Bonjour,
Salut, Ciao, Arrivederci, Hola, and all those other romance languages because it is February! The month of love, romance, and Valentine’s day. If you’re still looking for a gift that isn’t boring or roses (which let’s be honest you probably are), maybe check out this list we put together for you? Everything is conscious and better than a candlelit dinner ????.
Jaclyn + Michelle, Founders
P.S. Have a Happy Lunar New Year, and welcome to the year of the Tiger!
The Black-Owned Highlights: Our Black-Owned Brands
- The Sixes: The gorgeously sleek pants for our extra-tall baddies
- Nomads: It’s NEVER too cold for swimwear– plus this can be your excuse for a nice vacation ????
- Spoken Flames: The candles that not only smell amazing but combine spoken word for some serious aromatherapy
We have made the 15% pledge and are looking for more Black-Owned brands to onboard. You can help us by sharing recommendations for Black-Owned brands we should connect with!
Busy Doing What?: Our Founders Keeping it Real
Jaclyn’s Busy…• Asking you to read about the death of Lauren Smith-Fields ????
- Playing in the snow with my big baby, Pancake ????
- Being happy to see that CA’s Redwood Forest is being returned to Native Tribes ????
- Reading up on the new generation of skincare: water-free & plastic-free ????
Michelle’s Busy…
- Learning everything I can about Arizona’s SB1130 bill that will ban trans students from playing sports that align with their gender identity ????
- Celebrating a belated birthday with some sushi ????
- Reading up on the hypersexualization of tan skin ☀️
- Rethinking how best-by labels affect waste in the skincare industry ????
ICYMI While You Were Seeing Pictures of a Pregnant Rihanna…
- We hand-picked our most consciously cool Valentine’s gifts for you
- We talked about our 1% this month– civil rights and systemic injustices
- We sent out a survey to our entire community, a survey which will help shape the future of conscious shopping– all we need is your input to help drive the change!
- We sat down with Dame’s co-founder (and sexologist) to answer all your sex-related questions
Diving Deep: Something you didn’t know about the making of olive oil…
You’ve probably had olive oil, either slathered over a salad or as a delectable dip for your bread and honestly, our mouth is salivating just thinking about it. But like wine, not all olive oil is created equally. Where the olives are grown and how they’re produced make a major difference in the quality of the oil. But where are the differences found and how is olive oil even made?
If you want a short explanation, here it is: olive oil is just olive juice.
If you’re interested in the details behind the delicious green kitchen staple (that Mediterraneans basically bathe in), read on. First, the green olives must be harvested (duh), and most will be around August-September and in warm Mediterranean countries like Greece, or in the US’s case, California. Next, the olives are completely crushed (seeds and all) against granite millstone or stainless steel hammermills. Now that you have a “delicious” olive paste (and no it’s not tapenade), the producers will apply water and mix all of the pulp and water together, allowing all the oil to come together. Next, the mixture is pressed to separate the tasty oil from the pulpy water.
“Extra virgin” olive oil only needs to be bottled after this, there will be no refining, heating, or chemicals applied. “Pure” or “Light” olive oil is a cheaper blend and will be refined before bottling.
The entire process of making good, creamy olive oil is key– from start to finish. Which is why we personally love our Women-Owned brand, Pineapple Collaborative.
Pineapple’s Californian grown, extra-virgin olive oil is made by the generational experts, the Ricchiuti family, and is crafted by oleologist, Kathryn Tomajan.
