This Saturday marks 2020’s first day of summer, and while many of us won’t be able to hop on a plane for a sun-soaked vacation this year, we’d like to transport you (in under a minute via this woodland-fairytale footage of our founder, Kendra Kolb Butler) to one of the most beautiful places in the world.
In Jackson Hole, Wyoming, this is the season that built our vision for Alpyn Beauty. A dose of vitamin D benefits more than our moods, it boosts the wildcrafted actives that we harvest for our super-powered formulas. They ultimately become the exclusive extracts, from inflammation-soothing wild dandelion to healing calendula, that you won’t find elsewhere in your medicine cabinet. Why? No other brand can give you these pristine ingredients.
For Allure.com’s “What Is ‘Wildcrafted Skincare?’ A Look at The New Naturals” article, our founder Kendra Kolb Butler spoke with Paige Stables about finding a forest of skincare ingredients with “big, Jurassic Park-sized leaves” right in her own backyard. Below, the Allure team’s experts help bolster Alpyn’s unique mission.
For us, the first day of summer means wildcrafted plants, harvesting nutrient-dense, chemical-free ingredients, and remaining respectfully sustainable–always:
WILDCRAFTED PLANTS
She bottled these native plants to create Alpyn Beauty, a skin-care line that's sustainably sourced and "wildcrafted." That's a new term for the beauty industry, and it means exactly what you'd think: products made from wildflowers and other foraged plants.
FULLY POTENT INGREDIENTS
"[Traditionally], natural ingredients can be subject to processing that dilutes their primary actives such as [antioxidants], but wild products are less mired in chemicals, and more likely to have full potential and efficacy," says Mona Gohara, an associate clinical professor of dermatology at the Yale School of Medicine. Some of the most commonly used are dandelions (to smooth), chamomile (to calm), and antioxidant-packed goji berries and sage.
NUTRIENT-DENSE AND CHEMICAL-FREE
"Farmed or cultivated [botanical] ingredients are managed by humans — often, using chemicals — to maximize growth potential, whereas these wild ingredients grow naturally. So they may be more nutrient-dense given there is no human interference until it's time to harvest them," explains cosmetic chemist Ron Robinson.
RESPECTFULLY SUSTAINABLE
And to remain sustainable, this is far from an anything-goes process. "When wildcrafting is done properly, it's respectful to nature. You never kill the plant. You never pull it out of the ground. It's no different than an animal nibbling on it when they forage and eat their dinner," says Butler. Respecting nutrient-dense plants only makes sense.
After all, says Kendra, "these are the Olympians of plants."