Plant and Seed Oils

Our products are simple and are comprised of the highest quality plant based ingredients.  These six core ingredients are the backbone of our formulations and are the vehicle which the different Ethnobotanics will be carried to your skin. 

Our goal with the formulation was to create a product that was sourced directly from cooperatives, was clean enough that one could basically eat it, and felt good on the skin.  We were guided by a few commitments, there would be no chemistry, and nothing other than what your skin needed. 

Given these constraints, we needed to be creative about the design of our packaging and product.  We formulated around Rosehip seed oil, a unique and efficacious seed oil.  

Rosa mosqueta (Rosehip) seed oil grows all around the world, it is a relatively durable bush and after flowering produces small red fruit.  These fruits are packed with vitamin C and are often used to make preserves and tea.  Within these fruits are the seeds, and out of the seeds come rosehip seed oil. 

This oil is prized for its exceptionally prominent level of polyunsaturated fatty acids including alpha-linolenic fatty acids, an essential fatty acid.  On the skin, this fatty acid has a uniquely dry feel as it is rapidly absorbed and integrated into the lipid envelope that makes up the superficial layers of our skin.

The largest regions for rosehip production are Chile, South Africa, and Bulgaria however the quality of the oil produced is not equal in these different regions.  Due to a chance of climate the rosehip seed oil that grows in the wild in the foothills of the Andes of Chile has much higher levels of the linolenic (C18:3) fatty acids and is considered the highest quality of rosehip seed oil in the world. 

 

Simmondsia chinensis (Jojoba) oil is native to the Sonoran Desert in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. It is a unique oil for many reasons, most notably is its structure.  Jojoba oil, I called an oil, but in fact it is a naturally occurring ester or wax.  It is not a triglyceride like the other natural oils used in our products.  In addition to its ester configuration it is comprised of long chained fatty acids.

This structure makes jojoba extremely stable and durable, its including is an example of how we have used the strengths of natural products in order to avoid using chemically processed solutions. In prehistory, the jojoba seeds were used to heal the skin as well as to soften and preserve animal hides.

Jojoba still grows in the Sonoran Desert, as well as in Israel, and the arid regions of South America.  It is useful to regain arid land as it is a hearty plant that can handle conditions of drought.  It has been noted that Jojoba thrives between 30° and 35° N & S has the highest yield of oil and this is one of the reasons that Jojoba was chosen as a crop in southern Israeli cooperatives.

 

Kokum butter has a rich content of powerful plant nutrients and beneficial fats that contribute to its light and fresh feel!  It is loaded with vitamins and anti-oxidants which help reduce the appearance of wrinkles and scars.

 

Argania spinosa (Argan) oil is endemic to the Sous valley of  southwestern Morocco.  It is still produced using traditional methods by the women of Morocco. Our products benefit from its high vitamin E content which helps slow the oxidation of the superficial layers of the skin. 

Argan oil has a unique ratio of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids which allows it to be a relatively durable oil, as well as a quickly penetrating oil, leaving skin feeling non-greasy after application. 

 

Vitellaria paradoxa (Shea) butter comes from a tree which grows in the Sahel zone of sub-Saharan Africa.  This tree produces a fruit which is both eaten by the local who live among it or the kernels are grounded into a butter which is used both topically or for cooking.

The primary market for Shea butter is for use as a component of CBE (Cocoa Butter Equivalent), where it is prized for its high stearic fatty acid content.  As one moves from west to east through the ‘Shea zone’ the high stearin content gives way to a high olein content.  This is one example of how the same plant can have much different qualities based on climate and geographical location.

Shea butter has an extremely high level of unsaponfiable phytochemical matter, usually more than 5% -- this gives it properties that are very beneficial to skin and have been associated with anti-inflammatory activity. We include Shea butter in our product for its nourishing qualities which come from its fatty acid profile and its high levels of phytochemicals.

 

Helianthus annuus (Sunflower) phospholipids occur naturally in the lipid envelope that forms in the stratum corneum layer of the epidermis.  They assist in skin fluidity as they help inhibit the ‘cornification’ of skin. 

We use a patented process to physically extract phospholipids from sunflower seeds.  Unlike the traditional method which uses solvents to separate and fractionate the components of the seeds, our phospholipids are organic.