A night of pampering with All Pampering

I met Nathalie Panic-Vaucher by chance a few weeks ago and we got chatting about what we did. She said she runs pampering events for women, with her business partner Kym Morris, via their company, All Pampering.

She suggested I come along to their next Ladies Escape, held last night in one of the function rooms at Fitzy's, Logonholme.

Nathalie and Kym are full-time mums and business women, who believe that every woman deserves to be pampered. They run regular pampering events designed for women to take time for themselves. They are the Queens of "Me Time"!

The room was dotted with "stations" which we would later move around, and a range of products were on display. It was like a mini Mind Body Spirit expo, with candles, skin products, massage products and the like. The atmosphere was really relaxed and calm, a little sanctuary away from the madness of the week.

Nathalie opened the evening, taking us through a brief guided visualisation to help us calm our minds and centre ourselves.

We were invited to try some polynesian dancing, demonstrated first by the lovely Ruby. It was hilarious. Whether or not any of us will make professional polynesian dancers is another story, but we had a bit of a boogie and a big giggle.

It was then time for the first pampering session - a back and shoulder massage. We paired up and were given a Joya Massage Roller. I had seen massage rollers before, but nothing like the Joya version, which used a solid gemstone as the roller ball. The Joya comes with about 20 different crystal/gemstone roller balls. Each stone has different properties - I think we were using an aventurine stone, a green stone linked to the heart chakra, which helps to promote self-determination and individuality.

We were instructed how to use them, and then invited to give our pamper pal a back and shoulder massage. It was great - having been to the gym the day before, I was in dire need of a massage! The Joya was excellent as you could use the stone roller ball side to get into tight muscles up and down the back and around the shoulders, and the smooth birch wood side provided a firm surface to finish off with long, flowing effleurage strokes.

There were nibblies and music throughout the evening, and we had brief talks by the ladies who were displaying their products.

Loraine, a PartyLite consultant, talked about the range of PartyLite candles, essential oils and all other things smelly and burny. The room smelt delicious! Loraine runs candle parties - another discovery for me from tghe evening. Candle parties - like Tupperware parties! What a great thing to do with a bunch of girlfriends over a few chardies.

More pampering followed, and we teamed up with our pamper pals again to give each other a hand and foot massage. All Pampering supplied the creams, balms, towels and everything we needed. They used all-natural products from the Diva range.

It was interesting to observe the 16 or so women at the event, many of whom at the beginning of the evening were total strangers, and by the end were nattering away like we'd known each other for years. Some had kids, some didn't. Some worked full time, some were full time Mums. Yet we were all happy to be chatting, and doing and receiving a bit of pampering. You get that with women!

The evening finished at about 10.00pm and we said our goodbyes, smiles on our dials and armed with all sort of goodies and brochures related to pampering. It was a really nice way to spend a Friday night.

The next All Pampering Ladies escape is on Friday 13th Feb, and then there's an All Albout Me Expo on 22nd Feb. See the All Pampering events calendar for more details.

A thoughtful housewarming gift

Wow - it's been a long time between posts! I've been busily renovating my place, which, I'm happy to say, is now almost complete.

I've lived in rental accommodation for much of the last 10 years and as my Dad and I were replacing, repainting or revamping virtually every surface in my place over the last three months, it got me thinking that I would like to have some sort of personal housewarming ceremony. Of course, I'll have a house-warming party with family and friends, but I wanted to have a little ceremony, a ritual if you like, that brought new energy into the place and put my own stamp on it.

As I painted wall after 14ft wall, I thought about how I would represent the various natural elements in my place, and started to think about the types of qualities I wanted to bring in. I decided I would have this little ceremony when all the boxes were unpacked, and I had consolidated all of my belongings from London and those stored at my parent's house.

Last week, as I was shovelling boxes of my posessions into the flat, I happened to pass the postman, who gave me a package. I wasn't expecting anything, so it came as a bit of a surprise.

And what a gorgeous surprise it was - a Sacred Space Clearing Pack, from a cool little NSW company called Your Sacred Space. It was from my friend Mike, who is studying shamanic healing.


















The gift box was beautiful (I'm a sucker for stylish packaging), and inside I found a quartz crystal, candle, room mist, smudge stick, bag of salt, and helpful instructions how to use it all to "support you clear your home or work environment".

I love crystals and have several clear quartz stones. The one in the kit had been programmed to assist in the clearing of the space.

The room mist was Your Sacred Space's own blend of rosemary, lemongrass and eucalyptus that had also been amplified with quartz crystals and sodalite. The candle contained the same blend of oils and was a lovely calming green colour.

The smudge stick was interesting - I hadn't used them before, and the instructions suggested that "smoke from the white sage engulfs releases and clears energies."

Finally, the salt can be used on a continuing basis to absorb energies from the space, by placing in a glass or ceramic bowl.

It was a really thoughtful gift (thanks again Mike!), and I'm looking forward to unpacking the final boxes in the next few days and doing my space-clearing.

Suzanne Lewarne, founder of Your Sacred Space runs various workshops in Sydney about working with energy and crystals and offers holistic healing services. Check it out, and consider a space-clearing kit if you or someone you know has just moved homes or offices, or simply want to reinvigorate your personal space.