In and Through the Looking Glass
It’s Sunday!* This week has been BUSY! With the Holiday Food and Gift Show at the Tacoma Dome looming over me (figuratively, yes, but also literally as I can see the Dome from my soap shop in Freighthouse Station), I’ve been scrambling to keep up with inventory, online orders and being the best damn mom on the planet** while putting the finishing touches on my new offerings for the event.
I have managed to take a break or two throughout the week and check out some of the new events and shops in Freighthouse, and wow do we have some amazing merchants here! Dan Parker’s crew delivered an excellent Lego event*** this weekend, a few new businesses are starting their build-out, and one delightful little shop quietly opened its unassuming doors.
*It’s not Sunday. I’m writing this on Wednesday, because I’m trying to stay ahead of the curve. I’m mostly failing at that.
**”Best” is a relative term. I’m pretty alright. Sometimes.
***As I’m writing this ahead of time, I don’t really know how excellent the event was. I’m assuming it was awesomely so, though. Because Dan is awesome, and Legos are awesome. Winning combination right there.
Step Through the Looking Glass
The Looking Glass Boutique is, in a word, lovely. With a thoughtful selection of new and pre-loved clothing, the store is Modcloth meets Pinup Girl with a splash of ThredUp. Owner/operator/buyer Jennee Leavitt has had a love of clothing and fashion since she was old enough to dress herself, and her inventory shows that in spades. And I’m not just saying that because her shop looks like an extension of my personal closet. It really does, though. The shop is so perfect that you would find it hard to believe that the business is in its infancy. This is Month Two for Jennee and Looking Glass; she’s a go big or go home kinda gal. Which of course makes me love her. She has a great eye and – perhaps my favorite thing about her – is quick to tactfully let you know when an article of clothing is unflattering to your body shape. Which of course makes me love her even more. And her prices are super reasonable – I picked up two super cute dresses and a top for $50. Which of course makes me love her for life. She has made a wonderful addition to the Freighthouse shops and I look forward to seeing great things from her!
Looking Flawless in The Looking Glass
Playing dress up is fun. Feeling absolutely beautiful in your new dress is fun. Mirror twirling brought to a screeching halt because of a new pimple on your forehead? Not so fun. Face Paste can help! Made with activated charcoal, tea tree oil, and a recipe formulation that yields a highly moisturizing, glycerin-rich soap, Face Paste is great for all skin types but is especially beneficial for those dealing with acne, dry/combination/oily skin, and the sensitive skinned among us. Here’s why:
World. Rocker.
Activated charcoal basically rocks my world. It acts as a magnet, pulling toxins, debris and other nastiness from pores. This leaves skin smooth, clear, and glowing. Tea tree oil also rocks my world. A natural anti-fungal and anti-viral oil, tea tree stabilizes skin’s pH, attacks acne bacteria, sweeps debris from pores, and promotes cell turnover. It does all of this without drying or irritating the skin. World Rocker.
So basically, Face Paste is a disc of awesome. It’s also fun to work with – this product has a built in timer of sorts that is determined by your skin’s needs. Here’s how it goes: Face Paste has a grey and creamy lather starting out, and as you continue to massage into the skin, the activated charcoal is working hard to purge pores and detoxify. Once it has done its job, the lather becomes white and bubbly. This could take anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes, depending on how many toxins your skin is harboring. 
And in customary Soap Case fashion, I’m giving away these world rockers this week! Enter coupon code ALLABOUTTHATFACE for a bar of Face Paste on me. Code is valid on all orders through October 16th, 2016. That’s it for me this week – please oh please do two things for me: 1) send me some good luck to get through the next 10 days of insanity, and 2) check out The Looking Glass Boutique and show her social media some love! Thanks!
I’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.
I 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.
Extracts
I love me some oatmeal. Love, love, LOVE me some oatmeal. While rolled oats are a great exfoliant for total body care, I prefer to stick to the colloidal variety for face products. Colloidal oatmeal is finely ground rolled oats, which makes it an ideal additive for soap as it can be evenly dispersed throughout a batch. The benefits of oatmeal in skincare are numerous, but it makes a particularly effective face exfoliant because of its mild properties. Gentle enough to use every day, colloidal oatmeal sloughs off dead skin while adding moisture and normalizing the skin’s pH. Additionally, oatmeal can lighten acne and blemish scars with regular use.
