Travel Beauty :: Interview With Shaffali Skincare CEO

{Want more travel beauty? Get your fill the third Wednesday of every month. Lauren, our travel beauty expert, is already whipping up her next concoction post!}

I met Shaffali over 10 years ago in London, England when we both worked for Bliss Spa UK. She was this extremely ambitious, positive ball of energy that always dreamed of owning her own beauty business. It makes perfect sense that now, 10 years later, I am interviewing her for Trip Styler! Her company, Shaffali Skincare, is fantastic and her products are gorgeous, indulgent, and very efficacious.

Giveaway Shaffali is generously offering a travel set of her incredible products for a Trip Styler giveaway---make sure to enter as they are sure to become your absolute favorite.

• How to enter: Comment on this post {below} and tell us where you'd take your Shaffali Skincare travel set.
• Bonus entry: subscribe to Trip Styler's daily trip style tips via email {above, right}---and include a note about this in your comment.
• Details: Open to residents of Canada and the USA. Entries will be accepted Jan 18 – 25, 2011. Winner chosen via random.org and announced Jan 26, and has two days, after prizing notification, to make contact.

What was the inspiration behind Shaffali? Shaffali Skincare is inspired by the Ayurvedic herbs and spices my mom taught me about as she passed her Indian traditions on to me when I was younger. My extensive travel inspired me to search for the finest aromatherapeutic essences from all over the world, including French lavender, Croatian sage, Italian orange blossom, and Egyptian geranium. The line is best experienced as a ritual, and involves meditation and positive mantras to help users connect to their inner selves.

What is special about the ingredients in Shaffali products? I started making products when I was a teenager because I wanted to keep my face glowing. With tons of self-study, experience working with a variety of products in world-class spas and experimenting with a lot of skincare recipes, I eventually refined my own formulations. The transition of making my own products in the kitchen to working with a lab and a team of scientists is both a passion and a process. For example, the Earth Mask took two years to refine to achieve the exact texture I wanted: smooth as velvet {or frosting} for easy-on and easy-off application.

How have your travels to India inspired Shaffali? My name as well as my skincare line is called Shaffali, an exotic and fragrant night blooming flower found in India. Ayurveda, yoga, and meditation are all part of India’s history, and not only am I drawn to each of them, but they are the foundation for my products.

What do you love most about India? I was born in India and moved to the US when I was young. The people in India are so full of life and love! The many temples and sanctuaries exemplify the act of stopping to give thanks and asking for guidance and blessings. This is a way of life. The Himalayas in the north are beautiful as are the deserts of Rajasthan. My experience having lived in an Ashram {pre Eat, Pray, Love} when I studied yoga and Ayurveda was refreshing for my soul to live so simply and peacefully.

What are the top three products on your packing list? I can't travel without Shaffali Exfoliant, Face Moisturizer and Body Moisturizer. I like to keep things basic. I also love Indian Kohl to define my eyes, and specifically use Lakme Kajal eyeliner. Also, I 'm obsessed with the most amazing scent I discovered at ABC Home {<---A Trip Styler fave!} in NYC: A Quiet Morning by Miller Et Bertaux. It is inspired by {you can guess} India, and made by a French design house.

Shaffali products can be purchased on www.shaffali.com. For international shipments, contact them for a shipping quote.

More Travel Beauty Special Baby Edition On-The-Go Teeth Cleaning St. Tropez’ Celebrity Tanning Expert’s Self-Tanning Secrets  Pre-Trip Primping Q & A With Dr. Murad

[photos c/o Shaffali]

Travel Beauty Month :: Dr. Murad Interview

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{Editor’s Note: In addition to our regularly scheduled content, this month we’re doing a once-weekly feature on Travel Beauty. This week, Lauren, our beauty expert, sits down with LA-based skin care guru, aka The Father of Internal Skin Care, to talk about how to get glowing skin while you jetset---regardless of your trip style! Find out how to win a special Dr. Murad skin care kit here!}

I was thrilled to have the opportunity to chat with the renowned Howard Murad M.D., founder of Murad Skincare and the Murad Inclusive Health Spa, Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine {Dermatology} at UCLA, bestselling author and brand ambassador, and busy dermatologist---who has managed to treat over 50,000 patients over the course of his career! I asked Dr. Murad to share his tips on travel skin care and how to keep your complexion healthy and glowing while on vacation. Here’s what I learned:

Airplanes Can Be More Damaging To The Skin Than The Sun Planes are one of the most dehydrating places on earth. With high levels of radiation at such altitudes; free radical and environmental damage are real concerns. What to do? “The skin is connected to the body, so if skin is dehydrated, so is the body,” explains Dr. Murad. “Internal hydration helps external hydration. Hydrating isn’t just about drinking your water, so much as eating it.” When you eat your water through fruits and vegetables, you not only hydrate, you also provide your body with antioxidants, anti-inflammatories and roughage. Whereas drinking too much water can flush out key nutrients. Eating water-rich raw foods like grapes, pomegranates, tomatoes and cucumbers helps hydrate and plump cells, giving you firmer, healthier looking, hydrated skin. This is an example of Dr. Murad’s philosophy of internal skin care and nurturing your skin from the inside out. So try to bring these fruits and veggies on the plane {if you're traveling domestically} to stay hydrated in-flight and keep your skin glowing! And while you’re at it, check out Dr. Murad’s book The Water Secret, the perfect beach read. On the surface, you can also hydrate the skin by using moisturizers with botanical extracts. We recommend Murad’s Hydro-Dynamic Ultimate Moisture, {Sephora.com, $65} an ultra-rich cream that locks in moisture for 8 hours and Active Radiance Serum Featuring Resilient-C Complex {Sephora.com, $89} which helps skin resist environmental damage.

You Really Are What You Eat Vitamin A is known to improve the look of your skin, and is commonly prescribed to treat acne and smooth fine lines. Dr. Murad recommends eating Vitamin A and antioxidant-rich foods to help your skin from the inside out. Tomatoes, apricots, carrots, pomegranates, melon, papayas {yellow and red fruits and veggies} and green tea are examples of foods that are not only hydrating, but high in Vitamin A and antioxidants---i.e. super foods for the body and skin. In addition, these foods can help reduce certain radiation from the sun---just another reason to fill up on them. Dr. Murad cautions to stay away from fried and fatty foods, noting “improper eating is not good for the body, and the skin is part of the body.” So to stay radiant while on vacation, fill up on Vitamin-A rich foods and eat healthy.

Keep Up Your Skin Care Routine Even on vacation, Dr. Murad recommends at the very least a 3-step skin care routine. Start with a cleanser for your skin type, follow with a treatment {depending on your skin, could be something for acne, wrinkles or pigmentation} and finish with a moisturizing sunscreen. Murad makes some fabulous travel-friendly kits that contain everything you need while on vacation, my favorites are: Age Reform Complete Skin Renewal Kit {Murad.com, $42.50} with: cleanser, treatment, day and night cream Radiant Skin Renewal Kit {Sephora.com, $45} with: cleanser, serum, moisturizer and treatment all packed with protecting and strengthening Vitamin C.

The Sun Being outside and enjoying yourself is part of being on vacation---it’s unrealistic to think that you can stay out of the sun entirely. Dr. Murad suggests mixing a good sunscreen with at least an SPF 15 and UVA and UVB protection {to combat the burning and aging rays, also called “broad spectrum” protection}, as well as “internal sunscreen” {a healthy diet of fruits and veggies rich in antioxidants}, will keep you protected and can even increase the effectiveness of sunscreen. He says to look for sunscreens that contain chemical blockers like avobenzone, octocrylene, and ecamsule, as well as physical blockers like zinc, oxide, and titanium dioxide. But being outside poses more risks than harmful sun rays, there's also pollution and smog to think about. According to Dr. Murad, “a moisturizing sunscreen rich in antioxidants, with ingredients like pomegranate and green tea will help protect your skin from harmful environmental elements.” We love Murad’s Energizing Pomegranate Moisturizer SPF 15 (Murad.com, $33) which protects from free radicals and contains antioxidant-rich pomegranate.

More Travel Beauty The Best Fragrance For Each Trip Style Q&A With tarte Cosmetics Founder Beauty Bars Around The World Travel Beauty Hair Tips from Celebrity Stylist Michael Shaun Corby 4 Products You’ve Never Heard Of In-Flight Essentials

{Murad Gift Giveaway: Open to residents of Canada and the USA. Entries will be accepted Aug 10 – 16. Winner chosen at random and announced Aug 16, and has two days, after prizing notification, to make contact.}

[photos courtesy Dr. Murad]