We had the pleasure to have a chic chat with the gorgeous Nicole from EcoLuxeLife. Let's see what she shared with us!
I am… a wife, mother to a furbaby, a skin therapist, makeup artist, a Barre instructor, and a Pilates instructor in training. I love.. my husband and dog. I also love being around nature, reading, visiting museums, finding beauty in the world around me, skincare, makeup, and keeping active with pilates and barre.
Nicole wearing our Organic BB Creme in Medium
I trust in... God, and the power of faith, hope, and love
I find it hard to... Create balance in my life, because I can be undisciplined in certain areas (like bedtime!) & super disciplined in others (like my skin care routine & putting things back in their correct spot).
I feel frustrated when... Things aren’t put back in their correct spot.
I am thankful for... So many things, gratitude can truly be found in every moment and I am thankful that it is usually in the smallest of things (which really make up the biggest of things in the scheme of life) – a pretty flower, my dogs gorgeous face, freshly washed sheets, my husbands smile, the blue sky, the beach.
When I wake up in the morning... I’ve recently started implementing the ‘rocket technique.’ The theory is that it takes 3 seconds for the brain to switch on and start thinking about why it doesn’t want to do something. So as soon as I wake up, I count 1, 2, and get directly up on 3, this way my brain doesn’t have time to think and I’m already up and moving for the day.
When I go to bed, I think about... Lately I’m pretty much collapsing into bed and out like a light, but ideally I like to read, then pray and go straight to sleep.
If I could give advice to my 18-year-old self, I’d... tell her that her life is just beginning, to believe in herself & trust that there is a plan for her life, & that everything happens for a reason, even if it feels awful at the time. You will look back, and realise that the moments of your life occur the way they do to teach you something, so learn everything you can from them, and they will help to place you on the right trajectory for your life.
I have chosen to support the natural beauty trend because.. I spent my 20’s working for skincare & makeup companies as a professional skin therapist and educator. During my time with these companies I would do things like help launch products with big events, train beauty editors about our latest products and treatments, and train other skin therapists and nurses about beauty product ingredients, the anatomy and physiology of the skin, how to diagnose different skin types and conditions, and how and why these products and treatments work on the skin and body.
During this time it hit me. Why are most of the active ingredients natural, or naturally derived? On an ingredients list of say 20, why are there only 5 active ingredients (And this is for professional products, not department store or supermarket products which are often much less)? What are the other 15 ingredients in there for and what are they doing to my body?
I started to wonder; I educate people regarding their skin to look at what is happening on the inside of the body as part of the key to what is happening on the outside. What if we started to consider beauty products like we do our food? We apply them to the surface of our skin, and research shows that their ingredients penetrate through our pores, and they absorb into the body. Some statistics say that in as little as 26 seconds, their chemicals can be detected in our bloodstream.
If we look at the ingredients in our beauty products, just like many of us have do with our food, it starts to dawn on us just how many toxic chemicals we can avoid putting on our skin each day by using natural beauty products. On this note, it is also important to me that the products are ethically produced, protecting the health and lives of both animals and humans during the production process.
Lastly, being a skin therapist by trade, I’m all about results! So I love the fact that when a truly natural product that is formulated well, it’s ingredients list is full of active, nutrient-filled ingredients from top to bottom, which equates to fantastic results.
Nicole's skincare essentials (Including LAMAV's Hydra-Calm Cleansing Creme and LAMAV's Rose Hydrating Mist)
My favourite makeup item is... Mascara and mineral powder.
The skin care item I can’t live without... Only one!? I simply couldn’t’! Cleanser and Broad spectrum sunscreen (I feel like a fraud as a type this, because really I couldn’t live without cleanser, hydrating mist, serum, moisturizer, and exfoliant).
When I have to do my makeup in less than 5 minutes, I always apply.. Mineral Powder or BB cream, Mascara, & Blush.
I am obsessed with... Skincare, Makeup, & Pilates. I want to... Live a life filled with peace and happiness. And I don’t want to... Fall into the media trap, which tries to dictate how we should live, what we should value, and what we should think. My mantra for happiness is… Find Gratitude in the smallest of things. Beauty is... Intangible, all around us, and can be found everywhere.
Don’t forget to... brush your teeth.
For more from Nicole follow her on Instagram.
