by Colleen
I’ve often wondered if mixing up my own skin care using natural ingredients would give me the results that I expect from expensive commercial cosmetic companies, or would I end up with dripping avocado and egg white concoctions leaving me with breakouts and a messy kitchen.
Enter the world of Brigitte Abella, an Ayurvedic Practitioner and natural cosmetic formulator who educates women about natural and traditional beauty secrets along with providing education about holistic health and wellness practices, and mixes up a mean natural beauty mask!
I met Brigitte one morning in her bright and airy atelier in Miami Beach. Brigitte, who is French, grew up surrounded by books on yoga and natural health that her parents kept on the shelves and she often experimented with natural skin care remedies. Her studies took her to New York where she worked in fashion marketing for 11 years. She also trained in make up and began an agency representing makeup and hair artists and stylists. The NYC lifestyle was exciting and hectic and she found herself searching for a place to live where she could be more in tune with nature and a more relaxed lifestyle.
Moving to Miami she began researching Ayurvedic principles and experimented with her diet and skincare based on it. Passionate about her new studies she trained in Miami and Kerala, India in Ayurvedic principles, and later in France she trained in cosmetic formulation.She now educates women on a holistic approach to beauty, helping them with diet and natural skin care routines, offering workshops and consultations as well as tips on her own website.
Brigitte’s luminous skin and serene demeanor immediately put me at ease as she guided me through her process of determining my skin type and concocting a wonderful mask perfect for my skin type and concerns.
According to Ayurvedic principles we all carry the five elements of the earth ( wind, water, fire, earth, and space) in different proportions. Usually one has a dominant element or “dosha” as well as a secondary one, although some may have all three in balance. The three main doshas are Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. We determined that mine was a combination of Vata (air,space) with a secondary in Pitta ( fire, water). This helps to explain my mostly dry skin, proneness to being cold, small frame and forgetfulness. It is important to know your dosha in order to be able to keep your body in balance which helps to prevent not only disease but skin problems. This of course works from the inside out, so keeping your digestion in balance (by eating the right foods) is the key.
Choosing from her array of herbs and clays that are displayed along the shelves in her atelier, Brigitte demonstrated how she combines different elements to make a face mask. This was the fun part for me and I would have stayed all day to mix and concoct creams and face masks! Clay based, she added herbs for moisturizing, antiaging and brightening. The dry powder mask can be mixed with water or yogurt or even rose water to achieve the right consistency and applied for 20 minutes and rinsed off with warm water.
With my new mask and filled with the wonderful information Brigitte shared with me, I set out to listen more closely to my body and try to maintain it’s equilibrium. This week I have tested the water therapy she suggested, which has helped me feel more energetic and recover from my runs more quickly. (even if I haven’t been able to ingest the entire 1.5 liters yet) The mask was relaxing and left my skin feeling clean,comfortable and luminous. I’m looking forward to attending more of her excellent workshops so I can mix up beauty potions to my heart’s content.
1410 20th Street – Ste 201
Miami Beach, FL 33139
Next workshop: Anti-aging secrets revealed, saturday January 31, 2015
For more information check her website: http://www.metiista.net
