Beauty Without Toxins: The Alitura Story with Andy Hnilo

Foreign.

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 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 aloe chera for myself and let me just say, I was blown away. My husband is now totally hooked on their Santal 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 Nelo, went through a near fatal accident that completely transformed not only his life, but also how he viewed health and skill 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 lucky.

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 pounds, was getting into supplements, just e. Warm 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 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 he just pointed 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 barely Afford it. I think it's even still out there anyway.

I think it is too.

Yeah, it. And, 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 plan swamp. 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 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 it. I used it on my face, 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, and you know, what better feeling than to get clear skin serious. 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 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 apply to my largest organ. Has grown year over year, little scrubs learning about exfoliation, learning about hydrating, but correctly, 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 ingredient 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 trying to, I'm just saying it's important.

Yeah, yeah.

Don't rent 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 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 calcium bentonite. Aztec Healing Clay was the brand. And so after years of this, Karen, it was just, you know, weekly routine, every Sunday night, running into that bathroom. I had roommates at the time, but just mixing up this clay mask, running back, letting it off, it was under.

You must have been teased.

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

The young man that's super into skin care is. You don't see that too often, but 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. Those 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 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, 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 shot met with Sage Dammers, George Lamoure, Ron Teagarden from Dragon Herbs Crosby where 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 Hoshu Woo. I built this tonic through their suggestions and I would mix it 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 eyelight 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 micro circulation 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.

Is that what it's doing?

Oh yeah.

This is the clay mask.

Absolutely.

Oh, I don't. I did not know this. I was just like, 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 you're. 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 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 also get in 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, 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 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@BulletproofExec, D Asprey@BulletproofExec, Dave.Asprey, you name it.

This is how people find my email. That's 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'm 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 whole 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 it, 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 to 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. So 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. 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 is Andy. I would 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'll just do it myself and see what happens and just at least for my own customer base. And then it just explode. And now I'm like, oh, my goodness. Okay, I've got to. I gotta uplevel 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, in, 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 the 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. I mean, I get to create products and leave out what other companies are. Feel are comfortable with putting in, you know, filling it up. Water, glycerin, alcohol, Saterial alcohol.

Yeah, let's talk about those, Andy. Like, because that is what is in the majority of products out there. And most people don't have a clue what they're looking for as far as clean ingredients goes on skincare, care products. So what are we avoiding?

Unnecessary toxic fillers, I would say, right in preservatives, I would say right at the top. The culprits, fragrance, sodium benzoate, the dyes, unnecessary fillers. Meaning when you see glycerin in the top glycerin, I just want to say 95% of all glycerin, they would have put it in parentheses if it wasn't is soy based. So in you, in hormones, I mean it's just, it's one of the biggest fillers, glycerin. Please be mindful of the glycerin. And if you want to reach out to the company and ask is this soy based? The last thing you want to do is be putting rubbing an estrogenic compound daily in, in part as part of your routine. So the glycerin is just a small culprit, but it's yeah, the sodium benzoate, phenoxyethanol, in my opinion, potassium sorbate. We're using glass to mitigate the light frequency to prevent oxidation of our natural ingredients. It's biophotonic glass from the Netherland. And we also use a lactobacillus fermentation. It's kimchi in coconut derived echo cert approved. I mean there are, and there are even better preservatives now. I mean it's, it's great. There are organic chemists out there that realize that every component of our personal care products can be cleaned up. And so it's like I said at the beginning of formulating Alatura there it just was kind of disregarded. Does organic matter? Do these. I mean, does it really matter? I can't tell you how many times I've heard that. I just really, 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 combine 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. With it. Meaning I 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 stay 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'd 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 mess, that's all they do is dry products. Emily out in Rain Shadow Labs, she's like an oil whisperer. She makes Santal Black, your husband's favorite product. That's the only product they do. Our supplement maker in Colorado, he's 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 ingredient deck, your 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 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. Amari, Gianni, Mae, Lindstrom. I love those brands there. But it's a. It's a short list for people.

It's a very short list.

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. It 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, pump I major that's as expensive as entire formulas at certain volumes of these big problems. For sure. Formula comes in, I'll tell you, 29 before shipping for our 89 body lotion. So he cut that in half. 44, 50 wholesale. I'm making five to seven dollars per. It 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, I, since I was young, I was making my own creams, my own oils because I couldn't find good product. And this was, you know, 30 years 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're going to 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 or what are we doing to the collagen and what do 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. Have every ingredient serve a purpose. Our night cream, for example, no water in the formula. We're using beeswax, two different plant derived stem cells, Edelweiss and gardenia. But Edelweiss won like the silver medal award in 2016 I believe for wrinkle defense. Vegan hyaluronic acid grass fed colostrum chaga for to mitigate inflammation. But yeah, no water, no throwaway ingredients, no toxic synthetic fillers. Artificial fragrance dyes have every ingredient in there serve a purpose. And so that's what 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. Yeah, 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 are so many and they're pricey. Australian sandalwood. I mean you don't see people very price Oil $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 symphony of other good cold press essential oils that do serve the skin. I just, I, I like to stay away from just the, the basic oils. Even Tamanu and Argon. Early on it was just a field thing. I mean we went instead of that 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 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 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 emulsions that you can feel and see that have been performing when you're in that position. The perfect time to hydrate. We just gotta. 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, 100% experienced hydration eight hours later. And then 32 saw. 32% saw noticeable strengthening of their skin barrier within 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, if ingredients, you know, are. It's just like baseball statistics. Some things stick and you know, when you're curious and hungry to learn about certain elements that, you know, in this case can assist in, 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, 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 it, I never, you know, planned this. So why not, you know, with the type of opportunity, why not maximize it and turn it into 100 year brand? Why 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 hand picking 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 leach.

Absolutely. Yeah.

It's a lot. Yeah. 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. Alone from aside from our 8, 6 to 8 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 this 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, 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, the ingredients and then share it, put it on the label. You didn't just go colostrum now you went first flour milking, grass fed colostrum. You went first floral 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 groups, not about mask. I mean they're 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 Sea. 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 beautiful experience with the, 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 not. And now when I use your products, I'm going to know the whole story. It's 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.

Pearl cleanser gold serum, once a week clay mask. Like if you just. I know the clay mask, it says 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 Gerald 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 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, be 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 nice emulsion and organic.

So do 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 yet, 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. 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 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 for self care.

And then the, the, for women, you guys buy your husbands the perfumes, the scented products, they're very masculine. They smell amazing. Like you're, 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 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, 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. Like, 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. 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 of that, 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 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, the micro.

Yeah, it's. It is a derma roller. You're right. I would gotta 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 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 the 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.

Yeah. Isn't that the one that has like the little, like, has those little flecks 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 as a rounded exfoliants that then allow the alpha hydroxy acids. We're using mandelic, fulvic and lactic and hyaluronic acid 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. 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.

Okay.

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 up in one of those capsules, felt the particle size, kind of matched it with the bentonite and 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 kind of 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 favorite ingredient. Close second is be propolis. Third rose oil or camp and chamomile.

Okay.

Or Manuka honey. Okay. Yeah.

Or, or, or.

Oh, it's fun.

It is.

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 text. It's poetry to me. 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 really can age you very, very quickly. So is there things like that 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 dairy. So that's not.

It doesn't affect you the same way.

No. As a like pasteurized versus raw. Completely different. So but I, yeah, I would include dairy. I just can't be a hypocrite on that. Yeah, yeah. So, but, but the great things, a healthy gut kimchi. Good. Get it. Like there's 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 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 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, 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. I, you know, good ribeye, good leg of lamb, steak. And I stay pretty consistent with that and obvious in that, you know, learning how to cook and knowing what is going into your food rather than, you know, the door dash 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. Oh. 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 a 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, are reintroducing the already dried mask into those expanded pores. That is next level.

And I'm like, that's what I do.

Yeah. That's incredible. Just followed rinse, close the pores that like dunk it and then cold serum.

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 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 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 juve solo and I also have the Kenyan around the neck for a little thyroid health. I'm a cheek good. Yeah. Clay mask before and after. So ideally what you would do is derma roll, put on the gold serum because it has copper peptide in it and 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.

Yeah, amazing. I know. I got the Mito Lux, 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 to 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. 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'm in 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. That's why he created the lamp. And she's the only one out there that's got uvb.

We just got a new customer. I mean 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 stabs, steps in and that. 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 hit 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. 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. 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. 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 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. Powerful. So just so everyone is 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. That is a big gift. Your 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'd like to be treated I formulate products that. That are as clean as I can make them, and I care that you love them. I love. You know what I mean? I just. This is a big blessing and thank you for the opportunity to.

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. Great. 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.

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 I. 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 wit because it takes it. But that's absolutely next.

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

Thank you so much for having me on and can't wait to see you next at a conference.

Yes.