A note from the co-manufacturer of the hand-made Indulge Skin Care Items…

Consumers are faced with thousands of choices when it comes to deciding what they put on their skin.  A few products are truly amazing, some are pretty good, most are so-so, and some are downright lousy. What defines the difference between a truly amazing product and a downright lousy one?  First and foremost, it is based on the experience of the consumer.

When I began formulating my own products, I experimented with all kinds of fun and interesting ingredients. I packed as many fancy exciting ingredients into each and every product as I possibly could. I quickly learned that more is not always better…as with most things in life, temperance and moderation most often provided a much better outcome than excess and overkill.

As time went on and I learned more about individual ingredients and attempted to understand the differences between “amazing” products and “so-so” products, one important thing came clear: products could be amazing, while being formulated with very few ingredients. In short, the KISS method applies to what you put on your skin as well.

From the standpoint of the consumer, there are a few basic guidelines that should help you make better decisions about what you are putting on your skin:

1. Smell has nothing to do with the product. Any product can be scented with any fragrance.
2. Ingredients that lend to great “feel” often mask mediocre ingredients. Heavy use of texturizing ingredients in a formulation may feel soft, or silky, or powdery on application, but if the moisturizing ingredients are minimal, the benefits to your skin stand to be minimal, at best.
3. In general, products have approximately 1% fragrance added to them.
4. Ingredients are listed in order of highest concentration to lowest.
5. As long as an ingredient is included in the formulation, it is given credit as being “in there” and can be marketed as containing XYZ even if there are only a few drops in a great big container.
6. Any ingredient that is less than one percent of the total formulation can be listed in any order.  What this means is that ingredients listed after “Fragrance” may well make up less than 1% of the total formulation. I was stunned when I read the ingredients on a product from a major retailer that listed “Sweet Almond Oil” on the front of the packaging as one of the key ingredients in the formulation, yet “Sweet Almond Oil” was listed several ingredients after “Fragrance”.
7. Based on the ingredient list, a high content of water is not indicative of an inferior product, e.g., if a blissfully simple formulation has 10 ounces of water, 5 ounces of Butter X, and 5 ounces of Oil Y as the primary ingredients, the ingredients would read in that order. In reality, this formulation has as much “good stuff” as it does water, thus creating a very rich formulation.

The products that I am working with Kimberly to formulate are created with honesty and integrity. The ingredients in each and every product are there for a specific purpose. There are no smokescreens of fancy additives that do not give benefits to your skin or to the overall formulation. Unlike most commonly found commercial products, these products contain a high concentration of rich moisturizing ingredients that have been proven time and again to provide great benefits to even the driest skin.

If you are curious about why an ingredient is listed on one of Kimberly’s products, ask her. She will be able to tell you because she is part of the process, not just the person selling the end result. Unlike most custom labeled products that are manufactured for boutique companies, these products are not the same product everyone else carries with Kimberly’s name and contact information added. These are custom formulations with original fragrance blends that are being created for her..

There’s no question about it. Life can be stressful. At times, it can feel like it’s coming at you from every angle. I’m told, however, it’s not the type of stress, it’s how you deal with the stress– that is the concern.

Each person has their own individual way of “dealing” with it.  Some people get red in the face, others feel physically ill, and some just back into a corner emotionally. More intense, and  unhealthy ways of dealing with stress, would be turning to alcohol and drugs to wash away your problems. Obviously, we know that that is not the way to go when trying to calm yourself down and relax.

Stress can cause many problems not only emotionally, but physically. It can absorb itself into your body and cause serious irreparable damage. Sometimes it will affect your liver, kidneys, skin, intestines, etc. It can cause diseases. It can damage your personal relationships.

Before you can properly deal with stress, you have to learn the triggers of your stress. For some tips on how to control your reaction to stress, I found a really amazing website that gives great information.

Don’t allow the stress in your life to get under your skin. Control it.

As always,

Live your life…Full Throttle!.

After reading “Why Mom Wakes before Dad,” an article by LiveScience.com, I found that women have different circadian rhythms from men.  Researchers at Harvard Medical School headed up a study that looked at how easy it was for the participants to fall asleep and stay asleep.

Apparently, there are two indicators of circadian rhythm: core body temperature and levels of melatonin.  What I did not know was that the “natural circadian rhythm is reset daily by exposure to natural light.”  Perhaps, this is the reason why some people use black out curtains in their bedrooms.  I, personally, use a black out curtain in my bedroom because the light in the morning is so harsh and bright.  The curtain is especially useful on weekends when getting up early should be out of the question.  The thought also popped in my head that some people like to sleep with a fan constantly running while they sleep.  Maybe that contributes to the decrease in their core body temperature, therefore, allowing them to sleep better.

In the study, researchers found that about “35% of women had circadian rhythms shorter than 24 hours, compared to the 14% of men.”  I suppose this means that women need less sleep than men, according to the study.

There are many other factors that contribute to the way you sleep at night, however.  Some factors might be:

1. Having caffeine before you go to sleep at night
2. Your stress level
3. Types of food you’re eating
4. Comfort of your bed
5. Whether you’re hot or cold
6. Body pain
7. Etc.

I have heard that if you read a book or magazine before you go to sleep that it encourages your body to relax.  I always remember my grandmother drinking hot tea before going to sleep also.

What are some ways that you encourage your body to relax before you sleep?

.