Retailer Profile: Meryl Cook Homeopathy & Bowen

Meryl Cook is a Homeopath and Bowen practitioner in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Meryl was the first retailer of Indigena products in Nova Scotia.  Meryl has an online shop www.merylcook.ca/shop as well as a retail location. In her spare time Meryl loves to run, cycle, hook rugs, explore, color and take motorcycle trips.

What is one thing that we would be surprised to learn about your business?

You might be surprised to learn that I am in my 20th year of business.  I started my business as a Bowen therapist and then studied homeopathy.  In the past two years I have been expanding my business beyond the one to one service model by starting an online shop and becoming an importer and Canadian distributor for a line of topical homeopathic creams.

 What is your favourite Indigena Product?

My absolute favourite Indigena Product is the Emerald Serum.  I apply it every morning after cleansing and toning and before applying my Labrador Tea Night Cream.  I love how it makes my skin feel smooth and moist, and how it helps the moisturizer to spread so beautifully.  I love that it is full of anti-oxidants which help to protect my skin from sun damage.

What made you choose to carry Indigena?

Indigena products are the perfect fit for my business, as I work with women (and men) to help them feel pain free, healthy and vibrant. Most patients who come to see me understand that cleaning up their health also includes using clean and healthy products for skin and body care. Often I am asked to recommend skin care products that are consistent with my motto “never put anything on your skin that you wouldn’t eat”, as your skin is your largest organ and absorbs what we put on it into your whole system.Many ‘natural’ skin care lines contain harmful ingredients such as parabens, and petrochemical products. As well, often they contain medicinal essential oils that can anti-dote or interfere with homeopathic remedies.

Late in 2014 I discovered Indigena skin care from Newfoundland and fell in love with their products. Indigena products contain only healthy ingredients, no added water and many contain indigenous plant products from Newfoundland and Labrador. How lovely is that?

5 Tips to improve aging skin, we promise!

How can we care for the skin to achieve a glowing complexion head to toe? People always ask
me and our staff how we care daily for our complexion?We all have different routines, but we all have one commonality: a healthy lifestyle. Eating well, restful sleeping and moderate to intense exercise is the core of any healthy person’s life. A happy body = A happy mind.

Your skin is a reflection of your overall health and wellness and as we age, different things like work, the environment, eating habits, medications, environmental stressors, and lack of exercise
all show up in the form of dull, lifeless looking skin. As a woman moves towards and enters menopause her body loses estrogen which is an integral building block for collagen. The skin loses density more quickly which makes you look tired.

This routine is my ritual for keeping my skin in the best condition possible. I like my laugh lines and I feel so much more confident as I approach 50, but looking after your skin daily definitely helps!

1. Give yourself a home spa facial that includes 2 cleanses and an exfoliating treatment (my summer fav is Land and Sea Exfoliant), followed by a 5 minutes massage with Apres Sport (multipurpose massage product), and then a Sea Veggie Masque to complete the treatment. Lastly, apply Emerald or Botanical Serum followed by either Labrador Tea and or Rose Petal Eye Creme.

2. Start each day with a mug of hot water with a fresh lemon slice – its refreshing and cleansing to the skin as an organ. Drink lots of water throughout the day.

3. Don’t forget your lips, apply Partridgeberry or Smooch Lip Balm.  I have 2: 1 by my bedside to use evening time to rehydrate and treat my lips while I sleep and the other in my purse. Sometimes I apply it under my eyes if that area is noticeably dry.

** A great trick is to apply it under makeup as well to prevent caking of your foundation.

4. Do a self massage daily from head to toe and stretch while you are doing it. Always massage upwards to promote circulation. Apes Sport is great! I use it as a facial and body moisturizer as well as a hair massage oil. Do this once per week and don’t shower right away until the oils have absorbed into your skin. Occasionally I wait until the next morning.  Your skin will be so soft and clear!

5. Eat your way to great skin by eating foods with good oils like Avocados, Olives, and oils for salads like Grapeseed and Extra Virgin cold pressed Olive. Other foods like Salmon, coconut water, and watermelon are beneficial to skin health. For an excellent reference to healthy eating check out Brazil’s Guide.  It is the best global food reference there is!

XO Lisa

Happy Holidays!

The biggest gift you can give yourself is to relax and enjoy the holidays!

Happy Holidays! Love, Indigena #Skincare 💚

DIY Christmas gift: Hot cocoa

I love making homemade gifts for the holidays. Not only is it economical, but I always feel like a gift is more meaningful when it’s made with your own two hands. I played elf yesterday and hand delivered a few of these custom mug & hot chocolate mix packages! I can already taste the sweet goodness of chocolate and marshmallows swirled together in a ceramic mug, but first we need to gather our ingredients and create this special gift!

TO MAKE THESE YOU WILL NEED:

Hot Cocoa mix

Marshmallows

Crushed peppermint candies (optional)

Mason Jar(s)

Scrapbook paper (optional)

Ribbon, Jute or Twine

DIRECTIONS:

So of course we have the hot chocolate mix, but for extra goodness, we’ll add some candy cane bits and marshmallows to top it off. For this diy I’m using a mason jar. So basically all we’re going to do is layer these ingredients beautifully in the jar, starting with the hot chocolate mix. I’m starting with the mix because I want it packed down nicely at the bottom of the jar. You don’t want the mix to be the last ingredient put in, because it will sink right to the bottom.

Next, layer your crushed candy cane bits and the marshmallows on top. How ever much of each ingredient you decide to add is up to you. I put in about twelve teaspoons of hot cocoa mix, and eyeballed the candy cane bits and marshmallows.

All done? Not yet! Finish it off with holiday inspired twine/ribbon and then you’re done!

We’d love to know: What are your favorite DIY food gifts to make or receive? Tell us in the comments or tweet us at @1Indigena!

Indigena’s 12 days of Gifting

With Christmas just around the corner, Indigena will be holding 12 Days of daily specials starting tomorrow!

Each day we will be offering a different promotion that will make a great gift for you or someone else. With such versatile options at Indigena, one of our 12 Days of Christmas specials will fit the needs of a special someone.

Be sure to Follow us on Facebook to see what the days offer will be!

Merry Christmas 🙂

The last minute Holiday Gift Guide

It’s almost the middle of December, people. And though some of us may be finished our holiday shopping, others of us may not be that on top of things. Enter this last minute holiday gift guide.

I love gift giving. I have an entire secret Pinterest board dedicated to gifts for others so when my brother, mother or best friend mentions something they’ve been coveting, I have a safe place to stash the idea for later. This year, I’m doing beauty-related gifts for many friends, so I wanted to share a few of my fave prezzies. Check them out below (for all budgets, for all kinds of beauty gals).

For the clean beauty skeptic: Since swapping clean products into my whole beauty caboodle, I’ve tried to convert as many friends as possible to the clean beauty movement. Some are more hesitant than others, and the ones who I have the hardest time convincing are the ones most concerned about cost. So I point them to a multi-tasker that usually woos them to trying more clean products. For example, our lemon and rose-hip shampoo. It can be used as a hair-smoother, a cuticle oil, a face and body moisturizer and best of all, it has a friendly price point if they want to repurchase for themselves.

For the skincare lover: The Aurora Kit gift set. A dabble of everything and you’ve got a great combo for a girlfriend.

If you’re on a budget: Do a little DIY for the holidays. Get some cute plastic bottles and fill them with a DIY dry shampoo. The thought goes a long way (and if your friends are like mine, they’ll be thrilled you took time to make them something, not just swipe your credit card.)

For the boy: The Multi-purpose lotion, which can be used before or after shaving. No fragrance and it helps reduce redness and irritation. Or check out our body soaps… the Wild Ridge Soap Bar in particular. Calling all metro men, this exfoliating bar works well on the face and body as a daily soap bar. The fine lathering soap is effective in the removal of dry skin and preventing ingrown hairs (folliculitis) especially on the neck area and is a great product for acne control. Also especially effective post workout. I even got my brother and dad to switch from Dove when they smelled these babies.

And that’s it! You will find something for everyone at Indigena. Need help with some ideas? Drop by and we can put you in the right direction! We have a little something for everyone.

We’d love to know: Do you have your Christmas shopping finished or are you a last minute shopper like me?

XO Kimberley

Holiday Gift Guide 2014

Looking high-and-low for lots of gift ideas for everyone on your (our) list(s). Mom? Yep. Your boss? Check. That weird Secret Santa situation happening at the office? You know it.

I absolutely love the Holiday season! I love Christmas music, the smell of pine needles, and most especially…Christmas Shopping! So we’ve rustled up a gift guide to help you choose the gift to celebrate simple, natural beauty! From anti-aging to mega-hydrating, affordable to luxe, there’s something for everyone!

1. Exfoliating Bath Soaps: These are perfect for literally anyone on your list — and the price is right.

2. Aurora Travel Kit: For travel companions and those on your list with a severe case of wanderlust. This set comes with five handy travel sized products. Perfect for holidays!

3. Blueberry Bliss Sugar Scrub: Who doesn’t love the smell of sweet orange? There’s a reason this is one of our bestselling products…

4. The Acne Clearing Trio: The perfect starter kit for anyone with oily, problematic skin. Also great as a teen starter kit!
Contains: Land and Sea Healing Mist, Rooibos Tea Cleanser and Seaberry Soap

5. Bath Soaks: Give the gift of relaxation, whoever receives this wonderful gift will have to stop, relax and let the natural ingredients work their magic. Makes for a perfect stocking stuffer!!! Available in different sizes and different types! 

6. Labrador Tea Night Creme + Rose Petal Eye Creme : For the woman who deserves everything plus a little more! The perfect anti-aging duo.

7. Muscle Recovery Balm: Know someone with tired, sore muscles? This one of a kind product was created to penetrate the skin to reach the muscular layer. It provides instant relief to tired and stressed muscles. Perfect for the gym go-er or anyone needing instant relief to sore muscles. Also a favourite among customers with arthritis!!!

8. Men’s Sampler Pack: The  perfect kit for every mans skincare needs! In travel-friendly sizes (40ml) and in a sealable pack, it is the perfect kit to throw in your gym bag or pack in your carry on!

The Kit Includes: Lemon & Rosehip Shampoo (40ml), doubling as a shower gel, Multipurpose lotion (40ml) for dry irritated hands, Rooibos Tea Cleanser (40ml) for post shaving, Sea Mineral Mist (40ml) for an all day face and body refresher/hydrator & Blissful Lip Balm (9ml) to take care of chapped and dry lips.

9. The Gift Certificate: Can’t decide on the right gift? Let them choose with our Indigena gift cards!

This is just a selection of the kits and gift packages we offer. You can also check out our Facebook page for more gift sets! Don’t see anything that catches your eye? Simply drop by our store and we can put together a package to suit your needs!

We’d love to know: What’s on your skincare wish list this Christmas?

XO Kimberley

Cleansing never felt so good!

Sometimes we just want to feel squeaky clean all over!

With Indigena’s handcrafted soaps you can eliminate harsh chemicals or unwanted fragrances. We never use chemicals, preservatives or artificial colours, just all natural ingredients. These additives can dry out your skin if you have sensitive skin.

Natural ingredients make our soaps and cleansers safe for your skin-care daily routine. Our soaps were formulated with gentle cleansers and locally harvested land and sea botanicals. Amazing natural ingredients go into every bar of our natural soaps.

First we have our ever so popular Sea Berry Soap facial bar, enriched with oils from the sea buckthorn plant. This makes a great face and body cleanser.

Depending on how gritty you like an exfoliant soap to be we have four designed for your specific needs.

Sea Goddess. {mild exfoliant peppermint} Sea botanicals lightly exfoliate and tingle all over with this peppermint oil based soap. Great for tired legs. Revitalizing. Face or body bar.

Wild Ridge. {medium exfoliant orange} Land botanical formulated for men this soap is especially effective post workout. Not surprising, girls love it too. Made with gently exfoliating botanical powders and seeds, it is a great pre-shave soap to prevent ingrown hairs and skin irritations due to clogged follicles. Face or body bar.

Bikini Babe. {medium exfoliant orange} For those who need silky smooth beach ready skin, Bikini Babe is for you. Especially effective for use post depilatory like Brazilian waxing. Body bar.

Tough Love. {course grit orange} Sometimes your skin needs maximum exfoliation. The reasons vary, change of seasons, you travel a lot, you have excessive oiliness or dryness or you have problematic skin (back acne, etc). Tough love cleans deeply and prevents pores from clogging. Body bar.

If you’re looking for a simple natural way to give a gift this Holiday season, our handcrafted soaps make a great choice! We have something suitable for everyone.

We’d love to know: What kind of soap products do you currently use? 

XO Kimberley