Sometimes,when it comes to formulating an excellent product, it’s not just the ingredients list you want to look out for, but how the ingredients were produced as well. This is especially the case when it comes to natural products like plant oils, as the quality of the ingredient can vary considerably depending on the way the ingredient was farmed, collected or processes. Because of this concern, brands like The Organic Pharmacy have developed entire product lines that utilize only organic ingredients in their formulas. But will this focus really help your skin? Today we’re bringing you all the details so you can decide for yourself whether these products are worth testing out. So without further adieu, let’s get started!
The Organic Pharmacy was created to fill a niche in the beauty and wellness industry that founder Margo Marrone felt did not previously exist. She wanted to create a place where customers could find products that were both completely organic, cold-pressed and quality controlled, while also receiving advice from homeopathic doctors, pharmacists and estheticians. Today, the brand has expanded to fulfill that dream and offers a full range of skincare products, textures and more. Currently this brand is most readily available online through their website.
The Organic Pharmacy
The Organic Pharmacy offers an extensive array of skincare, bodycare, wellness and makeup products that were created based on the teachings of homeopathic medicine. But what is homeopathic medicine, and how does it relate to skincare?
Homeopathic medicine is the practice of using natural, botanical ingredients to promote healing, and it has been used for hundreds of years. Homeopathic medicine takes a holistic approach, as it treats a person as a whole, rather than isolating certain symptoms in order to create a diagnosis that affects one or two parts of the body. Some of their guiding principles include ideas like giving the minimum dose, like cures like, and the single remedy. This principles help to minimize negative side effects, and get to the root of the issue quickly and effectively.
In their skincare range, The Organic Pharmacy uses organic herbs and botanical extracts to treat skin concerns using the same philosophy. For example their best selling Carrot Butter Cleanser contains calendula extract, st john’s wort, chamomile and lavender essential oils. These ingredients have been used for thousands of years in practices like traditional chinese medicine, ayurveda, and of course homeopathy to maintain healthy, calmed and balanced skin.
Another example of using herbalist and homeopathic principles to guide skincare formula is their Double Rose Ultra Face Cream. This product contains aloe and rose geranium, both of which are staples of nature and organic skincare. While these ingredients may seem simple, the effects that they can have on the skin can actually be quite remarkable.
Formula Focus
As their name would suggest, The Organic Pharmacy focuses on using natural and organic ingredients to create elegant and effective skincare and body care products. Because of this, you’ll usually find their ingredients list to be a bit on the shorter side. This is because every product has been included to give you the most noticable results. You won’t find any silicones, texture or penetration enhancers in these products. Instead, the focus remains squarely on making each ingredient count.
To give you an idea of how this works within some of these products, let’s look back on two of their bestsellers, the Carrot Butter Cleanser and the Double Rose Ultra Face Cream. Starting off with the Carrot Butter Cleanser, this product was designed to serve as a balm-like cleanser that is rich and moisturizing while also effectively cleansing the skin. It can be used as both a makeup remover as well as a 1st or 2nd step cleanser, depending on your own preferences.
The base of this formula is composed of sunflower oil, jojoba oil, shea butter, beeswax and sesame seed oil. All of this ingredients a extremely rich and moisturizing, as well as give the product it’s balmy texture. Oils like sunflower and jojoba oil, as well as butters like shea butter, are excellent ingredients for these types of products because they can intensely moisturize and hydrate, but at the same time, have a very low chance of clogging the pores. Sunflower oil and shea butter both have a comedogenic rating of between 0-1, while jojoba oil has a comedogenic rating of 2. Although jojoba oil has a slightly higher comedogenic rating, it is often recommended as one of the best oils for acne prone and sensitive skin types because it actually mimics the texture and consistency of our own sebum.
Moving on to some of the more active, treatment-based ingredients in this formula, the Carrot Butter Cleanser also features carrot, St. John’s wort and calendula extracts. Carrots are rich in vitamin C and other antioxidants, which can help with combatting free radical and environmental damage. St. John’s wort can help to reduce the inflammation that often goes hand and hand with acne, and can also help to speed up wound healing. Finally, calendula is one of the most common and beneficial herbs that is used in skincare. Like St. John’s wort, calendula acts as an excellent anti-inflammatory, but this ingredient also has regenerative and brightening properties.
Similarly, their Double Rose Ultra Face Cream also follows this moisturizing and healing approach. The base of this product starts out with a heavy dosage of moisturizing ingredients include aloe vera, squalane, glycerin, beeswax and cetearyl ethylhexanoate. Aloe vera, squalane and glycerin all make excellent choices for lightweight, yet extremely moisturizing moisturizers. Additionally, all of these ingredients have a very low chance of clogging the pores, making this moisturizer suitable for almost all skin types. Beeswax thickens this formula slightly and gives it more of a substantial texture. Finally, cetearyl ethylhexanoate acts as a skin conditioner that is an ester of cetearyl alcohol, one of the most common fatty alcohols in skincare. Another great thing about this brand is their commitment to transparency within their products and formulations. All of their ingredients in their formulas are linked to their own ingredient glossary. This glossary will identify each ingredient, let us know where it comes from, and what it is most commonly used for in skincare and bodycare formulations.
