The Beauty Benefits of Organic Argan oil

Argan oil, (also known as Moroccan oil) has been called liquid gold by The New York Times, and is a "must have" among top beauty industry professionals, models and A-list celebrities.  This amazing oil diminishes wrinkles, crow's feet and fine lines, helps clear up acne, reduces dark spots, acne scares and stretch marks and will make your hair and nails be strong, long and beautiful.  It also gives the skin and hair a beautiful, healthy glow. 

Argan oil is an exotic fruit oil produced from the kernels of the endemic argan tree, that is valued for its nutritive, cosmetic and numerous medicinal properties. It comes from the Tertiary age and is extremely well adapted to drought and other environmentally difficult conditions of southwestern Morocco. 

The Beauty Benefits of Argan oil
Precious Argan oil is used all over Europe, Morocco and North Africa in make-up, skincare and beauty creams but has just been introduced to the America in the last year or so. It's been used by the Berber women of Morocco for hundreds of years for its beneficial use in skin, hair, nail, and therapeutic treatment.

Argan oil is the best natural moisturizer you can use on your skin to combat aging and UV sun exposure. It's very effective against aging and cell degeneration, dryness, skin inflammation, acne and scars. It contains exceptionally high levels of fatty acids including linoleic acid (omega-6) which ensure skin's repair and protective functions.

The essential fatty acids fight against drying, smoothing out the skin, improving its elasticity, and discouraging wrinkles to appear which makes it the ultimate anti-wrinkle treatment. Your skin will become more supple, more toned and more resistant. In a very short period of time, it leaves the skin looking satiny and radiant, giving it that youthful, healthy glow.

By working directly on the reactivation of cells, Argan oil can diminish wrinkles and even eliminate them completely. This vital function of the cells also rebalances the epidermis, slows aging, protects and fortifies, and revitalizes not only the skin, but also the hair and nails. It penetrates the skin very quickly, so a few minutes after application your skin is left smooth and silky but never oily. So if you want to keep that youthful look or turn back the hands of time, this exotic beauty oil is what you've been looking for.

You can purchase Josie Maran's Organic Argan oil from Amazon.com, Sephora or on her website at: www.josiemarancosmetics.com.

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Alaffia Africa's Secret Skin Cream Review

Pure, unrefined shea butter is one of my favorite ways to moisturize my face, body. Plump fine lines and wrinkles, firm and brighten my skin!  Africa's Secret Skin Cream by Alaffia is an ultra hydrating, multi-purpose moisturizer for face, body and hair.  It's great for all skin types and ideal for dry skin, environmental protection, day or night cream for treating scars and skin discoloration and so much more.

This precious cream is a blend of pure, whole ingredients including handcrafted shea butter, african wild honey, royal jelly, bee pollen and other natural ingredients that give your skin the best moisturizing and protective benefits without added emulsifiers, preservatives or artificial scents.

• Shea Butter: Rich in Vitamins and unsaturated fatty acids 

• Coconut Oil: Rich in critical & easily absorbed nourishing fatty acids 

• Beeswax: from the honey comb (protective) 

• African Wild Honey: Harvested sustainably in Togo from wild bee colonies. It's a potent humectant so it attracts and retains moisture. It's also an anti-irritant and has antibacterial properties. 

• Neem Oil: Incredible anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-microbial properties

• Baobab Oil: Rich in vitamins A, D & E and skin essential fatty acids that keep us looking young & radiant 

• Sesame Oil: A light, easily absorbed oil rich in sesamol and sesamin, two exclusive antioxidant compounds.

• Royal Jelly: A complex mixture of proteins, sugar, fats and minerals & vitamins. It's especially rich in vitamin B5 which supports the healing of flaking skin and other irritating skin conditions, along with acne and even insect bites and stings. It's thought to reduce the appearances of wrinkles & other fine lines. 

• Bee Pollen: The pollen gathered from plants by honey bees and brought back to their hive. It's a super food ingredient, containing all 8 essential amino acids in amounts between 5-7 times level found in equal weights of high protein foods. Contains Vitamins A, D, E, K, C and B complex vitamins and niacin = high mineral and antioxidant activity! 

• Bee Propolis: Resinous substances that bees collect from plants and use to make their bee hives. It's a mixture of amino acids, minerals, vitamin A, B complex, E and flavonoids. It also has antimicrobial properties.

I love that that Africa's Secret skin cream only has 10 ingredients and is 100% natural.  Similar to the cult favorite, Egyptian Magic, only it contains pure shea butter with other natural beneficial oils.  The full list of ingredients and their benefits include: 

Shea butter has been a staple of skin care in Africa for hundreds of years.  With certified Fair Trade Alaffia unrefined shea butter, you can enjoy the highly beneficial replenishing properties that this raw ingredient has to offer without any added chemicals.  The benefits of shea butter include: 

Daily skin moisturizer for face, body and hair

Dry skin relief

Dry scalp

Skin rashes - including diaper rash

Skin peeling, after tanning

Blemishes and wrinkles

Itching skin due to dryness

Sunburn

Shaving cream to reduce razor irritation

Small skin wounds

Skin cracks

Softens tough skin on feet (especially heels)

Stretch mark prevention during pregnancy

Minor burns

Eczema

Sun and wind protection

Evens out skin tone

Reduces blemishes and scarring

Eliminates scalp irritation from dryness or chemical processing

Prevents bumps after shaving

Reduces acne

Absorbs quickly without leaving a greasy residue

Helps restore elasticity to skin

Restores luster and shine to hair

What I love about Alaffia is all their shea butter is handcrafted, unrefined and fairly traded.  So it does not go through any industrial extraction that involves the use of chemicals and high heat, which remove most of shea butter's beneficial properties. 

Most shea butter on the market in the United States is not fairly traded. Without fair trade, the women who gather shea nuts and hand craft this remarkable oil receive only a tiny fraction of the final price.  Alaffia Shea Butter is not only one of the best you can buy, but it’s 100% fair trade certified by IMO.

Africa's Secret skin cream really helped with my Eczema!  It's the only skin cream I've used that gives me instant relief especially at night when I have the most flare ups.  It's also very affordable!  All you need is just a dab when applying to the face.  Small amounts are key when using oils.  For all of that and more, I highly recommend this skin cream to anyone, at any age and every skin type. 

Price ranges are $14 for 2 oz. and $24 for 4 oz.   You can purchase Africa's Secret on their website and at Amazon.com.

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The Liebster Award: Nominated by Bloggers for Bloggers

The Natural Beauty & Health Blog is honored to be nominated for the Liebster Award!  This blog award is new to me but a true honor because your nominated by your fellow bloggers.   My nominator, Lynne Murhy from the Beautifully Green Life, answered questions about herself and asked questions to her nominees, one of which is me.

My Liebster Award Nominations are listed below as well as my answers to the Beautifully Green Life's questions and the questions I picked for my nominees.  Thank you so much for the nomination!

Rules for the Liebster Award:

• Acknowledge and link back to the blogger who nominated you.
• Answer the questions posted by the nominator. 
• Nominate 2-5 bloggers who have less than 200 followers. (I broke this rule.  I nominated my beauty blogger heros instead)! :)
• Create your own 7-11 questions for the nominees.
• Inform your nominees that they have been chosen.

Questions and Answers from my nominee 

1) What inspired your green, holistic, organic lifestyle? Having my three babies really changed the way I look at life and inspired me to change my lifestyle for the better.  I started out by making small changes, and gradually over time, it was a no brainer.  Something I've always heard is, you may not be able to change the toxins in our environment but you can change your lifestyle and make smarter, healthier choices.  It's a commitment but one I do with joy because I know I'm making the best decision for myself and my family now and in the future.

2) Green smoothie or green juice? And, what ingredients do you use?  Both! I love smoothies and juices. You can't go wrong either way.  I love Kimberly Snyder's Glowing Green Smoothie recipe.  I leave out a few ingredients (just preference), but it basically includes: 1½-2 cups water, 1 head of organic romaine lettuce, ½ head large organic spinach, 1 organic apple, 1 organic pear, 1 organic banana, ½ fresh organic lemon and ⅓ bunch organic cilantro.

3) What is your favorite, can’t live without beauty product? 100% organic, unrefined, shea butter.  It plumps fine lines and wrinkles in seconds!  It firms, brightens and lifts the skin like no other.  It's basically an all natural face lift in my opinion.  At $20 for a 4-5 oz. container, it usually lasts 4-5 years with daily use.  No cream or serum in my opinion provides the results that shea butter does and the value is amazing in itself.

4) How do you deal with the naysayers or non believers?  I have definitely dealt with this from friends and family.  Most people who don't have a passion for the natural lifestyle don't understand why it's so important to make healthier choices and live a toxic free life.  At the end of the day, as long as you share the information, that's all you can do.  Hopefully they will slowly make healthier changes in their own time.

5) Who do you look to for inspiration? Bloggers, doctors, naturopaths, health coaches, teachers, healers, gurus, etc?  All of the above and then some.  Other bloggers really inspire me.  I have a few heros like Josie Maran, who really inspires me to keep going no matter what. There will always be someone to criticize your work or message.  But for every positive comment, I get a boost to keep going.  I'm very thankful I can learn and connect with my fellow bloggers and natural beauty and health community on Facebook and Twitter.  It's amazing what you can learn from connecting with others who care about the same cause you do.

6) What beauty ingredient or food will you never touch? I try to avoid anything with toxic chemicals or synthetics. When it comes to food, I try to buy mostly organic so no pesticides or poisons, just natural whole foods from the local farmer's market. For personal care products, I look for natural based and toxic free with the least amount of ingredients possible.  I love Josie Maran Cosmetics!  I know I'm using healthy, organic and eco-friendly beauty and skincare products without even having to think about it.  I try to be diligent with checking labels and researching products before I buy them.  If I see any ingredients I cannot pronounce or if I don't know what it is, I don't buy it.  

7) Favorite Book? "The Secret" by Rhonda Bryne.  It's a book about the law of attraction and I feel like it's changed my life.  It's really inspiring and uplifting.  It teaches you life is all about your outlook.  Once you learn how to manage your thoughts, you can attract all the right people, things and situations to create the life you've always wanted.  It taught me I can get you through just about anything in life, it's all about my outlook. :)

My Nominees: 

• Josie Maran from the Chicalogical blog
• Sophie Uliano from Gorgeously Green
• Jen Matthews from My Beauty Bunny

Questions for my Nominees

1.) What inspired you to be a blogger / writer?

2.) What do you do to stay fit and healthy?

3.) What is your favorite food?

4.) What is your most guilty pleasure?

5.) What made you decide to make positive, healthier changes in your life?

6.) What's your favorite quote to live by?

7.) Who is your hero and why?

I hope you enjoyed my answers and I look forward to reading all the nominees! 

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