Testing New Face Cream Recipes

 
With the New Year comes the desire to test out all sorts of new products to consider adding to our product line. Some things we've been working on between soap batches:

• Natural deodorant
• Whipped Body Balm
• Solid Lotion Bars
• New Face Creams
• Botanical Salves

Today, I'd like to talk about face creams. I constantly struggle between bringing our clients recipes that contain only 100% natural ingredients: botanical oils, essential oils, limited preservatives, etc. and bringing them products containing cosmetic actives for things like wrinkles and fine lines. My answer is always to create both. Cater to those looking for only natural alternatives as well as those looking for the "actives". If that one cosmetic "active" is in a natural cream base, it's still better than some of those petrochemicals the big companies offer!

Our most recent developments consist of two extreme opposite types of products:
Hibiscus Rose Facial Lotion with Wrinkle Defense Complex - a light lotion base containing a wrinkle complex consisting of Matrixyl™ 3000 and Argireline®. Matrixyl™ 3000 boasts "45% less deep wrinkles after 2 months" while Argireline® tests produced a reduction in deep lines and wrinkles. We've also incorporated jojoba oil, evening primrose oil and avocado oil in this test batch.
Coconut Facial Balm - a rich, luxurious cream with simple, effective ingredients for deep moisturizing. Containing only virgin coconut oil, kukui nut oil, shea butter, glycerin and fragrance, this rich facial balm can be used all over the face, neck and decolletage. It's great for daily moisturizing as well as facial mask applications.

My initial thoughts after testing these two products are mostly positive!
Hibiscus Rose Facial Lotion with Wrinkle Defense Complex - For this lotion, I packaged it in an airless treatment pump. I may or may not change the packaging on this one.  Maybe make it a little thicker and put it in a jar? I also felt this product could be a little more emollient. The spreadability is short and I'd like it to glide a bit more. I used about 5 pumps for full cover and I'd like to get that number down to 2 or 3. We will continually test this product and hopefully bring a short product run to market at an introductory price!
Coconut Facial Balm - This product turned out surprisingly awesome! Thick creams that are mostly oil based always scare me.  I have oily skin but since I've been designing more oils based moisturizers, my skin has been reacting to them wonderfully. This is a very thick balm that needs only a small amount to be effective.  I scoop out a small pea sized amount, warm it in my hands and apply to my entire face and neck. It leaves a soft, dewy look to the skin and takes only a few minutes to nicely soak in. I would like to make this product 100% natural but removing the coconut fragrance and replacing it with an essential oil, but the coconut scent is just so lovely, I'm not sure what to do!

Results? People are constantly coming into the shop and telling me how great my skin looks. It's definitely not flawless, but I thought I'd post some pictures anyways. Here I am fresh out of the shower after applying these new lotions:

So there you have it!  A detailed walk through of our thought process when it comes to making and testing new products.

Whipped Body Balm Featuring Premium Shea Butter from Shea Radiance

We've reformulated our whipped body balm and this new recipes is a keeper!

This recipe features a premium shea butter from Shea Radiance. We love their shea butter, not only because of it's rich, creamy texture but because of their company values.  This shea butter helps the woman who create it make a living. It's processed using traditional methods passed down for generations by the women who create it.  You can read more about this amazing shea butter here.

We will be offering this luxury butter in eight different essential oil aromas in our new Ǽpothεcarγ skin care line. We package it in a biodegradable container (for daily use we suggest transferring it to a more sturdy container like a re-purposed cosmetic jar or baby food jar).

Whipping up a new batch Whipped Body Balm.

This whipped body butter (as well as our solid lotion bars) is a different "type" of moisturizer than one would be used to. It is created with out the use of water or emulsifiers, eliminating the need for preservative. This, in conjunction with the essential oil scents, makes the product 100% natural - something that can not be achieved with a traditional lotion or body butter.

This thick, rich, frosting-like butter is very rich and a little goes a long way!  It's great for extremely try areas. The women in Africa who create this gorgeous shea butter even use it to moisturize their face and hair.

Each scent is drizzled with various botanical oils giving each recipe a different twist - oils like hemp seed oil, sea buckthorn oil and grapeseed oil can also be found in these amazing body balms.

You can find these balms on our website here.

Lip Balm: New Labels and Flavor Profiles

It's been a long time coming, but we finally have our new lip balm labels!

The process has been a long one.  I wanted the new flavor collection to be just right.  I wanted the colors to be just right.

The proof we received for our labels.

We use a chevron pattern for the majority of our products. After seeing the design flaw in our lotion labels (color chevron on white background - too much contrast!) I went back to the drawing board and our new labels were born!

The labels arrived and I was so excited!

Rolls of our new lip balm labels.

So many fun flavors!

Our starting collection will consist of 12 flavors belonging to 4 different "lines" of flavor.

Boozy Balms: Absinthe, Hard Lemonade, Mojito
Cooling and Soothing: Peppermint Crack Stick, Vanilla Crack Stick, Chocolate Crack Stick
Sweet and Delicious: Huckleberry, Wild Cherry, Grape
Tropical Delights: Coconut, Mango,  Pineapple

Later this year, we will complete our lip balm flavors with the addition of 12 new flavors. Three flavors will be added to two of the flavor "lines" as well as the addition of a new "Cafe Collection":
Boozy Balms: Peach Bellini, Sangria, Moscow Mule
Sweet and Delicious: Nectarine, Pear, Strawberry
Cafe Collection: Chai Tea, Green Tea, White Rose Melange, Kona Coffee, Mocha, Hazelnut Latte.

You can purchase our lip balms at our new e-commerce website www.halosoap.com. We have them available as individual lip balm or in 3-Packs!

If you would like to get some of our products in your gift shop, spa or boutique, check out our Wholesale Program page and contact us via our website!

New Product: Hibiscus Rose Body Buff

This beautiful body scrub is part of our new Bliss line of luxe skin care products. This scrub is made with organic sunflower oil, hibiscus and rose petals and an amazing rose fragrance.  It gently buffs away dry, flaky skin and leaves you lightly moisturized. Unlike some of our previous body scrubs which were more on the oily side and had a potential to leave the tub slick, our new line of scrubs wash away cleaner and have an overall more enticing skin care experience.

We will be opening our Bliss skincare line with four body scrubs which will soon have matching moisturizers!

Product Review: Mauna Loa Volcano Soap

One of my favorite soaps from Halo Soap is the Mauna Loa Volcano Soap. 

The first thing I notice when I open it up is the smell. The smell is absolutely perfect! The fruity smell is unisex, so I can still smell like a guy after my showers.

The second thing I notice is the texture. I love having a soap with a scrubby feel to it and pumice already in it. Mauna Loa is gentle enough for my sensitive skin, but its still rough enough to get the dirt off me after a long day at work or working in the yard.

Overall, this soap is perfect for me and I plan on using it as long as its available from Halo Soap. Not only does it look good in its newly designed labels and with the soaps swirled mix of black and white color, its an all around great bar of soap for anyone!

Don't just take my word for it, check it out here and try it yourself!

Happy 4th from the Halo Soap Family

This weekend, we're spending our time at our family's lake house. 

We've been eatting delicious food

Chris has been fishing

Mom has been relaxing in the sun

And, of course, we've been using up some trial batches of Halo products!

We have some scrubs and masks so we've been treating our feet!

The Happy Pineapple scrub is so yummy and juicy smelling. We also have a Satsuma scrub. The scrub initially looks deceptively dry - but it's not! It made our skin soft and glowing. 

Mom also likes to do foot masks. You can feel the mask tightening as it's doing its job. 

We love using Halo products to pamper ourselves! 

Have a great holiday, everyone! From my family to yours,

~Stacie

Serums Are Awesome

 

I cannot tell you enough how great serums are. They are like a super concentrated moisturizer, infusing all of their benefits into your skin.  

If I were to take this quantity of oil and turn it into a lotion, it would make about 12-16 ounces of product. Now consider the cost of your average, basic facial moisturizer at Halo Soap. $8 for 2 ounces. That would make this "new" moisturizer cost $48-$64! It would also have a preservative in it making it NOT 100% natural. Now compare that to our serums. Not only is it a deal, but our serums are also 100% natural - made with luxury botanical oils and pure essential oils!

Let's take a closer look:

- Rose Serum - $25 - this product is made with a blend of oils including argan oil, organic rosehip oil and meadowfoam oil.  It also contains pure rose otto to give it an amazing scent and to soften mature skin while strengthening the collagen network.

- Moroccan Argan Serum - $14 - Features argan oil which is typically used for mature skin because its rich in anti-oxidants and fatty acids.

- Balancing Serum - $14 - Organic sunflower oil infused with herbs and botanicals to help balance combination skin. Features green tea, jojoba oil, calendula, ylang ylang essential oil and geranium essential oil.

- Calming Serum - $14 - Organic sunflower oil infused with herbs and botanicals to help mellow reddening issues of the skin. Features licorice root, gotu kola, carrot seed essential oil, German chamomile essential oil and helichrysum italicum essential oil.

- Mature Skin Serum - $20 - Organic sunflower oil infused with herbs and botanicals to help rejuvenate mature skin. Features ginger root, hibiscus flower, elderberry, andiroba oil, pomegranate seed oil, frankincense essential oil, carrot seed essential oil and neroli essential oil.

But that's not all. Did you know that you can combine a pump of your favorite serum with a few sprays of your favorite toner? Mix them together and you have your own instant lotion!

 Just rub them together to get the two emulsified and apply to your face.

Now back to serums.  You can use serums alone or with your favorite daily moisturizer. A little goes a long way and they are just lovely because they soak into your skin so fast!

Head over to our Etsy site to see our collection of skin care products or head over to one of our store fronts to try them in person.

Halo Bay View - 2227 S Kinnickinnic Ave, Bay View, WI 53207

Halo Cudahy - 5601 S Pennsylvania Ave, Cudahy, WI 53110