Frequently Asked Questions

Qēt is pronounced “keet” and we've trademarked it to be our own. After working with a trademark attorney and having dozens of names not make the grade, it was decided to give it a rest. After several months, Founder Lisa Brill’s husband casually said one day, “Lisa, you’re formulating your own proprietary blends which are original and unique, you should have a unique name as well.” He put together some letters and we decided that the Q was sexy and curvaceous, and a great beginning to a name. A wispy bang was added to it and the rest needed to be short and brief. The usual “u” was dropped following the Q – it’s not needed, just as a long ingredient list and synthetic ingredients aren’t needed. The macron was added over the “ē” to give it a long “e” sound. Finally, after waiting 18 months following submission, the US Patent & Trademark office approved Qēt.

Yes, we do. All duties, taxes, and fees are the responsibility of the recipient. For orders shipping to Canada, you have the option to choose USPS, which often has lower handling and fees, or you can choose UPS. To place an international order, at checkout, just select the designated country for shipping. Once your order is completed, the shipping will automatically be calculated by weight.

We don’t buy anything pre-mixed or pre-batched, and we only work with reputable suppliers and farmers for our ingredients. We aren’t brokering someone else’s formulas, and we don’t rely on an out of the area warehouse or fulfillment center to formulate or distribute our treatments. We use no alcohol extracts, and hand select every ingredient that makes up our products. Everything is made in small batches and to order. By limiting our ingredients it also makes things gentler for sensitive skin. A “freshest before” date is placed on each product as it filled so you know everything is pure, potent and effective.

Yes, they are formulated for sensitive skin. Founder Lisa Brill, to no only address her Rosacea, but also her sensitive, acne-prone, and aging skin created all of the treatments to address these issues, as well as perfectly normal, happy skin. We use no alcohol extracts in any of our skin treatments, as they are often not gentle enough for truly sensitive skin. We focus on the truly beneficial ingredients in generous amounts rather than drop in an extract here or there in small amounts.

In the Qēt lab, we use stainless steel fustis imported from Italy to house our oils. The oxygen stays out to keep the oils fresher longer. We have a temperature-controlled area to keep materials temperate until right before batching them. We make sure that our oils do not need to be refrigerated by our customers, and many of the essential oils that are blended into our ingredients offer a self-preserving element to the serums. Making them shortly before distribution means that truly fresh products are being shipped from our lab to your doorstep.

Once we ship our products to your doorstep, you can expect an 9 to 12 month shelf life from our liquid products. Many of our dry products have a 24-month or more shelf life and will last indefinitely. However, to keep products at their freshest, we provide the ‘freshest before’ label to keep the customer aware of its potency. Many products will last longer than the printed date on the product, but it’s good to keep the ‘freshest before’ date in mind. These are fresh products that work well. They aren’t stale or filled with preservatives that are meant to last a long time. It’s a dose of wholesome food for your skin and hair.

A light application of the right blend of skin-loving oils is beneficial for even oily skin. In fact, many that start out as being oily find that after starting with the Qēt Botanicals Balancing Skin Suite, they can move on to the Hydrating Skin Suite because the oil production has balanced and the skin becomes calm. With the right application of toning water and day serum, skin should feel dewy and not greasy. If there is a heavy amount on the surface, use your toning water to blend it in or pat away excess serum. Our serums contain humectants which assist the oils in moisturizing the skin. Many customers are amazed at how little of our enriched serum is needed to do the trick. It’s not a lotion or cream and needs much less and lasts much longer. Less is more with our serums.

Keep in mind that temperature changes, seasons, sleep, eating patterns, and stress will affect the surface and condition of skin. It is proven that there is direct connection between our insides and our outside. To find your perfect Qēt products, many mix and match day and night serums with cleansers – and it’s perfectly wonderful to do so. The Balancing Skin Suite will help to calm acne outbreaks and balance an excess of oil production on the surface. The Hydrating Skin Suite is good for those complexions that are combination with a slightly oily t-zone and dry areas that can be addressed, as well as that occasional break out. The Restoring Skin Suite is for dry, dehydrated skin, or skin that suffers from redness, Rosacea, or even adult acne but needs extra comfort and care with hydration. All skin suites are suitable for sensitive skin.

Yes, all of our ingredients and raw materials are cruelty-free. All of our products are vegan as well with the exception of one product, our Honey Cream Mask with Manuka UMF 16+. The honey is sourced from the bees that feed on the Manuka bush. It’s a medicinal botanical and we felt its benefits were of value to many different conditions of skin.

Yes, we use no gluten in any Qēt Botanicals products, and all of our ingredients are GMO free. We have many customers that need to avoid gluten. Even our organic oats are gluten free. Oats are naturally gluten free and ours come from a gluten free facility.

No. There are no synthetic ingredients or fragrances used in any of our products. Our batches can even change their natural fragrance because there are no synthetics. In fact, the number one ingredient that many people react to is the ‘fragrance’ that is often synthetic in even the most natural products. ‘Fragrance oils’ are also avoided. This is a fancy way of saying that the oil has been fragranced, and it’s often with a synthetic chemical.

Yes, it really is! Just like we learned in chemistry class, the oils will break down other oils and impurities that have landed in and on the complexion throughout the day. Many cosmetic products have oils or silicone in them and these are best removed with a clean, noncomedogenic oil and a warm, wet washcloth. Using the warmth of the wet washcloth helps to lift the cleanser and dirt away from the pores. Feel free to rinse and apply your washcloth more than once if necessary. Qēt's cleansing oils are deep cleansing but not stripping. Stripping skin of its natural barrier only opens it up for problems – the acid mantle can become out of balance changing the pH level and it can trigger the natural sebum in the skin to go into overdrive and produce more oil. Healthy skin has natural oils and fats in it.

The Qēt Botanical serums penetrate the skin’s surface and can quench at a deeper level than a cream that contains wax and sits at the surface. No one likes his or her skin to feel smothered, and our skin needs to breathe and feel alive. Our enriched serums are meant to deliver the necessary skin-loving hydration it feeds on. Not only do we use wild crafted, organic when possible, and proven performing oils, but our non-GMO and organic humectants help to retain moisture at the surface and at a cellular level.

Yes, it does the skin wonders to exfoliate. As time goes by, it takes longer for our skin to exfoliate and turnover those dead skin cells on its own. A gentle boost from the Qēt Botanicals exfoliants containing herbs, flowers, and clays not only reveals freshened skin, but also allows the serums to hydrate evenly and better than if the skin isn’t exfoliated. We like options, and so does our skin. In addition to the powdered botanicals, the clay acts like a sponge and pulls out impurities and debris from the pores. Choose the clay exfoliant in your skin suite if you’d like this type of treatment from the exfoliant. A complexion with underlying raised areas or congestion would benefit from the clay. The herbal exfoliant contains the powdered botanicals as well and no clay but rather a finely powdered Himalayan salt, which gently smooths the surface and addresses any inflammation or irritation. We don’t recommend using force when exfoliating – just a gentle circular motion with the fingertips and let the healing herbs to the rest. Like seeping your tea in warm water and allowing the leaves to open and the flavor and benefits to be released, it’s the same action when using a warm washcloth on the surface over your exfoliant. It’s also the perfect time to inhale and say ahhhh.

Yes, we have both men and women Qēt customers who love the results from both the hair products and the facial/body products. The serums are deeply penetrating but don’t feel smothering on the skin – men tend to really love that. Because the natural scents do not contain any synthetic ingredients, the scents will naturally disappear as the treatment penetrates.

Will the products stay on when I swim? We do not use any mineral or chemical sun blocks in our products. However, all of our day serums do contain a high number of naturally occurring essential fatty acids which help fight the free radicals that can cause sun damage and premature aging. UVA and UVB protection does come naturally from some of our oils in our day serums and can act like a healthy veil on the surface, but will not block the rays like a physical block will. Serums do tend to stay on the skin throughout the day while sweating or swimming, but toweling off may remove any surface hydration from the serums.

Our serums are so concentrated that a pump will dispense too much product and it will be hard to control. Once properly shaken, using a dropper will not only allow you to control the usage of what you need, but it will help you pull from the center of the treatment bottle, rather than from the very bottom. The heavier oils will settle at the bottom so it is important to keep this in mind during application and shake well before use.

Each Qēt Botanicals product is labeled with a recommended date before usage at the bottom of the product. The serums and liquid products have 9- to 12-month shelf life once we ship them, and the dry products have a 24-month or more shelf life. The products will not expire immediately at the date recommended, but they are freshest before the date arrives. Keeping your products out of direct sunlight and in moderate temperatures is recommended for our natural products.

The nature of being natural means that the naturally occurring fragrance from the plant will change based on the time of year it was harvested, temperatures, wind, and other environmental factors. This is perfectly normal and we’ve even added a statement of all of our labels mentioning this natural factor. We embrace (and love!) these natural variances that come with making fresh and synthetic free products. Synthetics can make something continually smell the same, and we avoid synthetics.