Recycle & Reuse Luxe's Packaging

One of the great things that drew me to use the cute little clear lid silver tins that our body butter comes in was the fact that I thought, after our customer was done using the body butter, they could wipe it down with a little water & soap and reuse it for something else. For those of you who stopped by our booth at the Go Green Expo you received an small envelope filled with organic daisy seeds. We had a few of those envelopes left and I decided to try my green thumb and put some tins to use. I had about (6) 16 oz clear lid tins which I turned into planters for my organic daisy seeds. In order to create some drainage, I placed some small rocks at the bottom of the tins. You can pick up a bag of small rocks at a arts & craft store like Michael's for less than $2. I then lightly filled up the tins to about a half an inch from the top with organic dirt from Home Depot. A small bag is less than $5. Then, I made tiny holes in the dirt with my finger or you can use a stick and dropped a few seeds in each hole cover with dirt and water. Place near the sun and wait. After being away from my apartment over the weekend I came back on Monday to see these lovely little plants sprouting from the dirt. I just hope that I can keep this up. We'll see how they look in the upcoming weeks. Remember, you can use these to start planting almost anything. Fresh herbs for kitchen, lavender, sunflowers be creative. You can also use these tins to organize your office medicine cabinets or even your arts and crafts. (see picture above) The idea is to reuse or recycle.


xoxo,

Nydia

The Sun Friend or Foe?

I recently spent the past week working outdoors for 8 hours under the hot sun. As you can imagine, although I slathered sunscreen on every couples of hours, I still managed to get a deep tan. I don't remember being this dark since my youthful days swimming and playing soccer. (not that I'm complaining) I got to thinking about the sun and how in American culture we're told to avoid it like a plague. As many of you may know, I spent my early childhood living in the Caribbean with my grandmother. A lot of my influences and memories comes from those early childhood years. I remember a culture where the sun, in moderation of course, was good for you. In the Caribbean, I don't necessarily recall anyone necessarily instructing people to go out and burn but the sun and ocean seemed to be viewed by the elders around me, as one of the lifeline of health and elements that bring forth life, basically, "the sun is good for you, good for vitamin E, and good for giving you a nice slight healthy glow." When I arrived stateside suddenly the sun became the enemy, the main causes of skin cancer and wrinkled damaged skin. If you take a look at ancient cultures the sun was an object of veneration. Is there some truth in what the elders and ancient cultures believed? Is the sun rays today alot different than those of an earlier time? Have we fell under the brainwashing of beauty advertisers, media, news outlets who have created an extreme phobia of the sun so they can sell the latest sunblocking formulations? So I decided to research this and see what I could find. Well according to research done by Stanford University, sunlight triggers the synthesis of vitamin D within the body, this action causes immune cells to travel to the outer layers of the skin where they are available to protect and help repair damage such as that caused by sun exposure. I remember, in his late fifties my father suddenly developed psoraisis. The doctor basically told him this was due to the fact that living here in north American spending most of his time indoors therefore he was getting less sun and that he should go back to the Caribbean to get some sun. Was the doctor on to something or should he/she should be shot for giving such advice. Ok, I know what you all are thinking. This doesn't mean that you should just abandon you sunscreen and lather on that suntan lotion and lay out. But I also don't believe that you should walk around thinking that you shouldn't be in the sun at all and avoid contact completely. Believe me, I've met individuals who do that! In moderation, I believe the sun can be good. Keep in mind, what can be considered moderate varies for person to person. You know your skin and what it can tolerate. Do I think the sun in excessive amounts can cause cancer and damage to the skin yes. Do I advocate extreme sun tanning no, but a brisk walk down a block or two on a sunny day once in a while won't kill you, remember know your limitations.

EYE CREAM

This past week I was frolicking down the street and notice a small store of a moderately popular beauty brand. I wasn't very familiar with the brand so I decided to check out what they were offering. I methodically went through and tried most of their products, checking out the consistency, scent, packaging when I notice that almost every customer that came in after me was asking about an eye cream/serum. When I went home I decided to do some investigation about eye cream and I stumbled upon mixed views. The common questions ask on most websites was do we need a separate moisturizer for around the eyes? Some say yes we do because the skin around the eye is thinner therefore more susceptible to fine lines and wrinkles therefore special attention is needed in those areas. Others say no, it a big scheme by large beauty companies to charge you more for a product that has the same ingredients as a facial creams. I'm a bit undecided. I have friends that swear by eye creams and serums while I have personally never quite felt the need to use them. I would love to hear some of your thoughts! Do you spend extra money on eye creams and serums? Do you really see a difference when you use them or do you just keep things simple and use a facial cream?

Ingredient of the Week

Ylang-Ylang pronounced (ee-lang ee-lang) is a small flower that grows on the cananga tree. I have to be honest, I was drawn to this flower solely because of it's unusual name. Picture this: I'm on a business call with one of my suppliers inquiring about the essential oil of this flower and of course I have no ideal how to pronounce the name. "Can you include a sample of the "Leeang Leeang" essential oil?" I ask? WRONG, try again! Needless to say I've since figured it out. When I received the small bottle of the sample in the apartment I took a wiff, thought it was nice and tucked it away. Almost a year later, I've brought it out of my stash of samples to take a closer look/smell. Ylang essential oil is described as being floral with hints neroli and jasmine. I liken it to more of smelling like heaven. It's great alone incorporated into a solid perfume or try blending it with clary sage, rosewood, bergamot, vetiver, sandalwood, orange, mandarin.

BEAUTY BY AN MEANS NECESSARY!

I'm always shocked at the lengths women are willing to go to attain what they think is beautiful. If you look throughout history, it's evident that this is not anything new, from Chinese women binding the feet so that they would remain small to Europeans women wearing corsets to squeeze their waists to a size that is considered desirable. I have also fallen into this trap to attain what is considered beautiful. I've paid to endure the pain of having someone remove hair with wax in places that I'm sure you can imagine, as well as suffered for hours in heels that are clearly uncomfortable but look fabulous, but at what cost? I recently attended an industry trade show looking new & innovative ingredients (natural and/or organic of course) to use in my line of products. As I walked past a booth, I was approached by a woman representing a company that was offering snail extracts. REALLY?? Granted, I'm sure that somewhere on this planet called earth, snails are considered a delicacy and aren't repulsive as they are to us Americans but REALLY, snails? She continues to lists numerous benefits snail extracts has on the skin and entire lines has been created based on this one ingredient. Us Americans are always a step behind when it comes to the latest in skincare so maybe I should keep an open mind. So, tell me as a naturalista would you be interested in having snail extract in your products?

Go Green Expo Success

Hi,

I want to thank everyone that stopped by our booth at the Go Green Expo. I met a lot of new people as well as old friends. It was great speaking with the customers in person and answering all of their questions and concerns. I met members of the press, special thanks to the guys from Rethos for stopping by. The show was a great success and along with the launch of our new 100% percent all natural lotion. Right now the lotion is available in two scents, lavender and lemongrass and will be available for sale on our website soon. Check out this clip!


xoxo,


Nydia

Go Green with Luxe Essentials

Hi Naturalistas,

Join Luxe Essentials at the Go Green Expo on April 26 -27th at the Hilton New York Hotel located on 6th Avenue at 53rd St. We will have our premier product line of body butters, salts and oils available for purchase in three scents-- lavender, orange and lemongrass. We will also be launching new products such as body scrubs, 100% natural lotions, soy candles, gift sets and soaps. Here's your chance to try and purchase all of our products and ask me any questions you may have regarding labels, ingredients and packaging. Come out with the family, spend the day and find out how you and your family can treat the world and your body better. Make sure you stop by booth # 123.

xoxo

Nydia