Wordless Wednesday is Dahlias

Word of the Week: Reformulate

re⋅for⋅mu⋅late
-verb (used with object), -lat⋅ed, -lat⋅ing.
1. to formulate again.
2. to formulate in a different way; alter or revise: to reformulate our plans.

This week's word refers to some changes we've been working on. I sent out a newsletter earlier this year and mentioned that we'd be reformulating a few of our products. Well, nothing is ever as simple as you think, so it's taken us a bit longer to make the decisions about our reformulations. We are still working on our sugar scrubs, but have changed the micas, pigments, and other colorings we use in our lip balms.

First of all, please know that all of the ingredients in our balms are lip safe, and always have been. The base of all of our balms contains oils (almond, coconut, avocado), beeswax, and butters (cocoa and shea), along with Vitamin E for its antioxidant properties. We know what kinds of ingredients we want to include in our balms, but it's just as important to decide what to leave out: petrolatum, mineral oil, and artificial preservatives have always been at the top of that list. We revisit our formulations and reconsider ingredients every so often, and have now decided that bismuth oxychloride and the FD&C and D&C colorings also belong on that list.

Bismuth oxychloride is a by-product of the refining of ores like tin and copper, and is further processed to get rid of lead or any other dangerous elements. The resulting white pigment is used in many cosmetics as a skin protective; it has a nice, silky feel and adheres well to the skin, and also has a pearlescent appearance, so it can help to reflect light to "mask" imperfections on the complexion. It can also cause allergic reactions. Though we've never had any reports of adverse reactions to our products, we decided to eliminate this ingredient from our lip-safe micas.

The lip-safe FD&C and D&C colorings we have used in some of our balms also started to concern us. Though they are approved by the FDA for use in Food, Drugs and Cosmetics (FD&C) or Drugs and Cosmetics (D&C), many of these colorings are derived from coal tar and are known carcinogens (when injected into the skin). They are also capable of producing allergic reactions; again, we've had no reports of any reactions to these colorings in our balms, but we decided to play it safe and reformulate with other colorings.

As an aside, let me mention that lots of other companies safely use bismuth oxychloride and the FD&C and D&C colorings in their products (we did for years with no problems or reactions). We have simply decided that there are better alternatives for our lip balms that will further reduce the risk of allergic reactions.

It's easy enough to decide not to use certain ingredients, but it can be complicated to find substitutions. For example, I wanted a nice, true pink to replace the CI 15850 (Red 7) that was in some of my balms, and many of the pink micas contained carmine, a pigment that comes from ground up beetles. The ick factor alone prevented that choice! After a lot of research, I decided that micas and pigments are my favorite ways to tint lip balm. (Remember that our balms still won't leave color on your lips, and that we can make your custom balm without color, if you prefer...contact us for details.)

Here is the new list of the pigments and micas we have started to use:

• Red and some pink balms contain red mica, which has mica & iron oxides.
• Pale brown balms may contain bronze mica, with red oxide & mica. (Some brown balms also contain Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa!)
• Yellow and orange balms contain gold mica, with mica, titanium dioxide and iron oxides.
• Pink balms contain pink ultramarine.
• Green and blue balms contain blue ultramarine.
• Purple balms contain manganese violet.
• Black or deeper color balms may also contain black mica, with iron oxide, mica, and titanium dioxide.

As always, these ingredients are all lip-safe, but please let us know if you have any concerns about them, or if you prefer to have your balms prepared without any added color. We have already started using these new pigments and micas, and will be updating our flavors page to reflect this change as soon as all of the previous formulations are out of stock. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns about these changes!

Read more about bismuth oxychloride, iron oxides, and the safety of other cosmetics ingredients. A Consumer's Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients is also a fantastic book if you want to check out what all of that gobbledygook on the label really means!

Beauty Tips for Summer Skin and Hair

I actually saw the sun for a few hours yesterday (after weeks of rain here in Maine) so of course I'm imagining some of the skin challenges I may face if the sun actually returns for the Fourth! Sunburns, tan lines, dry and peeling skin...this is a bit of a dream considering that the afternoon of sunshine was followed last night by thunderstorms and heavy rain. But if you're lucky enough to be somewhere with heat and sunshine, check out this slideshow for skin care tips to prepare, protect, and soothe your skin.

(I would personally add lavender to the sunburn treatment they mention. My daughter's friend was nursing a sunburn a few weeks ago when she was visiting, and I applied a few drops of lavender essential oil to the red spots. She felt so much better, she is now requesting a lavender lotion that she can bring with her on vacation!) I have had great luck treating burns with this essential oil. While most people are not allergic, please use with care and dilute with a carrier oil (like olive or grape seed oil), or discontinue use, if irritation occurs.

And exfoliation for tan lines was something I never thought of. Sugar scrubs are great for pedicures, of course, but evening out a tan was a great new idea. Check out our mini pedicures if you're in need of a little exfoliation.

Hope you are having fun in the sun this Fourth of July! Have a great day!

Wordless Wednesday is Gerber Daisies

5 Things I Learned at My High School Reunion

So as I mentioned on Monday, I attended my high school reunion this past weekend. I have been hovering at Facebook ever since, watching as people post new photos, chatting with folks about Saturday's party, and continuing to reminisce because it's fun and I'm not quite ready to be finished! My inability to refocus actually inspired me to share five of the things I learned at my reunion:

1. People change. Not just gray haired or bald, but grown-up and mature. You might have thought nothing would ever make the class nerd a cool person, but a reunion will prove otherwise. People grow and learn and become something you never expected. It's amazing to see.

2. People stay the same. The partyers may still be partying hearty. The slackers may not show up. The quiet ones may sit in the corner. Some things never change. But maybe the class nerd was always really cool and you never noticed. The passage of time helps you see the things about people that were there all along. Also amazing.

3. It's good to mingle. I can't believe how many times since Saturday I've said, "I wish I'd gotten a chance to talk with you." What's sad is that it was my own fault. I'm bad with crowds, I think. It's too loud, too much alcohol, too smoky, I claim. I don't know them well enough, they won't remember me, what if they didn't like me? Whatev. Some of my classmates are savvy about working a room: they know how to talk with anyone, anywhere, about anything, and feel comfortable. They know how to mingle, and they got the most out of Saturday's event. It's good to mingle. I need to practice.

4. I need a better elevator speech. You know, the 30 second what-do-you-do-and-why-should-I-care speech. "I make lip balm and blah-de-blah" isn't really cutting it, and it's kind of embarrassing. Which is crazy, because I love my job. Think about how much easier #3 would be if I had a presentable elevator speech?

5. It's good to stop and take stock now and again. Stepping away from my work and my life is hard because I enjoy it so much, but you don't see it complete unless you're on the outside. How great is it to realize that through planning or hard work or just dumb luck, you are exactly where you should be and doing what you want to do? And how sad would it be to miss areas that need improvement because you're not looking with an objective eye? Stepping away from the control panel even briefly gives valuable perspective.

I may be about ready to let this go and move on until the 30th reunion, but I'm so glad I went and saw old friends (and learned these 5 things...and a bunch more, besides). Do you have a reunion this summer? Are you planning to go? Are you looking forward to it? What do you expect to learn from the experience? Please share your thoughts and comments!

Word of the Week: Nostalgia

This past weekend I attended my 20th high school reunion with a few of my closest friends. If that wasn't enough to get me feeling nostalgic, at some point I realized that I have known my best friend, Jo (there we are in the picture) for 30 years. That hardly seems possible, but our sweet third grade teacher Miss Kelley introduced us in 1979. We felt like a couple of fine wines this weekend. (Or maybe I should say single malts?) Anyway, we're choosing to feel "well-aged"! Where did the time go?

Nostalgia is the ideal word for this week. It's from the Greek nostos, "return home", and that's just what all of us were aiming for. Some of us came home from right around the corner, while others flew in from Alaska, Washington, California, and even Iceland! Nostalgia describes homesickness, or getting sentimental about the past. It's that feeling that you can travel any distance, but you can never truly go home again.

This is only the first of the season of reunions with far-flung family members and old friends. I expect to revisit this word all summer long! I hope you can enjoy getting nostalgic this summer, too!

World's Shortest Marriage?

This is the shortest marriage I've ever heard of. This past Wednesday a couple in Germany tied the knot, then requested an annulment. Right after their wedding, the groom tried to cut his new wife's hair with a kitchen knife. She requested a restraining order. They attempted to work things out and ended up shouting at each other, then the groom spent the night in a homeless shelter.

Wow. I wonder if this was just a civil ceremony or if they had a lot of guests and the whole nine yards? They surely could have saved themselves a lot of trouble. Wouldn't you know? I mean, wouldn't you have some idea that you just couldn't get along with this person? Wouldn't there be doubts?

Here's my advice: if you have any doubts at all about your future spouse, DON'T DO IT!! What do you think? Does this seem completely crazy to you, too?!