The most striking aspect of the bearberry plant may be its bright red berries (a favorite of bears, hence the name), but the most powerful beauty benefits of bearberry are found in its leaves, which are prized for their skin-brightening abilities. Bearberry leaves contain a natural lightening compound called arbutin that’s said to be quite powerful at bleaching dark spots, age spots and melasma. Bearberry is usually delivered in small doses in brightening skin care products so its powerful lightening effect remains gentle and natural. Bearberry is also packed with antioxidants and has natural sun protective benefits for the skin.

You’ll find bearberry leaf extract in tons of natural skin care products, from John Masters Organics to 100% Pure, Derma-e and Eminence. One of the skin lightening products with bearberry that I’m most excited about is Fei’d (it’s pronounced ‘fade’), a botanical-based, hydroquinone-free lotion that lightens skin with a handful of powerful natural ingredients, from bearberry to border silver, mulberry, hawthorne and licorice.

I’ve just started testing Fei’d, but the ingredient combination looks uniquely powerful, groundbreaking (it mixes many ingredients that are well-known in Chinese Medicine)- and gentle. If you’re looking to naturally lighten spots on your skin, this formula gets my enthusiastic approval, even if you have sensitive skin! It does not contain controversial and potentially carcinogenic skin lightener hydroquinone or natural lightener kojic acid, which is known to cause skin sensitivity. Of course, you’ll need to use Fei’d faithfully, twice daily for three months, to see the best results. Lightening products like Fei’d aren’t suited for birthmarks, freckles and moles. Fei’d smells sweet and a bit herbal from its blend of natural ingredients (no fragrance added), making it a pleasure to apply.

Have you tried a natural skin lightener with bearberry? What were your results?

Image: futurederm.com

In case you were holding out on tossing a few of your conventional lipsticks, thinking that companies have cleaned up their act when it comes to lead in lipstick, some ugly news was announced last week: lead is showing up in many conventional lipsticks as much as ever. According to a just-released Food and Drug Administration report, which tested lipsticks purchased between February and July 2010, the lead levels detected are okay, since lipstick is intended to be a topical product, ingested in only small amounts. But some of the lipsticks showed very high levels (certain Maybelline, and L’Oreal lipsticks were very high!). Personally, I will not risk ingesting lead at those rates.

Here’s the FDA’s official stance: “Lipstick, as a product intended for topical use with limited absorption, is ingested only in very small quantities. We do not consider the lead levels we found in the lipsticks to be a safety concern. The lead levels we found are within the limits recommended by other public health authorities for lead in cosmetics, including lipstick.

To note, the FDA does not set limits for lead in lipsticks, it does set limits for lead levels in the color additives used as tints.

We do know that lipsticks and balms are ingested (it’s erroneous to say that they’re merely topical) and that we consume pounds of them over a lifetime. FDA scientists found lead in all of the 20 lipsticks tested, ranging from 0.09 ppm to 3.06 ppm, with an average value of 1.07 ppm. But the highest lead levels were 7 ppm and over, which is significantly higher than most of the lipsticks in the study ( if the average was 1.07, that’s almost 7 times higher!). You can check out the whole list of lipsticks tested here. You’ll notice that there are several natural lipsticks in the study (I spotted shimmers from Burt’s Bees, lipstick from Colorganics and Gabriel) that have detectable lead levels, which demonstrates that lead does shows up to some degree in most lipsticks because of the mineral color additives.

Still, I’ll choose natural lipsticks over conventional brands any day, especially since there are so many amazing natural lipstick formulas available now. Below are a few of my road-tested favorites, and a few to watch out for in the coming months. Get ready to be surprised by how gorgeous, sleek and pigment-packed natural liptsticks are today!

I’m a huge fan of Zuii Organic cosmetics, and their Flora lipsticks (right) are beautiful (I wore Zuii’s Cashmere lipstick shade on my wedding day!). These lipsticks use mineral colors, and include the skin benefits of natural oils and flower petals. These lipsticks are from Australia, and are certified organic by the Australian Organic Food Chain.

Vapour Organic Beauty Siren Lipsticks (below) are another favorite, and I always return to their Ravish shade, a deep magenta that come out slightly sheer on lips and feels very light. Vapour lipstick shades are a favorite to recommend to my clients, whether they’re seasoned lipstick lovers or newbies. Everyone loves them! To note, Siren lipsticks contain 70% certified organic ingredients & 30% minerals and vitamins, but they’re not officially certified organic.

Afterglow Organic Lip Love Lipsticks (below) come in 19 pretty shades (every single one I’ve tried manages to be flattering), all deeply pigmented and very creamy, with pomegranate and grapeseed extracts for a natural antioxidant boost.

The latest hot natural beauty product is probably Ilia lipstick (right). I have yet to try this line, but from the raves I’ve been hearing, both you and I need to get Ilia lipstick on our lips stat! Ilia’s colors are very on-trend (check out that coral and bright pink).

The Organic Pharmacy’s Organic Glam lipsticks (below) are slender, elegant- and rather pricey. But their colors are beautiful and they were one of the original brands to add a dose of chic to natural lip color. They’re also infused with green tea for an extra dose of antioxidants for your lips, but they are not officially USDA certified organic, despite the name.

For the lipstick-shy, there are a few natural balms that also give lips a gorgeous hue. My favorite is the double-ended Badger Lip Tint (the Jasper shade, shown below, is perfectly creamy and bold all by itself). Each gemstone-inspired set features one red or pink hue and one subtle opal shimmer. It’s the kind of color you’d want to swipe on a bare face before yoga class, just to give your face a little color.

And Yes to Carrots’ new Color Balms are even more sheer than Badger’s tints, with a creamy feel and a boost of vitamin E. Color Balms come in three shades, and Soft Plum (below) is the deepest.

And coming in early summer 2012 is Sophyto’s new color cosmetics line, Color Actives, which looks like it will be gorgeous. Color Actives lipsticks will be completely carmine-free. Here’s a preview of just one of the beautiful natural lipsticks that will be in the line (which will also include glosses, eyeshadows, blushes and mascara, all gluten-free and vegan):

To take action against high lead levels in lipstick and request that L’Oreal get the lead out of theirs, you can support the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics movement here.

Main image: styles-guide.com

Put down the Hershey’s bar, the pink and red M&M’s, and the Whitman’s Sampler. There’s no need to buy them ever again. Not when you have organic, vegan, fair trade dark chocolate of the highest quality to treat yourself with this Valentine’s Day – and every day, for that matter. The best part: they’re beneficial for your body and skin.

You want your chocolate to be the healthiest, most beautifying food it can be each time you splurge. So skip the low quality chocolates that are thinned out with oils, cheap sweeteners and dairy, and go for the real stuff: dark chocolate, organic or raw. Did you know that raw cacao has the highest concentration of antioxidants of any food in the world? Cacao is also rich in chromium, manganese, zinc, iron, copper and magnesium- all essential trace minerals. A 2009 study in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology found that chocolate with a high cocoa percentage can help protect skin from UV damage. And a Journal of Nutrition experiment found that drinking a cocoa-rich beverage improved skin hydration and reduced skin redness. It’s a total beauty food!

The dark chocolate from Wei of Chocolate takes its health and beauty benefits even further with precious flower essences from Lotus Wei. Flower essences are at once curious and amazing. Appreciating them takes some suspension of disbelief, and a willingness to try a healing modality that you may not fully understand. Here’s the deal: extracts of flowers retain their natural vibrational energy, making them therapeutic tonics that work along the body’s meridians to balance the mind and body. You can take flower essences by themselves (a few drops at a time), add them to other beverages, or, as with these lovely treats, consume them in a piece of chocolate to restore balance to the body.

To determine what flower essence your body needs at the moment, you can visit the Wei of Chocolate or Lotus Wei websites and click on the bloom that you are most drawn to for an assessment of your mental and physical needs at the moment. (This may sound odd, but I’ve been testing this for about a week now and my flower picks continue to be eerily on target with my moods.) Drawn to the red hibiscus? You’re in need of a fresh start, relief, and a new perspective, which is best paired with the Inner Peace flower essence.

And you can use this same practice for selecting your Wei of Chocolate treat. Choose your chocolate the traditional way, according to flavor (chili, mocha, chai, citrus, etc.), or get more intuitive and pick yours according to flower essence. I’ve been selecting mine based on flower essences and each chocolate I’ve had has made me feel fantastic. Each one is a new experience, and they are so special that there’s no desire to overeat, just to savor and appreciate.

I can’t imagine a more indulgent, restorative treat for you or your loved ones this Valentine’s Day. Instead of your usual drugstore candy treats, splurge on a beautifully-wrapped box of sweets that will balance your mood and mind. How’s that for self-love?

A BIW reader just brought the recent New York Times beauty article ‘It Starts With Lip Gloss‘ to my attention and commented, “It concerned me because these young girls are not only getting the wrong message about beauty, but also a 9 or 10 year old is too early to pile on the toxins. This is an arena that needs advocates to educate both parents and kids. I would love to see a article on that topic,” wrote Victoria Fantauzzi of La Bella Figura.

And she’s absolutely right. It amazes me, but certainly doesn’t surprise me, that girls are getting interested in makeup at 9 or 10. Fashion, beauty and style influences for young girls are everywhere (not to mention Toddlers & Tiaras!). We could spend hours debating the appropriate age to begin wearing makeup, but in the end that is a parent’s decision. The real issue that I want to emphasize is that starting with SAFE, NATURAL makeup is incredibly important for still-developing bodies! Unfortunately, the Times article doesn’t seem to provide any clean options (no word on the ingredients in Willa yet, but the others mentioned don’t get my thumbs-up). But there are some fantastic brands out there, many of them started by moms who were unhappy with the beauty product options for their own blossoming daughters.

My 2010 article, ‘Beauty For the Tween Scene,’ published in Natural Solutions, looks at this issue a bit more deeply (and props to NS, which was virtually the only mag willing to tackle the topic at that time). Here’s a PDF of the article (which includes lots of pretty, girly and natural product picks for girls!) for you to check out.

Here’s a short excerpt of the article:

Unfortunately, while organic and nontoxic baby items abound, natural beauty options for tweens are much harder to find. This void inevitably leads many upper-elementary and middle-school girls straight to conventional cosmetics, lotions, and haircare products packed with scary ingredients. Bonne Bell Lip Smacker, for example, contains propylene glycol, a potential endocrine-disrupting solvent, while Suave Kids’ Smoothers 2 in 1 Shampoo has hormone-altering sodium laureth sulfate, along with DMDM hydantoin, a skin, eye, and lung irritant.

Everyone should avoid these ingredients, but tweens especially should steer clear, since the developmental years leading up to and during puberty are critically important to healthy hormonal function. Puberty now commonly starts at age 9 or 10, rather than at 12 or 13, and experts link this early onset—which increases breast cancer and polycystic ovary syndrome risks—to hormone-altering fragrances, preservatives, and pesticides found in food, plastics, detergents, and, of course, personal care products. Plus, constant exposure to these chemicals all but overwhelms young bodies, which are unable to detoxify at the same rate as fully developed adults, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Since I published that story, the natural beauty market for girls has grown, albeit slowly. Here are a few new natural beauty brands for girls that I wish were around for my original story…

Piggy Paint: nail polish

Joon: skin care. lip shine

Bellaboo: skin care

Little Earth’s Beauty: makeup

And a few of the brands originally featured in my NS article:

Sparklehearts: skin care, hair care

Good For You Girls: skin care

Glory for Girls: skin care, lip balm

Teens Turning Green: skin care

Aren’t they cute? I also love the idea of teaching girls to make their own skin care products from ingredients in the kitchen. Start easy with an avocado and honey mask, or an oatmeal or brown sugar scrub.

Victoria told me in a past interview that she’s passing the love of natural beauty onto her own niece with DIY products: “we have been teaching her to take care of her skin and body with natural products.  We make our own gentle exfoliators with a super seed mix, honey and coconut cream and then we slather our faces and dance to Rihanna. She enjoys mixing things up and adding her own blend of essential oils.”

Have any other great brands or at-home recipe ideas for girls (or boys)?

To read more on the subject, check out my 2010 post on early puberty and toxins from personal care products being detected in young girls…

Image Courtesy: Amazing Cosmetics/Angela Coppola/Solus-Veer/Corbis

Each Regimen Kit provides a skin type-specific cleanser, exfoliant, serum and moisturizer: all you need for a basic beauty regimen. Whether you’re Normal to Dry, Normal to Oily, or in need of some Age Defense, your kit includes Oat Facial Polish, a creamy exfoliant with jojoba beads, and Plant Stem Cell Serum, an organic serum designed to reduce inflammation, boost collagen and regenerate healthy skin. From there, each kit differs in its cleanser and moisturizer. Here’s what you get:

Normal to Dry: Chamomile Cleansing Milk, Beech Tree & Ginseng Daily Moisturizer (+serum and facial polish)

Normal to Oily: Aloe Cleansing Gel, Rosemary Oil-Reducing Moisturizer (+serum and facial polish)

Age Defense: Sweet Lupine Cleansing Cream, Vitamin C Revitalizing Complex (+serum and facial polish)

I tested the kit for normal to dry skin, and right away the rich Chamomile Cleansing Milk stood out as my favorite product. I loved its soothing, creamy cleanse and how easily and thoroughly it rinsed away. The lightweight serum smelled lovely and was packed with natural actives like rosehip oil and acai, making it a perfect choice for antioxidant protection all year, but the Beech Tree & Ginseng Daily Moisturizer felt like it might get a bit heavy in the summer months. For truly dry skin, though, it would be spot on, and it’s been a nice weight during the past few weeks of winter. The only product that wasn’t a hit was the facial polish, with its waxy jojoba beads that felt a bit too grainy and didn’t soften easily on my skin. I’m a huge fan of Naturopathica’s Pumpkin Purifying Enzyme Peel, and I’d much rather use that mask once or twice a week to get my exfoliation.

While I didn’t see a total transformation in my skin (that would take a lot!), my sensitive and winter-parched skin loved the Naturopathica experience, sans the facial polish. The best part of these kits is that you don’t have to worry about toxic ingredients. These products are natural and full of wonderful botanical-based beauty ingredients.

Naturopathica’s kits are also a fantastic way to get to know the brand before jumping into full size products. After trying a few of the sample-sized products in your kit, you’d be in a good place to decide if you wanted to commit to a larger version of your favorites. Naturopathica’s kits are $65 each, which is a great deal since the .5 oz serum alone runs $48 when purchased separately. The rest of the products in the kit are 1 oz, but they’re absolutely enough to last you several weeks, and they make great travel companions!

BONUS: first time Naturopathica shoppers can get free shipping on their order with the code NY 2012.

Take one look at the baobab tree (rather cartoonesque, right?), and you won’t be surprised that it’s known as the ‘Tree of Life.’ But in the beauty world, it’s not the imposing baobab tree that’s creating the biggest buzz- it’s the seeds of its fruit. The oil of baobab seeds now shows up as a powerful ingredient in natural creams, serums and oils that promise to keep skin radiant and stave off aging. And the promises are probable: baobab seed oil is a great source of anti-inflammatory, antioxidant protection and excellent at maintaining skin elasticity, so it really does help keep skin looking youthful.

My favorite new source of baobab seed oil is the Global Face Serum by celebrity makeup artist Lina Hanson (her clients include Natalie Portman and Naomi Watts!). Lina is also the author of Eco-Beautiful, so I was thrilled to hear that such an in-the-know natural beauty guru would be launching a product of her own. This serum is a concentrated blend of oils sourced from around the world, including argan, pumpkin seed, Brazil nut, marula and camellia. It has an earthy-floral aroma from its natural essential oils and it sinks into skin instantly, like the best oil blends do. If you’re interested in the skin benefits of baobab, the Global Face Serum is a fantastic place to start. Check it out, along with the rest of Lina’s work, at linahanson.com.

The tart pulp of the baobab fruit is also becoming more widely consumed, thanks to its high concentration of vitamin C, calcium, magnesium and potassium; look for it in smoothies and nutrition bars!

Tree image courtesy Wikipedia

Beauties, are you aware of just how much your nightly rest affects your appearance? Your body needs quality time to repair environmental damage and general wear & tear each night, and without it you’ll wind up looking more aged over time. Poor rest = poor repair, simple as that.

But getting 8 hours a night? It’s easier said than done. In fact, trouble sleeping is one of the issues that my clients bring up most often. Here are the tricks that make the biggest impact, and also provide a little time for beautifying self-care at night:

• However hard it may be, power down at least 30 minutes before bed (preferably earlier!). This means cell phone, computer, television and iPad. No checking emails between the sheets (this tip makes me feel terribly hypocritical because I am guilty of it myself!), and consider charging your electronic devices outside your bedroom, to limit your nighttime exposure to EMFs. According to Dr. Andrew Weil, “Electromagnetic pollution may be the most significant form of pollution human activity has produced in this century, all the more dangerous because it is invisible and insensible.”

• Take a soak before bed. When your core temperature raises, then falls (as it naturally does at night), it signals to your body that it’s time to sleep. Help the process by taking a warm bath with soothing mineral salts and lavender essential oil.

• You never seem to have time to pamper yourself, so start a bedtime routine of moisturizing your body with a calming lotion or oil, and you’ll get multiple beauty benefits. If you’re up for it, try skin brushing first, then follow with a rich, hydrating moisturizer before slipping into comfy pajamas. Aren’t you feeling relaxed already?

• Ever been kept awake by your racing thoughts? You probably make a mental to-do list for tomorrow, or worry about a problem that’s making you anxious. Get it on paper and out of your mind before you turn off the light with a nighttime journaling session.

• Now don’t go and catch a chill, but lower the temperature in your bedroom at night (shoot for 60-68 degrees F, the optimal range). Not only will you save on your heating bill, but keeping the temperature in that range is conducive to better rest. Throw on an extra blanket or heat up a hot water bottle if you are worried about a chill.

And finally, one natural sleep aid that may be a bit unexpected: Escape to Sleep.

This infusion of natural herbs and flowers in aloe vera water was created by Geraldine O’Keefe, an expert aromatherapist, herbalist and perfumer of international significance, to relieve insomnia, aid in relaxation and alleviate gastrointestinal problems that cause sleeplessness. I tried Escape to Sleep and experienced a fantastic night’s rest, and was surprised at how pleasant the sweet, fruity herbal infusion tasted. Its flavor is complex (I found it to have juicy, peach notes), and incredibly calming. The best part? There’s no drowsiness or grogginess to contend with the next morning.

Says O’Keefe, “Escape to sleep is infused with time-honored herbs such as valerian, passionflower, hops, and skullcap, and it is sweetened with stevia leaves. It contains fewer than 4 calories and does not include the natural or synthetic hormone, melatonin or 5-HTP.” You won’t find any sugar or artificial sweeteners in Escape to Sleep. For those who are considering an over-the-counter or prescription sleep aid (or are already using one and dealing with side effects), this natural tonic is a wonderful alternative that’s already getting attention.

Fashion designer Norma Kamali has taken notice of Escape to Sleep, which is available for purchase in her Wellness Cafe in New York City, as well as online at thewellnesscafe.com. Escape to Sleep is also available (along with lots more info!) at escapetosleep.com.

I asked Geraldine, the true sleep expert, to share her own sleep ritual:

BIW: Could you share your own sleep rituals with Beauty Is Wellness readers?

Geraldine: I like to practice lucid dreaming. [Check out some of Geraldine's posts about lucid dreaming on the Escape to Sleep Facebook page] At the end of the day, to get ready, I light some incense, do a few yoga asanas, darken the room, lie down, take a few minutes to go over the day and let go of any “loose ends” or anything that might disturb my peace. Then, I do yoga nidra. When I am totally relaxed, I then think about what I would like to dream about. The object of lucid dreaming is to become conscious of being in the dream state. There are seven levels of consciousness. Most people are operating in the first three: waking, sleeping and dreaming. I think this is great practice that leads to being more aware even in the waking state and can lead us to the the fourth level.

Readers, what do you think- have you ever experimented with lucid dreaming? Would you try this botanical sip to get better beauty sleep this year? What’s your favorite natural sleep aid?

*Congratulations to Franca Zanovello, winner of the January skinnyskinny bath & body oil giveaway!*

I’ve had a wonderful start to the new year on Beauty Is Wellness, with lots of new readers and clients, plus fresh beauty articles and posts around the web. To celebrate, I wanted to do another little giveaway (not quite as enormous as the December mega-giveaway, but lovely just the same!): a bottle of botanically-infused Lemongrass Organic Bath & Body Oil from Brooklyn-based natural beauty brand skinnyskinny!

I love skinnyskinny’s organic bath and body oil range because it’s so incredibly nourishing for your skin. The ingredient list is perfect: certified organic jojoba oil (infused with skin-healing and soothing chamomile, rose, lavender and calendula), hemp seed oil, rosehip oil, sesame oil, coconut oil and borage oil, plus one or two essential oils for natural fragrance (the lemongrass scent uses lemongrass essential oil). You can apply it as a moisturizer, or add a bit to your bath for a lovely, invigorating soak.

To enter the to win a bottle of this fantastic skinnyskinny lemongrass oil, become a fan of Beauty Is Wellness on Facebook, or leave a comment on this post telling me about your favorite natural moisturizer. Do both, get entered twice (two is the limit, though)! If you’re already a Facebook fan, you’re automatically entered, but you can always boost your chances by leaving a comment here too. You must enter by next Wednesday, January 25th, and the winner will be contacted Thursday January 26th.

Allow me to gush just a little more about the lovely prize: If you’re not familiar with lemongrass, it’s an aromatic, Indian grass that is often used in Asian cooking. Lemongrass essential oil is a diuretic, and it’s thought to have anti-cellulite effects. Its scent is also an instant mood-booster!

I think that the skinnyskinny staff does the best job of describing this unique oil on their website:

We weren’t even planning on having a Lemongrass Body Oil, but a recent trip to Asia convinced us otherwise. Lemongrass has all the merits of an uplifting citrus scent, but there’s just something else there that gives it more depth. Some lemongrass essential oils can smell too sweet, but not this one. It’s perfect. Really.
Our Organic Body Oil is is incredibly nourishing, moisturizing, and non-greasy. We delicately steep chamomile, roses, lavender, and calendula in our proprietary blend of oils. Then, we do it all over again (double-infused) so that this organic body oil is absolutely packed with goodness. A little goes a long way.

Skinnyskinny also makes organic bath & body oil in four other scents: cardamom, lavender & clary sage, chamomile, and rosemary bergamot. Splurge on one ($30) at skinnyskinny.com, and check out their equally-amazing soaps and dry shampoos while you’re there!

We’ve all had mornings when there’s just no time to fire up the blender, days when getting to the market for fresh greens is an impossibility, and road trips when there seems to be nothing healthy to eat for miles. It’s not fair that your skin and your energy should suffer when you’re busiest! That’s why it’s great to keep a backup plan. For those moments (and to kick up your regular smoothies and shakes any other day you need it), the newly expanded Be Well line by Dr. Frank Lipman is packed with nutrition-dense, low-commitment, easy to carry supplements. Lipman, an expert in internal medicine, is one of my favorite experts on the functional power of food. His new supplement powders meet a high standard of quality and potency. Lipman has worked with dozens of celebs (Gwyneth, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kyra Sedgwick) and high-profile clients (including other doctors and dermatologists) who rave about his ability to transform their health.

For those of you who can’t visit him in NYC, here’s a little piece of his nutritional plan:

Lipman’s new Be Well Greens powders (28 packets for $59) contain veggies, grasses, algae, digestive enzymes and plenty of essential antioxidants, and count as one serving of vegetables each, for only 27 calories. It’s a sweet-tasting greens mix, thanks to the added stevia, and it’s very refreshing when mixed with only cool water. If you have access to almond milk or the like, you can mix it up with that as well. You could sip several of these packets in a day if you didn’t have access to other fresh veggies.

The Be Well Sustain dairy-free protein packets (28 packets for $99) add a powerful protein and mineral boost to smoothies, and function as a meal replacement if need be (110 calories). Made with pea protein, these sweet, vanilla-flavored powder packets are an environmentally friendly and vegetarian source of protein. Pea protein is relatively new, and it’s gaining popularity because it also contains fiber, and is inexpensive and nutritious. Lipman’s Sustain powder packets also contain stevia and digestive enzymes, and plenty of B vitamins. Add a packet to your morning smoothie, or mix with your favorite non-dairy milk for a creamy, nutrition-packed shake.

What are your tricks for staying healthy and beautiful when you’re rushed? Do you make your beauty smoothies in the morning- or prep them the night before so you can grab and go?

I’m a tea drinker; always have been, always will be. The fact that I also get tons extra antioxidants and wrinkle-blocking properties from tea is just a bonus- I’d be drinking it either way!

Needless to say, I was instantly intrigued when I heard about Kishr, a unique infusion of dried coffee cherry (the fruit that surrounds the coffee bean), saigon cinnamon (a sweeter variety of cinnamon), ginger and cardamom that has origins in Yemen and has been around for over 1,000 years. Steep these spices in hot water for 8 minutes and you’ll have a spicy, earthy, warming beverage. The ginger and cinnamon are familiar flavors, but overall it’s a new experience, much spicier than chai but smoother and less caffeinated. In fact, at 1.2 mg/oz, Kishr has trace amounts of caffeine, less than even white tea (1.9 mg/oz), and much lower than green tea (3.1 mg/oz). It provides a very subtle pick-me-up that’s perfect for those who don’t tolerate lots of caffeine, or prefer to avoid it.

Kishr’s fair trade dried coffee cherry, imported from the Arabian peninsula

Now for the amazing benefits: Kishr improves digestion (ginger and cardamom help with that), its coffee cherry contains 10 times more antioxidant availability than green tea and pomegranate, it boosts metabolism and immunity, and even provides vitamins and minerals like manganese, iron, B6 and potassium. The cinnamon in Kishr keeps blood sugar steady, preventing the glycemic spike that can cause increased sebum and eventually signs of aging in the skin if it happens regularly. Ginger is also an anti-inflammatory root that’s great for skin.

We might not have Kishr readily available to buy if it weren’t for Rowida Assalimy, the brand’s founder who grew up drinking this beverage with her family and wanted to share its benefits. She ensures that Kishr’s ingredients are sustainably and ethically sourced, and has made it her mission to spread the word. Right now you can purchase Kishr online at abesmarket.com and at store locations in Illinois and California. At $28 for 16 sachets, it’s on the expensive side. However, I was able to steep one sachet three or four times (a little longer each time) and still get a subtle spiced beverage, perhaps with less health and beauty benefits, but increased value. Try it and let me know what you think!

Kishr comes in pretty mesh bags, perfect for checking out the beautiful whole spices inside