Abaco Neem - Touring a Neem Farm in The Bahamas

The view from the deck of our house from Airbnb - it was ridiculously gorgeous!

You guys, I had the MOST amazing time last month when my husband and I got to go to Marsh Harbour in the Bahamas.  While we were flying in I was thumbing through one of the tourist magazines they give out and I saw a write up on Abaco Neem, a shop that creates their own skin/bodycare line, and immediately got excited because one of my products contains Neem Oil (Organic Silk Cream in case you're wondering).  I read further and saw that you could get a TOUR of the farm - yes please!  I called, booked it, learned it would take about an hour and a half (we were there for nearly four!) and here's what went down -

We walked in and were given a tour of the store by the sweet Angel (who I sadly didn't get a picture of) who took us through the product line as well as let us get a sneak peek in the back of the store!

Drying Neem leaves on racks

Miss Barbara who was making Neem Leaf Capsules - Miss Barbara mixes EVERYTHING Abaco Neem makes!

Amazing racks of handmade soaps - I may have bought five or six.

Bottles waiting to be labeled.

So why do we care about Neem as a concept?  I learned SO much - including the fact that all parts of the Neem tree have benefits - tree roots, bark, leaves, flowers, fruit, seed kernels and seed oil.  "All parts of the tree contain compounds with proven antiseptic, immune-stimulating, anti-viral, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antifungal uses." (www.abaconeem.com)  It's appropriate for both aging, dry skin as well as breakout prone and both pets and plants can benefit as well.  Here are some of the items I bought that I fell in love with -

The soap I was referring to - it is AWESOME - so creamy, non-drying and it comes in a variety of fragrances.

The straight Neem Oil is the star of the show.  When co-owner, Daphne, showed me Neem Oil she had purchased from India (where most Neem Oil comes from) it looked like the color of molasses and had some residue at the top.  She then showed me hers which was a golden shade with no sediment.  The difference happens because the team at Abaco Neem handpicks every piece of fruit and nothing that is spoiled makes the cut.  I learned that in India they tend to be working on such a massive scale that quality control is harder to maintain.  Oh, and did I mention that Abaco Neem's Neem Oil is Certified Organic?  So much so that their oil is safe enough to ingest (it's commonly toxic because of said lack of quality control) as it's pharmaceutical grade.  Diabetics and those susceptible to slow healing of cuts, skin breakage or skin cancer are major beneficiaries.  

Okay - so I can talk about this stuff for hours - the First Aid Spray and the Neem Leaf Extract are the same product, one is in a dropper, one is in a spray.  My husband was having a skin issue on his foot and when we got in the ocean the salt dried his foot out and made it painful.  One squirt of this stuff and he had instant relief.  We used it our entire trip.  When we got home my dog had some hotspots on his tummy and we used the Neem Leaf Extract and they cleared up SO FAST.  I am in huge support of these products.

And speaking of pooches, you can grab the Pet Capsules to protect against heartworm or you can grab the Neem Cake, which is cheaper, grind it up in your Magic Bullet and add it to your pooch's food.  Just sprinkle about 1/8 of a tsp on top and you're good to go.  

So let's get to the farm!

Our first view of the farm and young trees

A Neem Tree

Neem Fruit - it takes a tree 3-5 years to produce fruit which then gets washed and the kernel inside is what gets pressed for Neem Oil.  The Bahamas get hit with hurricanes, as you know, so the folks at Abaco Neem need to keep three years of Neem Oil on hand at all times in case that happens.  

Citronella plant - who knew they looked like that?!

The farm has all kinds of trees - the pomegranate shown above, henna, banana, calabash, macadamia nut and papaya just to name a few.

Nick Miaoulis, founder of Abaco Neem, who we found out working the farm.  He gathered some homegrown goodies for us to try including Sugar Cane.

Nick cut coconuts off their Coconut Palm Trees (because they press their own Coconut Oil - PS, they also press their own Aloe Leaf Juice - I have a major crush on these people) so we could have some AMAZING coconut water and then scrape the meat out to eat that too.  They also have almond trees so we got to have fresh almonds as well!

Daniel and me enjoying our coconut water and Nick and his wife, Daphne, who are native Bahamians and some of the hardest working folks I've ever met - an incredible inspiration!

We had a wonderful time learning about Neem and getting to watch sunsets in Abaco!

Sunset from our house

TV Spot on Veria Living's "Naturally Beautiful" - Scar Treatment & Cover Up

In February of last year I got asked to go on an awesome TV show, "Naturally Beautiful" on Veria Living.  Nitika Chopra is the host and she's kind of awesome.  After having a blog, and turning said blog into a huge website, Bella Life, she booked this hosting gig and she's great at it.  

Nitika Chopra

So I got to go and tape one show and then got asked to come back for another one (yay!) which is the one that has aired first.  Click on this picture to see the video - 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8yi7CfSOlY

We were discussing different natural treatments that help to fade scars - 

Aloe Vera

Salicylic Acid (Willow Bark)

Coconut 

Onion (active ingredient in Mederma)

We talked about how the Erin's Faces Organic Firming Serum has an Aloe Vera base and the Organic Silk Cream has both Aloe Vera and Coconut as the top ingredients.

Makeup wise primer is KEY to dealing with scars since they generally have texture issues as well as dryness.  

Then you can follow with your foundation and concealer

or use your regular foundation and a loose mineral powder foundation with a fluffy eyeshadow brush instead of your cream/liquid concealer.  

Ann's Before & After

So pretty!!

                                             To watch the full interview with Ann click HERE.

B-Sides Productions Broadway Gala

Max Kumangai, Brent Di Roma, Kilty Reidy, Teal Wicks, Kimberly Marable and Lael Van Keuren

I had a wonderful time getting to work with an awesome new theatre company founded by Jasper Grant, B-Sides Productions, who had their annual gala this winter.  The proceeds went to the Ali Forney Center, a wonderful facility that houses LGBT youth here in NYC.

They put together a wonderful group of Broadway singers to do a concert of Bill Russell and Janet Hood's "Elegies for Angels, Punks, and Raging Queens" and Erin's Faces got to do the makeup for the performers and the beautiful women on their board.  Here's how it all turned out:

Getting the performers ready - Kimberly, Teal, me and Lael 

Erin's Faces Artist, Kimberly Chin (middle) did Liz Asti (left) and Josey Roberts' (right) makeup.  Liz & Josey are amazing performers who are two of the three folks on the Advisory Board of the B-Sides (Amos Wolff being the third).

Josey and Liz looking tre glam out of their coats at the gala

I did Teal's makeup MANY moons ago so it was fun to get to do it again - she looks cute in a paper sack so it's pretty easy.

Lael was so sweet and has such pretty porcelain skin - loved her!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Kimberly because I feel like it embodies the incredible amount of life she exudes.  

The girls were AMAZING in the show!  The boys were pretty fantastic as well :) and that's founder, Jasper Grant, at the keys!

And a shout out to Maggie McNeil who was wearing her Erin's Faces Satin Lipstick in Red - isn't she beautimous?!!

Soy Candle How-To

Alright guys, so I've gotten a lot of "What? You made your candles?  How do you make candles?!" since bringing out my Soy Candles for holiday (which you guys loved as much as I did since they totally sold out - yay!).  After reading a TON of information online and watching multiple how-to videos, this is how I made mine (and how you can make yours too if you like!).

First off, I rec putting waxed paper down on all of your surfaces - wax or oil will inevitably drip somewhere while you're making your candles - especially if you're doing as many at a time as I did.   

After measuring out the amount of wax you need on a food scale, melt wax (I use 100% Soy Wax) on a hot plate in a stainless steel pitcher - I stir it with a paint stirrer.

Once the wax is totally melted we need to get it to 185 degrees.

Then we can add our fragrance/essential oils.  You need about 1-1.5 oz of fragrance oil per pound of wax.  Essential oil amounts vary by scent.  Anything you use to measure your oil will get totally jacked so don't use a measuring cup you love - it's impossible to get all of the oil out.

Remove from heat and add fragrance oil.  Stir thoroughly and then we need it to cool down to 125 degrees.

While you're waiting you can hot glue/sticker your wicks (which you have to experiment with the sizes of to get the right "melt pool" in your wax) into your container.  I ended up going with hemp wicks.  If you like something more interesting than the typical short glass jar check online at flower arranging/garden sites - their containers will be water tight and more fun.

Wicks glued into the center of the hobnail glass jars.

I think you're technically supposed to glue your wicks in after you put your jars in the oven but my jars are too big for my hands to fit easily without burning them so I do the wicks first.  Back to the oven - you're supposed to warm up your containers, at a really low heat, before pouring in the wax, so the wax doesn't "shrink" away from a cold jar.

Get an electric thermometer to do your temperature readings.  Once you reach 125 degrees you can pour it out.

If you look in the lower right corner you can see the bag of wax (looks like a white plastic bag) on the floor.

To keep your wicks centered you can use popsicle sticks, pencils, etc but I grabbed some wick bars to make it easy.

I don't add any color since I'm not into any additives.

Slowly but surely the wax hardens and you can cut the wicks to 1/4 inch - I've found fingernail clippers - new ones! - to be the easiest way to do it.  If the tops are "craggy" in your wax you can remelt it with a hair dryer.  

Then if you want to decorate with some jute twine you can throw that on there :).

The Hobnail Glass Jars take one pound of wax and the Recycled Zinc Tins take a half of a pound.  

I'll let you guys know if/when I make another set of candles - I'm not going to lie - they are crazy labor intensive and NYC apartments don't tend to be set up well for them so it isn't at the top of my list but people loved them so we may have a batch of Gardenia in the spring :).

Big Fish Opening Night Goodies

The beautiful Kate Baldwin is the lead in the newly opened "Big Fish" on Broadway and she is crazy generous when it comes to gift giving and gave these awesome presents from Erin's Faces to all of the women in the cast. 

Kate's dressing room backstage at "Big Fish" with some of her Erin's Faces goodies as well as a picture of her in the show!

Each of the ladies in the cast was given a Pumpkin Enzyme Mask, Shea Butter Body Balm and an All Natural Peppermint SPF 15 Lipbalm so they'll be retexturized and hydrated.  I wrapped them in blue bags to mimic the blue dress Kate wears in one of the key scenes and did little cards with the show's daffodil-backed logo.  We had done different products for their Chicago opening and wanted to give them winter friendly products this go round.  

If you've got a holiday party coming up, bridesmaids to find something fun for or a wedding/baby shower Erin's Faces can customize a gift set for you that will be custom made for your ladies - it's super healthy for them and they'll love it!

To see Mamma Mia! Opening Night Goodies click HERE.