Q&A With Founder of Apothenne LA, Jacqueline Bradley

Jacqueline Bradley
Founder Apothenne LA
[uh-poth-en]
@apothenne | @jacquelineLbradley 

Jacqueline is the founder and tastemaker for Apothenne LA, a home fragrance company with their flagship products being candles. Apothenne offers intentional home and wellness goods both online and to over 200+ retailers nationwide. Their aim is to provide clean, beautiful wares for the home and one’s daily rituals, wellness journey, lifestyle and spiritual practices. 

We are thrilled to carry these beautiful, thoughtful candles, and to learn more about Jacqueline!

What does wellness mean to you? 

Wellness to me is a lifestyle, a non-negotiable. It’s listening and responding to my body with nourishment for mind, body and spirit. 

Name three non-negotiables in your life.

• My meditation practice 

• Organic, whole foods

• A quarterly retreat to somewhere alone in nature

Your fave Instagram accounts to follow?

• @eyeswoon

• @spiritdaughter

• @goop

Morning routine?

The first thing I drink is a glass of warm lemon water with an LMNT Electrolyte Pack. I take a few of my herbal supplements. Followed up by a cup of organic coffee with GoodMylk Almond Mylk in it. Light one of our Apothenne candles, do a guided meditation, shower and I am typically at my computer by 8am. 

Evening routine?

Cook a nourishing meal, walk our dog around the (new) neighborhood and either take an Epsom salt bath or do a more elaborate skincare routine. I love to read so I typically will curl up with a book, and I am in bed by 9pm! 

Travel essentials?

• Super You capsules from Moon Juice, they are apaptogenic herbs.

• Raw California almonds 

• GoodMylks Pure Almond Power Latte Creamer- it only has Sprouted Almonds, Maple Sugar, Himalayan Salt

Instant energy boost?

Matcha Tea Latte 

Most used condiment?

Hot Sauce 

Favorite smoothie recipe?

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 banana, sliced and frozen

• 3/4 cup leftover coffee

• 1/4 cup almond milk or other nondairy milk

• 1 tablespoon almond butter

• a handful of ice cubes

• 2 Medjool dates, pitted

• 1/4 cup cauliflower

• pinch pink salt

• cacao nibs for sprinkling, optional 

• Place all ingredients in a blender, and purée until smooth. Pour into a glass, and top with cacao nibs if you wish.

How do you take your coffee (or tea)?

With GoodMylk almond mylk and cinnamon

Go-to cocktail?

A spicy margarita 

3 ingredients/foods you can't live without?

• White sweet potatoes 

• Ghee

• Kale

Go-to gift?

One of our candles and a Wish Bead bracelet 

How do you reset?

Time in the infrared sauna weekly and connecting back to nature often. 

When you feel sickness coming on you...

• Rest. Arrange my schedule and just rest.

• Take the Lypo-Spheric™ Vitamin C packs

• Take a hot bath

What's valuable to you?

My health & wellness. My spiritual journey. My company. Nature and our planet. Access to clean, whole foods.

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Thank you, Jacqueline! Welcome to Fort Worth and to R+R :) We now carry the following beautiful candles in-house, so come grab one (or two!) today:

-French Garden (fresh fir, lavender, ylang ylang, tomato flower and amber)
-Lake House (uni-sex scent, ripe pear, lily of the valley, damask rose, amber, and vanilla)
-Lavender Sea Salt (lavender fields, salt air, lemon, rose)

Apothenne candles are 100% natural and made with non-GMO soy wax, 100% cotton-core wick, and premium essential oils. No preservatives, additives, dyes, phthalates, lead, petroleum or synthetic fragrances.

Q&A With R+R Co-founder, Dabney Poorter, RN, CN

Read through for some fun scoop on favorites from our R+R Co-founder, Dabney Poorter, Certified Nutritionist + Registered Nurse! Don’t miss more from Dabney on our #RRtakeover highlight on Instagram.

Name three non-negotiables in your life.

Jesus, Others, My Self i.e. the 'I am 3rd principle'. My faith has brought me through and kept me strong after difficult life circumstances. My faith also gives me tools to love others better. Loving and doing things to help others, including my family, friends, and clients brings me so much joy. Self-care is important to me. It does not come from a selfish place. I am well aware that if I take care of myself I am better able to care for others. I do have non-negotiables when it comes to my personal health as well: consistently exercise, eat healthy, and drink enough water.

Your fave Instagram accounts to follow?

- Heymami.life

-Graciechambers

-Restoreandrevivefw

-Taylordukeswellness

-Thedefineddish

-Caraclarknutrition

-Branch Basics

-Mark Hyman

Morning routine?

Weekday or weekend? Weekdays are a little crazy. 4 mornings per week I wake up, check my blood sugar, drink 8 oz of water, and exercise. I wake my girls up at 6:50. While they get dressed I make lunches and breakfasts. I eat breakfast with them and have a cup of coffee. Once they leave for school I get ready to either go to Restore and Revive to see clients, attend meetings, or to do school from home. Weekends we like to sleep in, stay in our jammies, have a cup of coffee, and eat a later breakfast.

Evening routine?

Honestly...right now I am catching up on emails, client follow-ups, or school assignments. I love to take an epsom salt bath, drink a calming herbal tea, and go to bed early. Right now I am not in a season of life that the latter happens often. I am working to get systems in place to have a better evening routine. I am also giving myself grace as I work on hiring and finishing school.

Travel essentials?

Healthy snacks, Swell water bottle, diabetes supplies, and my own personal care products.

Instant energy boost?

A healthy pre-workout snack and exercise.

Most used condiment?

Is guacamole a condiment? I love making homemade guacamole.

Favorite smoothie recipe?

1/2 cup frozen berries
1/4 banana
1/4 zucchini squash
1 handful kale
3 Tbsp ground flax seeds
1/4 small avocado
1 scoop Bulletproof Collagen Powder
filtered water to blend

Great visual here too ;)

How do you take your coffee (or tea)?

I am a totally wussy coffee drinker! I add a plant-based creamer and organic maple syrup.

Go-to cocktail?

Ranch Water or Kombucha Margarita

3 ingredients/foods you can't live without?

Avocado, smoothies, and lentil soup.

Go-to gift?

Facial with Christina Jett , Osea body scrub and anti-aging body balm from Restore and Revive, or Lipstick from Beautycounter

How do you reset?

It depends why I need a reset. General a good night sleep or nap, bone broth and vegetable soups, and lots of water helps me reset. I also love a sauna, lymphatic massage with Tracie Graves, and a walk on a sunny day.

When you feel sickness coming on you…

I do all the things! I drink a homemade tea with apple cider vinegar, lemon, water, and local honey. I take epsom salt baths with Thieves essential oils. I do a foot soak and get an Immunity Boost IV at Restore and Revive. I increase my daily supplements by adding vitamin C, vitamin D, Viracid, Oscillinum, Cold Calm, and elderberry.

What's valuable to you?

I value my faith. My love language is quality time. I value spending time one on one with my girls or husband and together as a family. I value downtime with family and friends. I also value people that help me in my day to day life.

Thank you Dabney! We loved learning more about you and your daily life! Don’t forget to follow along with Dabney in our #RRTakeover Series on our Instagram stories.

4 Ways to Avoid Greenwashing

Picture this: You’re newly aboard the wellness train. You’ve got your green juice. You’re tossing candles and swapping perfume for essential oils. You’re considering a water filter, and you’re shopping the outside aisles of the grocery store. 

You get home with a new haul of groceries, cleaning products, and personal care products whose labels read like they were God’s gift to all things clean, natural, and held to the highest standard of health and safety on the market. 

Or are they? 

Enter Greenwashing.

Greenwashing, as defined by the Cambridge Dictionary, can be defined as “[making] people believe that your company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is.”

So basically, it’s the tale as old as time: Sneaky Marketing 101.

Any Madmen fans remember this line? 

"Everybody else's tobacco is poisonous. Lucky Strike's is... toasted." - Don Draper, Mad Men

A la Don’s usage of toasted, by slapping words like natural, clean, fresh, pure, etc. onto labels of everything from aluminum foil to Z-bars and everything in between, how does one know what products are really green and safe?

Step 1: Beware the sneaky, subliminal marketing messages.

Branding gurus love using the color green to help you think something is safe and clean. In the same vein, if you see a cozy koala or any other animal for that matter on the label, your brain likely sends a little message saying, “Aw, cute little kangaroo. They must care about animals. This is probably safe!” Same scenario if you see the words pure, environmentally friendly, natural, eco-friendly, green, fresh, preservative-free, non-gmo, and even organic! 

If you see this, don’t just robotically add to cart. Instead….

Step 2: Read the label.

Rule A#1: If you see the word “fragrance” pass that baby to the left, to the left. The word fragrance can be used to mask 1000s -- (1000s!!!) -- of undisclosed chemicals, all in the name of making a scent. We promise, promise once you start side-stepping synthetic fragrances, you will.not.miss.them. For more info on this sneaky ingredient, we recommend watching the documentary Stink!

In addition to fragrance, here are the big ones you definitely want to avoid: 

• Anything ending in “cide” because this signifies pesticides

• Anything anti-bacterial messes up the body’s microbiome and actually harms our immune systems rather than helping them

• For food, be wary of “no sugar added” because this typically means synthetic sugar substitutes have been used

• Essential Oils: make sure they’re organic or wildcrafted

• Anything ending in “ol” or “ene” because these likely mean a petroleum or coal-based original source

• Synthetic preservatives in personal care products such as MIT, BIT, parabens, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, benzalkonium chloride, phenoxyethanol

• Likely a duh, but avoid any dyes in foods as well

We know the list can be overwhelming, so stick with this rule of thumb: The shorter the ingredient list, and the more words you know, the better. 

Step 3: Remember certifications that actually mean something.

The USDA Certified-Organic label is one you can trust whether you’re shopping at Wal-Mart or Whole Foods. If a product simply says “organic” on the label without this certification - this is a red flag.

We also value the Made Safe certification, though this one is definitely hard to come by.

Step 4: Use your tools.

We love the Environmental Working Group (EWG)’s App! You simply enter a food or product brand, and they will give you the safety rating from 0-10. The lower the score, the better.

Use our Trusted Products page for tried and true brands for everything from food/drink to non-toxic living and personal care products!

We know the path to making more mindful product choices can be daunting, and we are more than happy to help guide you. Never hesitate to reach out to us!