Comfortable in Your Skin: About & Beyond Skin Food

Energetic Wrappings: We're Making the Experience Better

by Maneesha Patel March 31, 2019

We are introducing better packaging etiquette. You know our lovely eco-felt envelopes? Well now, each time you receive one in the mail to keep your cleansers and hydrosols cool and fresh, you will also find an envelope stamped and addressed back to us. Unless you wish to keep your eco-felt envelope, you can place it (along with the twine if you wish) in the addressed envelope and mail it back. I'll keep it for you for the next time, repair it should it so require, and send it back to you with your next order, with another stamped envelope--and a $5 credit toward any oil of your choice--to use or accrue, it is entirely up to you. I know my customers are environmentally conscious and don't need an economic incentive, so please don't think of it as such, but rather as a way of using our collective resources more efficiently.

Posted in ecobeauty, ecofelt, ecosensitivepackaging, ecosensitiveskincare, ecoskincare, energetic wrappings, energetics, energy, freshskincare, greenskincare, live probiotic skincare, naturalbeauty, probiotic skincare, repurpose, reuse, slow beauty, spark joy, sustainablebeauty, sustainableexperience, sustainablepackaging, zerowaste

Queeny Kingly Rose

by Maneesha Patel January 31, 2019

"Fame is ultimately but the summary of all misunderstandings that crystallize about a new name" ~Rilke Rodin

Rose is not a new name for the flower that is always a rose despite its name, but the name "rose" repeatedly renews itself to every breakthrough that holds the idea of the flower in its imagination.

There is natural and there is studied, but when it comes to rose both apply. It is one of the most diverse plant families, and most roses, including the old roses-- damasks among them--are feats of engineering, made by crossing different species of rose to create new roses or by whizzing out a molecular plan on a computer and then putting some compounds together for another rose fragrance...a disembodied ghost.

Posted in bulgarian rose, damascena rose, grasse, hexane, rose, rose absolute, rose oil, rose otto, rose pefume, rose skincare, steam distillation

Risk Your Microbiome to Smooth a Wrinkle? Run.

by Maneesha Patel November 29, 2018

"The press briefing for October’s Clinical Cosmetic Reconstructive Expo in London was delayed – there had been another death. A cluster of journalists gathered on the mezzanine while below them visitors filtered past signs for She Lase and Zero Gravity Skin and a stand for a company called Eurosilicone that claims to have been “Empowering women for over 30 years”. At the far end of the conference hall, a woman was having her jawline enhanced with fillers in front of a rapt crowd; the Safety in Beauty stand was empty."

"Rear View: The Big Business of Bottoms", The Guardian 11.18.18

Posted in acid mantle, circadian rhythms microbiome, live probiotic skincare, microbiome, microbiota, probiotic skincare, safeskincare, safety in beauty, skin microbiome, skin microbiome research

Autumn Skincare

by Maneesha Patel September 30, 2018

Days are shorter, the temperatures cooler, and you can feel the air drier on your skin. In the Fall, it is is worth spending a bit of time to rejuvenate the skin after a summer of heat, humidity, sun, travel, and air conditioning. It is also a perfect time to prepare skin for the deep cold and dry heat of winter.

Posted in autumn skincare, circadian rhythms microbiome, exfoliate, gentle exfoliation, sleep, ultimate luxury

Skincare and Beauty Junkies--Then and Now.

by Maneesha Patel July 30, 2018

Here's a satirical poem by the Italian poet Luigi Pulci from 1472 about beauty supplies required by the 15th-century young and glamorous Nannina de Medici and the ladies who orbited her court. It is a fun, if exaggerated (and yes, misogynistic--but before you write me about this, the poem dates from 1472) historical perspective to those of us who have tried, are willing to try, or at somewhat curious about a lot of products and techniques that might raise another's filled in and/or threaded eyebrow.

Where Do I Think I'm Going?

by Maneesha Patel June 30, 2018

I did ride a motorcycle once in my life. I held my breath and thought about my dad, who warned me to never, ever get on a motorcycle--and then I thought just this once. It was 26 years ago--because I was 19 years old in the hills outside Florence. It was evening and the sky was peach and plum after a rain, and my friend from Argentina offered me a ride straight to my doorstep in the center of town on his beautiful BMW bike. The ride was a sustained flash of dark, wet color. Exquisite. The next time I was offered a motor bike ride was several years on when someone invited me to a concert outside Rome, but I would have had to ride with him on his motorbike going and coming. No thank you, I said thinking a concert definitely didn't merit the risk-- because I had time to think.

Posted in balance, healing, health, investigation, misinterpretation, moderation, patience, reading, rereading, shokunin, speed

ASMR and Your Skin

by Maneesha Patel May 30, 2018

If you are reading this, it is unlikely that you are experiencing ASMR. If you were experiencing the perceptual condition now known as Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, you would be in a better place, tingling away from your head down your spine in a hypnotic golden bubble. If you could hear the keys of my keyboard click as I type, it might be enough to send you into the experience. As I write and think about ASMR I can't quite get there. For me, writing, reading, and talking require a kind of focus and engagement that dissolves or makes impossible the outside-of-time quality of ASMR.

Posted in A.S.M.R., asmr, ASMR and skin, autonomic sensory meridian response, float, green skincare, perceptual condition, refresh, skin health, skincare, skincare routine, skincare tools, tingle

Floating through Kapha Season

by Maneesha Patel April 30, 2018

This winter felt like two winters. Even those of us with fast paced lives across which the weeks and seasons flicker, noticed it. On the little mountain where I live the repetitive loop was a patience test--the snow would come down thick and then a few days later begin to melt and flow in streams of cold liquid. Then again. and again. Sometimes five minutes further down toward sea level, there was no snow at all. And I thought--what am I doing living all the way up here?

Posted in apple cider vinegar, detoxification, detoxify, detoxifying baths, dry brush, epsom salt, floating, gentle detox, kapha, kapha season, lymphatic system, magnesium, sea salt bath

My Skin in Flames

by Maneesha Patel March 21, 2018

This past month I was presented with a challenge. Not long after I wrote the last blog post I looked in the mirror one morning and was shock greeted by a breakout the likes of which I haven't seen or suffered for a very long time. From one day to the next, my skin had gone up in flames and looked fairly ruined. I immediately thought about what I had been doing. Diet? Nothing changed, in fact I had given up sugar at the beginning of January; but that was supposed to have enhanced my skin. Detox from sugar? I should have been way beyond that. Too much tea? Maybe, but that has never been a problem, although now I've switched to herbal by the early afternoon. I like answers and the not knowing was agony.

Cleansing & The Microbiome

by Maneesha Patel February 21, 2018

"Finally one day, our conflict reached a crisis point, and Samir summoned an emergency meeting on the forbidden terrace, where he explained to me t...

Posted in acne gluten, breath of fire, cleansing, drink water, energetics, inflamed skin, microbiome, sitala

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Gentle, Expansive Neroli

by Maneesha Patel January 21, 2018

When I have the chance to meet my customers in person, our first connection is through aromatherapy. I hold up spoonfuls of our clay and yogurt cleansers for them to inhale, mist a hydrosol into the air between us and invite them to walk into clean, soft drift. Finally I offer the bottles of our moisturizing oils for them to breathe in. I like to guess to myself which I think they might like best and offer that first. I can't say that I guess correctly, but I have noticed there are specific responses that follow certain oils. The Moisturizing oil with Neroli and Frankincense elicits an expression of relief and resonance, a recognition of something that was once close and safe and dear, but now maybe a bit far off--as if they lost track of it for a little while. Some can't help but affirm-- to themselves more than to me: "oh I love neroli", in a way that is unique for the love of neroli. And why wouldn't they? Spectacularly fruiting and flowering at the same time, the bitter orange tree, Citrus aurantium, var. amara is at once the promise of joy and its fulfillment.

Posted in aromatherapy, beauty is wellness, beauty tip, bigarde, bitter orange blossom, citrus, citrus aurantium, cleansing powder, creativity, facial oil, flow, frankincense, green beauty, green skincare, la nerola, louis xiv, natural beauty, neroli, new product, nomad, orange blossom, orangery, organic neroli, organic skincare, portal, prebiotic, prebiotic cleanser, safe skincare, sensitive skin, stress managment, sun king, wellness is beauty, work, work life balance, zagara

For December, Something Different

by Maneesha Patel December 21, 2017

This season was marked by time spent with so many artists and artisans: some colleagues, some customers, some to whom I am customer, those who are friends new and old, and those who helped me with my own plans for Balbec and generally inspired me. For all of their extraordinary work and generous spirits, this poem by Dylan Thomas. Below is a picture of a farm at the end of my road. It isn't his Wales, but I love it just the same.

Happy New Year Everyone!