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

I can’t lie: I am not exactly the ideal target for an eye cream. I’m a less-is-more girl at heart, and I find smile lines really sexy. And yet, I freaking love eye cream. Always have. There’s just something pleasing about the whole process: Patting it on instead of rubbing. The feeling of something soothing on such a delicate part of the face. How easy it is to conceal my bags after I apply it.

Of course, I’m still skeptical about the ingredients in most, knowing that these products are essentially snake oil in a $200 package—which is why I was delighted to try this new one by Kahina Giving Beauty.

We write about this luxey argan-oil-based collection in the book, and I’m a big believer in the oil’s healing and soothing properties. Their eye cream uses that same oil—which is super-high in antioxidant vitamin E—paired with tea extracts, rhodiola root extract and something called saccharomyces cerevisiae extract,  which has some encouraging research written about it.

I’ve been using it for a few weeks and I feel especially dewy. In a pinch I’ve also smeared it on other parts of my face and like it—though at $65 a jar I won’t do that often.

Image courtesy of Kahina Giving Beauty