Bringing midwestern natural beauty to NYC

I'm a city girl by nature. Now there's an oxymoron! But it is true. I love the beat of urban environments, but I also love my natural world. When I have a chance to merge those two interests it's even better.


I was all about the chance to visit New York City to speak to members of the media about my Blissoma skincare line - made from local Midwestern and global botanicals! Nature, meet the big city....

It was a short trip but a busy one. I cruised like any NYC pedestrian, enjoying the efficiency of the subway and my own bipedal skills. I wandered the parks, popped in boutiques, and bought Indian food from a hole-in-the-wall on 3rd Ave.



The big event was on Tuesday night at Rouge Tomate, a trendy eco-restaurant in Midtown just a few blocks off of Central Park. It was a stylish soiree and editors from major national publications were in attendance to see 40 of the country's premiere eco-luxury brands and learn about their offerings for fall 2009. I represented some of the forward-thinking ideas we are generating in the heartland. St. Louis may be smaller, but we have some pretty hip stuff happening these days...


Editors from Brides, Zink, More Magazine and many blogs and newspapers stopped to learn about Blissoma. I saw eco fashion designers, eco art, and sampled sustainable cuisine. What a night!

I had the pleasure of meeting Allyson Shapiro Zarin, daughter of Jill Zarin of "Real Housewives of New York City". She is the Co-President of Teens Turning Green and offered us the chance to participate in some of their pre-prom parties. Teens Turning Green is a safe and sustainable cosmetic line designed for Whole Foods Market and aimed at young women to replace many of the more synthetic options available through conventional retailers.

I also met Allison Parris, owner of the Allison Parris eco clothing line and she asked us to participate with her fashion shows backstage. Allison was wearing a gorgeous silk skirt from her own line. Their clothing is is smooth, sexy, and sophisticated. I'm looking forward to working with them.

The next day I dropped samples off at C.O. Bigelow, the 168 year old apothecary in New York's West Village. Their team was friendly and we are hoping to work with them in the future. They already carry lines like Hauschka, Pangea Organics, Tsi La perfumes, This Works, Weleda, and many more unique and niche brands. Hopefully you will want to be able to find Blissoma there as well.

It was a whirlwind trip. Just 2 1/2 days to take it all in! But you know I'll be back for more. For now I 've got to be here holding down the fort, making more skincare, and sharing with you.

That's all for this Friday evening. Have a beautiful fall weekend everyone!

Blissoma SOLUTIONS natural skincare is hitting shelves around the USA

Have you been looking for Blissoma SOLUTIONS on shelves near you?

This is a current store list near you that are carrying the new SOLUTIONS natural skincare line. For raw, effective, bio conscious skincare with ingredients you can believe in there is just nothing like it.

Independent stores:
The Body Lounge - Stowe, VT
Community Pharmacy - Madison, WI
Clover's Natural Market - Columbia, MO (Deodorants only right now)
Jackson Whole Grocer - Jackson Hole, WY (Awake and Amend)
Local Harvest Grocery - St. Louis, MO

Online Retailers:
Internatural
Organic Gurus

Whole Foods Markets in the Midwest region:
St. Louis area
Brentwood, MO
Town and Country, MO

Chicago area
Cicero/Sauganash, IL
Evanston North, IL
Hinsdale, IL
Naperville, IL
North Halsted, IL
Palatine, IL
Willowbrook, IL

If there is a store near you that you want to carry our items just let us know, or tell the store buyers you want Blissoma. We are working hard to make our line available to you at the locations you shop the most. Thanks for supporting our retailers, and our line. Happy Friday!

Splendicity's "Pretty by Nature" endorses Blissoma natural skincare

Our Blissoma skincare collection got a nice review on Splendicity's "Pretty by Nature" blog from writer Michelle Smith.

She loved the results and the fresh smells of our products. Read the full article!

I'll be heading to New York City next week for a special Eco Luxury press event to speak to writers from publications like IdealBite, Lucky, O Magazine, People, Self and many others. You never know, you might just be seeing our line in their pages soon.

I'm looking forward to laying eyes on the big city and bringing something fresh and raw from the Midwest to the inhabitants of NYC. Once again we are proving that not everything trendsetting has to come from the coasts...

Whole, local harvest for your face and body

The Midwest has had a ridiculously mild summer. St. Louis is usually a sweaty, humid mess by the time June rolls around but this year we had week after week of mild, breezy weather. By late July I was really starting to think I was in the Twilight Zone. With temperatures only barely topping 80 degrees it was getting a little freaky.

Not that I'm not thankful for the break in the air conditioning bills, but the weather has effects on many things. One of those things is the growth of local crops. Because of the mild weather many crops didn't mature as fast as usual.

Summer is usually filled with fresh produce coming from all directions, but I definitely began to notice the squeeze when we began calling around for Organic Cucumbers. Our main wholesale supplier was (and still seems to be) out for a month and a half. Not that there weren't any tasty organic cukes in the bigger natural grocery stores. But perhaps there wasn't enough supply to then filter some over to the little guys.

Once the shortage continued for weeks on end I started calling around to local growers. With the fact that St. Louis has a good, solid, cold winter there are many months where we can't buy local - there just isn't anything available. Plus many of our local farms are not Certified Organic as they don't want to mess with the paperwork. They may be growing cleanly but without the certification we can't buy from them and honestly support the claims on our labels.

After a few calls I was able to locate Biver Farms, a lovely certified organic farm in Edwardsville, IL just 20 minutes from us. The first week I called in mid August there were still no slicing cucumbers available. So we waited on pins and needles.

Last week, hallelujah, the harvest is in! I picked up 100 pounds of fresh, beautiful, locally grown organic cucumbers from their booth at the Tower Grove Farmer's Market. The weather was heavenly again and the veggies were plentiful at all the booths - in fact I had trouble not walking home with bushels of other produce as well.

Now we are cleaning, peeling, and slicing our local cukes to make them into the fresh infusion for our Tone Intense Hydration Tonique and juicing them for our Natural Deodorant sprays. And here are the pics to prove it. Gorgeous, green, and great for your skin!

Not many companies are willing to go this kind of distance to offer true botanical benefit in their products. Most companies buy preprocessed ingredients from giant suppliers who load them down with preservatives, propylene glycol, carbomer, and dimethicone. Not Blissoma. We prefer to put in the bit of extra work to ensure that you aren't getting anything but clean, raw, nutritious plants in our products. Sure, it makes our supply chain work a bit trickier. Sure, I stand for hours on end slicing, peeling, and straining. But our integrity is worth it, and so is your skin.

So, for all you Locavores it doesn't get any better than this. Get your Blissoma crisp off the vine, cause it is!

Making Amends with your Sun-Damaged skin

By this point in the summer many of us have had our fair share of sun exposure. After all, we've had a solid 3 months of frolic out of doors. Day by day that sun builds up on any exposed skin, even if you aren't big on tanning.

Even for a relatively pale person and sunscreen junky I have a little color on my arms and face from the hours I have spent out in the backyard. Some of this summer's activities for me have included stripping and refinishing my bathroom door and one of my 100+ year old windows. All the paint removal and sanding was done outdoors to prevent mess and contamination of the house. Some of those days out on the parking pad were hot, hot, hot and directly in the sun for the whole day! Despite use of sunscreen of 30 and higher I still have the telltale freckles and peachy color that are my body's version of a tan.

Though you may not be in situations of extreme exposure like that sun damage can build up gradually just from walking to and from your car or other brief activities like that. Anything counts. Your skin doesn't play, and UV exposure is UV exposure no matter how you slice it.

If you value your skin (and it is your largest organ!) you should be taking pro-active measures to keep your skin in top condition. Over time that UV exposure will cause the elastin in your skin to degrade, causing loss of firmness and wrinkling. Discoloration and uneven pigmentation is another long term result of overexposure. The big C (cancer) can result as well.

On a trip to Colorado earlier this year I was informed by several estheticians in the area that the incidence of skin cancer is very high among residents in their area of the country due to the outdoor lifestyle and higher elevations. Thinner air and close proximity to the sun means increased exposure.

Sunscreen is not the only way to help skin protect itself. Antioxidants play a key role in keeping skin healthy much as they do the same internally. In particular an extract from Pomegranate containing a fraction known as Punicalagins helps protect cells against UV damage and degradation. This extract was previously used internally, but now is available as an external application. The science-backed research proving it's ability to decrease UV induced cell death, reactive oxygen species, and collagenases that cause collagen deterioration is the reason Blissoma has chosen to include this extract in a new antioxidant sprayable lotion called Amend.

Amend is a super lightweight, intensive body treatment designed to prevent, soothe, and repair sun damage. It not only contains Pomegranate but a host of other antioxidant ingredients like organic Rooibos tea and Acai oil, plus soothing and reparative herbs like organic Linden flower, Heather flowers, and Comfrey. All these help build and repair collagen as well as minimizing long-term damage from daily or intense exposure. It can be applied before sunscreen because of it's non-greasy consistency. It has a fresh, delicious smell beloved by men, women, and children alike. Should you get a little pink it takes the sting right out and can be applied as often as desired while healing. And yes, it contains organic Aloe as well, so all the bases are covered.

The ingredients list is cleaner than most plain aloe gels. No green color, no carbomer, no TEA, and no synthetic preservatives. I'm pretty picky about what goes on my skin and yours.

There is no time like the present to start taking care of your skin. Just because it's August doesn't mean it is too late, lazybones! Get some Amend and feel the heal. When your arms are looking cute in 20 years you'll thank yourself for the bit of extra care you took now.

Forget the fashion police - synthetic perfume could get you sued...

A friend forwarded this article from the Denver Post to me the other day.

Judge allows civil suit over co-worker's perfume

Honestly to me this isn't any huge surprise. I've been a victim of olfactory assault - most notably on a recent visit to San Francisco when someone on the BART had overdone their scent so viciously that I could smell it half the train away. Like smoking, perfume is something that you can't contain, making it a matter of public concern as well as private.

Read the rest of this entry on the Green Home Huddle website.

Urban Rebirth

Like many others, I'm hoping to win funding through the Google 10 to the 100th contest. Check out my extremely abbreviated video supplement to the application.



If you want to hear my full plan drop me a line.