Bring Beauty to your Day

"Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.”

Sophia Loren

NEW PRODUCT RELEASE! Pink Grapefruit Ginger Scrub

It's Pretty
It's Pink
and just in time for Valentine's!
Surprise your valentine with this luxuriously delicious crushed grape seed scrub! Pink grapefruit ginger grape seed & sugar scrub removes dead skin cells with the power of pure crushed grape seeds. Leaves your skin squeaky clean and hydrated with over 80% certified organic ingredients. The power of antioxidant rich grape seeds and white tea deliver vitamins and polyphenols to your skin to soothe, repair and hydrate. While ginger, known in ancient times as an aphrodisiac, warms the senses and soothes the soul!

other fab features: Pink Grapefruit Ginger Scrub

• packaged in a recyclable PET jar
• light pink hue is derived from antioxidant rich crushed grape seeds
  
• over 80% certified organic ingredients
• paraben, sulfate & phthalate free
• scented with our new signature pure essential oil blend
  
• available in 4oz $9 and 8oz $16

Green Skincare: Fresh from Your Kitchen

A quick run to the drugstore or health food market and you'll be ready to whip up this super indulgent bedtime delight right in your kitchen. With Valentine's Day just around the corner, this would be a fabulous way to surprise your significant other!

Super Silky Bedtime Bath Salts
1 T medium grain sea salt
1 T epsom salt
1/2 t organic vegetable oil (olive, sunflower, safflower, soy are all good choices)
10 drops lavender essential oil
1 chamomile tea bag
petals of 1 rose (optional)
directions:
start running your bath
in a small, shallow bowl, mix salts, break open tea bag and stir in chamomile
add oil, essential oil and mix
pour mixture under running faucet
pluck petals off rose, add to bath and enjoy!

Lock in moisture with The Grapeseed Company's natural body lotions or organic bath & massage oils

What it does:

• Lavender, chamomile and rose are known in herbal medicine for relaxing, calming, de-stressing & sedative properties
• salts detoxify the body and remove impurities from the skin
• the oil and rose petals leave you with the silky, moisture-kissed skin
  

Related posts:
The Grapeseed Co. brings you easy Fresh From Your Kitchen DIY spa treatments you can create with a trip to the grocer or health food store. Check out past features:
cold care
cool cucumber under eye mask
lemon ginger revitalizing bath
breakout busters
parsley facial steam

10 Things I Love About Being Indie

Welcome to the Indie Beauty Blog Tag Party! Donna Maria, the chief executive indie at the Indie Beauty Network has started a tag party where members share what they love about the indie life.

So here goes, at 6 AM in the morning, I really can't think of a better way to start a FRIDAY!
1. FREEDOM I am free to do what I want, when I want, where I want, with whom I want! Wheew, that pretty much covers it, right?!

2. CHALLENGE running a business is a great deal of work, a labor of love that I embrace whole heartily! I love solving problems and discovering unique solutions through creativity, networking and experimenting.

3. NETWORKING The Indie Beauty Network has opened my eyes to endless possibilities. I am astounded by the knowledge, creativity and helpfulness my fellow indies provide me with on a daily basis.

4. SCHEDULE Being that I've spent the greater portion of my life waking up at the crack of dawn as a competitive swimmer, I can now carry that into my work (even though I don't take the icy 5AM plunge in the pool anymore!) I've always been an early bird, and working at 5:30 AM is completely fine, and something I do on a regular basis! I swear I'm sharpest first thing in the morning :)

5. BUILDING FROM THE GROUND UP Peter and I started The Grapeseed Co. four and a half years ago on $1000 and a dream. Since then, we've bootstrapped to fund our growth without having the stresses of being financially responsible to a bank or someone else.

6. LEARNING I love researching and learning new information. Actually, when I was tossing around the idea of starting a biz, my other top contender was going to get a PhD... think I made the right choice! I don't owe anyone hundreds of thousands of dollars and I can continue to learn in ways that work for me.

7. EXPERIMENTING My favorite days are those messing around in the lab experimenting and creating new products.

8. SMILING Seeing what I've built, and creating the life I want just plain makes me smile!

9. BEING GREEN has always been my lifestyle; mom raised me that way and now I create and manufacture green products in eco-friendly ways.

10. SURFING this one must be said... surfing is my passion, one I did not get to do as much before becoming a "full-time" Grapeseed Co. employee. When the waves are good, I can leave at noon to catch a few rides, and schedule things on my own time!

tag, you're it!
Christine White-Stanton
Jean Lozada
Kelli Parisian
Debbie Chialtas
Sevi Kay

Fab Green Tips~ Simple, Easy on the Wallet Solutions

Some of the best ideas come to me in the shower! Pete, my partner in business and life, and I recently made the plunge into home ownership with a fixer-upper bungalow in downtown Santa Barbara. Over almost 10 years together we've taken on a number of, um, 'challenging projects', including sailing a tiny sloop to the Caribbean, launching a biz while working full-time and finishing grad school, and somehow managed to get (and stay) married in the process. We're fierce DIY-ers who believe greening your home does not have to be difficult or mean loads of cash. Along the way, we've accummulated some Fab Green Tips to pass on to our readers!

Green Skincare Blog will start sharing some pretty amazing, cost & eco-effective, easy changes we've made to our home and lifestyle. These simple tips will help green your beauty and home routine, save you money, and have been honest-to-goodness tested and GreenSkincareBlog approved!

SAVE $WATER$ TIP #1
Don't you hate the amount of water wasted when the shower is heating up? Gallons, every day... this eco beauty & home fix will cost you under $30 and save you cash in the process!

Why it's a keeper:

• We installed the Lady Bug in our shower in less than 15 minutes
• It saves gallons of wasted water every time the shower is heating up
• It works double time saving cash on your water bill!
• check out the Lady Bug by Evolve Showerheads here

Do you have a great eco-tip to share?
How have you greened your home or beauty routine?

Pure Natural & Delicious Scents: Fresh Cut Herbs

Fragrance Spotlight:
fresh cut herbs | lavender, rosemary & various mints mingle creating an uplifting yet soothing blend known to relieve headaches, anxiety, promote circulation and aid in muscle soreness.
try:
organic grape seed & sugar scrub
organic bath & massage oil
natural body lotion
100% pure soy candles
gift sets

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!

Bring Beauty to your Day

“One generation plants the trees, and another gets the shade”

Chinese Proverb

fresh from your kitchen: cold care

Yes, we are deep into that pesky time of year where germs surround us and colds run rapid! Today I'm sharing a quick pick-me-up I like to use when my sinuses are acting up, I'm stuffy, or I don't want to deal with the whole neti pot routine. This one will require a trip to a health food store, or a place where you can purchase essential oils, but it's well worth it; instantly opens the sinuses and helps with that stuffy head feeling.

Clear Your Head Cold Care Steam
10 drops eucalyptus essential oil
1-2 drops peppermint essential oil (you could also use a bag of peppermint tea)
1 drops cinnamon essential oil (a cinnamon stick would work too)

Directions:
~Boil a large kettle of water
~Select a large, shallow bowl
~Pour boiling water into bowl, add essential oils and let steep and cool for a few minutes
~Place bowl on table, sit in chair and let head drop down 12-18 in over bowl, be careful, if it's too hot, make sure to give more time to cool!
~Drape towel over head to trap steam between head and bowl
~Sit for 5 minutes, close eyes and breathe deeply

What it does:
Eucalyptus and peppermint oils are known to clear the respiratory system and ease breathing. Cinnamon is an immune system booster.

Hanging up the Hair Dryer!

In a quest to save time and my hair, I've been working on greening my haircare routine, starting with saying "so long" to my blow dryer and flat iron. My hair is naturally curly/wavy, and for years I have been frustrated with battling the curly underneath and straight, sometimes stringy layers on top. This usually resulted in blow drying and straightening my hair when I wanted it to look good, and a pony tail, stringy curls or cute hat when I didn't care... here's a shot of my curls on what was a "good (pre-Ouidad) day"

A while back, I was chatting with a friend on twitter, Lisa, of @cactusandivy on this very subject. Lisa has very curly hair and let me in on her secret to looking fabulous! She turned me on to Ouidad, and from the products to the cut, I have seen a dramatic change in texture, look and feel of my hair.

Ouidad's products are gentle, moisturizing and paraben free, a personal requirement for any shampoo, and an important green choice to make when selecting hair and beauty products. After receiving an Ouidad cut, here are "after shots" of the new 'do


so....
adios blow dryer
sionara flat iron

I'm ready to rock my natural curls with the power of air drying and Ouidad!

Check out Ouidad products here

Thanks Lisa!


What have you done to green your hair or beauty routine?