Pretty Perspective Series: what does Pretty mean to you?

Dear Pretty,

I have been a fan of your products since you first launched. It’s refreshing to see a great cosmetic line that embodies mother natures ingredients and respects the environment. I hope you plan on expanding your product line for men soon. My wife uses Pretty almost exclusively and I love the smile it brings to her face. I went on line the other day to purchase some products to surprise her and came across your blog. I must admit, this is my first time blogging and for some reason I was compelled to do so.


What does Pretty mean to me?

Pretty is a state of mind, it’s a feeling of comfort, love and confidence. Pretty is not tangible nor can it be seen with the naked eye. My wife and I have been together for 3.5 years and what we have is Pretty special. My life revolves around a few simple pleasures.

Giving my wife a little kiss on the cheek while she still lays asleep in the morning,

holding her hand while we walk the dogs or just watching her laugh.

Throwing a football with my nephews or enjoying a feast with my parents on a Sunday afternoon. To most this may seem mundane, but to me, I’m the Prettiest guy in the world.

I think we make life too complicated. No one ever has it all figured out and Mother Nature's path in life can be a bit bumpy at times. Often we get sidetracked and we literally can’t see the forest through the trees. I’m no different, and at times it’s important to stop and better value the love and relationships around us………only then will we truly experience real joy.


Kudos again to you for embracing the challenge and having the dedication to produce such a great product line. My wife comes to bed with your face mask all the time…..it must be true love.


Wishing you all a Pretty life,

Constantine

Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is the practise of applying essential oils to achieve physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Dating back over 5000 years, essential oils have been used for methods of healing since the existence of the Egyptian Pyramids.

What exactly are essential oils? The rising popularity and increased usage of essential oils in the Western world is evident most often in cosmetic practices. Essential oils are the highly concentrated and extremely potent aromatic essences of plants. They are derived from a variety of flowers, herbs, bark and leaves from around the world. Although they are called oils, their actual consistency is not oily. In fact, essential oils are quickly and easily absorbed into the skin.

There are multiple uses for essential oils, ranging from stimulating circulation and preventing hair loss to opening up nasal passages and preventing headaches. At Pretty, our products are based specifically on the practise of using aromatherapy to heal and balance the skin. There are so many uses for oils as each one has its own unique properties and therapeutic uses.

I like to keep an "emergency" kit of essential oils with me that include the following pure essential oils:

Lavender oil for headaches, burns, bug bites, and sore muscles.
Peppermint or eucalyptus oil for migraines, bug bites, itchy rashes, fatigue, congestion.
Tea Tree oil as a natural disinfectant (antibacterial and antifungal). It's also great for bug bites, scratches, and scrapes.
Roman Chamomile for relaxation, easing sore muscles, and as an antispasmodic.

We do encourage you to try making some of your own products by combining pure essential oils. The following recipe is a great one to try: it helps to calm the mind and relieve insomnia.

Insomnia Recipe

Ingredients:

10 drops Roman Chamomile
5 drops Clary Sage
5 drops Bergamot
2 drops Lavender

Directions: Blend the oils well in a clean dark-colored glass bottle. Add 1-2 drops to a tissue and place inside your pillow to aid you in falling asleep. Or if you have an essential oil diffuser, you can add this combination to the diffuser for an hour prior to bedtime.

We would love to hear and share some of your recipes or usages for essential oils.


W.L at Pretty Organic Cosmetics

Kenyan Inspiration

A few months ago, I was fortunate enough to travel to Kenya, where I was able to see first-hand how to truly appreciate nature and learn the importance of living a sustainable lifestyle. Not only was the landscape jaw-droppingly beautiful, but the culture of the Masai people taught me more than I could imagine about living in harmony with our planet.

Their focus on embracing our land and learning how to use the natural resources available to them was truly inspirational.

Take a look at some of these photos that demonstrate how innovative one can be when we strip away many of the material goods that we take for granted.

The Masai of East Africa build their homes with sticks, cow dung, and grass. The cluster of homes is surrounded by a boma, a thick thorny bush of acacia trees. The boma provides formidable protection against lions, elephants, and the dangers of the wildlife in the Serengeti.

Their shoes are made of rubber tires, taking recycling to a whole new level. Their cooking utensils are made from gourds or carved instruments from wood. Cattle is considered sacred to the Masai, and the blood and milk of the cow is their main source of food. Living as their ancestors did, there is little evidence of Western civilization in their tribes.

The waste produced through their daily activities is recycled back into the earth, through the process of decomposition. Their "leave no trace" philosophy made perfectly sense in an area where humans beings live alongside the wilderness. Despite their evident lack of commodities, the people were friendly, happy, and caring. We celebrated through dance and song, around a fire that we watched them start using dry grass and the strategic angle of the sun.

In our world of over-consumption and our society's focus on always wanting more, it was a humbling experience to see how many people in the world live with so much less. This experience really made me question whether we were placing value on the wrong things in society.

W.L at Pretty Organic Cosmetics

The Pretty Perspective Series: Lisa's Story

This story is near and dear to my heart, written by someone who I think is incredibly beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

W.L at Pretty Organic Cosmetics


Lisa's Story

This is going to sound characteristically unfeminist for me but I'm not sure if I have ever thought of myself as pretty. While I never remember a time in my life where I was called ugly or plain, I'm not sure 'pretty' was ever anything I aspired to or thought of myself as. Early in my life, my mom discouraged me from wearing make up and shaving my legs like my classmates (luckily I'm Chinese) and while I was fairly spoiled, I never wanted 'pretty' clothes either as I have always been very much a tomboy. Being pretty was just never a priority for me.

For someone who considers herself a feminist and socially and politically aware, I don't know if I have ever head on dealt with feelings about being pretty or if I should have some affirmation for myself. One of my best friends in the whole world is gorgeous (inside and out) and through my early 20's, I came to recognize that in the presence of someone significantly prettier than me, I could get 'lost' or become invisible. I'm lucky it didn't bother me much because I realized that as soon as I conversed with guys or girls, some kind of 'pretty' shone through because I was no longer invisible. The older I got and the more I grew into the woman I am now (with many mistakes and lessons along the way), the more I have come to know this to be true. The older I get, the 'prettier' I have become. I'm no prettier physically than I was when I was 19, but I must wear confidence and maturity well because I no longer am that invisible girl I was over 10 years ago.

My sense of pretty has always revolved around character and how a woman shares who she is through self expression, whether in dress, mannerisms or personality. For some women, that involves wearing make up, nice clothes, or whatever helps them show the world who they are, but to me, pretty is that delicate balance of expressing yourself without having your exterior overshadow who you are on the inside. Cliche, but at the end of the day, looks fade and a pretty face is just another pretty face without someone who knows that what matters most is inside.

L.L

The Pretty Perspective Series: Brian's Story

My friend Brian is an accomplished author of Not All Men are Monsters, an autobiographical book about sex, travel, food, and life. He has spent much of the last few years travelling and blogging around the world, developing his culinary skills from different cultural experiences. You can read his amazing blogs at: http://sextravelfoodlife.wordpress.com/

What do men consider beautiful? This is Brian's perspective.

W.L



The Pretty Perspective Series: Brian's Story

I’d like to start by distinguishing what the difference for me is between pretty and beautiful. There are a couple circumstances when I’d be most likely to use the word pretty to describe something: the first would be an adolescent girl who is dolled up, and the second would be for objects that create an attractive focal point, such as a pretty dress, pretty shoes, a pretty necklace, and so on. So when I think of ‘Pretty’ as a cosmetics line, I think of products that move the attention off of objects, and back to the woman, by rejuvenating the natural, youthful glow found in unadultered skin.

The word Beautiful and the concept of beauty is something that continues to expand for me, as I’m exposed to more and more people around the world through my travels. I’ve appreciated women with features in all shapes, sizes, and colours, and to be completely honest, it is a woman’s attention to the most fundamental of details that I find most beautiful. Some of the first things I will notice and compliment a woman on are her natural nails, hair that looks soft without any split ends, and healthy skin (in Africa, I often find myself looking down at women’s heels, to see if the skin is soft or cracked). When a woman takes care of these very feminine features without having to colour or doll them up, it gives me the impression that she knows how to take care of and appreciate herself, and doesn’t feel the need to hide behind makeup or expensive trips to the salon to look and feel beautiful. The ultimate for me is when I take a woman out, and she only needs a few minutes to fix her hair in whatever way suits her mood, and a few minutes more to put on a dress that is flattered by her confidence to go out without any makeup on.

When it comes to defining what physical part of the female body is most beautiful, I feel that this is something unique in every woman, and finding and cherishing that special feature is a great way to nurture our bond.

So my recommendation is to pay attention to the most natural features that make you feel like a woman, feel comfortable in your own skin, and allow your confidence to radiate and reflect the beauty inherent in every one of you.

B.J
http://sextravelfoodlife.wordpress.com/