How to Know If Your Beauty Product is Organic Botanics
When you hear 'natural', picturesque images of blue skies and mellow birds singing are what come to your mind. However when it comes to beauty products the term "natural" is often misused. Many companies advertise their products as natural even though they contain processed components. How can you tell whether a product is organic or not?
Bluh Alchemy
Bluh Alchemy, an innovative clean skincare line, features a few treatment-focused synergistic blends that contain rare botanical extracts. Becky Bluh studied cosmetics chemistry and discovered how to harness plant-based ingredients with profound physiological effects. She scoured a broad spectrum of plant extracts that are rare to create a bluhprint for optimal skin health and protect against premature ageing as well as free radical damage, oxidative stress inflammation and overgrowth of bacteria.
Bluh's studies and experiments with rare botanicals led her discover the revolutionary Cellular Extraction process, which permits the extraction of the plant's full phytoactive profile in its most potent and stable form. Her formulas employ this game-changing technology to provide Advanced Bioactive Solutions to the skin.
For February's Beauty Heroes Discovery we selected two full-size picks from Bluh Alchemy: the Botanic Retinol Cell Renewal Concentrate (hero but make it super) and the Eye Oil Serum (sidekick that every superhero needs). Bakuchiol, which is a derivative of retinol, reproduces the corrective properties of retinol. It is used in this concentrate to help visibly correct wrinkles, enlarged pores and breakouts. This is coupled with a suite of antioxidants including Kakadu plum to boost cell renewal and reduce the appearance of hyperpigmentation, finger lime caviar to smooth and tone the skin and mountain pepper cell extract that has off the charts ORAC to guard against premature aging.
African Botanics
In a corner of Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden in Johannesburg, South Africa grows a yellow-tinted strelitzia (known as Mandela's Gold) is an endemic plant that is also one of the nation's emblems of nature. It's a tribute for the moral leader and the founder of the Rainbow Nation and a reminder that South Africa has a deep connection with nature.
For Craig and Julia Noik, founders of the luxury green beauty brand African Botanics, launching the line was more than just a business idea. It was an opportunity to share their culture with other people and provide them with a an understanding of the long-standing traditions of this land that has always been part of their lives.
The resulting skincare line honors traditional African beauty rituals by using traditional African phytochemistry and cutting-edge botanical pharmacy. The most powerful South African plants, sustainably harvested from the country's remote and untouched regions, are then combined with potent actives selected by botanists and biochemists from South Africa and around the world. The plants are then encapsulated with advanced extraction and encapsulation techniques to create the ultimate eco-luxe high-performance green beauty.
Fifty7 Kind
Fifty7 Kind, an internet-first brand, provides skincare products made of plants in eco-sustainable packaging. The elegant line of skincare and body care includes ingredients sourced from Southern Africa. These include oil extracts from plants and seeds as well as unique minerals from the desert, the sea and the land. Gabrielle (founder Fifty7 Kind), grew up in the English countryside as an organic child. She says her mother taught to cook with raw materials and collect wild herbs for beauty.
Utilizing sustainably-sourced botanicals using artisanal slow-fusion techniques, the brand provides concentrated extracts of skin improving vitamins and fatty acids, as well as trace nutrients and non-polar amino acids. The brand source rare wild-crafted, wild-crafted, and undiscovered botanicals like Ugandan Vanilla and a sub-species of shea known as Vitellaria Nilotica which contains high levels of Vitamin A + E + K as well as non-polar antioxidants.
YINA is an organic skincare brand from California founded by two female Chinese Medicine doctors. The brand combines traditional Eastern herbal remedies with organic luxury. YINA products are made up of traditional medicinal herbs and plants like Ashwagandha and Hawthorne Berry and more common organic ingredients used in many other skincare lines.
Live Botanical
Botanical skincare that bridges the gap between modern and traditional methods, creating balance & harmony to enhance your beauty. Made in Portland, OR.
A botanical plant is a plant or component of it that is that is valued for its therapeutic properties and flavor or scent. Botanicals have been utilized since the beginning of time to maintain and improve health, including in skin care.
Botanicals can be bought in dried or fresh form and in a variety preparations. They are available in the produce aisle in a supermarket, or in the dietary supplement section as capsules, tablets, tea bags, or liquid preparations. A single chemical could be isolated from a botanical and sold as a dietary supplement in capsule or tablet form.
The safety of a plant is contingent on its chemical composition, how it functions within the body and how it's prepared. The amount of plants included in a product may also impact its safety. A cup of tea contains a small amount of a plant, whereas extracts or tinctures are much more concentrated.
A tincture is produced when a botanical is soaked in a liquid, such as alcohol or water, to extract the desired constituents. A tincture can then be diluted to different strengths. The strength of a tincture usually expressed in terms of the ratio of botanicals to extract.
YINA
Angela Chau Gray, Ervina Wu and Angela Chau Gray are both experts in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Their brand pays homage to ancient traditions with TCM experts at the steering wheel. The result is advanced, handcrafted, and luxurious formulas designed for modern wellness rituals such as acupressure, acupuncture, jade rolling, and full-body gua sha.
YINA products are produced sustainably in California and are full of powerful bio-adaptive herbal extracts. Their most popular products are the NOURISH botanical oil serum and the mask for preventing pollution. Both are rich in camellia seeds, safflower oils and licorice root. They also contain antiaging botanicals like rhodiola and Asian knotweed. The mask also includes coconut powder, pear carbon and moringa that cleanses.
Felicia is a member the highly efficient YINA operations team. She loves trying new products and following the self-care rituals espoused the brand's founders. She particularly enjoys the YINA anti-pollution cream, which contains cleansing ingredients like skullcap root, pearl powder moringa and tea seeds.
Malaya Organics
Malaya Organics, a Brooklyn-based 100 100% natural, high-performance product was founded by Katya Slepak. She is an expert formulator and designer, and also an accredited aromatherapist. The company's nourishing, result-driven products are designed to help support the skin's natural aging process as it matures, and are safe for all genders and skin types. The balancing elixirs they offer contain a therapeutic blend of phytonutrient-dense whole-plant extracts, that are infused in-house to ensure maximum effectiveness, enriched with antioxidants and nourishing essences and oils of plants that are known for their anti-inflammatory and elasticity-boosting properties.
Their ingredients come from the taigas of Siberia, forests of India and the Amazon, and the deserts of Morocco to give you a skin-transforming experience that is mindfully formulated to help connect you with your inner landscape of balance, peace and healing. The name "Malaya" is derived from a sandalwood forest in Shambhala tradition, and refers to a sacred garland of flowers used in ceremonies. These were the motifs that inspired the carefully designed collection.
Fran Miller
The line includes everything from shea butter and goji berry body shaver to a spritz for smoothing hair and multi-tasking face oil. The collection includes everything from a goji berry-infused shea butter body buff to a hair smoothing spray and multi-tasking face oil.
Since its inception, F. Miller's commitment to sustainability cbd organics in the environment has been based on a focus on organic, ethically sourced ingredients, and partnerships with conscious manufacturers both locally and globally. All of F. Miller's high-performance essentials contain no harmful preservatives or synthetic fragrances. They are also free of mineral oils, GMOs, aluminum and SLS.
To maintain freshness, all products are blended by hand and bottled in small quantities. The brand works with experienced cosmetic chemists to construct rich, nutrient-rich blends with botanical ingredients that help to create radiant skin, provide multi-correctional results, and nourish all types of skin. The brand is also eco conscious and this extends to packaging and practices. They prioritize environmentally-friendly packaging and utilize recyclable and biodegradable glass. They also offer a refill and subscription program to reduce the amount of waste.