I bought Sarafina!!!

[Rhys]

My skin objects loudly to both grapeseed oil and glycolic acid. I'm certain there was aloe vera juice in them, too, and probably black willow bark extract, PROBABLY decly polyglucoside or coco betaine or both (they did have some surfactant quality), likely some lavender - Bill had a crop of it that failed on the farm, which might have been the proverbial straw when he closed Sarafina, and I don't know what else. I want to say some kind of lactic acid derivative, and whatever the AHA was, it didn't upset my skin.

And the Fruit Enzyme Facial is great in that regard, too. With GoW, all I could use was the mandelic acid, which is great (and then I went and spilt more than half the bottle - ouch, couldn't afford to replace it), but even the mildest salicylic Markey made (the one with HA in it) was too much for me. So, I dunno.

[karen]

Thank you so much for all of your support in this adventure! Sarafina was a small, but pretty well respected company. The owner, Bill is an absolute doll- a great man who had a great reputation for making some lovely products. The formulas that he sent sound fantastic...I'm waiting on some shipments from some suppliers, and I can't wait to dive in! I do have quite a few of my own ideas- so the line will most definitely be a combo of the two. As I start formulating I'm going to be full of questions, but right now I'm just trying to "digest" it all.

I did get the domain name in the sale, but I'll probably just setup a redirect to our site...some of the more simple things like the toner could pop up pretty soon- others I want to test- so some you'll probably see as gumballs.

He did send me the ingredients list to the pads...not the formula, but I at least have the ingredients list and I think I can fudge my way through, and at least do a toner. He used lactic acid- and that's the most gentle of the AHA's in terms of skin irritation. I like a combo of AHA/BHA in the form of a very lovely, gentle willow bark extract I have for the full exfoliation effect. For some reason the willow bark feels a lot more gentle on my skin than the regular salicylic- even at the same percentage/pH- and you can't beat it for ingrown hairs/razor burn.

I have to do a blog post about sunscreens- it's a long one and I'm still not 100% sure if/what I'm going to do. One part of me says "don't make anything with an SPF"- they're a drug, and essentially to be able to legally release anything with an SPF rating we'd have significantly raise our prices to pay for the testing, the FDA's registration fees, insurance and mountains of red tape/paperwork that the FDA requires drug manufacturers to do. I really don't want to be a drug manufacturer. The other side of me says that there are people just clamoring for safer sunscreens and even resorting to making their own (not a good idea) rather than use a chemical sunblock- and you don't even want to get me started on the labeling and testing requirements. Soooo it's a big internal debate that I have going on.

Oooh models sound fun!!! I've never really asked because I wasn't sure how all of you felt about it, but I'd be honored.

[zeebs]

I dislike sunscreens in face products. They make me break out. I *can* use Aubrey Organic's sunscreen though. FWIW

[fern]

Congrats Karen. I've heard great things about Sarafina products but never got the chance to try them (the company had folded by the time I tried to order). I'm glad that it's in your capable hands now...

[Xarata]

I like the idea of sunscreen and i really liked the sarafina one. When Bill released it, it didn't have an SPF rating, it just explained how SPF ratings work (that it's time in addition to your normal sun resistance time which varies from person to person) and said that his was probably roughly somewhere around 8 i think.
I agree that's a hard debate for sunscreen- to make or not to make. i have to say, I'm generally pretty bad about applying sunscreen to my face unless I'm AT the beach. Part of what i liked about Bills was that it kind of doubled as a light moisturizer- 1 step.

I know not all the sarafina products will get added but it's still pretty exciting that some of those formulas will return and an SN fusion twist on the recipes can probably only make them even better. The ph toner I'm crazy about and his was one of the only moisturizers i could ever use- i liked the sample one you sent out too- they were actually very similar. I'm sure you're going to have tons of fun playing with all the recipes and tweaking and inventing. You're my favorite mad scientist! lol


*I don't post pictures very frequently, but any pictures or swatches I post of me wearing SN products are always available for your use.

[karen]

Did anyone try the facial cleansing milk??? I'm looking at the recipe, and there isn't a bit of surfactant (soap) in it. Hmmm...

I'm not a fan of the chemical sunscreens...his used a couple of my least faves (eye stinging)- but yeah- I'm lazy too. I just want to put on one or two things, some makeup, and then go about my business.

Anywho- I'm headed out to go to Sephora with the husband. It's time to go stick my fingers in things and see what happens.

[Rhys]

I actually like the facial cleansing milk (still have a little bit left). I mostly use Chagrin Valley soaps for washing my face, or the Almond Oil Cleanser (I stocked up mega on that before Bill went out of business), but it doesn't matter to me one way or the other if a cleanser is foamy.

I wouldn't recommend the facial cleansing milk for taking off make-up, though. It's better to use it in the morning, or on days when you aren't wearing make-up. But it's a really nice, mild cleanser and shouldn't upset sensitive skin.

[Rhys]

And as a postscript, I don't use sunscreen, either, pale as I am. If I went to the beach, maybe, but for everyday mineral make-up seems to give enough protection.

YMMV, of course, but I just couldn't tolerate most sunscreens, and even the few I could left me feeling: ICKY, GOOEY, YUCK!

That's my mature response

[Xarata]

i like the facial cleansing milk. it was my favorite cleanser for most of the year (summer i liked the foaming one, the rest of the year i liked the milk. Though towards the end i was also fond of the silk cleansing balm...)

[karen]

I was literally on my way out the door when that last question popped into my head! The Sephora trip was very enlightening to say the least. I must have tried $2000 worth of stuff today. Some decent, some unimpressive- but now I have a direction. The different permutations and combinations of everything that's available is just mind boggling- my head was just spinning, but I think I'm on the right track now. A long car ride always helps.

Sam- I think I'm going to update my business cards to say Mad Scientist- it sounds more fun than just plain old "owner"- hehe. And I'm glad that I have your blessing on reformulation/fusion products. So much of this stuff changes so fast that there are a few things I want to tweak here and there just to "keep up with the times". Hopefully the changes won't disappoint.

Rhys- that's my reaction to the chemical ones too. As much as I want to love them, I just never found one that felt good- or even decent. Really- no grapeseed oil??? it's so yummy on a salad- and soaks in so nicely on skin! The Peter Thomas Roth SPF 30 mineral sunblock that I use is 15% titanium dioxide, and 10% zinc oxide- it's actually less than what's in the foundation, but I grab a tube when I run out because I make my mother and husband use it too.