New Website with integrated Blog

Goal accomplished, a fresh web-store with integrated blog. A wonderful way to celebrate my 10th year in business.

If you had an existing account on the retired website it was not carried over. For a clean start please take a moment and open your account on the new site.

In closing, Thank You WordPress for the past several years!

Rebirth of a Logo & Website

In celebration of heading into my 10th year of creating exceptional organic food grade skincare, Gaia Essentials is getting a make-over. Soon you will see a refreshed Logo, as well as a “hand-made from scratch” website. Having fallen in love with their work I have hired Design Womb and Spark Creative to work on this, so keep an eye out for the rebirth of Gaia Essentials! 🙂

In the meantime please feel free to contact me directly for ordering and Farmer Market schedules.

debby@gaia-essentials.com

Studio Hours by appointment so please phone ahead.
650-728-7745
116 La Grande Ave
Moss Beach, CA 94038
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Sea Buckthorn Suncare Cream with Zinc Oxide

After meticulous research I have improved the formula of the popular Zinc Oxide based sun block protection. Sea Buckthorn Suncare Cream with Zinc Oxide. With the addition of Sea Buckthorn Pulp Oil and organic Shea Butter, both these ingredients possess the ability to naturally absorb sun rays. Only the best for my customers!

Zinc Oxide provides a broad-spectrum armor for UVA & UVB rays and, unlike traditional chemical-based sun protection, won’t absorb into the skin and cause irritation. Sea Buckthorn and Shea lend their natural UV absorption abilities to this moisturizing cream and provide other skin benefits as well. Naturally brimming with skin-nurturing vitamins, this light beige cream applies transparent with a matte finish and offers a light, clean aroma. For best coverage, apply over Gaia Essential’s Herbal Facial Lotion and repeat every couple of hours.

Save Money & your Sanity this Year when Shopping

Save money and your sanity when shopping with due diligence and a clear focused head. Marketing hype is at its strongest this time of the year as everyone is hawking their wares and hoping to get you to buy. Large companies pour millions of dollars in advertising, even pay high profile celebrities to say “this (insert product) is on my favorites list”, expecting us to buy into the myth that it adds validity to the marketed product. Celebrities are PAID to endorse products, lots of money in fact.

Last month a very well known celebrity came to our little Farmers Market and purchased quite a few items from my little booth. As I respect the privacy of all my customers, I will not use this fact for advertising purposes. I suppose mentioning it kinda advertises it, however my point is she does not appear to use what she is paid to advertise, but is simply a conscientious consumer who knows to read the actual ingredients and not buy into the hype herself.

I covered briefly the ways we are duped by labeling marketing strategies here:
Deceptive Practices inside Marketing Hype and how we get Duped

Both of these are the most successful of the marketing strategies out there, so they are used the most. Just know the money spent on these strategic ads is usually taken away from actually development and quality of ingredients. Read your labels, think, understand all the hype is put in front of you to entice you to buy. Save money and your sanity. Think for yourself.

The Johnston House Holiday Emporium

The Johnston House Holiday Emporium
November 5, 6, 12, and 13th
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Johnston House Foundation fundraising event of the year is the annual Holiday House. Although funds are raised through grant writing this is the big focus.

This is a great event for touring the wonderful pioneer home of the Johnston family and a great place to shop for holiday gifts. The Holiday Emporium takes place the first two weekends in November each year.

The Holiday Emporium is filled with decorated Christmas trees in every room, wonderful holiday wreaths, gourmet food, hand-crafted jewelry and arts and crafts by many local and regional artists as well as merchandise from Half Moon Bay stores and boutiques.

There is a self-guided tour of the house for visitors to take advantage of as they shop. Signs are posted in each room near the doorway. It’s a wonderful way to learn about this extraordinary house while shopping for holiday gifts.

All proceeds benefit The Johnston House Foundation.

Admission & Parking are free. Park in the lot below the house or on Higgins Purisima Road. A shuttle bus takes attendees from the parking lot to the house and back again, usually with their arms full of presents for the holidays.

The Johnston House is located just south of the City of Half Moon Bay on the east side of Highway 1 at Higgins-Purisima Road. From Highway 101 or Interstate 280 take Highway 92 west to the coast and turn left on Main Street or Highway 1 to approximately 1 mile to Higgins-Purisima.

Personalized Skincare is my Specialty

Over the years of being a Skincare Product Artisan it has become apparent we are all unique. Our skin, which is our first line of defense, is truly our own and we should take care of it accordingly. Not just Dry, Medium or Oily, but know your preference towards your skincare products. Does it flourish better with the nutrition of Shea, or perhaps Cocoa, maybe even Coconut… the list goes on and on.
When creating my formula’s I meticulously research the vitamins, minerals, amino fatty acids & lipids of all the ingredients and combine them accordingly for maximum nourishment. Once the food grade base is established, additional Exotic Oils, Botanical Essential Oils and hand ground Herbs boost the overall effect of the product. My ingredients include some of the most highly beneficial undiluted organic oils available. (Argan, Neem, Emu, Tamanu, Macadamia)

While the current selection of Gaia Essentials products are perfectly effective for most, sometimes you may need a boost that is special just for your skin. Need help with a patch of Psoriasis, Eczema, Rosacea or Skin Tags? We can do that, it is easy to tweak a personalized formula when everything is hand-made from scratch. Consultation is free, just ask, and lets see what we can do.

Effective Natural Botanical Deodorant Cream

You asked for it and here it is. For years the Effective Botanical Deodorant Stick has been making people happy, a handmade Gaia Essential formula that works by killing the bacteria that cause body odor. Following that handmade deodorant recipe and utilizing the same pure Essential Oil combination, this deodorant is now available in an easy to apply cream. The aroma from the essential oils is the same refreshing Citrus Blend with a hint of Basil.

Natural Botanical Deodorant Cream; The Organic Coconut Cream base smooths on gently to apply layers of pure Botanicals with known anti-bacterial properties that keep odors away. This is a handmade natural deodorant, not an antiperspirant. This product contain no aluminum.

Businesses Happily Supporting the Local Economy

Isn’t it wonderful to walk into a local shop and actually find locally made products for sale? Five years ago a friend and I took an afternoon to walk all down our Main St. in search of locally made merchandise and we were sorely disappointed at the choices. Locally made products were far and few between. Most of the inventory was mass manufactured and foreign in origin. Not at all what one looks for when trying to support the local economy.

I revisited those quaint little Main St. Shops a couple weeks ago as well as the new Harbor area Shops and let’s just say the improvement has been slow in developing, why is that? When I go looking for items it is locally made that I search for. At the least, USA produced. When asking the store clerks “What do you have that is locally made” all they could offer were a few pieces of jewelry they claimed were made by a local artisan (they were nice), and in another shop a couple paintings that you would expect to find at an art gallery.

Kudos to the shops that do stock locally made inventory! Take Harbor Books & Gallery for example with the largest selection of locally produced goods I could find, Pottery, Jewelry, Soap, Skincare, Photography, Cards, Art, ect. Thank You Carol.

Also in the Harbor Area the Princeton Maritime Salon offers locally handmade Hair & Skincare Products as well as hand poured Essential Oil Soy Candles.

The Half Moon Bay Inn supports locally produced amenities, from the roasted Coffee to all the Bath Products, Soy Candles & Spritzers. (which they offer for retail in the reception area)

Further down Main St. at the Bamboo Hair & Body Salon, Yasmin stocks locally produced Soap, Lotions & Body Oils made with complex Essential Oil blends that her customers love.

And up the road at Rockaway Beach in Pacifica, you can find locally handmade skincare products for children at Generations.

It is a wonderful thing when local businesses actually offer locally produced products!

A Handmade Pasta & Ravioli Afternoon

First off, this is not a precise recipe, there are lots of those to choose from already available. This is a documented experience 🙂 My husband gave me all the tools as a birthday present and I decided to dive right into making some yummy Portabella Mushroom Ravioli!

I roasted 3 beautiful Portabella’s with a few Shitaki, Oyster and crimini mushrooms and a bulb of garlic tossed on the rack. When done I minced them together with some Ricotta, Mozzarella & seasoning.

Then I proceeded to make the pasta and let it rest.

Next was rolling out the sheets.

Then filling, drying and trimming.

The only thing left…..almost forgot to take the picture.

*rubs tummy*

Where is the wonderful aroma coming from?

This is asked quite often, much to my pleasure. And usually leads to a discussion of scents, aroma’s and fragrances. What causes the wonderful smells? Why do they smell different from time to time? What are the different types of products that produce smells? Are they natural?

There are 3 different base types of aroma’s used widely in skincare production;

Certified Botanical Essential Oils are the purest form for not only aroma, but also taste and activity as they possess a medicinal value. These will vary with season & crop, just like wine does. This explains why the scent of the essential oil can be different per batch. The aroma tends to be more subtle and richly deeper.

Botanical Extracts are a less expensive natural aroma source. However I tend to steer clear from these due to the process and alcohol content they possess. Very drying to skin as confirmed by using products containing them. You are able to taste the actual extracted plant (think vanilla extract).

Synthetic Fragrances are just that, lab made smells. Sharper with no depth, aggressive to the point of some being offensive. No taste or medicinal value from them, therefore I do not use them.

Due to the demand for purer ingredients and to counter the cost of them, suppliers offer a combination of essential oils and synthetics so that producers can advertise that they use essential oils for marketing purposes. I find this shamefully deceptive. To avoid these products look for a 100% pure essential oil disclaimer seal. The word “fragrance” in the ingredient deck is another clue that it is synthetic in source.