veganbeautyproducts

Meet the Maker: Indie Lee

/ THESPOTBEAUTY / 4 Comments

I recently had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Indie Lee, the founder of Indie Lee & Co. a clean and eco luxe line of skincare, formulated with efficacious ingredients that combine science + plant botanicals enhancing the health of your body or skin. We sat down and talked about clean beauty, wellness and her launch in Sephora Australia.

Indie’s story is unique and a heart warming. She started the line over ten years ago when she was diagnosed with a fatal brain tumour that doctors felt could be environmentally derived and attributed to something as simple as what she was putting on her skin. After learning that up to 60% of what we apply to our skin, including toxic ingredients in conventional skincare, may be absorbed in as little as 26 seconds, Indie had her awakening. After surviving a successful surgery on Earth Day 2009, she embarked upon a wellness journey to create a clean beauty collection dedicated to inspiring and empowering others to be mindful about what they put on their skin as well as into their body.

“When I was given a finite amount of time to live, the world became technicolor – I now appreciate every moment and I feel very fortunate to be creating a platform that will allow others to do the same. Education and empowerment are my driving forces and this line is the medium enabling me to pay my knowledge forward.” – Indie

The clean and luxurious collection of skin and beauty products will be launching in Sephora, Australian on March 20th, 2019. Indie is a kind, genuine and positive person who started her line purely out of her passion to live and literally to beat the odds of a life threatening disease. It was fascinating and inspiring to meet Indie and to learn more about her story and products. Enjoy the interview below.

How does a typical day start for you?

Every morning starts the same for me. I begin the day by mediating and taking that time for myself to get centred, I then pick up my phone to text my business partner and best friend GMS, which stands for ‘Good Morning Sunshine’. I then go look after my daughters, puppies and make myself a smoothie.

What is your morning beauty routine like?

My morning beauty routine is quite simple, as I don’t always cleanse in the morning. I do my thorough cleanse in the evening, but if I wake up and feel like my skin needs a good cleanse then I use the Indie Lee Purifying Face Wash. I typically start my morning routine with the COQ-10 Toner (this is my a.m. cleanser), it really helps to fight free radical damage and is a preventive to environmental pollution and living in an urban setting. I then follow this by using the Stem Cell Serum, because I’m 47! I follow this with the Daily Vitamin Infusion, (which has plant ceramides in it) followed by the Daily Skin Nutrition and the I-Waken Eye Cream and I’m good to GO!

What was the first skincare product you developed?

The first product I developed is not in the line anymore, but it was a moisturising oil. It had jojoba, apricot kernel, lavender and chamomile oils, a really lovely and gentle all over body oil. The other product developed first was the Coconut Citrus Scrub, it exfoliates whilst hydrating the skin so after you’ve used it you don’t need to follow with a body lotion or moisturiser. I developed this body scrub as I suffered from Rheumatoid Arthritis and one of the side effects from the therapy was very dry skin – this scrub helped keep my skin super soft and hydrated!

What are your hero products from your line?

I would have to say the hero products from the line are the COQ-10 Toner, The Awaken Eye Serum, the Purifying Face Wash (this is very popular for oilier skin types) and the Radiance Renewal Pads.

What’s on your bedside stand?

It’s my phone, a noise cancelling machine (so I can really go to sleep), books as I am forever reading. I love reading and the current book I’m reading is: While You Sleep, it’s  about Auto Immune Diseases and I just finished reading Crazy Rich Girlfriends, it’s a great light hearted book that’s absolutely hilarious.

What are your tips to keeping skin healthy?

I believe that what you put on your body is just as important as what you put in your body. It’s wonderful if you’re going to use clean skincare but you have to match that with healthy eating. Don’t over-cleanse – work with your skin type and use a cleanser that won’t strip your skins natural oils. I don’t think we are getting enough hydration and we need to think about what we are drinking to make sure we are staying hydrated. My most important tip is BE KIND to yourself – we are living in a Instagram-selfie generated world and we are really hard on ourselves! We need to start loving ourselves more and believing in ourselves! Have more confidence in yourself, self confidence is one of the best beauty tips I could ever give someone – LOVE yourself!

Summer Beauty Favourites

/ THESPOTBEAUTY / 2 Comments

3H7A2605

It’s officially summer here in Australia and what better way to kick off my favourite season with some Summer Beauty Favourites! With the extreme heat and humidity we face here, we definitely need beauty products and skincare that are going be “melt proof” as well as provide us with soothing and beneficial hydration during the warmer months.

Lets start with haircare: summer sun can definitely damage your locks, cause frizz and dry out hair cuticles. The Evolv h Smart Color Shampoo and Conditioner are the perfect duo to help look after your hair all summer long. Both products contain rich nourishing and organic ingredients that provide the right amount of hydration to your hair without weighing it down. As the name suggests it is designed for colour treated hair, however it works effectively on non colour treated hair as well.  The Kuki Seed oil, Cupacu Seed Butter, Kiwi Seed Oil and Almond Oil are just a few of the key ingredients that help nourish hair. This new eco-lux line form Evolv h is absolutely BRILLIANT – clean and efficacious haircare that works well on all hair types.

Body Care: we all want to be bikini ready for summer and fit into our swimsuits overnight. Biotyspa have the perfect summer protocol for you! By no means is this a quick fix or going to make you slim overnight – it’s a structured slimming system to help fight cellulite, drain and smooth skin around common problem areas. The Slimming Oil is my favourite – the rich coffee and coconut aroma is so invigorating on the skin and it helps to detox and improve skin tone (yes to smoother thighs). It works best with the Slimming Cup – a great tool and a must-have for getting your body ready for summer! It breaks fat cells and cellulite through the massaging movements. It imitates lymphatic drainage and the famous French “palpate roll” massage, boosting circulation, removing toxins and reducing water retention. Get yourself the Slimming Starter pack and get your body summer ready!

Lets talk Summer skincare and hydration: two important topics that are often neglected during the warmer months. Our skin loses quite a lot of moisture during summer and it’s important to protect it. 5Yina is a line of skincare that is based on Traditional Chinese medicine. Their approach to skin and beauty is intelligent: the products are designed to address skins needs depending on the seasons. As seasons change so do the requirements of our skin. The 5Yina beauty products utilise the efficacy of adaptogenic plants and botanicals to enhance your skin’s resilience to seasonal change. The Lucent Beauty (Summer Beauty Oil and Summer Hydrolat) range is specifically designed for Summer and have become my favourite duo this season. It is lightweight, rebalancing and brimming with pure and potent plant goodness. Further it provides hydration with soothing and calming properties, as well as antioxidants, vitamins and an abundance of micronutrients. If you’re looking for a face oil that’s not too heavy and extremely effective for summer, you need to try The Lucent Beauty Oil (I’m officially obsessed with this)!

One of the best ways to get that GLOW for summer is through inner beauty products. The Beauty Chef has a line of inner beauty powders and beauty boosters that are designed to help you achieve that glow from the inside out! Founder Carla Oates believes that beauty begins in the belly – healthy gut equals healthy skin. The Glow Inner Beauty Powder is an effective product that I have incorporated in my beauty regimen for many years. This powder is a pheneonmel product that does so much for your body – it aids and supports gut health, boosts skin health, promotes the synthesis of collagen and is absolutely delicious as well! When taken regular you can see the benefits and yes, you will literally glow! With certified organic, bio fermented superfoods, pre and probiotics it is bursting with nutritious superfoods that help to benefit your wellbeing, skin, hair and nails. This product helps give you a luminous glow that no skincare or makeup can – it should be part of everyones beauty and wellbeing routine.

Last but not least lets talk about plump, youthful and strong skin all summer long. One of the best ways to achieve these results is through collagen derived skincare. Collagen is an essential protein that provides structure to the connective tissue in our skin. It also aids the skins ability to glow, appear more youthful and hydrated. Earlier this year Vida Glow launched a line of skincare that incorporated collagen and red algae. The beauty products will help you achieve dewy, plump and healthy skin as well as provide skin with rich hydration all summer long. One of my favourites is the Active Vitamin C Serum with the added benefits of collagen and red algae this product is rich in vitamins and antioxidants that help protect skin cells as well as treating ultraviolet heat damage (sunburn and pigmentation). Think of this product as preventative – whilst it’s hydrating your skin and providing an abundance of vitamins, it’s also protecting you from the harmful effects of the sun and the damage we may not see. What better way to prepare for your skin for summer than by helping boost your own skins collagen.

Happy Summer everyone! xxx

 

WILDCRAFTED ORGANICS

/ THESPOTBEAUTY / Leave a comment

 

Screen Shot 2018-02-10 at 9.42.12 PM

Wildcrafted Organics is an Australian skincare line that is inspired by the healing power of plants. Nicole, the founder has a background in nutrition, botanical medicine and extensive experience in the area of herbalism. Her broad knowledge and practice in this field led her to create clean and pure skincare products that incorporate Australian botanicals that are unique and wild crafted. Read about the importance of wildcrafting in the interview with Nicole below.

What is wildcrafting?

Wildcrafting is the practice of harvesting certain plants from their natural or wild environment to use for food or medicinal purposes. Its something that has to be done sustainably and with considerable respect for the environment and in some cases would involve only removing a certain part of the plant so as not to endanger the species.

Why are wildcrafted ingredients so important to your line of products?

Wild Plants have grown without any interference, they develop differently as they must survive in the harshest of environments and it is here that they don’t just survive – they thrive where other plants could not exist. Incredibly high levels of antioxidants are produced to enable their survival and it is these bio active antioxidants that are so beneficial for our skin. The essence of all things “Wild” – Strength, Wisdom and Beauty.

Can you tell us more about where your ingredients come from?

I use only the purist organic or wildcrafted ingredients in my products and they come from all over the world but it is Australia’s unique botanicals that excite me the most. As an Island Australia is a sanctuary where nature evolves and flourishes in a pure environment, sheltered from the influence of the rest of the world. Australia has an abundance of unique botanicals that the Aboriginal people have been Wildcrafting for thousands of years and as these plants are studied using advanced extraction methods we are seeing incredibly high levels of bioactive ingredients. An example of this is Kakadu Plum which has the world s highest Vitamin C concentration, equivalent to 100x that of an orange. The Kakadu Plum powder I use  comes from the Dampier Peninsula just north of Broome in Australia and it is here that Bruno Dann is bringing back to his community the traditional ways of taking care of the land and the Kakadu Plum or Gumbinge trees, which is helping restore the amazing bush in this region. All profits from this product are sent back to the Nyui Nyui people who wild harvist it. Other native botanicals I use are found in pristine parts of  North/ North East Australia and are now being organically grown so as to ensure the sustainability and survival of the plant.

What are your favourite ingredients to work with?

I use a bioactive complex of three indigenous Australian plums Kakadu Plum, Illawarra Plum and Burdekin Plum. The research on this particular extract is compelling showing it to to contain incredibly high levels of antioxidants, stimulate Hyaluronic acid, pro-collagen 1and fibronectin synthesis in the skin reducing fine lines and wrinkles and increases hydration while strengthening the skins barrier.

What was the first product your created for Wildcrafted Organics?

The first product in the collection was my Wildflowers Rejuvinating Serum, from the beginnning it was so important to me that all of  the products were concentrated in skin loving ingredients, nutrients and bioactive botanicals – no ingredient is added to reduce cost or fill and all bioactives are used at the required level for efficacy. This product is used instead of a moisturiser and is basically a daily multi vitamin for your skin with a scent of wild jasmine and cacao.

What is your hero product from the line?

The Everlasting Beauty Balm Concentrate with 24 kt gold. So concentrated in skin regenerating / collagen promoting / healing butters and precious oils. It absorbs effortlessly into the skin leaving no trace but providing a level of nourishment that moisturisers just can’t compete with. Multi tasking it transforms into a luminous, skin loving foundation when mixed with your dry mineral make up and can be used anywhere that needs extra nourishment. Is suitable for all skin types but especially dry, stressed, scarred or sun damaged skin. Massage into the skin with a Gua Sha for an incredibly indulgent treat.

CLAYTOX / DETOX FACE MASQUE

/ THESPOTBEAUTY / 4 Comments

IMG_6249-1

There is nothing better than a detox face masque session in the luxury of your own home. We all have our skincare rituals – one of my favourite at-home spa day rituals is using a clay based masque to pamper, nourish and detox my skin. My favourite way to do this is with my Claytox Detox Face Masque.

Claytox is an Australian skincare company specialising in natural, organic, handmade and vegan face masques. All the masques are ethically sourced and always made without the use any additives and chemicals, making Claytox Masques truly natural and pure.

The masque is made out of Alumina Silicate (Sea Clay), which is packed full of natural occurring minerals like calcium, magnesium, bromide, potassium and sulphate. These minerals have unique properties allowing the skin to fight off free radicals, promote cell renewal, repair skin cells, balance moisture and soothe the skin.

It comes in a pack that includes a silicone bowl, spoon and bamboo brush for easy application. The clay masques must be mixed in the silicon bowl (provided) so it doesn’t interfere or react with the natural clay. Mixing the clay with metal can counteract the natural properties of the masque. You can also mix the clay with your favourite face mists, yoghurt and honey for extra nourishment.

 

 

 

 

During the week I make sure I set some time aside to do my face masque ritual. Having oily, congested and skin prone to breakouts, masking is a very important step that helps purify and heal my skin. Alumni Silicate being such a gentle and nutrient dense ingredient allows my skin to receive a deep yet gentle cleanse without stripping or drying it off.

I felt in love with this product straight away. After my first use the results were amazing. My skin looked refreshed and more vibrant, giving it a beautiful glow. In addition, it can also be used on your body as a gentle exfoliant, whilst helping the reduction of cellulite. It works as a great spot or t-zone treatment to target those stubborn blackheads or pimples. Immediately after the first use I noticed that my pores were more refined as it cleans all the debris and oil from them.

I highly recommend the Claytox Detox Face Masque, not only for its results but also for the relaxing spa ritual in the comfort of your own home.