Apothecary & Wellness

One of my favorite things to talk about when it comes to beauty and wellness is good skincare. Within my Asian upbringing and culture, the femme figures in my family never really wore much makeup. So instead of purchasing copious amounts of foundation, eyeshadows, powders and other cosmetics they spent their money on various cleansers, toners, essence, serums, moisturizers, and eye creams. This is due to the Asian tradition of treating skincare products as makeup. If you take excellent care of your skin, you don’t need to wear much makeup at all. So for today’s blog post, we will be diving into the some of our favorite all-natural apothecary and wellness products available at Altar!  

State of Wellness

If you haven’t read me rave about State of Wellness before: this company uses all highest grade, highest quality therapeutic essential oils and natural ingredients to make their effective products. With the purest oils you can get, this company ensures their skincare items are safely potent, made with care, and ensured to give their customers quality results that you can see and believe.

The first product I would love to introduce to you is the Revive Skin Perfecting Facial Oil. What’s super cool about this beauty product is its multi-functionality as a cleanser, anti-aging serum, moisturizer and primer. It contains apricot kernel, rose-infused moringa, hazelnut and avocado oils to penetrate your skin and quickly sink in for a smooth, soft, even complexion, without clogging your pores. The essential oils in this facial oil include Hawaiian sandalwood, myrrh, lavender, frankincense, melaleuca, and helichrysum, all perfect for cleansing, renewing, and calming benefits. To use this as a facial cleanser (at night), dispense 2 - 3 drops onto your clean palms, massaging it in upwards strokes on your face while focusing on problem areas such as acne. Then, dampen a washcloth in hot steaming water and drape it over your face, allowing your pores to soften and release their impurities (about 1 minute). If you have oilier skin, feel free to repeat the process. Did you know it’s actually best to only cleanse your face at night, and rinse your face in the morning with simple warm water? This is because over - cleansing can actually strip your face, leading to more blemishes and problem areas. Once you have finished cleansing, this product will leave your face feeling supremely soft, hydrated and moisturized. To use this facial oil as a serum, moisturizer, or primer, simply apply a few drops and massage it in.

The next two products I would love to dive into are the Day and Night Creams. The Skin Perfecting Day Cream is extremely impressive because it contains all natural products, while still able to soften fine lines and even out skin tone. It can also be used as an effective eye cream! Containing organic shea butter, vitamin e, calendula infused moringa and coconut oils, it calms the skin, reduces redness and inflammation. Its frankincense, peppermint, fennel, geranium, helichrysum, clary sage and melaleuca essential oils also contribute to its potency for a perfect complexion. And as you would normally during the day, apply SPF after moisturizing to ensure an even toned complexion. Another rad thing about this product is that very little goes a LONG way (so it is designed to last).

The Skin Perfecting Night Cream contains very similar ingredients, but with lavender and lemon essential oils. Both are very useful for targeting blemishes, damaged skin, dark spots and nourishment. However, be wary that lemon essential oil may cause photosensitivity, so it is important to only use this night cream at night. That’s what night creams are for, not for the day out in the sun exposed to UV rays, but at night, under the soft light of the glowing effervescent moon.

BEING

Now for the body! People always forget that the body needs love and attention too! Sure you want your face to be blessed with a flawless complexion, but you should also want your body to be invigorated, detoxed and cleansed just as much! BEING, a handcrafted line of small batch, organic and vegan bath and body products based out of the Pacific Northwest, does just that. I’ve mentioned their other products before like the Calma Terra French Pink Complexion Clay Mask, the Release Milk Bath, and the Still Salt Bath, but this time, I want to focus on the Float Salt Bath and the Drift Salt Bath.

Perfect for the summer, if you are a very sweaty, oily, greasy person, the Float Salt Bath is your answer to all life’s questions. Look no further as this bath will suck out all your horrible late night decisions that you probably don’t remember. This bath contains a cleansing blend of French green clay and Dead Sea Salt to flush the body of toxins and excess oils, while peppermint and cypress essential oils further detox and refresh the body, and balance the mind.

BEING’s Drift Salt Bath with Hiwa Kai Black Lava Salt is another excellent bath soak that will transform and and stabilize your body. This bath’s combination of Hawaiian Black Lava Salt and Dead Sea Salt provides balance and increases blood flow, while also detoxing the body. The black salt in this bath contains activated charcoal which is useful for drawing bacteria, poisons, chemicals, dirt and other micro-particles from the surface of the skin. In addition, atlas cedarwood and juniper berry essential oils reduce inflammation, stimulates metabolism, treats skin irritations, and has antiseptic properties. Did you also know these essential oils are actually useful for empowering wisdom and mental strength as well?! A truly beneficial bath salt soak.

Roots & Crowns

Who loves plants?! Who loves plants as medicine?! I do! An all - women found local business, devoted to sharing the healing power of plants, Roots & Crowns is an extraordinary line of all natural herbal remedies, skincare, tinctures, tonics, teas, and other useful treatments. Luckily for us, we have their best-selling “You’re Ok” Tincture and Aromatherapy Roll - On Oil. With all the frustrating events going on in our world, the least we could do is calm ourselves with the power of plant medicine. So give yourself a helping dose of stress - relief and self - care via tincture, or oil, or both! The tincture is a treatment you ingest (10 - 20 drops) containing all organic ashwagandha, lemon balm, catnip, chamomile, gotu kola and hawthorne ingredients, while the roll - on oil contains an organic blend of lavender, ylang ylang, clary sage, bergamot and geranium essential oils with jojoba and fractionated coconut carrier oils. Of course these products are all handmade in small batches, ensuring they are cruelty free.    

Schmidt’s

DEODORANT. DEODORANT. SAY IT WITH ME. DEODORANT.

Now, I know there are many of us who prefer to have their “natural scent,” instead of supposedly masking it under a synthetically created fragrance. The notion of allowing the body to breathe naturally and release its all attractive pheromones sounds very nice and healthy to many of us Pacific Northwesterners. BUT, WHEN YOUR BODY SMELLS LIKE YOU JUST CRAWLED THROUGH THE KINGDOM OF LANDFILL AND MONTH OLD FOOD, IT’S NOT GOING TO ATTRACT AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU MAY THINK IT WOULD. Now, I’m not saying there aren’t people out there who don’t like the smell of the natural human body. Nor am I saying you should always cover yourself in a fragrance at all times, at all hours of the day and night. Nor am I saying that it’s wrong to smell at all, especially when you sweat. WHAT I AM SAYING HOWEVER IS, SOMETIMES THERE ARE MOMENTS WHEN YOU MAY WANT TO THINK ABOUT SMELLING SOMEWHAT DECENT DURING CERTAIN EVENTS LIKE JOB INTERVIEWS, WEDDINGS, DINNER PARTIES, REUNIONS, DATES, ETC. The way you smell definitely impacts first impressions, and if you smell nice, or at least have your odor hidden, it’s less likely for a complete stranger you’re trying to impress, to distance themselves from you.

That being said, the next line of products available in our store is the very popular Schmidt’s Natural Deodorant! As I understand the avoidance of harmful deodorants with tons of chemicals and additives, Schmidt’s deodorant is one you can trust. It’s certified vegan, cruelty - free, and gluten - free, with no aluminum, propylene glycol and no artificial fragrances. This all - natural deodorant definitely neutralizes odors and absorbs wetness; perfect for all you northwest hippies out there who avoid unsafe synthetic products. Amy Fox (Iron Oxide/Altar PDX Co-Owner), is an avid fan of the Charcoal & Magnesium Schmidt Deodorant. She says, “I’ve used this deodorant everyday after years of depending on prescription deodorant, and Schmidt’s natural deodorant works just as well, and definitely has a clean smell.” I really like the Cedarwood & Juniper scent as I find that woody, earthy fragrances really do a good job at hiding odors.

Thanks for reading this blog post today about all-natural, handmade, local products by all independent artists. I know there are countless large-scale beauty and wellness products out there that claim to do amazing things like rewind father time and make you look like you’re going from 50 years old to 16 years old in 3 weeks, and medicines that claim you'll lose 500 pounds if you eat the same pill for a year straight, but let’s face it: there is no magic product out there that will give you a complete mixture of eternal youth, immortality, and endless vitality. I am a big fan of skincare, and I’ve been to Sephora and Ulta countless times. I’m familiar with all the trending products out there, but there is something very special and incomparable to small batch products that have been worked on by the same hands for months, by indie artists who put love and care into every single item they create. So stop by our store and give these wellness products a try. I promise you’ll be impressed and find yourself beautiful.