Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Mysteries of Sandalwood - Ingredient highlight.



At Sweetsation Therapy we love Sandalwood. For the past 4,000 years it was and still is used globally for its ethereal scent. Sandalwood is a valuable and spiritual tree. In ancient times the precious wood and oil from the Sandalwood tree was exported all over the world.  

Sandalwood oil (Santalum Album ) that we use in a few product of our skincare is famous for its sweet, warm, rich and woody scent and used for aromatic and perfumery purposes and historically has been used in meditation practices for thousands of years. It is recorded that the Egyptians imported Sandalwood for use in the embalming of bodies, medicine and ritual.  Of the entire tree, the roots are the most valuable part of the tree from which the Sandalwood oil is  extracted.

 Sandalwood is a parasitic tree and obtains nutrients from several other plant species. While there are other species of sandalwood, including red sandalwood, Australian sandalwood (Santalum spicatum) and New Caledonian Sandalwood (Santalum austrocaledonicum), these are quite different from true Santalum Aalbum and have very different properties and fragrances. There is another tree that yields an essential oil which is sometimes called West Indian sandalwood or Amyris (Amyris balsamifera) – it is from Haiti and other islands in the West Indies and is not related to true sandalwood. It is, however, sometimes used as a sandalwood substitute, especially in products such as sandalwood soap and candles, where using the true sandalwood would be too expensive and cost prohibitive for most consumers.


The cost of various kinds of Sandalwood oil varies greatly. For example:

Santalum Album that is used in our skin case, runs as high as $197-$270 per 1oz
Santalum paniculatum $229 per 1oz
Santalum austrocaledonicum $105 per 1oz
Santalum spicatum $91 per 1oz
Amyris balsamifera $11 per 1oz


So when you consider buying Sandalwood oil, don't be duped and research which one you are really getting.

We love to use it in our skin care for it's skin beautifying properties, such as healing of acne, dry, cracked and chapped skin, oily skin...
   
 In Ayurveda medicine, Sandalwood has been used for the revitalization of the skin. The antiseptic properties of Sandalwood have been used in the restoration of skin for extreme burn victim cases.

Sandalwood is a sedative oil and induces a feeling of deep peace, calms the mind, enhances mental clarity, and aids in the opening of the Third Eye.

A study at South Dakota State University reported in the European Journal of Cancer Prevention suggests that the topical application of just 5% dilution of Sandalwood oil helps to prevent skin tumor development. That's good to know.



Sandalwood oil (Santalum Album) is present in: Lumi*Essence Organic Advanced Brightening Repair Treatment, Lumi'Essence Body Organic Advanced Brightening Repair TreatmentI*Light Organic Advanced Brightening & Line Smoothing Eye Treatment, Svelte PRO Supercharged Organic Anti-Cellulite Treatment, Luxe Eternel Firming Luxury Body Creme, NuElle Triple Action Anti Cellulite Concentrate, Essential Daily Protective Moisturizer, Botanical Shaving Gel, Smoothing facial scrub.


Thursday, September 11, 2014

Bye, bye Sweetsation Therapy.....



Well, not really.... Some great changes are coming to our Brand - Sweetsation Therapy.  Many already know that Sweetsation Therapy began as a “soon-to-be-mom” friendly company, since its inception back in 2008.  I myself was a brand new mom while having 20 years of beauty and skin care experience.  At the time of my pregnancy, I found it challenging to find products that were either Organic or naturally safe.  So I took my vision and created a product line of therapeutic (while safe) skin care products.  I created products that aligned with my interests to be Organic and Natural while being safe for, before, during, and after pregnancy.  That's how Sweetsation Therapy was created.  Its been a great adventure and a pleasure to be able to share all of these wonderful products, that were formulated for my own personal use, with the rest of the world.  I had no idea there were so many other people searching for the same thing as I was.  Soon, Sweetsation Therapy’s brand of products attracted the attention of not only moms, but a much wider demographic of people made up of all ages.  Sweetsation Therapy has since became a huge success thanks to all our fantastic and loyal customers. 

At that point, we wanted to expand our product line and offer children enjoy our products too, like our Sun‘n Fun water resistant Sunscreen, that smells like a chocolate milkshake.  And then my husband wanted something special for him.  We then came out with our Men’s Facial line: Scrub, Shaving Gel, Moisturizer, and After Splash.  

After having our 2nd son, just 4 months ago at a tender age of 42, I started to realize that I was no longer a spring chicken.  My thoughts shifted as to how could I preserve my youthful appearance for as long as I could.   All of our main facial care products were geared towards the ages of 15-40 (even though we served customers of all ages).  The wheels started spinning.

We initially created a sub-brand called - Skin QR Organics, that was added to our main website: www.sweetsationtherapy.com.   These products were not focused on pregnancy, so we created Skin QR Organics in order to have a visual distinction between products for Pregnancy and products for Anti-Aging purposes.  We later learned that this caused some confusion with brand recognition, and have recently decided to bring all our products under our larger  label of - Sweetsation Therapy.  We have started to re-design our labels to reflect such shift, and eventually all our products will share the Sweetsation Therapy Brand. While pregnancy safe products will enjoy their own category.

Over the past 6 years a lot of our products gained “best-selling” status, and found their prominent spot in the global market.  Some of our products were discovered to fill a smaller niche.  We love all of our products, but after long debate and with mixed emotions, we have decided to discontinue a small number of products as we shift our focus and energy to the needs of the majority of our customers.  We will be phasing out our Men’s line of products.  We had high hopes for our Men’s line when we created it.  As great as our Men’s formulations were, they did not prove to be as popular as our products for women/moms.  The better news is that we have some really fantastic products in our R&D pipeline which we are excited to bring to market very soon!  So stay tuned, and we will be announcing our new products in the very near future.

Thank you to all of our customers.  Without you, Sweetsation Therapy would not be the company it has grown to become today.  So Thank You from the bottom of my Heart.  God Bless, and we continue to look forward to serving each and every one of our customers.

Sweetsationally yours,

Natalia
           xoxo



Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Pop-up beauty stores in Europe are quite a hit.

We are blessed to have a fabulous Sweetsation Therapy ambassador in Hungary, Agnes. A few weeks ago in conversation with her I've learned that our Sweetsation Therapy products will be exhibited and sold in one of the pop-up temporary beauty stores, that are growing in popularity across Europe. Ha, who knew? This time it was to happen in Budapest. This was something new to me but intriguing indeed. 



 So, what is it, a pop-up beauty store? They get organized by a small beauty enthusiasts for the purpose of introducing new and little known brands from all over the world, to a local public. They rent a relatively small retail area on a busy street and showroom various types of organic and natural health and beauty products, introducing them to local customers. The design is simple and clear and all the products are easily accessible to visitors. And there are a lot to choose from.


They sell many brands already well known and many more that are seeking their recognition on worldly market. From what Agnes told, Sweetsation Therapy has been quite a success so far, and they have sold out of quite a few products, in those few days the store was up. Many people came back to make their purchases, after receiving samples the previous day. The organizers themselves have become an avid fans after trying the LaNouvel Cellular Hyaluronic acid Nutri Serum and the Very*Berry Organic Oxygen Masque & Scrub. They recommend Sweetsation products to the people coming in, and also mentioned that customers seemed to be drawn to them by some kind of magic too, even though there are  many other bottles and jars on the tables. :-) Maybe it's the inviting green labels? That remains to be unknown.

They had a cosmetician there to help customers with their choices and she loved the products also, for their top notch pure ingredients, performance and therapeutic qualities. There is a good chance that she will carry Sweetsation Therapy products at her salon. 
That was a great adventure in Budapest.