Feeling Great is the New Looking Great 

We have a 3-in-1 way to get our skin ready for Spring ~ and it feels great! 

Skincare. Makeup. Cosmetics.

The real kind of beauty has nothing to do with skincare or any of these things. Beauty has everything to do with feeling comfortable in our own skin.

Skin is not a barrier ~ it's a carrier. Using healthy products in our daily lives makes a difference. There is a direct correlation between feeling good and doing good. When we feel good, it's easier to do good things. When we feel love, it's easier to share love. Self-love and self-care is not vain, it's part of our daily lives. If we don't care for ourselves, then who will?

Let's feel comfortable in our skin, and let's be confident about how we not only care for ourselves, and our skin, but our families and those that we care out. 

Avoid the Greenwashing

"Greenwashing" has been growing and sprouting for years in the personal care world. Through advertising blitzes, commercials, and label wording, many products look and say that they're clean, but when we dive into the ingredient list, we still see plastics, fragrance, and synthetically made additives that aren't safe. Greenwashing is when a brand claims to be natural and 'green' with their marketing, but aren't putting those efforts into their formulas or practices to make us or our environment healthy.

When we know what we're using on our skin, when those ingredients are healthy, sustainable, natural, and are in their purest and most authentic form, our mind can be at ease and we can focus on other things. We shouldn't have to worry about misleading labels ~ we should be able to trust what we're reading. 

Isn't it a horrible feeling when we don't feel well? It's even worse when it comes from using products that 'appear' to make us feel or look good, but they have hidden and lurking synthetics that don't work well within our bodies. Toxins and heavy metals are absorbed into the soft tissues of our bodies and over time can build up to unhealthy amounts. 

It's time to immerse ourselves in the great feeling of clean living with clean products. Happy Spring!

It's a Spring Cleaning for the Skin

Every day we look at our faces in the mirror, but how often do we look at our elbows, our knees, even our shins and our backs? 

The skin on our bodies needs just as much attention as our faces do. The 20 feet or so of skin that we have that covers our muscles and tissues and keeps us together (literally!) thrives on attention ~ even the littlest amount.

Skin responds positively to massage and touch. By improving circulation and stimulating the nerve endings under the skin, the skin can feel firmer and may even look smoother. Muscle tension, and even scarring, may be reduced. The friction that's created when massaging or exfoliating the skin helps to remove the top later of dead skin cells that appear dull. 

While exfoliating or massaging the skin, impurities are given the boot as the lymphatic system is nudged to let go of what it may be holding on to, which is toxins and waste. The new cells rise up to the occasion and can soak up the essential vitamins and nutrients without having to fight through a dead skin cell barrier. Think of this as a skin cycle that reminds the new cells to regenerate and turnover without as much coaxing. Here is a quick image of what the cycle might look like. 

"Do You Know What's In your Cosmetics?" 

The New York Times Article 

This New York Times article, given the same name of "Do You Know What's in your Cosmetics?" is grabbing attention. With more reported illnesses, respiratory changes, hormonal swings, and changes in thyroid and fertility rates, it's no joke that links are being made to harmful ingredients that are found in cosmetics, skincare, perfumes, hair products, and other self-care products. Those in the cosmetics world, nail care salons, and makeup artist industries are surrounded by it daily and are feeling the effects of their environment in the air and by what is being touched. Here's an article titled "Perfect Nails, Poisoned Workers" sharing examples of what can happen over time.

It's obvious, and we're finding out that clean care products are not a luxury, they're a necessity. This is exactly why we're advocates and are part of databases like EWG.org's Skin Deep and their new Healthy Living free app. These tools help to take the guesswork out of the chemical game and allow us to go on feeling great without having to figure out why we may not be feeling so great, or why our skin is so sensitive.  

In this recent New York Time article, there are plenty of mentions and examples of the loopholes in the personal care industry as a whole. It's clear that we're learning much more about the chemicals that conventional brands are using, and those chemicals that they shouldn't be using... but still are. 

For the full New York Times article, click here. 

The 3-in-1 Way to Spring-Ready Skin

Hello, skin! You've been hiding under all of those layers ~ it's time to rise and shine. 

The sun is getting brighter, the weather is getting warmer (yes, eventually!), the sweaters are getting lighter, and if we're planning a spring-getaway or a those lighter clothes that are making their way to the front of the closet, we want our skin to be ready to go! 

Our body polishes have recently been made a little creamier. Different than the typical oil and sugar scrub, our core of each body polish includes softening and healing ingredients, as well as exfoliating and moisturizing benefits... all in each little scoop!  

If you haven't tried our body polishes in a while, we invite you, and your skin(!), to do so! We've improved the formula.

Yes! We love our body polishes to cleanse, soften and exfoliate the body, and have now made them creamier.

The ingredients remain the same ~ we still include high quality pure Dead Sea salts and gluten-free oats for that softening, healing action. Now our coconut is creamier and adds a different feel.

Feeling dry at the start, once the polish is added on to wet skin in the shower, it immediately melts into a luxurious and pampering spa experience under the running water. Skin is left not only exfoliated and softened, but also cleansed and hydrated.

It cleanses without soap. It has this new, creamy texture. It's all the same loveliness with even more softening and nourishing benefits.

How do we get soft skin ready to be bare? By addressing these three ways:

1. Soften the Skin ~ soft skin is friendly and ready to take in the elements and ingredients we're applying to it. A hardened skin, think of a calloused hand or foot, doesn't allow ingredients to penetrate and heal easily. We include gluten-free colloidal oats in our body polishes to help soften and heal the skin with each application. Yes, as with all of our treatments, it is truly certified gluten-free and our customers with celiac will agree.

2. Exfoliate the Skin ~ a gentle massage, a nudge with a little natural glycolic acid in the form of organic cane sugar, and the minerals in our pure Dead Sea Salt do the job gently and naturally. Awaken the senses and awaken the skin with a gentle circular motion from the body polish. Remember to pay attention to the skin on the back ~ add a little body polish to a body brush or a washcloth and apply to this often overlooked area of the body. It's also good to do this after rinsing any shampoo or conditioner. Those with back acne may find the skin clearing up if the body polish is the last thing to touch the skin. Residual product build-up on the back often leads to clogged pores on the skin. Silicones in hair products are a big offender, and they're in many personal care products. Ugh. 

3. Moisturize the Skin ~ not only do our polishes soften and exfoliate, but because the ingredients are blended with organic coconut butter and cold-pressed oil from olives, once rinsed away, the skin is moisturized and not over-stripped. 

Voilà! It's your 3-in-1 way to get your skin ready for Spring! 

Spring Clean the Routine 

Using safe ingredients that are left in their purest state, avoiding false fragrances, and keeping the known skin offenders and toxins out of our daily routines is not only smart, it’s necessary. We follow this passion with all of our face and hair products, and this goes for our body products as well.

Here is our 3-in-1 way to get the skin on our bodies ready for Spring. Our polishes are blended with softening, exfoliating and hydrating ingredients all in one sumptuous step. Meet your soft Spring skin head-on and in good health!

Skin is not a barrier ~ it's a carrier.

In March, we’re sharing a 10% savings on our four full-sized comforting body polishes:

Espresso Mint Body Polish

Lavender Flower & Vanilla Bean Body Polish

Match Green Tea Body Polish

Raw Cacao with Oat Body Polish

Our treatments fit into the EWG Verified® program and have been whole-heartedly verified. Safe for you. Safe for our environment. Lovely to indulge in. Use this code at checkout: QETMYSKIN

New to our body polishes? We have a kit for that. Here's a sampling of each of our four body polishes in our Body Polishing Suite Sample Kit.

How do I Use the Body Polishes? 

We all have our favorite ways to include the body polishes into your care routine. They're formulated and blended to go on the body from the neck down, and that includes the feet, too! 

With our scoop or a dry hand, use a quarter-sized amount and massage on to wet skin. Feel free to use more if desired and leave on as long as you want. For best results, keep water out of product. 

The polishes are dry at the start, and with a little warm water in the shower, they start to melt and pamper everywhere they're applied. Some use them just once or twice a week, some use after using soap, and some of us use the body polishes instead of soap. You have options, and you can decide which is the best way for you. 

It's such a fresh and delightful way to soften, exfoliate, and hydrate in one gourmet blend. 

Meet our New Suite 

We have some new skin-loving friends that you'll soon get to meet.

Where is the one place that we've lived our entire lives? Most think of a home as a physical address, but our actual home is our body. Wherever we go, wherever we live, we take our body with us. This is our true home ~ we should take good care of it. Spring cleaning the home, the closets, the kitchen ~ it's a popular time to clean it up and lessen the load. We take regular care of our physical homes and our space around us. It’s just as important to keep our body in tip-top shape. When we edit and include only those things in our home that make us happy and bring us joy, it feels great. Our body reacts and responds the same way from healthy ways that we care for it. Much like when we selectively choose furniture or useful objects in our home, at Qēt we handpick each performing and proven ingredient for our proprietary formulas.

Many of our customers are extremely sensitive. Many new customers come to us after they've found a change in health, are told to eliminate unhealthy ingredients, or have recently researched ingredients on their own and want to clean-up the daily routine. My personal relationship with products prior to Qēt was just 'ok' as my Rosacea, thyroid swings, and sensitive, acne prone skin didn't do well will false fragrances and the even 'clean' synthetics found in the 'natural' products that are advertised as being that way. Yes, there was a time when I was greenwashed! 

Adding these three precious facial oils as stand-alone products is a skin-loving bonus. With the number of serums targeted for wrinkles, offering high amounts of Vitamins, and claims for this and that for skin, reaching for the authentic oils that often the synthetic versions are duplicated from makes so much more sense. An example of this would be Retinol, Retinoids, or Retin-A, which happens to be listed as an extremely hazardous '9' on the EWG.org's database. We mentioned a bit more about Retinol in this previous blog under the title, "Popular Ingredient Peek: Retinol." Our Purely Rosehip is nature's version of Retinol as it's the richest form of Vitamin C but it doesn't have the negative side effects like Retinol does.  

We're adding our Purely Suite to our Skin Suite family because of the need for clean and healthy ways to add a boost of extra vitamins or protection without reaching for a synthetic product. The Purely Suite is also a comforting alternative to complexions that are in an extremely sensitive state after surgery or while healing from trauma. This Purely Suite is beneficial after a special skin treatment, skin injury, or during an usual time of sensitivity, as well as on a daily basis for skin maintenance.

The oils in this suite can be mixed and matched together, or used alone. They pair beautifully with our day and night serums and will add an additional boost of vitamins and skin nutrition in amounts that you can control. Their natural effectiveness doesn't replace the various benefits of our enriched day or night serums, but can add to the well-being of the complexion for what it needs.  

Two of these oils are already celebrities in our day and night serums because of their benefitting phytonutrients.

We’ll be sharing them exclusively in our Skin Studios soon, and they’ll be available on our online boutique within the next 30-60 days. They’ve already benefitted many, and we’re excited about their simplistic effectiveness. Here is a quick overview of our three new friends ~ meet our Purely Skin Suite.

Purely Cranberry

• Curative & Emollient
• Fights Premature Aging
• Natural UVA/UVB Protection
• Calming & Healing after Injury or Exposure
• Perfect ration of Omegas 3, 6, and 9 Antioxidants
• High Levels of Vitamin A to Brighten Complexion and encourage Cell Repair

Purely Rosehip

• The Richest Natural form of Vitamin C
• Regenerates & Repairs Cells
• Boosts Collagen Production with Vitamins C & A 
• Helps to Maintain a Smooth and Even Complexion
• Treat Signs of Aging and Helps to Repair Damage
• It's the Natural Form of Retinol without the Harmful Side Effects

Purely Squalane

• Restores Suppleness and Softness
• Suitable for Any Skin Condition
• Non-Greasy & Restorative
• Light, Dry, and Matte on the Skin 
• Prevents Skin from Losing Hydration
• A Natural Anti-Inflammatory and Helps to Clear Skin

Spring

With Spring comes new beginnings. With Spring comes new growth. With Spring comes fresh breezes and warm rains. 

Let your body blossom and become nourished from the plants and herbs that give us so much. 

Below: This is an image I snapped while we were enjoying time in the desert in Joshua Tree, CA. The wildflowers were blooming, and I love this saying by William Shakespeare, "Our bodies are our gardens to which our wills are gardeners."

Take good care of your gardens.

Happy Spring, Friends! 

xx

~ Lisa