beauty around the world

Beauty Rituals 

From Around The World

Don't forget to scroll down and enjoy part 1!

Mexico

Some call it Calendula (aka Marigold), some call it magic. This bright and beautiful flower native to Southern & Western Europe, Southwestern Asia, Macaronesia, and the Mediterranean has become a vast trend in Mexican skincare. Here is why... 

"While it’s beloved and used worldwide, calendula is widely available in pharmacies throughout Mexico. That’s exactly how entrepreneur María López Blanco discovered it while living in Mexico City. After struggling with acne and reactive skin, she was handed a calendula balm in a local pharmacy." Just 15 days later, her skin was the clearest it had ever been! Magic! This is how the famous skincare brand Virmanik was born. The Marigold flower has a long history in Mexico and is currently attainable and affordable throughout the country. The people praise it for its internal and external benefits. Everything from eczema, acne, diaper rash, burns, rosacea, and sunburns. It also soothes inflammation, stops infections, treats cancers, alleviates kidney ailments, anemia, ulcers, menstrual cramps, and much more... All while leaving a radiant glow!

China

A health and beauty practice known as Gua Sha [pronounced: Gwah-Shah], dates back way before ancient China into the Paleoithic Age (The Stone Age.) Roughly 2.5 million years ago when humans fell ill, "enlightened" individuals would use hands or stones to massage parts of the body to reduce and rid symptoms of illness. This practice became widely used by the Ancient Chinese as a folk therapy; Folk therapy is a mixture of traditional healing practices- a form of herbal medicine, spirituality, and manual therapies. 

Gua Sha is more popular now than ever before. "Gua" means scrape, hence scraping away the disease, fever, or any type of illness from the body. The Gua Sha tool has been modernized from a buffalo horn to finer and less cruel materials such as rose quarts and jade. With it's narrow yet delicate design, the scraping rock can easily glide over any angles of your body, enhancing blood flow and circulation. It is said that this technique promotes immediate pain relief and gives an "unplugged or unblocked" sensation.

Turkey

In Turkey, it is more common for men and women to have medium to dark shades of hair color. Having darker hair can give a beautiful base and blank canvas for natural toned highlights to shine through. Turkish beauty has always relied heavily on nature for best results! This is where the discovery of using daisies (the pretty little white pettled flower with a golden center) for an organic hair bleach came to be.

The process is actually pretty simple. You boil 1 cup of daisies in 2 cups of water. Then, you allow the flowers to steep like tea for 5-10 minutes. Once the water is cool to touch, remove the flowers and pour over clean hair making sure every strand is drenched. Without rinsing the daisy water out of your hair, you will allow it to naturally dry or use hot tools to blow dry! Finally, let the daisies work their magic and act as a natural highlight booster. This is completely natural and safe to use in a weekly routine.

Napa Valley, California

When we think of Napa Valley, most of us immediately think of a beautiful wine country. Perched just north of San Francisco, Napa County contains hundreds of hillside vinyards, a dozen Michelin star restaurants with regional gourmet food, legendary world-class wine, and endless outdoor excursions. What many do not know, Napa Valley is also home to Calistoga, a small city within Napa County, famous for its natural hot springs and mud baths. With Napa being an acclaimed and romantic getaway, attracting people from all over the world every year, it's also become a hot spot for spas, relaxation, and their traditional beauty treatments. 

When you mix natural hot springs water rich with minerals, and volcanic ash that's abundant in the area's soil from the eruption of Mount St. Helena millions of years ago, you get a natural detox! Soaking in a giant tub of this elixer can also help with pain reflief, stress relief, softening and exfoliation of the skin, improved circulation, ph balance, reduced inflammiton, and overall pure tranquility.