JANSSEN Cosmeceutical Treatments integrates a new generation of herbal and marine extracts along with bio-technological ingredients to provide innovative skin care products to a diverse community of estheticians and consumers. The COSMECEUTICAL approach combines pharmaceutical and therapeutic elements in an environmentally safe way to care for the skin without harming the natural balance and protection provided by the body

 

Once upon a time… baby products were full of harmful ingredients,
and unfortunately, many still are… not a fairy tale for bath time.

For decades, the formulating industry quite simply didn’t conduct
the research necessary to find and remove harmful ingredients
from baby care products - the technology wasn’t there.

Not only has the industry now mastered the capability of formulating
natural, healthy products, but can now do so observing
environmentally conscious practices as well. Hooray 2009!

You can now provide better skin care for your child,
while ensuring a better world for their future.
Parents know best… Tiny Pores!

Tiny Pores Baby Body Products are made with the total health of your child in mind.  Our products are pure, simple, and most importantly – healthy!

 We are proud to be a “green” company, creating safe and nourishing products for your baby while remaining environmentally responsible for a better earth in the future.   

Our products are certified vegan, paraben free, phthalate free, never tested on animals, free of synthetic fragrances, and are 100% in compliance with Proposition 65.  And best of all, they are created in America in a solar/wind powered facility. 

Better Products - Better Business Practices - Better World!

 

 

When Avonelle Edwards, of Southwest Florida, was a young girl, she used baby oil as a suntan oil. She was always health conscious, so when she first became aware of the need for sunscreens, she would always read the label. She didn’t like what she saw. It felt like choosing the “lessor evil”. Did she want damage from the sun or from the chemicals? Now she was on a mission to come up with a sunscreen that didn’t contain any potentially dangerous chemicals.
In 1976 Avonelle came upon a homemade suntan oil on the beach of Acapulco, Mexico. She loved how she tanned darker than ever before, but never sunburned. Within a few days her skin was moist and dewy with the most beautiful golden tan she had ever had. Avonelle took the suntan oil home to Florida in an old mason jar. With the oil almost gone and no way to get more, she began analyzing it. After six months of testing, she came up with a suntan oil that was chemical free. She made it in her kitchen for her own use and to give to friends and family members.

When she became a widow in 1996, Avonelle found herself with nothing to do and asked her son for advice. He said, “Mom, why don’t you put your suntan oil on the market? Everything out there is full of chemicals. It’s time for an all natural suntan oil.” She listened and so Mexitan was born.

Mexitan suntan oil went on the market in 1997 in Naples, Florida to a “sold out” crowd. Everyone loved it and back orders piled up. Mexitan has continued to be a best seller in Southwest Florida. Eventually the product line has expanded, including the first all natural sunscreens without any harsh chemicals (now available in SPF 8, 15, 30, and 50). Avonelle, in addition to developing the Mexitan suncare formulas, used her artistic talents to paint the watercolor artwork used on Mexitan product labels, such as the above lady on the beach.

Realizing that consumers everywhere are in need of Mexitan’s products, but not desiring to grow the business further herself, Avonelle sold the product line to Ron and Sandra Kleier, owners of Mexitan Products, Inc., in August of 2004. She continues to be an enthusiastic supporter and valuable advisor for the growing Mexitan business. Ron and Sandra are excited to bring their years of retail, marketing, and healthcare experience to Mexitan Products, Inc., and are now accepting additional retailers for Mexitan’s unique and demanded products, including Skedattle deet-free mosquito repellent and Tropical Sands branded products.

The Beauty in a Cup of Tea

image by kanko*

I love drinking tea and have been drinking more of it than ever over the last few months, ever since I learned that it can do wonderful things for my skin. I’ve learned that most teas are a great source of antioxidants and are a tasty way to stay hydrated and flush out toxins from the body. I also discovered two lines of tea, Teavana and Sipping Beauty, that are so much more delicious than teas I had been drinking, because they make more interesting blends and the quality is better. They might even have more beauty benefits (although I can’t say for sure).

In light of what I’ve learned, I’ve got a beauty guide to tea for you with info about the beauty benefits, ways to use it directly on the skin, tips for making an excellent cup of tea, why loose leaf tea is so much better than tea in bags, and recommended teas. Even though the weather is getting warmer, take time for tea. Whether you drink it hot or ice cold, your skin will thank you.

Beauty Benefits

What we put into our body is reflected in how we look and feel.

Antioxidants

Teas generally contain lots of antioxidants, which are very good for the skin, says Dr. Christine Gonzalez, who is a health coach and integrative pharmacist. Antioxidants help prevent the aged appearance of skin that’s caused by environmental stress from things like the sun’s rays, cigarette smoke, and pollution. Studies have also shown that antioxidants may protect us from cancer, infections, toxins, and cardiovascular damage. (Teavana Kuki Matcha Green Tea shown at left.)

Green, white, black, and rooibos teas, and herbal infusions are all rich in antioxidants. Christine says that green and black teas have about eight to ten times the amount of antioxidants found in fruits and veggies. Green tea has more antioxidants than black. Rooibos has more than green. White tea has the most, because it’s the least processed, youngest tea. Personally, I don’t like caffeine so I prefer green and white teas, which both have much less caffeine than black tea, and rooibos (also known as red or red bush tea), which is naturally caffeine-free and still has lots of flavor.

Hydration

Drink up! Staying hydrated can ward off under eye circles, reduce puffiness and bloating, make eyes look brighter, and help keep skin smooth, elastic, and less prone to blemishes. Teas with no caffeine, like herbal infusions and rooibos, are hydrating and count toward those recommended eight eight-ounce glasses of water to drink each day. Like water, they flush out toxins, and improve circulation and blood flow.

However, teas with lots of caffeine, like black teas, are diuretic. That means they actually dehydrate the body so you need to drink even more water or caffeine-free tea to compensate. Black tea can have as much or more caffeine than coffee or a cola. There’s some debate about whether green and white teas are hydrating, because they contain caffeine but much less caffeine than black teas. White tea has about one percent of the caffeine in a cup of coffee. Green has about five to ten percent. (Teavana Frutto Bianco Pearls White Tea shown at left.)

Tea on the Skin

Teas can also beautify when applied directly on the skin.

• Rooibos can be used as an all-over toner, and especially around the eyes, to reduce puffiness and redness. Green tea can also be used as a refreshing toner. These are best made in small batches and refrigerated.
• Cool bags of teas with caffeine make good eye compresses. The caffeine in them reduce puffiness and under eye circles.
• You can also slather yourself with tea by using some of the many great skin care products that are made with tea. Eco-friendly JUARA incorporates tea into many of their products. Some of my favorites include the Tiare Jasmine Tea Body Milk (a light-yet-rich lotion that’s made with white, black, and green tea extracts, and smells amaaaazing) and Sweet Black Tea Lip Treatment (a lightly moisturizing treatment that doubles as a lip primer).

An Excellent Cup of Tea

The way tea tastes can vary a lot due to the quality of the tea and how it’s made. Here’s how to avoid making a bitter tasting cup of tea…

• The Tea. Start with a high-quality tea. While tea bags are convenient, loose leaf tea has the best taste. The tea in tea bags are essentially the dregs that fall to the bottom when sorting higher quality, loose leaf tea. See below for more about loose leaf tea vs. tea bags.
• The Water. Resident tea expert at Teavana Cassandra Kimbler says it’s important to start with good water. She says freshly drawn, filtered cold water or spring water are best.
• Temperature. Don’t overboil your water. She says that strips water of oxygen and thus produces a flat tasting tea. She recommends removing your kettle from the heat once it comes to a boil or slightly before.
• Brew Time. She says a common mistake in brewing tea is that most people don’t pay enough attention to how long they brew their tea or realize how much it affects the flavor. Green and white teas, which only need to be steeped for a minute or two, can taste “off” when steeped too long. If you want a stronger tea, use more tea instead of brewing it longer. Definitely keep a timer on hand to avoid overbrewing. I really like that Teavana provides brew times with their teas.
• Don’t Stir the Pot. Stirring tea while it steeps tends to produce bitter tasting tea.
• The Right Tools. I highly recommend the Teavana Perfect Tea Maker, which makes it very easy to make a very good cup of tea. Just drop in the tea leaves, steep, set it on top of a mug, and then the tea drains down without a single leaf falling through. Check out this to see how it works. It’s quite cool.

Loose Leaf Tea vs. Tea Bags

As I mentioned above, tea bags are convenient. But the quality of the tea is inferior to loose leaf teas for many reasons. Cassandra informed me that the tea in tea bags are what’s called “dust.” It’s the waste that falls from mesh screens when sorting loose leaf tea. Sometimes the dust is from lower quality tea to begin with. The paper used for the bag can also interfere with the flavor of a tea.

Most bag teas contain leaves that are broken into small pieces, which exposes them to more air and causes them to go stale faster and lose flavor. She says that the small size of a bag doesn’t allow the leaves to diffuse and steep properly. If you really want the convenience of a bag, she recommends popping some of your favorite loose leaf tea into empty teabags, which you can buy from places like TeaVana and health food stores.

Recommended Teas

Some of the best tasting teas I’ve had are those from Teavana and Sipping Beauty.

Teavana

Teavana makes a seemingly endless array of flavorful teas. They blend wonderful ingredients that have many health and beauty benefits. I like that many of the teas contain fruit, like the Imperial Acai Blueberry White Tea, which contains blueberries, acai, and black currant, and Fruta Bomba, which is a blend of green and rooibos teas with rope papaya and pieces of peach. I also adore the spicy blends like Haute Chocolate, which is red Rooibos tea with cinnamon, cardamon, ginger, and cocoa. They’re some of the most unique blends I’ve ever tried. The company also donates one percent of their profits each year to CARE, a group that provides funds to projects that benefit the people of the countries where the teas are grown.

Sipping Beauty

Sipping Beauty only has six teas; but they’re all beauty oriented. Their antioxidant-rich Forever Young is a yummy blend of organic red bush (rooibos) tea, cocoa, vanilla, peppermint leaves and flowers. I also love Multi Beautimin, which is supposed to boost your daily vitamin C with ingredients like strawberries, kiwis, apple pulp, rose hip fruit, and hibiscus flowers. They also have teas designed to detox, help you lose weight, and sleep better (though not all at the same time).

 

Courtesy of : THE COVETED