For decades Shoppers Drug Mart was always my favourite place to burn some time between picking up my children, to get out of the house and hide, or to simply give me a pick-me-up when feeling like some retail therapy was required.
And who doesn't love to earn points just for shopping so that I can buy more, more, more!
But then something happened. I fell in love with all natural body products that are small-batch created vs mass manufactured, and use only clean, natural and real ingredients.
Then I realized that I can make my VERY OWN Shoppers Drug Mart whenever I have an idea for a new product.
And this is how it all started. Maybe others felt the same and wanted to really know who was making their skincare products. Maybe other women also wanted to ditch the toxins and only use clean ingredients?
I am sitting doing work, making my lunch for work the next day, reading a magazine, checking out pinterest, and all of a sudden bam! A brilliant idea hits me and I start pulling out the coconut oil, grapeseed oil, essential oils, zesting lemons, chopping up lemongrass, and looking like a mad scientist in my kitchen while I mix it up over a hot stove. This was a common occurence in my house.
So I started my own natural skincare company in 204. Clean Kiss was born.
Back in the day when I started making natural skincare creations, I used my kitchen. My children would come and check out my newest creation, give it a sniff and play the "guess what essential oil is in this" game. And on and on this game goes. They had actually realized that the chemistry classes they had taken in high school may come in handy one day, as will business 101 classes. I can only hope that they too will have this entrepreneurial affliction hit them one day.
Then one day I knew it was game over for Shoppers Drug Mart and my addiction when I had some time to kill and since I had already reached my one Starbucks coffee limit. I found myself pulling into Shoppers Drug Mart for some entertainment and guilty pleasure. But I had no list of things to buy. I felt sad and lost as I wandered the aisles all alone. It was a 5x points day and I had nothing, nothing, nothing to show for it. This had never happened to me before.
Then it hit me, I may need to just come to terms with the fact that I had changed. It happens. It's nobody's fault. Nobody to blame. People just grow apart and discover different passions as they age.
Bottom line, Shoppers let's still be friends. It's not you, it's me.
When you know better, you do better. When you know more, you have to stay true to your health and choose better options for your body.
Since those early days, we now have our very own dedicated Clean Kiss laboratory and are proudly celebrating our 10th Birthday this year, in 2024. We have come such a long way since making our very first natural deodorant!
A word about greenwashing.
What is greenwashing? It is when a product manufacturer wants the consumer to believe that a product is healthy for them and they try to fool the consumer with marketing tactics such as putting the word "natural" or using a picture of a plant or saying the product contains a natural ingredient (i.e. tea tree or coconut oil).
What they don't tell the consumer is what else is in the product such as other harmful ingredients; how much of the natural ingredient is truly in there (it could be literally 1%, not the whole product), and also keep in mind that the packaging could be toxic (i.e. plastic BPAs) and it doesn't mean it is environmentally conscious or sustainably sourced.
Protect yourself from greenwashing and from toxin exposure by being a very informed consumer. Know how to read an ingredient label (for example that the order of the ingredients is the quantity that is contained inside the product), reach out to the brand to ask questions about sourcing of ingredients and packaging, and not getting fooled by marketing.
About Clean Kiss
We create 100% natural Canadian small-batch natural skincare products that are simple and pure for your body, face, hair and home.
We are 100% Vegan, GMO free, Gluten Free (and free of all unnecessary garbage!) and Leaping Bunny Certified (meaning we never test on animals and neither do our suppliers).
