Ayurveda. It’s no new topic to the pages of LPN. You might have heard about it before here, here, here and here (among a few other posts). While I won’t re-hash what Ayurveda is, I’ll give you a beauty-focused description from none other than the Queen of Ayurvedic beauty herself, Pratima Raichur:
“A holistic science over 5,000 years old carries which carries a profound body of knowledge for understanding ourselves within the laws of nature.
According to Ayurveda, each individual and all of nature is comprised of the five fundamental elements: Space, Air, Fire, Water and Earth. These elements uniquely design each one of us, creating a distinct blueprint known as our Dosha. Knowing your Dosha will help you determine lifestyle choices, nutrition and skincare products that will benefit you most for optimal wellness and beauty. There are 3 main Doshas: Vata, Pitta and Kapha.”
Now why does this all relate to natural beauty? Well, the idea with Ayurveda is that if you give your unique skin and body exactly what it needs, you are reaching a place of balance – a place where your health and your beauty will radiate.
About Dr. Pratima Raichur & Her Skincare Line
Photo credit: Clementine Daily
Beautiful 75 year old Pratima Raichur (yes, that glowing beauty right there is in her mid 70’s and as radiant as ever) is a pioneer in the Ayurvedic Skincare field – she has combined her wisdom of Ayurveda with her expertise as a chemist, botanist and ayurvedic doctor to create the wonderful line of PRATIMA Skincare – a line of all pure and organic products.
Pratima is also an author of a must-have beauty book for all natural beauty aficionados – or for anyone interested in healing and treating your skin through the principles of Ayurveda.
If you wish to get a deeper dive into Ayurveda and how it relates to your natural beauty and skincare, I can whole heartedly recommend Pratima’s book – Absolute Beauty: Radiant Skin and Inner Harmony Through the Ancient Secrets of Ayurveda. Currently I’m reading it, and loving it.
I first ordered her book after one of my beautiful besties recommended the read. She has had a long-time interest in Ayurveda, and found that her results with Pratima’s skincare line were wonderful on her skin. After we discussed more about Pratima’s line, and her book, I knew I had to take a stop at the spa and skincare boutique when I was in New York (you can find it here, in Soho)
LPN’s Picks
A selection of the products I picked up, and am loving, are below. In no particular order of wonderful-ness, I give you LPN’s faves from PRATIMA Skincare. Oh, and I should mention for full disclosure there is one product I haven’t yet posted on that I love. I’ll save that for another post in some week’s time. X
For Anti-Aging: PRATIMA Age Delay Serum
Why I’m loving it: Created with the intention of helping to reverse sun damage, boost collagen and enhance skin immunity, what’s not to love about this antioxidant packed serum. It’s slightly thicker than most serums I have been using as of late, but it’s perfect to use after you’ve applied your favourite facial oil — one of PRATIMA’s essential oils, for instance.
What’s in it: Oils of sesame, almond, olive, jojoba, perilla, distilled water, aloe, hexapeptide, alpha lipoic acid, sodium hyaluronate, glyceryl sterate, organic extracts of: green tea, grape seed, ginger, gotu, kola, shatavari, brahmi, punarnava, rose and Vitamins A, B5, C & E
Price: $57 USD
For Trouble Spots: PRATIMA Sandalwood Soothing Lotion
Why I’m loving it: I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid with chicken pox, I remember my mom would put this weird pink lotion on me to stop the itch. Well, who would have thought the same magical ingredient, derived from the Calamus root provides dramatic and immediate relief from acne, blemishes, irritations, rashes and inflammation. It’s the perfect overnight spot treatment, or a great addition on top of bug bites or other skin irritations. But it’s not just drying, it’s soothing due to botanicals of chamomile and sandalwood.
I used this on problem hormonal acne areas and it truly helped to minimize the inflammation. #impressed
What’s in it: Distilled water, calamine, zinc oxide, allatoin, camphor, witch hazel, herbal extracts of neem, chamomile, comfrey, sandalwood and karinj.
Price: $25 USD
For the Eyes: Rejuvenating Gold Eye Cream
Why I’m loving it: This is a luxuriously thick, but absorbable eye cream – meaning it’s perfect for day and night. With its pure gold extract, ashwagandha & antioxidant amla, it helps reduce fine lines and wrinkles while also helping to strengthen the eye tissue. All while hydrating, it is the perfect signs of aging prevention mechnamism (for the eyes, anyways ;).
What’s in it: Pure Gold Bhasma Extract, Amla, Kuvar, Ashwagandha, Fennel & Vitamins E&A.
Price: $40 USD
The Full Experience: The Starter Kit (Here in Pitta – for combination and sensitive skin types)
Under normal circumstances (whatever those are), I would have purchased the Vata kit, as my dosha is more aligned there; however, my skin had been fussy after many days of travel and not enough sleep, so I decided to live on the edge a bit and try the Pitta Kit which was targeted at sensitive skin.
Why I’m loving it: As a natural beauty blogger, it’s no surprise I like to try a little of everything. Further to that, my girlfriend who hinted me about PRATIMA Skincare told me about their Liposomes — which happened to be sold out, but was in a smaller size in the starter kits. Naturally, I picked up one to try out (OK, it wasn’t just for the Liposomes, but that was a main driving force;).
Pitta Essential Oil: I seriously love this oil — the ylang ylang is to die for, but the combination of the soothing oils including sandalwood, rose and jasmine are great for any skin that has been acting up (hand waving).
Paired with the Liposomes, you get a truly powerful experience. Liposomes is an antioxidant serum (Vitamin C packed) that literally “transports” the essential oils deep into the skin, helping to renew cells, stimulate collagen and minimize skin “imperfections” (I hate calling them that, perhaps we can think of another word…how about speckle?). You can use Liposomes with any oil really, as the combo acts as a carrier. PRATIMA notes though, this is not a recommended product for highly sensitive skin. To use, simply mix 3 -4 drops with one of the essential oils of your choice and massage onto your face/neck.
The Herbal Cleanser is a grainy and exfoliating cleanser – similar in texture to one of my favourites, May Lindstrom’s Clean Dirt – is balancing with the combination of sandalwood, coriander and lavender. This is the “Pitta perfect” choice for combination, sensitive, or blemish-prone skin. The herbs and roots help to remove both dirt and toxins as well as promote healthy exfoliation. The gentle formulation doesn’t affect your skin’s pH balance and fine grains make for a gentle exfoliation (nothing irritating about this cleanser).
The last addition is the Botanical Moisture Cream – a super lightweight, perfect for problem skin moisturizer that follows the facial oil.
What’s in them:
Pitta Herbal Cleanser: Organic Milk Powder, Lentils, Aloe Vera, Neem, Orange Peel, Coriander, Sandalwood, Lavender, Licorice and Manjistha
Pitta Essential Oil: Sweet almond oil, sunflower oil, organic essential oils of rose, sandalwood, ylang ylang, jasmine and vitamin E
Liposomes: Soya bean and fennel extract, natural vitamins C & E, Organic essential oils of jasmine & rose
Botanical Moisture Cream: Aloe vera, Sunflower seed oil, fennel, comfrey, carrot extract, sandalwood, safflower, organic essential oils of honeysuckle, orange, rose eucalyptus and Vitamins E & A
Price for sample kit: $60 USD
What’s Your Dosha?
Check out this quiz on PRATIMA’s site, to help you decipher what dosha you might be. You can also do a deeper dive into your dosha with the book I mentioned above, Absolute Beauty for $21.95 USD <3
Well beauties, that is all from me today. I’ll be coming back with a few more Ayurvedic posts over the coming months – -I have a few more products I want to share with you too!
Big love!
X
K
