The must-have skincare products that won’t hurt you or the planet!

I confess. It was Keep Buzzin’s Body Products’ packaging that first drew me to these little treasures. I loved the rainbow effect of all the little jars all lined up.

And it was their way of doing business in such an earth-friendly way that drew me in. Their hand and foot creams are100% natural, sustainable, and vegan made with cocoa, mango, cupuacu and shea butter and has no colours added. All of the essential oils they use are certified 100 per cent pure, natural, unadulterated, and solvent-free.

They don’t do any animal testing and they don’t use any paraben, lanolin, petrolatum, sulphates, oxybenzone or carmine. Even their containers are responsible. Their jars are 100 per cent recycled and made in the USA with no BPA or phthalates. (Plus their shrink wrap is 100 per cent compostable and made from corn. I didn’t even know that was possible!)

But it was the actual products themselves that held my attention. I’m a bit of a hand lotion girl. I have to have some at least every time I wash my hands and typing all day tends to dry them out too, it seems. So I like to have it close at hand. It can’t be too greasy. It has to smell good. And the feeling of being moisturized has to last. Keep Buzzin’ gets an A+ on all counts.

The lotions come in Cherry-Almond, Tangerine, Fresh Lemon, True Lavender, Peppermint, Spearmint, and Fragrance-Free. Lavender isn’t my thing really and neither is almond. Although both of Keep Buzzin’s versions really do smell good, my favourite is the Tangerine, for sure. It was fresh and yummy without being overbearing. And the feeling really did last a good long time. I was very impressed.

The spearmint foot cream is also a favourite. I practice Nia, a dance/fitness practice done barefoot, so my feet often demand a little extra love. This stuff is thick and creamy but not gooey or sticky and sinks in super-fast, a must in my book. The same goes for the hand lotion in terms of texture. I like something that isn’t runny. But I also don’t want to have to massage the stuff just to be able to get it into my skin. There is something just right about the balance between rich and lightweight when it comes to Keep Buzzin’.

And for Earth Day 2014 Keep Buzzin’ is partnering with Food For The Poor. From April 15-May 15, for each jar sold, KeepBuzzin’ will donate $3.78 to Food For The Poor, which provides one child 60 meals. Food For The Poor is the largest international relief and development organization in the United States, serving seventeen countries in the Caribbean and Latin America. It has provided more than $10 billion worth of aid to the poor (more than half of which was provided in the last five years), and they maintain operating expenses under 5%.

Bonnie Maneyis the founder of Keep Buzzin’ and I asked her a few questions about the story behind Keep Buzzin’ to find out more about this company with a heart of the green. Here’s what she had to say!

What led you to create Keep Buzzin’?

Cancer runs on both sides of my husband’s family.  My mother-in-law Toni has always been proactive about healthy eating and living.

About ten years ago, I went to a local community women’s luncheon.  The person in charge had cancer.  She invited a keynote speaker to share about all the ingredients that do not belong in skincare.  Among those items was petrolatum.  I tried to find a commercial lotion that didn’t contain petrolatum, and it was really tough to find.  My sister and I took a community centre class on making skincare products, and I loved it.

My husband’s degree is in Chemistry; so I have consulted with him along the way. We wanted to offer a hand and foot cream line that contains no petrolatum, no lanolin, no paraben, no phthalates, no oxybenzone, no sulphates, no added colour, and no animal bi-products.  I began a long research and development process, and in 2009 we started selling Keep Buzzin’ Body Products’ all-natural hand and foot creams.

Why was it so important to you that the products and packaging be so earth-friendly?

We wanted our products to be good for our bodies and good for the planet.

Our hand and foot creams are 100% natural, sustainable and vegan.  They contain the decadent butter of cocoa, mango, cupuacu, and shea to keep skin soft and moisturized.  All our essential oils are certified pure, natural, unadulterated and solvent-free.

It’s not enough for us to offer a natural product.  We knew we needed to use Earth-friendly packaging to keep the integrity of our core belief as a company.  Our jars, caps, and sealing discs are 100% recycled and contain no BPA and no phthalates.  They are also fully recyclable.  Our clear safety shrink sleeves are 100% compostable and made from corn.

There are a lot of body products out there. Why should people use Keep Buzzin’?

Keep Buzzin’ hand and foot creams really work!   We have so many customers with very dry skin, perpetual skin cracks and eczema who swear by our products.  We’ve been told a number of times that our creams have healed up customers’ hands better than the expensive tubes from their dermatologists.

What’s the number one thing you want people to know about Keep Buzzin’?

For the hand creams, we recommend using the size of a pearl a couple of times a day to maintain healthy skin.  Use a little more for a few days if your hands are extremely dry.  It’s concentrated.  You don’t need to pile on the cream.  One hand cream should last about two months with daily use.

For the foot creams, massage about half the size of a grape into both feet a couple of times a week.  It feels fantastic.

What’s the thing people are most surprised about when it comes to Keep Buzzin’?

New customers often think the products will feel greasy because they’re so concentrated with butter and oils.  They are always thrilled when they feel the whipped and creamy texture.  Customers love that it soaks right in.  They love that they can immediately feel it working.

It’s nice to be able to use a product that feels good and that you can feel good about it. So Keep Buzzin’ will definitely be something I’ll be buzzin’ about for a while!

Note: Keep Buzzin’ Body Products are $10.00 per 2 oz. jar and can be found at KeepBuzzinBodyProducts.com.