When Energy Work Becomes an Essential Part of Your Beauty Ritual April 17 2018
What do self-care, energy work, and beauty rituals have in common?The Power of Prevention! December 23 2017
Proper prevention is key to true skin-health and to keeping a youthful aesthetic to the face.FIRES December 11 2017
Self-Care during changes to your environment is essential to your well-being.
We have been experiencing extreme fires in Southern California. It’s been heart warming to see our communities band together and care for one another. Even if you live miles away from the fires, the air quality is very straining to our health. There’s ash all over peoples homes, inside and out. The air is extremely dry. This has affected people’s immune systems, sinuses, energy levels and skin. Many patients have been coming in with lips so chapped that they’re bleeding. Many have such intense pressure and discomfort in the sinuses that they cant sleep well at night.
Whether you are around a natural disaster like this or if you travel to a different climate where it’s extremely dry, there are thing you can do to help stay healthy.
First you want to try and improve and control the quality of the air in your home. Blast air filters and humidifiers. Add frankincense to your aromatherapy humidifiers. This is a great oil to clear up your sinuses.
Now try and improve your internal environment. The brand “Host Defense” has a superior supplement containing chaga and reishi for lung health called “Breathe.” Chaga and reishi is well known for its support of skin and lung functioning. In Eastern medicine they believe that the lungs have the strongest relationship to the skin than any other organ.
Up your omegas! This will help keep your skin juicy and protected.
Super-hydrating IV drips can also be beneficial. Add enzymes to your water and chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is a supportive antioxidant for the skin.
Keep your showers and baths cool and short! Long, hot baths and showers dehydrate our skin. Add some Epson salts to your bath to help detox or oatmeal to help hydrate.
Making home masks with Greek yogurt and tons of Manuka honey will also help soothe your skin.
For topicals, I’m loving Luzern’s “Urban Defense Day Lotion.” It’s packed with protection against a toxic environment. It’s anti-pollution formula helps to neutralize the effects against pollutants such as smog and heavy metals.
I also have my patients mix old school Aquaphor with a bit of Luzern’s lip treatment to help heal their lips. Lip treatments alone will be too harsh.
I’m not a fan of strong massage or suction on the face, but a nice lymphatic drainage or a Nova Sonic treatment will clear out toxins and help “drain” your sinuses. If you have a Foreo, Nuface or Clarisonic at home, make sure and treat yourself. It will get the blood and lymph flowing which in turn will help to get nutrients and oxygen to the skin.
I’ve lived through a few major fires in my life. They can be very transformative- not only to the land but to our body, mind, heart and spirit.
Let’s focus on keeping safe and healthy and allowing for the changes this will bring. I remember after the fires behind my house over a year ago, I went hiking with Casey Ann Hickey. We were blown away at the beauty and strength of what was growing out of the soot and debris. Vibrant green, purple and orange life just flowing out of the soil. That Spring the Hollywood Hills look like I was back in New Zealand.
If you want to help support these communities rebuild, please look into donating to Gentle Barn. www.gentlebarn.org
I know people involved with this group. You can be assured that your money will be used with integrity.
Wishing everyone a healthy and hopeful week. x
The Future of Skincare December 10 2017
Hello beauties!
I’ve been traveling around the world to experience and learn how the future of skincare will change the landscape of women’s health and the way we all care for our skin from head to toe, inside and out! I’m beyond proud of some of the amazing pioneers in our field. We are creating an advanced and trustworthy way to create true, protective and lasting benefits for the health of our skin. The way we treat our skin and our self-care beauty rituals will be entering into a new paradigm shortly. I look forward to taking these steps and sharing my knowledge with all of you!
Taking care of one of our favorite faces and co-creator of the KAYO skincare line. October 23 2017
Christine Bullock amazing to work with because she has such a passion and knowledge of health and fitness. She's not only a fitness star but also created the skincare line KAYO. This line is made for the body but packs the quality and results of a face line! She believes in keeping yourself clean and natural inside and out!
I strive to keep faces youthful by keeping the muscles toned and the skin plump and elastic. When faces look-hard-tight-bloated-uncanny, it looks done and worn out. A very conservative amount of botox or filler- if needed, has it's place as a way to tweak a slight architectural issue, but using it as a "liquid" facelift or as a volumizing technique will eventually result in an undesirable outcome.
I especially see issues when patients treat their eye area. They try aggressive skin rejuvenating treatments that force a "scar tissue" response versus a soft and plump response you can get from the skin with other inspiring treatments. The most troublesome is when they have undesirable reactions from filler around the eye. This can be a disaster! Unfortunately, many patients just don't know what they are signing up for or the possible side effects.
You want to target toning the muscle and the skin around the eye area, also inspiring optimal blood and lymph flow. I utilize many techniques but one of my most popular is the Bio-Lift.
The Bio-Lift electro stimulation technique is an amazing way to strengthen the muscles and tone the skin around the eyes. Weakening the muscle around the eye area specially around the lower area with Botox can cause the area to "pull down"- creating more of a sunken and dark appearance. This can tend to make a face look less youthful. It can also result in a lack of movement which limits your ability to communicate and express to another person.
When we alter the face structurally and the movement of the face, this triggers a strange processing in our brain. Look up "Uncanny Face." Or you can look out for my blog regarding how our interactions with each other are being altered via the unnatural changes in our appearances.
Working with the original blueprint of your face is almost always the best route to creating beauty and vitality. I'm grateful for Christine Bullock, KAYO and all the other brands and skin way-showers that are adding goodness to this industry
I don't use the word HEAL. September 04 2017
ALIGNMENT vs. HEAL
I try to never use the word “heal” in my practice. I don’t believe that anything needs to be healed. Everything is always as it should be in the given circumstances. If something isn’t function the way you want in your body or in your life, you must decide to create a way to inspire a change. But nothing is truly broken. Most likely when a patient comes to me because they want to “heal” something, it’s due to a misalignment of energy. It’s an energy crisis. If you simply find what’s draining the energy and/or inspire the area with outside energy and data, the body will respond. Our bodies want to be in alignment and flowing with energy. That’s the state it strives to be in. The body knows what to do in ways we cannot (always) comprehend. To make an example of the power of words as an intention: if you want to meditate on biohacking a disease or a personal experience, if you start off by saying that you want to "heal" it , you are tuning into the idea that something is weak or wrong. You're giving the power to what you don't want versus the aligned state you want to embody.This also translates into our personal lives. If I feel that my life isn’t flowing or vibing right, I just focus on the frequency of alignment and then I just get out of the way. It never ceases to amaze me what the human body and the universe is capable of imagining for us. The beauty and strength that is possible in our lives is spectacular!
Xriss wrote about our treatments for The Caviar Spoon! xx July 06 2017
~Xriss has one of my fav voices, and is now one of my fav faces. She came to my clinic to experience my treatments and wrote about it for The Caviar Spoon!
Read below.....
WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT: MIA BELLE SKIN
Being friends with Quincy Jones has allowed me the opportunity to do some really cool things with him. Last year, he took me to a Skrillex concert for my birthday. and he was the one who ended up really enjoying the concert. Whadda ya know! Last November, Q (as we like to call him) was invited to Sol Kerzner’s place for a birthday dinner party his wife was holding for him. Coincidentally, it was the same night as Election Day – worst night that week.
I was asked to join, as well, and I was so happy to oblige. Here’s the kicker of the whole night: Just as Q and I were both being greeted at the door by Mrs. Kerzner, out of nowhere pops out Judge Judy who walked over to shake our hands with a massive smile on her face. I like to believe I made her smile. Right as my starstruck jaw started to take back its natural position, the night went to a whole other level of randomness.
“Hello! Welcome!”
I turned around and it was Bette Midler, the face of my childhood. Was I dreaming this up?! Wow!
We were all introduced to one another and when dinnertime came, my seat at the table was right next to a gorgeous woman who struck me as a model. Her name was Mia Belle and my, my, did she carry her last name well. We got acquainted and she told me that she was in the cosmetics business. She wasn’t just a pretty face. She was quirky, curious, had that twinkle in her eye and was a very accepting person. Because I liked spending that time with her so much, I completely forgot about Ms. Sheindlin and Ms. Midler.
Before the night was over, we had exchanged phone numbers and followed each other on Instagram. Mia invited me to stop by her clinic sometime, which I did, leading me to this review.
THE REVIEW
Centrally located in Beverly Hills, California, Mia Belle Skin’s clinic is a small, comfortable and very welcoming space on the 4th floor of a beautiful building on Brighton Way. As many wrongly assume they’ll be receiving facial and body massages here, Mia makes it clear that she gives the skin a paramedical treatment. She is passionate about women’s wellbeing and specializes in the molecular function of one’s skin and the body’s health – and by “body”, I mean BODY.
She was not short of being bold in giving me a brief outline on another extremely important topic that she is very passionate about. A topic that we women might classify as “taboo” or be too shy to talk about. It is none other than the health of our big Vs. Girls, it is so important to take care of our “girls” down there!
Mia has been on Oprah, Extra, “E” Entertainment, KTLA and Access Hollywood, and that has all helped her grow in her popularity.
The high societal class area had a loud and flowing crowd downstairs. The building was very welcoming and signs clearly directed me on how to get to “Mia Belle Skin” – I was to go to Suite 416. Mia opened the door for me and the loudness from downstairs suddenly disappeared as she closed it behind me, welcomed me in. She offered some water while I waited as she was just finishing up with the previous booking. I sat on one of the chairs in the intimately sized 2x2 sq m waiting room which, of course, did not have a receptionist. Mia proceeded to go back inside the treatment room, closing the door behind her (which had her very simple and chic logo on it) in order to respect the privacy of her client (Go MIA!). I took that opportunity to look around a little bit.
It was very simple – there were no windows so it was a little darker than the usual waiting room. With just enough time to notice the few chairs, the very simple water station and a large bouquet of pink flowers, it was soon my turn to go as the lady right before me discreetly slipped out the back door.
As I was invited in, the first thing I noticed in the extremely well-lit room was a single brick wall. It was so chic, I felt like I was being welcomed into her cosy bubble that looked just like the mood board of her Instagram page. I noticed a few machines on one side of the room, the large comfortable-looking bed in the center with Mia’s chair directly behind the head area and the seating area by the window, right where you were to take your clothes off. Nobody could see in, of course.
The first thing she did was ask me what my skin type was like. She was gently persistent in her questions, prying out details like my food and water intake, what I personally find wrong with my skin and how it was reacting. I told her that I had had it pretty rough and bad since October and that I needed something to heal the obvious stress from malnourishment, lack of rest, hormonal acne, all the airplane rides, the under-hydration, the blackheads, the whiteheads, too much sun all at once and the headaches that caused my temperamental skin to look the way it did that day.
She asked me to take everything off from the waist up and lay down. I didn’t expect the bed to be so perfectly aligned to my body – it was smart foam and I was wowed. This was when I really knew that this was going to be Good with a capital “G”! Mia is super committed to her treatments and didn’t really speak very much unless she was elaborately answering my questions. She wanted me to enjoy the experience.
Let me just say: What a doll! She is very enthusiastic about what she does and I can tell she has a very deep passion for it. Which is why I loved how dedicated she was to her work. Serious, yet quirky. Love it! I can’t remember everything she was doing as I was really enjoying myself all the while trying to jot down notes in my head. What I can say, though, is that it was a great experience. Once she finished working her magic, Mia cleaned up my face very thoroughly and started to apply all sorts of creams I couldn’t for the life of me understand but really loved.
Mia takes such a personalized approach to each client that she doesn’t have an actual set menu of services. Her Dermal Bonding treatments take into consideration everything from your bones to your epidermis (hence all of the questions she asks you) and they are customized in such a way to treat your specific skin ailments, whether it’s pigment, scarring, or vascular health. Her specialty is reversing not-so-hot results from surgeries, lasers, Ulthera, fillers, and Botox.
I got so wrapped up in the actual treatment process that some of the finer details are fuzzy but I remember that she said my face wasn’t going to look great right away. But a few days after, I was glowing and felt like time had reversed. My skin is in great health now and I am following all the tips she gave me on how to eat for my skin type and the importance of drinking water consistently, exercising and leading a healthy lifestyle.
Beauty is in the air! June 22 2017
Here I share my article LVBX Mag published on how the air we breathe effects our beauty.
Beauty is in the Air!
The air we breathe has a huge effect on the health of our skin. In Eastern traditions, the lungs are thought to have a direct connection to the skin and are taken into consideration in the treatment of all skin issues.
Many of you are lucky to live in areas where the air is clean and pristine. Others of us have to address the effects of living in a more toxic and draining environment. It’s important to address the quality of the air you breathe not only in your outside environment, but also inside your home and workplace. Taking the time to enhance the quality of the air you breathe will create a healthier future for your overall health and beauty. Below are some tips to help you create a beautiful climate for your body mind and spirit with every breath you take.
Just breathe.
Breathing exercises can help strengthen and cleanse your body and mind! Alternating deep breathing between each nostril, holding the breathe in certain rhythms or patterns can be very beneficial to the integrity of the health of the body, and it promotes better focus, energy levels, and deeper sleep. The Aetherius Society teaches a beautiful breathing practice. Deep yogic breathing and intense cardiovascular breathing are a great way to keep you body and skin fit!
Eat pretty.
You can also fortify yourself internally with supplements and food.
Host Defense’s “Breathe” is an excellent supplement for lung support. It’s a
blend of Chaga, Reishi and Cordyceps. Chaga is well known for its support of skin and lung functioning. Reishi supports breathing, cardiovascular system and endurance. Cordyceps is a lung tonic and for energy support. Again, if you support your lungs, you support your skin!
Recycle and Purify.
Research air filters to find the best one for you. There are many brands that target specific allergens, and take into consideration what model works best for your lifestyle. Some have more upkeep than others, and it’s very important to stay on schedule with replacing filters for superior benefits. I’ve recommended many of my patients to purchase a sleek or more compact air filter for their workspace. Especially if there’s construction going on anywhere in or outside the building. There are a lot of toxic byproducts being given off by many types of business activities that may just be a door away from you.
Many older buildings can also have mold.
Mold.
Mold spores enter the body through inhalation and ingestion, and can also be absorbed into the body through the skin. Mold spores that are inhaled have greater toxicity than those absorbed by the skin or ingested. Skin reactions can include: rashes, irritated patches discolored skin, over-sloughing, and elevated photosensitivity. It can create “odd” sensitive patches on the face. I have seen on patients a diminishing of the acid mantle of the skin. Exposure to mold can be very serious.
Please get in touch with your cities health department to test your living or workspace if you have even a slight suspicion that you may be living with mold.
Water heals.
The more moisture in the air, the more moisture in your skin. Standard humidifiers are too much upkeep for me! I’m so grateful that we now have aromatherapy humidifiers that are small enough to fit on a bedside table, but can run for up to 12 hours. This really helps to keep the air moist and us more hydrated during our beauty sleep. Add a few drops of therapeutic essential oils to get even more benefit. My latest beauty sleep mix is sweet eucalyptus, birch, and pine.
Making small changes in our everyday lifestyle can bring about big rewards. Living a conscious and strong life creates a more beautiful world for ourselves and everyone around us.