Weleda News & Oldies But Goldies Body & Baby

I had planned an overview of all our fave hair and body products from the last year…
But with the toddler and being in main wedding season, that was just a little bit too optimistic.

I am also Beauty Editor at Raise Vegan, which is another wonderful commitment and hat to wear, so my own beauty blog has been on the backburner for the last month.

Now that I received a beautiful box of some NEW and exciting Weleda Prducts, it seems at least time to feature our Weleda favourites, which made the list of my fave products for Baby & Body in 2018/2019!

(I will eventually split them all up and will tell you about hair care etc next in a different post)

I have a softspot for Weleda, as I grew up with the products and their whole Waldorf/Steiner aesthetic.
Seriously, how cute is that ltitle yellow suitcase which is a giftpack of their baby range.
Faye uses hers for play and it’s jsut so beautiful to able to reuse packaging in this way.

I really appreciate the HUGE commitment this company has to sustainabilty and nature.
While not all products are vegan (some contain Lanolin from sheepswool and some do contain beeswax)
I have found many fantastic vegan products in their line and also know the commitment they made to save the bees etc.

Long story short here are my top picks for baby and body:

Baby

Calendula Shampoo & Body Wash. So gentle!
Faye is swaeting a lot these days, always wearing her helmet to ride her bike and scooter. This keeps her clean and supple and doesn’t irritate her skin. It also helps that the whole kids range is packaged in her favourite colour: Yellow!

Body Oil:
Seabuckthorn Replenishing Body Oil (also LOVE the rose one)
Beautfiful Glass Bottle. Well designed pump, for no mess application and lovely oil.

Body Butter: NEW!
Skin Food Body Butter: Brand New and finally a vegan product in the award winning Skin Food Range.
This whipped butter, is rich, but yet sinks into the skin quickly! The perfect texture! Also a little more travel friendly than the glass bottles for the oil. Comes in a plastic tub with screw on lid. Leak proof and lightweight. It’s so new I can’t spy it on their Australian website yet but I am sure it will be up there really soon!

LOVE LOVE LOVE this one.  

Luxury Body Wash:
Pomegrantate Creamy Body Wash (and also the Rose One!!!)
Hydrating with heavenly natural scent. All you could want in a Body Wash. Leaves the skin radiant.

If you know me I usually buy BIG amounts of gentle natural unisex showergel in bulk.
I go for something unscented and practical. But ever so often I love using something a little special.
On holidays or weekends away or when things are just a little too busy for example.

These are my fave (and vegan) Weleda products for the body! Some I have been using for years others are new additions!  

Have you tried Weleda? 

Vegan Glutenfree, Sugarfree Christmas Cookies

I really wanted to bake with Faye this year for the fun and also start the tradition of Christmas baking with a rolling pin and cookie cutters.
I know so many great, healthy recipes but they don’t have the right consistency for cookie cutting.

It took a little trial and error and searching the internet until I found a realtively healthy-ish version that worked. I used Banana Flour and Date Syrup and also added some spice :)

Here it is:
(inspired by this recipe at Unconventional Baker)

INGREDIENTS

½ cup coconut oil, softened

½ cup date syrup

½ tsp pure vanilla extract

½ a vanilla bean pod scraped out

a dash of salt

1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon allspice  

2¼ cups gluten-free flour blend you can buy a ready made blend or make your own.
I used: 1 cup Organic Rice Flour, 1 Cup Banana Flour, 1/4 cup corn flour

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. 
Prepare a rolling area with two additional sheets of parchment paper
cookie cutter(s) .

1. Place coconut oil in a large mixing bowl and whip it with a mixer until it’s creamy.
   Add sweetener, vanilla extract and bean, and salt and mix  once again to combine. Add in flour and use a wooden spoon to mix. Then get in there with your hands and mix everything together by working the  dough until you can shape it into a ball {note: the consistency of the dough should not be sticky but should press together  when pinched — be sure to knead it really well first for some time — if it’s a little sticky, add a little more flour (try 1-2 tbsp); if it’s a little dry add a little more sweetener (try 1 tbsp)
   Shape the dough into 2 balls and then flatten each into a disk.

2. Roll out one of the dough balls between two sheets of parchment  paper to ¼” thickness {or thinner or thicker depending on how you want  your cookies to turn out}. Use a cookie cutter to cut out the cookies.  Carefully transfer to a prepared cookie sheets, spacing them ½” apart  {they won’t spread as they bake}. Gather up any dough scraps and repeat  until all dough is used up. Repeat the process with the second dough  ball.

3. Bake in a pre-heated oven for approximately 11-13 minutes, until the edges just begin to become golden. Remove from oven and place on a  cooling rack. {Note: cookies will harden a little within minutes of cooling, so don’t overbake}.
   Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes  and enjoy!

Guide to Superfood Skinbooster Serums

It’s no secret that I am a HUGE fan of Edible Beauty products.

When they released their selection of serums I had to try them all.

They are a selection of lightweight, hydrating serums actively targeting special skin concerns.
I do have my faves, but have to give credit to all of them.

Beautifully formulated with pure and active natural ingredients there is the right serum for everyone.

The one I have been loving and using A LOT is the Probiotic Radiance Tonic.
A probiotic treatment for the “outside” which helps to keep your skins natural microbiome intact and therefore prevents acne-breakouts and strengthens the skins resilience to any problems.
It’s infused with all sorts of other miracle workers such as Jojoba Milk, Birch Leaf and Pullulan Algae Extract, which help to hydrate, nourish, strengthen and tighten the skin.

Turmeric Beauty Latte is another great Serum. It helps to clear and brighten the skin. Great for everyone with acne scarring, inflammation or blemishes.

The Glowing Skin Smoothie is great for all skin types. It’s your nutritious superfood smoothie that just boost your overall health. It protects the skin from UV damage and is very smoothing. Your everyday glowing serum, if you want. It’s great to prevent premature aging and to protect your skin.

Deep Sea Collagen Elixir is your powerful anti-aging serum. If keeping your skin young is your main concern, this one is for you. It’s a real cocktail of anything your skin needs to stay pump and to refine those little lines.

I hope this little guide helped you to make some sense out of all these new booster serums. You can use two or even three of them together and they are meant to be used after your toner before the regular Exotic Goddess Serum.

As always please remember to use CODE LIV20 at checkout for 20% off all Edible Beauty Products.

Natural Cold Remedies That Work

We hardly catch things over here, which is probably down to our fresh and healthy real food diet.
For the first time (Faye is now 18months) she caught a cold and she kindly passed it on to all of us. While she got over it incredibly fast, probably due to her still breastfeeding and getting my antibodies it really hit us parents hard this virus.
It doesn’t help that we didn’t get a chance to rest and recover while having to work and chase after the wild child. BUT: There were some things that made a difference!

Black Chicken Remedies:
Essential Oil Inhaler: It works instantly and feels SOOOOO good. It cleared up my nose and helped me breath. It also helped with my sinus induced headache.
It’s called Respire Nasalette and its a small miracle.
They also have a De-Stress Nasalette, which helped me deal with the overwhelm of work to catch up on after and during sickness. Highly recommended.

Ethical Nutrients Immune Defense: A herbal supplement with vitamins and minerals, my Naturopath friend told us to up the dose and take lots of it.

Garlic: Put fresh garlic in every meal or swallow whole pieces. Another Naturopath tip.

Lots of Water: Obviously! Staying hydrated is important!

Edible Beauty Goddess On The Go Beauty Balm, kept my nose from flaking and healed my dry, red skin.
Also their Vitamin C rich superfood powder helped me a lot! Native Collagen is a vegan supplement that plumps your skin and keeps it young with the help of Vitamin C and antioxidants sourced from native Australian plants.
(get 20% all Edible Beauty use code LIV20 at checkout)

Essential Oils in Bath/ Diffuser/ Roll-On:
We got a mixture made for Faye, a very diluted one that we used on her back and feet.
She loved it and kept wanting to roll it on herself. We like to use DoTerra oils and got some gifted from Essentiallyfrolicking

Dave always drinks litres of fresh lemon and ginger tea and we also eat spicy soups.

We are all back to our happy healthy selves as I type this.

What are your favourite remedies?

A little Grooming...goes a long way

For his birthday Dave visited the barber and we followed up with a selection of great grooming products that he can use at home. He is a sucker for well designed packaging and while he loves his Hunter range these few new items hit the spot.
Vegan, cruelty-free and also free of most nasty ingredients the Hudson Made products are a great natural option for the hairy man your life. It also adds a little bit of NYC to our home.
My fave city in the whole wide world… I used to live there and still have many precious memories.
The products also smell rather amazing. Husband has enjoyed them a lot.

Happy birthday, hubby! And happy grooming.