By Adrienne Perron and Sarah Stebbins
From our July 2023 and July 2024 issues
Fresh Pickins’ Sunsifter Solar Cream
With plants grown on their Cape Elizabeth farm, Dan Marion and Dominic Thibault make lotions, oils, and elixirs (as well as fresh bouquets, teas, and honeys). Avid surfers, they make their sunscreen balm with calendula flower from the farm and use zinc oxide, a natural sun protectant that, unlike chemicals such as oxybenzone, found in many sunscreens, won’t wash away in the ocean and damage reefs. A pinch of cocoa in the cream gives skin a bronzed tint. $15.
Marin Skincare Soothing Hydration Cream
In 2017, UMaine biomedical-engineering students Patrick Breeding and Amber Boutiette learned from Bob Bayer, then director of the university’s Lobster Institute, about a glycoprotein found in lobsters that seems to have regenerative properties for human skin. Today, Breeding and Boutiette partner with the Luke’s Lobster restaurant chain to collect glycoprotein — found in lobsters’ blood-like circulatory fluid — at the Luke’s processing facility, in Saco. They put it in their hydration cream, a gentle, minimalist formula for the face or body, formulated to repair dry skin and alleviate symptoms of eczema. $35.
Marin Skincare Lip Treatment
The same glycoprotein found in Marin’s hydration cream also stars in a moisturizing lip treatment, available in unscented and “blueberry French toast” varieties. $19.99
Planet Botanical Seaweed Body Lotion
Maine seaweed is the star ingredient in Michele Gilfoil’s lotions, soaps, and salves. The algae contains vitamins and minerals that can hydrate and smooth skin, says the former Wall Street banker, who mixed cosmetics in her New York apartment before moving operations to a Westbrook mill in her home state. $20.
White Pine Bath & Brew Beard Balm
Maine beer is always an ingredient in Elaine Kinney’s soap, oil, and balm recipes. The amino acids in hops and B vitamins in yeast, the South Portlander says, can soothe and smooth skin. White Pine balm is meant to hydrate and style beards without clogging or irritating pores, plus moisturize the skin underneath to prevent dandruff. $22.
Holmes + Hudson Face Mist
One spritz of this toner packs a big punch. Not only is it refreshing, botanical buff Heidi Holmes says, but it also moisturizes with aloe, knocks out puffiness and bacteria with witch hazel, and fades scars and repairs skin with carrot and geranium essential oils. Holmes makes all her products in small batches, in Thomaston, using sweet-smelling ingredients — the combo in this one leaves an earthy, invigorating aroma on the skin. $18.
Holmes & Hudson Dandelion Magic Body Oil
The vitamin-packed dandelions Holmes gathers for her body oil help reduce fine lines and improve circulation, she says, while jojoba and other plant-based oils leave skin feeling silky. With a cute label, hand-drawn by Holmes, the bottle will beautify your medicine cabinet too. $38.
True North Beauty Solid Facial Cleanser
This soap is loaded with natural moisturizers like avocado, coconut, and olive oils, meant to make skin look healthy and reduce the appearance of wrinkles, but the star ingredient is chaga mushrooms, which True North founder Heather Lux forages near her Milo home. The antioxidants in chaga are said to help with acne, boost collagen production, and fade sun-damage spots on skin — it works so well, Lux says, she puts it in all of her skin-care products. $32.
Tatnic Witch Herbals Glow Potion Facial Oil
Herbalist Lissa Luckey makes four versions of this facial oil, for normal, sensitive, dry, or oily skin. Designed as a cleanser, moisturizer, and makeup remover, the Glow Potion recipes utilize ingredients that target specific skin ailments — and like the rest of Luckey’s skin-care products, teas, and aromatics, they’re infused with plants grown in her garden, in Wells. $22.
Kelp Glow Facial Oil
The kelp marine biologist Inga Potter and entrepreneur Krista Rosen grow on their Kittery farm helps absorb excess carbon dioxide in the ocean. The kelp they harvest for their facial oil boasts antioxidants and amino acids that can moisturize and firm skin and protect it from sun damage. $68.
Bee Balm & Nettle Rose Petal Bath and Shower Scrub
With flowers and herbs grown on her Waldo farm or foraged nearby, Sadie Lloyd Mudge makes scrubs, lotions, and serums (as well as fresh bouquets and teas). This exfoliating sugar scrub blends hydrating coconut and sunflower oils with beach-rose petals — and smells like a summer day. $20.
Chapped Hides Plantain Salve
As a child, Suzy Hiltz’s parents taught her to soothe bee stings with a poultice of chewed- up plantain leaves. As an adult, she found the remedy alleviated itchy blackfly bites as well. Seeking a spit-free cure, the Cary homesteader created this plantain-based salve, which can also relieve rashes, burns, and chapped skin. From $19.
Find more Maine-made skin-care products at shop.downeast.com.
