Premium Beauty News - Environmental impact of packaging: compare what is comparable
What are your thoughts???
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Gold for local lavender oil | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa
Gold for local lavender oil | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa
A great product and well deserved- I make some products for lavender Magic using their oil and it is lovely!
A great product and well deserved- I make some products for lavender Magic using their oil and it is lovely!
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Aromatherapy in medical settings
Aromatherapy in medical settings
Soo looking forward to this event in Dublin
Soo looking forward to this event in Dublin
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Buddha's Hand Hydrofusion /Co distillation
Buddha's Hand Hydrofusion /Co distillation
photos and information here!
photos and information here!
Buddha's Hand Hydrofusion /Co distillation
Buddha's Hand Hydrofusion /Co distillation
photos and information here!
photos and information here!
Monday, June 4, 2012
Anya's Garden Perfumes: My First Love - The Sixth Anniversary of the Natur...
Anya's Garden Perfumes: My First Love - The Sixth Anniversary of the Natur...: Fan carved from sandalwood Santalum album - even the botanical name is beautiful and strong. If rose and jasmine are feminine, sa...
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Are you a NZ Natural Skin Care User??
I was honoured to give a talk recently to the Manawatu Branch of the NZ Association of Registered Beauty Therapists- almost 100 people were present. The topic of my talk was the Natural Skin Care Consumer in NZ- and the brief was not to self promote. However it was possible to really educate the audience about some of the influences which drive people to use natural skin care- what drives you??? I would love to hear your stories! The full script of my presentation is here.
Top tip for winter skin- moisturise, moisturise, moisturise. If you would like to squeeze a little more life out of your moisturiser apply to your skin when it is very slightly damp (e.g. after a shower or straight after toner). If you don't use toner apply a warm flannel to the skin to open up pores and you will need up to 1/3 less moisturiser!
Top tip for winter skin- moisturise, moisturise, moisturise. If you would like to squeeze a little more life out of your moisturiser apply to your skin when it is very slightly damp (e.g. after a shower or straight after toner). If you don't use toner apply a warm flannel to the skin to open up pores and you will need up to 1/3 less moisturiser!
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Green Surfactants - Articles - SpecialChem 4 Cosmetics
Green Surfactants - Articles - SpecialChem 4 Cosmetics
This has some excellent detail about over stating green claims but also some solutions from a formulators perspective.
This has some excellent detail about over stating green claims but also some solutions from a formulators perspective.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Is honey a plant derived ingredient???
This issue seems to crop up with some regularity in the world of 'natural' cosmetics. Indeed it has even been claimed that as bees work on plants, then honey must be plant derived. This was a stance I raised with the Advertising Standards Authority and whilst I was unsuccessful in my complaint, it has certainly highlighted the green washing which can occur by companies claiming to be natural. This particular company was claiming to be 99% plant based- but felt it did not need to count the water as an ingredient, even though it would be at least 70% of the formula. The full advertising standard complaint is available here (11/703)
The respondents to my complaint stated "On the website www.gmo-compass.org which was set up with the financial support of the European Union, it is stated that the basic components of honey are 'purely plant-derived'. The website also states that if the commercial labelling of honey indicates a specific plant (e.g. manuka honey or pohutakawa honey in a New Zealand context) it must be provable that a minimum of 50% of the source nectar stems from this plant. We are therefore of the opinion that it is not misleading to describe honey as plant based as it does originate as nectar. In any event, the honey in our formulation is at a level well under 1%."
However, if this line of reasoning was taken further then it can be said that milk and indeed meat is plant derived as the animal makes it from grass! The UK Vegan Society, who certify all our products, have a very clear stance on the use of honey, beeswax etc. The full details are available here.
Honey, and other bee products such as beeswax, propolis and royal jelly, are animal products and therefore vegans do not consume or use them. In common with other animals kept to produce food products bees are farmed and manipulated, and the honey they produce for themselves is taken from them. Vegans do not eat products taken from any animal, including bees, because it is neither desirable nor necessary to exploit animals in order to obtain food for humans.
...
To produce honey, worker bees drink nectar from flowers and store it in their honey stomach, where the nectar is mixed with secretions from two glands (including the salivary gland) which will transform the nectar into honey. On returning to the hive the worker bee transfers the nectar to a ‘house’ bee who drinks the nectar, and may regurgitate and re-drink it several times to mix more secretions with the nectar and may pass it on to another bee to do the same, and then places it in the honeycomb. Each worker bee will produce 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
The queen bee is usually killed every year and a new queen introduced to the colony. The queen may have her wings clipped to prevent her from flying; this is to stop the bees carrying out their natural instinct to swarm (the old queen and a large proportion of the bees leaving the nest once the colony has provided a new queen to replace her).
The purpose of this comment is to not take a dig at the honey industry per se, however for various reasons we choose to avoid it in all our products and follow strict standards to ensure we comply with the Vegan and Cruelty Free standards. The best thing for discerning consumers is to read labels not marketing claims, check for independent certifications such as the Vegan Society.
Food for thought???
By the way on a personal note any product I have ever used with honey has caused me to come out in a rash-even at the low % used in most skin care of <1%
Wendy
The respondents to my complaint stated "On the website www.gmo-compass.org which was set up with the financial support of the European Union, it is stated that the basic components of honey are 'purely plant-derived'. The website also states that if the commercial labelling of honey indicates a specific plant (e.g. manuka honey or pohutakawa honey in a New Zealand context) it must be provable that a minimum of 50% of the source nectar stems from this plant. We are therefore of the opinion that it is not misleading to describe honey as plant based as it does originate as nectar. In any event, the honey in our formulation is at a level well under 1%."
However, if this line of reasoning was taken further then it can be said that milk and indeed meat is plant derived as the animal makes it from grass! The UK Vegan Society, who certify all our products, have a very clear stance on the use of honey, beeswax etc. The full details are available here.
Honey, and other bee products such as beeswax, propolis and royal jelly, are animal products and therefore vegans do not consume or use them. In common with other animals kept to produce food products bees are farmed and manipulated, and the honey they produce for themselves is taken from them. Vegans do not eat products taken from any animal, including bees, because it is neither desirable nor necessary to exploit animals in order to obtain food for humans.
...
To produce honey, worker bees drink nectar from flowers and store it in their honey stomach, where the nectar is mixed with secretions from two glands (including the salivary gland) which will transform the nectar into honey. On returning to the hive the worker bee transfers the nectar to a ‘house’ bee who drinks the nectar, and may regurgitate and re-drink it several times to mix more secretions with the nectar and may pass it on to another bee to do the same, and then places it in the honeycomb. Each worker bee will produce 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
The queen bee is usually killed every year and a new queen introduced to the colony. The queen may have her wings clipped to prevent her from flying; this is to stop the bees carrying out their natural instinct to swarm (the old queen and a large proportion of the bees leaving the nest once the colony has provided a new queen to replace her).
The purpose of this comment is to not take a dig at the honey industry per se, however for various reasons we choose to avoid it in all our products and follow strict standards to ensure we comply with the Vegan and Cruelty Free standards. The best thing for discerning consumers is to read labels not marketing claims, check for independent certifications such as the Vegan Society.
Food for thought???
By the way on a personal note any product I have ever used with honey has caused me to come out in a rash-even at the low % used in most skin care of <1%
Wendy
Friday, January 27, 2012
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