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Designed to create beauty on the inside as well as the outside, Verte Essentials is the brainchild of Blair Lauren Brown, who’s also the founder of a successful fine jewelry collection that celebrates nature and a commitment to sustainability. Blair applies the same principles to Verte Essentials, which comprises premium hemp-based topicals, edibles, bath soaks and suppositories.
With 500 hours of RYT (registered yoga teacher) Ashtanga/Sadhana training under her belt, Blair also applies a holistic philosophy to Verte Essentials. All of her products are carefully developed using the purest botanical and herbal extracts harvested from organic farms. In addition, Verte sources its hemp extracts from certified organic, sustainable farms in Europe.
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HelloMD spoke with Blair to learn more about what motivated her to start Verte Essentials and hear more about the products she’s created to address issues like skin inflammation and muscle fatigue.
Why did you launch Verte Essentials, which focuses on the beauty sector?
Blair Lauren Brown: We are a beauty brand first and foremost. We decided to go that route, because we realized that there's a large segment within this marketplace that we could tap into with hemp-derived CBD (cannabidiol). At the time we conceived of Verte Essentials, there really wasn’t anything of quality that we saw within the marketplace. We saw an opportunity to provide access to CBD topicals focused on the wellness and beauty aspect.
We launched with beauty topicals, such as our facial crème Rose de Soie and our Esprit de Rose facial mist, knowing that we could work into the edible market. Our philosophy is that beauty is inside and out, but it starts from within. Every solution within our product line is meant to create beauty on the inside, but will also show on the outside.
When you look at a Verte Essentials product, it feels beautiful on the skin; it smells beautiful; it looks beautiful as a package on your shelf; and overall it makes you feel fabulous.
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What different types of beauty products do you create?
BLB: The base ingredient in all of our products is CBD derived from high-quality hemp. CBD is now well known for reducing body inflammation, and it’s also excellent at reducing skin inflammation. As a brand within the beauty industry, we’re largely addressing anti-aging, topical skin inflammation of all different kinds and helping decrease redness and promote even skin tone. Our end goal has always been to create a skin care line that addresses those issues successfully.
Beyond reducing skin inflammation, our product line includes everything from a face lotion, Rose de Soie, that’s soothing and has other efficacious ingredients like cell peptides, which help increase collagen production.
We also have our Micellar H2O Facial Pads, which act as an exfoliant as well as a deep cleanser. We offer facial skin oils in a variety of experiences as well as facial and skin mists. For people using our H2O pads, we’ve seen a reduction in acne and other breakouts. We also offer oil-based topicals that may be used like a serum, and those come in a variety of different experiences.
We also developed our Luxe Soaks, based on the philosophy of Japanese baths in mind, which are meant to address deep muscle fatigue. Our soak includes CBD, but are also Epsom salt, which has high levels of magnesium. We also have added Himalayan sea salt, which is wonderful as a mineral addition to your skin and emptier to your bloodstream. This—plus a whole host of other botanicals and essential oils—is relaxing and calming to the body.
Do you include terpene profiles in your hemp-based products?
BLB: Absolutely. Terpenes, I think are one of the opportunities that we've taken advantage of that we're not seeing anywhere else in the marketplace. Terpenes are amazing oils that all plants and all plant matter contain. Terpenes and flavonoids also help create the overall experience. We talk about terpenes within cannabis marijuana, but they also exist within the cannabis hemp plant, where we get our CBD.
Terpenes create different experiences, such as when you smell mint or a lemon peel or lavender. Terpenes are what are responsible for that incredible aromatherapy experience. At Verte Essentials, we're taking terpenes from within a whole-plant spectrum and combining them with other beneficial aspects for multi-plant synergy.
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How did you end up in the beauty industry making products from hemp-derived CBD?
BLB: My brother and I have decided to do this together. My brother has run an organic cannabis farm for many years in both California and Oregon. I came to him two years ago with a realization that there was an untapped marketplace and that we had the opportunity to share our breadth of knowledge across a diversity of different industries.
We decided at that point to get into cannabis products, and I started testing and playing with the formulations from my alchemist background. After testing formulations, we saw that CBD was all we needed to be able to create the products that we were interested in. It had everything that we wanted, right there in front of us.
We actually saw THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) as an inhibitor for market entry. CBD derived from hemp was far more approachable with all of the benefits and provided a better comfort level for those new to CBD.
Any advice to those consumers who are new to hemp-derived CBD? How should they proceed in choosing a product that’s both safe and has efficacy?
BLB: My advice always is to trust your gut. I also believe that a consumer should look for the most natural product out there. Look at the ingredients really thoroughly for clarity in origin and production.
Like anything you put in or on your body, such as a beauty topical, it’s absolutely imperative that these things are natural, because they—like anything else—can be afflicted by GMO (genetically modified organisms), and bad soil, improper fertilization and pesticides. The consumer needs to be aware that not all CBD is of high quality.
At Verte Essentials, we strive to offer the highest quality and most natural ingredients for the best overall experience both inside and out.
