San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Crystal Resources
crystals and flower essences commingle with clean skin care products.
Trained in massage therapy and astrology, Elise, who also owns Studio Soothe in Hayes Valley, incorporates crystals into her facials by placing them on the client’s body during treatment.
“It is an opportunity to introduce people to various modes of healing arts,” she says. “Someone may be used to getting facials but never had a crystal placed on their chest. That somatic experience may help them anchor their experience and connect to their body in a whole new and deeper way.”
Bay Area skin care brand founders Laurel Shaffer of Laurel Whole Plant Organics and Amber Woods of Pink Light formulate their skin and body care products with crystals for a similar reason: to help customers connect with their own bodies and sense of themselves.
Woods created Pink Light Botanicals in 2010. “As an aesthetician and formulator, I wasn’t seeing healing, self-love or self-care in the treatment rooms or in the products,” she says. A trained herbalist and aesthetician, Woods also studied crystals and energy work before opening her skin studio in Oakland.
Woods makes her own flower and gem essences, then adds them to her formulas based on what she wants the user to experience.
“When I formulate with flower and gem essences, I add whatever energetic properties I would like to infuse into the formula,” Woods says. “For example, I use an essence of rhodochrosite (a pink stone) in Self-care: Woods, top, created Pink Light Botanicals in 2010 based on her love of skin care. Another Bay Area aesthetician, Laurel Shaffer, created her line of Laurel Whole Plant Organics, above, to help customers connect with their own bodies and sense of themselves.
the Self Love Spray. Rhodochrosite is the ultimate stone of self-love and encourages a positive outlook. That’s a cornerstone to this formula and its effectiveness. This ingredient is nearly invisible, but you can tell there’s a depth to this spray that surpasses a typical aromatherapy mist.”
Laurel Whole Plant Organics’ Shaffer doesn’t see her brand as metaphysical or crystal-focused. However, she has always incorporated crystal and gem essences because crystals are so prominent in her own life.
“When I moved to California, I developed such a strong connection with crystals that I wanted to share it with others,” Shaffer says. “At the time,
This Magic Life: 4454-A Piedmont Ave., Oakland, 510-943-2395, https://pink-light.com
when I created California Body Oil, I was struggling with my own body acceptance. I wanted to learn to love my body just the way it was — and I don’t know of any woman who doesn’t have that issue.”
Shaffer formulated the oil so it would have an energetic impact on whomever opened the bottle. “I wanted it to not only smell beautiful and feel beautiful but encourage you to love your own body,” she says. Shaffer creates her oil-based gem and crystal essences by infusing jojoba oil with crystals and gems in the sun. “Gems reflect like light energy, the light reflects back to us into the oil, and that’s what I use.”
Elise, Woods and Shaffer are all consistent in their reasons for using crystals — not to chase the proverbial trend dragon but to share the healing energies they incorporate into their own lives.
As Woods says, “I believe that an important part of skin care is to shift your mind-set and to love your skin — to create a practice of viewing yourself with loving self-perception.”
Janna Mandell is a beauty freelance writer in Marin County. Email: style@sfchronicle.com