Grapeseed Organic Skin Care from Wine featured on EcoFabulous.com!

Check out A Drink to Your Face!

The Grapeseed Company's new organic skin care line made from antioxidant rich grape seed oil was just featured and reviewed on ecofabulous.com, the leading source on cutting edge hot green products!

Bring Beauty to Your Day

“The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.”

Albert Einstein

glow baby, glow

scrub your way to radiant, hydrated skin, even as the temperature drops!
Add some luxury to your morning routine and actually save time in the shower with organic sugar body scrubs. These 3 in 1 scrubs are formulated to exfoliate, cleanse and moisturize in one simple step. Grape seed oil delivers a healthy dose of vitamins and antioxidants, while the delicious blend of coconut, sweet almond, aloe & honey scrub away dead cells leaving you clean, moisturized & protected.

Step out of the shower with glowing, silky skin... lock in the moisture with a paraben free ultra-hydrating body lotion. Get 20% off through the month of October for Breast Cancer Awareness!

Can't decide which all-natural delectable scent? try the Scrub-A-Dub sampler! At under $30, it's a great gift idea for the holidays

CREATIVITY part 3 in ENTREPRENEURSHIP + LIVING GREEN + CREATIVITY = The Grapeseed Company

During our 2-year sailing trip, Peter and I spent 24 hours a day together, many of them in the small confines of our tiny ship. Creativity, dreaming and imagining "what if" occupied many hours at sea. We knew this incredible experience needed to come to an end at some point; our ideas, dreams and "what ifs" turned into where should we go and wouldn't it be amazing if we started our own business?

Where Should We Go?
The second year into our voyage, we made some big decisions that led us back to life as land-lubbers. Thanksgiving day 2001, we were anchored in Tortola. Peter and I were enjoying glass of wine and the beautiful surroundings of the harbor. Before heading ashore to the American Thanksgiving celebration at the Jolly Roger restaurant, Peter dropped onto one knee and proposed. Over the course of the next few months, we made a plan to wrap up this chapter in our lives and return to the USA and start a new one. One day, I asked Peter, "Top 3 places, where do you want to live?" Hmm... after living on a sailboat in the Caribbean, we had some tough requirements: warm weather, good surf, near a large city, a solid graduate program for Pete and a place we could continue to explore and be surrounded by nature. The one place we both picked in our top 3? Santa Barbara, California. By the end of January 2002, we sold our boat, packed our belongings and began our journey back. We took a month long surfing detour to Rincon, Puerto Rico to solidify that living in a warm climate by the sea and surf was for us... and so it was, Santa Barbara it would be.

Wouldn't it be amazing if we started our own business?
During the sailing adventure, we had idea after idea... definitely something that was environmentally friendly, creative and fun. I was fascinated by the multitude of books I had read and studied on aromatherapy and hand making natural bath products. Once we settled in Santa Barbara, I began actually experimenting and creating my own concoctions for fun. During this same time period, Peter developed a passion for wine and studying varietals. He landed a job leading bike tours through wine country while pursuing his graduate degree. I would listen to Pete’s tales of touring the wineries and learn all the obscure facts about the wine making process. One day I read an article about the amazing health benefits of grape seeds. I learned that grape seed oil was a byproduct of the wine making process. The seeds are either tossed after making wine, or can be pressed to create grape seed oil. I did a bit of research and came to find out that grape seed oil has fabulous benefits when applied topically to the skin.

Creativity, ideas and passions collided; this was THE business idea we had been tossing around for years. Upon further examination, it surpassed the requirements we had originally set. We could actually develop an entire skin care line based on grape seed oil. We could utilize local ingredients, formulating a natural product line based on the byproduct of the wine making process. In 2004, with the love, help and support of friends and family, we launched The Grapeseed Company and have been building our family business out of passion and creativity ever since.

50% off Tickets for Eco-Chic Shopping Expo

Join us in San Francisco!
For all friends and family of the designers, tickets are only $5!
Just enter the discount code
DESIGNERSF at www.appelandfrank.com

Eco-Chic San Francisco Shopping Expo
Thursday, October 23rd
from 5:00pm–9:00pm
at The Regency Center
located at 1270 Sutter Street @ Van Ness
San Francisco

Tickets will be $10 each at the door. A portion of the door proceeds will be donated to Friends of the Urban Forest

Stop by The Grapeseed Co. booth, see you there!

LIVING GREEN part 2 in ENTREPRENEURSHIP + LIVING GREEN + CREATIVITY = THE GRAPESEED COMPANY

product testing inside the boat>

Long before GREEN was hip, cool and happenin' it was a part of my life. One that I actually resisted at times as a child. My mother and her earth-loving friends had a food co-op that operated out of our barn. They would place orders directly with farms and vendors, and a delivery truck would pull around our gravel driveway and unload the goods in our barn. Co-op members would drop by to pick-up their orders. I wondered why we couldn't just get stuff from the grocery store like normal people? and yuck, why did I have to eat whole wheat cake with cream cheese frosting for my birthday? Today, I greatly appreciate growing up with a healthy diet and learning the importance of green choices.

LIVING GREEN
I deepened my understanding of our impact on the earth during the two year voyage with Peter in our small sailboat on the open ocean. I became acutely aware of how much water I was consuming, how much trash I was creating, the energy that was needed to run our systems, and what a luxury fresh food from the garden was! For food, we stocked the boat with dry goods, fished with spears and traditional lines, dove for conch and lobster, and grew sprouts on the deck. Boat systems run off of batteries, and the batteries are usually charged by running your engine. Given that we did not have a "real" engine, and just a 15 hp outboard on our tiny ship, this clearly was not going to work for us. Sailors are much like entrepreneurs, savvy, creative and welcoming to other like-minded birds. Through the Internet, books and chats at the dock and boatie bars, we found solutions. Solutions that were very green, and DIY. We fixed our electricity and fresh water deficits by installing solar panels, solar spare water tanks that ran off a gravity system and water catchment systems. We conserved, energy, water, and resources every moment of every day on that sailboat.
Harmony Under Sail

I've mentioned how small our boat was, and will never forget the look on my mom's face when she first saw the good ship Harmony and envisioned her daughter out on the open ocean! Well, due to the Harmony's limited size, she could only hold about 50 gallons of water. We sometimes had to make that stretch past a week! To put things in perspective, the average American family uses around 70 gallons of water a day. Not only were we strictly conserving our fresh water supply, but on extremely remote islands, we ran into some eye opening situations. We actually would spend the entire day lowering buckets into the town well and filling our tanks with jugs and funnels the old fashioned way! It was amazing to see and experience first hand how people lived like this. Yes, I'd say we became hyper aware of our use of resources and impact on the earth.

I caught myself thinking twice about choices I was making, things I was buying, gifts I was giving and what I was consuming and putting on my body. I had done some research and knew there were going to be times we'd have to bathe in the ocean due to our 50 gallon limitations. It's called a salt water wash, fresh water rinse and is practiced by many who live the cruising lifestyle. Sailors have a great affinity for liquid lemon joy- and seem to think it's the cure-all from washing your hair to swabbing the deck and of course, dishes. Something in my gut told me it was not cool to be using this bright yellow stuff on my bod in the ocean. Thus began my fascination, research and formulation of natural skin and personal care products and ultimately, The Grapeseed Company.

the story of how The Grapeseed Company came to be
part 1 A LIFE LONG ENTREPRENEUR
part 3 CREATIVITY

A LIFE LONG ENTREPRENEUR part 1 of ENTREPRENEURSHIP + LIVING GREEN + CREATIVITY = THE GRAPESEED COMPANY

I love what I do. I love the challenge, reward, heartbreak, long hours and overwhelming existence that is being a small, eco-friendly business owner... The Grapeseed Company is my baby.

The roots that grew into The Grapeseed Company sprouted long ago. Building this brand has been a long time in the making. It is the result of many facets of my life and passions that go way beyond wanting to start a green company or leaving a good paying, secure job to launch a dream. I've learned to combine my knowledge and passions of entrepreneurship, living green and creativity; The Grapeseed Company is the result.

Entrepreneurship is a quality that I have come to realize has been with the majority of my life. In grade school, I used to ride my bike to the neighborhood drug store and buy little boxes of candies for $.10 a piece. Off to school the next morning with my purchases tucked away in my backpack, I'd sell the candies to my sugar feign classmates for $.25 (and somehow never managed to get in trouble with the playground officials!)

When it came time for my confirmation service project in high school, I used my skills as a competitive swimmer and newly certified swim instructor to teach a little girl with down syndrome how to swim. Word got out in the local community. Others began calling our home and asking if I would teach their child to swim, which developed into my first "real job" the following summer. I started a swim school in my backyard. With the help of my father (an attorney) and mother (who got re-certified to help out) we developed an incredible word-of-mouth business teaching children to swim. In a few years, my younger sister joined us, and friends and other siblings made "guest instructor" appearances over the 10 year existence of Fraser Aquatics. We had summers with over 250 families circling through our gravel driveway in the suburbs of Boston.

Looking back, it was a perfect business model- we used our talents and backgrounds to create a service business where we were already established as the experts! You see, mom and dad met at aquatic school. Dad was a competitive swimmer and lifeguard, mom was a teacher. They went on to produce 4 nationally ranked athletes in, you guessed it, the sport of swimming. We were already known in the county as top swimmers, and we were offering to teach your kid our secrets!

I learned many valuable lessons at a very young age, how to teach effectively, manage time, deal with challenging personalities, and run an operation with family members. It was not easy, but I am who I am today because of it. I made enough money in those years that I was able to save, a lot. After graduating from Syracuse and hanging up my swim goggles, I moved back to Boston for graduate school. Around graduation, I met my future husband, Peter. Peter likes to dream too. I was fresh out of grad school with a Masters of Science degree in hand, an exciting new career, and for the first time, working for someone other than myself. One night on a dinner date in the South End, Peter mentioned he wanted to fix up his boat and sail to the Caribbean. I was in. Plans change, sometimes our friends and family don't understand, but I had developed a new dream. Sailing a tiny 30 ft sailboat in the wide open ocean became our dream. Our "dates" had an abrupt change from nights out at delectable South End eateries to trips to the marine store, learning to wire our electric systems to run off of solar, installing a head (read: toilet!) and plumbing (yes- boat plumbing)... but we loved it, we were building our dream. Less than 1 year from that infamous dinner date, we quit our jobs and set off from Salem Harbor to sail the open ocean.

stay tuned for part 2: how the boat taught us to LIVE GREEN in the story of how we dreamed up The Grapeseed Company

Pure, Natural & Delicious Scents: Vanilla Almond Cinnamon

Fragrance Spotlight:
vanilla almond cinnamon | yum, the fabulous scent of snickerdoodle cookies baking in the oven. Formulated to purify the senses, ease stress, promote circulation and deep relaxation. A comforting jumble of delicious scents that smell good enough to eat!
try:
~vanilla almond cinnamon organic sugar scrub $9-16
~vanilla almond cinnamon natural body lotion $12-18
~vanilla almond cinnamon 100% pure soy candles $8.50-28
~gift sets $12-27

The Grapeseed Company believes in using only the finest quality botanically derived ingredients to create our exquisitely pleasing aromas. Essential oils and essences are steam distilled from fruit, plants and flowers to create the natural, potent fragrances. Many are familiar with lavender essential oil or tea tree essential oil. The amazing benefits of essential oil go way beyond the natural origin. Essential oils also hold aromatherapy and medicinal benefits, and have a long history of use.

Fragrance oils are another story. Commonly found in cosmetics, skin care, body care and perfumes, fragrance oils are synthetic compounds created to form a scent. Many contain phthalates which have a variety of concerns you should educate yourself on if you are not familiar with them. Fragrance oils can often irritate people sensitive to smells, and even cause headaches or migraines. The Grapeseed Company only uses premium wild harvested essential oils. Each of The Grapeseed Co.s signature scents is a blend of multiple essential oils and essences. Experience the delicious hand-blended aromas formulated with pure essential oils, fruit and plant essences... a true delight to the senses!

20% off paraben free natural body lotions for breast cancer awareness month

breast cancer awareness
product spotlight:
20% off lotions in October
Drench your skin in ingredients that are actually GOOD for you! Replenishing, natural, rich, 100% paraben free Grapeseed Body Lotions. Made with expeller-pressed grape seeds from Santa Barbara County Vinyards. Created from a byproduct, grapeseeds are ecologically sound by their double use.
Organic ingredients, natural preservatives, scented with heavenly essential oils blends:
surf
fresh cut herbs
vanilla almond cinnamon

This October let's celebrate making green choices by helping to educating others. Do yourself the favor below... and spread the word.
READ YOUR LABELS
What does your lotion have in it? Do yourself a favor and check your lotion labels for parabens. Tell your friends, mothers, sisters and daughters. This is a simple step towards fighting Breast Cancer.
Learn more:

What You DON'T Want to Put On Your Skin! GreenSkincareBlog.com Quick Facts on Parabens

The Environmental Working Group Report on Parabens
"parabens were found in the breast cancer tumors of 19 of 20 women studied." EWG

Green Spa Treatments: Fresh From Your Kitchen

INTRODUCING FRESH FROM YOUR KITCHEN
With the woes of the economy, many people are looking for ways to cut back. Cutting back doesn't have to mean giving up pampering yourself. In fact, one of the quickest ways to regain center and focus is to take care of yourself. Pampering your mind, body & spirit doesn't have to mean an expensive trip to the spa. Fresh From Your Kitchen is a new feature at GreenSkincareBlog.com that will teach you simple, fresh, natural spa treatments you can whip up with ingredients from your kitchen. We want to hear what you think!


Oatmeal, Almond & Avo Facial Mask
1T ground almonds
2T dry oatmeal
1 small ripe avocado
1t oil (olive, soy or grape seed oils are great choices for all skin types)

combine ingredients in small bowl and mash together with fork until well blended. Apply to clean face and leave on skin 10-15 min. Lightly scrub while rinsing until mask is thoroughly removed. Rinse w/cool water.

What it does: Avocados are rich in vitamins A, E & D and help to rebuild collagen. Almonds are a natural emollient and exfolliant, and oatmeal is known for skin-soothing properties as well as being full of vitamin E. This nourishing mask is the perfect pick me up for calming and balancing the facial skin. It can also be used on skin healing from a rash, poison oak and/or poison ivy.

Multi-Use Products

Dirty Dog Organics Fur Freshener
SECRET LIFE:
freshen air & ward off ants!

The scent is divine; it's rich in calming lavender and rosemary to neutralize Fido's furry funk without the hassle of a bath!
My favorite secret use has been an air freshener for the bathroom or car, but a customer recently shared another fabulous tip:
She uses Dirty Dog Organics Fur Freshener to ward off ants! (without subjecting your surroundings to nasty chemical sprays or ant cups)

$5 to $9 at http://dirtydogorganics.com

Bring Beauty to Your Day

“Life is full of beauty.

Notice it.

Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams."

Ashley Smith

September Gift Certifcate Winner

Congratulations to Michelle from NYC!!! Our September Gift Certificate winner for leaving a product review at thegrapeseedcompany.com

Michelle left a review for the

Rose & Grape Organic Facial Serum

absolutely amazing! Reviewer: Michelle from New York, NY the best serum I've tried, and it's organic! Made my skin incredibly smooth... this fragrance is to die for! Want to be the next winner? Visit thegrapeseedcompany.com and leave a review for your favorite product

ECO SHOPPING EVENT IN SAN FRANCISCO

Visit The Grapeseed Company
Organic Skincare, Bath, Beauty and more
at the ECO-CHIC Shopping Event in San Francisco
Thurs. October 23rd
Your admission to this fabulous event includes the best in California Eco-Designers all in one place, wine, beauty treatments, refreshments and fun.
Bring your friends and make it a girls night out.
purchase tickets here