Top 5 Tips for Self Care by Soul Baby Gift CEO

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• Parenting

  Real babes never burn

  How to take care of your skin BEFORE  you get burnt  Feeling a little peachy there? The days of slip, slop, slap are over. Now, we consecutively sleek and slide. We've got our broad-rimmed hats and striped togs covered but that sun still seems to steep through and are still leaving us rouge (with rage, naturally). Little confused why you're still burning up this summer? Us too.  My fellow  Aussie women are reported to be ageing twenty years faster than women in the US due to the effects of the sun down under. We are all made extremely aware of the harsh realities that sun damage can bring, but the question that keeps popping up is: Physical or a Chemical Sunscreen - what should you be using?  Physical Sunscreen can be defined exactly how it sounds - a physical layer or 'blocker' to the skin against UVA and UVB rays - think Bondi Rescue white zinc situation in it's more classical form.   Don’t worry - you wont be heading to the beach with stripes across your face. Although physical sunscreen formulations tend to be thicker and may leave a white-ish cast on the skin (it can look a little bit chalky under make up for daily use), the naturally broad spectrum formulation deflects heat and energy off and away from the skin so it's suitable for sufferer of eczema, rosacea and redness.   Added bonus - no waiting time is needed and it has a long shelf life. It starts protecting your skin as soon as its applied - it's that easy! However, it does rinse of easily in water or with those inevitable summer sweats, so make sure you apply thoroughly. That being said, they're jam packed with active mineral ingredients like titanium dioxide and zinc oxide which sit on top of the skin, deflecting UV rays. For my acne-sufferers (like myself), it is less likely to clog your pores - an absolute win for blemish-prone skin! Chemical Sunscreen is absorbed into the pores, hence, the UV rays are transformed into heat that is then released from the skin - it's known as a chemical absorber. So, for my hot-skinned friends that get a little itchy and dry, this guy will exasperate those irritations due to the added heat. The higher the SPF, the higher the irritation for sensitive skin types with an increased chance of rosacea and redness. Further, you’ve got to wait ten minutes before jumping in the sun, that way it can do it's thing and start protecting. The formulations tend to be much thinner and easily spreadable, so feel free to play chemist at home (please proceed with caution!) and mix in additional UV-fighting treatments such as a peptide or enzyme. Chemical sunscreens contain organic (carbon base) compounds like oxybenzone, avobenzone, and oxtinoxate - but, please note these have been banned in Hawaii due to it's risks of coral depletion from its "wipe-away" formulation - it comes off pretty easy when in the water! After a long day in the sun, we recommended relaxing with this, the scent will get you in the mood for a chilled evening ahead. Thank me later.   Remember! If you're tanning - your skin is in a state of trauma, that peachy glow is best kept to your blush. 11-3, stay under a tree, and reapply a shot glass (35ml) worth of sunscreen to cover your body. Reapply regularly (every two hours) or after swimming/ towelling - it doesn’t matter what kind of complexion you have, the sun is no-ones friend. Purchase a sunscreen that protects against all sort of rays - UVA protecting your skin from ageing (preventing those fine lines and wrinkles) and UVB preventing all burning, frying and all coral tones from happening. SPF is a measurement of time, SPF 50 means it takes 50 times longer for your skin to burn, whereas 30 refers to 30 times longer for your skin to burn.   Happy sunscreening! Published by 18/04/2019 by Leonie Henzell CEO beauty's got soul

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• Parenting

  Extra Eye-care

  THE OH-SO EXTRA EYE CARE ROUTINE WE CAN'T GET OVER Self-Care Sunday is my middle name, after a long week its paramount to take some time out for yourself. What could possibly force you to chill out besides some shut-eye? The second closest thing to it -  eye care routines.  This sequence is as extra as they come, and does not force you to leave the comfort of your beckoning sheets. No dermal fillers, no at home micro-needling, only some ice- cool magical.   First comes a little prep - we're going back to basics, but a solid sleep will get you on the right track. We like using these silk eyemasks, the silk is gentle on the eye area, whilst blocking out all forms of light. Perfect for a quick arvo nanna-nap.   To start your routine off, lets set the vibe. We recommend burning this bad boy to keep you zenned out. Next, we de-puff. Say goodbye to jade-rollers, and hello to the Foreo Iris. It looks a little odd on your top shelf, but this little buddy does the hard work for you.   Just click the button and continue with upwards motions. Its so gentle that it won't damage the eye area, but strong enough to depuff and get your skin glowing. Why stop there, just do your whole face - who says you can't.   Lastly, we gently pat (not rub, this isn't the grout in your kitchen) Tata Harper Restorative Eye Cream along your undereye circles working right into the small fine lines and creases under your lashline and swoop it out to the corners of your eye.   Don’t forget, the tops of your eyeballs need some loving too, feel free to place a few more dots on the outer corners of your eyes, working your way in for some added hydration. Think brighten, lighten, fresh finish. A little goes a long way.   Want some extra added bonus points?  Wearing your sunglasses in winter (not even joking). Leave spoons in your freezer for some at-home de-pudding magic (if you don’t have any Skyn Iceland Firming Gels on hand). Drink more water, sleep more, eat less salt and drinking less coffee (I know, what a good joke, but seriously, it works). Lastly, stick to cream-based products and then remove those cream beauties with micellar water. Job done.   You'll be looking and feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed in no time!   Published on 11/05/2019 by Leonie Henzell CEO beauty's got soul.

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• Parenting

  Treat Your Body Right

  Why you should treat your body like your face?  After a long-day in the office, nothing can cure a case of the ‘over-it’ then a face mask and some sub-par reality TV. We’ve all been there. But what I don’t understand is a face mask always seems to make us feel better – but why doesn’t a good ol’ scrub?     We live in a time where we have exaggerated routines that we refuse to let become monotonous, the everchanging landscape of the beauty industry. But why, I ask, does it end at the face?  What I will never understand is the concept of having extensive skincare regime, but then not treating your body in the same manor. After hundreds of dollars on serums and chemical exfoliants galore, tedious ten step Korean skincare regimes and at home LED light therapy treatments – why don’t we treat the rest of our body the same way? It may not be at the forefront of everyone’s faces, but when did our legs and arms and tummies get pushed to the back of the beauty-full crew?    For myself, my self-care is not limited to the neck up. My self-care Sundays go a little like this:     I always start with dry body brushing – you can read how to do this here. Not only does it promote lymphatic drainage and get your blood flowing, it’s an inexpensive way to slough off those dead skin cells and invigorate your system again (even better in the morning).     In order to feel ‘ready’ for the day, I must do a full body routine – not just the face. The best way is to get clean. A sulphate free body wash is best as it doesn’t strip the natural oils off the skin. If you’re a morning showerer, this one is best, otherwise, this one will get you ready to sleep like a baby. Try to avoid long, hot showers no matter how delicious they may be – it will dry you out like crazy.     Next, you’ve got to shave the right way. It’s best to wait after you’ve been in the shower for a few minutes, you skin would have softened, and you’ll be ready to go. Apply shaving cream and take it slow.       Then, I moisturise head to toe. Don't forget your shoulders, back, tummy, and backs of your legs – there’s more than your calves and hands! If you’re looking for an added boost of moister – add a few drops of body oil in there. If you don’t have any handy, organic coconut oil will do the trick with its smoothing, calming and moisturising qualities.! It’ll work wonders on any ingrown hairs.     As we have our daily routine, weekly routine, and monthly routine for our faces, this is how to create it for the rest of your body too. This can change person to person, from exfoliating once a week or three times a week (please no more than this!)  or once every two weeks – it’s up to you!     My non-negotiable tip is to check yourself once a month for moles and changing freckles, unfortunately it’s not all fun and games. Keep yourself in check and up to date and learn about your own body.     Lastly, I hydrate from head to toe – after the shower is perfect whilst the skin is still moist, it’ll be extra absorbent! If I’m feeling a little pasty, I might throw on a bit of gradual tanner (which I never wash off – whoops!) and call it a day.     Excessive? Maybe a little – let me know your thoughts on our latest Instagram post!     Published on 11/05/2018 by Leonie Henzell CEO beauty's got soul

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• Parenting

  Rest Reset Create: A Mid-Year Reset and Reflection with Leonie Henzell.

  As we have ticked over halfway through our 2019 journey, it had me reminiscing on the year that had just passed. Whilst 2018 was an interesting and memorable year, it is lovely to look back and absorb all of the key learnings. I took a significant break that year. It was a wonderful chance to re-invent how I want to live my life. An opportunity that was to rest, reset and create. Now in my 2019 journey, these visions are in the processes of execution. I am now looking back on these lessons; reflecting upon the progress I have made personally and professionally. In 2018, I was blessed with the luxury of time. Time to choose what I wanted to do and time to construct a new framework for moving forward. Everything in my life was up for review. It was only then did I take some time to rest, that I could clearly appreciate the toll that my frantic pace over many years has taken. During this time, I asked myself a sequence of questions with a view to truly embark on a journey of change. Now, a year on, I have asked myself to review these questions again:    “What do I want to do differently?" “What sort of person do I want to be now and in 5 years?” "How do I create a more sustainable lifestyle?" Running hard for many years had affected my ability to be free and creative.  I had to be structured and set aside thinking time to be creative. Sometimes, it was difficult to find the dedicated time to dream, imagine, design campaigns and product ranges. Inherently, I see myself as being creative. I have the ability to visualise what the end product looks like and can find like-minded people to help me bring my vision to life. Always running at 100% just didn’t allow my creative mindset to flourish throughout the day. One of the main goals of taking a break was to really focus on getting creative again.  Once again, my pace has accelerated with my two companies, Beauty’s Got Soul and sister company Soul Baby Gifts launching this year. Maintaining my creativity and health whilst running a marathon with two brand babies by my side, has been a joyful challenge, filled with gratitude. Here are my top 5 tips that helped me sync with my ‘creative side’ once again. 1. Sleep like a baby. Dear sleep, I love you so much. I am willing to do whatever it takes to get my beauty sleep. I am a ‘tucked in by 9:30pm’ kind of girl for lights out at 10pm. I do love to play a few rounds of ‘word cookie’ in this time zone. If you love words, you might like to try this app…or not. Playing this for 10 mins or so makes me soooo tired and I am finally ready for lights out. Getting a full 8 hours is my goal. Any later than 10pm, or any less that 7 hours of sleep, and I am acutely aware of the difference in my energy levels and productivity the following day. I have the sweetest little tweeting bird alarm to wake me up in the morning. I am pretty much ready to wake up and start my day before the alarm goes off. P.S. It helps to be blessed with kids who are all grown-up and my sleep is largely un-interrupted.   2. Create something. I love to imagine what something is going to look like and try to create it. I am such a big fan of the quad ruled or graph paper. Tiny squares on a notebook seem to draw out my creative juices. The humble HB pencil, metal sharpener, rubber and quad paper are my go-to tools for initial brand and product creation. Sometimes I wish I was a graphic designer and have seriously thought about adding this to my study list. For now, I use consistent communication with graphic designers to bring my ideas to life. In planning and dreaming about my new beauty business, I got started on quad paper. I quickly moved to balsamiq and then got a real graphic designer to create the photoshop files. Syncing these files to Invision for the developers to see was a great way to allow collaborative input. Balsamiq served a great purpose as a human without graphic design capability. It allowed communication of high-level concepts and created structure for others. 3.  Learn something. I do love to learn! 2018 was the year to formally study Corporate Governance at the Australian Institute of Company Directors. For those who have done the course, you will know that there is a lot of pre-reading and assessments to complete. The major learning and awareness piece for me has been around the ‘director mindset’. I know that I will be a better business Director and Board Member having done this course.  Once starting a new business, no matter how experienced you are, there will be new learning every single day. A growth mindset and openness to learn new strategies or a new tech piece will be an everyday occurrence. Embrace it. I have also taken to Audible books whilst walking, driving and doing the laundry. I don’t like the feeling of wasting time; so audio books are great when faced with the reality of life. Someone still has to do the laundry. 4.  Calm the mind. For me the best way to clear my mind was to create the absence of so many ‘things to do’. So, I asked myself some serious questions. These questions helped me stay focussed and productive. My Favourite Top 5 Audio Books from 2018 are: 1. High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become that Way by Brendon Burchard 2. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell 3. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie 4. Exactly What to Say: The Magic Words for Influence and Impact by Phil Jones 5. Slicing Pie by Mike Moyer My Top 5 ‘Dear Self’ questions: What is your intention for today? What must you get done today for this to be a great day? What can you say no to? What can you get others to do? What sort of person are you going to be today? Exercise also played a key role for me in calming the mind. My go-to favourites were a combination of reformer Kx Pilates, long 1-hour walks and Asana Rebel for yoga and stretching. I also really benefited from using the Buddhify mindfulness app. There are heaps of calming and mindful meditations for sleep, overwhelm, gratitude, etc. I particularly like the walking meditations. They make me feel productive with my time. There is one meditation that is so sweet. As you are walking past other people, the meditation guides you to wish others well … in your mind... not out loud. That would be weird.  This stopped me from thinking about myself and my situation. It helped changed my mindset to be caring and thinking about others. Clever! I also like a good old-fashioned chat to myself in the second person when things are seemingly off track. I need to give myself a pep talk. I find this best done in front of a mirror. I also have managed to keep my mind calm with well-planned activity for the execution of tasks. Intense planning involving weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual plans for my priorities. I create corresponding lists of the activities required to achieve these goals. Just working on the list at hand helped me to not get overwhelmed and distracted by what needed to happen in a few months’ time. I got this brilliant reminder and understanding from an Entrepreneurs Organisation Learning day. One of Verne Harnish’s four ‘scaling up’ pillars; Execution. Easy to learn, but the real growth for me came from putting the learning into practise. 5.  Make & drink medicinal bluices. I love to combine ingredients that are known to be very good for you. I have little concern for how they taste which may come as a surprise. So, the result can be some pretty disgusting bluices that are really good for my body. Define bluice please, I hear you say: “A bluice is a cross between a smoothie and a juice. Everything that goes into the Vitamix gets blitzed and consumed.” Literally the best gift I ever received was a Vitamix. Now I know that kitchen appliances should never be considered excellent gifts; but this one somehow is an exception to the rule.  Here are my top 10 ingredients for my bluices that are basically either added fresh or frozen:  1. Coconut Water 2. Almo Almond Milk 3. Kale 4. Celery 5. Blueberries 6. Bananas - the ones that have black skins. 7. Matcha powder 8. Lemon juice 9. Fresh Ginger 10. Raw Beetroot I also love mango, raspberries, apple, spinach, cucumber, frozen acai and spices like cayenne pepper and turmeric. I like to make these in the morning. I serve one up to anyone else in my family who is game. With personal development as my focus for 2018, my 2019 goal is to maintain the learnings and structure that I curated for myself.  I would love to hear some of your top tips too. DM me if you use any of these or have some extra-special advice. Bonus points if you send me a photo of your bluice. Published on 17/08/2019 by Leonie Henzell CEO beauty's got soul.

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