A few of my favorite things

Here are some of my favorite things that inspired/entertained me last week.

Kelly Wearstlers Hollywood Home

Photos from Kelly Wearstler’s home: As an Interior Design major, I am always looking for inspiration and new ideas for my apartment.  I loved this article from one of my favorite sites, Apartment Therapy, on Vogue’s recent photos with LA-based designer, Kelly Wearstler.  The photos take you inside Kelly’s Hollywood mansion, a residence she saved from being demolished, instead redecorating it in an eclectic mix of styles.

Calling Cards from Saddle Stitch Studio: Have you ever run into someone and wanted to exchange numbers but didn’t have a pen and paper? While browsing Etsy this week (a site of all things handmade), I found an old-fashioned solution: calling cards. The Scalloped Ruffles calling cards by Saddle Stitch Studio are so chic and modern.  They 100% custom to fit you and your personality!

My guilty pleasure, Glee: Every Wednesday at 9pm I tune in to Glee, a quirky series that follows high school Spanish teacher, Will Schuester, and his attempts to save McKinley High’s Glee Club from obscurity. This week has to be my favorite episode by far especially with the Glee cast’s rendition of “Sweet Caroline.”

Americana at Brand: Thursday, I spent the night under the stars at The Americana at Brand, in Glendale, CA.  We enjoyed the cooler fall weather, the USC Pep Rally, dining at Katsuya, a trolley ride, and the sounds of the Trojan Marching Band. I like stopping by after a day of work or school.

Til next time, have a great week!

Yes, we’re into our goat milk soaps!  But the Chivas team is a multi-faceted bunch, finding inspiration in everything from gardening to design to green living.  We’re taking turns each week sharing what’s inspired us of late.  This latest post was written by our intern, Erica Trujillo.

NewBeauty’s feature on our Mother & Daughter Beauty Experts

Donna and Lauren were interviewed for the national magazine NewBeauty for a feature on mother-daughter beauty experts.  In the feature, they discuss their dream beauty product, why creating an all-natural product is important to them, and the best beauty advice Donna’s mother gave her. We’re  honored to be amongst fellow mother-daughter teams from Face Stockholm, La Bella Donna, and Sjal Skincare.

Click the image below to view the article or scroll down to read the article transcription.

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Article Transcription

• If you could create one dream product that doesn’t currently exist, what would it be?

DONNA: A skin creme to cure skin cancer.

LAUREN: My skin is very sensitive to the sun, but I hate slathering on sunscreen. I wish we could offer a goat milk soap that leaves a layer of SPF on the skin to protect it all day .

• Why is creating an all-natural  product important to you?

LAUREN: I believe that a number of the current health issues in America are linked to the chemicals, pesticides, toxins and hormones that our body is exposed to through foods, pollution and cosmetics.  Creating an all-natural product is first about decreasing those risks in the product itself and second about being a “soapbox” for talking about these issues at large.

• What’s the best beauty advice your mother ever gave you?

DONNA: My mom always used to say, “Beauty is only skin deep.”  She tried to instill in my sister and me that beauty comes from within, not just what you see.

• Are there any other beauty companies that you turn to for inspiration?

LAUREN: As a small company, we must specialize in our niche and then look to larger companies for leadership in other arenas. When we are working on environmentally friendly  packaging we look to Pangea Organics and Aveda, both larger companies leading the change. When we are looking at organic ‘preservatives’ for cremes and lotions, we look to Jurlique as a model.

• What’s your most memorable product creation and why?

DONNA: I really enjoyed creating our Santa Rosa Valley Goat Milk Soap, Limited Edition. It contains local ingredients such as avocado oil, strawberry seeds, blueberry seeds, and lavender and citrus essential oils.

• What item can’t you live without?

LAUREN: I can’t live without theBalm’s timeBalm Concealer. The concealer is unique-it is good for day, night and even bedtime, because it’s made with vitamins A, C and E, soybean oil, and panthenol, which help to keep the sensitive eye area moisturized.

Curious to learn more?  Check out more Q&A from Donna & Lauren.

The Luxury Spot Showers With A Goat!

Chivas Skin Care was recently reviewed by “The Luxury Spot”.  Read up on what Linda had to say about showering with a goat.

“I was recently given the Chivas Skin Care Starter Kit it’s a like a mini-spa retreat in a box! But unlike costly, time-consuming spa treatments with Chivas Skin Care products you can give yourself a quick, affordable indulgence each morning in the shower. The kit contains one Original Soap, one Sweet Nothings Crème, one Original Lip Balm and one Sweet Nothings Bath Salt Sachet.

Bet when you think of goats heavenly scents are not the first thing that come to mind.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised when just opening the starter kit box is actually your first treat.  In fact, the soap smells so soothing I almost didn’t want to start using it!  Almost.  The scent of the original soap is peppermint citrus and the blended all-natural fragrance is surprisingly uplifting and relaxing at the same time.  Truly a scent you’d think of as only available at a spa.

The soap feels wonderfully luxurious.  It’s incredibly smooth and moisturizing without being at all greasy.  The facial crème is another scrumptious blend of goat milk and eleven essential oils. The lip balm not only feels delicious on your lips, but is also made with peppermint essential oil and gives you a quick aromatherapy pop throughout your day.  If you have a little more time to indulge your senses the bath salts satchel is definitely the way to do it.”

Click Here to check out the full article!

More Q&A from Donna and Lauren

Check out the “Mother & Daughter Beauty Experts” article from New Beauty Fall/Winter ’09.

Here are a few questions that didn’t make the cut for the New Beauty “Mother & Daughter Beauty Experts” article but we feel are just as interesting nonetheless.

• How do you define beauty?

Donna: I tend to downplay beauty that is thrown at us through the media.  In fact, it really turns me off.  To me, beauty is an attitude and an expression of how we see ourselves.  If we are content with what we’ve been given and can get over the superficial hurdle of beauty self-consciousness, we can move on to real beauty.  A sincere smile, playful eyes, and good grooming out of self-respect are a few characteristics of natural beauty.

Lauren: Beauty is when you feel like you’re glowing.  You feel it on the inside – you stand up straighter, you smile more proudly, and you have that energy of peace, confidence, and excitement all at the same time.  When you feel that on the inside, others see it on the outside.

• What’s your beauty routine?

Donna: Considering I own a skin care business, my beauty routine is quite basic.  I love baths, especially when I add Chivas goat milk bath salts, and typically take one bath a day where I wash my face and body with our goat milk soap.  I spray my face with rose water and then apply our goat milk crème.  Once a week, I exfoliate my face and body just to remove dead skin.  Until I started using Chivas products, my skin would feel dry after about just a few hours of applying facial moisturizer.  Now my skin feels great all day long.

Lauren: If you define beauty as that “glowing feeling”, your beauty routine is synonymous with your entire lifestyle.  It’s not only how you care for you skin, how much you sleep and how often you exercise, but it’s also whether or not you feel grounded in your life.

That being said, respecting yourself means caring for yourself.  So I don’t think one’s skin care routine should be devalued.  Just like I feel better about my day when I make my bed, I feel better about myself when I take the time to wash my face.  I’m very basic though:  every morning and evening I wash my face with Chivas “Clear Complexion” goat milk soap, and apply eye crème (I’ve been using Weleda Rose eye crème lately, but we are hoping to launch a new Chivas eye crème in Fall 2009) and Chivas “Sweet Nothings” goat milk facial crème.   I try to exfoliate every day but that’s hit or miss.  I try to use a masque once a week, but I can’t tell you the last time I actually did.  My mom and I are both very simplistic when it comes to our personal skin care, which I think translates over to the simplicity of our Chivas Skin Care line.

• What’s the one product every woman should have (can be from your own line or an outside company)?

Donna: Every woman should have a facial crème that they have confidence in.  I look forward to applying Chivas Sweet Nothings Facial Crème.  Our facial crème contains jojoba, avocado and neem oils among many other skin conditioning ingredients.  I also love the scent, which is made from 11 essential oils and developed by my daughter, Lauren.  My skin has never been happier.

Lauren: Soap is the foundation, so every woman should have a soap that she feels is both cleansing and moisturizing.  For me that soap is our Chivas Goat Milk Soap, which suits my hands, body & face all-in-one. Many women use a more harsh body wash or face cleanser (which are technically detergents) and then have to counteract that with an expensive and rich body lotion or face cream.   If you have a good soap, it should leave your skin so moisturized that you don’t really need a body lotion.  I have not used body lotion even once since I started using Chivas soap.  Facial crème is a different story; I use it to protect the more sensitive skin from wrinkles. But honestly, my skin never feels dry!

• What’s the one product you can’t live without?

Donna: I could not live without Chivas Goat Milk Soap because my skin stays supple even though I wash my hands so often.

Lauren: I used to carry 5 lip balms with me everywhere I went.  I struggled with dry, crackly lips and switched around from one medicated lip balm to another.  Now, I have one tube of Chivas “Original Vegan Lip Balm” and that’s all I need.  And rather than using it once an hour, I used it like once every other day.  I think I still have the same tube I started with when we launched the product in 2008.  While I have nothing but good things to say about our lip balm, I feel I must also attribute my happy lips to the lifestyle change of drinking lots of water and using flax seed oil and fish oil supplements.  At the end of the day, it’s more about what goes in your body than what goes on it.

• Why is creating an all-natural product important to you?

Donna: I have been interested in natural products long before they became popularized.  I have never liked using artificial ingredients when cooking.  It didn’t make sense to use artificial ingredients on my body either.  Many companies use fragrance oils to scent their skin care products, and others combine fragrance oils with natural essential oils.  I admit that fragrance oils can smell really good, are less expensive than essential oils, and are more concentrated because they are man-made.  Lauren and I made a commitment to go the extra mile and only use all natural ingredients in our soap, which means no fragrance oils.  In fact, we are not required to list the ingredients on our soap label, but we are proud to list ours.

• What’s the best advice your mother ever gave you?

Lauren: Growing up, my Mom was not one to tell me what to do or how to do it.  For example, I pushed myself to be a straight-A student and my Mom was the one telling me not to worry so much.  Now, as I mature, I come to her for advice on life decisions – “Should I break up with him?” “Which school should I go to?”  She is a good listener.  She rarely gives set-in-stone advice, but gives me the space to come to my own decisions.  And it’s a comforting feeling to know that if I take a wrong turn, she accepts my mistakes.  This commitment to unconditional love is my Mom’s best form of advice.   She leads by strong example, not by empty words.

• Do you have a business motto?

Donna: Simplicity with integrity.

Lauren: Good for your skin. Good for your environment.