Hydrating Dream Cream – Spring Flourish

We formulated these Dream Creams with Spring in mind - from the richness of the cream, to the high quality oils and extracts we selected, to the aroma blend that was expertly crafted by a third generation perfumer. 

So like a fresh sprig of lavender these creams will be here for the season of spring then gone. 

If you like them and can't live without them, let us know and we'll take this into consideration for future decisions and formulations.

The organic rosehip seed extract we've sourced is extracted using supercritical volcanically sourced CO2. This is a step up from cold pressing as it ensures a more stable end product and more bioactive components are present - including carotenoids - as seen by it's vibrant colour.

The high level of carotenoids in this organic rosehip seed extract gives the Hydrating Dream Cream it's sunny yellow colour.

Yes, this cream contains a blend of essential oils that was created especially for us by a third generation perfumer at a dosage that meets the IFRA standards for safety.

Both Spring limited edition blends contain our hero ingredients - grass-fed tallow, jojoba oil and organic camellia oil along with a high quality and potent organic rosehip seed extract and prickly pear seed oil. 

The Spring Flourish also contains essential oils of ylang ylang and lavender as blended for us by a third generation perfumer. 

The Spring Delicate does not contain any essential oils.
It does still have an aroma - any natural product without masking agents has the natural aroma of the ingredients in the product. And the nutrient dense rosehip seed extract we've chosen has a kind of earthy, cooling herbal tea aroma.

We formulated this cream with spring in mind - so it sits in the middle of our range for richness. It's not one of our richest creams or one of our lightest creams. 

It will be lighter in texture and feel than our blue Replenishing Cream and orange Rejuvenating Cream. 

It will feel the most similar to our green Revitalising Cream and yellow Soothing Baby Cream. 

And it will be slightly richer in texture and feel than our Daily Moisturisers. 

Anyone with dry, mature skin that's prone to dullness, sun damage or sun spots

Yes! ...these creams can be used on the face, hands, arms, legs - anywhere that needs moisturising and some TLC

The main reasons people avoid sunflower oil and other seed oils are concerns around the high heat industrial processing that strips nutrients and antioxidants from the oils and leaves them more prone to oxidation, plus a higher ratio of omega 6's vs. omega 3's. 

And we get it! ...we also avoid consuming seed oils in our diet and have done for the last 12+ years.

But worse than any seed oil is an oxidised oil. We all want to avoid putting products containing oxidised oils on our skin - which is why we add an antioxidant to our formulations. 

From day 1 we've used a rosemary leaf extract in our creams to keep the fats and oils fresh

(well formulated products containing plant oils and essential oils should have an antioxidant like rosemary leaf extract or Vitamin E to help prevent oxidation - if you take a look at any well formulated balm or lip balm you'll see these ingredients)

The rosemary leaf extract we use is standardised with cold pressed organic sunflower oil to improve it's antioxidant activity and reduce volatile compounds (making it safer for sensitive skin) 

Sunflower is naturally high in Vitamin E and cold pressed sunflower oil contains relatively high amounts of Vitamin E which helps to prevent oxidation of the more fragile elements in cold-pressed sunflower oil. 

(and of course one of the major concerns with industrialised seed oils is around oxidation of the omega 6's - a very real concern when this Vitamin E is stripped out - but not as much of a concern with cold pressed seed oils that retain their natural antioxidants) 

This standardisation with sunflower oil is something that we've come to understand in the last year or 2, which is why we've updated our labels to reflect the presence of sunflower oil.
 
Rosemary leaf extract is our lowest volume ingredient, so the sunflower oil in our creams (apart from the Soothing Baby Cream) is at a very low concentration of 0.1% of the total cream. 

While this amount is tiny, now that we know it's there, we've updated our website ingredients and our labels.

The short answer is that context and processing matter in the question of "are all seed oils bad for you?"

The main reasons people avoid seed oils are concerns around the high heat industrial processing that strips nutrients and antioxidants from the oils and leaves them more prone to oxidation, plus a higher ratio of omega 6's vs. omega 3's. 

And we get it! ...we also avoid consuming seed oils in our diet and have done for the last 12+ years.

But the seed oils used in cosmetics are different to the industrialised seed oils that are mass produced for the food industry - so you can’t tar them with the same brush. 

The seed oils used in cosmetics and in our creams are typically organic and cold pressed, so they’re not subjected to the same high heat, solvent extraction as mass produced seed oils for the food industry. 

One critical outcome of this difference in processing is that cold-pressed and CO2 extracted seed oils retain all of their vitamins and antioxidants that normally get stripped out with industrialised processing.  

Sunflower is naturally high in Vitamin E and cold pressed sunflower oil contains relatively high amounts of Vitamin E which helps to prevent oxidation of the more fragile elements in cold-pressed sunflower oil. 

(and of course one of the major concerns with industrialised seed oils is around oxidation of the omega 6's - a very real concern when this Vitamin E is stripped out - but not as much of a concern with cold pressed seed oils that retain their natural antioxidants) 

And the Rosehip Seed Extract we've chosen for these Dream Creams is extracted using supercritical volcanically sourced CO2. This is a step up from cold pressing as it ensures a more stable end product and more bioactive components are present - including carotenoids and other antioxidants.

This context and processing matters.
I would definitely avoid putting highly processed, industrialised seed oils on my skin, but cold pressed seed oils are beneficial for skin when balanced with healthy fats, lipids and other fatty acids.
 
Here's why - Omega 6's are actually critical for our skin health (especially linoleic acid and gamma linoleic acid)

Without linoleic acid our skin would become thick, scaly, rash and our skin barrier function would be seriously compromised. Omega 6's make up an essential part of ceramides - one of the 3 main components of a healthy skin barrier alongside fatty acids and cholesterol.
 
And it's always important to remember the balance - omega 6's are only bad when they are extremely overbalancing omega 3's.

Omega 3's, 6's and 9's should not be avoided on the skin as they are all critical for healthy skin, especially in conjunction with the other fatty acids and cholesterol found in grass-fed tallow. 
 
On the sunflower oil we use in our Soothing Baby Cream - we use a high oleic acid type of organic cold pressed sunflower oil in our Soothing Baby Cream (this is more commonly used in cosmetics as it's more stable) and the fatty acid profile reads like this: oleic acid 84%, stearic acid 2%, palmitic acid 4% and linoleic acid 7% 
 
...so the amount of omega 6's in this sunflower oil is much lower than that found in mass produced seed oils for the food industry.

In addition to all of this - when we apply products containing omega 6's on our skin, they're not going through first pass metabolism in the liver and being turned into the more inflammatory arachidonic acid.   

And lastly - all well formulated products containing plant oils, butters and essential oils should contain an antioxidant to protect the oils from oxidation and our creams are no different. We formulate all of our creams with a rosemary leaf extract that acts as an antioxidant.

Pheeww... hope that answers your question!