Embracing our age is an ongoing creative process!

The key change I’ve made since turning seventy is to layer rejuvenating skincare products into my routine that specifically target lines, wrinkles and loss of elasticity and contouring.

I’m excited by the results. In addition to the glowing, lustrous skin conferred by Exfoliant Supérieure and Crème Supérieure, which I’ve used for years, my new routine sees fine lines and wrinkles diminish within an hour, accompanied by firming of the contours around the eyes, jawline and neck. And the results are ongoing.

My new routine looks like this:

• Cleanse daily with Balm Supérieureand/or Soap Supérieure;
• Exfoliate twice weekly with Exfoliant Supérieure;
• Follow-up exfoliation with Ultra Rejuvenating Masque;
• Apply Ultra Rejuvenating Serumday and night, retouching if needed in the afternoon;
• Follow with Ultra Contouring Elixirday and night, retouching if needed in the afternoon;
• Moisturize with Crème Supérieureor Ultra Sensitive Crème, day and night.

Naturally, each of these products can be used separately to great effect – this layering approach is how I’m responding to life in my late seventies!

For everyone, I recommend exfoliating once or twice a week.

A final recommendation – once your skin is in glowing shape, give yourself a day off once a week so your skin can best continue to absorb the potency of the products.

In Health & Beauty,

Gaelle

My apprenticeship with Aida Grey, the godmother of natural skincare, began as my modeling career wound down in the nineteen-seventies.

Aida was a legend in aesthetics, the Grand Dame of Beverly Hills Beauty. She literally coined the term “skincare” to describe the services she was offering women 50 years ago.

Her personal clients include First Lady Nancy Reagan, Their Royal Highnesses Princess Caroline of Monaco, Queen Beatrice of the Netherlands, Queen Nor of Jordan, Princess Benedikte of Denmark, Princess Astrid of Norway, Princess Christina of Sweden, Madame Jehan Sadat, Beverly Sills, Jacqueline Bisset, Julie Christie, Peter Fonda and Madonna, to name just a few. In addition to European Royalty, great beauties of the jet set and favorite theatrical and film stars, her wide range of followers also includes professional women from the business world, social leaders, homemakers and their teenage daughters. She is Aida Grey, for more than 40 years the innovative international authority on beauty, and her Institute De Beauty in Beverly Hills is a Mecca for the famous and successful.
Dermascope

Aida had a very keen eye for what was special in everyone. She saw and appreciated the opportunity for beauty in every face, and she connected with the people she met in an extraordinary way. Everyone felt it – animals too! Her skincare and makeup advice was totally adapted to each individual, whom she genuinely honored. And, of course, everyone was totally charmed by her.

Aida pioneered the ‘natural makeup’ look, using custom-blended foundations based on skin type and color. She believed women should look great whether they wore makeup or not – it all depended on the condition of their skin and complexion. She saw I had a talent for this and made me the in-house specialist, a role I enjoyed immensely.

Working with her was not always easy. Over the years I either quit or was fired on multiple occasions. But each time, Aida would call me back – her clients kept asking for me.

One time Aida fired me for not selling enough products, I actually was talking clients out of unnecessary purchases. On my exit interview she did not take kindly to me telling her I was an esthetician, not a product salesperson. I told her I encouraged women to take care of their skin and showed them how to use exactly what they needed, not how to use more and more products.

In a short period of time, as clients learned I knew what I was doing and never sold anything that didn’t work for them, I became Aida’s top makeup artist and actually made the most sales.  So when Warner Brothers made me an offer for a lavish position, Aida went into a panic.  Needless to say, over the years our relationship flourished and she referred to me from then on as “The Minx.”

We became close friends, and I would accompany her all over the country to teach women how to take care of their skin and create makeup looks especially for them. The most rewarding time was when we went to the women’s jail in Los Angeles to lift their spirits.

Aida became very enamored of my friend and health mentor who was a Zen Buddhist monk and well-known acupuncturist. He helped Aida lower her blood pressure and lose weight through eating well. I would prepare my daily macrobiotic lunch and bring her the same. Within a month she had lost weight and cut back on her blood pressure medication. We were both happy to be eating our lunch quietly in the salon, and I was grateful she stopped asking me to lunch with clients in fancy (but not so healthy!) restaurants.

When Aida invited me to join her as a partner in her business, I realized I wasn’t interested in a business career. I’d begun developing projects for television and film and really wanted to move in that direction. Besides, I knew, if and when I did go into the beauty business, it would have to be using nothing but organic ingredients.

My creative projects were well received and I was able to make a living from them. How they worked out is a story for another day, but they were what caused me to move on from Aida’s salon. Sadly, she passed away shortly after I stopped working with her. I lost a friend and the natural skincare industry lost its godmother.

I’ve been making my own skincare products ever since.

Give your complexion a refined, polished look, even on the hottest days. Toner Supérieure is your perfect summer solution. Daily use will give you pH-balanced skin with cleaner, tighter pores, and smoother skin. And because it is free of alcohol, you can be confident it won’t strip your skin of its natural oils, so you can take full advantage of as many ways to use Toner Supérieure as you want.

Here are five ways to use Toner Supérieure for your summer beauty needs:

Tighten Pores

In Toner Supérieure we blend naturally-astringent flower waters with other organic ingredients to tighten pores and restore skin’s natural pH balance. This is the perfect way to refine skin for the day ahead and also to restore it for the evening. Skin is naturally slightly acidic, with an ideal pH level of 5.5. At this level, skin is able to protect itself from damaging external factors and environmental stressors. A pH imbalance can result in sensitivity, wrinkles, inflammation or acne. Preserving the skin’s pH balance keeps its acid mantle healthy, which helps lock in moisture and rid skin of toxins—protecting it from breakouts. Radiant results begin here! 

Calm and Soothe Redness

Calm your skin with the cooling plant ingredients found in Toner Supérieure. Organic cucumber extract soothes and brightens, while organic peppermint extract is cleansing and uplifting. Aloe Vera’s blend of amino acids, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals have been used since ancient Egyptian times to rejuvenate, protect, soothe and beautify the skin. It calms irritations and restores tired skin. 

Cool and Refresh

Cool down and refresh with our Eco-certified organic toner. Gently dab skin with a soaked cotton ball to flush and minimize pores. For immediate and more intense results, it’s helpful to keep Toner Supérieure refrigerated.  Since we use no alcohol in any of our products, you can be assured Toner Supérieure will not cause irritation or drying. Instead, you can blot your face throughout the day to keep your skin refreshed, while also nourishing it with  a host of cleansing and purifying botanicals. Our fabulous petite size will fit perfectly in your purse for convenient on-the-go radiance.

As A Natural Deodorant

We’ve discovered the most wonderful little secret—Toner Supérieure works like a dream on your underarms! As well as restoring skin’s natural pH levels, Toner Supérieure contains organic apple cider vinegar, which fights body odor and provides exceptionally effective and long-lasting protection. Apple Cider Vinegar works its magic to ensure the skin under your arms is balanced, while the rose water and elderflower release their sensual floral aromas.

Stimulate Hair Regrowth

The cleansing and refining properties of Toner Supérieure can actually help in stimulating hair regrowth. Sweat causes clogged pores, which in turn damages the hair follicles—ultimately leading to receding hairlines. Toner Supérieure balances the pH and detoxifies pores, creating an ideal canvas for hair to regrow. You may even take it a step further and use Toner Supérieure as a hair rinse after shampooing. We often forget our scalp is part of our complexion too!

Toner Supérieure provides instant relief and beautifully refreshed skin. Keep refreshed—naturally—with our multi-purpose delight and you’ll wonder how you ever survived a summer without it! 

For our founder Gaelle, green beauty is far more than a fashionable movement. Her vision for Gaelle Organic came when her daughter Sabrina was in her early teens, bringing home over-the-counter chemically-laden “junk” to soothe her teenage skin. Following Gaelle’s alarm over the products’ ingredient safety—or lack thereof—Sabrina challenged her mother to create her own skincare line based on the cream she made for herself (her now best-selling Crème Supérieure).

Gaelle rose to the opportunity, having long since started her love affair with soothing botanical emollients and therapeutic essential oils, and passionately researched ingredient potencies and compatibilities to formulate an entire line of organic, yet effective skincare—a niche that at the time, seemed entirely contradictory.

Today, we sit down with Gaelle to reflect on her journey and discuss all things clean beauty.

Have you always been interested in beauty?

I have always been interested in the beauty, everything should be beautiful.

What motivated you to create Gaelle Organic?

Primarily, my daughter when she was fourteen who was bringing home products that were harmful and useless. I had been making my own products for years, partly due to skin reactions and sensitivity caused by too many synthetic products on my face during my modeling career. Sabrina inspired me to practice what I preached, so I tested my cream on twenty of my fussiest friends. When all of them came back to tell me it was the best moisturizer they had ever used, it gave me the confidence and courage to start my business.

What does ‘clean beauty’ mean to you?

Organic and natural ingredients that nourish and beautify.

What are some common misconceptions about clean beauty?

That it doesn’t work. That you need to use harsh chemicals in order to see results.  This couldn’t be further than the truth. Too many cosmetic companies misrepresent “clean beauty.” We’re fortunate to live in a time with information at our fingertips where we can simply Google an ingredient we’re not sure about—always asking ourselves the question: is it safe and is it effective? Too often, conventional cosmetics are filled with harmful fillers so that the company can keep their high profit margins. With clean brands—especially organic—you get what you pay for: carefully selected high quality natural ingredients that won’t harm you or your environment, which are not just as powerful, but often times more so.

What makes Gaelle Organic special?

Simply put, the results! We are very proud of our complete list of ingredients and how they work. We spare no expense in sourcing the highest quality ingredients and they absolutely must be organic. The more raw and untouched the ingredient, the higher its potency. This is the reason we aligned with Ecocert, as we found their values and standards completely in line with our own.

If you were to describe your brand in three words, what would those words be?

Organic Timeless Beauty

Which clean ingredients are you most in love with and why?

There are too many to name! I’m an ingredient obsessive and all the botanicals, clays and minerals I use in my products offer their own unique purpose. Edelweiss is fabulous and featured prominently in many of our products. It grows wild in high alpine meadows where the sun’s rays are most intense, and contains abundant antioxidants that are more powerful than vitamin C. I was delighted when we found a commercial grower so we could add this fabulous ingredient to our line. We actually won the BSB European innovation prize for including Narcissus Bulb extract in our anti-aging products—given its proven ability to smooth and protect skin from the appearance of aging. Yet, some of our more “unique” ingredients, such as responsibly-sourced bovine Colostrom powder and finely-milled Breton Sea Salt are what make our products truly shine.

Which Gaelle Organic products can you not live without and why?

Exfoliant Supérieure, Masque Supérieure, Serum Supérieure and Crème Supérieure.  They rejuvenate, nourish and moisturize your skin creating a beautiful, healthy glow.

Do you think the ‘clean beauty’ trend is here to stay?

Absolutely. Why would anyone ever want to go back to harmful ingredients that don’t work?

What’s on the horizon for Gaelle Organic skincare?

We have two new upcoming products—a new serum and masque, which we can’t wait to launch! The results we are seeing from our testing are Amazing!!

Entering motherhood is both an exciting and enlightening experience. When pregnant, many of us women begin assessing the safety of our surroundings in ways we never even considered before. Health becomes our top priority, so naturally we become more particular about what we put on and in our bodies. This is often when we discover the importance of clean beauty, but the truth is, it’s always the right time to make the switch.

Clean beauty companies like ours strive to deliver the results you expect without compromising you or your little one’s health. This is why we prioritize transparency in our ingredient labeling, so you can make educated decisions about your personal care. To make things even easier, we’ve compiled a list of seven well known ingredients to look out for when you’re expecting.

Essential Oils

Starting with one of our favorites, these wonderful, aromatic ingredients are generally best avoided while pregnant. Use of essential oils is a controversial topic as dilution and trimester are influential factors, however after about 14 weeks products like our Soap Supérieure Rose Geranium are most likely safe for you and baby.*

Retinoids

A popular anti-aging and acne fighting ingredient, Retinoids are a vitamin A derivative found in many prescriptive products. These should be avoided during pregnancy as there is evidence these medications can affect the development of the growing fetus. So although you might love them in your routine, wrinkles and breakouts can wait! We don’t think your baby will take notice of them anyway.

Phthalates

Also listed as BzBP, DBP, DEP, DMP, or diethyl, dibutyl, or benzyl butyl phthalate, these chemicals are added to increase the effectiveness of other chemicals in a formula. Recent studies have linked these to many adverse health effects, so it’s best to avoid them entirely but especially during pregnancy.

Hydroquinone

A skin lightening agent in products made to treat hyperpigmentation, hydroquinone is a chemical that easily absorbs into the body. Up to 45% can permeate the skin into the bloodstream, so it’s probably best to skip the chemicals and up your use of sunblock to protect your skin and baby from chemical and UV exposure.

Chemical Sunscreens

Speaking of sunblock, make sure to use a physical sunblock over a chemical sunscreen. Mineral-based sunblocks create a barrier on the skin to reflect harmful rays away while chemical sunscreens absorb and scatter the harsh UVs in the skin. These chemicals can impact fetal development and are also contributing to the negative health in our oceans, so try opting for non-nano zinc!

Beta Hydroxy Acids

A wonderful liquid exfoliant, BHA’s are unfortunately best avoided during pregnancy. Look out for ingredient names such as Salicylic acid, 3-hydroxypropionic acid, trethocanic acid and tropic acid, as again these are easily absorbed by the skin.

Parabens

A common preservative and known hormone disruptor, parabens are not an ingredient you want soaking into your skin, pregnant or not. Whether they start with propyl, butyl, isopropyl, isobutyl or methyl, it’s in your best interest to steer clear of products with this synthetic ingredient.

Transparency Gives You the Power

Once we start looking at the products in our cabinet, it’s hard to find a product without these popular ingredients. So what’s a mama to use? Our best advice is to look for products that align with your values from companies who practice transparency and integrity.

Being an Eco-Certified brand, our products are held to the highest possible standard. Our certification means that at least 95% of the plant ingredients in our products are produced by organic farming. In addition, harmful synthetics, GMOs and animal testing are completely out of the question.

Although we do use essential oils in our products, the dilutions should be safe to use starting in the second trimester*- just in time to treat your growing belly to the hydrating and restorative Body Crème Supérieure. Backed by third party scientific research and respectable certifications, we designed our products to be effective, efficient and eco friendly for long term use.

Mothering the Self, as well as Others

Among many other changes, motherhood comes with the responsibility of giving precious time and energy to those who rely on you. No matter how you become a mother, parenthood can be incredibly rewarding but also challenging. Between appointments and events, prepping and cleaning, it’s difficult to find time to stop and care for oneself.

But one of the many gifts we receive through becoming a parent is the reminder to mother ourselves. To care for and nurture the child within us, so that we may be more conscious and present for our young ones. Giving back to yourself should be high on your list of priorities, because no one can pour from an empty cup.

This is partly why we created our luxurious line of organic skincare. It’s perfect for those in need of a streamlined routine that doesn’t compromise on performance or quality. So take the time to read through your ingredients, be mindful of your wellbeing and when all else fails, simply do the best you can. Conscious living as a mother may not be easy, but we set the standard for the next generation when we nourish ourselves, body and soul.

* These are our educated opinions as skin care formulators, estheticians and mothers however please refer to a qualified medical professional before following this advice or using products that contain any of the ingredients listed in this article.

For more great clean lifestyle tips during pregnancy check out this article by GurlGoneGreen