How to Eat for Optimal Health
Our diet provides all of the nutrients to fuel our entire body ~ every metabolic process, every movement, every thought is powered by the foods & drinks that we consume. When we find ourselves outside of an optimal state of health, we often need to reevaluate our dietary habits if we want to see improvements in the way we feel. From frequently catching colds to chronic exhaustion, eating well can dramatically improve the state of our health and, in turn, our immunity. We are only as resilient as our diets allow us to be.
DIY Hand Sanitizer (+ All the Facts)
What's the best way to keep your hands clean when you can't wash them? Hand sanitizer. In the wake of COVID-19, these simple antiseptics are all the rage (and out of stock). Here you'll find everything you didn't even know you needed to know about hand sanitizer, what you don't want in yours, and how to use them to make sure they are effective. I also share detailed instructions on how to make your own with ingredients you already have at home, including which essential oils are most likely to fight 2020's trending virus.
How to Stay Well through Cold Season
There’s a reason the winter is known as ‘cold season’ — changing seasons and harsh temperatures can make us more vulnerable to catching seasonal colds and flus. Once you’re in the throes of illness, your symptoms generally need to run their course before you’ll feel reprieve. That’s why the best way to stay well throughout the winter is to avoid getting sick in the first place! Traditional wisdom offers no shortage of advice on how to support our body’s optimal state of being, and with a few simple life hacks you can keep your immune system at peak performance.
Citrus Bliss
Check out this citrus bliss! The abundance of bumpy limes in the box means that more Citrus Cream is on its way back into the shop. This dreamy lime-scented concoction is a traditional recipe from Thailand, and can replace both your shampoo and conditioner (or one or the other) while leaving your hair super smooth and scalp ultra refreshed as it cleanses and hydrates your mane. In addition to being my new-found all-time favorite hair elixir, possibly the coolest part is that the formula consists entirely of local Makrut Limes from @lokoea, Butterfly Pea Flowers from @petalmetal and water.
Butterfly Pea in Bloom
Currently in the final stages of brewing Citrus Cream, which means I get to work with this beautiful bloom! Known commonly as Butterfly Pea Flower and scientifically as Clitoria ternatea, those brilliant violet petals impart a deep shade of indigo when infused into water. This blue hue is due to the presence of anthocyanins, a water-soluble antioxidant that lends rich color and healing benefits to blue, purple and red botanicals.
A Decade of Indigo Elixirs
2020 is here, and amongst a sea of meanings it marks a full decade that I’ve dedicated to Indigo Elixirs. My earliest explorations with botanical materials were incited by a quest to find a beauty routine that worked for my body: specifically for my eternally dry skin and exceptionally thick Armenian hair. While spending a semester in Europe during my sophomore year of college, I became inspired by the desire for products that were not only effective but also versatile — to easily fit into the backpack I was living out of while traveling — and healthy — as I began questioning ingredient labels with increased scrutiny.
The Final Elixir Collective
This month marks the end of the Elixir Collective in its current iteration. I initially started this monthly subscription as a way to share some of Hawaii's more unique and rare flora, in the form of limited batch items that allowed for ultimate creative freedom. After nearly two years, I've crafted dozens of new products ranging from infused honeys to incense and every form of skincare in between. This project has been ultimately fulfilling, as it challenged me every month to formulate something I've never made before, and gave me space to explore materials and mediums that I'd otherwise never dedicated time to.
Elixir Collective No. 20 ~ Citrus Cream
Woven into every culture is a rich tapestry of wellness rituals — age-old practices to worship our bodies with the plants growing around us. While many of my creations involve intuition and experimentation, I always find wisdom and inspiration in the recipes of yesteryear that have long been passed down. As usual, some of the best-kept secrets are not written in books, but rather are kept alive through family traditions and found in some of the more remote and exotic places on the planet. This month’s offering is my take on a beloved recipe from Thailand, by way of a friend who traveled there and experienced a magical shampoo made from one very special local ingredient....
Elixir Collective No. 19 ~ Mocha Mud
Amongst nature’s vast rainbow of botanical delights, the sweet nectars of the tropics are some of the most alluring ambrosias under the sun. Hawaii has become a home to such delectable flora as cacao, vanilla, coffee and sugarcane — each with intoxicating flavors and aromas that are almost universally beloved by the human palette. Through various forms of alchemy we are able to transform these otherwise inconspicuous and inedible fruits into masterpieces of delight; heat, fermentation, pressure and distillation are all involved in their metamorphoses into mediums that we can enjoy....
Elixir Collective No. 18 ~ Afterglow Potion
The height of summer feels like the time of year when lotions are ideal: because of their dual nature, they are inherently lighter on the skin and absorb easily without feeling heavy. The Afterglow Potion was conceived to be the perfect aftersun care formulation — every ingredient within this velvety smooth serum is there to help your skin repair from long days in the sun...
Elixir Collective No. 17 ~ Manoa Mist & Aromatic Armor
Most days in the back of the valley, the clouds kiss the mountain tops and wisps roll down their sides as if the cosmos were gracing us with their presence. In Hawaiian, the word Manoa means lush and deep, and both are perfect descriptors for this jungly Honolulu neighborhood microcosm. The June Elixir Collective featured an exclusive pre-release of Manoa Mist, an Atmosphere Spray inspired by this beautiful valley...
Elixir Collective No. 16 ~ Sunbather Salve
The Sun — an enigmatic celestial body so magnificent that gods were created just to explain its existence. Sunlight is crucial to our health, both for body and mind, as it activates cellular reactions on the surface of the skin that are essential for our survival. But just the right balance of sun exposure is key: too much (or too little) can be detrimental to our livelihood. The May Elixir Collective featured a product I've long been working on that incorporates photoprotectant botanicals from around the world into an experimental Sunbather Salve...
