Saturdays are for longer posts because we generally have more time to read. I hope you are enjoying the posts sharing how I made changes to my routine, products, and lifestyle by incorporating oils and oil-infused products to become healthier and more balanced, which resulted in me becoming more creative. I was already creative but when I wasn’t feeling as great, I didn’t create as much. I was always too tired to write or focus on me because I wanted to sleep or just lounge around when I didn’t feel my best.
Today I’m going to share about the importance of understanding that beauty and creativity starts on the inside. I believe in a holistic approach to beauty, just as Young Living does! Next week I will be sharing about why I made the “ditch & switch” years ago to healthier makeup and how I have continued that journey as Young Living released their Savvy Minerals brand. So this week, I want to start by talking about reviewing your skin care routine and overall health before applying more make up when you start to notice skin issues. We create better when we feel more beautiful, but applying makeup isn’t the answer. While it helps, we have to first begin with what’s going on with our overall health and internal systems.
Skin issues can definitely be caused by more than one thing, but generally speaking, acne, skin irritations, redness, puffiness, oiliness, dryness, and uneven skin tone can all be tied back to internal imbalances. Hormones, diet, and digestive function can play a major role on our skin’s appearance. You may be asking, “But how do these systems affect my skin?” The skin is an elimination system; and unfortunately, acne can be a sign of digestive unrest, meaning your digestive system is struggling in some way or another to do its job, which results in toxin elimination through the skin. This could be due to a food intolerance, allergy, inflammation, unbalanced microbiome, or other digestive issues. Your diet and digestive system also affect your hormones. Everything is connected—your skin care regimen, lifestyle, and diet will have a huge impact on your skin. Ensuring that you feel and look great is a natural part of creativity because when you are at your best physically, spiritually, and emotionally, you will have more time and energy to spend on creative outlets. Think about it, the worse you feel, the more time you spend in bed, and the more time you spend in bed the less time you have to create.
Below are some tips I learned from Young Living’s Training and Education department for supporting your skin on a cellular level, so you can have a smooth, radiant glow! And I want to see that glow on some pictures showing off your creative projects as you make improvements to your routines and habits!
1. Examine Your Skin Care Routine
The first step to flawless makeup is having a good skin care regimen. Good skin is the gateway to your makeup looking its best. Since the skin is your largest organ, it needs regular attention to stay looking healthy, young, and clear. A proper skin care routine includes cleansing, toning, treating, and moisturizing.
If you are unhappy with your makeup coverage, chances are your skin is at the root of the issue. This is why it is very important to invest in skin care that supports healthy-looking skin and enhances its natural radiance! You can effectively support healthy skin by using plant-based skin care products that are free from parabens, phthalates, synthetic fragrances, and other harmful ingredients.
Start your skin care routine now! Find products that work best for your skin type and be consistent in using them! Consistency is key! Your skin cells regenerate every 28 days, so you need to consistently use a product for at least that long to really see the results. Consistently taking care of your skin will show over time.
Cleanse
Cleansing the skin is the first step in maintaining healthy-looking and -feeling skin. Cleansing helps to remove buildup from dirt, oil, and other environmental particles. Skipping cleansing can cause textural issues and dullness and can leave the skin unable to properly regenerate itself overnight. This can lead to breakouts and other unwanted issues. Make sure to clean your skin morning and night and never sleep with your makeup on, even if it is mineral makeup.
We also recommend using a scrub, like the newly reformulated Satin Facial Scrub™, around two times a week and following up with the ART® Hydrating Mask.
Young Living has amazing plant-based facial cleansers for you to choose from. ART Gentle Cleanser, Orange Blossom Facial Wash, and Mirah® Luminous Cleansing Oil are great options to explore when trying to find a cleanser that works best for you. ART Gentle Cleanser promotes glowing skin and is infused with essential oils like Frankincense, Royal Hawaiian Sandalwood™, Melissa, Lemon, and Lavender. Orange Blossom Facial Wash is hypoallergenic and leaves behind no pore-clogging residue, while simultaneously removing dirt and oil. This product is great for those with oily or acne-prone skin. Mirah Cleansing Oil is an oil-based cleanser that can be used in a double-cleansing routine or by itself. It is packed with essential oils, including Sacred Sandalwood™, Rosemary, Bergamot, Ylang Ylang, Geranium, Lemon, Coriander, Tangerine, Jasmine, Roman Chamomile, Palmarosa, and Rose! It is a very gentle cleanser and great for those with sensitive skin.
Tone
Toners are applied after the skin has been cleansed and before it is moisturized. Toners are designed to help restore the skin’s pH level. pH levels indicate the acidity level of your skin. The pH scale runs from 0-14, and 7 is considered neutral, which is ideal for your skin. Toners also help to balance your skin, so it can better absorb your moisturizer and prepare it for the next step in your skin care routine.
Young Living has one toner, which comes from our popular ART skin care system. The ART Toner helps reduce the appearance of pores, refreshes the face, and is infused with Peppermint, Royal Hawaiian Sandalwood, Frankincense, Lavender, Lemon, and Melissa essential oils.
Treat
Many individuals have certain issues on their face that they like to treat on top of a typical cleansing, toning, and moisturizing routine. This is where wrinkle creams, eye creams, acne treatments, and added moisturizing products come into play. After the skin is toned, “treatment” products can be applied. You want to apply treatment products before a moisturizer because the moisturizer will create a barrier on the skin.
Young living has a few different products you can add into your skin care routine. Boswellia Wrinkle Cream, Wolfberry Eye Cream, Essential Beauty™ Serum, Maximum Strength Acne Treatment, ART Beauty Masque, and ART Renewal Serum are some of our favorites. Add your eye cream or serum of choice to skin that is mature, delicate, or needs some extra moisturizing to keep a youthful glow.
Moisturize
As we age, our bodies are less able to retain moisture. This is one of the many reasons why using a moisturizer is a vital step in proper skincare. Without proper moisturization, your skin can look much older—wrinkles are more prominent, and the overall tone is much duller. When our skin is properly moisturized, it appears more plump, full, radiant! Young Living has several moisturizers for you to pick from: ART Intensive Moisturizer, ART Light Moisturizer, Sheerlume™, Orange Blossom Moisturizer, and Sandalwood Moisture Cream (this can also be used as a treatment product).
Society is constantly telling us that makeup should be used to “cover up” our imperfections or make us look a certain way. Makeup can be a great tool, but it should not be used to change us or make us look like something that we are not; use makeup as an empowering tool to enhance your natural beauty—the beauty that is already there! Letting the real you shine is your best look, and Young Living has created an entire line of skin care products to help you radiate with your natural beauty!
2. Get Enough Sleep
It’s called beauty sleep for a reason, and sleep deprivation is the No. 1 way to age yourself. During sleep, your skin rejuvenates and repairs itself. Blood circulation is boosted during sleep, which brings nutrients and oxygen to skin cells. If you have puffy eyes, a washed-out complexion, and dull skin, it’s usually a sign of not enough sleep. When you don’t get enough sleep, cortisol levels can rise, and your skin becomes inflamed and stressed. Shoot for 7–9 hours every night and add essential oils with relaxing scents to your bedtime routine, including Lavender, Valerian, Peace & Calming®, and RutaVaLa™.
I get it. I work third shift a few days a week and pretty much stay on it all week. It is 2:49 am on Sunday morning as I write this post to you because I enjoy the quiet of the night. There is something I really love about putting my daughter to bed and starting my “day”. I sleep while she is in school most days because I have worked all night by the time she awakes. And I don’t feel bad about it. But sleep is a must. I have weeks when I am averaging 4 – 5 hours a day and I feel it when I don’t get the 7 – 9 suggested by most health care professionals, including my PCP, therapist, and naturopath. As much as I do to take care of my body, mind, and spirit, this is one area where I fail miserable most weeks.
3. Consume at Least Half Your Body Weight In Water Daily
Water is essential for healthy skin. You can apply all the moisturizing creams you want, but if you’re chronically dehydrated, it will show in your face! Water helps boost your metabolism, flush out toxins, circulate nutrients throughout the body, and hydrate skin cells. Try to drink at least half your body weight in ounces every day, minimize your coffee intake, and limit your alcohol consumption. Try infusing your water with essential oils such as Lemon Vitality™, Lemongrass Vitality, and Grapefruit Vitality for a fresh taste!
4. Practice Stress Good Stress Management Techniques
Do you break out more when you’re stressed? You are not alone. Stress causes your body to make hormones like cortisol, which then tell your skin glands to make more oil, and oily skin is more prone to acne and other skin problems. When you’re stressed, try doing some self-care, meditation, or yoga combined with your favorite essential oils. Some of our favorites are Stress Away™, Peace & Calming, and Northern Lights Black Spruce.
I wrote a post a while back with stress relievers you and your children can make and use. They are easy, low energy activities that help when you reach a point of high stress and need to step back. Try some of those activities or the ones within the Self-Care September post I shared to help you incorporate better self-care into your routine.
5. Work Out at Least 3 Times a Week for 30 Minutes
Exercise increases your blood oxygen and releases toxins through sweat, which leads to clearer, firmer skin. Don’t forget to wash your face with a cleanser after breaking a sweat, followed by a moisturizer appropriate for your skin type.
When I work out, the creative energy within my rises to a new level and I gain inspiration. When I am hiking, I think of all the space around me and think of God’s creation and how beautiful the gift of life is. It is hard for me to stay in a bad frame of mind if my day wasn’t going well. When I work out, I find that I can’t keep the negative energy inside me but instead let it out while gaining better mental clarity. This better clarity allows me to think of words for poems, ideas for paintings or scrapbooks., and new ideas for blog posts and stories. Even just 30 minutes on the Nordictrack can make me feel more alive and free. Whatever your choice is, try it. My go-to workouts include the Noridictrack, Les Mills’ Combat, and a workout my coach from Conquer United Fitness created for me.
6. Evaluate Your Diet
It has been suggested that acne is, at its root, an inflammatory disease. Foods like dairy, refined grains and sugars, gluten, and fast food/processed foods may contribute to inflammation. Try cleaning up your diet by eating lots of organic fruits and vegetables while limiting processed foods to give your body the vitamins and minerals it needs to fight inflammation.
While you consider what you are eating, I’d like you to think about how and where you are eating. Are you eating at your desk while working? (Guilty!) Are you often standing to eat your breakfast as you pack the kids’ lunch and rush off to school and work? Neither of these practices are good! Ladies and gentlemen, we can take ten minutes to sit in a quiet spot and enjoy what we are eating. When you take time to eat without distractions and remain present in the moment, enjoying each bite and savoring what you put into your body, eating becomes an experience versus a means to existing. Yes we have to eat to live, I get it. I’ve read the book too. However, we should enjoy what we put into our mouths and not do so aimlessly while typing blog posts, compiling reports, or packing kids’ lunches. Give yourself time to enjoy at least one meal a day to start and then work your way up to never putting food into your mouth that you aren’t able to sit and enjoy.
7. Take Appropriate Supplements
In addition to a healthy lifestyle, supplements can help support your skin from the inside out. Modern diets can be lacking in the vitamins and minerals our bodies need to function optimally. NingXia Red™, Sulfurzyme™, OmegaGize3™, Super C™, and Super B™ are some of our favorite supplements to support wellness.
Start by making simple lifestyle changes and lessening the toxic load on your body. A healthy outside starts with a healthy inside! Now let’s talk about supplements that, in addition to a healthy lifestyle, can help support the appearance of healthy, radiant skin!
1. NingXia Red®: Ningxia Red is packed with antioxidants!* Antioxidants help fight off the harmful effects of free radicals. I drink 2 ounces of NingXia Red daily, 4 ounces on days when I need a boost and don’t have any NingXia Nitro on me. It is delicious and if I am not careful, my daughter will steal my packages because she loves them so much. I currently spend the extra to buy the individual servings so I can bring it with me wherever my day takes me but have previously purchased the bottle and just drank it every morning.
2. Sulfurzyme®: Sulfurzyme combines the power of wolfberry with MSM, a naturally occurring, organic form of dietary sulfur. It is also referred to as “the beauty mineral” and is known for feeding the skin from the inside out.
3. OmegaGize3™: Fatty acids are crucial for your skin to look youthful. OmegaGize3 combines the power of three core daily supplements: omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D3, and CoQ10. OmegaGize3 may support general wellness, including the wellness of your skin.*
4. Super B™: Super B is a comprehensive vitamin complex containing all eight essential, energy-boosting B vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, and B12). Super B not only assists in maintaining healthy energy levels and supporting mood and cardiovascular and cognitive function,* but it’s also great for hair, skin, and nails. This is on my list to try next, as I take a B12 supplement since I work at night so often and sleep during the day. Since this has more than just B12, I think it would be a wonderful addition to my daily supplements and could help me increase my energy overall.
5. Super C™: Did you know vitamin C is an antioxidant? Super C not only contains 2,166 percent of the recommended dietary intake of vitamin C per serving, but it is also fortified with rutin, citrus bioflavonoids, and minerals to balance electrolytes. The ingredients in Super C play a role in normal immune and circulatory functions and promote overall health, vitality, and longevity, which is crucial for skin health!* Because our bodies cannot manufacture vitamin C, we can benefit by consuming this powerful antioxidant daily!
6. AgilEase™: AgilEase uses unique and powerful ingredients such as frankincense powder, UC-II undenatured collagen, hyaluronic acid, calcium fructoborate, and a specially formulated proprietary essential oil blend of Wintergreen, Copaiba, Clove, and Northern Lights Black Spruce—oils that are known for their joint health benefits. AgilEase was created for the joints, but the ingredients will also benefit your skin!
Don’t Just Cover Up the Problem – Uncover the Root Causes
I hope you enjoyed this post and found it helpful. As someone who had to walk one issue at a time through my health, and am still walking through daily changes and bad habits (can you say “Third-shift living”?), I understand that it isn’t easy to be honest with yourself and admit where you need to change. Sometimes it is even harder than implementing the change. But once we make these changes, the ways we can unleash that creative genius within us and figure out how to not only be creative but how to make money doing so open up. I don’t want this blog to just be about how we can create or how we can just use oils and other Young Living products, but I want it to be a space where we truly learn how to rise to our creative potential and reach new levels of creative expression. I would love for us all to be most successful doing what we love, and these are some of the ways we get there.
Don’t use makeup as a coverup for underlying issues! Start making simple lifestyle changes and lessening the toxic load you on your body. A healthy outside starts with a healthy inside. And a healthy body can be a creative body. You will be witness as you continue to walk with me on my journey because I am continually improving my own habits and routines and learning as I share information with you. We are on this walk together!
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Young Living products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
The Essential Creative 
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