Wednesday, June 29, 2011

As Promised!!!

Facelift is now back on the site.  I mentioned earlier that some batches were forming crystals, and it needed to be reformulated.  The new formula has the exact same actives used in the same percentages- so if you were a fan of the results you got before, you'll still get them with the new Facelift.

What did change is the thickener, and the hydration system. Most of our serums are made with Tamarind Seed Extract, Sodium PCA, and a little bit of Panthenol to hydrate your skin.  Sodium PCA really just isn't compatible with a lot of things- including the carbomer we use in our moisturizers.  In doing the research I ran across something called propanediol.

Propanediol is made from corn. It's 100% natural, comes packaged with no preservatives, and is Ecocert approved.  In the side-by-side tests I did, I liked it as much as the Tamarind Seed Extract, and Hyalauronic Acid.  It's a great water binder, helps dissolve actives, and has a lovely skin feel.

The other change that I made was in the thickener- mainly because I think it has a nicer skin feel than the hydroxyethyl cellulose that we were using.  It's not quite as "filmy" on your skin.  The new thickener is anionic- that's the only drawback. Most skin products are cationic, and don't mix with anionic things.  If you let it dry, and then pat the moisturizer on top you should be fine.  The only really bad thing that can happen is that it pills a little.

I really like the dehydroxanthan gum- it's really nice to work with, and it feels great.  I'm really thinking about switching everything over to using that as the thickener, and having everything compatible.

I feel like that decision is more up to you than it is to me- I know how frustrating reformulations are.  Just when you fall in love with something the manufacturer "improves" it, and it isn't quite the same anymore.  Hopefully these are changes for the better, or things that you really wouldn't notice or care about.

Let me know what you think!

To that end I also put a new moisturizer on the site that uses the same thickener.  It works very well with the new serum formula.  It's really quite lovely.  Camellia oil is one of my all-time absolute favorite oils. It's light, soaks in quickly and leaves your skin soft.  It's a high-oleic acid oil (like olive, or argan) which is great for conditioning, but it feels a lot lighter than the typical high-oleic acid oils.  Passionfruit oil is one of my other favorites.  It has a lot of naturally occurring vitamins, and is high in linoleic acid which is great for acne-prone skin.

Then we have Awesome Sauce.  It's a little serum I knocked together a little while ago just for fun- and I code named it Awesome Sauce because I really like it.  I gave tester bottles to Susan and Heidi, and didn't think much more about it.

I came into the office last week, and both Susan and Heidi stopped me cold- they loved Awesome Sauce, and demanded it be put on the web site.  Our skin looks amazing- clear, bright, smooth, and it's great for the morning after you've overindulged.

I think you're going to really like Awesome Sauce- we kept the code name, because we couldn't think of anything better, and we kind of like that it doesn't say that it's anti-aging (which it is).  We don't want people thinking we're old enough to need a wrinkle cream- that's sort of the point ;)

Then we have a few lippies.  I was feeling a little run down when I made my last blog post, and it just felt awful, ungrateful, and whiny to say no to a Summer collection. Winter just drags,and drags, and I couldn't let the precious warm days slip by without at least a little nod to sunshine and flip flops.

So we have 3 new Amplifying Lip Glazes.  These are mostly matte, and very sheer.  Summer is GO time- every woman I know has about a million things to do, and taking time out for elaborate makeup just doesn't happen.  Pretty Please, Nice Tan, and Blushberry are meant to be kept in your purse, and whipped out to add a little polish to just about any look.

Yes, we probably need some more matte Lip Glazes- it's a great formula, and the color selections need to be rounded out.  This is what we have for the moment, and hopefully I'll come back from vacation inspired and ready to make a few more.

We will be closed on July 4th.  We'll be in the office shipping on July 5th.  We'll also be completely closed for vacation from July 18th to July 25th.

The web site was doing some odd things, so I can't update the new product page with a nice link.  All of the new items are listed on the side in a separate listing called June 2011.

Here's a direct link:
http://host.silknaturals.com/creb/june-2011-c-39_210.html

Have a great great great long weekend, and please be safe...those fireworks fuses burn faster than you think ;)

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Is it really almost July?!?!

Where does June go???  Seriously- it's longer than February, but it feels like it lasts about 10 minutes.  One moment we're digging out our sandals, and the next it's time for the 4th of July.  Well- I guess time flies...

This year we'll be taking our annual vacation to visit my mother-in-law in France.  Between everyone's schedules, and the availability of affordable flights we're leaving sooner than I had planned.  We'll be gone from July 9th through the 25th- it's a long one this year because MIL needs some help around the house, so we'll be taking care of the garden, shuttling her to some important appointments, working on some plumbing and all of that other fun homeowner stuff.

In May Jen and I went to an ingredient trade show and I came back with all sorts of nifty ideas, and some really fun new ingredients.  Between hiring, and training Val's replacement, doing our semi-annual restock of supplies, and trying out new ingredients the time just went by sooo fast.

Last year we did a little Summer collection, but this year it doesn't seem like it's going to be in the cards for the moment.  I wanted to, we had some cool ideas, but it just feels really irresponsible and unfair to everyone to drop a Summer collection, and then leave the country for 2 weeks.

Silk Naturals has always been open- save for the week that we moved into our current studio, and a couple of snow days Silk Naturals has been online, and shipping every single day for almost four years.  There's never been a backlog, or a delay- 99.9% of our orders have always shipped within 2 business days, and we do whatever it takes to make that happen.

This year everyone we're trying a little something different- instead of staggering our vacations, and making-do with one less person for over a month by the time we all take our week off, we're actually closing for a week so we can all take vacation at the same time.

Silk Naturals will be closed from July 16th through July 24th- we'll ship all of the orders that come in before 9:00 am Friday morning, and then close the ordering system for that week that we're all out of the office.

I think it will actually be better for everyone that way- both the SN staff, and you because we'll be more focused, and ready to bound into August with some great inspiration and ideas.  You can't force collections- you have to charge into the lab inspired, focused and ready to work to make the good ones.  I'm hoping that a couple of weeks in Provence will do that (it always does).

This week we're bringing back Facelift serum, and maybe a few other things (that's a BIG maybe).  The reformulation of Facelift was pretty major- the actives, and their percentages are the same, but I had to switch out the thickener, and a few of the hydrating ingredients.  It looks, and feels different, but produces the same results.  I actually like it better than the old Facelift, and have seriously thought about reformulating all of the serums, and some of the moisturizers to use the new thickener, and hydration system.  It feels a little bit lighter weight, and not quite so "filmy" on your skin.

If you were a fan of the old Facelift you might want to resample this because it is quite a bit different formula wise.  I think you'll like it, but it is a change.  It will be available on the site starting on Tuesday.

Have an awesome Summer, and a safe 4th of July!!!!  Thank you all for being who you are- you really make our days, and we can't do what we do without you!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Wow!!!!  I guess it wasn't quite as brutal as the last few times...which is cool for everyone really.

Let's end the suspense and go right to the answers:
Groove is in the Heart- Dee Light- Groove Eye shadow
Lola by the Kinks- Lola lip gloss
Theme song to The Young and The Restless- Restless eye shadow
Roam- B-52's  Roam eyeshadow
Once Bitten Twice Shy- Great White- Bitten lip gloss
Safety Dance- Safety Eye shadow
Theme song to Magnum PI- Magnum Eye Shadow

Then the harder ones:
Bolero- Ravel- Bolero Blush
Shine On You Crazy Diamond- Pink Floyd- Diamond eye shadow, or Shine lip gloss.  I probably wouldn't have gotten it from this clip either- it was EVIL
Little Darlin'- Darling lippie

We had a lot of people get most of them right, and the margin of error is 2 songs.  I'm never quite sure where the margin of error will be when I make the contests- in order to have winners we do usually have to include one, but in this contest we had a lot of people getting 9-10 right and it didn't feel fair to set it too low.

The winners are:
Andrea D
Jenna B
Theresa
Danielle S
Jennifer L
Jen E
Cat B
Kathy M
August F
Jennifer J-D
Christy A
Karmen C
Sarah W
Cathleen Q
Caitlin M
Nacori G
Paula H
Sharon P
Kristi C
Tracy K
Caroline P
Ann D
Heather C
Amy F
Blanca V
Maria H

I hope you all had fun tapping your toes to some fun guilty pleasure songs.

Congrats to the winners- and have an awesome weekend!!!!!!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Everyone's Favorite Contest....

Hello!  Forgive me if this reads a little funny- I banged up my finger and am on painkillers as I write this :)

Things were finally rocking along again....I took a little break from blogging while I did my semi-annual reorganization and restock.  It takes a while to go through and make sure we have enough supplies, and this year has been weirder than most.

This week I learned that half of the world's jojoba supply is grown in Argentina- which has been unusually cold this year.  So, jojoba is in short supply, and about double in price.  I've found alternate sources, but there is NO organic jojoba to be found anywhere at any price.  From now until it's available again, we'll be using conventional jojoba that is pesticide free, but not organic.  The price of the lippies will remain the same because the price of castor oil has finally stabilized- so it's evening out a little.

I banged my finger up pretty badly on Wednesday (car door...ouch)- nothing too serious, but it's a nasty boo boo. No stitches, or anything broken- so that's good. Typing is evil though.  The bright side is I'm now up to date on my tetanus shot, and I don't have to do the dishes any time soon.  So- I guess I'll take it as a semi-win.

During my convalesence I did everyone's favorite contest:
Name That Tune!

Ok- actually I know this is a fairly brutal contest.  I sort of delight in picking odd clips from songs you probably haven't heard in years. It's the toughest 2 minutes in makeup- and if you win- you get the satisfaction of knowing you beat a pretty tough challenge.  Oh, and a $5 gift certificate to Silk Naturals :)

The following is 10 different songs- and each one of them corresponds to a different Silk Naturals Product.  To enter just send your 10 answers (just the product name) to sncontests at gmail.com

Entries must be received by Friday June 17th at 11:59 pm Eastern Standard time.  I'll post the winners shortly afterwards.

I can pretty much guarantee that there will be a margin of error- it's fairly rare for someone to get all of them. So, if you know more than say 6-7 take a shot and enter.  Really try to get them all right though...because from experience, people miss the oddest ones sometimes.

There are two TV theme songs in this collection- we're looking for the name of the show, not the name of the piece of music.  They're pretty recognizable this time (unlike the Charmed debacle of '09 with that Smith's song).


Good Luck!!!!!!!

Everyone's Favorite Contest....

Hello!  Forgive me if this reads a little funny- I banged up my finger and am on painkillers as I write this :)

Things were finally rocking along again....I took a little break from blogging while I did my semi-annual reorganization and restock.  It takes a while to go through and make sure we have enough supplies, and this year has been weirder than most.

This week I learned that half of the world's jojoba supply is grown in Argentina- which has been unusually cold this year.  So, jojoba is in short supply, and about double in price.  I've found alternate sources, but there is NO organic jojoba to be found anywhere at any price.  From now until it's available again, we'll be using conventional jojoba that is pesticide free, but not organic.  The price of the lippies will remain the same because the price of castor oil has finally stabilized- so it's evening out a little.

I banged my finger up pretty badly on Wednesday (car door...ouch)- nothing too serious, but it's a nasty boo boo. No stitches, or anything broken- so that's good. Typing is evil though.  The bright side is I'm now up to date on my tetanus shot, and I don't have to do the dishes any time soon.  So- I guess I'll take it as a semi-win.

During my convalesence I did everyone's favorite contest:
Name That Tune!

Ok- actually I know this is a fairly brutal contest.  I sort of delight in picking odd clips from songs you probably haven't heard in years. It's the toughest 2 minutes in makeup- and if you win- you get the satisfaction of knowing you beat a pretty tough challenge.  Oh, and a $5 gift certificate to Silk Naturals :)

The following is 10 different songs- and each one of them corresponds to a different Silk Naturals Product.  To enter just send your 10 answers (just the product name) to sncontests at gmail.com

Entries must be received by Friday June 17th at 11:59 pm Eastern Standard time.  I'll post the winners shortly afterwards.

I can pretty much guarantee that there will be a margin of error- it's fairly rare for someone to get all of them. So, if you know more than say 6-7 take a shot and enter.  Really try to get them all right though...there may be a special bonus if you get them all.

There are two TV theme songs in this collection- we're looking for the name of the show, not the name of the piece of music.  They're pretty recognizable this time (unlike the Charmed debacle of '09 with that Smith's song).


Good Luck!!!!!!!