These days I don’t wear makeup. It’s not even been a conscious choice as I still have some rattling around the van somewhere. I think it’s more to do with accepting myself exactly as I am – all the lines & wrinkles, the grey hairs & belly rolls.
I also have a huge aversion to Xmas presents. Like massive. I hate the obligatory nature of it forced upon us by our capitalist society. I hate how people get into debt just to buy stuff for other people that they neither want or need (I’m still using an Xmas box of bathstuffs & creams that I really don’t like the smell of but feel obliged to use as I can’t just throw it away). Ok yes I suppose I sound like the Grinch, but really I’m not. I love spending time with people who matter, or on a beach somewhere with newly-made friends. I love sharing good food & wine & company – why can’t that be gift enough? And it’s not that I dislike sharing beautiful things with friends, in fact I love that! But I love it when it happens organically – when you just want to give something you’ve made or discovered because it excites you to know the receiver will love it. This is what gift-giving is to me, not a litany of stuff bought to celebrate the birth of an guy who was, let’s face it, a massive anti-consumerist.
Anyway the not using makeup means I don’t need face creams much, my skin regime is cold water, or a hot flannel to remove mud flung up at me from my mountain-bike wheels. Having said that, I’m now 44 and after a day’s hiking or biking my skin can sometimes feel dry and tight.
My beautiful friend Rachel, who has as deep a connection to plants & earth as anybody I’ve ever known, sent us these balms she creates with plants from her Wild Violet garden, and oh my! this Earth Beauty Balm is a revelation, it washes over my skin and I am in heaven. The aroma gives an immediate lift; I literally smile. I’ve found it’s better if I use it on my face before going out so that it protects skin from the worst of the cold wind, biting rain and lashings of mud.
So no, you don’t need to buy this for Xmas, just buy it, for yourself, or someone who’ll appreciate it, just because… (label design by @andyrgarside ??)
https://instagram.com/wildvioletapothecary?igshid=q6j2a9vcg0xf
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