Sending Out a Beauty SOS

I’m pissed off.  Like really, really pissed off.  For about the last year my frustration with the low performance of natural beauty products has been mounting.  And I’m near breaking point.  Plus I feel guilty every time I choose performance over nature.  I just don't want to feel guilty anymore.  Here’s a bit of a rant, er I mean a list of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to natural beauty products: (Formulators take note!)

Sulphate-free shampoos that don’t wash my hair – whether I wash my hair with sulphates once every 5 days or without sulphates every single day, I don’t think that I’m creating a big toxic overload with the former option.  My scalp has never been irritated by using sulphates, in fact sulphates are what actually get it clean.  If anything, I have the reverse problem which is not getting the oil out in the first place.  And I’ve tried that whole stop washing your hair completely thing and you’ll re-program your sebum glands to have a naturally balanced oil production.  It didn’t work for me.

ineffective deodorant + silk = disaster

 Aluminium-free deodorants – ok, so switching from anti-perspirant to deodorant was already a step in the sticky/sweaty direction but then don’t add insult to injury by making completely ineffective “natural” deodorants.  I’m a lady.  I don’t want to smell.  I don’t enjoy smelling myself.  Others around me don’t enjoy smelling me.  I will take aluminium and "suspected" neurotoxicity any day over the shame of being “that” smelly person.  Seriously scientists besides torturing lab animals (which I'm not a big fan of) can we get something more conclusive on how aluminum affects human beings???  Please?!  Cultural note- I work with a lot of Europeans so I’m already in a culture where deodorant is socially accepted over antiperspirant.  But alas, all of the natural deodorants that I’ve tried:  Still.  Not.  Good.  Enough.

Petro-chemical-free lip glosses that are too liquidity and lack pigment – (I’m looking at you Burts Bees Super Glossy Lip Shine, Lavera Lip Gloss, Neals Yard Remedies, et al tsk tsk). Lipgloss and mascara are my beauty staples.  I don’t care about anything else.  If I’m going to leave my house, I at least need these two products.  Too bad with the exception of Bare Minerals Natural Lip gloss I haven’t found any decent petro-chemical free lip glosses.  In the last year I’ve been through 8 tubes of Bare Minerals and shelled out £112 ($180) for the privilege considering they are £14 a pop and last a few months (plus I have to have at least a few of them on the go for a variety of shades!)  That’s a hell of a lot of money just to keep a lady in her daily lipgloss.  Plus no matter how dark and red a shade I buy, it always winds up looking practically nude on my lips, or lasts all of 5 minutes.  Help me beauty formulators!  I can't exclusively buy just Bare Minerals (no matter how much they would love me to).

Can I get another lipgloss please?

Complete lack of any decent hair styling products – seriously, there is nothing in this category.  No styling gels, creams, hairsprays, serums that are nice to use and effective.  It’s like hair styling products play poor cousin to the sulphate-free shampoos.  I mostly wear my hair naturally wavy, sometimes blow it out straight, and sometimes put it in Velcro rollers for big, sexy curls.  I’m not trying to make my hair do something totally unrealistic that it wasn’t designed to do.  I’m just asking for some hair products to make it look a teensy-tiny bit shinier and to help hold it in place just a little longer.  Am I reaching for the stars here?

Loose mineral eye shadow – I love mineral makeup generally speaking.  However I hate loose eye shadow (as opposed to compact eye shadow).  In my bathroom I have no fewer than 15 pots of Bare Minerals loose.  Luckily as the reigning Queen of mineral makeup they have also launched Bare Minerals Ready 2.0 eyeshadow.   I really need to try this.  Jane Iredale do a decent mineral compact eye shadow but I’m greedy.  I want more selection please!

So, am I angry?  You betcha!  Have I given up completely on natural beauty products?  Not entirely.  I still in my heart of hearts think that beauty companies can keep doing better.  It's up to us as consumers to tell them what we want through what we buy!  So, I'll keep buying and testing the most naturally formulated products and reporting on them here.  I would love to hear your views too!  What natural beauty products have you tried?  What have you loved?  What have you hated?

Weleda Citrus Deodorant Review

I recently decided that I was tired of my deodorant not having any scent and I needed to shake it up a bit.  So I combed the aisles of Waitrose on Gloucester Road (which for a small supermarket has a very large natural beauty aisle!) and decided on a bottle of Weleda Citrus Deodorant.

The ingredient list is a natural beauty’s delight.  Basically it’s just alcohol, water, and essential oils.  The scent is light and refreshing and can’t help but lift the spirits.  The first ingredient you get a whiff of is the alcohol which fades quickly, and then the citrus fruits.  Personally, if I was the formulator I would have added some middle notes just to broaden out the scent a bit.

Generally I found this deodorant kept me smell free, although it’s not an antiperspirant so you will still have wet armpits from time to time, if it’s too hot or you’re feeling nervous.  However, you can reapply as much as you like since there’s nothing toxic in here.  Although if I reapply too many times I find it a little drying on the skin but it works well.

In fact, the formulation is so simple I’ve decided to try my hand at creating my own signature deodorant.  Recipe to follow.

Aromademics Moment of Truth

So after what seems like an eternity (10 months to be precise), the moment of truth has arrived. It's aromatherapy exam time! A reader once told me that she's living vicariously through my aromatherapy studies because she always wanted to study aromatherapy but didn't have the funds. Yes, *sigh*, it ain't cheap. Now after shelling out all of the dosh, giving up 43 weekends of my life, and spending almost 100 hours massaging people (for free!) it's time to show what I know and make an honest aromatherapist out of me on this exam.  

With less than 2 weeks to go, I am holed up in a cheap resort on Tenerife where I can focus on my studies with no distractions (except the shrieks of children coming from the pool and the rumbling of the wheels of one particular child's scooter as it goes up and down the corridor past my door like an overzealous cleaning cart on fast forward). With the cool breeze, 17 degree celcius temperature, and overcast skies, it is the perfect place to study. If I was actually here on holiday I would be pissed off.

I've devised a daily schedule through next Thursday (at which point I will reassess the situation and give myself a break for Friday's Royal Wedding) which is another reason why I'm glad I've fled London so I don't have to put up with the chaos that will be the Royal Wedding. So the plan is 3 hours a day, each day 1 hour each of aromatherapy science, essential oil studies, and traditional chinese medicine. I take substantial breaks in between each 1 hour segment 30-60 min so I can do things like eat, go to the toilet, take a shower, watch tv, so that I'm relaxed and fired back up to come back and hit it for another hour. (This blog posting is my break in between essential oils and TCM for today). After my next hour of studying, my boyfriend and I are going to visit Puerto de Santiago and Los Gigantes, two small but upscale resort towns 30 min north of where we're staying in La Caleta. Conveniently my boyfriend disappears on his cycle for hours at a time while I'm studying so it's a sort of studying/training "holiday" for us both.

Do you see how I keep getting distracted from talking about my aromatherapy studies?! Today is my second day of studying and I'm not sure that 3 hours per day is really going to be enough (would equal about 30 hours in total for the 3 hour exam) so I may need to re-evaluate the plan sooner than Thursday. I carefully scrutinised the multiple choice science section and essay sections of the exam to try to devise a way to study as efficiently/as little as possible. However, the exam is carefully crafted that you can't really get away with not studying almost everything and although I could chose which essay questions I answer selectively (like skip the one on essential oil science), I decided that that wasn't really the point of why I took the course and that I should learn as much as I can. I only wish I applied myself this much when I studied for my BA or MA but this course is way more fun!

Natural Hair Serum DIY

Natural Hair Serum

On the back of my confession earlier this week (that I don't use much in the way of hair products), I thought I'd share with you this recipe for DIY hair serum.  Sometimes I want something a little more luxurious than straight up olive oil.  So even if olive oil does the trick, it's more fun to dress it up with some lovely smelling essential oils.

You can make as much or as little hair oil as you'd like.  I usually make about 20-30 ml because this will last me 3-4 months and then I can make up a new recipe.  Remember without preservatives, the oils will degrade over time (aromatherapy speak for “go off”) so you should try to make products in small batches.

For every 10 ml of olive oil, add:

3 drops lavender essential oil

2 drops neroli essential oil

1 drop geranium essential oil.

These essential oils are great for hair, skin, and nails.  So feel free to rub into cuticles or on dry skin as well.  For oily skin use a lighter carrier oil such as grapeseed if you want to apply to your face.  When applied to hair make sure to focus on the ends of your hair.  If applied too close to the scalp you may wind up with greasy-looking hair and then you'll need my DIY dry shampoo and you're into a whole other genre of natural beauty products!

Natural Hair Product Review

I was recently requested to blog about natural hair products and I love my readers so I'm always happy to oblige!  Truth be told I've been experimenting with not washing my hair for the last 6 months or so but I'm not quite ready to release my results just yet.  So this is why I've been holding off on blogging about hair products.  I don't actually use that much!  And it's hard to blog about nothing.  However, there are a few gem products out there that I do use from time to time.

Liz Earle Botanical Shine Shampoo & Conditioner – I was sent these lovely products from Liz Earle last year and I've been more loyal to them than most people are to their religion.  There is just one shampoo for all hair types (because regardless of skin type we all need a nice gentle cleanse).  The shampoo cleans the scalp and then the conditioners treat the hair by type.  For me it was the dry or damaged conditioner to tame my wavy locks.  The secret to getting a good lather is lots and lots of water.  It seems counterintuitive but water helps distribute the detergent ingredients.

Aveda Rescue Remedy Shampoo - Although the formulation is a bit complex and there are some unpronounceable ingredient names here, I like this shampoo because it's sulphate-free and actually cleans my hair.  Plus I love the smell of Bergamot, Ylang ylang, and Mandarin.  Aveda’s approach to natural ingredients?

“Aveda is striving to be 100% naturally derived and makes continual improvements to its products every day. Naturally derived means primarily plant or non-petrochemical, mineral-based ingredients.”

As of October 2007, Aveda claimed that it’s shampoo and conditioners were 97.25% from naturally derived ingredients.  Full mission statement here. 

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Essential Oil Chemistry Lesson

look mom! I made ethyl alcohol (which looks like a dog to me)Did you ever meet someone really obnoxious and wonder what on earth you have in common with them? No?  Maybe it’s just me then.  But all human beings and all living beings on the planet do have one thing in common.  We're all made up of molecules that contain carbon!

During the cold January month I was holed up on my aromatherapy course and during one fateful weekend I was subjected to 12 hours of organic chemistry.   That is a lot of chemistry!  The most basic lesson I learned that weekend was that carbon is the building block of nature. I vaguely remembered this from high school science classes but the cobwebs of my mind were obstructing the view.

Second revelation of the weekend- essential oils are made up of chemicals. Sounds a bit shocking no but stay with me, here's how we roll: essential oils are made from aromatic plant matter which undergoes a distillation process. As part of that process the plant matter is broken down and the resulting oil has a different chemical composition. Granted it's made up of organic chemical compounds, but still chemicals.

Here's a breakdown of the different chemical constituents and their therapeutic properties:

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Natural Beauty Treatments - Waterloo Body Station

courtesy of Waterloo Body Station

I was really pleased to stumble upon the Waterloo Body Station in London. The Body Station is a natural spa and shop with a huge variety of treatments and products. From complementary therapies such as osteopathy, acupuncture, and something called “cupping therapy” (I have no idea!) to massage and advanced body work such as deep tissue massage, Reiki, and aromatherapy (yippee!). I had something a bit more superficial in mind – natural beauty therapies. I was on a mission to remove body hair and make my feet pretty for my upcoming Caribbean holiday.

First we got the tricky stuff over with: bikini, leg, and underarm sugar waxing using Moom (which isn't a wax but a natural hair remover made from sugar, lemon juice, water, and lavender essential oil). I've been trying to perfect my own recipe for a while now, which if I ever do you'll be the first to hear of it! But you can read review about Moom here.

My lovely therapist Harminder navigated me through some unchartered waters – my first Brazilian. Although I'm more than 10 years behind this trend, I will just say that I'm not sure why we're doing this ladies? Seriously, why?

Now on to more pleasant topics – my Power Butter Pedicure. 60 minutes of pure heaven!

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Body Spray DIY - After Sun Shimmer

Part of the fun of going on holiday is bragging to other people that you’re going on holiday.  Therefore I can’t let it escape your attention that I’m sunning myself on the beaches of St. Martin and Antigua this week [insert evil cackle here.]  However, before I left I recorded this DIY video on making your own natural shimmering body spray. 

All you will need is a lightweight carrier oil, any golden, peachy, or deep pink mineral make up you have lying around and optionally a few drops of your favorite essential oils. 

The key ratio is 1 tsp mineral makeup : 30 ml carrier oil

Now shake, spray, and enjoy!

QC Terme Products - Bagni Nuovi

Over New Years this year I was getting some rest and relax in Northern Italy.  One important part of this regime was my trip to Bagni Nuovi outside Bormio.  Bagni Nuovi are the thermal springs next to the Grand Hotel Bagni Nuovi with a great spa full of all kinds of pools, saunas, and general relax activities.  Being a self professed impulsive spendaholic I had to snap up all of the products that were used as part of my facial.  A 126 euros later I was the proud owner of a cleanser, toner, mask, scrub, and moisturizer.  All of the products contain thermal water and I have been using them all twice a day since (except for the scrub and mask which I’ve been using twice a week).  My skin really liked this regime.  It remained calm, no break outs.  I didn’t always like the smell, there was something artificial smelling about them.  As you’ll see below there are no essential oils contained.Happy spa-goer who refused to take my picture in the hot tub, hence why his photo is on here instead of mine!

Smoothing Milk Toner – All ingredients are rated below a 5 on EWG’s skindeep cosmetics database except for triethanolamine (6) and parfum.  However, given that you’re removing this product from your face after a few minutes, there’s not much risk of triethanolamine penetrating the dermis at significant levels.

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Geranium Essential Oil Profile

This blog was a labour of love which took more than 3 months to put together.  It was actually part of my second aromatherapy course assignment and involved me regularly using geranium essential oil to test its benefits.  I have to say quite honestly that the benefits that I gained from using geranium essential oil regularly were excellent.  I hope you enjoy and find this of use!

courtesy of Wikipedia

“Geranium” is the common name applied to the Pelargonium genus.  The name Pelargonium is derived from the Greek word palargos which is the Greek word for stork since the fruit of the plant is thought to resemble a stork’s beak.  There are over 200 different species in the Pelargonium genus.  The genus was introduced to Europe in 1690 via South Africa (it is indigenous to Southern Africa).  Since then it has become a common garden plant.  Geranium leaves were first distilled in 1819 by the French chemist Recluz.  From 1880 Rénuion become the major distillation center for the oil producing oil from the Pelargonium graveolens species which is thought to be the highest quality oil from the Pelargonium genus.  From 1900 Grasse became the major distillation center for geranium essential oil. 

Geranium essential oil became an important perfume ingredient, often used as a cheaper substitute for rose oil.  In the 1970s and 80s, an Italian doctor named Rovesti used geranium oil for the treatment of anxiety which is a common use for geranium still today.  Geranium is currently grown in southern Africa, Madagascar, the Congo, North Africa, Spain, France, Italy and Corsica.  Other species are grown in China, India, Russia, and Japan.

Geranium essential oil has many medicinal properties including: analgesic, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-infectious, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, calmative, cicatrisant, hepatic stimulant, phlebotonic .  It has been known to treat conditions where there is inflammation such as: gastritis, colitis, psoriasis, eczema, acne, impetigo, athlete’s foot.  Geranium oil has astringent and haemostatic properties which make it useful for treating wounds and bruises.[1] Geranium’s cytophylactic action make it good for the treatment of burns and wounds. 

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Sanoflore Organic Product Review

Last summer I fell in love with an organic French beauty brand named Sanoflore.  The brand came recommended to me by an actual French lady who studied with me on my aromatherapy course.  Luckily she told me about it when we were travelling in Provence together and I stocked up with everything I could get my hands a hold of at the Bleu Distillery in Nyons, France.    These were my 3 favorite products:

Masque Aromatique Purifiant – A purifying clay mask with kaolin, thyme and lemon essential oils.  I love this as a bi-weekly cleansing treatment.  The smell can only be described as really clean and like it’s really good for you, which it is!  It left my skin feeling soft and overtime less spotty.

Crème Gommante Aromatique – An aromatic cream scrub with diatom micro-grains, rosemary essential oil, and apricot kernel oil.  I really enjoyed using this scrub because the grains are really fine and you can really spend time massaging them into your skin without worrying about over stripping or scratching your skin.

Fluide Hydra-Matifiant Aromatique – A hydra-mattifying aromatic fluid – this is a great lightweight moisturizing fluid for oily or combination skin.  It worked really well for my skin which is on the oily side but with a bit of dryness on my cheeks.

Sanoflore products are ECOCERT organic certified.  Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get an ingredient list to do an analysis of the formulations but based on the effects alone I think these are gentle and effective products.  Sanoflore, j’taime!

Getting Beauty Sleep

courtesy of Scientific AmericanNot one but two colleagues complimented me on my skin this morning. "You look radiant" one of them told me. The other remarked that my skin seems really clear and smooth.  I was perplexed. To what did I owe the compliments to? I racked my brain. I hadn't changed my skincare regime lately.  I hadn't changed my diet (or rather I should say it hadn't improved recently.)  Just when I was about to shrug and chalk it up to coincidence, it dawned on me that something had changed recently.  I had broken my 26 days streak of not enough sleep.  Due to a series of work and aromademic commitments, I had woken up to an alarm every morning for 26 days in a row until last weekend when I actually got to sleep in. Now I love sleep as much as the next person, in fact I have an above average need for it, as anyone who has tried to have a coherent conversation with me after 10:30pm can attest to. However I had no idea that a few nights of blissful sleep and no alarm clock could produce such visible effects on my face!

According to non-profit organization Sleepdex, all kinds of good things are happening when we sleep:

Early in the nightime sleep cycle, people typically have a surge in growth hormone. This period of deep sleep, stages 3 and 4 sleep, contributes to what people call "beauty sleep" as secretion of growth hormone helps repair and rebuild body tissues like muscle and bone. Many of the body’s cells also show increased production and reduced breakdown of proteins during deep sleep. Since proteins are the building blocks needed for cell growth and for repair of damage from factors like stress and ultraviolet rays, deep sleep may truly be "beauty sleep."

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Moon Cups for the Ladies' Moon Days

Today ladies we’re going somewhere Natural Beautee has never gone before.  We’re going to your nether regions and talking about moon cups (known as diva cups to US readers).  Men, if there are any of you reading this, turn away, turn away now.

So, what is a moon/diva cup? Quite simply it’s an alternative to tampons and pads which is exactly what it says it is: a cup.  I’ve been using one for about 18 months now and I’m never going back to tampons.  I was talking with a friend about it last summer because we were shyly discussing various period issues and it eventually came out that we were both moon cup converts.  It was a sort of “a ha!” moment we’re we both looked at each other “wait, do you use a moon cup?!” “do you???, I do too!”  Then more recently my flatmate caught me cleaning my mooncup in the kitchen (i.e. boiling it in some water) and she was like “what IS that?”  When I explained she was skeptical.  This is what I told her:

Pros:

Cost effective – It cost 20 pounds, which over 18 months is a little over 1 pound per month.  How much are your tampons/pads costing you each month?

Eco-friendly – You’re not disposing of pads, applicators, tampons, etc each month.  According to the moon cup website:

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Jane Iredale Cosmetics Product Review

I’ve been devoted to Bare Minerals mineral makeup for almost 7 years now.  However I felt it was time to diversify my mineral makeup regime and try something new.  The ladies at Jane Iredale were happy to oblige and sent me some lovely products to try.

PurePressed Base mineral powder in golden glow – I really liked the ease of use of this product.  Since it is in pressed form it doesn’t spill everywhere and travels well.  Its gorgeous gold compact makes you feel luxurious.  It goes on smoothly, with less need for buffing a la Bare Minerals style and I loved the Handi brush which is exactly just that.  Very handy indeed!  With SPF 20 for both UVA and UVB rays this mineral base is great for protecting against the sun’s rays.

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The "F" Word

I wanted to talk about a very loaded word today – “feminist.”  I don’t know how old I was when I learned the word, I think it was in the 1980s.  At the time that I learned it there was a positive association with the word.  I understood that if I labeled myself as a feminist it meant that I believed that women were equal to men.  Then somewhere in the 90s it got a bad name and conjured images of bitter and masculine looking women who were man-haters.  For me nothing has changed but words and concepts go in and out of fashion.  Strictly speaking I suppose I should label myself an “egalitarian” but that’s not specific enough for me to embrace the word in relation to a woman’s movement.  I still prefer the “F” word.

Since an important reason why I write this blog is to help educate people about the dangerous chemicals in personal care products (who mostly happen to be women) I think it’s an important part of my personal development to read feminist literature.  In fact it was while I was reading The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf that I got the idea to give up wearing makeup.  Since I was reading Wolf’s book almost 20 years after it was first published I felt it was outdated.  The Beauty Myth was said to represent 3^rd wave feminism which centered on women freeing themselves from societal pressures to look a certain way.  Note: first wave feminism lead to political rights for women in Western countries in the early 20^th century and the second wave lead to improved legal/working rights in the 1970s.

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Butter London 3-Free Product Review

Butter London Nail Polish in Fash Pack

My first foray into the non-toxic polish realm I would consider a success.  I was perusing the natural health/beauty aisles in Wholefoods on High Street Kensington around Christmas time looking for an impulse purchase that would make me feel better (read: retail therapy).  What I discovered there was the incredible Butter London range of nail polishes full of vibrant colors but noticeably lacking the three evil toxins found in most nail polishes: formaldehyde, toluene, DBP. 

I’ve told you before about the dangers of formaldehyde when the Brazilian Blowout controversy broke last year but let me remind you.  According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, Formaldehyde is a human carcinogen.  It can cause immune-system toxicity, liver problems, and can be an irritant and allergen. Moving on to the next toxic ingredient – toluene.  A derivative of toluene called benzene is a bone marrow poison which has been linked in some studies to leukemia.  It is also a toxin that can make you feel high/nauseous/lightheaded from inhaling it.  Finally DBP is a phthalate which is banned in Europe.  It has been shown in some studies to be an endocrine disrupter which may not sound like such a big deal but it is if your baby boy is born with underdeveloped baby boy bits.  (Seriously, it’s bad news).

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Liz Earle Energising Body Lotion Product Review

I always feel energized after a visit to Liz Earle and it wasn't because I was there one day in December specifically to try the latest addition to their energising range- a body lotion! It's because in this crazy upside down beauty world I desperately want to believe in something. When you meet the ladies at Liz Earle it's very clear that they strongly in the products and what they do.

Disclaimers:

• I didn't drink any koolaid while I was there, although the mulled wine was quite good
• I don't work for Liz Earle (but if you’re reading this Liz please call me if you ever have any vacancies in product development!) 
• Liz Earle is not a cult religion although it might seem like one because of the dedicated and loyal customer base.  However there is no need for faith alone because Liz Earle products actually really work!

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Happy Birthday to Natural Beautee!

Photo courtesy of Techpatio.com

I feel like a proud mother.  Last month Natural Beautee turned 1 year old!  My baby is finally starting to walk!  And what a year it was.  My hair had its ups (highlights at Aveda) and its downs (Herbatint debacle).  I thought hard and clarified what “natural beauty” means to me.  And now I am within months instead of years of qualifying as an aromatherapist!  What has meant the most to me about this first year of my blog is the willingness of readers to interact, ask questions, and give advice about their own experiences and expertise.  I have to give a special shout out to Ken Winston Caine of Mind.Body.Spirit Journal who actually came up with his own natural deodorant recipe in response to my Lavilin Underarm Deodorant Cream review.  Ken, I’ve been meaning to ask you can I substitute sandalwood for patchouli?  I really don’t like patchouli.

Big thanks to all my readers!  Keep those great questions/comments coming!

Natural Beauty - More Definitions

So a few blog postings ago I wrote about what is natural beauty?  Afterall, the natural beauty world can be a minefield to navigate what with all of the confusing words being thrown around like “eco” “herbal” and “green”.  So because there are no legal definitions for these words (although “anti-aging” and “organic” do have some requirements I thought I would take a stab at what I think the following words mean, (at least to me) and in my own words:

Anti-aging- For me, this term is even more offensive than seeing parabens, sulphates, or formaldehyde on a beauty product label.  Not from a physical health point of view, because obviously you don’t want any of the above in your beauty products.  My offensive is more from a mental health point of view.  The word “anti” is a strong word meaning “against” and I don’t think any woman should be against aging, despite all of the magazines, tv, media, etc illustrating otherwise.  Instead I think we should be “pro-maturing gracefully.” Ok, rant over.  Technically speaking a product needs to have SPF in it in order to slap anti-aging on its label.  This is because blocking UV rays actually does slow down the skin’s aging processes.  So there you go, if your fancy and expensive night cream says “anti-aging” on it, that’s why.  Not because it’s doing magical things overnight but because if you did wear it during the day it would have some sun protection in it (ironic, no?)

Eco – probably short for environmental, I believe it has to do with the impact of the product on the environment, for example will it pollute water in the runoff or was it made from recycled material?  However I’ve also seen it used in context with health and beauty products so it’s probably also supposed to mean that it’s good for you, but be your own judge of that and read the ingredient list.

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The Gel Makes You Want To Believe in Miracles

Ladies and Gentleman, I have been converted!  My good friend Olivia over at Healing Beauty has been banging on about “the Gel”, since well, since the day I met her.  So when a mysterious parcel containing a pot of the Gel showed up on my door, I knew she had something to do with it.

My first instinct when someone raves about a product is to be suspicious.  Years of ingredient list scrutinizing, EWG cosmetics database searching, research reading, etc have honed this instinct.  To give the product its due, I was determined to use the product for at least a month before writing about my findings.  I started by using the Gel all over my face under moisturizer for the first few weeks.  Then I only put it on “problem areas” (i.e. spots) in the following weeks.  I made sure to let a good few minutes pass in between applying the Gel and the moisturizer.  The longer you wait in between, the more benefit you get from the cesium salts and homeopathics.

Here’s what I discovered:

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