Hello everyone! Meet Lola and her lovely routine! She is a green juice, essential oil and Lotus Wei fan…aka a girl after our own hearts. Read on…

In the shower…

Outside the shower…

Finishing touches…

Thanks, Lola! Has anyone else been enjoying greens in the AM and feeling the results like Lola? How about the amazing herbal supplement success for decreased migraines?!

Hey all! Hope you are still enjoying these AM routines as much as we are. Please keep submitting if you haven’t yet! Today’s comes to us from Naomi, who is still using a product from the Quarterly subscription (yay!) and lots of other fun ones too… Read on!

Name: Naomi
Age: 39 (ouch!)
Current weather: schizophrenic!  NYC trying desperately to molt into spring
Hair: chin length, fine, fairly straight dirty blonde without highlights but currently sun-kissed blonde (with highlights)
Skin: Fair-to-medium complexion, pernickety temperament – still experiencing a dose of winter dryness but currently pretty clear and smooth, just needing extra care and moisturising

Naomi is a regular around these parts, and Siobhan even had the pleasure of meeting her once at an event in New York. Herewith, her awesome routine!

In the shower…

Quick hair wash with California Baby Tea Tree shampoo (every week or two I use Ctonics Tantra shampoo for flakes) followed by a light condition with Suki conditioner. I use Clarisonic on my face (and sometimes décolleté) with Wei Beauty Chinese Rose Foaming Cleanser. Pits & bits get a wash with soap, currently using the one that came in my first Quarterly box (one personal care item that’s soooo easy to keep clean!). Every couple of weeks I do a full body scrub with one of the 100% Pure scrubs (not a purchase, it was free when I bought products a while back). When I don’t have a body scrub product (which I don’t tend to buy, I only use them if they came with something else) I use a body brush or the equivalent with a bit of my soap

Outside the shower…

I use one of three serums: Suki targeted bio-brightening face serum; Kahina Giving Beauty serum (a fave!); or One Love Morning Glory (compliments of a recent NMDL Friday Deal – thanks!). Then I use either 100% Pure Organic Coffee Bean Caffeine eye cream or Origins GinZing Refreshing eye cream, depending on if I feel puffiness or dark circles are a problem. After that, I us either 100% Pure Organic Pomegranate Antioxidant Hydration SPF20 or (if I’m definitely not spending any time outside) Bee Yummy Skin Food. It’s Vive Sana Polar to Solar sunscreen if I’ll be spending any real time outside, like weekends. A couple of times I week I moisturise with either Evan Healy body oil or Acure Organics Cocoa Butter + CoQ10 body lotion. I put MJ’s Herbals arnica salve on any bruises, Kahina argan oil on any extra dry patches or eczema and every couple of weeks, on days I’m only running errands or not going out in public at all, I use Kahina argan oil as a treatment on my hair and leave it in until the next day’s shampoo. Every day in winter, or as little as possible in the good weather, I blow dry my hair.

Finishing touches…

I love RMS un-coverup. Sometimes, depending on how “good” my skin is, I use Vapour Organic Beauty Atmosphere Luminous Foundation. Then I like Revolution Organics Freedom Glow Beauty Balm as blush, RMS Beauty cream eye shadow in Solar or Lunar, Shu Uemura eyelash curler, Josie Maran mascara, Anastasia Perfect Brow pencil, Dior Lip Maximiser or RMS Beauty lip balm. Okay, so now I can really see why the Desert Island Challenge was too hard for me… :)

Ha! Is she awesome, or what?

Image via

Meet Shentel, everybody. She’s in the Navy. She’s in some rough weather, eating even rougher food, and she’s clearly pretty rad. If this girl can manage to keep a clean routine, nobody has any excuses anymore. Thank you so much for sending this in Shentel!

Name: Shentel

Age: 22

Current weather: Hot, dry, and definitely sandy. (Yes, there are still sand storms in the middle of the ocean. Don’t ask me how it happens, but it does.)

Hair: Brown, fine, and a bit curly. It’s almost all down to my chin. (I’m growing it out after spending 3 years with a pixie cut, and have officially hit the “Awkward Middle Stage” where I can’t pull it up.)

Skin: My skin has always been prone to acne, but since I’ve gone all organic, it’s been better. Since I’m deployed on an aircraft carrier, I’m stressed out, the food is horrible for me, and the water is super hard (since, you know, we boil the salt water to make it useable), and it definitely doesn’t help my skin.

Favorite star or icon from the past: Paintings of Ophelia or the Lady of Shallott are always pretty.

In the shower…

Let’s explain a few things before I start- I’m in the U.S. Navy… and I’m deployed. I’ll explain a little about ship life for people who don’t know- I have a small, 1 foot deep locker beneath my bed. The mattress flips up so you can stow things in there, and that’s all the space I have for everything I need for 6+ months. When I shower, I have to carry everything with me to the bathroom. So I don’t like having a ton of things to lug to the shower with me.

I usually end up with only 4 things in the shower with me. Some Pacifica body wash or Dr. Bronner’s bar soap, Intelligent Nutrients Harmonic shampoo and conditioner, and Kahina Giving Beauty face wash. I lather up my hair with the shampoo, and wash my face with it to open my pores a little bit. Rinse the shampoo and condition my hair- I let it sit while I wash my face and body. I soap up my face with the Kahina Giving Beauty face cleanser, and then wash my body with whatever soap I lugged in with me, and then I rinse everything off and climb out of the shower.

Outside the shower…

I go brush my teeth (I know it’s bad, but I still use Crest, since I haven’t found any decent natural toothpastes. Any suggestions would rock.) I usually take some coconut oil and spread it over my body, legs, and arms. I use Soapwalla’s deodorant- it’s the one thing I NEVER GO WITHOUT. (I’m in the Arabian Gulf right now… It’s freaking hot, and I stink by the time my 12-14 hour shift is done if I don’t use deodorant.) Get into my uniform, and then put Intelligent Nutrients leave in conditioner in my hair, and let it air dry. Then I use Kahina’s Toning Mist and Argan Oil on my face, though occasionally I’ll opt for just coconut oil, or maybe some of Evan Healy’s Sea Buckthorn Oil. (Basically, whatever I’m in the mood for.) I have some Pangea Organics Rosmary and Argan face lotion that I use instead of oil when I feel like wearing a little makeup, too.

Finishing touches…

I almost always put Joy Juice Serum from Lotus Wei on my wrists and neck and chest before I leave my berthing. Then I spray some French Lilac perfume from Pacifica on my uniform. (Though recently it’s been Malibu Lemon Blossom.) I use RMS Beauty’s Living Luminizer most days on my eyes and under them, and it makes me look like I’m glowing, which I love. Sometimes I end up putting some Modest Lip2Cheek (Also by RMS Beauty) on my lips, too. I pull my bangs to the side with a hair pin that’s the same color as my brown hair, and spray it with Intelligent Nutrients Perfect Hold Hair Spray. Voila!

Awesome sauce, we love your routine.

Loving this pic of two Navy mechanics via

After a wee hiatus, one of our absolute favorite brands is back on the Friday Deal scene today. They’d like to introduce everyone to their Facial Cleanser, which has been slightly updated, is now Ecocert-certified, and is even more gentle-in-a-good-way than before. They’re so sure we’re all going to get hooked—we’ll be trying it with the rest of y’all, how we haven’t yet is a bit of a mystery—that they’re offering a generous travel-sized version with any purchase. But on top of that goodness, they’re doing a site-wide discount. Is it us, or these deals just keep getting better?

OK, details! Get a 15% discount on absolutely anything in the Kahina store, along with your free travel-sized cleanser. All you have to do is enter the promo code FREE15 at checkout and the deal and gift will be applied automatically. This will run the full week too, so booya to that! (Note: The image above is the full size version.)

And don’t forget to share with your friends, if your a Kahina user, what you like from this line.

As many of you know, Kahina Giving Beauty makes incredibly clean, incredibly high-quality products using one of our most loved ingredients: argan oil. They also go above protocol to help improve the lives of the women of the Berber community that they work with. Just a little info, in case this is your first rodeo.

Happy Friday, loves!

Wootwoot, we’re very excited to have Futurenatural back for a fabuloso Friday Deal. Hailing from Austin—any Austin readers in the house?—this online natural beauty site carries many of our favorite brands, from Scotch Naturals, to RMS, to Kahina and Lotus Wei. Today’s star is of course One Love Organics, whose Skin Savior balm has become a bit of a cult favorite for the green beauty set, and is currently Alexandra’s go-to face cleansing oil. But there’s more to the deal than that!

Here’s the dillio: Spend over $30 on any One Love Organics products and you’ll receive a travel size Skin Savior Balm, valued at $16. OR order over $60 and get their new (and wonderful) travel-sized Morning Glory Serum, valued at $29.

What’s more is that Futurenatural is also offering a site-wide 10% discount on ALL products. This applies with or without One Love purchases. For ALL PROMOS just use the NMDL code and the deals will be applied automatically.

The deal lasts until Sunday night at midnight!

Happy shopping everybody! And happy long weekend for the lucky ducks getting it!

What a wonderful way to kick off the year: Kahina is offering a very generous site-wide discount to all their NMDL fans. For those of you who know the line, well, you know. And for those of you who still haven’t tried it, if price was at all discouraging you, now’s your chance.

It’s very simple: Just enter the promo code CHEERS (cheers!) and you’ll receive 15% off your order. Bam. Deal  lasts until midnight next Thursday.

As you know we don’t have enough good things to say about this line, its founder, and the people who work with her (a little shout out to Mairin, who also wrote one of our most entertaining Morning Routines Exposed to date).

What’s more is that Kahina is using its growing success to help improve the lives of the Berber women (pictured above) who, as part of the argan cooperative, make the Kahina line possible.

We encourage you to check out this blog post describing how Kahina is working to impact their lives, as well as this video because it will make you smile.

We’re very proud to work with this company! It doesn’t hurt that they make a mean, clean, beauty product too.

Happy Friday!

You know how you’re always told to apply moisturizer on damp or just-patted-dry skin to seal in the moisture? Well, when I can be bothered to moisturize my body in the first place, I do as I’m told: Pop out of the tub, and on goes the body oil.

Lately, though, my mornings have been a little lazier (not complaining!), which means by the time I’m in the shower, I’m looking to cut corners anywhere I can. So last week I grabbed my body oil and slathered it on in the shower, while my conditioner was working its magic (I typically leave conditioner on for a couple of minutes). As it turns out, I find this quite pleasant!

My current body oils—Lotus Wei’s Energy Serum, which you can use on your face as well, and Soapwalla’s body oil, which, yes, I am still loving—smell incredible, and when taken into a steamy shower there’s an aromatherapy effect that’s luxurious and spa-like. So I apply, rub it in, rinse off the excess (truthfully there never is any “excess,” actually), then pat dry. My skin’s been super soft!

The last couple of days I’ve done this on my face, too. As I’m winding down, I grab my Kahina (yes, still obsessed) and drop a quarter size of the oil onto my palms and then press my palms into my cheeks, neck and forehead. This has made the biggest difference, I think. My skin is getting a little drier with the seasons changing and the rain abating, at least for now, and the extra hit of moisture feels amazing.

So who else does this? Anyone? And if anyone else has time-saving shower tips, we’d love to hear them.

Picture of a bath I don’t have time to take via

You know when you meet a new person and you’re so wild about them that even their snoring is adorable? You think about them when they’re not around and find ways to work them into conversations no matter how much of a stretch it is? That’s basically how I feel about the Kahina Giving Beauty Toning Mist, which I’ve been using religiously for exactly a month now mainly because…

It’s not every day one of your favorite brands puts out a new product, and it’s not every day you find a product that is loaded with actives, feels and smells good, and—gasp—works.

A word about the word “works.” This is obviously to a certain extent subjective, but seeing is believing when it comes to skincare and based on what I see in the mirror (even in the super-unflattering lighting in my bathroom) and on the ingredient list (posted below), I’m a believer. I feel almost certain that my skin has been more hydrated, calmer/clearer, plumped and glowy since I started using it—which I credit to the sodium hyaluronate, argan leaf extract, willow bark and rose water. There are also a lot of antioxidants in there.

Here’s how I use it: After my morning shower, where I typically wipe my face with a muslin cloth from Pai (with no cleanser), I spray my face with Kahina’s Toning Mist, wait a couple of minutes, and then apply moisturizer and sunscreen. And at night before bed, after washing, I spray, wait a few, then apply my night oils and an eye cream. It’s also nice over makeup (it sets minerals very nicely) and as a refresher after a long flight. So far, so great.

Plus, 25 percent of the profits are set aside for the Berber women in Morocco who harvest and produce Kahina’s argan oil.

You can get it from their site, for $36. I’m not sure how long it will last but with a month of twice-daily use I have a long way to go before it runs out.

Ingredients: aloe barbadensis (aloe vera) leaf juice*, aqua, rosa damascena (rose) flower water*, salix nigra (willow bark) extract, populus tremuloides (aspen bark) extract, medicago sativa (alfalfa) extract*, sodium hyaluronate, argania spinosa (argan) leaf extract, oryza sativa (rice) seed extract*, camellia sinensis (white tea) leaf extract*, sodium PCA, glycerin, sodium levulinate, sodium anisate, maltodextrin, sodium benzoate.

Have you tried this mist? Do you have a toner you like?

TGIF, are we right? Well here’s something: Another week has passed, and another deal is upon us. And this one is really pretty sweet.

So far these Fridays have been quite the adventure. There’s been a little controversy, and some Mercury-retrograde-style technical difficulties, but all in all we’re having a really good time and it seems like you guys are too. It’s been great to hear your feedback, and we’re especially happy to be facilitating an open and direct dialogue between companies and consumers. Transparency at its best.

This week’s amazingness is from Kahina Giving Beauty, a brand that is very close to our hearts. Not only did we swoon for Kahina’s ethically sourced organic argan oil from very early on (and later for the eye cream), we quickly became friends with the company’s founder Katharine L’Heureux, a kind, elegant and funny woman who even thew us a book party at her loft back in August (!). But that’s not why we say nice things about her or her line. We truly, authentically love it from the perspective of sustainability, ethics, packaging, and performance.

We adore so many of their products—full range pictured above—which is why this week’s deal is especially exciting: Kahina is offering a gobsmacking 25% off anything you order, and if your total (after discount) is more than $50, they’ll throw in a free cleanser automatically, too. They have NEVER done a deal like this—and who knows if they will again. All you have to do is enter promo code NMDL25 at checkout to get your discount.

If you’ve missed some of our past coverage of Kahina Giving Beauty you can read it here. We’re also planning a review of their new Toning Mist in the coming weeks. (Here’s the preview: It’s bananas. And Siobhan loves Alexandra so much that she left her mist in Los Angeles for her—but only because she had another at home. Ha!).

Enjoy your weekend and help us spread the word on this one! It will last until next Friday.

It’s been a week of excesses. Or, maybe make that a few weeks…

First we had our book party at Evolue, followed days later by the launch in New York with Jessa Blades and Kahina. Top those good times off with a blast of a birthday for our dear friend Anna then a wedding bonanza for beloved couple Katie and Matt. Needless to say it’s been a hoot—and we’ve been together—so double that fun.

But here’s a little secret about me, and I’m willing to bet some of you can identify: I tend to, well, over-celebrate. That’s not to say I end up dancing on tables, forgetting an evening’s events, or getting dragged out of parties by my afro. No no, nothing quite like that. I just don’t always stop when I should—especially when there’s an abundance of good food and wine on hand—and then I overcompensate by making really strict rules for myself.

Sound familiar to anyone else? In a blink of an eye I go from total party to total ascetic, often to the confusion of those around me.

There’s got to be a better way—like one that involves fewer rules, less guilt and fewer hangovers.

So this week, instead of making promises (usually broken) to myself about how I won’t have a sip of wine or a bite of cheese—how instead I will drink ginger tea, stand on my head and meditate every day at dawn—I’m going to try on moderation. A glass of wine, or even two? Sure. Some cheese and some hip openers? Why not.

Let the balance begin, yeah?

Image via