Did You Know?

Eye Cream is Not Just for Women!

More and more of my customers husbands are using our best-selling Multi-Function Eye Cream - because it works! It's super easy to put on before bed each night after brushing teeth. John, below, looks 10+ years younger and more awake!  

The One Thing Alicia Keys Cut Out to Clear Up Her Skin

It’s understandable why Alicia Keys has sworn off makeup. Besides the fact that it’s super empowering and allows her to flaunt her natural beauty—regardless of what standards society has imposed on celebs—her skin is just so enviably glowy.

But it hasn’t always been that way. In a recent interview with Elle UK, the musician admits that—just like us mortals—she, too, has fought blemishes for most of her life.

“It took me forever to get this skin,” says Keys. “I mean, I know how it feels to have a face full of bumps and pimples.” We feel you, Alicia.

So, just like the rest of us who are constantly on the quest for clear skin, Keys has gone through what she dubs a “crusade” in order to get rid of the pest that is acne.

As it turns out, Keys found that eliminating one specific thing from her diet did the trick: dairy.

“When I first got pregnant [six years ago with her son, Egypt], I started to eliminate dairy from my diet and drank a lot more water, which made a huge difference to my skin,” she says.

Studies have shown that dairy is linked to acne—and it’s one of the foods that women’s hormone expert Alisa Vitti suggests you skip to keep hormonal breakouts from happening. Plus it’s hard to argue with Keys’ radiant, inflammation-free gorgeousness. Hot mug of golden milk, anyone?

Sunscreen in the Winter?

If you read my skin cancer story below, you understand why I feel so passionate about sunscreen. You need to wear it year around, every single day, people! Rodan + Field's has 4 options for day moisturizers with sunscreen and they are all light and do not FEEL like sunscreen! Men and women - listen up! Make it a habit in 2017, after you brush your teeth in the morning, throw on your sunscreen - EVERY SINGLE DAY. Message me and I will hook you up! Invest in your skin - it's going to represent you for a very long time.  

My Skin Cancer Lesson

I always "thought" I was taking good care of my skin. Until I turned 40 and two basal cell carcinomas (skin cancers) were found on my face within a year. After two deep surgeries, my dermatologist was very honest with me, "You have a lot of sun damage that is just going to keep coming to the surface - uneven coloring, dullness, etc." I knew a friend from high school who had touted the benefits of this new skincare line from Dr. Rodan + Dr. Fields - literally changing people's skin from the inside out. I didn't believe it would really work, but thought it was worth a chance and loved the 60 day money back guarantee as I thought, I will for sure return if I don't see results. 

I saw a change in my skin within a WEEK (and so did everyone else) and after 2.5 years it just keeps getting better. I am a fan, a user, a believer and I don't want any of my friends wasting their money on anything else as I know THIS works. Does your skincare regimen CHANGE your skin? If not, we need to talk. Invest in your skin - it's going to represent you for a very long time. 

Skin Cancer #1 - Age 40

Skin Cancer #2 - Age 41

How to Do Gwyneth Paltrow's "Clean Beauty" Diet for Amazing Skin

As anyone looking for a healthy glow knows, the wildly prolific (and true!) adage “great skin comes from within” isn’t just lip service. You’ve got to chew and swallow the healthy intention, too. And creating meals around skin-boosting ingredients are kind of Gwyneth Paltrow’s forte.

The wellness-loving entrepreneur’s progressive nutrition preferences star in her cookbooks, particularly It’s All Good—and in her latest publishing endeavor, GOOP Clean Beauty, where she and her editors share detoxing recipes for getting great skin (and tons of natural skin-care advice, too).

“I’m a believer that wellness and beauty start in the gut,” Paltrow tells us. “Because, in this modern world, we deal with a host of toxins we were never meant to metabolize, gut function can become compromised and can affect the way we look and feel.”

Photo: goop press/Grand Central Life & Style

Eating clean beauty foods gets to the root of the reason you’re buying moisturizers anyway: “A diet rich in nutrients and poor in processed foods is optimal for getting that lovely glow. Processed, fried and fast foods can create a host of free radicals which research shows can cause signs of aging.”

In these detox recipes, there’s no old school ideology here, no deprivation or suffering. (So stop it, if that’s where your head goes on January 1—or any day of the year!) It’s just about swapping out the foods that could interfere with what’s going on with your otherwise gorgeous face.

Here’s Gwyneth Paltrow’s 1-day menu for amazing skin—in five easy recipes.

Photo: Brigitte Sire

1. First thing in the morning: Canarino

It’s always a good idea to start your day with canarino while detoxing, as the alkalizing lemon helps balance pH in the body, and the vitamin C helps neutralize harmful free radicals in the skin. While a room temperature glass of lemon water works just fine, we’re particularly into this soothing, warm Italian tea. The goal is to remove the colored part of the peel of the whole lemon in one continuous piece, but don’t worry if your peeler skills aren’t that good—you’ll still get all the benefits. Serves 2.

Ingredients
1 unwaxed organic lemon
Boiling water

1. Wash the lemon and carefully peel it, trying to leave as much white pith as possible on the lemon.

2. Place the lemon peel in a small teapot and fill with boiling water.

3. Let sit for 5 minutes to steep before drinking.

Photo: Brigitte Sire

2. Breakfast: Acai bowl with bee pollen

This acai bowl is packed with antioxidants, which are essential for fighting skin-damaging free radicals. The seed mix adds a really nice crunch and is also a delicious snack on its own (but you can substitute with your favorite granola, too). Add a spoonful of almond butter on top for an extra protein boost after a workout. Serves 1.

Ingredients

For the toasted seed mix:
1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
1 tablespoon buckwheat groats
1 tablespoon flax seeds
1 teaspoon hemp seeds
½ teaspoon coconut oil
Generous pinch kosher salt
½ teaspoon honey

For the bowl:
1 (3.5-ounce) frozen acai pack
1 banana, cut in half
2 tablespoons coconut water
1 tablespoon coconut milk, optional
1 tablespoon coconut flakes
2 tablespoons blueberries
1 tablespoon bee pollen
Manuka honey, optional

1. To make the toasted seed mix, heat a small sauté pan over medium heat. Add all of the ingredients except the honey and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes, until nicely toasted. Add the honey, turn off the heat, and stir to combine. Remove the mixture to a plate to cool and crisp up. Once cool, use your fingers to break it up into little pieces.

2. To assemble the bowl, break the acai pack into pieces and combine in a high-powered blender with half of the banana, the coconut water, and coconut milk (if using). Blend on high for 2 minutes, until smooth.

3. Thinly slice the other half of the banana. Transfer the acai mixture to a bowl and top with the sliced banana, 2 tablespoons of the toasted seed mix, the coconut flakes, blueberries, and bee pollen; drizzle over a little manuka honey if you like it sweet.

Photo: Brigitte Sire

3. Lunch: Hand rolls

Hand rolls are an awesome detox lunch or snack—they’re crunchy, satisfying, and actually fun to make. Plus they’re extremely versatile, as you can fill them with any raw or cooked vegetables you like. Just be sure your veggies are all roughly 2 inches long and 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide so they fit nicely in the hand roll. Serves 1-2.

Ingredients

2 nori sheets, cut in half to make 4 (7½ × 8-inch) rectangular pieces
1 cup cooked brown sushi rice
1 scallion, thinly sliced
Sesame seeds
Veggies of choice, such as thinly sliced avocado, julienned cucumber, grated carrot, lightly steamed asparagus, shaved radishes, julienned bell pepper, sprouts, shredded cabbage, etc.
2 tablespoons tamari
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar or lemon juice
½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1. Place the 4 nori sheets on a flat surface and spoon ¼ cup of rice on the right side of each one. Wet your fingers with water, and spread the rice into an even square over the right half of each nori sheet. Sprinkle with the scallion and some sesame seeds, then arrange your vegetables of choice along the center of the square of rice.

2. Starting at a bottom right hand corner, carefully roll up the nori and rice toward the upper left hand corner, wetting the nori with water so it sticks as you roll. Repeat to make 4 rolls.

3. Combine the tamari, vinegar, and sesame oil in a small bowl and serve on the side for dipping.

Photo: Brigitte Sire

4. Snack: Detox truffles

These raw, three-ingredient truffles are the perfect bite to satisfy your detoxing sweet tooth. We recommend making a double batch and keeping them in the fridge so you’re always ready to combat those cookie cravings. Makes 24 small truffles.

Ingredients

12 pitted dates
¼ cup raw cacao powder
¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut, plus extra for rolling

1. Blend the dates, cacao, and coconut in a food processor until smooth.

2. Wet your hands with water and roll the mixture into 24 small balls (about 1 teaspoon each), then roll each one in additional shredded coconut to coat. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Photo: Brigitte Sire

5. Dinner: Grilled salmon and avocado salad, 2 ways

Salmon and avocado are two of the most omega-3-rich foods you can eat, and all that healthy fat not only tastes amazing, but does wonders for your skin and body. Here are two versions of grilled avocado and salmon salad, one with an Asian twist and one with a lovely charred citrus dressing. Each recipe serves 2.

Asian Salmon and Avocado Salad

Ingredients

¼ cup soy sauce (or tamari if on a detox)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the grill pan
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons mirin
2 small or 1 large clove garlic, finely grated
1 (2-inch) piece fresh ginger, finely grated
2 (6-ounce) salmon fillets
1 firm yet ripe avocado, quartered
2 handfuls baby spinach, washed and dried

1. Whisk together the soy sauce, olive oil, vinegar, mirin, garlic, and ginger in a glass measuring cup or small bowl. Pour half of the dressing into a shallow bowl, add the salmon, and turn to coat. Marinate for 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat a grill pan over medium-high heat and brush it lightly with olive oil.

3. Add the salmon and avocado quarters to the pan and grill for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until the salmon is cooked to your liking and the avocado has nice grill marks.

4. Toss the spinach with the reserved dressing to taste and top with the grilled salmon and avocado.

Citrus-grilled Salmon and Avocado Salad

Ingredients

2 (6-ounce) salmon fillets
2 ½ tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 medium shallot, cut into ¼-inch slices
1 ripe yet firm avocado, quartered
1 Meyer lemon, cut in half
1 tangerine, cut in half
2 handfuls mixed greens (such as mizuna and arugula)

1. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat.

2. Brush each salmon fillet with 1 teaspoon of olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Toss the sliced shallot with 1 teaspoon of the oil and a pinch of salt and set aside.

3. When the grill pan is hot, add the salmon and avocado quarters and cook for 3 minutes on the first side. Flip to the second side and add the sliced shallot and citrus halves (cut sides down) to the grill pan. Cook everything for another 2 to 3 minutes, until the salmon is cooked to your liking and the avocado and citrus have nice grill marks.

4. Squeeze the grilled citrus over the mixed greens and toss with the remaining tablespoons olive oil, the grilled shallots, and salt and pepper to taste. Place the salmon and avocado over the greens and serve.

The Most Inspiring Celeb Morning Routines of 2016

Come winter, getting out of bed and sticking to your healthy morning routine is tougher than usual—when it’s this chilly outside, the temptation to indulge in hygge (the cozy home trend that’s making its way here from Denmark) and hang out in your dreamy bedroom instead of hitting the gym is all too real.

But with the right a.m. rituals in place, you’ll be way more likely to embrace the day (instead of hitting the “snooze” button). Not sure where to start? Prepare to feel seriously inspired by the buzziest morning routines of 2016, featuring cure-all teas, gratitude practices, and enviable hacks for fitting in super-early workouts from Jessica Alba, Jennifer Aniston, Hilary Duff, and more. Get ready to set your alarm and get moving (or meditating!) in the new year.

Keep reading to see the top 10 most-inspiring morning routines of 2016.

 

Photo: Instagram/@jessicaalba

Jessica Alba’s friends-with-benefits method

The actress and founder of Honest Beauty uses her workout buddies to help make early-morning (we’re talking waking up at 5:30 a.m.) sweat sessions a reality.

Photo: Instagram/@juleshough

Julianne Hough’s A.M. gratitude ritual

Talk about starting her day on a positive note: Hough thinks about five things she’s grateful for before she even gets out of bed.

Photo: Instagram/@justintheroux

Jennifer Aniston’s skin-boosting smoothie

The mega-star sips on a special blend of adaptogens, veggies, and collagen peptide, which she swears fills her up and gives her skin a seriously enviable glow.

 

Photo: Instagram/@veronicawebb

Veronica Webb’s next-level coffee

The supermodel adds grass-fed butter and medium chain triglycerides to her coffee fuel up for a super-busy day.

Photo: Instagram/@katieholmes212

Katie Holmes’ power breakfast

Holmes has a go-to (and Suri-approved!) oatmeal recipe that powers her through morning workouts.

Photo: BroadImage/Gilbert Flores

Cate Blanchett’s prep strategy

A good morning actually starts the night before, according to the actress—she lays out her a.m. essentials before going to bed.

Photo: Instagram/@brittsnowhuh

Brittany Snow’s get-ready playlist

The Pitch Perfect star has a “getting ready” playlist filled with mood-boosting tunes that she blasts on the speakers throughout her house.

Photo: Shalom Sharon

Nastia Liukin’s no-phone zone

Olympic gymnast Liukin steps away from her phone for a few moments every morning to clear her mind and do a quick meditation (which allows her to better focu

Photo: Instagram/@hilaryduff

Hilary Duff’s superfood shot

The actress and singer takes body-boosting power shot every morning before she heads out to work.

I Cut Dairy for a Week - Here's What Happened

I’ve swapped in honey for my face wash and used apple cider vinegar as a toner, all in the name of clear skin. But in my quest for vanquishing my adult acne, there’s been one major change that I’ve always avoided making: cutting dairy.

Milk products can be a major pimple perpetrator, since they’re seriously inflammatory. (Inflammation is also behind all sorts of other ailments like headaches, diseases, and painful periods, so acne isn’t the only reason to side-eye that tub of yogurt.)

But while I committed to making some minor tweaks earlier this year—like opting for almond milk in my matcha lattes—I still found myself ordering goat cheese in my salad or intentionally forgetting to ask a server whether a dish was cooked in butter instead of, say, coconut oil.

Now that everyone’s in the “new year, new me” mentality, I figured I’d finally go 100 percent dairy-free for a week, and see if it was really as life-changing  as many people have made it out to be.

Maria Bella, registered dietitian and founder of Top Balance Nutrition, is one of those people. “Cutting out dairy can be beneficial to people prone to breakouts, those experiencing acid reflux, and individuals who are lactose intolerant,” she says. For someone like me, Bella explains, dairy could be increasing my sebum production, which could directly lead to acne. And that’s not the only potential pimple problem: “Another issue is the hormones found in milk, which have been linked to inflammation of the skin as well as premature aging.”

Though she points out that an adult woman typically needs 1,000 milligrams of calcium each day, the dietician says you can easily get it through other calcium-rich foods like fatty fish, beans, and leafy greens. 

Since there are endless alternatives to dairy-derived foods, how hard could it be to go dairy-free for seven days?

Photo: Stocksy/Marti Sans

Navigating my post-dairy life

I quickly realized that dairy lurks in so many things besides cheese and milk. The hardest part for me was watching my butter intake, since that’s something that’s hard to control when dining out. I had to be that person who asked the waiter to make sure the dish was dairy-free. (This was particularly embarrassing one night while at an Italian restaurant with my boyfriend’s parents, who looked aghast as I firmly turned down cheese and butter for my pasta.) There was an upside to all of this: It forced me to cook at home more, which is another resolution of mine.

Salad dressings were also tough. On my first dairy-free day, I had to swap the dressing in my favorite salad at Sweetgreen (which typically comes with cucumber tahini yogurt)—though I discovered that I liked the vegan option even more. (Spicy cashew dressing FTW!)

But what made it exceedingly more difficult is that it’s holiday party and hygge season. That means cheese plates galore—I had to avoid them like grenades.

Overall, cutting dairy wasn’t the toughest change to make—it just requires diligence, especially when not preparing your own food. And I made sure to follow Bella’s advice to get enough calcium through veggies and healthy fats.

Though I found it harder to cut sugar, and I imagine cutting gluten would be exceedingly difficult, going dairy-free came with major benefits that I noticed at the end of the week.

Photo: Stocksy/Dylan M. Howell Photography

The perks of a dairy-free diet

I can’t argue with the fact that cutting dairy does wonders for your stomach. I never felt cramps or digestive woes during my elimination week, and I did feel significantly less bloated.

But the most exciting thing was that I didn’t break out at all. On the seventh day, I was peering into the mirror and realized something was off—I didn’t have a huge cyst (or two) growing on my chin. And it was the week before my period, which is typically the absolute worst time for my skin.

Instead, I had the clearest complexion I’ve had in months, and no angry inflammation was to be found. Could cutting dairy finally be the solution to my pimple woes? 

The dilemma is, of course, that cheese is delicious—would I never touch it again? I’m going to try not to (or, at least, I’ll just be reaching for a vegan option). The benefits definitely outweigh the taste—I feel healthier, and I’ve been trying to get clear skin for years. I’ll do anything to maintain this glow.

Sorry, butter: I guess I can quit you.

Before/After

It's a New Year, a time to focus on being healthy and that 

includes our bodies' largest organ, our skin! 

I CAN HELP - whether you have dry skin, sensitive skin, acne, sun spots, dullness, lines, wrinkles, sagginess, rosacea, redness, eyebrows thinning, eyelashes sparse, oily skin - whatever it is - I can help! 

Check out this Before/After: her skin texture, the skin around her eyes, as well as the health of her lips! The #1 thing I hear from all of my R+F customers, no matter what regimen they use - they have vibrant, brighter and smoother complexions. Best part of this job is seeing my friends and family so happy with their natural skin. Healthy skin is a beautiful thing. Message me today - I can get you a discount plus free shipping! 

What If?

• What if you could sleep in this week and watch movies with your kids home from school and not have to use your vacation days?
• What if you fit this opportunity into the nooks and crannies of your life in 2017? 
• What if you built something in limited part time hours by just washing your face and sharing it with your friends?
• What if you earned a living and it was all done around the needs of your family? 

No parties, no inventory, no paperwork. It can be done. I would love to share it with you.