Why You’re Gonna Love This: Overnight Success - with Pimples!
Stress, hormones, lack of sleep and dehydration left me the other night with one of those shiners you feel before you see. Deep, sore and red, this was my first big zit in a long time and I had all the organic beauty products in the world to deal with it. I reached for my Jurlique Blemish Cream but I will be honest; I didn’t expect it to work. Oh don’t get me wrong - Jurlique is one of my all time favorite skin care lines and everything I have ever used from them has left my skin no less than clear and soft but, I thought, this was one of those zits that only time could heal. So I slathered it on, said a little prayer and went to bed. I immedeately noticed not getting that shriveling up feeling I remember from benzoyl peroxide pimple creams or the burning you get from some tea trea ones. Instead, it felt more like a moisturizer. It is loaded with all the natural ingredients bumpy skin needs from oil absorbing kaolin to calming calendula and healing aloe to that fabulous anti bacterial, tea tree oil. Well, it looks like they got it just right because I woke up and not only wa the PIMPLE GONE but my skin was smooth and hydrated, not shriveled up and dried out. With these superfast results, Jurlique’s Blemish Cream should be in every girl’s emergency kit!
You Asked for It - Product Conversions!
People ask me for organic based alternatives to their favorite department store products or “product conversions” so often, I just have to post a few.
Keihl’s Lip Balm #1 = Jurlique Lip Care Balm
Swap out the nasty petroleum for castor seed oil, beeswax, shea butter and jojoba seed oil and you’ve got the perfect year round lip healer!
La Mer Creme de la Mer = Patyka Biokaliftin Creme Visage Reparatrice
Though it claims no “miracle broth” of Sea Algae extract in it’s ingredients, the Patyka Creme has been known to deliver the same results without the mineral oil, petrolatum and frightening octosyllabic chemicals.
Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser = Organic Apoteke Buttermilk Cleanser
The classic dermatologist reccomended facial cleanser for ultra-sensitive and irritated skin is no more than some water, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, alcohol, Propylene Glycol, and three different parabens. The preservative seems overkill in this simple solution doesn’t it? Why not opt for an extremely gentle natural alternative like Organic Apoteke’s Buttermilk Cleanser instead?
Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick = Nvey Eco Organic Lipstick
If there is one thing you have got to give up now it’s toxic lipstick! I grew up with Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick, not knowing that what (my mother and) I were putting on our lips was nothing but pretty poison. You wear it, you ingest it and it’s full of known neurotoxins and carcinogens. Opt for the rich, hydrating natural based Nvey Eco Organic Lipstick instead!
Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizer = Ila Face Oil
For many years, the driest of skins have relied on the Clinique classic for all day dryness relief. Take a look at the ingredients and you’ll find that it’s basically artificially colored vaseline. Slathering your skin with mineral oil everyday will certainly make your skin feel less dry but it won’t do anything to rebalance or actually restore hydration to your skin. This is the type of product that if you go one day without it, you shrivel up and flake because it’s not healing your skin at all, just coating and clogging it. Instead, try using a restorative blend of natural oils like ila face oil. It’s not heavy enough to give you the feeling that petroleum products do right away but over time, the wild grown argan oil and organic rosehip seed oil along with healing vitamin E could actually rebalance your skins own natural moisture levels.
Do you have a product you’re trying to give up but can’t find a safer alternative that works? Challenge ME to find it for you and I’ll post your results here on our blog!
Skin Care 101: How to Wash Your Face
Did you know that how you wash your face is as important as what you wash it with? Did you ever find that with conventional chemical based skin cleansers, they work great and then after a few weeks, your skin starts to feel drier or oilier every time? That’s because typically, the chemicals used to give you a great squeaky clean foam or that baby soft feel or that wonderful fragrance, are actually wreaking havoc on your skins natural ph balance and ability to self-renew. With organic and natural based cleansers, you can use less product and get better, lasting results without the yo-yo, as long as you know how to get the best of them.
There a two basic types of facial cleansers: Milk or Lotion cleansers and Foaming Cleansers. Both are available for all skin types but you may find that cleansing lotions work better for dry skin and foaming cleansers work better for oily skin. Cleansing lotions usually double as great makeup removers while foaming cleansers are perfect post-workout.
Lotion Cleansers
I often hear people say their skin doesn’t feel clean when they use cleansing lotions. Often it is because they are not meant to be used the same way you use conventional cleansers that you rub, scrub and rinse with. By following these tips may get you much better results. With a lotion cleanser, the first thing you want to do is moisten the face with warm water, loosening the dirt and oils in your skin. You may pat a wet washcloth to the face if you’re not in the shower. Next, you would pump the cleanser into your hand and apply evenly, directly to the skin. This is the part where we usually mess up. DO NOT rub your face with cleanser! This action could potentially only cause dirt and oils to be shoved into your pores, so to speak, rather than lifted from them.
Instead, press your palms, not fingers, to your face and roll them back and forth and then lift and repeat. You’re trying to create a suction action that will actually draw dirt out of your pores and onto the surface of your skin to be rinsed away. You don’t want to rush this process. Take your time as the natural, active oils and nutrients in the cleanser rebalance your skin. With any type of facial cleanser, washing it off too soon is the most common mistake and can leave your skin unbalanced.
If you are wearing eye makeup or a lot of face makeup, you may skip the pre-moistening step. Apply the cleanser directly to the face and use a warm, soft washcloth to wipe the makeup off. Then proceed with regular cleansing.
Foaming Cleansers
Think of foaming cleansers as concentrates. The most common mistake is applying them directly to the skin, foaming them up and then washing them off. By applying the concentrated cleanser without foaming first, you may be using too much product. This process can leave your skin unbalanced, overdry or unclean. With most foaming cleansers, instead of rubbing your face with them to build up a lather, you should rub them between your hands with water first and then gently rub the foam to your face. Rub only enough to evenly distribute the cleanser and then begin to pat and roll, creating suction. This process should take at least 30 seconds. Don’t rush it! Rinse thoroughly. If your skin feels tight or dry after using a foaming cleanser, it is posible that the product is not right for you but you may need to rinse longer or you may have used too much product.
As with any new skin care product, it can take some getting used to and not seeing results right away can be frustrating. If you are trying natural based cleansers for the first time, when you don’t get the same feeling you’re used to right away, you might think about going back to conventional products but remember, that feeling never seems to last does it? By being patient with the process, and using these tips, you may end up finding an effective, healthy cleanser that you can use for years to come and continue to get great results like I have!
Cold Weather Roundup: Our Faves to Beat Dry, Itchy Winter Skin
It’s that time again; time for most of us to slather on the body oils, lip balms, and deep conditioners or face the flaky, itchy, dry skin that cold weather and dry indoor heat can cause. We’ve picked out our favorite, most protective, deeply hydrating products to help you stay soft and supple all winter!
Besides a balanced diet, preventing dry skin starts by not stripping it in the shower. Most organic body cleansers are less likely to strip the skin of its natural oils than chemical or petroleum based ones but of the many choices we offer, we found skinnyskinny’s organic bar soaps to leave our skin the most balanced. Remember, squeaky-clean is too clean. It just means that you’ve broken down and washed away your skins protective lipids. Think you want more of a slick-clean than squeaky and with skinnyskinny’s base of evoo, coconut, palm, avocado and jojoba oils, your skin will be left hydrated and clean.
The best way to keep skin hydrated for the longest amount of time is to apply moisturizers directly out of the shower while your pores are “open” and quenched. This is when a body oil will work best by being absorbed most. Our body oils range from very light to deeply hydrating. If you are looking for quick absorption, especially for use before a body lotion, try Organic Apoteke Body Hydrate Oil. For drier skin Patyka’s Rosewood Body Oil is luscious and leaves the skin lightly scented. 
Our favorite for the driest skin is ila Body Oil. It is the richest in ingredients that actively heal dry skin like wild-grown Argan oil and rosehip seed oil. While it is a little heavier, it seems to keep the skin deeply hydrated longer than any other oils.
If body oil isn’t for you - or you’re like me and need body oil and body lotion, hands down, our favorite body lotion is Jurlique’s Rose Body Care Lotion. It smells beautiful and although it’s very light, a little goes a very long way. Also, winter might be a good time to go a little heavier with a body cream. Body creams have less water content than body lotions and can really be slathered on. 
The most fun and protective one we’ve found is Sweet Beauty’s Pot de Creme. We found it to be easily absorbed but also form a bit of a skin barrier (probably due to it’s vegetable wax content). Unlike petroleum barriers that are often used in dry skin protection products, vegetable emulsifying wax can ward off the environmental damage to your skin without doing damage to the environment!
Now that we’ve got your body juiced up, we’ve got to protect that pretty face!
Just like with your body, dryness prevention starts with your cleanser. We offer many dry skin cleansers but the question I get most often is whether or not you can use them without breaking out if you are acne-prone or sensitive. Some cleansers designed for oily, sensitive or combination skin may not be hydrating enough in drier climates but cleansers for dry skin may not prevent acne. There is nothing worse than having oily-dry skin. Yes, it’s possible! One of our favorites just for this issue is Jurlique Daily Exfoliating Cream. The perfect combination of oil absorbing almond meal and oat bran meet light, moisture balancing seasame seed oil and leave all types of skin magically balanced.
There are too many moisturizers for too many different skin types to reccomend just one for winter but if you happen to get stuck undecided, we would love to help. Feel free to post a comment, LIVE CHAT with us or email us and we will try to help you find one formulated just for you! Our Veep, Mariah J. loves Patyka Face Cream with tea tree and spearmint for her combination skin and Spirit loves the glow you get from ila face oil.
One of winter’s most common annoyances is dry, dry lips and lip balms that don’t last more than 15 minutes. Our favorite lip treat has to be the All the Better to Kiss You With 3-pack. One for the purse, one for home and one for work with the fun of getting to try all three flavors! Lips love the hydrating organic oils and protective beeswax and we love not having to reapply all day.
Check Us Out on Today!
Marisa Belger, Todayshow.com’s Greenday correspondent did a fun, info filled interview with our founder, Spirit Demerson. Click Here to check it out!
Can You Afford Organic Skin Care? Why Organic Beauty Costs So Much
You are already used to paying a little more for organic food. You know that it’s more nutritious and isn’t exposed to any mystery pesticides or hormones we don’t want in our bodies. You may have also heard that 60% of what you put on your skin is absorbed into the bloodstream. Some of us may just like the IDEA of a rosemary oil running through our veins better than the idea of a toxic paraben and for some of us it just seems like they are constantly finding new links between these commonly used chemicals and cancer, alzheimers, autism, birth defects & other illnesses and want to just avoid them all together. Whatever your reason for going “green”, you have probably noticed that in general, organic skin care doesn’t cost a little more than conventional, it costs a lot more.
Do you get what you pay for?
I did learn a bit about cosmetic chemistry in cosmetology school but it wasn’t until I started making my own body lotion that I truly understood what a delicate balancing act it is. It all started when a favorite lotion of mine was discontinued. I looked up the ingredients and started to wonder if I could recreate it myself using organic ingredients with the same properties as the ingredients in the original formula. Well, over the course of a few months experimentation I finally ended up with a pretty good formula. Friends suggested I sell it. The only problem - it cost me about $30 a bottle in raw materials to make. That wasn’t including my time or equipment. Surely a skin care manufacturer could get some of those costs down but ultimately the retail price for an 8oz. bottle of lotion like the rich, organic, skin nurturing formula I made, would be at least $40. In comparison, an 18 oz bottle of St. Ives body lotion is around $5.00.
Some of the cost has to do with demand. We’ve seen the price of organic produce come way down over the last couple years and with our growing interest in organic personal care, an organic skin care or cosmetics company is born everyday. Over time, this will drive raw material prices down. But a lot of it has to do with the scarcity and quality of the delicate natural ingredients. It takes hundreds of pounds of roses, evening primrose, or borage seed to make one ounce of deeply skin hydrating oil. St. Ives and thousands of other brands use cheap, hormone disrupting preservatives and skin clogging mineral oil, petrolatum and silicone; ingredients that ultimately leave your skin even worse off. As a buyer, I want to be able to offer something for every budget, especially for those of you just starting out, taking steps in a more natural direction. Prices shouldn’t be prohibitive but quality and beauty should not be lacking either. I buy for a store that specifically represents luxury lines which means highest quality ingredients with less fillers that work better, faster and longer than anything else. With that in mind, a $5.00 body lotion just isn’t possible.
Wait! The good news is, in my experience, ounce for ounce, organic products outlast conventional ones. You may actually go through a 16 oz. bottle of St Ives in the same amount of time you would go through an 8 oz. bottle of Jurlique lotion. You would notice you were used to slathering stuff on that is formulated to evaporate and coat the skin when you first use something that was formulated to truly heal and hydrate the skin. The same goes for a soap, lip balm, eye cream, you name it. Organic counterparts are more likely to contain more effective ingredients, be easier to apply, are less likely to cause skin dependency, are less likely to exaporate, and you will notice that creams and lotions especially are lower volume because they are not pumped up with fillers that do nothing for your skin. I can moisturize my entire 5′10″ body with about a pump and a half of Jurlique body lotion whereas it takes me about 5 pumps of a conventional brand and I don’t have to worry about how much of the stuff-I-can’t-pronounce is getting into my bloodstream. So remember, sometimes organic costs more cash but the real cost of cheaper conventional products may be hidden.
Skin Care Q & A: Can I combine skin care from different lines & ranges?
People ask all of the time if it’s ok to use a cleanser from one line and a moisturizer from another. My answer is: I don’t recommend it. Skin care companies develop product lines to work together and the performance of one product can be affected by another. While this may sound like an unfounded excuse to get you to be brand loyal, there is some truth to it. I recently tried using my old toner after washing my face with my new cleanser, which I usually use with my new toner. I noticed that because the new cleanser is more astringent, their toner is more hydrating while the reverse was true for the old line. Both lines when used exclusively, performed very well but in combination, left my skin too dry. Your skin may also be getting overdosed on certain ingredients when you use products that are not designed to balance each other. Some ranges use more oils in their cleansers than others. If you are getting too much oil between one cleanser and another moisturizer, your skin may become congested. The same is true for some drying or peeling ingredients.
So what do you do if you want to try using a new product without going all out and buying the whole line? In a perfect world you might consider giving your skin a 24-48 hour break in between switching to another line and then at that time, trying samples of the whole range. When that is not possible, I suggest trying the product independently first. If you are trying a cleanser, skip the toner and the moisturizer for a day to get a feel for the balance. Then incorporate what you feel your skin needs. Keep an eye on stronger ingredients, making sure not to “OD” on them. Remember that it takes skin about two weeks to fully adapt to the pH of new skin care products and regimens. An initial breakout or inflammation is sometimes normal. Two weeks is a long time to get through but sometimes it is necessary and all the more reason to use products that don’t counteract each other.
Check Out Our Guide to Organic Face Serums and Get 10% Off Any Serum!
Face Serum. You’ve been hearing about them everywhere but you’re probably still wondering; Do I really need an extra step in my skin care routine? How are they different from moisturuzers? How do I know which one is right for my skin? We’ve compiled a guide to everything you need to know about our pure, organic face serums! Click Here to check it out now! Find out which one is right for you and get 10% off at spiritbeautylounge.com with the coupon code: SERUM10. Offer Valid until 10/29/08. 
