on your skin allows you to give your eyes a little bit of skin therapy without having to try hard at all. How sweet is that?

Almond oil is getting easier and easier to find – I’d check your local health foods store and even explore ordering online. Ebay and Amazon have some great vendors. And who knows, soon I might create a curated shop on Amazon just for you all ;-).

Give it a try and let me know how you like it!

Holistic Skincare 101: Pumpkin on Your Face!

So recently, I was a guest on one of my local TV Station Morning Shows KTHV This Morning. I am one of their regular beauty experts that comes on once a month or so and shares a beauty tip. My focus is always holistic beauty tips because that's what I believe in.

I truly believe that each of us can have beautiful skin, it's just about finding out what works for you and then doing it. Consistently. ;-). Even I struggle with this, lol. DIY Skincare is very very very effective. Tons of your everyday kitchen items (i.e. food on your face!) are absolutely wonderful for your skin. That's why I love sharing about it!

My philosophy as it relates to my makeup line, MOVE Makeup is kind of like this: It's easy to make good skincare when you have the right knowledge. It's not so easy to make good makeup and the right knowledge isn't that easy to come by either. That's why I teach how to create your own good skincare and make for you the good makeup :).

Click on the picture and check out the video below of my segment. I highly recommend giving this scrub a go. It feels divine and it works wonders. We all deserve some magic-working, divine pampering in our lives right? :).