Part of our new determination to take a more natural approach to beauty is a renewed interest and trust in good-for-hair-and-skin oils. We’re talking botanical oils such as argan, avocado, olive and grapeseed, and essential oils such as rose, lavender and rosemary.
Although all the above-mentioned oils are technically botanical, essential oils are a specific class sourced from aromatic plants and thought to have medicinal/therapeutic properties. The term “essential” means the “essence” of the original plant, which has a specific associated and immediately identifiable scent. Commonly the result of a distillation process that requires masses of raw plant material and produces just a small amount of non-water-soluble liquid, essential oils are more concentrated, complex and fragrant than regular botanical types. For example, distilling just lavender flower spikes yields mood-soothing lavender essential oil, which naturally contains molecules of camphor and eucalyptus, known to help ease breathing.
Argan, avocado, grapeseed, rose hip and other botanical types, often obtained by cold-pressing materials such as the seeds, fruit, roots, bark, leaves or flowers of the plant, are dense oils, high in skin-friendly fatty acids including omega 3, 6 and 9, as well as vitamins, proteins and minerals. They’re particularly good for rebalancing/reinforcing skin’s natural moisture barrier.
Visit ElleCanada.com for my slideshow of calming, cleansing and moisturizing oils for hair, face and body. I’m a huge fan of body oils in particular; massaged in right after a shower they leave skin wonderfully silky and soft. In drying times like winter, try smoothing some onto damp skin before your regular lotion, or add a few drops of your favourite essential oil to a bottle of fragrance-free lotion to create your own scented type.
I don’t need to mention that Valentine’s Day is a good time to bust out some oils, do I? I know I don’t have to tell Clive-O.
Crabtree & Evelyn Aromatherapy Distillations Purifying Body & Massage Oil, $20, is an unscented blend of oils including marula nut. Crabtree & Evelyn boutiques; crabtree-evelyn.com, which now ships to Canada.
I’ve mentioned John Frieda Collection’s Go Blonder and Colour Renew in stories for other media outlets, but haven’t really highlighted them in a BeautyGeeks post — my bad. They’re a brilliant way to duck your colourist a bit longer and save your beauty pennies for something else. And at the moment they and the rest of the John Frieda haircare line appears to be on sale everywhere for about half the usual $12.99 price tag because [geek on]
On this World Cancer Day, we interrupt our Valentine’s Day programming to remind you to spread the word that using tanning beds is B.A.D. Remember, it’s now official: tanning beds are in the highest-cancer-risk category according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
It’s that time of year when pasty-white folks book sunny beach vacations, and start the trip off with a few tanning-bed sessions beforehand to “create a base.” Create a base of skin cancer maybe? Because, in addition to the highest-cancer-risk thing, according to the Canadian Dermatology Association, dumbass idots who think a tan can protect them have more skin damage coming: “at most, a tan is the equivalent to a sunscreen with SPF of just 2 to 4. Not enough to keep you safe in the sun.”
If you know someone heading for sunny shores, show your love with bottles (note plural — one is not enough for a week on a beach) of paraben-free SPF protection, preferably without Oxybenzone (studies indicate it has hormone-disruptor tendencies). A good alternative to the standard stuff out there is paraben-free Cliniderm Gentle Protective Lotion SPF 45 ($29), which contains micronized natural sunscreen ingredients titanium dioxide and zinc oxide.
Cliniderm Gentle Protective Lotion SPF 45 is available at Shoppers Drug Mart; cliniderm.ca for info.
I know, right? Kind of a Valentine’s Day no-brainer, especially for a gloss addict, The Body Shop’s Love Etc… line now includes Love Gloss ($14), complete with a heart-shaped applicator and bitty heart graphics on the tube. Sweet, if you like that sort of thing.
The nine-shade group includes Blush Pink, Fuchsia Flush, Sweet Peach and Tropical Pink. Enriched with conditioning ingredients, such as community-trade cocoa butter and marula oil, beeswax, and passion-fruit oil, the gloss formula is designed to keep lips in good shape for kissing. You know, if you like that sort of thing.
Available at The Body Shop boutiques and TheBodyShop.com. Image courtesy of The Body Shop.
What if you discovered your adored hubs was stepping out? What if, before you can tackle him about it, he gets struck by lightening and loses his memory? [geek on]
Wouldn’t it be cool if every time you asked a trusted friend for a beauty recommendation, she just handed over the product so you could try it out without having to buy it? [geek on]
Thanks, Wynne Huerta, for reminding me about Michelle Phan, another YouTube how-to success. Michelle, a trained artist — as in paint and illustration — is such a success her tutorials have been hit more than 50 million times and, as of October 2009, she’s represented by prestigious NYC agency Jed Root, who reps makeup-artist superstars Dick Page and Laura Mercier. [geek on]
Part of our new determination to take a more natural approach to beauty is a renewed interest and trust in good-for-hair-and-skin oils. We’re talking botanical oils such as argan, avocado, olive and grapeseed, and essential oils such as rose, lavender and rosemary.
