Hi all! I wanted to do a quick, last-minute holiday gift guide! I am a beauty expert for one of my favorite non-toxic skincare lines ever, called MyChelle Dermaceuricals. I was working a beauty event  on Friday at the Whole Body here in Nashville and while I was there I snapped some photos of some great last-minute holiday gifts, but also some of my all-time favorite, natural beauty products! All these are safe, effective, non-toxic, and do not test on animals! Not only are these safe for you, the environment, and our bodies, they’re also so affordable!!! I don’t think it’s necessary to break the bank for a fancy gift. Just put some time & effort into finding a useful gift that also does good for this Earth we live on. So here’s the list! If you want pictures of each item, go to my Instagram story for snaps of all my fave affordable, non toxic, holiday gifts!

For the Body-

Body Lotions

For the girlie girl-
Andalou Naturals Body Lotion $10-Andalou is a fantastic Non-GMO line that doesn’t even work with countries who test on animals! I can really appreciate that! Their scents in every single body lotion is so yummy (trust me, I’ve tried every single one of them!) & they leave your skin feeling silky, not sticky!

For the purist or fellow on your shopping list-
Everyone Lotion $11- I love this brand & this product because it’s all about functionality. It’s a hand, face & body lotion-so this just works! It’s super light-weight and all the scents are light and unisex. My husband loves this brand so much! I also love it as well, and I also love their multi-purpose body washes as well! 

For the philanthropist/caring person on your list-
Alaffia Everyday Coconut or Everyday Shea Body Lotions $12- This brand is one of my faves! I love their skincare & body products! This brand is all about giving back. Alaffia has multiple co-ops in Togo, West Africa and they are all about helping the women there. Proceeds go to building schools, providing bikes for girls to transport to school, they encourage women to become entrepreneurs and practice their skills to make a living. I love that they also stick to age-old traditions of Shea butter harvest & products.

For baby-
Alaffia Everyday Coconut Shampoo & Body Wash,  Everyday Coconut Hair & Body Lotion, and Everyday Coconut Bubble Bath $10- As I said in the paragraph above, Alaffia does so much good and their ingredients are safe & clean. You especially don’t want to start loading your baby down with toxins and chemicals, so you might as well give them the best while doing good for others! Sweet packaging and soothing, sensitive scents for baby!


Luxury gifts

For the trendy girl-
Eco Tools Dry Brush $5.50- Dry brushing is so trendy & so good for you! If you have one of those friends who always has her finger on the pulse of health trends-this is the gift for them! Simply use this before a shower (brush towards the heart!) and hop in the shower and load up with a luxurious body cream (geared towards their dosha if their really into Ayurvedic living!-I’ll write a post with more in-depth info on that next!) dry brushing has so many benefits and it’s a great, fun, and functional gift!

Egyptian Magic $40-This is one of my favorite products ever!!! This is probably one of my first all-natural skincare products I tried YEARS ago! It can be used as a face cream, a balm for dry patches, it’s great for eczema, psoriasis, sensitive skin, cuticles, anything!! Minimal ingredients and so effective!

Hydroflask (prices vary depending on size)- I love these so much! Corey and I have different sizes and different colors for all the drinks we need! Good for the environment because it eliminates so much paper waste from cups, and it keeps drinks cold & hot for HOURS!! So it also cuts down on reheating drinks! Love them!

Be sure to go on to my instagram to check out a few extras! @Naturallytruebeauty

Don't Need a New Year for a New Start

Hi all!! I hope everyone has had a great holiday season! I have had a good one so far. Things have just flown by and I've had to stop and tell myself to slow down & enjoy the ride. I'm not going to make this long because, let's be honest-right now, none of us has a ton of time to read a super long blog post. So here's the deal-

I know we always talk about "new year, new you" and I am totally for that. I love a fresh start! But I have found myself in this horrible mindset lately. My mindset is very much unhappy with all the holiday junk I've been eating, I've been too busy working during this holiday season to enjoy what it's all about, and I've been so focused on work and to-do's that I am not making any time for myself. I'm not meditating, I'm not working out, I'm not doing yoga. All these things add up to me being irritable, unhappy, and basically an all-around bad idea.

I have noticed that more of my mindset has been critical of myself, and really picking myself apart. I have been eating alright. Not too bad, but not great. But, I have not been doing any type of workout, because all I'm focusing on is "not having enough time." The truth is, I do have enough time, I'm just not making enough time and then this leads down the domino effect of me not being in the best mindset, me being irritable, me beating myself up about my lack of time management, and my lack of working out & doing everything I know I need to do.

Basically-if I take even 20 min. a day to do a quick workout, finish off with a quick yoga practice and a little meditation, I'm golden. I'm just not making time for it and that's completely my fault. With this, I've noticed a majority of my time I'm ripping myself apart for feeling pudgy, my jeans are tight, I'm not comfortable in my skin, and all I'm doing is saying the worst, negative things to myself over & over. This is so not good!! I realized I am in a horrible cycle right now. And instead of waiting until the new year, I'm like, "let's do this now!! why wait??"

We should never push off, or wait longer to take care of ourselves. I know what I need to do to feel better about myself and have a better mindset. So why not do it now instead of spending the rest of the holidays as a grumpy Scrooge? So that's what I'm going to do. Now more than ever, I need to change my mindset so I can be in the moment and really absorb and enjoy all the beauty the holidays have to offer. I don't want to look back and realize I didn't take advantage of the holiday season, so let's just start right now!

I'm challenging myself with this and I welcome you to join me if you would like! Make your own challenges, you know what works best for you! But the one I do ask of you to follow is the list about yourself.

Every day I am going to sweat & get my heart rate up. Whether that be barre, a walk, HIIT, cardio, whatever workout I want to do that day. It makes me feel good, it's good for me, and I get to utilize this body I have been given and I am going to take care of it & appreciate it! I'm not doing this to look good in a swimsuit, I'm doing this to take care of myself. This is purely for me. -challenge yourself to do whatever you want and makes YOU feel good! This is all about you!!

Next I am going to do yoga and meditate daily. Just take a little time out for myself. This will clear my mind, put me in the right mindset, and it's so good for the soul. -you don't have to do this, but I would definitely challenge you to at least do yoga a couple days a week (it'll change your life!)

Now these next challenges are absolutely mandatory!

Lastly-this is the one I REALLY need to work on-I'm going to ONLY speak kind words to myself about myself. You hear about that study where people spoke kindly to plants and they actually thrived and grew? Well, it's a thing & just imagine if we spoke to ourselves that way! Who knows what all we can conquer!

As a makeup artist I hear so many women rip themselves apart! It's like the immediately sit down in my chair and they just start blurting out all the things they hate about themselves and the features that are horrible. But the truth is, I see NONE of that! The first thing I see when a customer sits in my chair is their beautiful features and what I want to highlight. I never see what they see! All I see are these beautiful eyes we need to highlight, great cheekbones, lips, jawline, whatever! We have got to stop beating ourselves up and actually start feeding ourselves love.

Only say kind things to yourself. Only speak love & appreciation to yourself and your body. I am certain that after a few days we will see a huge shift in our lives and our mindset. While I only want to speak love and kindness to myself, I am also going to start a gratitude journal and in that journal I'm going to not only write about what I'm grateful for, I'm also going to list 3 things about myself (yes, myself!) that I love and appreciate. It's going to be uncomfortable at first, but I'm not going to quit.

It is 2017, almost 2018 and I thing we have got to be at the point where us women stop hating ourselves and our bodies. We cannot be ashamed of who we are and what we look like. We are all beautiful and there is no "standard" of beauty we should be based upon. We are all beautiful and that is that! I am a 32 year old woman-I have no time for beating myself up and I am not wasting 1 more second of doing so! Let's start a self-love, forget your standard of beauty, I'm going to love myself-no-matter-what, I'm going to do what I want and do what feels good revolution. Who's in????