“Quality is not an act, it’s a habit.” Aristotle
Have you considered the quality of ingredients in your skincare products?
Quality = Life.
Each jar of skincare should contain as much of the essential life-force of the raw material as possible.
However alive, aromatic and attractive, the full potential of a plant or herb can only be realized if grown and processed appropriately.
It’s a long journey from soil to skin. We try to take great care in ensuring the provenance of our ingredients.
Certified organically grown
Plants and herbs absorb what is in the air, water and soil and store nutrients in their leaves, stems, roots, seeds, bark and flowers.
When grown with pesticides, herbicides and chemicals, usually to reduce costs or optimize output, the result is compromised life-force and a polluted ingredient.
Organic plants are gown in soil that had no prohibited substances, typically for three years or more.
Organic certification addresses many factors including soil quality, pest and weed control.
We only source from suppliers with organic certification.
Carefully extracted
The beneficially active portions of plant tissues must be separated - extracted - from their host.
In seeking pure products, the means of extraction of ingredients cannot be underestimated or overlooked.
Processes have evolved over millenia. Techniques include maceration, infusion, percolation, digestion, decoction, fermentation, sonication.
For aromatic plants, mainly to extract essential oils, hydro distillation techniques and enfleurage (cold fat extraction) are used.
The modern focus on mass production has introduced methods involving synthetic and toxic solvents and various technologies that create profits but reduce or even destroy beneficial substances.
The basic parameters influencing the quality of an extract are the quality of the plant material and the manufacturing process used with the type of equipment employed.
For example, high grade essential oils must be steam distilled at atmospheric pressures and minimum temperatures in containers that are non-reactive.
We try to choose suppliers of ingredients that use only the highest grade, certified organic plants and have a reputation for optimal process and technology.
Their methods aspire to produce botanical extracts and essential oils of defined, organic quality with the least variations from batch to batch.
Appropriately packaged and stored
Exposure to light, air or water can damage or destroy the natural power of an ingredient.
Light causes polymerization – an increase in molecule size – that impacts capability to penetrate human tissue and causes a loss of fragrance due to their inability to evaporate and enter the nose.
Exposure to air causes oxidation which chemically alters components, reducing therapeutic value and impacts fragrance. For essential oils, the escape of the lightest molecules may have a similar impact.
We try to source ingredients that are bottled in dark or opaque non-reactive containers with no adulteration, dilution refinement or tampering.
A word on labelling
Care should be taken when seeing labels with terms such as organic, natural, 100% etc.
Well meaning regulators specify terminology which may not correspond to our expectations,
For example, in some instances “organic” does not mean “grown without poisons”.
In organic chemistry, it means “composed of carbon compounds” meaning gasoline and many synthetic additives can be labelled “organic”.
They may comply to specific terms, but are also extremely toxic.
“Natural” is another such term. Any compound that can be produced synthetically in a laboratory that is also found in nature can be labelled “natural” even though the manufacturing process was completely unnatural!
While some of the key chemical components can be replicated, the complex life-force including electromagnetic frequencies of the truly made-by-nature substance simply cannot be substituted.
Ultimately, quality comes down to trust. The virtues and care of growers, distillers and suppliers.
We aim only for the best for our customers.
Read more about ingredients here: About Ingredients