Today we unleash into the world Phase II of our Sanctuary Collection: Sanctuary Butter and Sanctuary Replenishing Balm.
Sanctuary is a marriage of care for the individual and care for the collective and these products are a reflection of that. Of course, both feature the Sanctuary Complex — our favorite multi-omega, multivitamin, multi-nutrient for skin.The Sanctuary Complex celebrates the healing and necessary power of diversity. Luxurious and rich, this antioxidant complex draws upon our favorite skin-loving oils from around the world to provide profound moisture, radiance, and barrier support: Rosehip. Argan. Pomegranate. Calendula infused Olive Oil. Vanilla infused Jojoba Oil. Prickly Pear. Sea Buckthorn.
Interested in trying the Sanctuary Complex on its own?
Check out Part 1 of our Sanctuary Collection
Sanctuary Serum
the pure, unadorned Sanctuary Complex
Sanctuary Nectar Balm
a solid-serum version of the Sanctuary Complex
Sanctuary is a small collection of products developed with the intention to help create sanctuary in the world, while simultaneously creating sanctuary for the skin.
$1
from each bottle of our Sanctuary Collection goes to non-profit organizations that support human rights and environmental justice, with a new organization as the recipient every month. The current monthly organization will be featured atevanhealy.com/sanctuary.
Sanctuary for the World.
Sanctuary for the Skin.
Community in a Bottle.
We hope that these two new Sanctuary products bring your skin the serenity and support it deserves.
Without further ado, let’s dive in.
Sanctuary Butter with Frankincense
Sanctuary Butter with Frankincense is a new variety of our cult-favorite Whipped Shea Butter. Like all our Whipped Sheas, it is based around Kperisi Village Shea Butter, which we slowly whip to lofty and silken perfection over several hours while slowly drizzling in nourishing and skin supportive oils.
Sanctuary Butter with Frankincense is unique in that it features two very special elements: our antioxidant-rich Sanctuary Complex of oils, and our new, house-made frankincense resin infused jojoba oil.
By now you’ve surely heard enough about the Sanctuary Complex, the foundational oil blend used in all of our current Sanctuary products, so let’s talk about Frankincense.
Frankincense is a friend to skin & spirit
We chose frankincense as the only outlier to grace our Sanctuary Collection for a simple and important reason. Frankincense is a sanctuary.
A sanctuary to the skin and to the soul, frankincense resin comes to us from a scraggly desert tree native to eastern North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and parts of northern India. What we call resin is actually the dried sap tears the tree produces when wounded in order to protect and heal. This seemingly simple plant material has connected humans across cultures and geographical regions throughout history.
Humans have been in relationship with frankincense for thousands of years. And through all that time it has been considered sacred to every culture that encountered it. It’s been found in beauty balms in the tombs of Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs, burned as incense in innumerable temples and churches to sanctify the space, act as an offering, or to summon Divine presence. It’s been used as a tool in meditation, prayer and purification rituals. In the ancient world, entire pathways were forged in the desert to circulate this sacred plant through the spice trade — the Frankincense Trail — and at that time, it was worth more than its weight in gold.
It is protective, purifying, and fortifying for all skin and spirits.
Like many desert plants, Frankincense is a powerful skin ally. It has an amazing ability to deeply beautify, fortify, and rejuvenate the skin. It is helpful in all its forms: essential oil, hydrosol, infused oil, and pure resin.
There are many varieties of frankincense, all of which fall into the boswellia family — carteri,sacra,serrata, andfrereana being the most common. We use two types of frankincense resin in our infusion:Boswellia carteri andBoswellia frereana.
We chose to use a frankincense resin infusion in our Sanctuary Butter instead of frankincense essential oil for a few reasons. First, because at the present time we want to keep our Sanctuary Collection free of essential oils, so that they can be comforting allies to even the most sensitive skin. Second, because we love infused oils and find them to be deeply supportive to the skin and also a beautifully ancient way to honor the history and legacy of this special plant. Third, we chose to utilize an infused frankincense oil to tap into the powers of boswellic acid.
One of the most active compounds in frankincense (at least that science currently recognizes) is called boswellic acid, and it is lauded for its profound and powerful activity in relation to the human body, chiefly in its anti-inflammatory effects. It is often taken internally to address issues of gut health and joint care, along with numerous other systematic imbalances and disharmonies.
A simple google search will yield hundreds of thousands of results on boswellic acid, and a simple PubMed search will yield hundreds of studies conducted on its myriad benefits to human health.
Boswellic does not come through in distillation, and thus is not something we’re able to benefit from by using frankincense essential oil or frankincense hydrosol. However, it has been shown to come through in oil maceration/infusion.
If you’ve been with us a while, you already know that we prefer a non-reductionist approach to skin care, which is why we work with whole plants. When a plant is broken down to what is perceived as its solitary active force, we lose the whole matrix of therapy the plant evolved to contain. We lose all the essential cofactors, not yet identified or seen as worthy of note by modern science. Yet each compound is there for a reason, and nature has put them all together to work in perfect synergy.
Historically, what we know is this: frankincense has been revered medicinally, spiritually, cosmetically, and aroma therapeutically across cultures and across time for good reason. Observationally, what we know is this: trees produce sap that dries to resin (whether that be the ones we know in the world of aromatherapy: myrrh, opoponax, frankincense, benzoin, etc. or the world of traditional herbalism: pine pitch, etc.) to act as a therapeutic bandage for the three. To heal the tree’s damaged ‘tissue’, hold in moisture, and protect against pathogens when the wound is vulnerable. We recognize that we can benefit from these qualities. This is why pine pitch is recommended for emergency outdoor wound care.
To us, these are the most important and inspiring things about plant medicine. Still, we can appreciate the action of boswellic acid, and its tremendous affects the studies attest to.
Our Frankincense Supplier
We get the pure resin from our frankincense distillers: the same family-run Somali American distillery that also supplies our frankincense HydroSoul and essential oil.
These distillers are true stewards and sentinels of frankincense, both in the way they work with the Somali community and in the way they’ve perfected unique distilling methods that extract the most out of this beautiful resin. Not only do they work with researchers and multi-generation Somali harvesters to ensure ethical harvesting and long-term sustainability for the frankincense trees, they have also worked with the government of Somaliland to help establish organic standards and even their national organic certification system.
Knowing that by including frankincense in our Sanctuary Collection we were also bringing this beautiful community of Somali harvesters into the ‘Community in a Bottle’ aspect of Sanctuary? Well, that only amplified how excited we were, and how right the decision was to center frankincense as the star of our Sanctuary Butter.
Sanctuary Butter
A serene and comforting moisture cocoon for even the most sensitive, depleted skin
In short, frankincense is reparative, restorative, fortifying, beautifying, and heat pacifying for all skin. It’s a wonderful choice for skin that is dry, mature or compromised from overexposure to exfoliation and actives, or also just the elements. Frankincense resin has long been associated with the sun, and like many solar plants, has a ‘brightening’ and illuminating effect on the skin.
We take this heavenly desert resin and infuse it in jojoba oil for a month so all of the rich, skin-supportive and therapeutic goodness can slowly make its way into a silky, bio-available and easy to use medium. The infused oil retains a soft aroma of frankincense — different than the essential oil, but still recognizable to frankincense lovers. This gentle frankincense aroma is present in the Sanctuary Butter.
In addition to the glory of frankincense, Sanctuary Butter also contains our nutrient-dense & nutrient-diverse Sanctuary Antioxidant Complex, a rich and luxurious blend of our most beloved oils — rosehip, argan, pomegranate, calendula infused olive oil, vanilla bean infused jojoba, prickly pear, sea buckthorn. You can learn more about it [here].
Like all our Whipped Butters (and all our lipid-based products in general), Sanctuary Butter performs best when used with a HydroSoul. Our favorites to pair it with? Lavender, to cultivate extra skin-serenity. Rose Petal for extra hydration. And Frankincense to double-dose on this very special plant ally.
When beta-testing this luscious butter some members of our team declared it their favorite Whipped Shea Butter yet, and we can understand why. This trio of therapy — frankincense infused jojoba, the Sanctuary Complex, and our beloved Kperisi Village Shea Butter — make Sanctuary Butter one of our most skin supportive and unique offerings to date and we are over the moon to be able to share it with you.
Sanctuary for the skin. Sanctuary for the World. Community in a bottle.
Sanctuary Replenishing Balm
Sanctuary Replenishing Balm is a creamy, rich, yet lightweight Balm that provides therapeutic nourishment and lush sealing moisture. It is free of essential oils, coconut oil and is perfect for both at home and on-the-go use.
Formulated for face & neck, Sanctuary Replenishing Balm can be used around the eye area, and on lips as well to supply perfect, multi-functional moisture. And while it is essential oil free, there is still the softest touch of aroma from the vanilla infused jojoba oil.
How does it differ from the Sanctuary Nectar Balm?
Sanctuary Replenishing Balm is a less potent expression of our Sanctuary Complex. It features additional Arizona-grown jojoba oil, organic sunflower, organic beeswax and a tiny bit of Kperisi Village Shea Butter. Sanctuary Nectar Balm, on the other hand, is at full potency. It is essentially the Sanctuary Serum in solid form, with the only additions being a tiny bit of Kperisi Village Shea Butter and a tiny bit of organic beeswax to make the formula richer, more opulent, more protective and more moisturizing.
Drier, more mature skin — or simply skin wanting a bit more lush decadence and a greater boost of antioxidants — might prefer the Sanctuary Nectar Balm
Skin asking for a little less — or skin wanting a simple sealing step over top Oil Serum and HydroSoul — might prefer the Sanctuary Replenishing Balm. It also works as the perfect choice for those who want an easy to apply stick format balm as part of their ritual.
Sanctuary Replenishing Balm applies best on clean skin that is no longer damp. If applying after you Oil Serum and HydroSoul pair, allow the skin to absorb the dampness of the HydroSoul completely before applying. Then layer your Sanctuary Replenishing Balm over top. To finish it off you can do another light misting and then gently press or massage into skin.
The Promise of
SANCTUARY
The Sanctuary Collection centers around three core factors.
FUNDS BACK
TO THE GREATER GLOBAL COMMUNITY.
Proceeds ($1 per bottle) gathered from the sales of our Sanctuary Collection will be donated to nonprofit organizations that promote sanctuary in all its multifaceted forms. Each month a new organization will be the recipient and shared at evanhealy.com/sanctuary.
COMMUNITY
IN A BOTTLE.
Honoring Community. We mean this in two ways: First, acknowledging our global partners in creating sanctuary: the community of our ingredient suppliers & stewards around the world who make these products possible. And second, acknowledging the community of plants with all their beautiful nutrient density and diversity that make these products so remarkable. Diverse communities of people and plants enrich the world and cultivate vibrant health.
SANCTUARY
FOR THE SKIN.
Gentle, deep, therapeutic nourishment from the most nutrient-rich & skin supportive plants on the planet. Formulated as a feast for the skin, and created to provide a calming shroud of comfort and peace for all skin.