The Benefits of Holistic and Naturopathic Medicine

What is holistic medicine?

Holistic and naturopathic medicine is an alternative medical practice centered around treating the patient in a more natural form and taking the whole mind, body, and spirit into account as opposed to just the patients symptoms. Holistic doctors can still prescribe pharmaceuticals, and sometimes do, but focus not only on the symptoms of the patient but also potential root causes that may stem from problems in their daily life. 

What are the key principles of holistic and naturopathic medicine?

1. The power of nature 

• The body has its own natural ability to heal and maintain health.
• Holistic and naturopathic medicine focuses on removing obstacles through treatments to enhance healing. 
• The treatments are far more long-term. 
• Treatments and therapies are better for your body than most harsh pharmaceuticals.

2. Identify the root cause

• Holistic and naturopathic physicians treat the root problem of the illness, instead of just treating the surface problem.
• Symptoms are believe to be an identification of an internal imbalance that can be caused physically, emotionally, or mentally. 
• Naturally, other problems will be identified throughout the process, but will also be healed throughout as well. 
• The quality of the person as a whole improves. 

3. Do no harm 

• Holistic and naturopathic treatments are gentle, non-invasive, and effective.
• The goal is to use treatments that don’t simply suppress the symptoms. 

4. Treat the whole person

• Treatments are extremely personalized. 
• Holistic and Naturopathic physicians are interested in treating the patient as a whole, not just the disease, essentially healing all. 
• “It is important to know what sort of patient has the disease rather than what sort of disease a patient has.” -William Osler, MD

What are the benefits of holistic and naturopathic medicine to your wellbeing?

• Your needs will be much more successfully responded to through this practice 
• You will receive much more natural treatments centered around nutrition, botanical medicine, and other non-i nvasive treatments  
• You will receive care with all aspects of your life taken into account  
• You will receive much more personal care centered around communication and patience
• Your quality of live will improve because the root problem will be addressed  

STYLE CRUSH: IGGY AZALEA

Today's post is a Style Crush post dedicated to the one and only, Iggy Azalea. 22-year-old female rapper, Iggy Azalea, doesn't only have great music but great style. Her eclectic taste is probably the first thing that drew me in, and today I thought I'd dedicate my first Style Crush to her!

Iggy's style is a combination of bold prints/bright colors/gold chains. If I could define it, it comes up in my mind as hip-hop-y with a Givenchy-esque designer twist. If that even made sense. You know what I'm talking about. Regardless, she's got some killer taste that completely reflects her tough personality. Enjoy!

xo,

Amira 

IGGY AZALEA MUSIC: My World, I Think She Ready, PU$$Y, etc. 

MARINA + THE DIAMONDS & CHARLI XCX @ THE SHRINE

Yesterday, May 11th, I had the honor of going to the Marina and the Diamonds concert with Charli XCX as the opening act at The Shrine in LA with some of the best people! I went with a few of my good friends and we honestly had the times of our lives. IT WAS THE BEST CONCERT EVER. I am putting that out there so you guys don't think I was any less ecstatic about it than I really was. Seriously, I was pissing myself the entire day. I don't want to go into too much detail about this concert as I'm planning on making a vlog-style video on my YouTube but I thought I'd make a blog post about how seriously awesome they both are live.

CHARLI XCX 

Charli XCX is a 20 year-old English singer-songwriter known for her 90s style synthpop/electronica type music. Long story short, if Marina and Grimes had a love child, it would be Charli. She has such a unique sound and look to her and she was seriously adorable when she was rocking out on stage. At The Shrine she sang a collection of songs, including some of my favorites, 'You (Ha ha ha)' and 'Nuclear Seasons'. 

MARINA + THE DIAMONDS

Now Marina is already pretty well known, so I'm going to focus on how crazy good she was live instead of giving a biography. My friend Cat and I were pretty all over the place during the concert trying to find a spot where everyone in front of us wasn't 6 feet tall, although we did manage to find really good areas that provided a clear shot of Marina just about the entire time! Amidst our scavenging we realized she sounded EXACTLY the same live as she sounded on her CD. It was honestly crazy, she is truly talented and deserves every bit of fame she gets! She too has a very distinct style, which is why I think she is loved so much. She's also so good to her fans, and I'm sure if security weren't such douchebags she would have definitely came outside after her concert and said hi. Regardless, it was an INCREDIBLE experience and one of the best nights of my life. I'll be sure to make another blog post linking my video explaining the whole experience when it's up! It was too good for words.

If you know of a Marina + The Diamonds ft. Charli XCX concert near you and you're a fan of either, I encourage (borderline FORCE) you to go. It was like a giant party, and to say I had a blast would be an understatement. NOT TO MENTION WHEN I WAS WAITING TO BE PICKED UP, CHLOE GRACE MORETZ (ONE OF MY ULTIMATE GIRL CRUSHES) WALKED RIGHT PAST ME. More details to come when my video is up! 

xo,

Amira 

FRESH-FACED EVERYDAY MAKEUP

Hello again! Today's post is going to be a beauty post, in particular my favorite everyday minimal makeup. I definitely think less is more when it comes to makeup, and especially when the weather starts warming up a bit I don't hesitate to use the bare minimum on my face. So today I thought I'd show you guys what I've been working with on my fresh-faced "no makeup" makeup for Spring!

The two tubes in the back are my two all time favorite light-weight liquid face products. I'm not one to cling to a foundation on a day-to-day basis, and for school I don't like the feeling of too much makeup on my face anyways. The white tube is the Lancome Bienfait Multivital Tinted Moisturizer in the color Sand (2) which is WAY too dark for me. I really don't understand when I was even that dark, but since I've had it since my freshmen year in high school (now a Junior) it has definitely come a long, long way. The green tube is the Clinique BB Cream in the shade #2 as well, except this one actually matches my skin tone but may be the tiniest bit light on me. I use 3/4 Clinique BB Cream and 1/4 Lancome TM, and they both give such good coverage for such lightweight products. 

I love the look of bold brows and minimal eye makeup. I think it gives such a fresh look for Spring and for such an inexpensive price, this Jordana eyeshadow/brow powder (can be found in Walgreens) in Light Ash Brown has been a staple for me.

Now normally in this post I would be showing my mineralized Mac blush in Dainty, aka my favorite peach/coral blush EVER, but unfortunately I left it at a friend's house and have not been able to pick it up all week. I decided to use one of my favorite drugstore blushes for the week which is the Maybelline Dream Mousse blush in a really soft and natural pink color, called 'Dolly Pink'. 

Oh. My. Goodness. I have so much to say about this lipstick. I originally bought this Revlon Lip Butter in Creamsicle for Prom in particular, and used it all the way throughout the night and shortly after fell in love with it. The photo makes it come off as a brown-toned peach, but believe me it is the most gorgeous nude-peach ever. I would classify it as a nude lipstick with peach/coral tones to it and this is something I would definitely re-purchase. 

Now I did indeed forget majority of my makeup products at a friend's house that I previously mentioned, including my two everyday mascaras. Not to worry though, I dug through my not-so-used makeup and found this gem that I got for Christmas. I tried it out when I first got it and for some reason thought it was clumpy, but I'm not even sure how I came to that conclusion. I have a huge thing for mascaras with wet formula because I feel like they apply so easily and don't take as much time since they just kind of glide right on. I love the way this mascara looks especially with absolutely nothing else on the eyes and with bold brows.

So there you have it! Pretty much my everyday makeup routine. I'll be doing a video on this soon, and some products may switch around but this is just the general idea of what I wear everyday. Not too little, and not too much in my opinion, just enough to enhance our natural beauty. Let me know if you guys have any products that you've been loving this Spring! Until next time. 

xo,

Amira 

CAN IT BE SUMMER? (Pt. 1)

By now, with simply two posts you probably know that summer is no doubt my favorite season. Starting in January, I get a really really really intense craving for summer and that's right about when I change my entire room and wardrobe and desperately pray for it to get warm. Here we are in May, and California is already fluctuating between 80 and 90 degrees. I AM SO HAPPY. This is going to be a picture post where I share all my favorite summer-esque photos with you all! (from Tumblr, obviously.)

This is one of my all time favorite pictures ever. It's so beautiful and it reminds me of everything about summer.

I think we can all agree that Vanessa Hudgens is basically summer in human form. Her style is impeccable and she just looks like a walking music festival on a daily basis. 

Another amazing picture. A lot of these pictures are just pictures that I saw and thought wow, I really like that. And that's what happened here! This place looks like a dream.

Amelia Zadro, one of my all time favorite models. She is so naturally beautiful and the colors of the collar type thing she's wearing scream summer. (Not to mention the ocean behind her)

This picture reminded me a lot of what I plan on doing this summer! I'm hoping to turn my old room into an art studio, or something of the sort. (No, I wasn't planning on sitting in front of a window topless)

Not going to even try to lie about the fact that I'd probably piss myself mid-air, but I would definitely do it anyways. Too adventurous to not try, something on my bucketlist! 

This photo reminded me of travel, which is what I do practically every summer. A blog post about my plans will most likely be here soon, and I am so excited for what this summer has in store.

And finally, palm trees. California is the land of the palm trees and of course I can't wait to spend my time out and about all of California! Most people don't enjoy where they live at all because they've been there their entire lives but I love California to death. I feel really lucky to live in such a nice state and I am fulling taking advantage of it's beauty this summer! Hope you all had as much fun reading this as I did putting it together, feel free to let me know something you're looking forward to this summer! Until next time. 

xo, 

Amira

MY FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT MAY

Happy May everyone! I know, second blog post of the day. I couldn't resist. I am so beyond excited about this blog and being able to call it my own. Today's post is going to be a jumble of different things that I'd thought I'd share with you all! I'm going to share my 20 favorite things about the month of May. Tag. Is this a tag? I just made a tag.

1. Heat & sun. Refer to my last post where I stated that I like winter for about 2 weeks. Maybe.
2. Shorts! Being able to wake up and throw on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and head out to start your day is the best feeling.
3. Dresses. I have a love affair with dresses. The only thing better than throwing on a shirt and shorts is throwing on one garment that counts as two. Beautiful. 
4. School is near an end! HALLELUJAH. This should have been #1 because finally coming to the end of an entire school year is seriously something to celebrate about. 
5. Passion Tea Lemonade from Starbucks. Spring/Summer drink of the millenium.
6. Smoothies. That is all.
7. Waking up in the morning and getting warm wind. Thank you California. You've been kind.
8. Happy moods! It's genuinely difficult for me to be in a bad mood when the sun is out. That might sound odd but that Vitamin D in the sun is seriously like drugs to me. 
9. Concerts! Yes, May is commonly looked at as the month of AP testing but after that week of super duper fun I get to go see one of my favorite artists ever in concert aka MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS. The best part is, her concert is a day after my last AP test. Best way to end the cramming and best way to "start" May! 
10. Tans. My face in particular loses a lot of color in the winter and getting it back is always a plus.
11. Minimal makeup. Not that you can't wear minimal makeup all year round, but in the spring and summer it just feels so right. 
12. Bike riding & skateboarding. If I could have a beach cruiser and a penny board life would be complete. (Disclaimer: beach cruisers are realistically priced. Penny boards, as amazing as they are, are $100+ for a plastic organic skateboard...I can dream.)
13. Bike riding & skateboarding AT THE BEACH. #12 & #13 are two completely different things.
14. Bright lipsticks! I feel like May is the month of bright colors and fun new things, so why not lipstick.
15. Prepping for the summer. May is the month before June which is basically the month of summer, and it's always so great to just sit for a good hour and think of all your summer plans. 
16. All the "it's gonna be May" Justin Timberlake/NSYNC posts that happen on tumblr on April 30th. 
17. Being able to go to the local Botanical Gardens and all the other places that weren't convenient to go to in winter due to the fact that the weather outside sucked.
18. When teachers start winding down because they realize that their students are half dead by this point and completely burnt out. So lovely.
19. Being able to open your window and play music and sit down. Every one of these facts probably has weather somehow incorporated into it.
20. And lastly but certainly not least, the feeling that it's practically summer. That's one of the best feelings for me and May just gets me so happy for everything that awaits during the summer!

                                                     

So that's it for my 20 favorite things about the month of May. Hopefully this post got those of you who are just like me when it comes to summer all cheered up! If you have a blogspot and happen to see this, I'd love to hear your 20 favorite things about May! I'm not too sure if you can tag people on this website but I do indeed have a twitter where I'm practically always available: @hiiiamira -- Thank you guys for reading this and I hope you all have a kick-ass start to May! Until next time. 

xo,

Amira 

AN INTRODUCTION!

Hello friends! My first post is dedicated to introducing myself to my readers, whoever that may be, and to welcome you to my blog! My name is Amira and I am currently a Junior in high school, residing in sunny California. Now onto why and what I'll be sharing with you lovely people on said blog. Previously, one of my good friends re-discovered my blog from 8th grade (sounds ancient right?) and reading it and my posts back then made me think-- long story short, I got emotional about how time flies and decided to make a new one to document everything from here on out. I created this blog to share (and speak!) anything and everything that I find interesting and appealing, ranging from beauty to photographs to music to all things fascinating in my life. I love the idea of sharing and expressing what you love, and it is definitely something I practice and preach. A few things about me:

1. I could not live without the sun or the beach. Really, if you know me personally you know that I enjoy winter for a grand total of two weeks. 
2. I love making things. I am a complete DIY art-renovation-design-type person and for most forms of art out there, I have probably engaged myself in it one way or another. 
3. I make videos! Some of you may already know this, depending on how you stumbled upon my blog, but I have a youtube channel (me being the social butterfly that I am) and that's basically where I talk about super cool beauty and fashion stuff that I like. Basically. 

So there you have it! I'm beyond excited to start this blog and it almost feels as if I'm taking on a new kind of adventure in my life. Hopefully this introduction didn't almost bore you to death and instead will prompt you to stick around! More to come.

xo,

Amira