Green Goddess Guide: The Makeup Guru Behind W3LL People

Our handbags and medicine cabinets are never safe from friendly, prying paws. Whether it's a lunch date sorting through Suzanne's makeup bag, an overnight guest rifling through Lauren's medicine cabinet or a fellow yogi digging around in Katie's gym bag, our friends are always wondering which healthy products are on our radar now. We're more than happy to share - we love this stuff! - and we love to give credit where credit is due. One brand that everyone on 'Team Chalkboard' can agree upon is W3LL People, an Austin, Texas-based beauty brand whose green makeup line can be found on at least one of our mugs on any given work day. W3LL's aloe-based foundation is a daily staple, their colorsticks can hang with any conventional makeup brand, and, to add to their appeal, their team, including co-founder Shirley Pinkson, knows how to get to have a good time while getting people glowing! Shirley is the makeup artist guru of the team and obsessed with creating beauty looks that are 100% natural. Here are Shirley's own notes on favorite makeup bag staples and how she likes to get gorgeous on-the-go...



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Inside The Alkaline Pantry: 12 Staples To Stock Up On Now

Pressed Juicery consults a wide range of health experts to help train their team. Everyone from yogis to chefs to nutritionists have made their way through our doors in order to keep our staff up-to-date on the power of juicing and a healthy lifestyle. Chef John Hellmers is one of those experts. With his rare combination of classical training in the kitchen and well-informed views about the health benefits of eating an alkaline diet, John helps folks across L.A. in their quest for vibrant health through meal delivery programs, cooking classes and custom cleanses at Food With A Reason. We love to pick John's brain about how to keep ourselves from becoming overly acidic and we're always impressed with the incredible recipes he uses to get us there! We asked John which staples he keeps stocked to make the alkaline diet easier to adhere to. Here are John's thoughts and his essential picks... An alkaline lifestyle is becoming more and more mainstream as people learn more ways to optimize their body’s performance. When training as an alkaline chef, I learned the importance of starting from the basics and of cooking based on the idea that the foods we eat truly do fuel our mind and body. It is key to realize that becoming more alkaline is a lifestyle, not a diet. Things like stress, lack of sleep, drinking alcohol and what we eat are all major contributors to an acidic lifestyle. It is believed by many holistic experts that acid causes inflammation that can lead to chronic disease. Balancing the body with nourishing alkaline foods can create an internal environment that helps with low energy levels, poor digestion, weight-loss, aches and pains, and even disease. The goal is for our bodies to absorb these densely nutritious foods without adding acid-forming foods as well. Eating the proper foods, then digesting and extracting them quickly, will lead to the least amount of acid build up. Below is a list of products I use nearly every day in both my own and my clients' kitchens to help prepare the very best alkaline meals. Stock up to get on your way to a less acidic lifestyle.



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Train Like an Olympian: What Olympic Athletes Do That We Don’t

Nathan Mellalieu has trained a number of Olympic athletes over the years. He's trained his fair share of movie stars too, and we can only imagine which training sessions are more intense. As that rare season rolls around when we're all thinking of the Games, we knew we had to hear from Nathan about a few of his own experiences. Owner of one of the top performing training centers in the world, Studeo55 in Vancouver B.C., Nathan has now set his sites on LA, where he's quickly built a decathlon-sized client list. Here's Nathan on a few things we could learn from his clients who are going for the gold... The Olympics are here once again and most of us will be inspired by the dedication and determination these athletes show us. Olympians sacrifice so many things to achieve greatness when most others would quit. My company and I have had the privilege of working with lots of Olympians, including a cluster of gold medalists in 2010. If you're one of the rest of us who get inspired and want to act, here's your game plan:



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At Home with Designer Heidi Merrick

We wouldn't really consider ourselves homebodies. But we could aspire to after spending a glorious afternoon tucked inside the home of designer Heidi Merrick. Perched like a Mediterranean hideaway above the Silverlake fray, Heidi's sun-washed home, with gardens on all sides and filled to the brim with every shape and size of fashionable curiosity (including a few from her own home line), is the model Californian abode. Heidi is deeply steeped in Californian style, as her home suggests. Born and raised in the surf (her father is top surfboard designer Al Merrick), everything about Heidi oozes West Coast cool, from her unbearably stylish Spring '14 collection to her warm, relaxed attitude when showing us the new growth in her home garden. We joined Heidi to find out how a successful designer and mom finds time to fit in a juice cleanse and how she makes it all work. What we found is, like most of us, Heidi is obsessed with the green juice flavors, which really helps. She also gives herself a little grace to make it through the work and family schedule and relies on her own herb and vegetable garden to fill in her cleansing needs. Between juices, a fresh mint tea helps to keep her happy (and happens to be incredible for digestion). Greens and edible flowers from the garden make the perfect post-cleanse meal to help her transition back into her normal diet. Take a peek inside Heidi's gorgeous home as she makes her way through a typical cleanse day...



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The Chalkboard Q+A with Mindy Kaling

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Spicy Ginger Kelp Noodle Salad

We asked Juli Novotny, the founding mama behind PUREmamas and frequent contributor to the Honest Company blog, to share a healthy recipe idea with us featuring one of her favorite Pressed Juicery flavors. As the mother of two adorable sons, an inspired business woman, and just generally gorgeous human, Juli keeps herself and her family well-fed with her inventive kitchen talents, serving up mainly vegan and gluten-free recipes like nobody's business.

Juli picked our seasonal Apple Cinnamon Persimmon flavor to experiment with and quickly landed on this easy, refreshing kelp noodle salad as her top dish. With a good kick of ginger and jalapeno, this raw, vegan recipe for kelp noodles is completely satisfying, full of vital nutrition and still incredibly light! Here's Juli... Even in the cold weather, I love a good salad. And even better – pasta! So, why not go for a low-cal, super healthy, super fresh and warming pasta dish? Okay, so it's not a warm salad per se but it's warming because of the garlic, hot peppers, shallots and ginger. Those ingredients help give the illusion of being warm without having to cook or use a stove or microwave. This a great cleansing dish as well – when you're eating less dairy and meat and more veggies. I really hope you can find the strength to cut back on dairy this time of year because it only worsens colds and flus. More on that another time. For now, enjoy this nutritious and super easy winter noodle salad. It might seem like a laundry list of ingredients, but after you make it once, you'll be able to whip it up quickly and make it your own – by swapping ingredients and adding fun touches – in no time!

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The Detox Mani: 10 Steps To Super Natural Nails

Everyday our social media feed is awash with nail art. There are Pantone colors, geometric angles, and other spectacles of every imaginable form and fashion happening on nail beds across the country. And while we love the trend, sometimes there is something to be said for a natural nail! Whether your digits just need a break or your hoping to go a little more boho this year, Debbie Leavitt is teaching us a few of her top tips for a green manicure that will get your nails, hands and more in super natural condition. As founder of Sheswai Beauty, Debbie knows what she's talking about. With a passion to help more women find out just how incredible a natural mani can be she launched her line of Sheswai (she-sway) polishes, all of which are 3-free (that's what we're looking for!) and capped with a beautiful sustainable wood cap. We love that Debbie has created so very many versions of pale pink and peach to choose from, along with her more raucous shades in every color of the rainbow. Check out Debbie's simple tips for naturally glowing hands, feet, and nails from the inside out and then enter to win this Sheswai LoveBag: three gorgeous polishes in an eco-chic jute satchel.



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