Which leads us to our next point- What does she do around here?

Well, she quite possibly is the most important member in our skincare salon. She can help us to see what's really going on with your skin below the surface.

She emits invisible UV light, and projects these rays onto your skin. These rays are able to travel through all the layers of your skin, deep down into the dermis.

These rays don't stay invisible however. Once they hit the skin, different cells have the ability to turn these rays into different illumination patterns and different colours. But don't worry- these colours are only visible while your skin is directly exposed to the UV light, so you won't be walking around all day with different coloured spots on your face!

What this means is that skin impairments and conditions which aren't usually visible to the naked eye can now be seen.

From looking at the patterns and colours, it makes it easy to identify specific skin problems. Just to give an example, here's what some of the colours indicate:

Blue/white: normal healthy skin
White spots: dead cells, dryness
Purple: skin lacking moisture
Light purple: dehydration
Brown: sun damage
Orange: oily skin
Yellow: blackheads
Green: fungal infections
Red: bacterial infections

And the last, and most important stage is what we do with this information: we recommend, and tailor skincare products just for you!

When it comes to skincare, one size does not fit all. We all have different skin types, and conditions, and our skin can even change with the seasons.

We know it can be confusing with so many products out there with different claims as to what works, so we really want people going away with the confidence that they have the best beauty regimen for them that is going to work and produce results.

So come into our Tawa store to say hi to the newest member of our team...if you dare!

Just like how the first piece of chocolate can be delicious, while the tenth can be downright sickening, when it comes to selecting a moisturiser, early results aren't usually the best predictor of what's going to work best for your skin long term.

It probably feels intuitive and logical to go for an oil-free moisturiser if your face is fairly oily naturally.

But applying oil-free water based lotions to a naturally oily face not only won't solve your shiny face problem, these products will likely only make your pores up their oil production.

For the first few days and weeks however, you'll likely experience reduced oil on your face before your pores adapt to this new drier state, and produce more oil to compensate.

When you first switch to an oil-based skincare product expect about a month-long transition period where your skin may well be oilier than usual. Once you're on the other side of your transition however, expect your oily skin to normalise and be drastically less oily than it used to be.

This happens because when we apply drying products on the skin, it actually signals the skin to produce more oil to compensate for the oil that's being stripped away. But when we use an oil based moisturiser, it signals to the pores to produce less sebum.

The same principle also goes for dry skin. If we treat dry skin with rich heavy creams and oils we trick our skin into believing it's been producing too much of its own oil, and in response will produce less, leading to a cycle of more dry skin.

There may also be nutritional, hormonal, or environmental reasons why your skin can play up from time to time, so bear in mind moisturiser- oil based or not- may not change your skin if the root cause of the problem lies a little more internally.

So try your new moisturiser for 30 days, alongside your best attempt at a well balanced diet to truly judge whether your new moisturiser is going to work for you.

When it comes to safety, colouring is a big deal.

Artificial colouring of food, drugs & cosmetics is one of the things most heavily regulated by the FDA.

And in the EU, warning labels are often required for certain artificial colourants.

And for good reason.

Often made from industrial chemicals such as petroleum and propylene glycol (antifreeze), studies have shown many are linked to cancer, allergies, and ADHD in children.

While the number of approved synthetic  chemical colourants in your food, drugs and cosmetics has been severely reduced due to testing, there are still many which are still under investigation, or have inconclusive studies showing different results.

The flip side of this is of course animal testing.

In one such test, Beagle dogs were fed large amounts of the FD&C colour Blue No.1 in their diet until it caused death. This was to determine the maximum levels one could ingest.

So why are artificial colourings even used?

Well, you guessed it- it comes down to money.

They're cheaper, brighter, more stable- and arguably make products more attractive to consumers over the naturally coloured products.

I suppose we can't entirely argue with this, but we (along with our customers) have always prioritised safety and health over cost or visual perfection.

We colour our range of eyeshadows using Mica powders- which are created from a bunch of minerals (or rocks to be more pedestrian)crushed to a fine powder.

We also use zinc oxide in our mineral foundation which not only provides colouring, but also helps protect against the sun.

There's also a bunch of plant based ingredients that can be used as colourants.

For red, beetroot powder or raspberry can be used. Annatto- derived from artichoke seeds- is a great ingredient to create yellow. Boiled red cabbage creates a blue pigment, Swiss chard juice can be used to create black. There are many more, but you get the idea.

It's not always easy or quick to colour cosmetics naturally, but we think it's well worth the effort if it's going to reduce animal testing, be safer, and leave our skin irritant free.

Some of those mainstream skin care companies are smart. Or bold at least.
If their advertising is to be believed, it seems miracle ingredient discoveries are made by these companies on a regular basis.

Some discover purer forms of collagen, others discover advanced wrinkle smoothing ingredients, while others discover amazing rejuvenating properties from the cells of mummified ancestors. Okay, maybe we made the last one up, but it's not too much of a stretch given the seemingly miracle type claims these companies can come up with.

There's just so many skin care companies selling their version of 'what works' that it has become rather confusing.

So here's our rule of thumb on how to assess the ingredients in a skin care product.

Pick up the bottle and look at the ingredients list.

If you encounter a long list of words you don't recognise which sound scientific then assume that these companies don't want you to know what these ingredients really are.

Many harmful ingredients are added to mainstream products to extend the shelf life of the product, and to make mass production (and mass profits) possible.

There's diazolidinyl urea and bronopol which break down and release formaldehyde (without formaldehyde being listed on the label of course).

Then there's Behentrimonium Chloride, Guar Hydrosypropyltrimonium Chloride, Linoleamidepropyl PG-Dimonium Chloride Phosphate.

These are petrochemicals. Which basically means petroleum derived substances.

Who'd want to put that on their skin?!

Not only does it not sound very appealing, studies on rodents have found that topical application of Petrochemicals have resulted in anaemia, kidney degeneration, and nerve damage to the brain and spinal cord.

So if the advertising for these products read a little more straightforwardly:

"introducing our new petrol based, synthetic bottle of goodness, with long lasting releases of Formaldehyde to keep you looking preserved all day long",

would you still buy them?

We think not. 

And as for the active 'miracle' ingredient itself?

Well, just bear in mind that we are talking about cosmetics here- not drugs.

To be classified as a drug, the product would have to undergo very strict testing.

As a cosmetic, these companies can get away with these claims by discovering ingredients which may marginally achieve the desired result- but many times not very well. Just enough to be able to make the claims.

And other times, an ingredient may theoretically work- but not necessarily in the way that it's delivered- they may not remain active in the bottle, or may not get delivered deep enough into the skin to actually make an impact.

Other times, the label won't even say how much of active ingredient is even in the product.

This is not to say that all ingredients in cosmetic products are ineffective, or at best marginally effective. The ingredients may well be very effective. Anecdotal evidence and observing positive changes to the skin may prove this. The road to proving this to the extent that official claims will be regarded as scientific fact may however be costly, or take a long time- which could lead to certain companies opting to take the shorter and less cost prohibitive route instead.

So all in all, if you're using a product, and you can see results, and you're happy with any extras that may be in there- great!

And if not, maybe it's time to try something else.

With Winter usually comes running noses and sore throats. Try these blends for some possible relief:

      Aromatherapy blend for congestion
Ingredients: 3 drops of Eucalyptus essential oil, 3 drops of Ravensara essential, 1 drops of Peppermint essential oil.
Directions:  Apply  drops to the cotton ball. Raise the cotton ball to your nose occasionally and inhale. Or add drops to a bowl of steaming hot water, cover head with a towel for and breathe deeply for a gentle steam inhalation

       Make your own soothing throat syrup
Ingredients: 1 Tablespoon Manuka honey, 1 Tablespoon Coconut Oil (we use Kokonati), half a Lemon or Orange
Directions:  Melt gently together first two ingredients, add the juice of a lemon or orange, When cool enough to use take 5-10 mls for a sore throat as required. May require gently heating to reuse.  A great remedy for littlies who are not able to take cough medicine.

    
       Make your own throat gargle
Mix 1/2 teaspoon salt into half a glass warm water, gargle for 30 seconds and spit out. Use 3 times daily for sore or itchy throats until cleared.

 

Handy hints for the Winter: we have a range of essential oils that can be blended to fight against the winter blues.
3 Drops of Orange sweet to 2 drops of Grapefruit ,or 2 drops of
Ginger, or 1 drop of Ylang Ylang
3 Drops Grapefruit to 2 drops of Cypress                                                              
3 Drops Bergamot  to 2 drops of Clary Sage, or a luxurious blend try 1 drop of Neroli and 1 drop of Jasmine to 3 drops Bergamot