We've taken two of our earthy, unique clay's and paired them with two of our finest hydrosols that
naturally fight oily skin while offering gentle toning to the skin as well. We added DMAE and
MSM for tightening and detoxifying your skin with a touch of activated Coconut Charcoal
and voila! This can be used as a mask or as a cleanser.
(4) Compelling Customers Questions ... answered here
1. Why is my skin still dry even though I added in a hydrator or moisturizer?
The first thing we ask when answering this question is .. What other products are you using? Do you have a stripping cleanser in your routine? Are you using a toner that contains alcohol (the often denatured type) or other stripping ingredients? Are there too many acids in your routine? Are you using any Retinol, Tretinoin or Retinoid products? These ingredients strip your skins protective barrier (even though they also clean, tone, and turn skin cells over or act as an antibacterial for acne). Sadly, it is nearly impossible to add enough hydration back to the skin to achieve the desired feeling of hydration with a skin smoothing effect. We suggest going as gentle with your routine as possible. Ask us alternative ways to deal with your skin issues.
2. Why are my blemish control products not giving me results? This is our 2nd most asked question. 80 - 90 % of the time when we're working with blemish prone clients, we first look at their routine. When we do, we notice the following:
a. They are using a stripping cleanser which is causing their skin to either over compensate for the oil loss which causes the skin to produce too much oil or their skin is dehydrated and/or dry (or even flaky) which is causing the impurities to get stuck in the pores.
b. They have alcohol or other aggressive acids in their routine which is also stripping their skin, and again, makes their skin dehydrated and dry which makes one turn to a creamy moisturizer not knowing the underlying pore clogging ingredients these may have.
c. They use moisturizers which have cheap emulsifiers and/or waxes in them. They cause the pores to get clogged and being waxy the impurities are being pushed deeper into the skin. The pores do not miraculously clean themselves. We encourage blemish prone customers to use a combination of hydrating serums plus lipids (oils) as their moisturizer, with certain butters in winter if needed. We know this sounds counter intuitive but without waxy emulsifiers added this option can make a huge difference.
d. Their makeup (liquid) might as well be a moisturizer in itself, because it has emulsifiers and/or waxes (same story as above). We will suggest changing their makeup to a mineral makeup if possible.
3. Why do I still have lines and/or wrinkles even though I am using your antiaging serums or creams?
The answer to this follows along the lines of question #1. Stripping ingredients will often counteract any benefit you are getting from your antiaging serums or creams (yes, some skin profiles will benefit from creams).
4. Why are your lightening and brightening products not offering me relief with my skins pigmentation? We discovered with time, customer feedback and communication that their product ingredients
do matter along with what your skin is exposed to. If your skin care routine is harsh, for example, contains too many aggressive acids and/or applying them too often, thus irritating the skin which literally puts the skin in a defensive, protective state and it will produce melanin (pigmentation) to protect itself. Crazy, isn't it? We will suggest the customer deciphers their current routine and eliminate harsh products and add gentle, skin recovery products as well as a great antioxidant or two and skin brightening ingredients in their routine.
OK, so I am not one to judge (maybe a little?) but has anyone seen the new commercials for a large company (name withheld) whose containers are gorgeous and they just happen to match the colors of the products themselves? So pretty ... until ... the ingredients are analyzed! Of course, we want your business but we aren't sure if pretty, fancy packaging adds topical enhancement or only visual allurement, so, we opted for the visual and will stick with our current containers. This being said, we offer products superior to so many of the "big guys and gals". ~ Markey
For example, I will list the ingredients and break them down a bit for you all. Please notice they DID remove parabens for you, although, all of the preservative and antimicrobial ingredients will still offer an extraordinary shelf-life.
For us, we recommend tossing products not used past 12-18 months. This will not always hold true as many products we produce do have very long shelf lives. I remember finding M-Kay products forever ago, in my bathroom drawer from when I was 25ish ... seriously??? they were close to a decade old. Now, I know I am not alone in this revelation, haha ... Garden of Wisdom was then born.
Product ingredients for their Detoxifying/Brightening Mask:
Water - good for you, seriously, :-)
Clay (pure) - what does this mean? Since clay's come from the earth, aren't they pure? There are so many
clay's and they are not all appropriate for any skin profile!
Lecithin - natural emulsifier, replenishes and repairs skin barrier due to its essential fatty acid content
Polysorbate 20 - emulsifier although also acts as a solvent
Butylene Glycol - solvent, which offers a silky feel. Isn't this counter intuitive?
Propylene Glycol - solvent, again
Iron Oxides - natural colorant
Oryza Sativia Starch - rice starch, great for skin as it is calming and soothing
Moroccan Lava Clay - aka Rhassoul Clay, is good for sensitive skin and enlarged pores
Charcoal Powder - needs to be formulated sparingly so a bit worrisome (high on the list of ingredients) but
purifying and great for blemish prone skin
Caprylyl Glycol - yes, another solvent but also offers antimicrobial properties while acting as a humectant
Citric Acid - although natural this can be irritating to the skin and deplete the skin of it's natural oils and possibly
modify the skin's Ph causing the skin to dry out. Keep an eye out for how high this is in an ingredient list.
Xanthan Gum - natural thickener
Polyglycerin-10 - offers an enhanced soft feel to the skin but note this is chemically derived
Polyglyceryl-10 Myristate - another chemical that is a skin conditioning agent
Polyglyceryl-10 Stearate - another chemical that acts as a skin conditioning agent, surfactant and emulsifier
Sodium Dehydroacetate - antimicrobial agent
Phenoxyethanol - preservative
Chlorphenesin - antimicrobial
Linalool - fragrance
Limonene - is a scent and solvent naturally occurring in citrus fruit, still a dang chemical
Fragrance - too many people react negatively with chemical fragrances
What is a solvent concerning skin care?
A solvent dissolves the lipids (oils) that your skin naturally produces to protect itself. Unfortunately, over time, solvents will irritate the skin cells and damage the skin barrier.
Order issue?Please always let us know as we will do everything we possibly can to make it right.
We also ask that you don't toss out your product if there is something questionable.
If we are sending you a replacement, we always send a label to
have you send the item back to us for quality control
(only applicable in USA).
If you throw the item/s out, we cannot replace it.
Natural Ingredients
We get a lot of questions about our ingredients, particularly if one
batch is the same as another, and if not, why not.
With natural ingredients, they are grown naturally. This is so obvious that it seems
silly to type it, however this is really an important factor. Ingredients that are derived from nature are exposed to the natural elements, weather and growing conditions.
These conditions can change ingredients slightly or dramatically.
That said, when buying natural ingredients we can also purchase from
different suppliers depending on the availability of our preferred suppliers.
While we wish we could keep the consistency, color and texture of our
products 100% exactly the same every time, they can vary per batch.
We're not speaking about our standardized ingredients such as our cosmeceutical powders
(for example: l-ascorbic acid or kojic acid as those are created in a lab to very specific requirements).
We ask that if you are formulating to sell products, please contact us so we can work directly
with you to do our best with clay colors, oil specifications, essential oils, etc.
Always keep in mind that seasons and regions can definitely although slightly change an ingredient.
