Is your skin crying dry?  Curling up? Sprouting itchy patches?It’s winter time and the skin is in full battle mode. What to do? Grab the lotion. It’s time to fight back, but it is not always an easy win.  The snowbirds who did not venture south this winter must be feeling the difference on the skin. People can’t seem to moisturize enough in winter weather. Our regular customers know what to do and what not to do and are managing the challenges in a good and healthy way.  Staying away from the formaldehyde so often found in commercial soaps, creams and lotions is…

"Having no intention of following the cohort inside, she generously held open the entrance door and said, “Please, go ahead. You first.”   One job of disodium EDTA is to open doors. It does it well. While entry for others is encouraged, following is not necessarily on its agenda. Disodium EDTA is used in skin care (and food*) and while it is not easily absorbed into the skin, it’s the door opener. If the entry is a toxin, this enabler is encouraging a destruction.   Disodium EDTA does not discriminate as to what it lets in. The good, the bad and the ugly. Our concern…

Future: Once satisfied the coast was clear, the hovering drone dropped the package on the front stoop and sped off. Mission accomplished: Musely delivered.  Musely is an online skin care prescription service available in the USA, not yet in Canada, but coming soon. Drone delivery of prescriptions made online is the future. Home deliveries are always a desirable option. But ordering skin care prescriptions online is fairly new. Take Musely. A one stop shop. No visits anywhere. No need for personal contact. No need to chat behind a mask. No need for the skin specialist to see…

1915: Hotel Alexandria, Los Angeles, California Sitting comfortably in green velvet chairs in Hotel Alexandria’s plush hotel lobby, an industrious group of American farmers gathered to discuss the prospect of marketing a newly discovered fruit. The pebbly skinned, pear shaped fruit, called ahuacate. Beneath the high gold leaf ceiling and exquisite chandeliers, a waiter graciously serves the men tasty bits of the topic of their discussion.  A fly on the wall was listening in “$12.00 a dozen*? A pretty profit impending, gentlemen. This fruit is delicious, seductive. The people will love it…

Thank god for eyebrows. This little ridge of hair above the eye socket does a great job in saving our eyes. Excess sweat, moisture, rain are diverted sideways, away from our precious orbs. Eyebrows are a much appreciated and useful appendage.   Cosmetically, eyebrows have been altered over the centuries. Hair added or removed. The shape changed. Lots of options to attain the desired goal. Some people do mega eyebrow maintenance, others do nil. Whether or not you are into your eyebrows, we can’t help but observe them in others. From bushy to plain we gain clues to one’s…

If you are thinking about getting a fake tan this winter because your southern Vay Cay was put on hold, you might want to do a rethink. Let’s not get into whether or not you plan to sneak away on the ‘cheapest vacation ever’. Let us assume that for the remainder of the winter months, we are all in a northern lockdown. There is something about a tan, hopefully achieved with caution, that makes most of us light skinned people feel glowing, healthy and spry. Sun baking is ill advised, but natural sunlight is life sustaining. The sun’s therapy comforts us, mentally and physically. When the sun is…

In 2016, Toronto’s CTV news posted a story about a local boutique and customer Tara Lawless. The following scenario is a fictitious recall of the event, based on the facts.  “Hi, Marcie” Tara piped into the phone. “Have you ever heard of Prop 65?”  “No. Should I have?” Marcie queried. “Maybe. The other day, I went to Zee Zee boutique and I bought a cute toque … one with the faux fur pom poms on top. A pre-wash meant cutting off the tags. That’s when I noticed a Prop 65 alert. I was curious…an alert on a toque? It turns out Prop 65 is a warning about chemicals in a product…

  Had a rough year? Does it help to know you aren't the only one? Some days may be so bad you couldn't care less about the rest of the world. We get it. We've had those days too. Thank goodness the end is in sight. By the spring/summer, we hope to be back to a ‘normal’. Or hopefully a better normal, but a normal without cumbersome masks and difficulty breathing. A normalcy of being able to hug friends and family and not being deprived of the necessity of closeness and physical affection! just around the corner! Hang in there. Until then, let's take advantage of a quiet slow holiday. No…