The Best in Organic Skincare

Atlanta’s HollyBeth Anderson creates face-and-body lotions by hand with organic ingredients.|Allison Barnes

As a child, HollyBeth Anderson used to make award-winning muffins from scratch with a stand mixer in her kitchen. Today, her method has remained almost exactly the same―even using a trusty old mixer―to create organic face-and-eye creams for her Atlanta-based skin-care line, HollyBeth’s Natural Luxury.

“My grandmother used to brag that I got first prize in 4H for making cornmeal muffins,” she says. “Surprisingly, making creams and lotions is the same process.”

HollyBeth’s transition from baked goods to eye cream came after she spent time in Spain in the 1980s and became enamored with the simplicity of European skin care products. “Everything was so pure and organic,” she says. “I became addicted to my eye cream.”

When she moved back to Atlanta in 2007, she couldn’t find similar products in the U.S.; instead, she found labels listing petrochemicals and toxins with hard-to-pronounce names. So she researched online and started making her own moisturizers at home. She chose organic ingredients that were grown without hormones, synthetic chemicals, and antibiotics because she felt they were safer and carried fewer health and environmental concerns.

She also placed a special emphasis on using ingredients that would protect the skin from certain Southern-specific conditions. For instance, HollyBeth’s Citrus Body Cream contains tea tree oil, which is an antiseptic, and bergamot, which keeps away parasites.

“I promise if you put on the citrus cream and go outside, not one bug will bite you,” she says. “These ingredients are everything that bugs hate.” Memories of her mother’s own beauty routine and Southern traditions of at-home remedies led her to create the Grits & Honey Face Scrub, which uses cornmeal as a base. “I remember walking into the bathroom and my mother would be using cornmeal on her face as an exfoliant,” she says. “It may sound old-fashioned, but it still works.”

For more information visit hollybeth.net.

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http://www.southernliving.com/healthy-living/mind-body/organic-skincare-products-00400000062418/