Ecofont

Ever wondered what you can do to help the environment and your budget at your home desk? Well, besides recycled copy paper you can minimize your carbon footprint with how you use the ink you put on that paper. A Netherlands based company called SPRANQ has designed ECOFONT.
ECOFONT is a font you can download and use on your printer and save 20% of your ink. It's a cute font that has lots of little holes in the letters and therefore much less solid color. When you make it a bigger point, it looks a little like old marquee letters with light bulbs in each letter.
Here's you chance to have your name in lights!!!!!
Download it for F*R*E*E @
www.ecofont.eu/ecofont_en.html

Coffee Clatch

Coffee Clatch

Chris Cade created a video for his site Spiritual Short Stories that I thought you may enjoy. :)

http://www.thecoffeevideo.com

Makeup Expiration

Makeup Expires? You betcha!

Last month one of my clients came over so that we could go over her makeup. By "go over" I mean as a team we would go through all of her makeup to decide two things;

1. Which makeup had expired for freshness and effectiveness
2. Which makeup had expired for fashion effectiveness!

For our purposes today I will focus mainly on the former because my experience tells me that that most of you probably have a tube of mascara, a few eye shadows, a couple bottles of foundations and a lipstick or two that you have had since Hillary was standing by her man.
Ok here are the facts:

• Cosmetic Companies are not required by law to put expiration dates on their products and they don't.

• The main reason that makeup needs to be thrown out, other than that eye shadow was "So last year!" is because of the accumulation of harmful bacteria.

• FDA studies say that even brand new makeup starts off with some bacteria present

So....back to my client and her makeup. I chose to talk about her because I think many of you could relate to her. To protect her identity and not bruise her ego, let's just call her "Mary Makeup".
Well, Mary has been a client of mine for about 5 years. In that time I had never really thought of Mary as a Makeup kind of woman. Most of the time when I would see Mary she would either have no makeup on or maybe just a swipe of mascara and lip balm (not gloss, balm...) OK....I change my mind, let's call her "Saint Mary of Little Makeup". For that reason I was surprised to say the least, when Saint Mary asked about me helping her with her makeup. Of course I could help her so we made a time when we would get together to go over her makeup. I told her to bring all her makeup and we would save, purge and decide what needed to be replaced.
Well, I booked an hour for Saint Mary of Little Makeup and you could have blown me over with a powder puff when she showed up...with a rolling suitcase! Yep, this au natural girl was probably like most of you. Admit it...Under that sink, in that closet or somewhere in your house you have a stash of makeup.
It ended up taking us most of the afternoon, but Mary and I went through everything and here are a few tips that helped us and hopefully will help you.

• Liquid Foundation, 3-6 months (Cream foundation can last 4-6 months)
  Foundation in a bottle should last 3-6 months, but wide mouthed jars can expose the product to more air and should be tossed sooner. You'll know it's time to purchase a new bottle, when the ingredients begin to settle or separate, the texture thickens or thins, or the smell changes.

• Concealers, 6-8 months

• Powders, 1 year (Pressed powder, eye-shadows, blush)

• Mascara, 3 months You should never keep mascara for any longer than 3 months (air pushes bacteria back into the tube). Never "pump" your mascara.

• Lip gloss & Lipstick, 1 year

• Eye/Lip Pencils, 1 year

• Eye and lip pencils should last 1 year or more, but you should sharpen pencils at least once a week to prevent bacteria from being transferred to your eye area. You'll know the product has gone bad if it dries or crumbles.

All of these makeup tips have to do with bacterial contamination so always keep in mind:

Before applying makeup, wash your face and hands with soap.

Instead of directly touching your makeup by placing your fingers in the product, pour a little into your palm or scoop a little out with a disposable spoon or applicator.

• Don't share your makeup with others.

• Keep makeup containers tightly closed when not in use

• Throw makeup away if the color changes or an odor develops (makeup has preservatives, similar to that in food, which can break down over time).

• Don't use water or, even worse, saliva, which could introduce bacteria that could easily grow out of control. If makeup has lost its original texture or consistency, the preservatives have probably broken down.

Hopefully, these tips will help you and your suitcase.. or if you need more help just ask me!

Beautiful Spirit: Ask/Do

Try this: When you are in bed in the morning, put your hand on your belly and breath in deeply, then ask yourself (Out Loud) "The most important thing my spirit needs to attend to today is (Fill in Blank)" The first answer that comes to mind IS the answer. Don't question it. Then, NO MATTER WHAT happens that day DO THAT THING. Repeat this every day for 30 days and see how much your life shifts

Beautiful Music

My Hallelujah Song
~Julianne Hough

This song is such a great way to get you in the space of, for lack of a better term "acting as if"
The words and the beat of this song are upbeat, fun and inspirational. When you listen to this song you can actually picture yourself having the life of your dreams.
Hallelujah!!!

You Tube - Julianne Hough

Beautiful Hair

Do you have Dull and Lifeless Hair?

You may want to test your water. Thats right. Mineral deposits in hard water build up on hair. In order to see if your water is the culprit of the dull problem,

DO THIS:

Fill 2 glasses of water, one with bottled distilled water and the other from your tap. Add one tablespoon of dish soap to each and stir until there are suds. If there are far less suds in the tap water then your water is hard and is probably the culprit of your dull hair.

One solution is to use distilled water as the final rinse when you shampoo. The other is to use a clarifying shampoo once every 3 to 4 weeks. Clarifying shampoos vary from brand to brand. Personally I feel many of them are far over rated and over priced for what they do.

Go with Neutrogena Anti-Residue Shampoo. You can find it anywhere and it works very well. One word of caution: Always use a very good moisturizing conditioner after clarifying shampoos as they tend to strip your hair of vital oils and moisture.

Here's raising a glass of water to shiny and healthy hair!

Beautiful Links

http://www.stevepavlina.com
I just love Steve Pavlina. My good friend Linda introduced me to his site a couple years back and I have been a huge fan ever since. Now he is a published author with his book,
Personal Development for Smart People



Look around his site. He has written a TON of awesome, informative and practical articles on a variety of subjects.

I credit the following exercise for changing the whole direction of my life.
It is deceptively simple.....
Click the link below to try it for yourself. Who knows, maybe your direction will change too.

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/01/how-to-discover-your-life-purpose-in-about-20-minutes/