Welcome to Better Organic Choice (BOC), a column focusing on makeup, skincare and beauty tips, tricks, adventures and product advice for the holistically hip. We cover the best in green glam, behind the scenes and in your face (not your traditional crunchy granola here). We are here to help you explore all the beauty treatments you adore! Do you often worry if your beauty products are dangerous to your health? Are you dizzy from analyzing ingredients? Guiding you is my pleasure.
Krysia Boinis is one of those people that just makes you feel good when you are in her presence, with her genuine smile and bright eyes. She is a botanical expert, organic skincare manufacture, breast cancer survivor and all-around phenomenal woman. She co-founded Vapour Organic Beauty, a company committed to creating cosmetics that are safe. Vapour also makes you look really good. Boinis and Vapour are committed to the health and beauty of all women, by helping to support the Cleveland Clinic and their preliminary research of a breast cancer vaccination. Vapour Organic Beauty also helps maintain the beauty of Mother Earth with their commitment to creating packaging that is recyclable, and by using ingredients that are biodegradable and contain no nano-particles or toxic chemicals.
Q: What was your first memory of a beauty ritual?
A: I am half Greek so there was an abundance of extra virgin olive oil in our kitchen. I remember mom warming olive oil on the stove and then combing it through my hair to de-tangle and condition. Mom also taught me to massage olive oil into my damp skin after bathing to seal in natural moisture. The idea of using food as personal care was an integral part of growing up in a Greek home and it has influenced my approach to natural beauty.
Q: How does it feel knowing you help inspire and create beauty for so many women with your company Vapour?
A: It feels incredible to know that women’s lives are being enriched by Vapour. Kristine Keheley, Eric Sakas and I founded Vapour with simple principles that are close to our hearts: all women deserve beautiful cosmetics that support health and well-being. It feels amazing to share this authentic beauty that we call Vapour.
Q: What is Vapour’s company philosophy in regards to sustainability?
A: From raw material sourcing to sustainable packaging and energy choices, Vapour maximizes quality control and health, while as a company minimizing our environmental carbon footprint. Our primary packaging is recyclable, and our secondary packaging is made in the USA at a wind powered plant from managed forest and post-consumer paper and printed with soy ink. Vapour recycles all paper, cardboard, glass, plastic and packing materials that enter their site.
Q: When were you diagnosed with breast cancer and how has that impacted what you put in and on your body?
A: I learned that I had breast cancer in my thirties. I had been very sick with undiagnosed lymes disease for many years so I was physically in pretty bad shape. I was losing weight without trying and my skin was nearly transparent; I looked like death warmed over.
My response to the cancer diagnosis was shock; then action. I researched and sought out information from diverse sources; from mainstream medical journals to new age websites. I was on a mission to educate and heal myself. I began to think of food and personal care as more than simply nourishment and hygiene. Everything I ingested or slathered on my skin became medicine. I sought out foods, herbs, salts and waters to heal, detoxify and balance my body. I learned what chemicals and compounds support health and which poison the body.
Q: Is battling cancer a mental and spiritual process as well as a physical one? What was your process like?
A: Cancer has been a deeply transformative experience. The only thing that made sense to me was to be proactive. I was compelled to follow my intuition to pick and choose from my diverse research to find the best path for my personal healing. For me it was not a ‘war against cancer;’ the cancer was in me. I needed to understand it and balance the imbalance that caused it. I wanted to learn what cancer had to teach me. I faced my own mortality and my connection with the whole. Somehow I was graced with realism, positivity and humor in the most hideous circumstances. I cannot imagine going through it all without the solid support of my husband, mother and my loyal pooch, Meatling. I remember waking up after my mastectomy surgery and looking into the face of my post-op nurse furious that he was a he. I thought how insensitive of the hospital to assign a male nurse to a woman who had just had her breasts removed. Then I found myself laughing as I came to realize he was the most nurturing and perfect gentle human imaginable for that moment. Another lesson learned.
Q: What are your favorite beauty foods and why?
A: Water, because as we age we need 2 liters of water a day hydrate from inside. I also love avocados. I love healthy, whole, non-processed foods.
Q: What are your favorite beauty rituals?
A: I try different things all the time. I am a mask junkie and have literally tried them all. When I have time I love to make my own from the garden or my own raw milk yogurt and local honey. While on the go my two current favorites are Tata Harper Resurfacing Mask for a super smooth polished complexion and Naturopathica Seaweed Recovery Mask for soothing apres-ski wind-chapped skin.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 100 percent of all proceeds of the Elixir Plumping Lip Gloss in Honor by Vapour Organic Beauty go to breast cancer research.
Until next time,
Love & Lipstick
Tags: beauty, natural beauty, organic, socially conscious, studies and research, sustainable green news, sustainable style, yoga and fitness