“Please don’t open”, I begged the suite door to our adjoining rooms. “Be well, my daughters.”. I was in the claws of a severe food poisoning that night and was sick beyond any nightmare I could have imagined. Day number 3 at our Cuban resort. Thankfully, the door remained silent. In the morning, my husband summoned the doctor for me.   “Where did you get this arsenal?” he exclaimed, as he perused my lineup of bedside aids: liquid minerals, grapefruit, ginger and charcoal. "Yes, I had used the grapefruit seed extract in my water. Yes, I had taken the charcoal.”  After…

If you have found a skin care line that works for you, kudos. Stick with it. It is like having a job you are happy to greet each day. I tried to find the % of people who were happy with their skin. Google was confused with this request, but did acknowledge discussion on ‘one’s skin and happiness’. Our skin is our mirror. No one likes to hear, “You look tired.” If the person is a good friend and they look tired, they know it already. No reminder needed. But heaven forbid, if it is a stranger who notices. The connection between happy, healthy people and their skin It is true one can…

Let’s get serious here. Itching can drive us crazy. Skin care should be a ‘pleasing arrangements of balanced parts’, a harmonious experience.  Not a scratching frenzy. Take our X pack’ trio.  It plays well together, working wonders on the skin. An ‘O Sole mio’ in the shower.  A return to normalcy. The trio: A soap, a rinse, a cream Christy from Toronto loves the trio: “My husband had itchy, red, painful eczema on his scalp. None of the prescription creams worked like the X pack products. His skin immediately felt better and in a few weeks the…

The holiday season is here. For some, it brings to mind the nativity scene and the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. A few years ago I wrote an article honouring myrrh, the reddish brown sap from the thorny tree, native to northern Africa and the Middle East.  Myrrh has many uses in the cosmetic and health worlds. Being the season, it is a good time to revisit. Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh Familiar to many during the holiday season is the ‘nativity scene where the 3 magi present their gifts to baby Jesus:  gold as a precious metal, frankincense as perfume or incense,…

But then try to find it Argan oil should NOT be considered just another oil flooding the market. But it is. There are creams, lotions, hair treatments, shampoos, and soaps proudly advertising ‘with argan oil’.  It happens…something really good comes along and the market jumps on the bandwagon. Something too good to be true is an invitation to all.  We have a history with the pure, the real, argan oil Back in 2005, when our daughter was manning our Earth to Body booth at the Cavendish mall, we fortunately encountered our indispensable ‘Moroccan connection’, who…

A southern duo. Sheamu and you. To travel south without your sheamu is like venturing into an arctic storm without a hooded parka. Not a wise decision. The hot can often be as equally challenging as the cold. Snowbirds know to go prepared. The sun takes its toll. Protection is key. Individually, the Shea, native African and the unrefined Emu, native Australian, are both unchallenged. Centuries old and centuries worshipped. We introduced them to each other and christened the blend,  ‘Sheamu Butter’. I am not a snowbird (yet), but I was fortunate enough to have a holiday in…

It's that time of year! Make gift giving easy and delicious with REAL Skin Nutrition for your loved ones! Handmade. Always High Quality.  1 For Dry & Itchy $41 The X-Pack - Effective Nutrition for the 'troubled skin'.  ESP Soap, Apple Cider Rinse and the X-cream.   2 For Him $11 esp bar - Men love the head to toe.   3 For Everyone $19 soap stone dish- Green Friendly Handmade for lovers of natural soap.    4 Forever Young - $22- $84 Emu Oil - Give the gift of youth! Our unrefined Australian Emu oil is our youth serum.   5 For Clear Skin - $…

I was shocked, well, not really, when the trouncing of coconut oil hit last week on Marketplace. It was bound to happen. Any billion-dollar industry such as coconut would increase the competitors' angst and ire.   I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when Marketplace did the final editing. Even knowing how incredible coconut is, I was fascinated at how easily one might be swayed by the brilliance of an editor’s skill. The coconut lovers who ‘made the cut’ appeared shocked by the evidence against coconut. The editing was cleverly done.  I…