Holistic Bridal Beauty Prep : Beauty Boosting Nutrition

Everyone that knows me how much I love healthy food and nutrition, I might sometimes annoy my friends with my words of wisdom and also always healthy food choices. So why would I take supplements?

Why Supplements? I believe that if you work in a demanding job or go through periods of stress or high workloads, sometimes your food intake just can't offer enough nutrients. There are so many different situations in life, where your body can do with a little help including for us women pregnancy, conceiving and menopause. Just to maintain a healthy regular cycle and balanced hormones it's important to look after your nutrition. Our skin, hair and nails also shows us pretty quickly if we are lacking something. Pay attention and listen to your body. Even though I am overall healthy and free of any serious illness, I take little warning signs of my body very seriously. If my digestion is not as usual, if I get breakouts and pimples, dry skin, mood swings or simply feel tired, I know it's time to change something. It's a great idea to give the body a little boost and help it out with some supplements and I have always seen great results. Sleep, good nutrition, enough fresh water and regular exercise are all important and supplements can only work as part of a healthy lifestyle. There is no shortcut to good health! I recommend seeing a Nutritionist or seeking advice in your local health food store, they can often be very knowledgeable.

My Beauty Boosters: Right now I am doing a detox with HUM Daily Cleanse & HUM Runway Ready. It is a four week course and I will make sure to continue until I run out. HUM actually offers an online consultation and a professional Nutritionist will contact you to recommend products. I thought the consultation was pretty fun and the Daily Cleanse sounded like something that could do me good. All their products are sustainably sourced, premium quality, non GMO, pure and also clinically proven to work!

Aisle Ready The Runway Ready is a fun beauty supplement for everyone, it will help with healthy nails, shiny hair and glowing skin and is also vegetarian and vegan. Which is great as many supplements contain animal products, and are not suitable for everyone. It comes in a pretty dispenser box with daily packs which contain 3 capsules. Super easy peasy! The whole box is a one month course. I just throw one sachet into my handbag in the morning and then take them with my lunch. Each sachet contains 2 "Red Carpet" Pills and 1 "Killer Nails" Pill. They contain Black Currant Seed Oil: Perfect Source of ALA & GLA Sunflower Seed Oil: Great Source of Vitamin E and Vegan Biotin which Strengthens the nails. I thought this could be an excellent idea to get ready for the wedding.

Skin Cleanse Within a week of the Daily Cleanse I saw my skin being more clear and I also felt I had great energy throughout the day. I take 2 capsules per day without food, it's super quick and easy even if my schedule is packed. These are meant to cleanse your skin, liver, bowel, kidneys and lungs with Organic Algae, Cleansing Minerals and a unique blend of 15 Detox Herbs. I will complete the course and possibly do a second one closer to the wedding.

Glow I have also been trying The Beauty Chef Inner Glow Powder, which is from a different brand. Inner Glow has really helped my skin and digestion. It's a delicious natural berry flavoured powder to be taken with water and it's basically made from fermented super foods. They help making your gut happy by providing pre- and probiotics, but it's also naturally packed with vitamins, minerals and vegetable proteins. Did I mention, it tastes delicious? I first thought it's a little pricey but it seems to last a while, as you only need to take a teaspoon per day. I am planning on keep on going with this one until the big day.

Before I started the Hum Daily Cleanse I just started taking a Magnesium Supplement for better sleep and less stress as well as a Super Green Powder, which is very powerful and was recommended to my by a independent Nutritionist. I loved both and will probably use it again if needed. As always do your research and ask a professional before buying supplements. It's important to make sure your supplements are free from cheap fillers or nasty ingredients, there are big differences in quality, many of the cheap vitamins from the supermarket won't cut it!

Have you tried supplements? What are your experiences? Feel free to share.

Thoughts On Wedding Planning for White Magazine

For the latest issue of White Magazine I got asked to share my thoughts on wedding planning, as an insider in the wedding world. It was really fun sitting down, pondering about it all and writing down my thoughts. You can read my final article below: And don't forget to buy the issue with many more amazing articles and beautiful imgages, as always completely honest and inspiring!

How did we handle the flood of over-inspiration that blogs, pinterest & co deliver?

Planning a wedding in the age of Pinterest & CO

Have you set a date yet? What is your dress going to look like? What sort of flowers were you thinking of getting? - Immediately after getting engaged well meaning friends and family bombarded us with questions, even before we had a chance to decide if we wanted a wedding or simply elope. We just wanted to be married and live happily ever after, we hadn't thought about a wedding.It seemed like everyone around us had pretty high expectations of what our wedding day would look like, maybe because we are both working in creative jobs and are surrounded by wonderful vendors all the time. We dived right into the abundance of inspiration, hoping to feel the same excitement about this event than everyone around us. Looking at beautiful blogs, magazines and of course Instagram and Pinterest, there was all this deliciousness from amazing fellow vendors, beautifully photographed.Lost in a picture perfect Pinterest wedding world filled with DIY projects, services and products we felt that most of it was meaningless and irrelevant to us personally. Were we over-inspired? Was all the goodness just too much to take and overwhelming? Ok, back to the drawing board...we took a deep breath, pen and paper and made notes about the things that really mattered to us. We focused on why we wanted a wedding in the first place and who we really wanted to share this special day with. We made a must-have and nice-to-have list to keep us on track and stick to our own ideas. The outcome was a clear feeling and a blurry vision of a small, intimate wedding, with our nearest and dearest including our puppy Dalston, a “on-holiday- feel” with lot's of fun, eating and dancing. We wanted it to be low key and high fun. We strongly felt less is more. No need for a theme or a colour scheme. What we DID need was a place that made us and our guests feel welcome, plenty of food, good music, drinks and some simple off-the-rack outfits. Easier said than done... Many of the “alternative” venues we contacted seemed to be colder than expected and replied with way too many rules, regulations and restrictions than my free spirited self could digest. Our must have list quickly ruled out pretty much any venue within NSW and it seemed like the only option left was camping- no wait, even the campsite did not allow dogs. (Besides that my lovely future mother in law would possibly be mad at me forever if I make her camp on our wedding.) While we really stuck to our guns with the venue and overall feel, we gave in at other points of planning. The “don't-care-ready-to-wear” dress idea turned into a custom design couture gown (whoops...). As my former fashion designer self took over and I rediscovered how much fun the process of creating it from scratch would be, there was no turning back from the quality fabrics and great craftsmanship. Turned out that overall trying to keeping it simple and real is sometimes harder than just going with a more traditional option. Letting the magic of wedding planning take over from time to time actually feels good. Now we can't wait.

... if you are planning a wedding too: Grab yourself an issue of White Magazine!

NŪDUS Lip Euphoria

Are your lips ready for the ultimate treat? NŪDUS is the clever lipstick range that I have been waiting for. Creamy, luxurious, rich pigments beautifully packaged and certified organic. This range of high-end lipsticks was over two years in the making and contains a superior blend of 27 active naturals. A specially designed tasteful formula incorporating super foods, antioxidants, vitamins A, B, C, D, E and K, essential fatty acids and high-end anti-aging ingredients to keep your lips soft and help protect them from environmental stress. WOW! You can tell that the beautiful founder Diana Saltoun Goltsman has done her researched and developed a wonderful range for intelligent, forward thinking women, like herself.

If you are a bit of a beauty nerd like I am, read on for even more amazing information about this unique luxury range: All NŪDUS lipsticks are handcrafted. What this means for you is that they are carefully made in small batches in a certified organic environment in Sydney Australia. The colours are very different from anything else on the market: NŪDUS pigments are a special mix of ancient Ayurvedic pure bioactive colour extracts from flowers, fruits, herbs and minerals. Each colour extract has a dual purpose of bioactivity and therapeutic function. These color extracts have been chosen on the basis of their properties promoting preventative healthcare. The extracts not only provide longer lasting colours, but safer active moisturising properties, based on the technology of an ancient progressively vibrant traditional medicinal system.

Ayurveda means ‘ life-wisdom’. Pronounced (aa-yer-vay-da) it is believed to be one the oldest healing systems originating from India over 5,000 years ago. Ayurveda revels the wisdom of life ‘ the whole of life’, by unveiling secrets of nature that helps keep a person healthy and in harmony with their soul.

All the colours apply true to the colour they show as stick, and I can't even decide which one my favourite is. I have tried 6 shades and they are all great. (which rarely ever happens!) I am in LOVE.

Expert Advice: Best Beauty Foods For Healthy Skin

I am very excited to have health food expert, nutritionist and food blogger Monique Cormack, sharing er expertise. I met Monique a little over a year ago when she booked me as makeup artist for her wedding. Her knowledge blew my mind, so I feel grateful that she took my invitation to write a guest post for my blog.

Having radiant, clear skin makes you feel great and is really a beauty feature in itself.  While I take care of my skin externally by using simple, natural skin care products, I also make sure to nourish my skin from within by eating an abundance of foods that support skin health and regeneration.

So, what foods are good for healthy skin? A fun and helpful way to look at this answer is to think of the qualities we would like in our skin, and see them reflected in what we choose to consume.

Clear. This one is a bit of a no-brainer; I am talking about water! It is so important to stay hydrated, this will keep your skin looking brighter and fuller. Dehydration will be reflected in sallow, dry skin and tired-looking eyes. You can help to hydrate with liquids such as water, coconut water, herbal tea and vegetable juices. Also try to consume water-rich, hydrating whole fruits and vegetables e.g. watermelon, grapefruit, oranges, berries, cucumber, tomatoes, celery and lettuce varieties.

Clean.  It’s a bit of an overused term at the moment, but by eating “clean” I simply mean to cut back on processed foods and focus on eating as many foods as close to nature as possible. Fresh produce, lean meat, fish, eggs, raw nuts and seeds, smart carbs like sweet potato, brown rice, quinoa and buckwheat can be flavoured with herbs, spices, homemade sauces and dips without any chemical additives.  By removing processed foods you will also eliminate a lot of excess sugar from your diet, which can be a key trigger for bad skin.

Fresh. Making sure that the majority of the food you eat is actually fresh food, as opposed to pre-packaged convenience food, will help you on your way to having great skin.  Add a handful of fresh spinach to your scrambled eggs or breakfast smoothie.  Enjoy an orange or an apple together with a handful of raw nuts for afternoon tea.  Make sure that your lunch and dinner includes your favourite veggies, trying to include 2-3 different varieties (aim for 2 cups of veg) for a colourful plate; by eating the rainbow, you canvass a larger number of nutrients.

Vibrant.  Brightly coloured fruits and vegetables contain various micro nutrients which help to support healthy skin. Citrus, kiwi and berries are rich in Vitamin C, essential for collagen production (collagen is a major structural protein of the skin). Dark leafy greens are packed with fibre, minerals and antioxidant compounds which will improve digestion and help eliminate toxins from the body. Orange foods like carrots are rich in beta-carotene, a precursor to Vitamin A, an antioxidant which is also essential for skin health.

Glowing.  What helps you glisten and glow? Healthy, shiny FATS. I cannot stress enough the importance of including good quality fats if you want great skin. A number of nutrients needed for skin health, including Vitamins A, E and K, are all “fat-soluble”. This means that our digestive system absorbs them via a molecule of fat.  Include quality fats such as a few tablespoons of cold-pressed coconut oil, extra-virgin olive oil and/or organic butter. Chia seeds, raw nuts and seeds, oily fish, whole eggs, avocado and tahini are also excellent healthy-fat items to regularly include in your meals.

Toned. Protein! This is used in the construction of every tissue in your body. Skin cells are constantly regenerating, so we need to make sure we regularly consume adequate protein. This might be 2 whole eggs or approximately a 150 gram serve of meat or fish; plant-based sources include nuts and seeds, legumes and protein-rich “grains” such as quinoa, buckwheat and amaranth.  If you wish to use a protein powder, choose an additive-free one (I like Sunwarrior for a vegan protein, and the Bare Blends range is also very good).

Nourish Everyday Recipe: Skin Food Smoothie Bowl

This meal is so easy to throw together very quickly and makes a great breakfast, lunch or even a light dinner if you get home late and want to eat something that’s not too heavy before you go to sleep. I have chosen to blend together a selection of ingredients that are especially great for skin health. Avocado and chia seeds for essential healthy fats and a little protein boost.  Hydrating cucumber.  Cleansing, antioxidant-rich spinach for some essential leafy greens.  Pear for sweetness and an excellent fibre hit.  Top it with berries for your Vitamin C and also a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds, which are rich in zinc (great for skin and nails) and also magnesium (great for stress management - brides-to-be this is an important mineral for you!)

You need: 1 small pear (ripe or even overripe will work best) ¾ cup cucumber chunks 1 big handful baby spinach ½ avocado 2 tsp chia seeds 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 scoop vanilla protein (I use Sunwarrior Vanilla in this) ½ cup almond/rice/coconut/oat milk ½ cup coconut water or water ½ cup berries (fresh or frozen) 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds

What to do: Core and chop the pear up into chunks. Place the pear chunks and all the other ingredients, except the berries and pumpkin seeds, into your blender and process until nice and smooth. You can thin it out with a little more liquid if you prefer. Top with berries and pumpkin seeds.  (For a more indulgent smoothie you can also add some coconut flakes and cacao nibs as shown in the picture!)

You can find Monique for even more great recipes and services over here at Nourish Everyday

Monique Cormack Contact her via her directly via her contact form or follow her on social media for her latest foodie adventures: Instagram: @nourish_everyday Facebook: Nourisheveryday Pinterest: Nourisheveryday

back to dirty dalston

photo via the great design platform Object Design League We finally moved back. Back to dirty Dalston (East London) in a brand new flat in our old beloved building. There is still so much to set up and unpack and get to make it a real home, but it feels already fantastic. There is so much light and space. And I am having internet again, from tonight. Now we only need some plants and cutlery... One week we have been constantly unpacking and building and I am bruised and exhausted. But I am in love with this new place already.