Noon Summer Sun is a ...NO NO NO

Remember my older post about face tan and how it's not in fashion any more. Well, just wanted to make sure that sun burn IS NOT IN FASHION EITHER!

Somehow though it seems like some people over look the fact that noon summer sun is not healthy for the skin anymore. I go to the sea quite often and I do see many people sitting under the sun covered in tan oil or else "fry oil" for hours and hours.

My brother yesterday was one of them...he must have fell asleep for something like 2 hours, with no sun protection under the sun at noon time. Can you imagine the result? He came for dinner at my place afterwards and believe me, his back almost matched the dark red colour of my nails...

To relief him from the sun burn and to avoid covering him in yoghurt which he hates, eating at least, I mixed a gel with essential oils for his back...

In 50ml of Aloe Gel base

7 drops of Lavender/Lavandula Angustifolia
5 drops of Geranium/Pelargonium Graveolens
5 drops of Chamomile Roman/Chamaemelum Nobile

It took the burn at once, cooled him down and now that we talked over the phone he told me that he is already feeling much much better.

I chose Lavender because of its anti-inflammatory properties and because in general it is very good for skin conditions, such as burns and wounds. It has a sweet, floral, warm, fresh, homey aroma and it blends well with most of the other essential oils.

Lavandula Angustifolia/Lavender - photo taken from here

Geranium I chose again because of its anti-inflammatory properties and because it is very good for dry skin, since it's being regenerative and moisturizing. It has an earthy, sweet, lemony aroma.

Pelargonium Graveolens/Geranium - photo taken from here

Finally, I chose Chamomile Roman again for its anti-inflammatory properties and because of its chemical constituents that makes it a very gentle essential oil for the skin. It has warm, sweet, apple aroma and it blends well with lavender and geranium.

Chamaemelum Nobile/Chamomile Roman - photo taken from here

And all that in Aloe Gel base just to feel cooler and also because Aloe has skin healing properties as well.

"Moral precept" for my brothers case: avoid going to the sea after a whole night out clubbing with less than 3 hours sleep, most probably you will fall asleep on your sezlong and the sun will caaatch you!

What do you do if you get sun burned?

A Passion for Body

...body lotion that is! It all started last summer during my vacations in New York. If I remember correct it was the fourth day @ NYC and we decided to take a night walk at Soho before dinner. And there it happened, just down Prince street, a sweet little shop grabbed my full attention. It was Sabon, delightful natural products for the body and not only. I left everything and everyone and entered the shop immediately. After 20 minutes I came out with a big smile in my face and a little brown bag in my hand full of Sabon's body lotions in dreamy mixed aromas.

And that was it...from that day on whenever I see a body lotion that I would like, I just have to add it to my small (at the moment) collection. And everyday I use a different lotion, just according to my mood for a sweet or spicy or fresh or sensual soft skin!

The Family Photo

(from left to right-from behind to front row) Papoutsanis Aromatics-Musk, Kate Moss-Kate, Lavera-Body Control, Korres-Yoghurt, Korres-Mint Tea, Korres-Cedar, DKNY, Sabon-Lavender Rose, Sabon-Tropic, Aquolina-More e Musk, Lavera-Neutral, Lavera-Vanilla Coconut, Sabon-Ginger Orange, Avon-Bronze AfterSun, Origins-Ginger Souffle

The new summer supporters

The latest buys

The professional moisturizers

Huge Bazaar

After my blood tests today (I hadn't had some for ages) my mom called and asked me to take her at a cosmetics shop because she heard they were on sales. I didn't really give her much of attention but I said; what the hell let's go. It wasn't far away and I found to park relatively near. After a 5 minutes walk down the road searching for the cosmetics store I was suprised to see a huge BAZAAR banner at Estee Lauder's building. That was it! A big space at the back 'yard' of Estee Lauder, 130-150 m2 full of shelves and beauty products. I got in at 11.30 and got out after 2-3 hours.

No need for jabbering... I 'll just cut to the chase.

I got a little bit of almost everything.

Origins, rejuvenating hand cream. 75ml - 4euro. It's soft, not too oily with Rose of Jericho and a fresh lemony aroma.

Origins, body wash. 250ml - 5euro. Creamy grapefruit body wash and bubble bath. Haven't try it yet but it has a very nice bitter sweet joyful aroma.

Origins, make-up. 30ml - 7euro. It applies easily on the skin and it has a soft discrete smell. It has good coverage on skin marks and SPF 15. I hope it looks good even after wearing it for hours on a hot day.

Origins, ginger fest. 3 pack product of 125ml body scrub, 125ml body cream and 225ml bubble bath cream - 15euro. Haven't tried them yet, but by the first touch they feel good and they have a ginger-lemony aroma. I 'll try them soon and let you know.

Origins, lip balm. 4,5gr - 3euro. A soft lip protector with SPF 8. It has a minty taste and leaves you with a fresh aesthesis. I like it!

These are some MAC products I got.

MAC, longwear lipcolour. 8ml - 5euro. I like the colour. It applies well but if you don't put the shiny non-colour on top it really dries out and you feel like something is wrong with your lips. It's really longwear, but not in a really nice way. Trying to take it off after taking the photo above, I had to apply cleansing lotion, wash it with a cleansing gel and strongly rub it off.

MAC, liquidlast eye liner. 2,5ml - 5euro. I lately love purple that's why I chose this eye liner. It's a nice colour, but it dried out very fast while applying it and in result it got sticky to some points. Again it is a longlasting product that I don't really like. But on the other hand, what do I know from make-up?!

I also got a MAC bluish-green eye shadow. 1,5gr - 3euro. It has a beautiful summer night colour which comes out very soft. You might like it or you might not. I like it!

Clinique, touch tint for eyes. 7ml - 3euro. Liquid eye shadow, applies very smoothly and has a soft shiny white colour. You can see it with the MAC eyeliner on the above photo. I just saw though that this one used to be a demonstration product, not for sale.

Kate Moss, body lotion. 200ml - 7euro.

Michael Kors, body shower. 150ml - 8euro.

I fell in love with them. They smell fabulous. Very sensual aroma and very sexy, minimal design!

Lolita Lempicka, eau de parfum. 50ml - 17euro. No words to describe this scent. It is just one of my favorite sparkling sweet aroma and I looove the bottle.

So, this was a bargain, don't you agree?

Greek readers can find the BAZAAR at N. Psychico, Mesogeion Av. and Tzavela 67 str. The entrance is from Tzavela. The BAZAAR will go on until this Sunday 21/6 and it's already on for a week now. I am not sure, but I think it is open from 10 or 11 am until 8pm weekdays and until 3pm on the weekend. Sales girls were very kind and the time I went it wasn't crowded. And because many things are said about the quality of the products and questions have raised like why are they so low costed? Are they expired or something? To be honest I don't know the answer but I think that they are just stock and return products and I also heard that sales girls buy them as well. The decision is yours to make!

For me it is not all that natural bio products that I prefer and mostly use but this time I couldn't resist!Could you?!

Suffering from headaches and migraines?

Oh yeah! I think the title says it all. I suffer from both, headaches and migraines, but mainly migraines. Thanks to that plus that my brother is back from UK, plus the elections on Sunday, plus work I haven't managed to post anything lately.

The last week I 've been on a fat-burn, detox diet (I 'll let you know more about that when I see myself the results). So, because of the specific diet and while my body was trying to be 'detoxined' I had been suffering three days in the row from migraines and pains in the back of my neck. And because I refuse to take any kind of pain-killers I had to deal with it choosing a more natural way.

The more natural way I 'm talking about is just a magic little, brown bottle of Cornmint / Mentha Arvensis essential oil which I used on the spot of 'suffer'. It totally saved me!

Cornmint or by latin name Mentha Arvensis it's a herb with leafy stems and lilac-coloured flowers. It has a strong, fresh, bitter-sweet minty odour, much like peppermint (or Mentha Piperita) and it acts as anesthetic, antimicrobial, antiseptic, antispasmodic, carminative, cytotoxic, digestive, expectorant, stimulant stomachic. It is a non-toxic, non-irritant oil but it might cause sensitization to some and is better not to use in concentration. Cornmint is also high in menthol which makes it dermal irritant. Cornmint / Mentha Arvensis also treats rheumatic pain, neuralgia, toothache, earache, laryngitis, indigestion, colds and bronchitis.

Mentha Arvensis / Cornmint - photo taken from here

Actually therapeutically is used in many ways as peppermint (or Mentha Piperita) but also is perfect for migraines or nervous headaches. And I am saying that by experience. All 3 days I applied, just 1-2 drops each time, directly on the back of my neck and on the left side of my forehead where I mainly felt the pain. Every time it took no more than 2 min. before I experience the relief and in my worse day I re-applied only 4 times during the day or night.

My little magic bottle comes from Penny Price's products and in Greece it costs something like 18 € which actually is much more expensive than what I bought from Hinckley from the brand's shop. Even though I get better prices because I study at the Academy, still I think it's a bit expensive. I also just discovered that Culpeper and Jurlique (Greece) - Jurlique (UK) which are the other 2 brands that I love don't even have Cornmint / Mentha Arvensis. Nor does Apivita, another Greek company with natural products. Why? Why is Cornmint essential oil so rare? I would love to know other similar brands that have Mentha Arvensis and how much do they sell. If you know, please drop in for a comment.

Information about the characteristics and safety data of Mentha Arvensis I got from The Encyclopedia of Essential Oils, by Julia Lawless (Thorsons Publishing). At this point I also have to add that this was the only book from all 5 that sit on my shelf about Aromatherapy that referred to Mentha Arvensis....grrrr!

Face Tan? Not in fashion anymore

I think summer is here for good. I 've already been to the sea more than 10 times and now I 'm more concerned of how I 'm going to put air-cons in every single room of the house to stay in instead of going out. Days are getting so hot that now I 'm thinking it twice before leaving the house at noon times.

Anyway, few days ago I got my new for this summer facial sunscreen lotion. I 'm using the same sunscreen of Lavera for the last 2 years and I 'm very satisfied with it.

It is 100% natural, with organic evening primrose oil and liquorice extract. Suitable for allergies and sensitive skin. Also, it is effective immediately after application, so I don't have to wait anything like 20 min. in the house before going out. I buy it for less than € 15 (in Greece) the 50ml and it lasts for more than 1 year. The only thing that I mind is that you have to work it very well on your face so that not to leave white marks; but at the end Ι can personally overlook that.

A "new" old brand

Remember mentioning in an older post that something is being messing around with my template. Some unexplained links in Spanish at the end of every post had haunted my blog and I had no idea what to do? Well, again I have no idea but the links just disappeared a while ago in an attempt of mine checking other potential templates for my blog. And at last the day and time of each of my post is been shown. Hip hip hurray!

Anyway, for few days now I 've been wanting to post some cool new products I got for present from some friends of mine after their trip in London. I was not aware of this British brand with natural herbal products that I was so excited to know about it. I 'm talking about Culpeper, a quite old brand of herbal products - essential oils, aromatherapy products, natural cosmetics etc. 

At the moment I have in my possession 2 essential oils and 1 pulse point oil, but I 'm thinking about ordering soon online several more of their products. Both essential oils and pulse point oil have a delightful aroma and soft mixture. From the first moment I fell in love with the pulse point oil of lavender for its discrete aroma and soft aesthesis and it has found its place in my bag. They have a beautiful, minimal design and of course full information on the labels, as pure oils should have.