Welcome to my very first WEDDING LOOKBOOK!
Weddings can be stressful as fuck and my hope is to ease some of that stress with a full guide on beauty for your big day, what to do, what not to do, ENJOY YOUR day! Why do I feel qualified to put this guide together, you ask?! Well, I have been married not one but two times š and have learned a lot along the way…
PEEP the Wedding Lookbook HERE.
P.S. Do yourself a favor and view it full screen – it is much prettier and hi-res that way!
xx, lynn
Youāve probably heard of Gua Sha…but if you havenāt: Gua Sha is a modality that stems from traditional Chinese medicine. When you use a Gua Sha tool, youāll āscrapeā your skin with short or long strokes to stimulate microcirculation of the soft tissue, which increases blood flow. Gua Sha actually translates to scraping, which is not the most attractive – I know. It certainly doesnāt FEEL like youāre scraping your skin. Gua Sha is most known for the face, but it is gaining popularity for body care.
And Iām all about it. Gua Sha for face AND body is something I have been practicing for several months as a part of my morning routine and there are so many benefits Iāve experienced.
The proven benefits are impressive: itās said to reduce inflammation, aid sleep, diminish the appearance of cellulite, soothe muscles, and reduce stress. Those benefits sounded amazing to me which is why I added on body Gua Sha to my routine, and I have experienced a reduction in the appearance of cellulite, I feel so much more energized in the morning, and my body feels more relaxed. Itās a ritual that I think Iāll keep for a long, long time.
Ok, so what tool should you use? I had been using the Gua Sha tool I was using on my face, on my body, too…until recently. Itās a rose quartz tool that is so cooling from Skin Gym. Iāve upgraded my body tool to this one from Holidermie
– keep in mind, this tool is only recommended for use on the body, not your face. Just like the face, use your stone with an oil. I use Biossanceās Squalane Oil for body and face.
PUFA is a trending term right now in the wellness community because there is so much research and data on the negative health affects of ingesting them. So WTF is a PUFA? It stands for polyunsaturated fat. Not only are they shitty for your health when eaten, they’re also not great for your skin. Today I am doing a deep dive into why I am no longer using them during my morning and night time skincare routines.
Polyunsaturated oils come packaged as skincare usually as seed oils and they are often labeled ‘natural’, ‘organic’, ‘vegan’, etc. Which is isn’t a lie! The problem is that seed oils have the potential to experience oxidative stress when ingested and/or applied to the skin. Why? In simple terms, our bodies are warm, which makes for the perfect environment for oxidation with these unstable oils.
So, what does this mean? Unstable oils generate free radicals which can cause early aging.
An oxidized oil may moisturize your skin nicely, but within the long-term, its absorption (or consumption) may lead to cell and connective damage to the tissues, age stains, thyroid suppression along with other hormonal imbalance. {via}
Enough of the info…now on to the dirty list…
Here are the oils most used in skincare that are polyunsaturated:
Reading labels is SO important whether it’s your food or your skincare. The oils that I personally love for skincare are:
ā” Biossance Squalane <– I just wrote a blog post about the best Squalane oil ever. It is 100% saturated and not comedogenic. It can be used on any skin type.
ā” Acure Marula Oil: Seals-in hydration and softens skin, offers antioxidant protection, has anti-inflammatory effects, has some antibacterial properties.
ā” Jojoba oil: I use jojoba oil every night to remove my makeup. It’s so hydrating and just feels so luxe on the skin.
Are there PUFA-free products you like? Please share!
xx, Lynn
Out of all the beauty products out there, oils are the one thing I love the most. I put them everywhere: from the top of my head to help with psoriasis to my ass to my feet. I’m a real oil connoisseur.
Do you remember when oils were the enemy? At 15 years old, I remember slathering baby oil (I know, that one is not great) all over my face because even back then I had super dry skin. Facial oils have come a loooong way since then.
Today I want to share a new oil that I have been using and it’s quickly become my favorite: Squalane oil.
I was using a Squalane Oil that I really liked, but being the beauty guinea pig that I am, I wanted to explore others that are out there. And that led me down the rabbit hole of the different kinds of squalane oil. There are two different kinds: those derived from olives and those derived from sugarcane. I checked the one I had been using, and it’s derived from oilves.
Which one is better? Simply put, the squalane derived from sugarcane is ‘better’.
Olives contain a small amount of squalene, which gets more and more concentrated in the various steps of olive oil processing until itās finally recovered from olive oilās final production waste and turned into squalane. Sounds like a great way to re-purpose waste, right? Not quite. The problem with olive oil-derived squalane is that the multi-step olive oil processingāalong with the environmental conditions under which the olives are grownācan create inconsistent quality. {via}
Sugarcane is a heartier crop than olives, and is more pure, higher quality and a better ingredient. It is easy to formulate with, readily biodegradable and has a very stable supply. {via}
After researching the best sugarcane-based squalane oils, I went with
Welcome to the best part of the year! I love to curate gift guides because I am one who likes to give the perfect gifts. Each of these gift ideas were carefully selected and are also some of my favorite products that I’ve used and loved for years.
You’ll find many small businesses, eco-friendly, non-toxic, and cruelty-free gifts featured here. That doesn’t mean that everything in this guide is pricey, they’re just the best. š I donāt want you guys to do the work – let me showcase it all for you.
Just click on the guide above or access it here and flip through the pages.
xx, Lynn