How to Know If Your Beauty Product is Organic Botanics

When you hear "natural", images of blue skies and mellow chirping birds come to your mind. The term natural is often misunderstood when comes cosmetics. Many companies claim their products are natural however they are made of processed ingredients. How do you know whether a product truly organic or not?

Bluh Alchemy

Bluh Alchemy, an innovative clean skincare line, features a limited range of treatment-focused synergistic blends that contain rare botanical extracts. Becky Bluh studied cosmetics chemistry and discovered ways to harness plant-based ingredients that have profound physiological effects. She sought out a range of plant extracts that would provide an outline for optimal skin health, and also protect against premature aging and free radical damage as well as oxygenative stress.

Bluh's studies and experiments with rare botanicals led her to discover the groundbreaking Cellular Extraction process, which permits the extraction of a plant's complete phytoactive profile in its most potent and stable form. Her formulas use this game-changing tech to provide Advanced Bioactive Solutions directly to the skin.

For February's Beauty Heroes Discovery we selected two full-size picks from Bluh Alchemy: the Botanic Retinol Cell Renewal Concentrate (hero but super) and the Eye Oil Serum (sidekick every hero requires). Bakuchiol, which is an ingredient of retinol replicates the corrective qualities of retinol. It is used in this concentrate to visibly correct fine wrinkles, enlarged pores and breakouts. This is combined with a suite antioxidants, including Kakadu Plum to boost cell renewal and reduce the appearance of hyperpigmentation. Finger lime caviar will firm and tone your skin. Mountain pepper leaf cellular extraction that has ORAC levels that are unbeatable will help prevent premature ageing.

African Botanics

In a corner of the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden in Johannesburg, South Africa grows an strelitzia with a yellow hue (known as Mandela's Gold), an endemic plant that is also one of the nation's botanical symbols. It's a tribute for the moral leader and founder of the Rainbow Nation and a reminder that South Africa has a deep connection to nature.

For Craig and Julia Noik, founders of the hyper-luxe green beauty brand African Botanics, launching the line was more than a creative venture. It was an opportunity to share a bit of their culture with other people and to provide them with the same feeling of connection to this extraordinary country and its ancient traditions that has always been a part of their lives.

The resultant skincare collection is a tribute to traditional African beauty practices by utilizing the ancient African phytochemistry, and modern-day botanical pharmacy. The most potent South African plants, sustainably procured from the country's remote and untouched regions, are then infused with powerful actives selected by biochemists and botanists from South Africa and around the world. They are then encapsulated with advanced extraction and encapsulation methods to produce the ultimate in high-performance, eco-luxe green beauty.

Fifty7 Kind

Fifty7 Kind, an online-first brand, provides plant-based skin care products in eco-sustainable packaging. The sleek line of body care and skincare contains ingredients sourced in Southern Africa. These include oil extracts from plants and seeds and unique minerals from the desert, the sea and the land. Gabrielle (founder Fifty7 Kind), grew up in the English countryside as an organic cbd oil uk child. She claims that her mother taught to cook with raw ingredients and gather wild herbs for beauty.

Utilizing botanicals that are sourced sustainably using artisanal slow-fusion techniques, the brand ensures concentrated extracts of skin health improving vitamins and fatty acids, trace nutrients and non-polar amino acids. The brand sources rare wild-crafted, wild-crafted, and undiscovered botanicals such as Ugandan Vanilla and a sub-species of shea called Vitellaria Nilotica that provides high levels of Vitamin A + E + K as well as non-polar antioxidants.

YINA is an organic skincare brand from California created by two female Chinese Medicine doctors. This brand combines ancient oriental herbal remedies and botanical organic luxury. YINA products include traditional medicinal plants and herbs such as Ashwagandha, Hawthorne Berry and other common organic cbd oil ingredients.

Live Botanical

Botanical skincare that combines traditional and modern methods and helps create harmony and balance to enhance what makes you uniquely beautiful. Made in Portland, OR.

A botanical is a plant or part of it that is that is valued for its therapeutic properties such as flavor, aroma or taste. Since ancient times botanicals have been used to improve and maintain health. This includes skin care.

Botanicals are available in dried or fresh form and in many different preparations. They are available in the produce section of the supermarket or in the section of dietary supplements in the form of tablets, capsules or tea bags. A single chemical can be isolated from a botanical and then sold as a diet supplement in tablet or capsule form.

The safety of a plant depends on its chemical makeup, how it works within the body and how it is prepared. The quantity of botanicals that are used in a product could also impact the safety of the product. A cup of tea only contains a small amount, while a tincture is more concentrated.

A tincture is made by soaking a herb in a liquid like water or alcohol to extract the essential constituents. A tincture can then be dilute to various strengths. The strength of a plant tincture is expressed in terms of a ratio between the extract and the botanical.

YINA

Angela Chau Gray, Ervina Wu and Angela Chau Gray are both experts in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Their brand is a true tribute to the ancient philosophies of TCM with professional TCM practitioners at the steering wheel. The result is advanced exquisite, refined, Organic Botanics and artisanal formulas designed for modern health and wellness practices like Acupressure, acupuncture, jade rolling, and full-body gua sha.

YINA products are made sustainably in California and are brimming with powerful bio-adaptive herbal extracts. The NOURISH botanical oil sera and the anti-pollution facial mask are their most popular products. Both are rich in camellia seeds, safflower oils and licorice roots. They also contain anti-aging botanicals like rhodiola and Asian knotweed. The mask also includes cleansing moringa, pear powder and coconut carbon.

Felicia is part of the super-efficient operations team at YINA and loves exploring new products for health and implementing the self-care practices espoused by the brand's founders. She particularly enjoys the YINA anti-pollution cream that contains cleansing ingredients like skullcap root, pearl powder, moringa and tea seeds.

Malaya Organics

Malaya Organics is a Brooklyn-based 100 100% natural high-performance line that was created by Katya Slepak, an expert formulator, designer of products and certified aromatherapist. The brand's nourishing and effective products are designed to help support the skin's natural aging process as it matures and are suitable for all skin types. The balancing elixirs they offer contain an effective blend of phytonutrient-rich whole-plant extracts, made in-house for maximum efficacy, rich in antioxidants and nourishing plant oils and essences known for their anti-inflammatory and elasticity-boosting properties.

Ingredients are sourced from the taigas in Siberia and the forests of India and the Amazon and the deserts of Morocco. They have been designed to help you connect to your own inner landscape that is one of balance, peace and healing. The name "Malaya" originates from a Shambhala sandalwood forest also refers to a sacred sacrificial garland worn during ceremonies. These are the inspirations that led to the creation of this thoughtfully curated collection of 100% pure, therapeutic grade skincare.

Fran Miller

Long before going natural was trendy and trendy, Toronto-based Fran Miller launched her own beauty brand with the mantra "less is better." With the summer heat gaining momentum Miller's pared-down selection of oil-based skincare essentials is taking the wellness world by storm. The lineup includes everything, from a goji berry-infused shea butter body buff to a hair smoothing spray and multi-tasking face oil.

The company is committed to organically-sourced, ethically sourced ingredients and working with responsible manufacturers locally and around the globe, F. Miller has been committed to sustainability since the beginning of its existence. All of F. Miller's high performance essentials are free of harmful preservatives or synthetic fragrances. They are also free of mineral oils, GMOs, aluminum and SLS.

All products are blended and bottled by hand in small batches to ensure freshness. The label works with expert cosmetic chemists to create nutritious blends of botanical components that promote radiant skin, provide multiple corrective results, and nourish all types of skin. In addition to their carefully sourced ingredients, the brand has an environmental ethos that extends to their packaging and practices. They use recycled and biodegradable glass and they are committed to sourcing eco-friendly, recyclable packaging materials. They also offer refills and a subscription program to reduce the amount of waste.