Mode Media, Wainwright, AB (2026)

02/11/2020

Can spend all day for this cuties!

02/11/2020

These buddies make me a joyful day!

01/15/2020

FRENCH ROSE CLAY FOR SKIN, THE GENTLE EXFOLIATOR & POLISHER

We posted about dead sea clay earlier in 2012, and told you about how the high concentration of minerals helps renew, refresh, and purify skin.

Now, I want to tell you about another clay that we included in our Purifying Mud Mask: French Rose Clay. This luxurious clay adds some gentle exfoliating and polishing properties to the mask, helping to remove impurities and bring out a newer, younger-looking complexion.

French rose clay is similar to other kaolin clays, but because of its gentle nature, perfect for sensitive skin.

a little bit about the ingredient itself
French rose clay is a mild kaolin clay, which simply means it's a naturally occurring clay that has kaolinite as its principle constituent. Kaolinite is a clay mineral, also called a silicate mineral that inhabits certain rocks. A soft, earthy, white mineral, it's produced when weather wears down aluminum silicate minerals like feldspar. One of the most common minerals in the world, it's mined in Brazil, Bulgaria, France, the United Kingdom, Iran, Germany, India, Australia, and other countries. The clay is particularly abundant in soils that exist in moist climates, such as those in tropical rainforest areas.

Depending on where the clay is from will determine its mineral content and physical structure, which in turn, affects how it acts on the skin. For use in cosmetics, kaolin is ground into a powder material. French rose clay is actually from France, and is a light, beautiful rose color. This particular clay has specific benefits to the skin, which is why we chose it over other types of clays, such as pink kaolin, white kaolin, bentonite, or French green clay.

french rose clay's benefits to the skin
Most clays have the ability to absorb impurities from the skin, such as dirt, makeup and oil. Most also can exfoliate, to help your skin have a youthful look.

Where clays differ is in how much they absorb from the skin. French rose clay is wonderful for most all skin types because it doesn't overly zap the skin of its natural oils. Some clays can be so drying, for example, that unless you're using a super-hydrating moisturizer afterwards, you can end up experiencing excessive dryness, flaking, and skin reactions like increased acne breakouts and redness.

French rose clay is also perfect for sensitive skin, as it has a gentle cleansing action that isn't too harsh. If you've tried hydroxy acids, glycolic acid, or other acids to exfoliate in the past and had trouble like increased skin reactions or sensitivity, I urge you to give this mask a try. Natural clays like these can be just as effective at exfoliation, without the irritation.

Used regularly, this mask will draw impurities and oils to the surface to be washed away, which will help reduce the appearance of oily skin and clogged pores. The exfoliating and polishing action gradually reduces the appearance of pores and puffiness.

As your skin gets used to the regular special treatment, you may see a more lifted, firm appearance. The consistent exfoliation can also help reduce the look of fine lines and wrinkles, as well as even skin tone.

try it!
If you're ready to try these clays for yourself, order our Purifying Mud Mask today. When you see how well it works, you'll not only enjoy the toned, refreshed feeling on your face, you'll wonder why you ever submitted your poor skin to acids and chemical peels!

01/11/2020

5 TIPS AND DIY RECIPES FOR NATURAL SUMMER BEAUTY

Summer is a romantic season, complete with sun-flushed cheeks, rejuvenating vacations, and an explosion of fruit.

But it has a dark side.

Dehydration, sun damage, stinky armpits. This is REAL summer.

Jokes aside, we’re here to talk about staying healthy this summer. The Home Shopping Network invited us to participate in their “Safe and Stylish Summer in the Sun” campaign, so we happily obliged! We’re bringing you some of our best tips and DIY recipes to keep your skin clean, safe, and looking amazing this summer.

1. find a water bottle you actually enjoy using.
I don’t know about you, but I have a better success rate with some water bottles than with others. The wrong sized mouth can leave me with more water on my shirt than in my body. Others open and spill in my bag, resulting in an unhappily soggy cell phone situation. Staying hydrated is the key to summer beauty (and beauty in general), so a less-than-ideal water bottle just won’t cut it.

If you’re pain averse, indecisive, or for some other reason don’t see yourself ever getting a tattoo, consider expressing your individuality through your choice in water bottles. Are you rugged, practical, and kind of intense? This water bottle from ÖKO has two different filters, a flashlight, and a storage container built right into it! Are you unexcited by the taste of normal water? Fab makes a water bottle that has a citrus press inside! Do you appreciate something simple and visually pleasing? CrystalDaeDreams sells beautiful glass water bottles etched with plant designs on her Etsy store.

“Brew” some infused water to motivate yourself to stay hydrated. It’s hard to do it wrong; you can use this recipe as inspiration:

CUCUMBER LEMON BASIL WATER

Ingredients:

10 slices of lemon
10 slices of cucumber
10 leaves of basil, muddled
4 cups of water
Directions:

Place lemon, cucumber, and basil leaves in a pitcher, and then pour the water into it. Let the ingredients mingle in the refrigerator for at least an hour before enjoying.

2. smell amazing… naturally!
It’s summer; you’re at your sexiest! Your skin is dewy, your hair is sun kissed, and you are WEARING that summer dress. Except, oh wait, you smell terrible. Or you smell okay, but it’s because you're using unnatural, unhealthy deodorant.

We recently blogged about common ingredients found in skin care that should be avoided. Second on the list was aluminum, an ingredient in most deodorants you find on the shelf. If you haven’t already, it’s time to make the switch to something free of toxic chemicals.

Our first tip: eat fenugreek! This plant has the amazing ability to make your sweat smell like syrup. It sounds crazy, but it’s true. A popular way to reap these benefits is by eating the sprouted seeds. To sprout, soak seeds in water overnight, or for about eight hours. Drain out the water, then rinse and drain seeds once or twice a day, for three days. Sprouts can be thrown in a salad, added to a sandwich, or even eaten alone. (I like them with honey mustard.) You will soon notice that your sweat is sweeter!

One of our go-to guides for natural beauty is Brigitte Mars’ book Beauty by Nature. She shares many tips on naturally smelling good, and includes several recipes for homemade deodorant. Here is one to try:

DEODORAROMA

Ingredients

3 tablespoons witch hazel
3 tablespoons distilled water
2 drops safe essential oil
2 drops lemon essential oil
2 drops tea tree essential oil
2 drops lavender essential oil
Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a fine-spray mist bottle, or store in a glass jar and apply with a cotton ball.

3. protect your skin from environmental stressors.
Of course, protecting your skin from the sun is mandatory. So use a good natural sunscreen.

If you’re looking for a natural way to lighten the appearance of your skin, here’s a delicious face mask recipe from Beauty Banter. Lemon and honey both help lighten, while banana nourishes and creates the perfect mask consistency.

BANANA FACE MASK

Ingredients:

1 ripe banana (or substitute ½ cup of ripe papaya)
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
¼ cup of oats (optional)
Directions:

Mash up banana in a bowl, and then add honey and lemon juice. If you are using oats as well, add them in and let the mixture sit for 10 minutes before you apply. Use this mask on clean skin, and let it soak in for 15-20 minutes before washing it off.

4. know your oils!
Different oils have different properties and thus, different effects on your skin. If you don’t know which oil works the best for you, it’s time to find out! If you have a favorite oil, consider switching it up during the summer months. Sun can dry out the skin, causing some people to produce extra oil, and causing others to show signs of aging.

Coconut oil: If you’re feeling drier than normal, coconut oil is your best friend. Known to soothe, it's also a good oil to use after you've been outside.
Hazelnut oil: If you are oilier than normal this time of year, hazelnut oil will moisturize without making you greasy. It also has properties to keep any oily skin patches you may be experiencing in check and can minimize the appearance of large pores.
Jojoba Oil: This one can work well for a broad spectrum of skin types. What makes this oil perfect for summer is that it reduces water loss without completely blocking the transportation of v***r and gases. This helps your skin look firm and taut.
MAKE YOUR OWN FACIAL OIL!

Ingredients:

1 ounce of a carrier oil of your choice, such as coconut, hazelnut or jojoba
15 drops of essential oil of your choice
Wondering which essential oil to choose? Here are a few favorites:

Neroli oil: Not only does it smell amazing, but it promotes wellbeing! It is a good choice for those with oily skin, but it also works well for dry skin types.
Carrot seed oil: This earthy smelling oil is stimulating and helps with dry skin (which is why we put it in our Anti-Aging Facial Oil).
Passion fruit seed oil: The high vitamin C and antioxidant content of this oil make it a great anti-aging oil. We raved all about it in a post last year.
5. juice it up!
Your summer beauty regimen is not complete without fresh juices. We love drinking juice throughout the year, but summer’s certainly the best time for juicing. Why?

Antioxidants in fresh squeezed juice help protect from environmental stressors. You need more antioxidants when you spend time in the sun.
‘Tis the season of fresh produce! Summer brings an abundance of fruits and veggies, so take advantage and buy what’s fresh.
Many people find that they are less hungry during warm months due to lower metabolic needs (your body normally spends a lot of energy warming itself up). Experiment with replacing a meal a day with a juice, and see how you feel. Remember to use more veggies than fruit to avoid excess sugar.
Kris Carr is our juice muse. She not only transformed her life by incorporating green juices and other healthy foods into her life, but she has helped thousands of others do the same! And she does it all with humor.

Her site and books have dozens of delicious juice recipes, including this one we love:

THE PRETTY JUICE (MAKES 10 OUNCES)

Ingredients:

3 to 4 leaves of romaine lettuce
3 to 4 leaves of kale
3 to 4 leaves of endive
1 handful of spinach
2 broccoli stems
1 cucumber
5 to 6 strawberries
2 to 3 basil leaves
a couple pinch of wheatgrass (optional)
Directions:

Wash all produce and send it through your juicer. Sprinkle the wheatgrass on top.

When it comes to summer beauty, keep it healthy! Sun protection is not optional and hydration is your job. A big thanks to the Home Shopping Network for inviting us to write this post. Here’s to a safe and stylish summer!

01/09/2020

OUR 6 FAVORITE WAYS TO USE COCONUT OIL FOR BEAUTY

Even with the recent update from the American Heart Association saying that coconut oil, like other fats, is best in moderation in your diet, it is still your skin and hair’s dream come true. It has a deep moisturizing quality while offering nutrients that beautify your body.

We infuse our Coconut Body Oil (and many of our other products) with herbs so that it brings nourishing antioxidants with it as it penetrates deep into your skin but we also like to use it on its own because it's an amazing ingredient that you can use in your daily routine.

Here are our 6 favorite ways to use coconut oil.

makeup remover
Before you spend money on a product designed to remove makeup, consider using coconut oil to do the trick. You can use a cotton ball and just a bit of oil and use it to wipe eye makeup off.

If your skin is not oily, you can do all over your face to remove the last bits of foundation after cleansing. Those with oily skin may be better off using grapeseed oil to remove facial makeup.

as a leave-in conditioner
Dry hair got you feeling less than glamorous? Coconut oil can help with that, too.

Massage some into your ends after your normal styling routine, or apply generously all over your hair and leave it on overnight (make sure to cover your pillow with a towel). In the morning, coat your head with a safe soap, like Dr. Bronner's or an organic shampoo (make sure you do this BEFORE adding water) and let it sit for a couple of minutes. Then rinse and style as normal.

This super moisturizer will help restore shine and softness to dry, overworked hair.

oil pulling
Have you started oil pulling yet? Have you heard what oil pulling is?

If not, get the full scoop here.

Oil pulling is the ancient practice of rinsing one’s mouth with oil. Traditionally sesame oil is preferred, but many people use coconut oil instead because, frankly, it tastes a lot better and the benefits are the same.

lip balm
You can’t get much more natural than pure coconut oil as your lip balm. It does the trick, relieving chapped lips and giving your pout a shiny finish.

We love using sample kit containers to store coconut oil, plus a drop or two of peppermint essential oil. This makes for a super refreshing lip treatment. We recommending kissing someone ASAP after applying.

Check out this article where we talk about ways you can reuse your ASC bottles and tubs!

moisturizing face masks
Our Coconut Honey Mask is a delicious way to eliminate dry skin, while helping to soothe and diminish the appearance of wrinkles. Honey, coconut oil, beautiful skin… What’s not to love?

For some people, moisturizing with extra virgin coconut oil clogs their pores and causes breakouts (that’s why we use fractionated coconut oil in some of our facial moisturizers). But applying it as a mask and then washing it off after is a great way to enjoy the benefits of the moisturizer without clogging your pores.

Check out this article for our ‘Dessert Facial Mask’ recipe that includes coconut oil (and cocoa powder, yum!).

body butter
On its own, coconut oil makes a great body moisturizer. Add just a few other ingredients and you’ve got something uber luxurious.

This recipe from Trash is for Tossers is great. (This blog is devoted to living a waste-free lifestyle. We love it!) Using a hand blender gives you an amazing whipped texture—you won’t believe it came out of your kitchen!

is coconut oil good for your face?
This is a hot debate right now, some people swear by using coconut oil as their daily facial moisturizer and others find that it clogs their pores. This all has to do with your specific skin type. People with dry skin can typically use extra virgin coconut oil as part of their daily beauty routine but for people that are working with oily skin, it may be better to either incorporate other oils with the coconut oil or to use fractionated coconut oil for their daily moisturizer. You can read more about that here.

01/04/2020

DO YOU DIY? EASY LIP BALM RECIPE

We love to find fun ways to engage with our community. Of course, our lovely customer support team is always there to help if you have any questions or concerns, but with our continuous focus on customer love—not only do they totally take care of any issues that arise, the CS team sends gifts every month to people they loved interacting with—and our dedication to bringing you relevant information about the health industry, we are a lot more than your run-of-the-mill skin care company.

A few weeks ago it dawned on us, we could have so much fun getting to know our customers by using our newsletter list to ask them questions! One of the questions we asked is “what beauty DIY do you want to see on the blog?” and we promised to share the recipe. Well, we got A LOT of responses; everything from deodorant to toothpaste came across our screens and we had a really hard time choosing just one. So we looked at what DIYs we have on our blog already and compared it to our top responses. We noticed that there was one type of oft-requested recipe that's missing from our team recipe book, lip balm!

Now, I don't personally believe in coincidence, but I have a homemade lip balm sitting on my desk from Jasmine's first week at ASC. Seriously, I love it and I use it every. single. day.

So I moseyed my way over to her desk and asked her as sweetly as possible if she would share the recipe with you guys, and of course she said yes. I would be lying if I said I'm not super excited to know her recipe too, this lip balm is unbeatable.

jasmine's organic lip balm
This recipe makes about 15 lip balm tubes but you can use any kind of small container that works for you. Jasmine has even put it in a Mason jar before and it seems to last forever.

Ingredients:

1.5 TBSP beeswax (or 1.5 parts)
2 TBSP organic cold pressed coconut oil (or 2 parts)
2 TBSP organic shea butter (or 2 parts)
10-30 drops essential oils of your choosing (optional)

Directions:

Melt the first three ingredients in a double boiler. If you don't have a double boiler, you can use a glass jar inside of a saucepan filled halfway with water. Heat it up slowly, stirring occasionally. When everything is melted and transparent, remove from heat.

Add essential oils and pour immediately into whatever containers you're using. It starts to solidify fairly quickly (within 5 minutes), so you don't want to take too much time pouring.

You can let it solidify completely outside, or put it in the refrigerator to speed up the process. Then, enjoy this lip balm as it quenches your lips naturally and effectively!

notes from jasmine—how to make your lip balm perfect for you
Filling—If you use lip chap tubes, you'll want to get some plastic pipettes to make filling the tubes easier.

Consistency—If you like your lip balm smooth and juicy, you'll want to put less beeswax (as low as 1 part – see recipe). If you like it harder, you'll want to use more beeswax (as much as 2 parts – see recipe). The harder version also lasts longer, because you use less product each time you apply it. I tend to prefer using somewhere between 1.5 to 2 parts beeswax.

Wax—The least processed and most local the better. The easiest and cleanest is beeswax pastilles, which are small pieces that melt evenly and quickly. If you have a block of beeswax, you can use a cheese grater to get it into smaller pieces like the pastilles. I've even grated a beeswax candle before! If you're not into using beeswax, try working with soy or sustainably sourced palm wax instead.

Scent—Some work better than others. An obvious one is peppermint, and most people are used to this scent in lip balms. I've also done rose and liked it but when I tried lavender it felt too aromatic for my liking. It's all about playing around with the scents you love.

Color—If you have some organic powder makeup on hand that you like the color of (I used a powder blush for the color in the photo), mix in 1/8 of a teaspoon after removing from heat, to add a tint to your lip balm.

12/30/2019

Intercontinental Danang, Vietnam
InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort, is a hillside resort and spa overlooking a sparkling private bay. Architect Bill Bensley has reimagined Vietnamese design, history and myth with his characteristic whimsy, creating a magical retreat over four levels—Heaven, Sky, Earth and Sea. Indulgences fill each room, suite, penthouse and luxury villa at the resort. Views make the most of the drama of the setting while interiors drape you in Vietnamese-inspired décor. Discover culinary artistry at La Maison 1888 by chef Pierre Gagnaire. Soothe body and soul in our custom spa packages at Harrn Heritage Spa, meet your neighbors, the rare red-shanked douc langurs who inhabit the lush forests of Monkey Mountain, or simply kick back and enjoy our 700-meter private beach.

12/28/2019

InterContinental Danang named World’s Leading Green Resort
ĐÀ NẴNG — If you are looking for a green luxury resort, then InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort is the place to stay.

Located only 30 minutes from Đà Nẵng International Airport and 45 minutes from the world heritage site of ancient Hội An town, the resort is billed as the place “where myth meets luxury,” with the otherworldly charm of unspoilt tropical landscapes, an enchanting pristine beach and astounding design.

The resort, owned by Sun Group, has just won four accolades at the prestigious World Travel Awards 2018 gala ceremony last Saturday in Lisbon, Portugal. The four awards include World’s Leading Green Resort, World’s Leading Resort Architecture Design, World’s Leading Luxury Wedding Resort and World’s Leading Luxury MICE Resort.

Also at this year’s World Travel Awards, Vietnam Airlines was named the World’s Leading Cultural Airlines and Vietravel was named the World’s Leading Group Tour Operator.

Hidden within the more than 4,400 hectare Sơn Trà Nature Reserve in Việt Nam, also known to locals as “Monkey Mountain,” the InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort is a one-of-a-kind hideaway surrounded by unspoilt nature, exotic wildlife and rich biodiversity.

“We are beyond thrilled to receive these prestigious awards by World Travel Awards 2018,” said Juan Losada, the resort’s General Manager.

“This is a huge recognition for us,” he said. “We remain dedicated to delivering the highest levels of service excellence and to creating unforgettable memories for guests who choose our resort as their preferred residence.”

The World Travel Awards were established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all key sectors of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. Today, the World Travel Awards brand is recognised globally as the ultimate hallmark of industry excellence.

Each year, World Travel Awards covers the globe with its Grand Tour – a series of regional gala ceremonies to recognise excellence within each continent – culminating in a Grand Final at the end of the year.

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