When experiencing a gastronomical adventure is the goal, sharing a variety of dishes with a larger group of friends makes for a better experience compared to ordering just one or two dishes for yourself. Feasting on a variety of dishes is more delicious (and nutritious) than consuming entire plate of only Cantonese chow mien or an entire platter of Kung Pao chicken as a stand-alone meal. To each their own, I suppose, but “family style” is what happens when you pre-order your Hyangii products every season. A group of us order together so that we can access more ingredients, fresh and better, compared to each of us going solo.
The variety offered by potluck parties make it the best way to share food and company.
Photo by Kaboompics .com from Pexels
This is an W2020 update, albeit incomplete (it doesn’t include H-series, for example), to an thought exercise I did once for fun:
DO I ONLY PICK INGREDIENTS BASED ON HOW EXPENSIVE THEY ARE?
It just occurred to me, as I'm writing ingredient features, that the common thread seems to be that the ingredients are expensive. You might wonder if that is my selection criteria. The answer is no...and yes!
1) No, the pricey ingredients are rare, hard to extract, or difficult to formulate it, but they are worth it.
a) That is why formulators from luxury brands include ONE of these luxury items as their key ingredient:
*L'Occitane might use immortelle extract in M2)
*Drunk Elephant uses marula oil (in M2)
*Biossance uses squalane (in M3)
*Neal's Yard Remedies uses macadamia nut oil and frankincense (but it is the Boswellia neglecta oil, not the prized Boswellia carterii essential oil) (in M2)
*Strivectin uses peptides (in M1, M3)
*Skinceuticals is known for Vitamin C (which is actually not an expensive ingredient-it is hard to formulate with) (in C2.5 grains)
* La mer uses seaweed extract (in C2.5 bar, not grains for W2020)
b) Also, let's not forget about the ingredients that often don't make it into commercial skin care because they are fragile, but can be found as single ingredients at your health food store, often as raw ingredients or supplements:
* MSM (in Teen M1, M3)
* N-acetyl glucosamine (in M3)
* Evening primrose oil (in M2)
* Rosehip seed oil (in M2)
* Aloe juice (in C3, M1, M3)
* Shea butter (in M3)
* Argan oil (in M2, M3)
* Green tea extract (M1)
* Licorice root extract (C2.5, M1)
* extracts of grape, banana, cucumber. (M1)
* etc. There’s more. Pls see ingredient list.
c) And the other obscure ingredients that can only be found at specialty trade wholesalers or those that are valued by aromatherapists
* panthenol (vit B5), niacinamide (vit B3) (both in in M3)
* pracaxi oil (in Sleeping mask)
* sea buckthorn CO2 extract (in M2, Sleeping Mask)
* cupuacu butter (M3)
* broccoli seed oil (M2)
* pomegranate seed oil (M2)
* myrrh essential oil (M2)
* carrot seed essential oil (M2)
* rose geranium essential oil (M2, M3)
* the "good" frankincense (Boswellia cateri) (M2, M3)
* sandalwood essential oil (M2)
* mandarin essential contains l-limonene which aids absorption of other ingredients into the skin (M2, M3)
* etc. Pls refer to ingredient list for details.
2) YES, I chose luxury ingredients that you probably wouldn't buy yourself individually since shelf-life is so short or that it would be difficult to process without formulation experience and equipment.
I will never dilute the Hyangii face with good, but cheaper oils: caprylic/capric triglyceride or other coconut oil derivatives, oils of almond, sunflower, apricot kernel, almond, jojoba, olive, avocado, grape seed. I will use them for body products instead.
I can’t believe I had time to do this exercise once. Updating some of it was a much easier task. Thanks for reading all the way to the end!
Yours in family-style adventures,
Cee