Tag: Alchimie Forever

My favorite skin care tips

Categories Alchimie Forever, Beauty5 Comments on My favorite skin care tips

In honor of  National Wellness Week, which is coming to an end, I thought I would share some of my favorite skin care tips, so that you might add to and enhance your wellness resolutions as they are proposed by SpaFinder.

1. Listen to your skin. If your skin breaks out when you use a product, that product is not for you. If your skin feels uncomfortable, irritated, blotchy, raw when you use a product, that product is not for you. Think of your skin as a baby – it can’t express itself in words, so it finds other ways of telling you how it feels. Listen to it. Try our Kantic Calming Cream which helps to soothe and calm irritation and redness.

2. Always apply products from thin to thick. That means serums first, gels second, creams third, and sunscreens last. Watch this video to learn more about how to layer your skin care products.

3. Don’t mix your treatment product with your protection product. Do you use a shampoo and conditioner in one? I didn’t think so. Why do to your skin what you wouldn’t do to your hair?

4. If you are old enough to have a cocktail, you are old enough to be using an eye cream. No ifs or buts about it. The skin of the eye contour area is the thinnest (other than the skin of our lips), and will start showing age earliest. Check out our eye care products here.

5. Always apply your eye cream or gel with your ring finger (our weakest finger), and from the outside in. That will minimize the likeliness that you will tug at this delicate area, stressing it further instead of treating it with some TLC.

6. Our faces lie, our necks tell our age. Make sure you use your facial products on your neck and décolleté. Even better, invest in a product that is specifically designed for this delicate area such as our Firming gel for neck and bust.

7. Our hands also tell our age. Aging does not happen from forehead to chin, but on our entire bodies. Our hands in particular, which are as exposed to the elements as our faces, deserve the same anti-aging care. Try our Dry skin balm to help soften and nourish any dry skin.

8. Prevention is key. Don’t wait for the brown spots and wrinkles to show up before you start using quality anti-aging products. Our Pigment lightening serum is especially formulated to help reduce the appearance of brown spots and even out skin tone. It’s suitable for all skin types and skin tones.

9. Sunscreen is also key. SPF 15 during the winter months (SPF 50+ on the ski slopes), SPF 30 during the sunny months (SPF 50+ on the beach or by the pool). Check out our Protective day cream SPF 23 for your daily skin care regimen.

10. Don’t expect of your products the same results you will get from treatments in a spa or medical office. Products are a complement to treatments, not an alternative.

Just as National Wellness Week was to serve as a reminder that we need to take care of ourselves, that we need to commit to health and wellness, let us also commit to a healthy skin care regimen. Find the products that work for you, and use them morning and evening. Every day, as part of your self care ritual.

Grooming for our fathers

Categories All, Beauty1 Comment on Grooming for our fathers

When people ask me why Alchimie Forever offers products for men only, I often answer “because my mother [the force behind our new product development] loves men and wanted to make them feel special.” In honor of Father’s day, and all the men in our lives, I thought it might be timely to write about men’s grooming, and our Alchimie Forever men’s products.

Despite what one might think, men spend  a lot of time in the bathroom. As my Mom says, “they just close the door before they start looking at themselves in the mirror.” I can confirm both that my husband spends a lot of time grooming and that he always closes the door. While I don’t exactly know what happens behind closed doors, I know how good he looks when he gets out. Here are my favorite tips and products for men.

  1. Soft feet. There is nothing less sexy to me than bad feet. Whether they are in bed next to me feeling rough against my skin or belong to a stranger in flip-flops I pass on the street. On that note, I think there is one less sexy thing – feet in Crocs. But that is a topic for another discussion…
  2. Manicured hands. Assuming the man’s feet are in closed shoes, my eyes immediately go to the hands. Do they look powerful? Do they look strong yet soft? How would it feel to hold his hand? Are the nails too long? Are the nails bitten? What tales do any calluses tell? Of course, my Alchimie Forever 532nm antioxidant relief for the hands and feet is the best product to ensure both soft feet and soft hands.
  3. No shaving bumps or post-shaving irritation. A red, angry neck and ingrown hairs do not make for a good first impression. The Grooming Lounge’s Beard Master shave oil can help. As can choosing a better razor, and never shaving against the grain. Finish with the Alchimie Forever Antioxidant skin repair gel and your skin will thank you.
  4. Hair. Whether you have a little or a lot, embrace what you have and run with it. I love a shaved head. Michael Jordan and Bruce Willis made that sexy and manly many years ago. If you are blessed with a head of hair a la Pierce Brosnan, make sure the back of your neck always looks clean. I love salt and pepper hair… which my husband has. So refined and elegant. Much better than a bad color job. And I love the way his Aveda Men Pur-Formance shampoo and hair conditioner smell.
  5. Also, hairs (notice the “s”). Whether you have a lot or a little was decided by Mother Nature. What you do with it is entirely up to you. Invest in trimmers. For ear hair. For nose hair. For chest hair. Invest in waxing services (don’t ask your wife to trim the hair on your back; value a bit of mystery in a relationship).

Happy Father’s day to all the most handsome Dads out there!

Mid-year goals evaluation

Categories Alchimie Forever, All, My lifeLeave a Comment on Mid-year goals evaluation

I cannot believe that we are almost in July… and that half of the year is gone. On a six hour drive yesterday I mentally revisited my 2011 goals, both personal and professional, and realized there is much to do still. I thought by putting in writing what I have accomplished this year so far, and what I have yet to accomplish, by sharing this with you and with the Universe, I would hold myself more accountable and move forward with more purpose. Feel free to periodically ask me how I am doing on any of these goals… knowing you might be a great motivator!

Ada goals:

– Drink more water: done! I now carry around a water bottle everywhere I go.

– Read more: in process. Current book: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

– Learn to be a good wife: hmm… not sure about this one. Need to ask my husband.

– Build my art collection: in process.

– Develop a better morning routine: not done. I still read emails on my phone before even opening both eyes up. Need to stop doing that and start my day in a different way. Thoughts?

– Unsubscribe from emails I don’t read: in process. Hopefully you are reading this one and won’t unsubscribe…

– Do more yoga: definitely need to work on this.

Alchimie goals:

– Consolidate our partnership with Universal Companies: in process (the six hour drive yesterday was Abingdon – Washington DC).

– Grow sales: in process; in my mind, sales are never high enough and never grow fast enough

– Reformulate our products without parabens: in process

– Improve our sampling program: done! As of next week, we will have beautiful paquette samples of five of our best-selling products! So excited…

– Continue to generate national, international, trade and online press mentions: in process. Would you like to write about us? Email me!

– Relaunch our website: done! Have a look…

– Do more with social media: in process. Are you a fan on Facebook? Do you follow us on Twitter? Have you seen our various YouTube videos?

– Improve our sustainability practices: in process. We are reducing, reusing, and recycling. Our new brochure is printed on paper from managed forests, with vegetable dyes. Our new samples are aluminum, not plastic. We are working with the Arbor Day Foundation and Casey Trees to plant trees throughout our community. And we are having fun doing it!

– Find someone to join our Board of Directors: in process. Interested? Please email me to apply!

Why did we create Alchimie Forever?

Categories Alchimie Forever, AllLeave a Comment on Why did we create Alchimie Forever?

I have had more questions this week about “why did we create Alchimie Forever,” “what is your unique selling proposition,” and recently in Cincinnati from an ex P&G executive, “what is the unmet need your line is filling.” These are all million-dollar questions for a consumer brand, questions that I fall asleep thinking about, dream about, and wake up pondering. These questions are always at the back of my mind. I know the answers – let me share them with you.

Why did we create Alchimie Forever?
We created Alchimie Forever to make men and women feel better about themselves – and thus make the world a better place. My father’s dermatological career has been first and foremost about making his clients, male or female, look younger, look more beautiful. Ultimately, however, whether through treatments or at-home use of Alchimie Forever products, our goal is to make people feel better. When you look better, you feel better. When you look better, you feel more confident. When you feel better and feel more confident, you are happier, nicer, kinder, you smile more… you are, in effect, a better person. That is why we created Alchimie Forever.

The Alchimie Forever mission
Our mission at Alchimie Forever is self care through skin care. We work to encourage people to take better care of themselves. The disease of our century as we see it is the dearth of self care. We don’t sleep enough, we eat overly processed foods, we drink too much, we don’t exercise enough, we don’t take the time to take care of ourselves. The results of this lifestyle can be seen in obesity, stress disorders, depression, and more. While skin care is not going to solve all of these problems, Alchimie Forever products play a key role in reminding people to slow down; reminding people to touch and be touched; reminding people to take care of themselves, to spend a few extra minutes in their bathroom, to apply lotions and potions that will make them look better, hence feel better.

This is so relevant today, I believe David Cameron, the new Prime Minister in the UK said it best:
“It’s time we admitted that there’s more to life than money and it’s time we focused not just on GDP (Gross Domestic Product) but on GWB – general wellbeing.”

“Wellbeing can’t be measured by money or traded in markets. It’s about the beauty of our surroundings, the quality of our culture and, above all, the strength of our relationships. Improving our society’s sense of wellbeing is, I believe, the central political challenge of our times.”

Our Unique Selling Proposition and the Unmet Need
What does the beauty consumer want today? She wants it all. She wants to look as young as she feels (anti-aging results). She wants to use products that make her feel special (luxury). She wants products she can feel good about using (responsibility). In the crowded skin care market, numerous lines answer one or the other, maybe two out of three of these needs. We, at Alchimie Forever, fulfill these three needs in a single jar.

  • Results: Visible, immediate anti-aging results. Without side effects. Without inflammation.
  • Elegance: Products that look good, feel good, smell good, and that you want to use. Twice a day. Everyday. Forever.
  • Responsibility: A botanical approach to ingredients, a commitment to sustainability, and a commitment to community involvement. All at a reasonable price point.