Beauty Without Toxins: The Alitura Story with Andy Hnilo

Welcome to the Hormone Solution Podcast where we tackle perimenopause and menopause with confidence. I'm your host, Karen Martel, certified hormone specialist, transformational nutrition coach, and CEO of a global telemedicine clinic dedicated to helping women thrive during midlife. Every week I bring you engaging conversations with top experts in women's health, offering cutting edge insights and and practical advice to help you flourish. We're here to shine a light on those mysterious midlife hormonal shifts and arm you with the knowledge to take charge of your health. So grab your headphones and join me on this mission to spread the crucial information often missing from the conversation, one episode at a time.

Last December, I was in Las Vegas.

Sitting with one of my podcast managers.

When I caught the most incredible scent. I stopped mid conversation and said, oh my gosh, you smell so good. What are you wearing?

Now?

This is coming from someone who cannot stand synthetic fragrances. I've always been super sensitive to them. In fact, when my husband and I first got together, I made him give up his cologne because I hated it so much. For me, it's been essential oils only. For over 20 years I've searched high and low for natural essential oil based perfumes and skin skin care that I actually like and let me tell you, it has not been an easy hunt. So when my podcast manager told me he was wearing something from a brand called Alatura, I was intrigued. He said this guy has the best natural products and I immediately thought hook me up Pete. Not long after I was trying alo for myself and let me just say I was blown away. My husband is now totally hooked on their Santel Black, which is an essential oil based fragrance that we both love. And then I discovered the Clay mask which you are going to hear all about today. Because it's not just any old clay mask people and my daughter and I have now routinely done them together since then and we love it. Makes your skin just oh my God baby soft. And I'll talk about that. But here's the thing. As good as these products are, the story behind them is even more incredible. The founder, Andy Nilo, went through a near fatal accident that completely transformed not only his life, but also how he viewed health and skin care. His journey led him to create an effective natural skin care line. So today I've invited Andy on the podcast to share his incredible story and talk about why we all need to pay closer attention to what we are putting on our skin and shed light on how conventional products, especially synthetic perfumes and fragrances and products can disrupt our hormones and our health. So I'm so excited to finally, finally. This has been just so everybody knows. I've been trying to get Andy on this podcast since spring. So here he is. Welcome, Andy.

Thank you so much, Karen. What a beautiful intro. Grateful to be here.

Now, did I say your last name correctly? I probably didn't, did I?

That's all right. It's Nilo, but it's okay.

Okay, so I was right with the H being silent.

Yes, you were, Nilo.

Okay, so sorry.

Andy.

Nilo, everybody. Andy, it's so good to have you here. I'm so happy and I'm so grateful for your products, let me just say.

Because it is really hard to find.

Essential oil based products and fragrances.

Yes, it's. Man, I've always felt, you know, there's a big story to all of this. And I should probably start off. I'm from Palo Alto, California. Been an athlete my entire life. And, you know, growing into your body as a teenager, hormones racing, and me just wanting to put on weight, right? So grabbing labels and just looking for that protein, fat, calories. But grabbing that label and turning it, you also got to know certain other ingredients that were common, but they always raised like a question mark in my head. The red 40, the yellow 5, yellow 6. You know, back in the day at 18 years old. What is that? Why is that in there? It fillers unnecessary dyes, toxic elements of any product where, whether you're ingesting it or applying it to your largest detoxifying organ. Why would there be a trace element of a toxin in that product disrupting that process? Like, obviously I didn't know this way back then, but back to UC Berkeley on a day off, right? Like, I, I was 168 pounds, going to a PAC 10 school, competing at the PAC 10 level as a baseball player. So I had to put on weight, put on 23 pound. Was getting into supplements, just eating dorm food. My. It just wreaked havoc on my skin, though. I had one of the worst cases of back cystic back acne. And I also had cystic acne spots that were starting to show up on my face that were just, you know, horrifying.

It's horrifying totally at that age.

Oh, my God.

And teammates can be the worst, right? Oh, look at Nilo. I was changing with my back to the locker. I let alone would never turn. Anyway, I'm getting goosebumps right now. It. It was, I'm glad I went through that because what else, you know, you want to find a solution for a problem like that immediately. One off day in Berkeley, California, I went down to Shattuck Avenue into this little herbalist small store and started speaking to this gentleman about my, my issues. And immediately he started going into like the traditional Chinese medicine philosophy of like building the blood and building vitality. And this was way over my head at the time, but pointing me in the direction of, you know, how important the ingredients are in the foods that we're consuming and in the personal care products and that at 18 years old, I bought this flora. They're still around. Is this aqueous horse, horsetail silica extract that I can barely afford it. I think it's even still out there anyway.

I think it is too.

Yeah. And it's crucial right now with the, you know, binding with aluminum. I could go on silica for an hour. But I, yeah, that was the first one that I got. And then I went from pizza, cheeseburgers, soft serve to tuna, spinach, cantaloupe and, you know, teammates still making fun of me. Next thing you know, one of the, you know, a couple of those guys are asking me to write up diet plans for them. So at 18, 19, skin didn't clear up immediately, but it over time, a few months going from clean and clear. Clear cell, neutrogena plus. I didn't adjust anything with the hair. I. Because I just, I mean, I. Yeah, but I went to Dove soap, a bar. Dove soap, five ingredients. Two of them are coconut derived surfactants. And I just remember in parentheses, seeing coconut. It was everything that gentleman was talking about, something that I, I could somewhat relate to and that signaled natural to me. And what better feeling than. I mean, I used it on my face and my body, it all went away. And I believe it was not only, you know, cleaning up my diet, but I believe it was just getting those toxins out of my personal care that I bought to heal those issues. It was accelerating it, I believe, and kind of like just making it worse. And so, you know, what better feeling than to get clear skin? Seriously, it's the first thing you see in the mirror. That one little mosquito bite. And to get that, you know, out of your head, it just set the tone for my day. And it became a big part of, like, my confidence, you know, just staying true to that routine. So that was 18, 19, 20. By the time I was 20, Dove had that and night cream. And, you know, I was getting into. Back then, I was into sunscreen. I was just really into taking care of my, my Skin and I'm grateful for it. The passion has definitely been there as I'm 43, about to be 44. So what, 20, 26 years. So yeah, it's just, it's got the interest of purifying what I've applied to. My largest organ has grown year over year, little scrubs learning about exfoliation, learning about hydrating, but directly without the government recognized carcinogens and the unnecessary toxic elements that are included and kind of just thrown away. I'm so glad. Nowadays they have what Yuka app where you can scan the UPC code and get a 0 to 100 rating on the cleanliness of the ingredients, that of the product that you're using. Hairspray, makeup, you know, you name it. On average, women leave the house with over 160 government recognized carcinogens through 11 products. You know, you're thinking hairspray, lipstick. I'm not mind. I'm just saying it's important.

Yeah, yeah.

Don't the, you know that close to the, the breasts, if you have any toxins leach into that, disrupting the endocrine system and hormones, which I, I know you can. And so I had this passion because it worked. It was consistent. I had very reactive, sensitive skin. And I just, you know, eventually after baseball ended, I was in the entertainment industry and so I, I had this one ingredient clay mask that was calc calcium bentonite clay. Aztec healing Clay was the brand. And so after years of this, Karen, it was just, you know, a weekly routine. Every Sunday night, running into that bathroom. I had roommates at the time, but just mixing up this clay mask, running back, it was under.

You must have been teased.

Oh, I've heard it all. I've heard it all. It's all right.

The young man that's super into skin care is. You don't see that too often, but it's, it's, that's great. So that's where it began. So I didn't know that because this isn't even the story. That is the big story of how this, how you got into this. So let's, let's go down there because that's a pretty crazy story. I've seen those pictures. Pictures that you share are so intense. But anyways, we'll get there. What happened?

So March 20, 2011, I was crossing the street and I got hit by a westbound heading Land Rover hitting the eastbound lane, run over by a tundra. Clothes cut off me in the middle of the streets. I woke up in Cedar Sinai ICU with the compound fracture of My mandible just in seven broken ribs, collapsed lung. Just waking up on a morphine drip trying to figure out what happened. I quickly found out the severity of the incident and you know, jaw wired shut, front three teeth. And then being in the entertainment industry obviously that's going to be put on hold for quite a while but I was alive. You know, I left there walking, I left the hospital. One of my nurses was a, you know, former Marine. He's like hey, just remember this like anytime you leave the hospital walking, it's a pretty good day. Good luck on the rest of your recovery. And I, you know it set the tone. I had my, my family with me and my ankles, shoulder, knees, shoulders were intact so I could go on walks, get circulation going and just you know, take my medicine, get back to, to sleep to recover. And I was kind of a zombie through the CT scan, X rays, antibiotics, you know and was a happy dude. And so to get my zest back I like drove around town jaw wired shut, met with Sage Dammers, George Lamouru, Ron Teagarden from Dragon Herbs, Crosby Ware, Truth Calkins and just would pick these experts brains about how to build my system back. And again Chinese medicine was a big part of that. Ho Shoe Wu. I built this tonic through their suggestions and I would mix it up, up every morning, just kind of put it through a straw in the back of my mouth. And then for my skin by that time I had rasool clay. That night I believe I had kelp powder and vitamin C just kind of like hand picking certain elements from facials that I had done research on and had my own little mask. But then I started to experiment with some of those ingredients from that morning talk. That's where I got colostrum, American ginseng and freshwater pearl powder. Now I would expect everything in there I experimented with. I had nothing but time and I figured if it's not so good internally, let's experiment with our, you know, largest organ. Why not? It's but yeah a lot of things didn't work mostly because of the particle size. But the things that did the pearl, the American ginseng, colostrum, organic kelp powder, vitamin C, Rasul, French eyelite, kaolin clay and then Nevada green desert clay which is like an edible form of bentonite. Just provided like this mineralizing superfood meal for the skin that when it dried not only did it create like this microcirculation that I mean now I know but I just like that it made me you know, look brightened and kind of refine the pores and the skin was like glass. But now I'm finding out that it's just you pulling out heavy metals impurities.

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And listen, while I love my whole.

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I wanted to know what was in it because I didn't even look, but I'm like you. You put it on and when you take it off. Yes, it's like glass. Like there's the tone of the skin literally changes and it feels like a baby's softness. Like it's crazy. My daughter and I, my daughter's 18, so she comes downstairs the other day, mask on, and she like, she loves it, right. As an 18 year old who gets acne and she's just all over it and we both are. I'll put it on and go in my sauna and. And oh, so that is pulling can pull out impurities out of the skin like.

Oh, absolutely. It's Dave Asprey on our first podcast, but I was explaining just like this on the ingredients that I used. It's actually bentonite is a, like a military grade protocol for, you know, pulling out heavy metals and impurities, toxins that do not serve our body, our biology. And in addition to that, it's loaded in minerals that we lose as we age, age and just very skin healthy as well. And in combination with the vitamin C, the pearl powder and the colostrum, it just leads to these perfect building blocks in my opinion, during the cell turnover process, just refine the pores and just leave your skin like glass. I mean it's a back bar treatment in hundreds of med spas worldwide. And that's an honor as it is because that's really where it all started. Getting your facials. I would ask, hey, what's this Kelp powder And boom. That's where I got kelp and started doing it myself. And the whole DIY route and all of this really what led to Alatura at the time there I'm really glad it's changed over the past few years. There are a few good brands that I would recommend. At the time there wasn't, I would say, Eminence Living Libations. I'm not sure if they were around, but Eminence Living Libations, Nadine, I mean, just this will set the bar and start you off with purity of ingredients. But it's a short list because I understand it is a business. You do? I, I, but I'm so glad I didn't have a business plan or business background getting into this. I was doing my best just to recover so you don't cut corners on ingredients, especially with things that are being recommended to you. So, I mean, this was just, I was just trying to get back to look like myself again. And so I just thought through healing those injuries and, you know, wounds and mitigating the swelling for my jaw and obviously getting my teeth situation replaced to get back on my feet as soon as possible and get back in the industry that I loved. However, during that time, I reached out to Dave Asprey from Bulletproof Coffee. Now, I had never drinking, drank coffee before, and so that was like hopping out of bed into a Ferrari Testarossa. And so I troubleshooted his email address. Like, back then it was info at Bulletproof Exec, Dave Asprey. Right. So Dave@BulletproofExecDot. Asprey@BulletproofExec. Dave.asprey.

This is how people find my email. That's it. I'm always like, like, yeah, I shouldn't have made it what I did because it's really obvious.

Yeah, well, one of those went through is EA got back to me. They brought me on board as an ambassador, which is great because I, you know, it was tough to afford the products as it is. So there I was taking a mask with like, or, you know, mask on and, you know, picture with this bulletproof coffee. And then I guess they started to find out a little bit more about my, my story. And then they invited me onto this podcast February 1, 2014, just to talk about how I recovered using his products. And it was an honor because I still do idolize Dave. But at the time I was like, you know, I was so nervous and, but it was great because I got the opportunity to share just, you know, last 15 minutes, we didn't even go into this product or whatever. Didn't have a website, didn't even have a name for the company. But I, he just asked what I did for my skin just like this. And yeah, kind of frightening. But luckily I started sharing, right. And what I used, why I used it, and just kind of how this all started, just a passion for skincare. And he's like, wow, you didn't mention that going into this. Is it available for purchase now? Just. I think I gave out my personal email address if anybody wanted to try it. And, you know, at that time, Dave, as Bulletproof Radio was one of the top podcasts on itunes. So I got a beautiful response from people saying really nice things all around the world, and then also people wanting to know where they could find this product. So get the packaging. And I just came up with a price, $35 free shipping. But when you're shipping to Sweden, and that time I was using these big containers, it was. So I must. My cost must have been half of that. And then shipping $23 a Sweden, I'm losing money on these orders. So I didn't. I was just happy to, you know, share what I had created and to communicate with people all around the world. Much love. And so Dave got a big response too, and he flew down to LA and we connected on a partnership that really set the tone for. I wouldn't be here without Dave. And so what a thrill to have a product on the Bulletproof website three months later. And then it's just, you know, I was on Dave's. Hey, Ben Greenfield. How you doing? My name's Andy. I love to be on your podcast. And, you know, so that's kind of organically how it started.

Yes. Yeah, mine did, too, in almost the same way. It was like people were just asking for it and I couldn't find good solutions, and it was okay.

Well, I'm just.

I guess I just do it myself and see what happens and just at least for my own customer base. And then it just exploded and I'm like, oh, my goodness. Okay, I've got a. I gotta up level here and start really producing some stuff. And you have to, like, you have an entire line of stuff now. When it came to, like, what it did for your healing of your skin, like. So was your. Was your face messed up, like, and like, you had. You had broken your jaw? Was that. Was there scarring? Was there like. Like what happened there?

Yeah, no, it was. I'll spare you the picture, but yeah, I mean, a deep, thick. Almost like a railroad track, because it was just an, er, kind of not the best job. Whatever. I'm grateful to be alive. But there were. Yeah, I have scars all over and really, you can't see it right now. But I mean I, at the time, it sure does. I have before pictures and yeah, I was unrecognizable after that accident and just. Yeah, I severed a nerve right here too where it disrupted communication from the brain to your like, I guess, facial movements. So like half my face would show up on a smile. So then you start mitigating your smile also on top of that you don't have your front three teeth. So it was just a perfect cocktail of humility. And I just, I found purpose through that incident. You know, I came into this with the DIY aspect. Like my night cream was made out of a cast iron pan. It was fun. You're melting down beeswax, cacao butter, sea buckthorn oil. Finding out about plant derived stem cells you added in on the water side, like asking a million questions before I got it professionally formulated. But it was just something that I used as like this nutrient dense moisturizing healing paste based on the research I did with the specific individual ingredients and then combined with them. And that's what we do to this day, all of our products, the gold serum, the moisturizer, the night cream. I'm not making four or five different variations for normal, dry, oily combination skin. I think that's all marketing to create customer confusion. So they buy three or four of them. I get it. You got big businesses with a big board. I have three employees. We're 11 little over 11 years old, 98 countries. I love what I do. People are responding to food grade ingredients and the people behind it that are obsessed with it. Meaning I just, just. I didn't have a business plan running into this. I thought I was going to be an actor. I got hit and run over by two cars. By necessity, I created a product that I, you know, I thought I had something. Dave Asprey made it come to life and just it stayed the course and then share it's. You know, I was told pretty early on you can't have quality and profit and like your business. Good luck, you know. Well, I think you can. I think you shout from the mountaintops what you left out by design and why and you'll be frontline. I'm the one formulating with my chemists who I'm friends with. We talked about it before this podcast. I have seven chemists. You can't be great at everything. Matter of fact, the person who makes our clay masks, that's all they do is dry products. Emily out in Rain Shadow Labs, she does, she's like an oil whisperer. She makes Santal Black, your husband's favorite product. Like, that's the only product they do or supplement maker in Colorado. That's. He's like an adaptogenic herb specialist. But, like, we have phone calls, you meet them face to face, you get a vibe. Unfortunately, I didn't know these things, but you got to get your ingredients deck. You're sourcing in writing, signed off in contract so they don't undercut your formula based on profit gain for the manufacturer. These were all, like, you know, bumps in the road and that I had to learn the hard way. But it's great because you get to tell that true story about, you know, a lot of people don't care about that. There are formulation teams within business, usually not the CEO and founder, but this is like my absolute creative outlet. And it's so to just search the gloves globe time tested elements from different cultures incorporated. Now you get to tell that story, especially if you go in there in person, which is my favorite thing to do. Egypt, Peru, Jordan, Morocco. I'm just getting started. Mexico. But I just. That's my thing. I'm an ingredient guy, and I don't like to follow. I. With respect, eminence, living libations. Amre, Gianni, May Lindstrom. I love those brands there, but it's a. It's a short list for people.

It's a very short list. Yeah.

What they're about here. You know what I mean? Like, May Blue Cocoon. Amazing product that'll be talked about for hundreds of years. Like, that's my goal with. With this just it really. I mean, because I. It's expensive to make really good quality products and leave no holes. And I'm talking down to the packaging. Biophotonic glass, $2.82 for our body lotion bottle and pump. I wager that's as expensive as entire formulas at certain volumes of these big products. For sure. Formula comes in, I'll tell you, $29 before shipping for our $89 body lotion. So he cut that 44, 50 wholesale. I'm making five to seven dollars per. Doesn't matter. That's the product I have in my hand at conferences. Boom. That it's. I just love.

You're obviously very passionate about it. I love it, too. I. Since I was young, I was making my own creams, my own oils, because I couldn't find good product. And this was ago when I started to go, I don't want to put this junk on my body. And I started making my own body lotion. My own face cream, my own salves, my, like, everything. I was just like, you. And I like, dove right into it. And I was like, obviously, I just have to make this myself. My own essential oil, perfumes. And I. It's. It's really, really hard to find good quality stuff. And, you know, talking about the chemicals that are in the products that we have out there, compared to something like your line, a lot of that stuff just sits on the surface of the skin. Like, people don't understand how the skin works. And what you. Yes, you can absorb these chemicals out of it, but what is it? It's not even doing anything. You know, like, you used products like yours where it's actually like getting into the next layer of the skin for healing. That's a whole different ball game. And so how do your products do that? Like, do they. Like, what are we doing to the collagen and what are we. Because there's inside versus outside. And we know that we have to put the good stuff in the inside in order to have good skin. But there is a massive, like, what are we putting on topically that's going to get down to those layers to help with anti aging. I mean, every woman listening to this podcast, they want to know how to prevent aging of the face, Right?

So remove the inactive ingredients. Every one of our products, I just. That's how they're made. They're all active. Gold serum rose water base. We're using organic Bulgarian rosewater base. BE propolis. The light gold oils, we put in contrast with astaxanthin, this rich red, like, kind of like it's algae. And then Coq 10 with this, like, fiery orange. With the light gold oil, we got kind of like that sunrise, which people love. We had to dial it down a little bit, but it adds like a little glint to your face without having to use that dye that some competitors still feel comfortable using. Yellow five, yellow six. It's to get that same color. You can get anything you want from Mother Nature, I believe, including, I mean, fragrance, as you, as you mentioned before, through beautiful cold press essential oils in combination. Ylang, ylang rose, clary, sage, sea buckthorn, German chamomile, blue tansy. There's so many, and they're pricey. Australian sandalwood. I mean, you don't see people very pricey. $980 for a half ounce. But you tell the story. You use it and you don't refrain from it. You put it in combination with a symphony of other good cold press essential oils that do serve the skin. I just like to stay away from just the basic oils. Even Tamanu and Argon. Early on it was just a field thing. I mean we went instead of that sea buckthorn, one of nature's sources of omega 7. Incredible for the skin. Expensive, sure, but use it, show that you use it at a high concentration. People will come in droves for quality, especially with performance, especially with ingredients that do serve the epidermis. So my whole thing with that is. Doesn't have to be. Be a derma roller, but you mentioned it, the whole process. For me, we have a system, cleanse, exfoliate, hydrate repair. So, you know, it's all, it's awesome. I mean a lot of people don't have never especially, you know, some men that come to the booth don't have a routine, don't really know how to use certain products, which is fine. So that we want to simplify it especially when we have close to 20 SKUs now. And so just cleanse. Whether it's our cleanser or someone else, it's just a daily fresh cleanse. Cleanse with, without toxins. Ideally, finish with a cold rinse to close the pores. Follow with your favorite moisturizer. Exfoliate a few times a week. Seal in the results before bed, before you're in one position for hours with a good thick, in my opinion, a night cream that you're going to see the dewy residue in the morning. I don't mind that it's Nuka honey, cacao butter, beeswax. It's good. I like it. I don't know if this is right. Like thicker other emulsions that you can feel and see that have been performing when you're in that position. The perfect time to hydrate. We just got a clinical efficacy study. We're starting to get a lot of good testing done because aside from our reviews, we want to get quantifiable data in. 100 out of 100% experienced hydration eight hours later. And then 32 saw. 32% saw noticeable strengthening of their skin barrier within immediate immediately after use. And so that makes sense. So it's, it's the ingredients. It's not like this secret thing. It's. I mean, you gotta become friends with really good people in the industry that are experts in this case, Susan Raffi from SRC Consulting. She's. I mean, she does depositions against skincare brands that aren't doing it right. And she is a very good friend of mine and the chemist for our meteorite scrub presence here. The fragrance that you mentioned, our pearl cleanser. And we're working on an eye gel right now and we have a shampoo and conditioner coming out, sunscreen as well. It's just there's a way if ingredients, you know, are, it's just like baseball statistics, something stick and you know, when you're curious and hungry to learn about certain elements that you know, in this case can assist in, you know, making a product that people talk about, share with their friends. It's in my opinion the clay mask, gold serum, night cream, all of these I formulate myself and it takes a little bit longer but I, you know, it's. I like being frontline. I can answer any question face to face at conferences and online. I'm still there. It's just I never, you know, planned this. So why not, you know, with this type of opportunity, why not maximize it and turn it into a hundred year brand?

Not why not is right. And you were saying before we started recording like you don't just source from one person, you are like handpicking every single ingredient and making sure it's coming from, you know, the best source it could possibly come from. Like there's no, there's no shortcuts which.

Which has its, you know, problems too. With Lem. It's a lot. Yeah. That in the beginning it was extremely difficult because I was getting a collection of oils from the Amazon that had to have an 18 month lead time alone from. Aside from our eight, six to eight week lead time from the actual. This is the pearl cleanser. So you had to keep that into account if that makes sense. Like to get it's oil blend made before that po. So you had to do the math on stock and inventory solo. I could keep going and going on that. Yeah. And so you learn to not simplify the, the supply chain process but just keep that in, in mind throughout a lot different. And that, that part is. I'm glad you brought it up. It's. I'm glad that I'm not just able to get a one stop shop. The quality is not, I mean can't have just. You can't be great at everything. And plus it's a fun part for me. It's a creative outlet to source and meet the people behind the ingredients and then share it, put it on the label. You didn't just go colostrum. No, you went first flower milking, grass fed colostrum. You went organic. You know, I mean in Morocco, Valley of the roses, I mean $2,000 a liter for. Yeah. But I did that in person, you know, in, in Greek, not about mask. I mean there in person. Jordan, the Dead Sea, collecting the Dead Sea mud. Well, not, I mean from a company, but I did, I sourced that in person. Language barrier, Google Translate, you name it, I got that. We have three different particle sizes for the dead. Epsom salt that for a body scrub that I'm working on now. But I'm saying that's what I do. I. Rather than emails, go there, get there, meet the people. You get to combine a beautiful experience with a, you know, formulating a product and you meet a beautiful culture in the process. And yeah, it's a. I don't know how other companies do it, but I don't think it's like that.

No, it's, it's not. And now when I use your products, I'm going to know the whole store. This is like going to be so much more to me now because of these stories and knowing like how you source everything and that it's a trusted product and, and if somebody's just kind of coming in and they've never heard of you before and they're just, you know, they can't afford the whole line. Are there certain products that you would say, okay, start with these core products because you're going to see a difference in using these.

Pro cleanser Gold serum once a week clay mask. Like if you just. I know the clay mask, it just. But take some time for yourself. Hour on a Sunday or something. Mix it up with your favorite essential oils, one to one ratio. I use apple cider vinegar. If it's your first time, maybe go Pellegrino or Gerol Steiner water. Mix it up so it's smooth like toothpaste. Apply it in upwards direction, let it dry. If you can go out in the sun, get. Kill two birds with one stone. Just rinse it off cold, rinse, close the pores, fall with your favorite moisturizer and then just let me know how you feel. Because just. It's just the microcirculation from the stagnant particles. I just believe that it is a culprit of under eye circles, maybe just kind of tired skin around that T zone. But just get those stagnant capillaries circulated, stay consistent with it. Maybe do it a couple times a week and then just follow and you know, it's, it's, it is a little bit of work. But you can simplify it just with cleanse, exfoliate, hydrate repair. And I would say our pro cleanser, our Gold serum outsells everything by like 3x type plant derived vitamin A, which is an effective retinol alternative. We source that from France. It's alfalfa derived astaxanthin, CoQ10 and marine collagen. These are five active ingredients in that. It's Bulgarian rosewater base, rose oil, frankincense, sandalwood, B. Propolis. It is, yeah, that, that's. I mean they're all incredible. I could keep going on everything. It's. Yeah, that. That gold serum is an incredible product. The pearl cleanser, we're not using any foaming agents. We're using colloidal silver ground, freshwater pearl powder, marshmallow root, tremella mushroom, which is nature's highest source of hyaluronic acid. And again, just leaving out the toxic synthetics and the predictable fillers. We're using sunflower glycerin to get that nutrition, nice emulsion and organics.

So should you leave the cleanser? Like when we do cleanser, do we put it on and let it sit so that we can kind of get those good things in, or do you rinse it off right away?

That's ideally. I mean, if you have the time. Yeah, leave it on, leave it on. That pearl powder, that kaolin clay, super calming for reactive skin. You're looking at a very, very, very reactive skin. Like the one like one little, you know, say, you know, I used to be a little picker plucking things and it's gonna, it just stays there for a week, you know, it's gonna be there. It doesn't happen anymore though. I just. The clay mask, my big thing, if anything, now it's ingrown hairs, but the clay mask kind of pulls those up and kind of gets that to pop out a little bit like the bulb of the follicle for a clean shave every time. So like that has cleaned up any issues with any ingrown hairs, which is huge. That's one of the biggest colors culprits, you know, for men that shave and things like that. But just. Yeah, the clay mask, pearl cleanser, the night cream at night. Just an unbeatable arsenal.

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For women. You guys buy your husbands the perfumes, the scented products. They're very masculine. They smell amazing. Like your. Your husband will not notice switching from a perfume to an essential oil based product. They won't. They won't notice it. As in, like, they won't be like, oh, I don't want to smell like a hippie or, you know, like people have this kind of preconceived idea of natural scents, but you've done such a good job of nailing it where it's actually, this is, this could, this could pass as a cologne. Very close. Yeah, yeah. But it's not going to affect you the same way in the negative way.

Yeah, it's. That's the thing. I mean leaving out the phthalates, the parabens, the dyes, very, you know, no mineral oil.

And once you go down the road of not having synthetic smells in your environment, it be they be you become very, very sensitive to the synthetic smells and you don't want them anywhere after a while. It's like you, it's like if you, you're using the downy dryer sheets and you've got cologne and perfumed body sprays and shampoos and you become very numb to those smells and you think, oh, I like these smells. And then you get rid of them and you start switching over to essential oil based products and you cannot go back.

Right. I was just sitting next to someone on a plane. Yeah, it's kind of nauseating for. I'm very sensitive to it. I don't know like Lyft has. Lyft is like Uber. They, they have some. I don't know if this company provided fragrance or whatever that they recommend and the worst. And it just, yeah, it gives me a headache almost like to the point where I need to throw up sometimes. But so I completely agree if you, if you've gone against it once you reintroduced it, it's the only thing you can think about when that like just synthetic fragrance, usually like you mentioned from the dryer, dryer sheets or it's the gain or tide or detergent they're using. But you got to be mindful in my opinion because the pillowcases we're sleeping on right there, you know what I mean? That close to your thyroid and just a toxic buildup is real over time. So we have to be mindful of everything that we have. Personal care products, our household products that we're using. Just grab and turn it. Scan that with Yuka and just find it. Just become more mindful about the ingredients that we're applying on to our largest detoxifying organization organ, you know, that's meant to remove impurities.

And how often should we be doing the Derma roller? No, not the Derma Roller. That's the little, the one that's. What's the one that has the little spiky things?

Is that the Derma Roller Micro needles. I.

Okay.

Yeah, it's. It is a derma roller. You're right. I would got to be careful with this. I would recommend that one to three times a week, take a couple days off in between. Make sure you clean it in between each use. Make sure sure you please don't share with anybody else and just, you know, use your own. But what it does, it creates these tiny little pathways for optimal absorption of the ingredients of the product that you're putting on on top of it afterwards. So in case, like with the clay mask, you're just really getting the maximum benefits after that, it sinks in a little bit further past the epidermis. So whether you're just doing it for collagen purposes, to kind of create these tiny little micro tears signaling to your brain to repair itself effectively, kind of thickening collagen layer over time, or for maximizing the. The use of your favorite product. In this case, I like it with the gold serum as well, if you don't do the clay mask. But our meteorite scrub as well, if you don't want to take the time to mix a massive meteorite scrub is turning into. Yeah, that is. It's a. Yeah.

These little sparkles on your face.

That medium scrub.

Yeah. Isn't that the one that has like, the little. Like, it has those little flecks and in does.

But yeah, hopefully we rinse that off. Yeah, there's.

Okay. Oh, so maybe I didn't rinse it off well enough. I just used it the other day and I'm like, oh, I still have little speckles on my face.

Yeah. So that. That's a special product because we're not using angled exfoliants. We're using olive pit, cherry pit. California poppy seed is a rounded exfoliants that then allow the alpha hydroxy acids. We're using mandelic, fulvic and lactic and hyaluronic acid it in that formula. Stem cells, ceremonial grade Matcha powder, pearl powder. That. Yeah, that's a. I can't believe I didn't mention that earlier. That it's a very powerful product if you don't want to take the time to mix a mask. That meteorite scrub has some of the deepest exfoliation I recommend.

Should we leave that on too? Like, should we scrub and then leave it sit for a second?

Yeah, five, ten minutes on. Yeah, you good. Colloidal silver in there too, to kind of help with any, you know, you know, reactive skin issues. And then the pearl powder to help just calm it.

What's Pearl powder down.

Freshwater pearl powder is probably my number one ingredient. That's one of those ingredients. You could just add water to that just leave on mask, you know, just pearl powder. That's. That was one of the. Yeah. I mean that I originally got that for my kidney and liver health. It's very expensive, but you know, just broke. Woke up in one of those capsules, felt the particle size, kind of matched it with the bentonite, went oh, all right, this is nice. And then vitamin C. Just one by one, you start testing certain particle sizes, let alone the performance because you can tell what's in the product, what, in my opinion, what, what type of benefits it's going to have for the skin. But the particle size, it's got to be like silk. And so that comes down to the sourcing, but also the, the trace minerals and pearl powder, the cases have been using it for centuries to just keep that even porcelain like skin tone as like a. To show that they haven't been out in the fields picking rice and just. There's a whole story to it. But yeah, ground freshwater pearl powder, in my opinion, it just is. Yeah. Probably my, my favorite ingredient. Close second is B. Propolis. Third rose oil or chamomile. Chamomile or manuka honey. Okay. Yeah.

Or, or, or.

It'S fun.

It is fun.

You know, I like going a different direction from just where, you know, this was never planned and so why not just continue to do what. What you know, just feels right and following my heart with purity of ingredients quality and just creating like, like dream team ingredients. Not, not just, you know, everything in there and you can read on our ingredient decks. It's poetry treating me.

Yeah, yeah. What about on the inside? Like what do you. With all your research that you, you obviously have researched skin and skin health and anti aging. What do you know about, you know, what are we putting on the inside? I mean, obviously we all know we need to eat well, but are there things that like I. You. I do believe you stop drinking. And I see that as being a huge inflammatory issue for the face. Like it. It really can age you very, very quickly. So is there things like that you would say, like your top three are to either include in the diet or get rid of.

So we'll start with get rid of. I would say alcohol, high amounts of processed sugar, processed foods, gluten. I don't respond well to.

Dairy.

Would you say too? Because dairy is very acne promoting, isn't it?

Is I. But I have like a fridge full of raw d. Dairy so that's not.

It doesn't affect you the same way.

No, as, as a, like pasteurized versus raw. Completely different. So but I, yeah, I, I would include dairy. I just can't be a hypocrite on that. Yeah, yeah. So, but, but they've great things. A healthy gut kimchi, good. Get it like there are so many good brands out there and if you just find one that you kind of crave, I like to add a little avocado to, to that sardine. Just make this little midday mash that like just completely satiates my system while like being respectful of your digest. Like the good digestive bacteria from the kimchi, the good fats from the avocado and vitamins and a good amount of just nutrient density in the sardines. It's a little bit of a tangent but it's been like my go to for a while. The sardines you're getting really good what phosphorus protein, good fats, calories, calcium. So that's like my just being is you know, mindful to your allergens obviously. But like I, I just like to get as many nutrients in the system. Broccoli, brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, beets, sockeye salmon, grass fed elk, lamb, fatty, fatty meats in my opinion. You know, good rib eye, good leg of lamb steak and I stay pretty consistent with that. And you know, learning how to cook and knowing what is going into your food rather than you know, the doordash days that sometimes we can fall into just really matters.

Yeah.

Seed oils is huge and just, Yeah, I, I, let's see.

I know I'm, I know I like the paleo based diet for skin. When I switched to paleo and maybe that was because I got rid of the gluten and the grains which are inflammatory, but it transformed my skin and I hear that all the time from people just from eliminating those, the high grains, sugar. You know, some people eat dairy with Paleo I can tolerate dairy no problem. So I've always eaten it. But massive transformation.

Yeah. I would also say sauna if, if you can take it. Yes. For this. The toning of the skin mitigating kind of the.

So I put your mask on and.

Then I go in the sauna. How's that?

When I heard that I almost, I didn't want to interrupt you but that is next level. If you get it good where it's like where it's dry too and then it kind of breaks up because your skin's starting to sweat. So you're opening the pores and reintroducing the already dried mask into those expanded pores. That is next level.

And I'm like, that's what I did you.

Yeah. That's incredible. Just follow with old rinse to close the. That like dunk it and then put on old serum. That.

That is. That's what I do.

Yeah. That's awesome.

Yeah. No, and I was wondering, I was like, am I blocking? Am I? But I was like, it feels so good and my skin just feels so incredible afterwards. And it's. And it's a take time for myself ritual now. Right. So I usually do it every couple weeks. I put the mask on, I go in the sauna and it's just this self, self care, nice routine. And then, you know, even afterwards I'll do my red light mask sometimes or you know, things like that. Do you like red light stuff for the face? Is that a good thing?

Incredible. Matter of fact, I try to. I use the Joovv solo and I also have the Kenyan around the neck for a little thyroid help. I'm a geek. Yeah. Clay masks before and after. So ideally what you would do is dermatologically, camera roll, put on the gold serum because it has copper peptide in it and then just get as close to that red light as you can. If you feel the warmth, in my opinion, it's kind of. That's activity right there. But then you put on the clay mask and then follow and then same thing, three to five minutes. But as close as you can get to that good red light. It's just incredible for the collagen synthesis in combination copper peptide. So I highly recommend that red light. Amazing. Amazing.

Yeah, amazing.

I know. I got the Mitolux, which I am so happy with. It's the only one that's got UVB in it. Okay. It actually increases your vitamin D and so it's a great. It's great to. You can do just red light and then there's a setting that's very low that you get a little bit of uvb. And I know that, you know, it's uva, that, that is not good for the skin. But UVB can actually help too. Do lots of different things in the system.

So you said Mito Labs.

Mito Lux.

Mito Lux. Okay.

Yeah. Called Better than Sunshine, the sun lamp. This thing. Oh, I've got my screen thing on. You can't see it, but yeah. Anyways, it's. It's one of a kind. It's such. I was so happy to discover it because it's the only one that actually will increase your vitamin D levels. And I make Canada, so I had to get no UVB for half the year. And it's such an important thing to get.

So you've seen your D levels rise from that?

Yeah.

Really?

Yeah, yeah. He's got. He's done a ton of research on it for. And it brought up. The guy that did developed it. It brought up his testosterone levels. It. It's been like life changing. And that's why he created the lamp. And the only one out there that's got uv.

We just got a new customer. I'm sending one.

Right. Yeah, I'll send you the podcast I did with him.

Yeah, please do. Please do.

Yeah. So interesting because we kind of demonize the UVB for skin and it's. We shouldn't be. Especially if you do, because he does red. It comes out red light first, which then helps your skin to produce the melanin. So then the UVB steps in and that red light, that first red light prepares your skin for the UVB and then it ends in red light. So you just get this little tiny head of UVB in between and then red light on either end.

Yeah.

And it's strong. It's a strong red light. So if you just want to do the red light setting, it's much stronger than any of those masks are.

Okay.

Yeah. Not as the big full panels, which you probably have those. Those ones are obviously the strongest, but. Yeah. And I just have it sitting on the desk, so it's super easy to use. So anyways, that's. There's a little tip for you.

Oh, thank you.

But with your products now, I'll know to like, put. Put these on and then put the red light on afterwards.

Yeah. Gold serum especially.

Gold serum especially. Okay.

Yeah. Amazing. Well, thank you.

You are so passionate about everybody's. Most people listen to my podcast. I do have a YouTube channel, but most people listen. And I just have to tell everybody that Andy is like the human Ken Barbie doll. If you look at him. You were. You were a model, weren't you? Yeah, you look like a model. So, like, talking about just taking care of you, like, you really. You can see that. You take care of your skin. It's beautiful. I've. I've met you in person and I know that it's not. This isn't just a filter. You have perfect skin. And so to have this happen to you, you know where you had facial. You. You broke your face, for heaven's sakes. And to have these products get you back to where you're at right now. That is very powerful. So just. So everyone that's listening, go check them. Go check them out on YouTube, you guys.

Oh, well, thank you.

You're walking in. You're a walking advertisement. Let's just put it that way.

Well, no, I. It wasn't always that way. So I. That means a lot. Thank you.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

It's just. It's the truth of what happened. I'm still 11 years in. I just love what I do, and this is a beautiful opportunity that I'm treating just as. That is a big purpose that can help other people feel better about themselves, truly, and then healthier as well. And, like, knowing the person behind it is meaning me. I just. It's. There's nothing that matters more to me. Purity of products and efficacy of them and then the customer experience is as. I mean, my team is amazing, too. They're all. I mean, we're. It's just. Yeah. I'm very grateful for the team that I have. We treat people how we like to be treated. I formulate products that are as clean as I can make them, and I care that you love them. I love. You know, I just. This is a big blessing and thank you for the opportunity to share it.

And we have a coupon code, so, of course Angie was nice enough to give us a coupon for all my listeners. 20% off, which is really great. Coupon code is Karen. So if anything, you guys, please try the mask. Oh, you. You honestly, you've never had a mask like this before, so at least try that. And then once you do, that's going to open the gate. You're going to be like, I want to try this now. That's what I did. I was like, I had a try to select little few, and then I went and got the rest of them. I was like, okay, now I want to try the pearl cleanser.

And I.

My husband, the cologne and the cream and. And now he smells good. Every single day. He always smelled good. But I just love that he can have a scent now that I can tolerate. Thank you.

Oh, you're more than welcome. And we plan what I want you.

To do for me.

Andy.

Yeah.

I want you to now create a female perfume because yours is very masculine.

Masculine Champaka. And I'm going to name it after my mom. It's the beginning stages. I need all the help I can get because it's a note and it's that I'm like. That resonates with me that I know my mom would like and my sisters as well, so believe me, the wheels are spinning. But that's 100% what's next. But it may take a little while.

Because test it out on me, Give me samples, and I'll be able to be like, no. Yes. Because I'm. I'm very particular.

Okay. Yeah, yeah, that's. That's top of mind. It may take a little way because. Okay. But that's absolutely next.

Great. Great.

I'm excited. All right, well, thank you so much, and keep doing what you're doing.

Oh, thank you so much for having me on. And can't wait to see you next to the conference. Yes.

Before we sign off, ladies, remember, this journey is just beginning. If you're excited to dive deeper into the world of hormones, weight loss, and embracing your power, hop over to karenmortell.com.

Discover how you can join me on.

This incredible ride and level up your wellness game. And don't forget to stay connected. Follow me on Instagram and Facebook at Karen Martell Horton Hormones for daily inspiration and insights. Until next time, ladies. Have a great day wherever you are in the world.