It’s a Happy Day!

Supergoop! is a Safe Cosmetics “Champion”!

Our friends at the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics just released their new report, “Market Shift” and (drumroll please!), Supergoop! is on the short list of Champions highlighting industry leaders!

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics report, Market Shift describes the seven-year project during which the Campaign worked with over 1,500 companies through the Compact for Safe Cosmetics.  Market Shift congratulates and highlights those 335 Champion companies that met the goals of the Compact by avoiding harmful chemicals and fully disclosing product ingredients to lead the industry toward safety, showing it’s possible to make products without using hazardous chemicals that are all too common in personal care products.

Posted on November 29, 2011 4:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (View)
Prepare your skin for the holidays with Supergoop!
Posted on November 29, 2011 2:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (View)
We’re on GOOP.com! Supergoop! is featured on Gwyneth Paltrows blog with her favorite summer items to prepare for the beach.  Click here to read more!

We’re on GOOP.com!

Supergoop! is featured on Gwyneth Paltrows blog with her favorite summer items to prepare for the beach.  Click here to read more!

Posted on November 29, 2011 2:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (View)
It’s Your Skin…

With all of the extra time being spent outdoors this time of year, we wanted to take a minute to share an important, and inspiring story about one of our near and dear UV Sun Specialists, Elizabeth Seago.

Elizabeth and her 16-year old daughter Kate are both redheads with fair skin, which means they must always be especially vigilant when it comes to UV protection.  But Elizabeth wasn’t always this way. The cumulative effects of years of sun exposure (sans Supergoop!), and the occasional tanning bed use (if she only knew then what we all know now!) finally caught up with her, and last month she sent us a very scary text: “It’s Melanoma”.  Thankfully, Elizabeth and her doctor found the melanoma in time—and today she is even more dedicated to sharing the Supergoop! sun safety mantra as it is her personal one as well.  

Kate has been fortunate that the importance of using sunscreen at an early age has always been a priority in her family.  As an international model recently featured in Vogue Magazine, Kate has a beautiful, milky white complexion completely free of freckles.  And, using sunscreen every day, no matter what, has become a way of life for her just like brushing her teeth.  Kate applies, reapplies, and then reapplies again so that she will be much less likely to experience sun damage, and therefore less likely to have the same melanoma scare as her mother.

With this story, I challenge you to become even more vigilant about using your Supergoop! every day, no matter what your skin tone or your daily activity, and to refresh and reapply often.  As much as relaxing your mind AND body is a part of any summer break, you should never take a vacation from being smart (and super safe) in the sun! 

Posted on July 27, 2011 5:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (View)
Songs of Summer

Can you believe it’s already the Fourth of July? Last time I checked, I was writing about the necessity of sunscreen in the dark weeks of winter, and now here we are, smack dab in the middle of summer.

As we all know, the heat can have interesting and not altogether pleasant effects on a person:  The need for ice cream, day and night.  And the overwhelming desire to listen to, at top volume, whatever “song of summer” currently is playing in heavy rotation (my vote for the season: “Meyrin Fields” by Broken Bells exclusively via, Pandora which blissfully allows me to listen to this song, ad nauseam, in every room of my house and control it all through my iPhone. Sheer genius, I tell you.).

The summer heat—and more specifically, the sun—has a much more profound effect on me: I become a broken record. As you know, I bang my drum for protection in the face of the sun all year long, but it really kicks into high gear post Memorial Day. And with the Fourth right around the corner, and the outdoor activity about to ramp up, you can bet that my husband, my kids, and even our family black lab is going to be running for cover from my UV-rant. And it doesn’t only have to do with the heat: My biggest struggle right now as Supergoop! continues to grow by leaps and bounds is my inability to turn off the aforementioned suncare-a-thon to allow for all of the other life experiences to go deeper than the epidermis. All this makes for an extremely boring friend, wife, and mother when a well-educated woman physically cannot find anything else to talk about outside of that one thing (whether it’s sunscreen or your kids or your golf game) that she considers herself pretty good at. Sometimes, I even bore myself with all of the nattering.

And, of course, this is the place where I could go on about how excessive exposure to the sun not only causes wrinkles but also increases your risk for developing skin cancer. And I could remind you that prevention is as simple as adding a single step to your morning routine (moisturizer first, followed by sunscreen, and then, if you’re so inclined, your makeup). Instead: I am challenging myself and you, to take the initiative to dampen the constant verbal stream of consciousness and to allow yourself to experience, learn, evolve a little bit more, and at the risk of sounding like a complete dork, commit to a small change that will make all of us a more exciting, more interesting person. If that means going on a hike with your brother instead of answering your emails, or taking that cell phone–free vacation with your family, or making a pact with yourself to do one thing to make you a healthier, better you (daily sun protection, perhaps?), then stop procrastinating and just do it. And don’t think I would just give you these marching orders and abandon you: I’d like to hear what your chosen summer experience is, and start a conversation, so write me at holly@supergoop.com. I’ll be happy to hear that I inspired even one person, aside from myself, to change things up in their lives.

Trust me when I say that turning off the chatter to turn on your whole mind and body will make us all better friends, better wives, better mothers, and more interesting human beings. You’ll thank me for it, I promise.  :)

Posted on June 28, 2011 9:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (View)
311 on Suncare for Kids

With spring finally upon us, it seems that everyone I’ve met during my recent travels for Supergoop! is more than ready for the warm, sunny weather ahead! While talking about safe family suncare at the Nordstrom Spring Trend Show in Dallas last month, I was asked how I get my own children as excited about using sunscreen as they are about playing outside in short sleeves. The answer I gave was that, in my house, we have been having conversations about safe suncare since my kids were old enough to talk. 

I admit that, as the creator of Supergoop! I probably talk more about UV protection than the average person—and have put terms like methylparaben and propylene glycol on my list of bad words. However, I always take the time to explain to my son and daughter how important it is to be mindful of taking good care of their skin every day. It is typical for kids to get 50 to 80 percent of their lifetime sun exposure before the age of 18, so these are critical years. 

When putting the basics of sun protection into language that’s meaningful for kids, I find that it’s helpful to share some fun facts: 

  • Skin is the body’s largest organ, which protects us against germs and keeps us healthy
  • The sun produces invisible ultraviolet rays that travel all the way down to the Earth (which sounds like science fiction, to my son’s delight!)
  • UV rays can hurt the skin by causing sunburn and creating wrinkles like on Mommy’s face (I explain that when I was little, we just didn’t know how damaging the sun was, so I have sun damage wrinkles that won’t ever go away.

So, with my mini 311 on suncare for kids, I hope you’ll start talking more regularly to your own children about applying—or maybe pretending to paint on— Supergoop! each day.   As we all enjoy spending more time outdoors this spring, knowing our kids understand the importance of sun protection makes enjoying the sunshine that much better.


Posted on April 7, 2011 5:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (View)
2011… New Products to Indulge In

And a happy new year to you! Sure, we may be a couple of weeks late ringing in 2011, but when I say we’ve been busy over here at the Supergoop! offices, it’s the understatement of the new year. In addition to creating a whole slate of new Supergoop! products for you to indulge in, I’ve been really preoccupied making my resolutions: Take a spin class. Try a cleanse diet. Wake up earlier every day, watch all 10 of the movies nominated for Oscars this year. Organize the music on my iPod. Make a home-cooked meal for my family—once a month.

While some of these declarations may seem overly optimistic (what mother of two do you know has the time to watch 10 movies?), there is one resolution I made long ago that I diligently keep every day of every year: The practice of safe sun protection for the entire family. And now Supergoop! is making it oh-so easy for you to add healthy, sun-centric skincare to your list of resolutions, too.

With a bevy of new products that bring innovative SPF to the market just in time for the spring-summer season—like the Save Face Collection, which launches at Nordstrom stores nationwide this week.  Our new sunscreen serum technology is first to permeate the U.S. market to deliver a superior, new UV-protective light-as-a-feather formula while allowing for the natural production of vitamin D in the skin at the same time.   If you’ve not experienced Supergoop! before, stop by any one of the Nordstrom or SEPHORA stores nationwide for our big 2011 launch events where we’ll unveil all sorts of fun, products, and surprises. Or, check us out on Facebook and enter to win our weekly giveaways.

So, consider Supergoop! your inspiration to keep at least one of your resolutions this year … and make this season (and the next) safe in the face of the sun.

Holly

Posted on January 31, 2011 4:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (View)
Putting Your Best Face Forward

By Elizabeth Seago, Guest blogger, UV Sun Specialist and F.O.S. (friend of Supergoop!), Seattle, WA

I love dressing up for the holidays. I have practically made an art form of constructing the perfect cocktail party ensemble. And now that I’ve been listening to my own advice and following a healthy winter-skincare routine, it’s time to look long and hard at my makeup routine. And naturally, I’m going to share this knowledge with you.

It goes without saying that the key is to start with a clean face and apply a lightweight layer of UV protection that protects from both UVA and UVB rays. (Just a tip: This does not mean a tinted moisturizer, which more times than not only protects your face from UVB rays.) I love Supergoop!’s ultra-light Save Face Serum which accelerates the skin’s UV repair mechanism while protecting it from UV-induced oxidation and simultaneously moisturizing to strengthen the skin’s natural barrier. It’s a three-for-one product that is the perfect first step.

Next, it’s time to leave the sanctity of your bathroom mirror and head to your local beauty store or makeup counter. Ask one of the experts to help you pick out the right type of foundation for your face; this can be a tinted moisturizer or a creamy, more traditional foundation. The most important thing is to make sure that the tone is correct so that your face looks natural—and not like you got stuck in a tanning bed for too long or, conversely, are auditioning for the next Twilight movie. I took an informal poll and Nars Sheer Matte Foundation seems to be a favorite. If you’d like to weigh in, we would love to hear what your preferred method of coverage is.

Once you’ve got your foundation in hand, it’s important to know where to put it … and that doesn’t mean all over your face. We want a flawless canvas, not one that looks too made up. One of the best makeup tricks I picked up in my travels as a model was to touch up the under-eye area. Use your third finger and pat on foundation for a natural blend that will make your eyes pop. Then you can move onto your touching up around your nose and upper cheek area or anywhere you might have blemishes or redness.

And it bears repeating that if you haven’t properly exfoliated, moisturized, and protected, your lovely new makeup will just sit on top of your skin, making you look like one of those deliciously cakey holiday sugar cookies (good to eat but not to wear). Need a refresher course? Then take a look at our blog on Saving Face during the winter months.

Posted on December 28, 2010 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (View)
The Eyes Have It: Mastering Mascara

By Elizabeth Sykes, Guest blogger, UV Sun Specialist and F.O.S. (friend of Supergoop!), Seattle, WA

Is there anything that makes a girl quite so happy, your entire makeup regimen feel quite as complete, as a mind-blowing mascara? I think not … and I would know since I spent most of my past modeling life trying on every, single mascara on the market. And I’m pleased to say that it’s finally time to toss those has-been mascaras as I have stumbled on what is perhaps the most fabulous, dare I say perfect, solution to my mascara predicament: J’Adore DIORSHOW and BLACKOUT Mascaras. I absolutely j’adore them (ha ha). Yes, I said “them,” since I am currently using two of them at the same time—and you should be, too.

Despite the fact that it’s a veritable miracle I’ve found such an outrageously ideal mascara, the stuff is useless unless you know how to use it. Thus, the one thing now standing in the way of you and long, gorgeous lashes: Your own two hands. But, no worries, applying mascara is simple, if you know what you’re doing—and the more you do it, the better you’ll get:

- First, choose two mascaras: one that will add volume to your lashes and a second that will make them very black (this is the secret to making eye color pop).

- When applying your mascara, never rush. Yes, patience is a virtue when it comes to mascara application and it can be the most difficult part, but it’s important to take your time between coats or you you’ll end up looking like one of those creepy harlequin clowns instead of a runway model.

- Next, put your chin down and look down with your eyes as you apply the volume mascara first, carefully pulling your lashes up with the mascara wand while your chin faces down. This allows for an even distribution of the mascara.

- Alternate coats until you get the thickness you desire (personally, I recommend repeating three to four times on each eye).

- Then follow suit with the very black mascara. Repeat the same steps as above. Then look at yourself in the mirror and marvel at your mad mascara skills. You’re welcome.

Posted on December 21, 2010 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (View)
Saving Face: Beating the Winter Skin Blahs

By Elizabeth Sykes, Guest blogger, UV Sun Specialist and F.O.S. (friend of Supergoop!), Seattle, WA

My first blog post as an “official” F.O.S. (Friend of Supergoop!, of course). What better way to kick things off than with a little sit-down on winter skin—also known as “the bane of my existence.”

 There is nothing worse than the blasting heat, the drier-than-the-driest-martini air, and the cuts-like-a-knife cold does to the skin? The redness, the tightness, the flakes … it’s enough to make a person want to move to a warmer (and damper) locale. And of course, let’s not forget that we are about to fa-la-la our way into the holiday-party season, and we really need to have our skin cooperate with us.

That said it’s crucial to create a new routine for the chillier months ahead to keep skin looking fresh and gorgeous (and by the time the first buds appear on the trees, I’ll have some great warm-weather tips for saving face, too). And don’t even think about skipping a step because your skin is extra vulnerable when you start exfoliating. A photo-stable, SPF 30+ daily lotion that protects from UVA and UVB rays, free radicals, and environmental damage is a must.

Tips for the A.M.

 -While in the shower, don’t forget to exfoliate with a loofah or something that stimulates the skin. Stimulating or very slightly injuring the skin (yes, that’s what you do when you exfoliate) boosts collagen production. It also allows whatever product you’ve chosen to put on your face and body to better absorb into the deeper layers of the skin.

 -After showering, while your skin is still wet, apply a moisturizer to your body that will lock in the water, in such as jojoba essential oil which is available at most health food stores.

-Ditto with your face: Always apply a generous layer of moisturizer with UV protection like my personal favorite, Supergoop! SPF 30+ Everyday UV lotion, which contains vitamin E and protects from free radicals triggered by sunlight, tobacco smoke, and smog. It also contains the super-charged antioxidant blueberry extract, which helps prevent and repair oxidative damage while assisting in boosting the regenerative power of the skin’s cells to improve your skin’s overall smoothness, wrinkles, texture, and  elasticity without leaving any heavy residue.

-And never neglect your lips: Always put an SPF balm on before leaving the house and be sure to carry one in your bag while you’re out and about. The new Supergoop! SPF 30+ UVA/UVB AcaiFusion and MintFusion lip balms (in stores this January!) provide a unique, high SPF 30 lip balm solution to protect against broad-spectrum UV rays in a super-antioxidant and regenerative formulation. And with the added benefit of shea butter and the power of super berry acai and cooking spearmint leaf oil, respectively, lips are guaranteed to smack.

Tips for the P.M.

-In the evening, after washing your face with your favorite cleanser, always apply either an over-the-counter lotion with AHA to help rid the dry skin on the topmost layer of your face so you can prepare your skin for soaking up the moisture and UV protection in the morning.  

-Another tip I highly recommend is regularly applying a Retin-A at night. It’s a wonderful way to combat fine lines and sunspots. Just ask your you dermatologist during your next appointment (maybe your six-month mole check … hint hint) and find out what level is right for you.

Posted on December 14, 2010 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (View)
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