Spring is one of the best times to have a great clear-out of your skincare & makeup – and start a healthy fresh regime. Clear away the dull remnants of winter, prepare your skin and reveal its natural glow for the warmer months ahead.
This year’s Fairtrade Fortnight (24th February – 9th March) theme is ‘Stick with Foncho’. It’s all about abolishing the unfair banana, so-named because years of supermarket price wars have reduced the farm-gate price of bananas down to a pittance. Of course Fairtrade Fortnight isn’t just about bananas, but about raising awareness and understanding of fair trade the world over. (I realised just how much this was needed after chatting with a new ethical label the other day – more on that later.)
We are officially busy this week at Essential Care. With our up-coming, super-special surprise taking loads of time, weddings, the kids half-term, business trips abroad and a multitude of other tasks that all need our attention right this second, it will come as no surprise that tension levels in the office is on the increase.
As part of Soil Associations ‘Organic September’ Make One Small Change campaign we are devoting this week to the Organic Home.
Our suppliers in the Stara Planina rose valley of Bulgaria have just finished harvesting roses for our beautiful floral water which will be making its way into your Rose Moisturisers and Rose Petal Tonics very soon.
I thought it might be a good opportunity to tell you more about the benefits of our particular rose water and in a second blog I’ll talk about how rose can help the skin.
Occasionally we come across people with an allergy to aloe vera, but very often it’s not what you might think. But there is aloe vera and there’s aloe vera. As I explain here, it’s important to use good aloe vera to get the most from natural skin care.
Those not accustomed to my ranting about the lack of regulation in organic skin care products might be a bit confused about the title of this blog. So as a quick explanation, here’s the issue… you can go into a shop and buy a shampoo made by a company called Acme Organics and it could have never seen an organically grown plant and could contain a host of synthetic chemicals you might have wanted to avoid…
Eczema is tricky because it has so many causes. Scientists at the University of Oregon State recently found that eczema may be due to a malfunctioning protein which is a genetically inherited condition. But as yet no cure or permanent solution for eczema has been found and we are still in a situation where minimising and managing it is the best we can do.
Every April organic producers large and small gather in London to showcase its wares to potential and current trade buyers. …Lucky me also got the opportunity to discover and sample the wonderful emerging products in the organic world. I thought you might like to hear about my pick of the best of the bunch, so over the next couple of days I’ll bring you a couple of blog posts about what’s new and great in organic – from chocolate to fabric softener!
Our Gentle Herb Shampoo is in the news this week having been shortlisted for a Free From Award. So I thought it a good moment to let you know a bit of history about this (amazing) and much loved natural hair product.
In the last blog of our Fairtrade Fortnight ingredient series, we take a look about one of our favourite ingredients, organic virgin coconut oil…
Not all shea butter is made equal. And not all shea butter growers and producers are treated in the same way. Read about the benefits of shea butter in skin care and why buying fair trade shea butter can make a big difference.
Recently we re-launched our industry leading Organic Mascara to ensure a really long lasting effect. As well as some nice feedback (thank you!), its launch has also generated lots of interesting questions about mascara use and mascara ingredients; in particular about volumising and lengthening.
The end of animal testing on cosmetics in the EU is extremely welcome, but might hide the ongoing use of dead creatures in makeup and skincare.
When the snow is falling and the sky is grey, I definitely find I need some injections of colour and brightness to cheer me up, which is why I love Citrus fruit – and colours – so much. Indeed – Colour Psychologists, Beauty Therapists and Nutritionists alike highly rate the cheering scents, invigorating colour and uplifting properties of Citrus fruits.
So excited to have launched Margaret’s latest wonderful creation – the fab new mineral concealer! The reviews of our tester panel speak for themselves, so I won’t wax lyrical here about how great it is. But what I didn’t know is that concealer is about so much more than covering up spots and dark circles (much needed after my late night sporting viewing of the past 2 weeks!). We’ve posted a tutorial, written by Margaret and our makeup artist guru Kirsty as to its other uses.