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Moisturizing is very important whole year long, because moisture level in the skin determines skin elasticity and young appearance. In winter, when we spend our time in heated premises, the skin increasingly loses moisture (at the same speed/amount as in summer). To moisturize the skin means to build a protective layer of skin, preventing moisture evaporation, and nourishing the skin with moisturizing ingredients such as glycerin, hyaluronic acid and skin restorative and active substances such as vitamins, antioxidants and plant extracts.

During the winter many cosmetic users are often worried that when moisturizing the skin, it freezes and is getting damaged. These fears are unfounded, since the pure water in the product evaporates very soon, leaving on the skin just the moisturizing and nutritive substances. Skin nourishment cannot be separated from skin moisturizing - it's a related process done by moistening cosmetics. Beautiful skin appearance and health constantly needs both, with the same intensity both in winter and summer seasons!

MADARA recommends to take care of your skin with daily moisturizing products: Deep moisturizing cream (for dry, very dry skin), deep moisturizing fluid (for normal, combination skin) and deep moisturizing gel (for oily skin). Those with oily skin can also choose deep moisturizing fluid during the winter days - it contains more vegetable oil. Definitely do not forget to use the restorative night cream too to promote cell regeneration processes during your sleep and prevent signs of aging.

Of course, the story is not about plastic windows - the opportunity exists to make new wooden windows with IGU or, if authenticity is your thing and the old frames are in good shape, you can even renew the old, "genuine" ones with ordinary glass panes or float glass. Same with the door - burn or sand away the old paint, close any holes if there are any and the door is ready for another hundred years. If lucky, under the old Soviet cardboard sheets you'll find very well preserved wooden ceiling. Again, work with sandpaper - and the world's most beautiful ceiling is born again!

The same applies to the floor. The "ecovation" experts recommend linseed oil as varnishes and paints are not environmentally friendly materials. Even more: it's not just about the stubbornness of "green living" - after many years the old, chemical paint has almost encapsulated, "laminated" the planks; it turns out that under a "nice", white paint lies absolutely rotten, decayed wood. Because it wasn't breathing. And wood needs to breathe.

The linseed oil-treated floor boards need more time to dry. Similarly, some people recommend to treat the floor with wax afterwards - that way it'll last longer and serve more.

Clearly, when renovating loft, the drywall will be the cheapest and best choice, although nothing can be more beautiful than simple, nice wooden boards. However, the aptly called "ecowool" (because it is produced from cellulose, or, simply put, from old newspapers) has many deniers who say that stone wool is indeed better against the rats who "eat" the ecowool. On the other hand, the technology of ecowool gives it clear advantage in terms of thermal insulation - because it is being "blown" in dry or wet form in it's place (not simply put by hand), it covers all the smallest holes and gives total insullation which would be very important when insullation a log house. It'll fill all gaps and openings; at the end of the day you'll need less material for the same level of insullation, therefore you won't have to lose unnecessary space (in comparison to a "standard" stone wool insullation thickness of 10 - 20 cm).

Sooner or later during all these repair plans you realize that perhaps all this is quite unnecessary. Maybe our forefathers and ancestors had lower requirements in terms of the average temperature in the house during the winter months? Perhaps they were not afraid from the draft, didn't walk around the house in stockings but built a fine fireplace instead, covered the gaps in logs with moss and just prepared for the winter? Maybe after hundred years, any attempt to repair an old wooden house anyway comes to the moment when you put the central heating in (it's so convenient!), install an electric floor and the dry toilet becomes "wet" with all the sewerage and water pipes. Is that bad? Is it not ecological? Because we truly live in different times.

Lotte Tisenkopfa: "Madara has always been in favor of lenient and humane treatment of animals - in our cosmetic products we don't use any raw materials derived from living or dead animals (such as collagen or animal fats), also our products aren't tested on animals."

Influenced by today's events, Madara Cosmetics has decided to express it's stand on animal protection issue more firmly - within the next year we will officially certify our cosmetic products according to the VEGAN standard that prohibits the use of any products of animal origin in cosmetics.

I ride bike almost every day, all year, with few exceptions when i must choose either public transportation or my car. Or better - my feet. Maybe therefore i wasn't much surprised that every year for 15 consecutive years already on May 14th Sanfrancisco celebrates the "Bike to work" day. Great idea, we should make it happen in Latvia too! What do you say - May 14th next year see each other at the first "Bike to work" day in Latvia?

The slogan of this year's forum - revolution starts in the head! As you can see in the trailer above, it matches perfectly. The forum consists of movies which have been made during the last two years and because of their social and political importance have drawn international attention to them. In other words, those are movies of peoples lives but about the many possibilities of changing the world.

Are YOU ready to begin a carbon diet?

Further info at "Kinogalerija" homepage.

Recently i sat with mygrandmother at her summer house under an appletree, we drank this years limetree tee, and i said: "Grandma, the wind here is so strong, it can rip one's hair off!". And she responded: "Dear, i would like it very much if the wind would make my life easier, but it's too expensive for me."

I sat down, put it on paper and - true. Grandma's house needs 3 kW of electricity, and to generate this much power from wind alone, it would cost 5000 Lats for a wind turbine. Of course, in the name of a greener life this isn't too much, so thought i. But as it turns out, these days even sun or wind can be harmful for nature: sun batteries and wind turbines use composite materials, and therefore both producing and even more so - recycling them after their life cycle is more of a nature harming than preserving. It seems, we need some more disastrous floods and forest fires to stop think about ecological living only in business perspective.

P.S. There are at least two wind turbine sellers in Latvia: Ķer Vēju! un My Own Wind.

It is truly a "million dollar" question, which of them are harmful an which are not. There will always be both organisations who'll promote healthy, natural, organic cosmetics and those who think otherwise - that there's a lack of evidence, that there are not enough studies, that it's all "equvalent to natural", that chemistry nowadays can produce substances which are better than the natural ones etc..

Yes, it is a matter of subject. You all know what i think. But this time it's not about me, it's about you. Who or what lives in your cosmetics? And should it really be there?