Because of our efforts in formulating with nontoxic and safe ingredients, we're thrilled that we've earned three 2019 Earth Day Beauty Awards for our efforts in formulating with clean, caring, and healthy ingredients.

Our lash and brow-loving Eye Makeup Remover, our silicone-free Natural Shine Serum for hair, and our vitamin-rich new Purely Cranberry Serum Boost made the short list and earned an Earth Day Award this year. Yay! 

These are three products that are common in the marketplace and are typically filled with synthetics, fragrances, and ingredients that do nothing but add a smell and a touch that feels desirable. We develop and small-batch formulate these products to be effective and provide results without any compromise to our health. More guys and gals are reaching for cleaner care methods, and more are reaping the benefits of a cleaner routine. 

Having treatments that are safe for us, as well as for those that are harvesting them and our fragile planet that is growing them, means that from start to finish, what you use and enjoy is mindful, healthy, and can be enjoyed without cause for concern.

It's a big world out there, and every conscientious step along the way makes a difference. 

Over the past six years, we've received shout outs, nods of excellence, and verification and awards for various face, hair and body treatments ~ we've highlighted them below. We love them all, and this month we're shining the light on these three celebrity products. We know that they'd thank the academy if they could. :)

The day I became a Mom my life changed. Our son and daughter are adults now, but those early days and years when they started to touch, lick, and discover everything made me think about how things were made. If the things I used to clean the house and what I used on my hands and body were safe enough to eat, then I wouldn't worry about it. But I did worry about it, because the ingredients weren't that safe... and because their little mouths were on everything!

Everything I touched mattered as I thought, "What if some of my lotion goes into his mouth?" "Is my deodorant going to affect her when she's nursing?" When the kids started crawling on the floors, I was thinking of them touching their mouths with their hands that were on the floor. I started making my own cleaning products for the house, reading every ingredient, and being mindful about everything I was eating and consuming through my skin. As a nursing mom, I wanted to make sure they were getting healthy things from me, not harmful things. 

There are cleaner care products for the home out there now, but there are still plenty of skincare and personal items that can be cleaned up and made safer. 

Every year on Mother's Day there are nice words exchanged and sometimes a gift or treat. Here are some of the Qēt Botanicals' favorite Mother's Day gift ideas shared from our botanical delights: 

• Hydra-Rose Eye Serum
• Lavish Serum Salve
• Blooming Tea Bath
• Ultra Garden Serum for Body
• Getting Started Facial Kit (Balancing, Hydrating or Restoring)
• Botanical Nectars (Lavender, Jasmine, and Rosewood) 
• Botanical Nectar Scent Suite Samples
• Hydrating Day Serum and Hydrating Toning Water with Lavender & Rose

Real ingredients, handmade formulas, and all small-batch-from-scratch ... just like those homemade cookies from Mom. :) 

From the food we eat, to the clothes we wear, to the products we use... it might be time to get a hand on handmade now more than ever.

Creativity feeds the soul, and the artisans that breathe their creativity into our everyday lives are not only nurturing their wellbeing, but we benefit from their talents and uniqueness.

With factories and technology booming and growing into each other, it may be the best time to back up and support the small talents and skills that individuals bring to the table in a BIG way! There is much value and importance in honing a craft ~ it feeds the mind and enriches the routine so it doesn't become... well... routine. 

Going back to the basics, those things that have been with us for generations, proves to not only be beneficial, but healthier than many 'newly' developed alternatives ~ fabrics, ingredients, food additives ~ so many things have been brought to the table. We don't want to loose sight of what's important and true. It's the simple things that can feed us and add so much to our lives. 

Because we're a part of the EWG Verified program, we were invited to share some of our treatments with the 300 guests. Lucky us! 

Recently Kourtney Kardashian has spoken about and shared her advocacy for EWG. Newly appointed board member Michelle Pfeiffer has also stepped onto the platform and was in attendance and spoke at the event. 

The outreach is growing and more are taking action on what is and what should not be allowed in our care products. We all use them, and having them safe and trustworthy is something we shouldn't have to worry about. 

A trustworthy resource is at our fingertips ~ there we can find clean foods and avoid the Dirty Dozen produce with pesticides and Clean Fifteen foods, safe sunscreens, water, baby products, and skincare.

A particular brand can be reviewed, or you can enter in a single ingredient. Up comes whether or not it is safe or if it is a hormone disruptor, a carcinogen, or an allergen, and the findings of the ingredients. The site is EWG.org and the apps available are Skin Deep or their Healthy Living app. These are such great tools to help guide our way to safe products! All of the Qēt Botanicals' treatments have earned a place in their safest category, and we're also a part of the EWG Verified program. 

Below Michelle Pfeiffer is sharing a word at the podium on the left, and in the image on the right is a smattering of Qēt products at the event. Images courtesy of EWG.

In light of everything happening and the new surge of 'clean,' new products coming to market, and the transparency of ingredients, this is something that we're asked about often. We're seeing more 'synthetic' ingredients being proven as safe ingredients - both in food products and in skincare.

Is there a difference between a real ingredient and a lab-produced ingredient? Here are two examples relative to our food.

Himalayan salt vs. monosodium glutamate (msg) or additive code number 621. Himalayan salt is found to be the purest, cleanest, and even a beneficial salt because of the healthy minerals it provides. The food industry and restaurants use MSG as a flavor enhancer ~ it doesn't have a flavor of its own but makes the food more savory and 'meaty' tasting. According to the Mayo Clinic, it is considered to be a 'safe' additive, but side effects for some may include sweating, flushing, headaches, facial pressure, numbness, heart palpitations, and nausea.

Cane sugar vs. aspartame. Cane sugar is more beneficial to the body and is less processed than refined, white sugar. Aspartame is a synthetic chemical that makes food taste sweeter and is also considered to be a 'safe' chemical, but the side effects according to Medical News Today can be depression, headaches, intestinal pain, ADHD, dizziness, multiple sclerosis, and even cancer. 

So where does that leave the synthetics in our skincare? What type of side effects are we going to have from them?

Well, we can't always tell where a reaction on our skin is coming from. Many times the skin is a tell-tale sign that something is off internally and the skin is angry because of it. Skincare products are not regulated like food.

According to our friends at EWG, "the FDA virtually has no power to regulate the products we use everyday. Women use an average of 12 products a day, containing 168 different chemicals. Men use fewer products, but still put 85 chemicals on their bodies." Any one of the ingredients could be causing a reaction externally on our skin, or upsetting us internally, which could also eventually show up on our skin. Frustrating! 

This is where you start really diving into the ingredients, why they're there, what they're made of, their 'other' name, and if it's a man-made synthetic or something truly derived from something natural.

You've been reading your ingredients, you've been checking the EWG Skin Deep or EWG Healthy Living App to see if it's a healthy treatment, and what have you found? You may have found that (1) some synthetics are found to be safe; (2) that some synthetics are listed in 'clean' or 'natural' products; and (3) that they're allowed in some of our personal care products but not in the food that we eat. Does this make sense, and is this even fair to us as the consumer?

There are products out there that we may never know everything that is put into them. Fragrance is a prime example because simply the word "fragrance" is allowed on the label; it may contain hundreds of chemical compounds. Labs and chemists are coming up with new names for old ingredients just like they're coming up with new mixes and adding new names and letters behind them. They want us to want them and we don't want to have that FOMO... or Fear Of Missing Out.

Until we get further down the road with these 'safe synthetics,' we really have no idea how our bodies are going to react to the synthetic ingredients. I personally cannot touch anything with aspartame as it makes me double-over in pain almost immediately. It took me years to figure it out and pinpoint the culprit. 

In our proprietary formulas, we avoid synthetics and alcohol extracts, and we work with the oils of the plant. Depending on the plant, the oils are removed from the plant by methods of water distillation, cold press, CO2, or steam distillation. Clean, healthy, and pure.

Our approach and our passion is all about less is more. High-performing and proven ingredients that are allowed to stand out and do their jobs can make a difference and give us results. We don't hide actives in dozens and dozens of other ingredients ~ we allow them to stand up and perform in each formula. 

Determining what's real and what isn't... we can take matters into our own hands as there is always Google and Wikipedia... and some of these sites lead to scientific breakdowns where you get the molecular structure of an item - interesting and sometimes overwhelming. The EWG apps and other safe resources can take some of the burden off of us as the consumer. 

When it comes to labeling skincare and cosmetics, because there are no regulations, there is only an honor system in place. 

Let's keep reading our ingredients and using these valuable resources. The more we know, the more we know! It's educational, informative, addictive, and sometimes it gives us a headache, but education is knowledge, and knowledge is what can keep us feeling great and on top of our game. 

In April of 2013 with nearly 50 products. We have only a few more than that now, and all of the treatments we started with are still being formulated, loved, and shared today.

We find them all to be winners, as do many of our friends. The following treatments listed are loved just as much as our other treatments, but these have happened to receive an award or special shout-out:

• 2014 ~ Balancing Cleansing Oil with Thyme
• 2014 ~ Lavender Powder Dry Shampoo
• 2015 ~ Lavish Serum Salve
• 2015 ~ Nutri-Pomade & Mask with Shea & Coconut
• 2016 ~ Ultra Garden Serum for Body
• 2017 ~ Honey Cream Mask with Active Manuka
• 2017 ~ Hydra-Rose Eye Serum
• 2017 ~ Restoring Night Serum
• 2017 ~ Lavender Botanical Nectar
• 2018 ~ Restoring Toning Water with Immortelle, Calendula & Lavender
• 2018 ~ Spot Serum
• 2018 ~ Nutri-Pomade & Mask with Shea & Coconut
• 2019 ~ Restoring Toning Water with Immortelle, Calendula & Lavender
• 2019 ~ Eye Makeup Remover
• 2019 ~ Natural Shine Serum for Hair
• 2019 ~ Purely Cranberry Serum Boost

You might wonder... why would I need a serum boost, and what is the best way to use a serum boost? 

We refer to our day and night serums to be like a well-rounded meal. The vitamins, antioxidants, and nutrients that each drop brings to the table feeds our complexion, collagen, and cells in various ways. 

A serum boost is having the option of adding more of a singular, beneficial vitamin. Rather than reaching for a synthetic vitamin serum or Retinol, we already love our cranberry and rosehip seed oil in our treatments, and now you have the option to add more should you wish to do so.

As a side note about Retinol, in case you missed our previous post about it, it is rated as an extremely hazardous 9 in EWG's database. It is a known reproductive toxicant, is a hormone disruptor, it's been known to cause cancerous tumors on the skin, and it is already banned in skincare in other countries. You can see the details about Retinol here. It seems like almost everyday there are commercials and marketing materials sharing why we should still use Retinol on our skin. Crazy!

Back to our healthy serum boosts (whew!) we have three, and all are different and can be mixed and matched according to the skin's wishes. Just adding a pump or two after you've applied your day or night serum is all that it takes. The added Vitamins A and C are pure, fresh, and haven't oxidized like what can happen on conventional Vitamin A or Vitamin C serums from the shelf. We prefer to work with the true sources of the vitamins rather than an extract that needs water added to it. 

Our Purely Cranberry is often loved in the morning as it provides not only Vitamins A and C healing benefits, but its perfect ratio of Omegas offer a high level of antioxidants that protect against environmental rays and free-radicals that cause premature aging. Our Purely Rosehip is the richest and most natural source of Vitamin A and is a healthy and safe alternative to Retinol and its synthetic counterparts. Our Purely Squalane is new to our botanical family and we love it because it is a matte, dry oil that locks in moisture with its invisible veil of antioxidants, and is also a perfect replacement of a skin primer if one is desired. 

As a botanical brand, we're pretty partial to botanicals and their benefits. The energy and natural compounds that come from each plant is numerous ~ synthetic formulations don't even come close.

Words from customers...

"I've finally helped heal my eczema with Qēt! Keeping the synthetics away from my skin has really helped!"

"My skin felt good before, but what a difference now that I've been using Qēt. Even my friends notice. :) " 

We think you'll agree that we can avoid the synthetic and silicone products to care for and nurture us and our largest organ.

Everyone deserves a time for Qēt ~ whether your a man or woman. Take those two minutes and just open and indulge in the botanical goodness.

Let's Shop

If you're new to our brand and want to try a trial size first, our Hair Care Suite contains a sample of our Natural Shine Serum, and our Purely Suite Discovery Kit contains a sample of all three of our Purely Suite treatments. They're the perfect way to try treatments in trial sizes! 

Here are a few words of grateful mindfulnes in a poem by Mary Oliver.

"Mindful" ~ by Mary Oliver.

Everyday I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light.

It was what I was born for — to look, to listen, to lose myself inside this soft world — to instruct myself over and over in joy, and acclamation.

Nor am I talking about the exceptional, the fearful, the dreadful, the very extravagant — but of the ordinary, the common, the very drab, the daily presentations.

The way the grass moves, the flight of a bird, a wind in the leaves ~ whether we're in the country or even if we're in the middle of the city, there is movement and delight happening all around us. We just have to stop to appreciate it.

Happy Day, Friend!

xx

~ Lisa 

~ fresh ~ natural ~ sumptuous ~

~ non-toxic, organic, proven, and high-performing ~

~ award-winning botanical treatments handmade in WI and CA ~