Hope you enjoy!

Birth of Baby Z!

My skin type is dry and sensitive. Plus, we just moved out to oh-so arid prairies. So the combination of the weather and my already constantly thirsty skin made me feel like I was pretty much pruning up before people’s eyes. I felt and feel like a raisin frequently. You know in the 80s classic Beetlejuice when they summon the dead couple at that seance towards the end of the movie and then they shrivel and age in a matter of moments hovering above the table? That’s how it feels for dry-skinned folk like me throughout the course of a day (minus the hovering above the table, haven’t quite gotten there in my yoga practice yet). I have frequently fantasized about a device that could pick me up comfortably by the shoulders with two clothes-peg type devices, and dip me into a vat of lotion. So when Jess went for the creation of this super-hydration oil, needless to say, I was stoked. So, dry-skinned sisters and brothers, gather round and rejoice because Stark has heard our pleas, and let me tell you a tale. A tale about a hero named meadowfoam.

So, what the shaz-nuts is Meadowfoam, anyway?! A kind of bubble bath that your British grandma uses? A grunge band from the 90’s? A new material that mattresses are made out of that promises the best night’s sleep ever? When Jess revealed to us Stark’s newest family member; Meadowfoam: the Everybody Oil, (or MF) I thought she was just being her creative self with the name, not that it was an actual seed. I consider myself relatively well-versed in the realm of natural health, but I had never heard of Meadowfoam (Limnanthes alba) ever before. Besides having possibly the coolest name ever for a plant, I wanted to research for myself just what the heck this stuff is. If you, too, like to research just what prods are before slathering products them on your face and bod, then today’s your day, ‘cause I just did the research for you!

Meadowfoam

So aptly named as when the cute little white-and-yellow flowers are in bloom, a field of these suckers in the breeze looks like foam on the ocean’s surface. Native to the west side of North America, simply put, this plant and its oil are versatile genius.

Meadowfoam seed oil is over 98% fatty acids with chain lengths of 20 carbons or more, and, it has three long chain fatty acids that were previously unknown – Neat! It also has higher quality triglyceride levels compared to other vegetable oils. Translation: not only SUPER moisturizing, this stable, not-greasy oil adheres and absorbs very well into the skin/hair, and, forms a sort of moisture barrier, keeping hydration in and protecting the skin/hair from the elements. When Jess explained you could use it for whatever you want, she was kind of right! In my brief research, this oil: moisturizes/rejuvenates skin and hair, protects against UV rays (sunscreen applications), eases wrinkles and aging, is great with carrier oils, holds scents well, has a long shelf life, the list goes on.

Aside from these amazing cosmetic uses, Meadowfoam oil is also extremely agriculturally sustainable. This crop is so renewable that farmers actually use Meadowfoam at fallow field rotation time for extra income. Pressed seeds and seed hulls are used as a nutritious addition to feed for livestock. Meadowfoam also requires far less maintenance in the form of pesticides and herbicides than other crops. And, get this – it was first developed in the 70’s, introduced as an alternative to Sperm whale oil in order to protect the species. That’s right, this oil actually made it’s debut as an ACTIVIST for whale rights and conservation, WHAAAAT.

As much as you might want to make this oil a part of you in every way possible, I did not find any Meadowfoam salad dressing recipes, so please do not consume. (But OMG you can get Meadowfoam honey!!)

So the evaluation on Meadowfoam is: props, Mother Nature, on creating this ace card of a vegetation. Hydrate and protect myself with an environmentally friendly crop, yes please. On behalf of myself and Sperm whales I give Meadowfoam a round of applause and two thumbs up, from hands that are so wonderfully hydrated and nourished by the very plant that we are celebrating.

I love green tea.  I love drinking it.  I love cooking with it.  When Stark showed me that I could also put it on my face, it was a done deal.  Using the Green Tea Detox Mask before bed not only revitalizes my skin, it also calms me, helping me sleep better.  When I sleep better, my mornings are better.  And man, I really hate mornings.

I start my day with the best intentions. Those intentions are usually out the window within the first 10 minutes of dragging my sorry ass out of bed.  I am groggy and cranky and will not carry a conversation with you.  It’s because I really don’t get much sleep.  I have trouble calming my mind and I rarely get to a deep sleep, often hovering in a dream-wake state most of the night.  Bad sleep means an unrested mind.  As a result, I am forgetful, scattered-brained and sometimes have trouble focusing.  Moreover, I am not an organized person.  I tease my boyfriend for his extreme organizational skills and I’m annoyed by his fastidious insistence on having fridge items placed in their designated spots.  But I secretly envy his discipline.  The only place for ritual in my life is the morning.  I try to make sure I drink a big glass of water as soon as I wake up, but it’s usually followed by a guilty cup of coffee.

Now, a coffee a day is not bad for you.  I’m just not so sure it’s the ideal thing to put in your body the instant you wake up.  However, the process of setting up my moka pot, the smell of the coffee brewing and the bittersweet taste of a perfectly executed café au lait is the key to taming my morning beast.  So I have found something that equates that experience in the form of matcha.  I’ve tried to switch up my coffee fix with various steeped teas, but nothing could replace it quite like matcha, particularly because it tastes divine with warm, frothy milk.

The beauty of matcha is that it is as pleasing to the eye as it is to the rest of the body.  Its vibrant green hue is a clue in itself to how good it is for you.  Because you’re ingesting the whole tea leaf, matcha has more catechins, chlorophyll and antioxidants than steeped green tea.  It’s also said to boost metabolism and help reduce cholesterol levels.  I like adding it to smoothies and yogurt, and my boyfriend and I are planning on blending some in pasta dough to make springtime-inspired matcha linguine with fresh green pea pesto.

Perfectly prepared matcha paired with a sweet
Photo by Shabbar Sagarwala

While green tea does contain some caffeine, it doesn’t have nearly as much as coffee, so its stimulating effect brings alertness without the nervousness and agitation that coffee does.  It’s no surprise that matcha was originally consumed by Buddhist monks to stay alert during long hours of meditation.  To this day, matcha is associated with ritual and ceremony and is the predominant type of tea used in the Japanese tea ceremony chanoyo, or The Way of Tea.  I have yet to attend such a ceremony, but learning about it has fed my desire to be more mindful and deliberate in my actions, something that is sorely lacking in my hectic city life.  The Way of Tea is an art form that teaches you to strive for simplicity and refinement, and it gracefully leads you to realize the uniqueness of the moment.

Appropriate placement and order of objects for tea ceremony
Photo by Shabbar Sagarwala

I’ve started meditating before bed to help me fall asleep faster, and I’ve paired this with a more worldly ritual, the evening Beauty Ritual.  At least once a week, after washing the day off my face, I’ll apply Stark’s Green Tea Detox Mask and sit in a quiet place to try to clear my mind for the 10-15 minutes that the mask is doing its magic.  I focus on the lovely scent of the mask to draw my busy mind away from all my racing thoughts.  I like mixing the TE mask with a little lemon juice, sometimes honey. Those smell amazing.  It’s wonderful to use yummy hazelnut oil to work it off after.  Green tea to bed, green tea to rise.  The circularity of that ritual lends a little calm and order to my messy nature.

When Julie Mondor isn’t sitting at a computer all day making a living, she’s either at her kitchen counter preparing an ambitious meal, or standing at a set of turntables mixing as Ruby Jane.  You can catch her live in Montreal at the Wefunk monthly jam at Le Bleury or you can listen to recordings of her frequent appearances on wefunkradio.com

We’ve been keeping this little puppy under wraps until now, but here is our big surprise….a new mask has come to the Stark Skincare lineup!

I am so so so proud of our newest product! Not only is the Stark-simplest of all the Stark products, but it is also the most edible…making it a great choice in product when travelling to remote regions, high in danger and excitement.

CHECK OUT PB HERE and find out why we think it’s so awesome!

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Ok, ok, so this was CLEARLY an April Fool’s day prank! But since I kind of love it, here’s the copy that went along with our exquisite PB mask:

“These Peanuts were transported by Toucan! And now they’re on my face!”

Obviously, I’m really excited and happy about marrying my best friend, business partner, baby-daddy and absolute love of my life. He proposed to me on Christmas day (also his birthday…weird huh?) and I think amongst all my bawling I sputtered out a yes. We just wanted something ultra-ultra low-key for now. Just get the deed done, more or less, and make it a special date for the two of us. With the baby coming, we really can’t budget the time and money for a real wedding with a reception, guests, food and whatnot, so we’re heading to the court with 2 of our good friends as witnesses and then the 2 of us newly-weds are heading off to a nice hotel we booked downtown for some heated rooftop swimming, fake champagne, takeout and snuggles, sexytime, quality time.

Even though only a handful of people will even see me tomorrow (in all my 9+ months pregnant glory/bloat), I am a woman, and I do like looking nice. You know how it is. I didn’t exactly go all-out on my outfit, hair and makeup, but I don’t want to roll up in my PJs either!

So, here’s my beauty plan for manana:

Outfit: I didn’t want to spend much on a maternity wedding outfit that hardly anybody would get to appreciate. Also…not really the type of thing you could wear more than once, right? What can I say, I’m practical and a minimalist. So, I am wearing a very comfy long black skirt empire-waisted over my bump. I have a vintage lace shirt, a vintage blue belt with a gold lion’s head buckle, some simple jewellery and some vintage black boots (but I may take them off when I get there…barefoot and pregnant, it just suits me.) I’m going for something casual-ish, simple, comfy and vintage-inspired.

Skin: Although I am tempted to do a number of  crazy concoctions on my face today, I’ll take it easy and stick to what I know my face likes (which is Stark…I’m sure you’re not surprised.). No use tempting fate right now!

• First, I will do a quick cleanse/rinse with water and a Konjac sponge.
• Then I will do a 10 minute steam over some lavender and chamomile flowers.
• I will follow this with a Green Tea Detox Clay Mask mixed with manuka honey. ~15 minutes.
• Next, I will wash off the mask using that crazy technique with our Grapefruit Balm.
• Following all this, I will probably use a new facial oil that I can’t tell you about right now. (shhhh, I didn’t say anything!)

Hair: Today I am conditioning it with this crazy henna, clay and herb stuff I bought in the souq in Kuwait. It smells and looks weird but gives my hair good texture. I am going to follow that up with a coconut and shea masque, then wash and condition it. I’ll apply a little Meadowfoam the Everybody Oil to the ends. When it’s semi-dry, up in a sock-bun it will go!  Tomorrow, I will style it in some kind of loose, casual chignon-type thing with a pretty vintage broach I have with enamel flowers and little jewels.

Makeup: I’m sooooo excited when I get to wear makeup! Tomorrow, I will be wearing my all-time favourites:

• From Ilia Beauty: A great RED lip conditioner/lipstick for the un-brave called Wild Child… I got it here!
• From RMS Beauty: Their infamous Living Luminizer. I put it in the inner corners of my eyes to make me look awake. I go it here as well!
• From Vapour, this kinda non-foundation foundation. The ingredients are so good, and the coverage is light and breathable, yet makes an impact on your skin…its more of a BB cream, I think. But thicker.
• Eyelids: probably a mish mash of Living Luminizer and/or Ilia Iluminator in Sway. I won’t do mascara or eyeliner as I KNOW I’m going to be (literally) crying my face off anyhow.

Nails: Don’t hate, but I bought some non-clean nailpolish and I’m actually SO excited to wear it! It’s a new thing by CoverGirl, and apparently it is very good. I got this neutral naked colour. Kinda beige-ish. Doesn’t sound so exciting, but whatever, it’s been YEARS since I have painted my nails and toes!

I think that pretty much covers it, besides tweezing my eyebrows and shaving my legs! Haha!

Anyhow, wish me luck! I’ll post a photo when I have one! xo

Can you believe it? Businesses. They just grow up so fast!

To celebrate, we launched presales of MF..which is our awesome Meadowfoam The Everybody Oil. Also, until February 15th, use promo code yearONE in step 2/2 of the checkout process to enjoy 10% off ANY product!

xoxo

So, I though I would share with you some of the awesome super crunchy hippie things that Adri and I have been up to in preparation for baby Z to make his grand appearance (I was going to say “grand opening”….ouch.). Below is a list of what we plan on doing, a list of links for how-to’s and other (hopefully) informational ramblings.

1. Cloth Diapering Shenanigans

Mais oui, we are doing the cloth diaper! Here’s why: we both work from home so it’s convenient for us, we don’t hate the environment enough to fill it with our baby’s butt buckets, we want to save money, cloth diapers are sooooo cuuuuute and I was cloth diapered because my butt was too sensitive for ‘sposies, and I’m assuming my little one will be the same. There’s not much that can be said against using modern cloth diapers, in my opinion. Yes, they aren’t cheap but they last. They are obviously better for your baby’s health (no additives in cloth!), they are cheaper in the long run (one cloth diaper = 300 ‘sposies in a baby’s un-potty lifetime!) and I don’t know about you, but I get a huge guilty conscious when I’m wasteful or pollutey in a significant way and just can’t see myself using disposables (although admittedly we will be buying a little pack of newborn disposables just in case.) In terms of CD styles, we’re doing old school prefolds + Snappis with covers (of course), as well as simple all-in-ones and a few pockets. I am in love with the idea of prefolds because of how versatile they are. Yes, I love multi-functional things, even when it comes to what my kid poops on.

I have been haunting Craigslist and Ebay for some good deals, as well as checking out online cloth diaper stores for package deals. I found this website a couple days ago, and honestly? I’m in love. I can’t wait to try the Charcoal Bamboo Diapers (reminds me of a certain version of these!) and their copy is some of the funniest I have ever read.

Cloth Diaper sewing DIYs. Want to venture into making your own? More power to you! I’m not brave enough yet, but am considering it for the future. make your own using this link, this link and this super profesh looking PDF here. Or just use Google…I came up with over 6 million hits for “how to make your own diapers”. Boom.

Wipes DIY. I’ll admit that for whatever reason, I’m not so hot on the reusable wipe idea. I don’t know why. Maybe it reminds me of people who make their own toilet paper wipe things? It’s just…I can’t. However, most wipes have incredibly scary ingredients in them that I couldn’t imagine using on my self, let alone my little one’s tender zone. I’m definitely, definitely making this recipe.

EC. That’s “I’ve got a newborn or am expecting and know so many acronyms it would make your head spin” for Elimination Communication. Adri’s all about training the little one to use his potty at a very early age. I’m a little sceptical , but very intrigued and totally game.

2. Baby Wearing

Uh huh, you see where this is going! No strollers for this family! Baby wearing makes sense. A LOT of sense. The closeness and the contact are great for baby’s sense of security and even helps with developing confidence, and baby’s that are worn tend to be healthier because skin to skin contact with mama and papa can actually transfer useful and potentially lifesaving antibodies.

We wanted to make our own newborn carrier/sling because we didn’t feel that a Baby Bjorn or Ergo whatever would be appropriate for a newborn, and I plan on wearing my babe pretty often around the house AND when we go out (it will almost be like I’ll be pregnant….forever!). What I really wanted was a Moby Wrap, but DANG those are expensive, and the thing with buying a lot of baby gear is that you really don’t know what you’ll need. I know we need diapers. I know baby will need my boobs. But what kind of carrier? I don’t mind shelling out the big bucks for stuff I know I need and love, but when I’m not sure, I’m hesitant.

So, I decided to make my own wrap. Actually, we made 2 because when we bought our 5 yards of jersey, we just got the guy to cut it in half, right down the centre, and BAM! Twofer!

No idea if this will be the wrap of my dreams (the butternut squash we used as a doll seemed to like it, though) but I do know that if I end up carving up that fabric to make something else out of it, I won’t be kicking myself for having wasted $60.

However, when Z is a little bigger I definitely want a ring sling like one of these gorgeous creations (made right here in Montreal!) by Smigli Slings. They are easier to get in and out of and because there’s no stretch, they are more appropriate for heavier little dudes.

So, I guess that’s my first installment of my blog being taken over by babythings…much like the rest of my world! Hope you guys can bear it!

Do you wear your baby or use cloth diapers? Have any wisdom to pass along?

I won’t really be taking a maternity leave when the little one arrives, but I will need a little (ok, a LOT) extra help. If you want to contribute to the Stark blog… I’d be thrilled! I normally blog about health and/or beauty stuff, but I’m also open to some creative new ideas!

Email me jessica@starkskincare.com