Vitamins for Your Skin

When picking the right skin product it is a good idea to check the ingredients to see if it has the right skin nourishing combination. Good product should contain most if not all of following vitamins to keep skin supple and healthy:

a) Vitamin A

Vitamin A is in charge of maintenance and repair of vital skin tissue, and is the key to healthy skin. Lack of vitamin A can cause skin dryness and wrinkles.

b) Vitamin B Complex

Vitamin B complex contains the nutrient, biotin, which forms the basis of nails, skin, and hair cells. It is anti-inflammatory, it hydrates the skin cells and gives a healthy glow to skin.

c) Vitamin C

In skin, vitamin C can help collagen production. This in turn reduces wrinkles, improves skin texture, and reduces photo damage.

d) Vitamin E

The trick to getting soft touchable skin is vitamin E. It regenerates skin and can improve appearance of acne scars.

e) Vitamin K

Vitamin K is your secret weapon to fighting dark circles and bruises. This vitamin helps fade discolorations on the skin, reducing puffiness and dark circles that so many of us suffer from.

While off the shelf cosmetic product can come packed with artificially synthesized vitamin groups, you really want to go as organic as possible. Organically sourced vitamins absorb into skin better and are more potent bringing better overall skin benefits.  Whenever possible choose the facial products that source vitamins from organic ingredients.

When it comes down to your skin, healthier is better. Please check out our  great selection of organic products at Nina Bella Organic Collection.

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Why You Need to Avoid Industrial Air Fresheners

We all want a nice smelling house and we all have different strategies to keep it that way. Most common impulse is to reach for common industrial air fresheners. They are a cheap choice– but they are definitely not a healthy choice. Have you ever wondered – what is the price you really pay for using common industrial air-fresher?

Neither the FDA nor the EPA conducts any safety testing for toxic chemicals in air freshener products. Due to lack of FDA regulation 9 out of 10 air- fresheners, including green air fresheners, contain toxic chemicals harmful for health that can cause caner, respiratory diseases, asthma, organ and skin disease. These chemicals are phthalates, fragrance oils, acetaldehydes, acetone, ethanol, benzaldehyde, isopropyl alcohol, alpha-Pinene, Benzyl acetate, ethyl acetate, isoamyl acetate (1-butanol- 3-methyl-, acetate), O, M, OR P-cymene, limonene and Linalool.

Phthalates, the most common ingredient found in virtually all air freshener are known to cause reproductive problems and hormone disruptions. Perfume oils, the next favorite are know respiratory, skin an organ irritants. Acetaldehyde and acetone are both cardiovascular/blood toxicants, gastrointestinal/liver/kidney toxicants, neurotoxicants, respiratory toxicants, skin and sensory organ toxicants. Ethanol is carcinogen, cardiovascular/ blood toxicant, developmental toxicant, endocrine toxicant, gastrointestinal/liver toxicant, neurotoxicant, reproductive toxicant, respiratory toxicant and skin/sensory organ toxicant. Benzaldehyde, is gastrointestinal/liver/kidney toxicant, neurotoxicant, respiratory toxicant, skin or sensory organ toxicant. Isopropyl alcohol, common rubbing alcohol, turns mean when vaporized in air freshener and has been classified as cardiovascular/blood toxicant, developmental toxicant, gastrointestinal/liver/kidney toxicant, neurotoxicant, respiratory toxicant and skin/sensory organ toxicant. Alpha-Pinene, a cute name for nasty chemical is suspected neurotoxicant, respiratory toxicant, and skin/sensory organ toxicant. Benzyl acetate is a suspected gastrointestinal/liver/kidney toxicant, neurotoxicant and respiratory toxicant. Ethyl Acetate is a suspected neurotoxicant, respiratory toxicant, skin and sensory organ toxicant. The name will not tell you much but the side –effects will – isoamyl acetate (1-butanol- 3-methyl-, acetate) is suspected neurotoxicant. O, M, OR P-cymene, has an exotic name but will not treat you kindly- it its suspected cardiovascular/blood toxicant, neurotoxicant and respiratory toxicant. Limonene and linalool complete the picture as respiratory and skin toxicant.

So you definitely want to think twice before being exposed to that. Or you can avoid risk at all and go for organic aroma misters instead. Instead of harmful chemicals, aroma misters contain organic alcohol, water and organic essential oils balanced in a way that is not harmful to you. They are organic product manufacturer response to responsible product crafting. For more on organic aroma misters, check back with Nina Bella Collection Blog.

Palm Oil in Organic Skin Care

Palm oil, a popular cooking medium has been working the scene for centuries making slow but sure breakthrough in organic skin care. In equal parts affordable and beneficial, palm oil is more often than not one of the most common organic bath and beauty products ingredients.

Hailing from West Africa, palm oil has been transported to Europe and reminder of the world in 19^th century. As the name indicates, palm oil is derived from the fruits of palm trees. It is a great source of beta carotene which gives it its naturally dark orange to reddish color. Chemically, palm oil is composed of saturated and unsaturated fats in the forms of glyceryl laurate (0.1%, saturated), myristate (1%, saturated), palmitate (44%, saturated), stearate (5%, saturated), oleate (39%, monounsaturated), linoleate (10%, polyunsaturated), and alpha-linolenate (0.3%, polyunsaturated), vitamins and antioxidants. Because of high saturated fat content, palm oil is quite stable, slow to oxidize and semi-solid at room temperature.

This means that palm oil is an ideal ingredient to work with in organic skin care. From soap making, to shampoo crafting, to shower gels and bubble baths, to moisturizing lotions to body butters, palm oil seems to have almost limitless number of applications. Its ability to clarify, remove excess sebrum and dirt from hair and skin mean it is great for organic bath products. Palm oil is very easy saponify and is a great organic soap starter. Its ability to moisturize and nourish, mean making a nice moisturizer, cream of a lotion is as easy as adding good quality palm oil to your formula.

As always in organic skin care you want to make sure you use quality palm oil. So stay away from chemically extracted, perfumed and bleached oil- it has a cheaper price tag but it also has significantly lower quality. When it comes to your skin it is worth it to pay a bit more to get cold pressed hand processed palm oil. Make sure your label backups up the promise. Organic. Pure. Green. Nutritious. Honest. This is what makes organic bath and beauty manufacturing different.

For more on products that use only certified organic ingredient visit Nina Bella Organic Collection.

Coconut Oil Dry Elbow Skin Cure

Dry, scaly chapped elbow skin. Embarrassing in summer time, painful in wintertime and always unwelcome – scaly, dry chapped elbows are a persistent problem for many. You can try countless creams, preparations, and ointments but until you turn to natural solutions, chances are you are stuck with them. Why is that so? Because most industrial dry skin preparations have preservatives and stabilizing agents are harsh compounds that damage and chap skin, which on the long run, negates the initial skin smoothing effects of other active ingredients. With natural ingredients, such as coconut oil, that naturally moisturize and nourish skin, you don’t have to risk that. So your elbows look great and you do not have to break bank to get them that way.

Here is a great coconut oil formula you can make in comfort of your own home that will blast scaly, dry, chapped elbow skin away.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of coconut oil

1 tablespoon of almond oil

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Mix coconut and almond oil together. Mix honey and lemon juice well and add to coconut and almond oil mixture. Apply ready mix to dry chapped elbows. Wrap tightly with saran wrap and let stand 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, wash gently with mild low foaming organic or natural soap and warm water and tap dry. Repeat two times a week for best results.  Store the unused mixture in fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Say goodbye to dry chapped elbows and say helps to summer clothes! Thank you for visiting Nina Bella Collection blog and website.

Coconut Oil Use in Organic and Natural Bath and Beauty Industry

Known as the tree of life due to its benefits and grinning face due to unique appearance, coconut is an exotic and important part of food and beauty industry. Going as far back as Eocene period, 37 to 55 million years ago, coconut was gracing the pre-historic landscape of in Australia and India, and later Indian Ocean and South America. While all parts of coconut, kernels, meat, juice, milk, and shells can be used, the oil is the most popular.

Coconut oil is produced from copra, dried coconut kernel, by dry or wet processing. Best oil is cold extracted from kernels harvested from coconut palm tree, 2 to 20 months old, where some 170 kilograms (370 lb) of copra yields about 70 liters (15 gal) of coconut oil. Good yield gives coconut oils competitive price making it attractive choice for bath and beauty industry. Due to variety of benefits coconut oil can be used in great many applications, such as:

a)        moisturizers

b)        anti-wrinkle products

c)        body butters

d)        lotions

e)        creams

f)        soaps

g)        hair care products

By composition, coconut oil is 92% of saturated fatty acids (caproic, caprylic, capric, lauric, myristic, palmitic, and stearic acid) and 8% of unsaturated fatty acids (mostly linoleic acid), making it ideal skin moisturizer and wrinkle smoothing agent. It is very stable white to pale yellow solid at temperature under 30˚C and transparent clear oil at or above 30˚C. Being stable at room temperature, coconut oil is easy to use and thus often used for natural and organic body butters, creams and lotions. Very easy to saponify, due to high saturated fatty acids content, coconut oil is great for soap production and makes an attractive, nicely scented, if slightly hard, product. Nice balance of fatty content with naturally occurring vitamins A and E, mean coconut oil is a great addition to hair products and makes hair shiny and supple while minimizes hair loss.

In short coconut oil is widely versatile and has many applications in organic and natural bath and beauty care. When looking to add extra dimension to your product for hair, skin or body care, chances are you will want to put your bets on coconut oil. Its bath and beauty benefits are well proven, based on naturally occurring fatty acids and vitamins that give coconut oil significant moisturizing, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-fungal, antibacterial, soothing and rejuvenating properties. No wonder coconut was grinning when met with first humans. It may just be it was a start of wonderful friendship.

For more on coconut oil and products inspired by coconut oil, visit Nina Bella Collection blog and website.