Feeling Tense? #H2aRepost

*Repost from my company blog*

We made it through Labor Day Weekend, and sometimes after a long weekend it can be harder to ease back into the work week! The first day back can be tough, and oftentimes leaves us feeling tired and unmotivated for the duration of the week. One of our favorite things to do after a long day is to take a long relaxing bath.

Try this:

• Run hot water into tub

• Add a little warrior oil (for sore and tense muscles)

• Add your favorite flavor of complexion oil (for a scent that relaxes you)

Sit back, relax, and enjoy! Use this time to let go of your day and prepare your body for the rest of the week.

Have Dry Skin?

Herbal Heart Apothecary Reblog

At H2a we achieve glowing, moisturized skin with natural, gentile ingredients.

In today’s beauty world, there are tons of lotions, potions, and spells that are supposed to make us look perfect. If you have tried them you probably know that a majority of them do not work. That is because they are toxic, and do more damage then they do good.

Our personal belief is that we should out natural good ingredients on our skin. Here are a list of a few of our favorites:

• Vitamin E Oil-Natural preservative and high in antioxidants. Small amounts as this is a heavier oil for the skin. 
• Grapeseed Oil-Light soothing oil and high in Vitamin C which helps build collagen. 
• Olive Oil- High in anti-aging antioxidants, and moisturizes skin thoroughly without clogging pores. 

All of the products listed above are natural, good for your skin, and are featured in our Complexion Oils! One of the main reasons these ingredients are so moisturizing is because they moisturize not only the top layer of skin (the epidermis) but the bottom layer of skin as well (the dermis).  This means that your skin has been thoroughly quenched of thirst, not just provided with enough moisture to last the hour. Skin needs to be moisturized but not clogged-this is the key in having healthy skin. Many products on the shelves clog pores with chemically loaded lotions, whereas natural ingredients clean out your pores while moisturizing.

When our skin is properly moisturize it no longer overproduces oil to compensate, reducing your chance of getting breakouts. Moisturized skin=happy and healthy complexion.

Our favorite facial moisturizers are our Lavender 35 Complexion Oil and the Citrus 17 Complexion Oil– both provide you intense moisture but are light on the skin so that you don’t feel greasy.

H2a Reblog: The Beauty of Acceptance

Hello everyone,

This past weekend was my turn to blog about beauty for Herbal Heart Apothecary. I wanted to share my post here with you as well!

You have heard from all the other Apothics about their view on beauty- the beauty around us, the beauty within us, the beauty of letting things go- but I want to talk to you about something a little different; The beauty of acceptance. First off, what is acceptance? The dictionary says:

1. The action or process of being received as adequate or suitable, typically to be admitted into a group.
2. The action of consenting to receive or undertake something offered.
3. Agreement with or belief in an idea, opinion, or explanation.

But, what about the acceptance we need to have for ourselves? To me, that is certainly important enough to be part of the definition. But is it ever REALLY talked about?

I remember being a pre-teen, and looking at the aisles and aisles of magazines at the store thinking why don’t I look like those people? Their perfect smile, perfect body, and air of confidence drew me to those pictures. But, they also made me feel bad about myself. I didn’t look like those girls on the covers, and because of that, I felt like maybe I wasn’t pretty. This was the beginning of a long, treacherous road.

For the next few years I convinced myself that because I didn’t look like those girls- I wasn’t enough. Every day I compared myself to others, and drilled the notion that I was not beautiful thoroughly into my brain. It got to the point that sometimes it was hard to look into the mirror. Now how ridiculous is that? Being 13 and scared of the way that you look! Eventually, the feeling of not being enough moved past just vanity and into the person I was. I no longer felt that by being myself people would like me. I completely lost connection with not only my confidence in the way I looked, but in the person I was.

However, I was lucky enough to have very supportive and loving people in my life that stood by my side. My mother would say to me, “You are kind, you are smart, and you are important”. At first I just though that she was being a mom (you know), but then I realized what she was really saying; That what and who you are is more important than what you look like.

I want to take that a step further though. We have all heard the whole “what you are on the inside is more important than what you look like”, and thats true. But, that is a pretty broad concept. For me, the only way I could look past what I looked like in the mirror was to ACCEPT what I saw. It was futile to try to convince myself that I was something I didn’t feel, but, I did have control on whether or not I let it bug me.

So now, 5 years later, it is still a daily practice. Every morning I wake up and have to work on accepting myself, not comparing myself, and working towards goals that I know will make me happy. But guess what? The more I accept myself, the more beautiful I feel. I no longer feel like it is realistic nor worth it to compare myself to others. Do I do it? Absolutely, I am human after all. But I am aware of who I am, what I am, and my individual beauty. And for right now, that is fulfilling.

Herbal Heart Apothecary and the journey I am on right integrate and bring together a fulfilling and happy lifestyle that I am blessed to live. Every day I have amazing opportunities to learn, live, and grow. I have come to accept all that I am and do.

I am beautiful.

And so are you.

Love,

Sierra

Head over to www.h2ablog.wordpress.com to check it out!

H2a Repost: Summer Beauty Foods

Hello all,

Below is my #SpringIntoSummer blog post on summer beauty foods. This was originally posted on www.h2ablog.wordpress.com 

https://h2ablog.wordpress.com/2015/06/13/spring-into-summer-summer-beauty-foods/ 

Spring Awakening

Hello everyone! Check out my blog post on my business site! It is all about how to refresh and renew your skin after those harsh winter months:

https://h2ablog.wordpress.com/2015/05/02/spring-awakening-tipstricks/

Herbal Heart Apothecary is an Herbal Body Product Company located in Loveland, Colorado. I am so excited to be a part of this business, and hope to share more information about launch dates soon!

Lemon Bath

After a hard day of work, what could be better than coming home and taking a warm detoxing bath? A lemon slice bath does exactly that. The actual benefits of the bath are:

• Warming up and relaxing the muscles.
• Lemon pulls harmful toxins out of your body through your skin.
• Uplifting your spirits through the scent of the bath.
• Evening your body’s skin tone.

That’s right, this bath will improve your mental health, physical health, and it will make your skin even and beautiful. To make the bath:

• Fill the bathtub with warm water.
• Slice 2-3 lemons and place in water.
• Allow the lemons to soak in the water for 2 min.
• Get in, and ENJOY!

Enjoy this time with yourself and be thankful that there are natural ways to feel beautiful!

Hair Rescue Mask

You know those days when the only option you have for your hair is a baseball cap?  When our hair is frizzy and out of control it is a sign that it is unhealthy. Luckily, there is a 911 hair rescue recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt (strong base, conditions)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (conditions)
• 3 to 4 drops peppermint and lavender oil (stimulates hair cell growth)
• 1 rosemary spring (stimulates hair growth, aromatherapy)
• 1 teaspoon vitamin E oil (conditions)

Procedure

• Place ingredients in blender
• Blend until smooth
• Shampoo hair
• Add mixture onto head, massage, and leave for 15 minutes
• Rewash hair
• Look beautiful!

This is an awesome stimulating and conditioning mask for those days where your hair just feels… blah. Try it out and let me know how it worked in the comments!

Health Benefits of Honey

Honey is one of my absolute favorite foods! Not only is it super delicious (I mean, who doesn’t love honey in their tea?), it has amazing health and medicinal uses for the body and skin. Honey can be used internally as well as externally with very little consequence to the user ( however,if you are allergic to bees or have a reaction to bee pollen, stings, etc., you should consult with a professional about whether or not to eat it).

The health benefits of honey have been used by countless cultures for the past 3,000 years. It is often an important part of these cultures medicinal as well as beauty rituals. For example, in ancient egyptian beauty products, honey is found as one of the key ingredients. They also used honey to dress wounds.. they caught on to that anti-septic/anti-fungal property! And, in Ayurvedic medicine honey is used as a medicine for things such as; colds, aiding in digestion, as well as lowering blood pressure!

HEALING PROPERTIES OF HONEY

• Contains Vitamin C
• Contains Calcium
• Contains Iron
• Contains anti-oxidants
• Contains residue of antibiotic
• Is anti-bacterial
• Is anti-fungal
• Is anti-septic
• Is anti-microbial

HEALTH USES FOR HONEY 

• Sweetener it teas, coffee, baked goods, etc.
• Can be used topically in skin product, on cuts, scrapes, burns, scars, and is known to help improve acne.
• Aids in digestion (hot water with honey)
• Improves immune system
• Soothes sore throats
• Reduces inflammation both internally and externally
• Lowering blood pressure

There is a great deal of scientific research that supports all of these statements. According to an article out of The US Library of Medicine, honey is making a big comeback in the medical world as a truly useful and beneficial food. Science Daily has also posted articles on how honey has been tested and used to treat wounds, specifically its anti-bacterial properties. And, the Mayo Clinic has a great page on the science backing these healing properties, as well as which have been thoroughly proven and which are still (in the science world) speculation.

As you can see, honey is an awesome food to introduce into your health and beauty routine. Now that you know how great honey is, I am sure you want to run out and buy some! However, when you get to the store you will notice that there are tons of different kinds/brands of honey. My advice would be to either: (1) Buy honey from a local bee keeper or farmers market; or, (2) Try an organic brand. Personally I prefer the local kind, but if that is not readily available to you an organic non-gmo brand will have the same properties, they just wont be as intense.

*I am not a doctor or registered health expert, this is all from my own research/knowledge. Please make sure you consult a health professional if you have a serious injury/illness*

Stay Beautiful!

Sierra

Beauty Herb: Sage

As you probably know, I love doing posts about herbs; their benefits, uses, and how they help you achieve inner and outer beauty. Herbs are a great way to introduce natural healing remedies into your lifestyle. They are easy to use, generally easy to find, and, there are fast and simple recipes that allow you to receive the wanted benefit of the herb used.

Today, I am going to talk to you about sage! Sage is one of my favorite herbs, because there are so many benefits that span across a wide variety of ailments. Throughout this post I will provide you with some benefits, as well as simple recipes that you can make at home.

About Sage

Sage is an herb that is native to the Mediterranean regions, belonging to the Lamiaceae (the mint) family along with other herbs, such as oregano, lavender, rosemary, thyme, and basil. It’s use as a medicinal herb goes all the way back to the Ancient Egyptians: used by herbalists externally to treat sprains, swelling, ulcers, and bleeding. Internally, a tea made from sage leaves has had a long history of use to treat sore throats and coughs. Sage was particularly noted for strengthening the nervous system, improving memory, and sharpening the senses. Those Egyptians knew their stuff…

Healing Benefits

The healing benefits of sage could take up a 3-page paper, so I am going to share a handful of the ones that I find to be the most powerful and useful:

• Anti-oxidant Properties (acne)
• Anti-Inflammatory Properties (acne)
• Memory Enhancer
• Stimulates Cell Renewal (anti-aging)
• Soothing for Mouth (sores, gum disease, inflammation)
• Depression Fighting

The smell, taste, and properties of sage all contribute to these healing properties. As a result, I find that sage is a very powerful and soothing herb, used any way that you choose.

Mouth Rinse Recipe 

1/2 cup chopped sage (fresh)
4 cups of water
2 tablespoons salt

Boil the water, and then shut off the heat
Add the sage and let it steep for 15-30 minutes (the longer, the stronger)
Add salt

Swish in mouth for about 1 minute, and use as many times as you need!

Sage Tea

1 tablespoon fresh sage leaves or 1 teaspoon dried sage
1 cup water
1 wedge lemon (optional)
honey, to sweeten (optional)

Boil water and allow sage to steep, sweeten if you want! The internal use of sage in a tea will hit more of the memory and depression benefits.

Sage Face Toner 

I just use the tea as a toner, and then rinse my face thoroughly! That way if you have leftover, it doesn’t go to waste!

Overall, sage is an amazing herb that provides many benefits. Tap into those benefits by trying the recipes and letting me know how you like it!

Defining Achievement

This blog is called in2outbeauty for a very important reason: True beauty comes by radiating beauty,from both the inside and the outside. Being emotionally and spiritually healthy allows you to radiate a sense of power, beauty, and grace. A crucial component of that state of inner well-being is how we feel about the work we are doing in our life. If we feel like we are doing something that is serving purpose, it is likely that we will be happy with the outcome of that endeavor. Similarly, if we do not feel connection with what we are doing with our life, we will be more likely to feel unattached and unhappy.

Personally, I always try to be involved in activities and projects that bring me that sense of purpose. However, recently I have been feeling like the things that I have done, as well as the things that I am doing, are not exactly bringing me the sense of achievement that I had originally visualized. There was a part of me that wanted my work to bring me a large amount of money, recognition, and attention. When I recognized that I had the mindset, it made me start thinking about how we, as humans, label achievements. What makes an achievement great? What makes an achievement more important and recognizable than another? And, how do we categorize and work with our own achievements?

After taking some time to reflect on how I view my own achievements, I realized the following: I thought an achievement was only worth while if other people recognized it. In addition, if my achievement didn’t bring more attention to me or what I was doing, I didn’t see it as an actual accomplishment.

The beauty about being alive is that we are given the opportunity to reflect on ourselves, and use our newfound knowledge to better our lives.

An achievement is in the eye of the beholder, love what you do, and any tiny steps towards your goals on the way is its own perfection.