As well as using natural products for my skin and hair, I extend my love of natural products to my jewellery box.

Whilst it’s cheaper to buy plastic and imitation jewellery, I prefer to buy jewellery that’s made using natural products.

I have recently discovered Divine creations, run by Yvonne Benjamin and her daughter Leanna who both love learning about and using a variety of semi precious gemstones in the jewellery also they say that they get inspired by nature.

Nature’s Parlour is having an event in Birmingham and hopefully Divine Creations will be there too – I’ll keep you posted and I’ll try to update this post with a picture of me wearing one or two of their lovely pieces.

After 2 years of learning to make jewellery they have finally got their own website, www.divinecreations.org.uk.  Be sure to go over and take a look and don’t forget to like their Facebook Page.

 

 

Nature’s Parlour was in full effect at the family event held by Hotep Leeds at Jamaica House in Chapeltown, Leeds.

Dr Llaila O Afrika and his wife Dr Melanie Stevenson came to give a talk on holistic solutions to cancer, diabetes, arthritis and heart problems.  There was a welcoming atmosphere and a mixture of young and old people with a genuine interest in their health.

Along with the headline speakers, there was a talk from Pauline Tomlin-Touray  about the fantastic benefits of aloe vera.  I also did a talk on natural hair, the ingredients that work for us, the ones that don’t and the low-down on how to grow natural afro hair long.

The talk was very well received and I look forward to talking again in Manchester and Birmingham in the not too distant future.

Mr Nature’s Parlour (Peter) and Master Nature’s Parlour, the Mascot (Elijah) were there in support – giving fab customer service and keeping people smiling.  Nature’s Beauty Essentials oils were flying off the stall, as were the Quench Curls Moisturizers once the benefits of keeping hair moisturised was explained to the audience.

In addition to Nature’s Parlour, Pauline Tomlin-Touray had a stall with Forever Living products, Faroma Oils were there selling the best incense sticks in the land, Candy Scent had their fragrant oils and soaps on offer and CathCraftz were there with their beautiful greeting cards.

A local poet, Sai Murai (Simon Murray) was amongst us and I was lucky enough to get a photo taken with him after he’d bought some oil from us.

It was a fantastic event and we’re looking forward to the next talk we do.

If you’d like us to give a talk in your town, we cover the following topics:

One of the above topics would be covered at each event with the additional option of Peter’s talk on how black men can do the ultimate, bump free shave.

If you have any events which would be complimented by a Nature’s Parlour stall, please contact us at info@naturesparlour.co.uk

It has been understood that the benefits of taking oil bath clears the oily substances from the skin and helps to transfer heat from inside of the body to the outside.

It is a great feeling to have a comfortably, warm bath after a days work. Try using Escential Massage Therapy’s Relax & De-stress Bath Oil. Just add 3 to 6 caps full. This is excellent as part of your relaxation regime. It maximizes the benefit with EMT Tranquility body oil. Adding soft and relaxing music during your routine will also complete your feeling of relaxation.

Relax & De-stress Bath Oil – What a great feeling!

I firmly believe that being pampered is a necessity – not a luxury. It adds balance to a busy lifestyle and keeps you going. It adds to your quality of life and is important enough to be scheduled as an unmissable appointment with yourself.

A long time ago, I promised I’d have a massage and a facial once a month as a way of saying “thank you” to myself for working hard. I don’t go out for a monthly facial any more, I’m more than happy to do them at home for myself and will go out for one on special occasions. I still enjoy regular aromatherapy massages with blends to reflect my mood depending on whether I need to be invigorated or relaxed.

You can do your own facial using your favourite products. A facial needn’t be a complicated process and could be bumped up a notch by listening to some music whilst spending some extra time on your face. This could mean that you might just shape your eyebrows take care of your, er, moustache ;o), have a face pack and or exfoliate, apply a serum, etc. Make it about spending some quality time with yourself.

Pampering should never be a monetary concern though, always remember that you can do it regardless of your budget or income. For years one of my favourite ways to pamper has been a good old soak in the bath whilst listening to music! I often listened to my sister’s tapes whilst soaking in the bath as a youngster.

I started to explore different music genres (yeah, whilst still in the bath, LOL) and would periodically time it so that I could listen to radio plays or the Book at Bedtime on Radio 4.

I enjoy my bath with blended oils and bubble baths (or Epsom salts), candles and lots of filtered water (or chilled white wine!) – whilst listening to relaxing music or a guided meditation. I insist on having this kind of bath at least once a week to give my life balance.

In leaner times, I’ve simply thrown lots of salt into the bath and soaked whilst meditating in silence (had to save on the electricity!!).

After a good soak, spend a little time massaging yourself with your favourite oil blend. In a relationship? Hand over the massage oil and let your partner do your massage for you!

Besides soaking in the bath, a great way to pamper yourself is to go and sit in a green area just to gather your thoughts. This might be your local park, or green. You may have to travel a bit so you could make an outing of it – just take a flask of hot tea/cocoa or a bottle of water so that you can sit there comfortably for a little while. By the way, you’d be amazed at how much comfort and joy you can get from simply sipping your favourite hot drink from a flask whilst outdoors – honestly, I tell no lie!

…and then there’s meditation…ah, meditation! A free vacation to your favourite destination any time you like. It’s worth learning how to do it so take a course or read up on it. Information on meditation and various techniques are freely available on the internet.

Happy pampering!

In part one of this post, we looked at some of the reasons I didn’t find snacking on fruit quite as convenient as I would have liked. In part two we’re going to look at some ways to make snacking on fruit a simple and regular feature in our daily diet. I’m going to take you through a typical fruit infused day…

A fantastic fruit dessert we love here consists of a bowl each of chopped fruit (about half and apple and half a pear in each bowl) with 2 tablespoons of yoghurt mixed with 1 tablespoon of honey to each bowl – yum!!!

Fresh fruits are fantastic for skin and hair care. They are packed full of nutrients and vitamins and are rich in anti-oxidants which helps combat free radicals – great for anti-ageing.

Happy snacking!!!

Buying natural & organic products needn’t cost the earth. Here at Nature’s Parlour it’s easy to save money and still buy your favourite personal care products. Follow these simple tips and make great savings.

Save on products

Save on shipping

This is a simple tip that’s often overlooked. Your friends, colleagues, and everyone in your family needs soap, deodorant, shampoo, moisturiser, etc. Why not make all of your purchases in one go and then divide the cost of shipping? When shipping is shared like this, it becomes negligible and you still get your goodies for less than the cost of jumping on public transport. Simple!

Yours naturally

Xina

It’s common knowledge that fruit is the original fast food. It’s nutritious, flavoursome and easy to eat. Increasing your consumption of fruit does wonders for your skin and eating it should be part of your holistic skincare routine. So how can we make better use of it’s potential as the convenient food of choice?

In my quest to enjoy a more natural lifestyle with my family I actively look for ways to eat more fresh produce (preferably organic) and make natural living the norm for all of us.

However, I realised that I don’t often snack on fruit and decided to question why. Here’s what I came up with:

I know some of these reasons may seem superficial, but there you have it! OK so what was I going to do about this? There’s no way I was going to be beaten by a bunch of fruit!!

The first thing I did was check out the daily recommended amount of fruit (and vegetables) to eat. According to the Food Standards Agency, a combination of 5 portions of fruit or vegetables a day would do the trick. In my home we eat at least one portion of vegetables and/or salad with each meal, which is fine, but I still wanted to incorporate more fruit easily and seamlessly into our daily diet.

How often do you eat fruit? Do you have some recommendations on how to incorporate fruity snacks? Are you able to eat a daily amount you’re happy with? Do you consider it an issue at all? Perhaps you don’t even like fruit? Whatever your take on this issue, we’d love to hear from you! Simply add your comment in the box below or click on the comments link.

Part 2 of this article will give some ideas on how you might incorporate more fruit into your diet as part of your holistic skincare routine. Be sure not to miss it – book mark this page using the icon below or subscribe by clicking the icon in the column to the right of this article.

Yours naturally

Xina

Nature’s Parlour

PS I found the wonderful photo of the fruit basket at Great Hampers.