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Home > Archives for healing

Sunday Soap Case: We All Wear Masks…

October 16, 2016 Leave a Comment

Masques & Masks – A Perfect Match!

Greetings, Sudsers! I hope your weekend has been productive. Mine has been decent – this was the final weekend before Tacoma’s Holiday Food and Gift Festival at the Tacoma Dome, so I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Except not really. I signed up for Victorian Country Christmas this weekend, so the light at the end of my tunnel is an oncoming train of more holiday show prep work. I don’t know why I do this to myself. This week on the Soap Case I will be introducing you to my October Maker of the Month, as well as providing a bit more information on a new Soap & Clay product!

RavenCraft – October Maker of the Month

October Maker of the MonthWe run into all types of people in life. Some we love, others we can do without. We have acquaintances, we have friends, BFFs, and even some frenemies. But every once in a while, you stumble upon people so incredible, so bright, so captivating that you pull them into your circle and never let them go. These people become your people; they change you at the cellular level. So it was with the RavenCraft Family.

I met Josh and Yvonne and their three awesome kids at The Fairyblossom Festival in Chehalis over the summer. And I immediately fell in love. The whole family is kind, optimistic, altruistic, intelligent, artistic with my kind of sense of humor. They’re delightful, and I enjoyed spending time with them at the event. We’ve since bumped into each other a few times since, and when I opened up Soap & Clay at Freighthouse Station, I knew that I needed them for my Maker of the Month table. Here’s why:

ravencraft maker of the month soap & clay at freighthouse station

ravencraft high quality masksAmazing, right? They are so unbelievably talented, I can’t even. Their masques are all handcrafted, every piece is unique, and the entire family contributes to the design process. Family businesses are the best businesses, in my opinion. I’ll have more from RavenCraft over the next few weeks, but in the meantime be sure to check out their facebook page, give them a like, and come try on their wares at the shop!

Mask + Scrub Combo: Activated Charcoal Face Mask

I know, I know. I did an activated charcoal post last week. My very sensitive skin gets super wacky as the weather gets cooler, so I find myself turning to the healing products more often than usual. This mask is my favorite go-to these days, and because of my super sensitive skin I was super particular when I developed it. Here’s what makes it great:

activated charcoal face mask

Plate o’ Awesomeness

  • Activated charcoal purges toxins and clears skin
  • Bentonite clay reduces redness and detoxifies
  • Grapeseed oil delivers EFAs and hydrates tired skin
  • Evening Primrose softens skin and minimizes fine lines
  • Orange Valencia EO brightens skin
  • Noni Fruit Powder exfoliates and delivers antioxidants

This mask is a dry delivery system with a twist. I infuse the activated charcoal, clay, and exfoliant with high quality botanicals and essential oils, making sure that everything is uniformly mixed, before packaging. But Mrs. Soap & Clay, why do you do this? So glad you asked! While activated charcoal and bentonite clay are wonderful on their own, I was more interested in creating a skincare system comparable to a treatment at a spa. Purging pores isn’t enough; your skin needs EFAs, antioxidants, and hydration too. So with this system your pores are purged, your skin is hydrated, your debris is removed, and your face is polished and glowing. The exfoliation bit is because I really love dual purpose products; this mask pulls toxins from the skin, tightens, and then sloughs away the remaining unwanted gunk. Pretty sweet, eh?

Why the dry delivery system? Well, adding the hydrosol before packaging is problematic for a number of reasons. First, a main focus of my crazy soapy vision is delivering undiluted and pure skincare products. Water, well, waters down these beautiful botanicals, yielding a less effective product. Also, if I add water, I have to add a preservative. This is something I also avoid in my products as preservatives can cause a host of skin problems. Finally, a dry delivery system allows you, the end user, to customize the mask to fit your skin’s needs. If you’re super dry, for example, you could use a lightweight oil as your hydrosol. Skin lacking in luster? Try rosewater! Perhaps you need to feel the burn of a chemical peel-esque mask – apple cider vinegar would be your go-to. Dry delivery makes this mask extremely versatile.

So there you have it, Sudsers – the process behind creating the activated charcoal masks, the reasoning behind October’s Maker of the Month (reason: because RavenCraft is awesome), and now I must bid you adieu.

activated charcoal face mask for aging and acneJust kidding. Coupon code for you to try your very own AC Mask+Scrub on me below.

Coupon code BLACKISTHENEWBLACK for a free AC Mask+Scrub. Offer expires October 23rd, 2016. Thanks!

Happy Sudsing!

Filed Under: Sunday Soap Case Tagged With: acne, Activated charcoal, botanicals, face mask, fine lines, healing, Maker of the Month, sunday soap case, targeted skin care, vegan

Sunday Soap Case: Sugar Lip Butters Rock My World!

July 17, 2016 Leave a Comment

Sunday Soap Case:

Adventures at Freighthouse Square (and some news on a sweet new product).

It’s Sunday and it was so beautiful this weekend! The Soap & Clay family spent the past few days chasing Pokemon, taking the bulldog on adventure walks, and exploring Tacoma’s Historic Freighthouse Square.  This is a pretty amazing building filled with incredible food (they have an international food court; anything you could possibly want in one space. Bad. Ass.), adorable treasure and collectibles shops, and some amazing artwork. I spent an afternoon chatting with two of the local artists from Freighthouse Square’s art gallery, Mike Juetten and Lucy Schwartz.

soap and clay at freighthouse

Mike Juetten’s paintings and glass work.

Mike’s fused glass artwork had me oohing and ahhing (while Mr. Soap & Clay talked muscle cars), and Lucy showed me an amazing watercolor technique wherein she uses soap to texturize and color the canvas. If you’re in the Tacoma area and want an adventure that’s guaranteed to please, stop by the Freighthouse and mingle. You’ll make some new friends, learn some new things, and find hidden gems tucked away in corners of the shops.

freighthouse

Lucy Schwartz.

While I always enjoy family adventures, I made sure to carve out some time for work, as I have a TON of it to complete right now. Most pressing has been prep work for a few events. Soap & Clay will be at Redhook’s Moonlight Cinema on July 28th as part of Oddmall’s Vendor Village. A night of beer, Bowie, and a moonlight viewing of Labyrinth – three of my favorite things! After that, we will be taking a small break before Tacoma’s Hilltop Street Fair on August 27th. This street fair always draws an amazing crowd, so I’m looking forward to mingling with Tacoma’s residents.

In addition to all the prep work, I spent some time updating the website. I’ve added a few new products, including men’s shaving soaps, aftershave balms, and today’s Sunday Soap Case topic: Sugar Lip Butters. Read on for some sweet information on a sweet lip treat!

Sugar Lip Butters

sugar lip balmI’ve been working on the lip butter line for a few months, now. Being a lip balm aficionado, I was pretty picky when it came to recipe formulation. The goal was a medium weight, nourishing balm with great staying power. Also, the consistency had to be just so; if a balm is too soft I end up with more on my finger than I’d like (wasted product es no bueno), but I don’t want to spend more than a nanosecond swirling my finger across the balm before applying. I’m very interested in the repair qualities of high-end balms – knowing that the silky smooth butter blend on my lips is also delivering skin loving EFAs and vitamins makes me happy.

Once I had worked out what butters, oils, and extracts to use, I decided to take it up a notch. I’ve been in love with a certain sugar lip butter for quite some time – it’s sweet, exfoliating, and makes my lips feel amazing. I almost never buy it, though. Because it’s $28. For a tube of lip balm. I don’t get it. So I decided to play with sugars in my butter pots to see if I could manage an exfoliating balm that’s gentle enough to use daily (or hourly, depending on your application preference).

The Line-up

freighthouseI use a cocoa and mango butter blend for these balms (with coffee butter included in the Java pot), because both of these butters are great for dry and chapped lips and have the added benefit of repairing damaged skin and fine lines. They’re also a little bit on the firmer side with a slightly higher melting point (which means they stay firm at room temperature), which helped with the not-too-hard, not-too-soft consistency I was after.

For the oils, I settled on avocado and argan. Avocado oil is nutrient rich, ultra moisturizing, and helps restore the lip’s natural pink color (which is cool, amirite?). Argan oil is also super moisturizing and works to heal skin but is also one of the best anti-aging oils out there; it’s a deep penetrating oil that works to minimize fine lip lines. I also infused the balms with extra Vitamin E to up the moisturizing properties without creating a greasy product.

Now for the sugars. I played with a number of varieties and ultimately settled on a brown sugar and glycerin blend. This blend results in a mild exfoliant, safe to use multiple times a day that plumps lips and assists in cell turnover. This was a bit of a finicky process; too much sugar and the balm ended up waxy and scratched the lips, too little (or added at the wrong temperature) and it all but disappeared in the batch.

The end result is a solid lip butter with a slight grit (that’s the sugar) that melts on contact with skin and delivers exceptional moisturizing, nourishing, and plumping butters and oils. It’s also incredibly long lasting – I find myself reapplying less often than usual since switching to the butter pots. Would you like to try one for yourself? Of course you would! Enter coupon code LIPSLIKESUGAR at checkout to receive a sugar lip butter on the house. Offer expires on Sunday, July 24th, so hurry!

 

Filed Under: Sunday Soap Case Tagged With: anti-aging, argan oil, avocado oil, cocoa butter, exfoliating, glycerin, healing, lip care, mango butter, moisturizing, nourishing, restoring, skin care, sugar, sugar lip balms, vitamin e

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