are you down for layered effects?🧐

In ‘The Layers’ Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz said to “live in the layers, / not on the litter.”

Polly Apfelbaum’s enclosed “Small Townville” artwork embodies for me the beauty of taking an expanded, "layered" approach to how we look and how we live. It was part of an ICA Boston exhibition “Less Is a Bore” that invited visitors to explore the jubilantly glorious messiness of our disjointed world.

It’s extremely cold over much of our nation right now. Most of us are hunkered down or shoveling snow. However, the real storm that has rightly gripped our attention continues to be the worsening tragic events in Minneapolis.♥️ Despite the horror, we must keep watch because we can never warm to these atrocities.

Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz said for us to “live in the layers, / not on the litter.” Which is to say, we must go deep into our life’s layers and not become preoccupied with life’s superficial “litter.”

Layers have always intrigued me—they are a perfect strategy in cooking and fashion—in geological formations, and yes the layers of skin. Layers represent my formulation strategy for eu2be products. Hence, layered effects…

So instead of relying on marketing “litter,” let’s go deep into the layers of two occlusive oils—coconut and mango seed oils and excavate for treasured gems. 

Choosing products with ingredients that enable skin cell renewal is a necessity after a certain age because giving skin what it needs for restorative effects, collagen synthesis and cellular repair impacts skin health and one’s sense of wellbeing.

Coconut and mango seed oils emanate from the tropics and as a result of climate and environmental factors contain a greater amount of natural sun-screen components than oils from temperate regions.

Being occlusive emollient oils that form a protective barrier on skin’s surface, both are comprised of saturated fatty acids. But they have distinguishing differences.

Saturated fatty acids make up about 90% of coconut oil, primarily lauric acid which is highly antimicrobial. Whereas mango seed oil is comprised of a triumvirate of fatty acids—stearic acid (about 50%), oleic acid (about 40%) and palmitic acid (roughly 10%).  

These lipids integrate to deliver a complex offering of impressive skincare benefits, while performing multiple tasks for skin health that far exceed just forming an occlusive barrier: 

• stimulate collagen synthesis
• help strengthen and maintain skin's moisture barrier
• act as an emollient to soften skin
• support anti-inflammatory soothing and strengthening

Mango seed oil doesn’t basks in the glory of its fatty lipid wins, it brings receipts on the vitamin front with A, C, E compared to coconut oil which only has traces of vitamin e. 

This factor alone makes the case for why coconut oil is not the holy grail ingredient the natural skincare movement made it out to be.

Without vitamin A, you don’t get compelling skin cell turnover. Vitamin C brightens skin, boosts collagen production and scores of antioxidant activities, while vitamin E sets up a protective shield against stress and UV damage.

Further, mango seed oil and our other biomimetic seed oils don’t just perform good works on the skin surface. They create a true symbioses between nature and biology to aid skin comfort, radiance, and resilience for deep conditioning benefits and skin health.

Keepsake, Trove and Golden Amends answer the endless talk about hydration, barrier repair, and “glow” in skincare with a substantial ecosystem of biomimetic carrier oil lipids—very hard to replicate in a lab—to nourish, enrich, and protect into skin and hair layers.

So condition and restore ALL your skin layers and discover treasured gems of beauty within. 

May we choose color, layers, and messy vitality over oblivious, ordered unity every day of the week.