Hello lovelies! Welcome to the Gemstone Organic Blog. We are here to share our insight on skincare, holistic living, and beyond.

Is it Organic?

 

Over the weekend Debra, our Chief Alchemist and I sat down and were going thru some magazines. We decided this new moon is a perfect time to make another vision board/collage to carry us through the summer.

So while hunting for inspirational words and pictures to cut out we came across a skin care ad. It’s a well-known brand and I had seen their name many times before, I am sure you have too. What I hadn’t seen until that moment was that they call themselves E*******, Organic Skincare. That is their slogan, title, and catchphrase. I immediately noticed that the USDA Organic symbol was nowhere on their ad. Pretty strange for a company selling ‘organic’ skincare I thought… 

So flipping through more pages of the magazine, I started looking a little closer at other brands. Are there really companies out there claiming to sell organic skincare that have little to no organic ingredients or certification?? The shock began to set it.

B**** Organics, S*** Organics, E**** Organics – these are just three examples of companies I found using ‘Organic’ in their brand names in order to pull wool over consumers eyes. These brands aren’t using all organic ingredients and they aren’t certified organic themselves.

I began to dig a little deeper and found that California is the only state currently enforcing label laws when it comes to brand names. Ogx is one company that was forced to change their name when California banned the non-organic brand from using its original and misleading name, Organix. Unfortunately this ban does not hold up in the other 49 states.(1)

It’s good news that this company is being forced to change, but what about the others? And who will hold these brands accountable? We, the consumers, need to do our due diligence and research and use our purchasing power ($ money talks!). Let’s support only authentic brands and brands that are doing what they advertise.

Here are some tips to use when it comes to shopping:

 *Read the ingredients! Just because it says ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ on the label doesn’t mean it will contain the best ingredients, so we need to always read for ourselves.

 *Look for the USDA Organic symbol and for companies that are “Certified Organic”. Just claiming to be is not enough.

 *Watch out for companies claiming to use “natural and organic ingredients” without being certified. They may have ONE organic ingredient in ONE of their endless lines of products. This is too often the case.

 *Don’t be fooled by green-washing techniques when it comes to labels and packaging. Conventional brands wanting to reach conscious consumers will use subtle ways to try and get us to think their products are natural and eco-friendly, like using brown and green colored packaging. 

 

Without looking deeper, we could all be easily fooled. By taking a few minutes to investigate the brands we are supporting, we can slowly weed out the misleading ones and encourage more authentic and genuine brands to flourish.

 Glow On,

      <3 Sara

(1) http://www.naturalnews.com/042993_bogus_organic_products_hair_care_Organix.html#

June 15, 2015

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 When you hear negative self-talk thought coming in, don’t berate yourself over it. Hear it, acknowledge it, and let it go. Tell yourself that you now choose to feel pretty, smart, accomplished, happy. Tell yourself that you are love! You are perfectly perfect in your constant transformation. And watch the magic unfold, as these mantras become your truths.

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May 14, 2015

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