Self care is something I didn’t give myself at all until quite recently. I saw all these ladies pampering themselves, and I thought to myself, “How self-indulgent, I don’t have time for that – girl gotta work!”. Now that I look back on my stubborn work ethic, I think maybe it would have been nice to take some time out to do these things for myself. I only had my first facial in my late twenties, and put my first face mask on last year when my good friend Abby was worried about my work situation and posted me a “care pack”. (I know, I have really lovely friends!)
Since taking more of an interest in self care, and in line with my ethos of being a conscious consumer, I have spent many hours perusing the internet for organic, locally and ethically made products for my body. Enter BARE by Bauer. I first noticed BARE by Bauer through an Instagram page I’d been following for several years. I’m well aware that Instagram is full of paid advertising, sponsorship, filters and general garbage… so I usually follow up anything that captures my interest by finding out more myself.
I decided to visit BARE by Bauer’s website to read more about the company, and the more I read, the more connected I felt with them. They are run in Australia by a couple – Candice and Matt. Candice is a nurse who, like me, is scientifically-minded and started researching the chemicals that go into body products and was horrified to realise that she had been exposing her skin to so many ‘nasties’. She then began researching natural and organic ingredients to start making her own products – wow! I’m so impressed that she began experimenting with ingredients in her own home ‘lab’… I wouldn’t even know where to begin.
Anyway, the thing that REALLY caught my eye was that every single product has “LOVE” as an ingredient. I know some people would eye-roll at that, but as someone who is very spiritual and loves her crystals, it was heavenly to read about the care that goes into every product. The room is first cleansed with sage, and the person who makes the product does so in a positive environment. As a yoga teacher, getting into that mind space, and setting a positive intention absolutely makes a difference to any physical activity that I do, so I totally related to and appreciated this. The person puts him or herself in a positive mindset, and makes the product in a room filled with uplifting oils and beautiful music – what a lovely way to create! Lastly, the products are stored with my favourite crystal – rose quartz – which promotes love. Read more about their process here.
I reached out to BARE by Bauer to find out more about their brand before trying out a few of their products, which I’ve reviewed below. Here’s the chat I had with the wonderful Candice:
Miko: A lot of thought has gone into your ingredient of “love”. What inspired you to come up with this process?
Candice: We wanted to provide a holistic approach to our products, similar to how we enjoy our day to day lives. We don’t hide behind our brand either, so we truly want our brand to represent us for who we are and what we stand for. We have found a large portion of our customers do appreciate the holistic approach we take too. There are some customers who think it’s a little ‘hippy’, but they still love that 100% of the ingredients are natural, so everyone can appreciate the products.
Miko: As a happy little hippie, I am totally behind your “love” ingredient (but I too am aware that those around me, including my sisters, think I’m a bit ‘hippy’ too!). Which products are your personal favourites and why?
Candice: This is honestly such a hard question! We only release products that we personally use at least once a week, if not a couple of times a day. I find that I go through phases, like everyone haha, as we release a new product is probably when I call it my ‘favourite’ for a few reasons: It’s in the newest shiny packaging haha and we have been putting our heart and soul into it for months and months, so naturally I will be super excited to use that particular product. If you really twist my arm, I would have to say my all-time favourites are: Facial Serum JojoBare, Facial Cleansing Oil & Repair Balm Saving Grace… I chose these products simply because I just could not live without them haha.
Miko: I’ve been looking for a good serum for ages so I can’t wait to try one of them! I also see that you have tea blends coming soon. Are you able to share what we can expect?
Candice: Absolutely! So we have 4 organic herbal tea blends in the works. We have been working on these for approximately 6 months so far, but expect to be releasing them some time around July. The line-up includes: a Skin Supporting & Detoxifying Tea, A Sleepy Tea, A caffeine free Energising Tea & Matcha Green Tea. We are working with the gorgeous Melonie Thompson to bring these blends to our BARE family. Melonie is a Naturopath, Herbalist, Intuitive Healer, Food Therapist and founder of Groundwork Health & Wellbeing. We have Melonie with us to ensure our ingredients list is not only delicious, but also nourishes and supports the body the way that particular tea was intended for.
Miko: Oooh, I’d definitely be keen on trying the sleepy tea! I love that you have products I would want to buy, with the added bonus of being organic. How would you describe the quintessential BARE by Bauer customer?
Candice: Well we definitely have both men and women, because our range is so broad now – from deodorants, through to Facial Cleansers, even biodegradable cotton buds, to Magnesium Plus muscle relief spray haha it allows our customer base to be anyone! But typically, we would have to say females, between 20 to 50, who have made/in the process of making the switch to low-tox products. Many of our customers are actually not accustomed to 100% natural products too, which is so exciting because they go out of their way to tell us how they never knew how well natural products actually worked haha.
Miko: Totally. There’s the idea that by replacing well-established ingredients with natural substitutes, that we might be taking the potency away from it, but it’s great when natural products are actually just as (if not more) effective! It’s kind of like when patients don’t realise that herbal stuff can interact with medications! Herbs can be strong! I digress… Last question: What do you hope to achieve in 2019?
Candice: We have just reached our first birthday, so the first year was all about telling people about BARE. For the rest of 2019, we really just hope to let the business continue growing organically, whilst releasing our tea blends. We have a growing number of shops who also stock our products currently, so it would be great to continue to connect with some more shops out there who share a similar passion for health and environment, continuing to grow our brand reach to new beautiful faces.
I am due to finish my current studies as a functional nutrition coach in a few months too, so BARE will also be transforming again to provide health consults, pantry raids, and sharing tools to enable others to make the switch tolow-tox living…. Very exciting times hehe!
BARE is obviously a business for us, but we want to enjoy a truly organic growth, staying in control at all times and never growing out of control. We also have a rule to ENJOY the journey it takes us! If we ever found BARE was feeling like ‘work’, we would have to stop and re-assess, because that is not what we want it to become. Your health is our passion!
Miko: Truly exciting times for BARE! Congratulations on your success so far and thanks for chatting with me!
My reviews
The first product I was dying to use, was the PRIME serum, which was made for the 25+ ladies in mind. I’m genetically lucky in that “Asians don’t raisin”, but we too can get wrinkles and other signs of facial ageing, particularly age spots. You can read about how each of the oils used in this serum targets a specific sign of ageing under the “Method behind the Madness” tab of the PRIME Facial Serum page.
From my doctor point of view, the two oils that I especially trust in are the Jojoba and Sweet Orange oils. Collagen in the skin is what makes it thick. If you think about it, what’s harder to crinkle – crepe paper or cardboard? I think about skin in the same way. If you have thin skin, it’s easier to wrinkle. If you build up the collagen layer in your skin, it’s harder for your skin to wrinkle… so I am all for building up collagen.
Candice has done a wonderful job of finding a mix that smells amazing. I love how the serum smells, but more importantly, I love how it feels on my skin. It’s a lightweight serum so it doesn’t make the skin feel too oily or heavy compared to other facial oils that I’ve used. I’ve been using this serum for over a month, and my skin is feeling great!
Next: the magnesium oil!
I’ve spoken before about my obsession with good old Mg. I still have on my “to do” list a blog post on magnesium. As the package suggests, magnesium is great for muscle relief. Magnesium can be taken in the form of tablets, but for me it makes more sense to use it directly on the skin if you want it directly absorbed into your muscles underneath. Again, I loved both the smell and consistency of this blend. A few weeks ago, I did a lot of yoga teaching with classes that focussed on lower body strength so my quads were sore! I used the magnesium oil and it has now superceded my regular magnesium oil (I know, that’s big for a creature of habit like me!)
It has a tingly sensation when you put it on (which is explained on their product details here) and it glides on really well. Like the serum, I found the product to be lightweight so you don’t get the greasy feeling at all. My greatest joy with this product? The smell!! I was absolutely delighted when I got a whiff of lavender. I LOVE lavender. As you may have read in my previous posts, I suffer from sleep problems (if you use my search function and type in “sleep” you’ll see a few posts I’ve written on this topic). Anyway, another benefit of magnesium is its effect on improving sleep. The combination of both magnesium AND lavender is a dream product (pun intended).
As well as using it for muscle soreness, I’m loving this magnesium oil for sleep. I use some on my neck and shoulders and give myself a little massage before I go to bed. It’s little things like this that I’ve started doing lately to improve my self care. We all need a bit of self love and self care, and in my case, discovering natural products that are kind to my skin has been one way I’ve fostered this.
Once it starts to get colder in Sydney, I plan on trying out BARE by Bauer’s Bohemian Bath Tea! It also has both magnesium and lavender in it, so I can’t wait to treat myself to it! I’ve still got a whole stack of sleep products that I’ve been trying out for my second edition of Ethical Sleep Products after receiving lovely feedback on the first, so watch this space!
Take care and give yourself some self care today,
Miko xx
