Australia’s only Naturopathically Formulated and Certified Organic Skincare
Australia’s only Naturopathically Formulated and Certified Organic Skincare
Keeping our skin healthy shouldn’t be a difficult or complicated task. However, there are some really simple mistakes that we all make from time to time that can be detrimental to the health of our skin both short and long term. Here are the top 5 mistakes I commonly see:
1. Over cleansing
This is perhaps the most common skincare misstep. We all seem to think that squeaky clean skin is healthy skin but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Every time we cleanse our skin, we’re not only stripping it of dirt, food and make up, we also remove naturally produced oils in the skin, as well as some of the microbiome (the good bacteria, microorganisms etc) that helps maintain our skin’s barrier.
The skin on our bodies is often neglected as we tend to focus on our face and figure our bodies will just look after themselves. Big mistake!
Because our skin is our largest organ and most of what we put on it gets absorbed, choosing high-quality products for the body is so very important. They need to be 100% natural and as organic as possible, to avoid causing skin reactions, disrupting our hormones, and not adding to the toxin burden on our liver.
There are also some simple things you can do to look after your body that will reduce dryness, stop eczema from flaring up and keep it glowing.
The humble toner has come a long way from the skin-stripping products we once knew them to be. These days, toners are full of active ingredients that nourish and soothe your skin.
Add to this the fact that they also prime skin to receive the full benefit of your skincare and it becomes clear just how indispensable toners are.
We are all told that we need to wash our face regularly to keep it healthy. But how do we know if we’re doing it right? Cleansing too frequently, with too harsh a cleanser and using the wrong methods, could be making skin issues worse.
We step you through the reasoning behind cleansing, which cleanser and exfoliant to choose for your skin, and how to use them to the best effect.
I am often being asked for my naturopathic advice when it comes to supplements: what should I take to help my skin? Will supplements make any difference to my particular issue?
Supplements can definitely be helpful when you are not getting sufficient nutrients in your diet but I always recommend looking to food first as its often better absorbed and comes with many more beneficial nutrients.
Having said this I do take a handful of supplements to help with my skin and immune system on a daily basis and so I thought I’d share with you what I take and why.
We get so many great questions about how best to use our products and one of the most recent ones is whether or not I should be using the Lime Caviar Eye Crème or the Brightening Eye + Skin Serum for around my eyes.
As much as I would love everyone to just empty the contents of their beauty cabinet and start fresh, it’s not practical or affordable for many. So given that one of the most common questions I get asked is ‘where should I start when transitioning to organic skincare’, I wanted to lay out my recommendations.
When going organic, I think it’s good to know not only what to start buying but why. That way you can make informed decisions and know that you’re heading in the right direction.
Start with the lips
Our bodies absorb around 80% of what we put on it but this is increased if it’s on your lips. Why? Because you’re eating it! What’s not being absorbed is going into your digestive system and into your body. That’s why it’s super important to make sure your lip balm and lip colour are 100% natural and as organic as possible. (I have to tell you, whilst recently standing in line at a local store I read the ingredients of some well-known lip balms and was appalled – so many chemicals in these products!)
I highly recommend our Ultimate Lips (99% certified organic ingredients) and Rose Tinted Lips (99% certified organic ingredients).
Note: For those with little people, baby products (moisturisers, oils, creams and balms) come in at a tied 1st place. This is because baby’s skin barrier is much more penetrative than adults, absorbing more than 80% into their system.
Body beautiful
The skin on our bodies (everything from the décolletage down) is a very large surface area. And given its superior absorption qualities, this is the next place to invest in organic skincare. Our multi award winning Ultimate Hand + Body Lotion, Ultimate SOS Balm and Ultimate Body Oil come highly recommended.
Face essentials
Your face cream, serum and toner are the next stop because they make the biggest visual impact. These 3 face products in an organic form are so much better for your complexion, scarring, pigmentation and signs of ageing. Why? Because they contain none of the nasties which can be counter-productive for these issues (parabens, PEGs, artificial fragrances) and the botanicals they DO contain are more potent due to organic farming producing a higher antioxidant and vitamin content.
Clean up your act
It’s important to make your cleanser, exfoliant and mask the next organic purchases for 2 reasons:
Make me up
I’ve put this one last because it’s not necessarily an everyday item. Personally, I only wear make-up when I’m heading out to something important. If, however, you do wear make-up daily, I would pop it into 4th position. Choosing natural and organic make-up is important because there are sooo many chemicals that go into conventional products. There is also very little regulation and brands are not required to list ingredients on their packaging (scary!!!). The best natural and organic make-up brands that I use and recommend are Inika, Gemma Vendetta and Eye of Horus. Eco Tools also makes fabulous natural applicators (brushes, sponges etc.).
As always, I’m here to help so please feel free to reach out if you have any queries.
I hope you find it helpful.
As we age and spend more time in the sun (especially after these glorious summer days), pigmentation naturally creeps up on us. Having recently turned 40, it’s something that I have noticed comes easier to me if I’m not careful and has made me more conscious to reduce and prevent it.
In my experience, there are 3 key steps to tackling pigmentation naturally. Here’s how:
Cleansing helps in 2 ways. Firstly, it helps to gently exfoliate the skin, removing the top layer of skin cells, which in turn encourages the skin to produce new skin cells. Secondly, and this is specific to our Refining Cleanser, it helps to reduce melanin production (the dark pigments in skin that cause pigmentation). This is because our Refining Cleanser contains Bearberry, a botanical that has been shown to inhibit the enzymes needed to produce melanin.
How often should I cleanse?
Cleansing should take place daily. When using the Refining Cleanser, this is best used in combination with a face cloth such as our Organic Bamboo Face Cloth as this further assists the exfoliation process.
What about the 2 in 1 Face Exfoliant + Mask?
This product is fabulous for serious exfoliation and should be used 2-3 times weekly, with particular attention paid to areas of pigmentation.
After cleansing and exfoliating, the next products that hit your skin need to help further reduce melanin production and promote skin cell turnover.
Firstly, spritz with our Ultimate Biome Spritz. This product is packed with vitamin C which has been shown to inhibit melanin production. It also contains ingredients which encourage a healthy microbiome, overall skin health and protect against environmental pollutants.
After spritzing, we recommend applying a few drops of our Repair Face Serum. This beautiful product contains ingredients which have been shown to reduce pigmentation and increase skin cell turnover.
How often should I use these products?
Both the Ultimate Biome Spritz and Repair Face Serum should be applied every morning and evening.
After going to all these efforts to reduce your pigmentation, the next step is to protect your skin and prevent any further damage. In order to do this, you need to apply a product containing SPF as the sun is the most common cause of skin darkening.
I use our Protect + Clarify Daily Face Lotion as it’s a beautiful light weight lotion which protects my skin from the sun, as well as containing ingredients which fight pigmentation.
Our Protect + Clarify Daily Face Lotion contains SPF15 which blocks 93% of UVB rays. This is enough if you are only spending periodic periods in the sun (I spend most of my days in the office and am only out in the sun for maximum 30 minutes per day). When spending longer periods, it’s best to choose an SPF30 or higher.
How often should I apply this product?
Protect + Clarify Daily Face Lotion should be applied every morning.
So just to re-cap, the 5 products I use to tackle pigmentation are:
Using these products should help to reduce any areas of pigmentation and prevent it from reoccurring again.
Got further queries? Please feel free to email me bridget@clemenceorganics.com
I auditioned for a Clearasil ad when I was around 11 (don’t worry, the irony isn’t lost on me). I remember preparing for the audition, making sure my skin was clean and obsessing over a tiny spot or 2 on my face. I couldn’t decide if they wanted someone with pimples and I should leave them, or if I should cover them up?
I didn’t get it in the end. Either I wasn’t a very good actor, or I wasn’t quite what they were looking for. Why am I telling this story? I feel like it was the beginning of my obsession with my skin.
I had acne quite badly when I was a teenager. I used all the toxic stuff that ‘guaranteed’ clear skin. After years of poisoning myself with chemicals, my hormones settled, and my skin calmed down. What I was left with was scars and plenty of them. My fault entirely – I was a picker, not a leaver. I just didn’t think they would leave such a legacy on my face for years to come.
As a teenager, I was also very aware of the scars on my body. I acquired a large keloid scar right in the centre of my chest when I was around 10 and when I became a teenager it became a major focal point in my life. I felt it was ugly and made me look ugly. I did everything I could to try to hide it. I would choose clothing so that it could be covered. And if I couldn’t cover it with clothing, I became very good at making or adjusting necklaces so that they would cover it.
Now that I’m almost 40, and after years of applying my Repair Face Serum, that scar has pretty much flattened and disappeared. I have another on my shoulder, more recently acquired at university, but I don’t really care too much about it. Growing older, having children, becoming more worldly-wise, has made me realise that people don’t care about scars. It doesn’t make me ugly. It’s just a part of my story.
I’ve been reflecting on my reflection lately. It’s funny, having a skincare brand, there is some internal dialogue telling me that my skin should be perfect. But is that really true? I have been told over the years that I have lovely skin and that is no surprise given the skincare I create and promote. But sometimes I look at my face in the mirror and all I see are the faults – acne scars, faint pigmentation from years of careless sun exposure and the beginning of deep lines. Why do we do that to ourselves?
Ultimately, I’m happy with my skin. It really is the best it’s ever been in my life – pimple free, acne scars and pigmentation fading, and overall glowing skin. It will never be perfect, and I certainly will never succumb to cosmetic procedures to make it so. It’s healthy, it will age well, and that’s really all that I want.
When I reflect back on that Clearasil commercial, perhaps what I should have learnt was that confidence is key. My products give me confidence that what I’m putting on my skin is not only going to make my skin as healthy as it can be, but it’s not going to do any harm to my body or the environment. This makes me feel good, and I hope it makes others feel good too.
There’s a reason why I only have a single line of products in the Clémence Organics range. It’s because I don’t believe in skin types. I know it’s a bold statement but hear me out.
The skin types you hear most often are normal, dry, oily, mature, combination, and sensitive. But who only has one skin type? And what is normal?
I know my skin varies according to the season, what I’m eating, the climate I’m in, my current stress levels, and what I’m using on my skin. For example, in summer I would say that my skin is oily. In winter it’s dry. It’s always sensitive and given that I’m getting close to 40 I would say it’s verging on mature. How do I label that?
The truth of the matter is, your skin is never one skin type but rather a living, breathing, changeable organ, and you should treat it as such. By adapting your diet and skincare, you can keep your skin happy, no matter the season.
Currently I’m using the full regime of Clémence products (otherwise known as the Ageless Beauty Collection) because I live in a dry climate and its mid-winter. Work has been busy lately (never mind school holidays) and so my stress levels are a little higher than usual. Because of this I know that the extra cortisol pumping through my bloodstream is sending the nutrients I’m eating to other organs, feeding my skin last. I’m also exercising less at the moment because most days I struggle to get out of bed early enough to fit in a run.
These factors combined cause my skin to beg for extra hydration, and so I give it all the Serum, Face Creme and Eye Creme it desires. I also Spritz my skin throughout the day to keep it moist, especially when I’m in the office with indoor heating. On top of this, I use the 2 in 1 Face Exfoliant + Mask every second day to nourish my skin and increase the turnover of skin cells.
During winter I try to feed my skin by adding extra fats to my diet including avocado, nuts and oily fish. And whilst I don’t drink as much water, I sip on herbal teas throughout the day, and try not to have too much caffeine as it dehydrates skin.
As the weather warms, I will slowly decrease the amount of Serum and Cream I apply, and replace some of the extra fats in my diet with ‘lighter’ nutrient-dense meals including soups and salads.
In summer I tend to use my Face Creme sparingly and will often apply the Spritz and Serum, or just the Protect + Clarify Daily Face Lotion during the day. This is because the warm summer weather naturally encourages my skin to produce more oils.
So what makes the Clémence range so adaptable and suitable for everyone? Well for starters it’s 100% natural and organic, with no chemicals or unnecessary ingredients, minimising the risk of a reaction. Ingredients are non-comedogenic which means our products won’t your block pores, reducing the formation of blackheads and acne. Perhaps more importantly the range is designed to balance your skin’s pH, microbiome and sebum levels, allowing your skin to reach a natural equilibrium. Our skin has an inherent ability to heal itself and so the products we put on it should support this process, not make it harder.
My advice, don’t label your skin. Listen to what it needs according to where you’re at, what you’re eating and how you’re feeling. Choose skincare products that support your skin. If you can adapt to give your skin what it needs right now, you may just find your ‘normal’.
Amongst the skin disorders, psoriasis is probably up there as one of the trickiest to treat. Whilst it can present similarly to atopic dermatitis (eczema), it requires a slightly different approach to treatment.
Although it can be caused by a multitude of factors, there are lots of ways to reduce psoriasis occurrence, and sometime eradicate it for good. Here is what I know about psoriasis and what you can do about it.
What is Psoriasis?
Psoriasis is a skin disorder characterised by red and/or silvery scaly lesions that present most commonly near the scalp, elbows, knees and buttocks. In most people, epithelial (skin) cells take 28 days to divide and move to the surface, but in psoriasis this happens in only 4 days.
What causes Psoriasis & how do I treat it?
Basically, in psoriasis the skin cells are faulty, causing them to reproduce way too fast. This fault can be caused by either a genetic error (family history accounts for around 50% of cases), abnormal immune stimulation (psoriasis can be found in conjunction with autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis and coeliac disease), or gastrointestinal dysfunction.
From a naturopathic perspective, the treatment of psoriasis focuses on reducing inflammation and promoting the growth of healthy skin.
Diet and Gastrointestinal health
Whilst a nutrient-rich, anti-inflammatory diet is key to reducing psoriasis, it is firstly important to ensure healthy gastrointestinal function. This means making sure you digest your food properly (e.g. sufficient digestive enzymes) and have healthy gut flora. You also want to avoid any foods to which you have demonstrated a sensitivity e.g. gluten.
Probiotics should be a regular component of your diet and can be added via foods (e.g. kombucha, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchee) or supplements. Not only does good gut flora improve the absorption of key nutrients necessary for healthy skin, but it also benefits the immune system and is anti-inflammatory.
As with many skin disorders, the Mediterranean diet is perfect because it is high in antioxidants, high in fibre, low in red meat, low in refined carbohydrates and doesn’t include processed foods. It’s also rich in those all-important, skin-loving omega 3s (e.g. avocado, olive oils, oily fish).
Exercise, Stress and other Lifestyle factors
Exercise is a must for psoriasis sufferers as it decreases the activity of the main immune cells responsible for its progression. It also reduces stress, which has strong links to psoriasis progression. In fact, one study reported that 39% of psoriasis patients reported a significant stressful event within 1 month of their first psoriasis episode. Mind and body therapies including meditation have been shown to improve psoriasis outcomes.
As with any skin-related disorder, you want to minimise chemical and irritant exposure. This includes minimising exposure to paints, perfumes, aerosols (e.g. hairspray, deodorant), and household cleaning fluids (laundry detergent, dishwashing detergent, surface spray etc.). All can be replaced with natural, low-allergen options.
Last but not least, you want to choose skincare that is going to reduce inflammation and improve the health of the skin. One of the botanicals that has been shown to be effective for psoriasis treatment is Aloe vera. This is what makes our Ultimate Hand + Body Lotion so well-suited. Aloe vera is the first and largest ingredient in this lotion, followed by rosehip oil and other anti-inflammatory skin superstars. Seriously, there is no water or fillers in this luscious body lotion, making it a standout when it comes to restoring skin health.
As always, I’m here to help, so please feel free to reach out if you have any specific queries.
Best of health to you,
Please note, this blog post contains general naturopathic recommendations. Individual cases may require specific treatment measures so please seek medical advice if symptoms persist.
