Monastery Universal Balm: Ingredients, Benefits, and Holistic Skincare
Monastery has created a curated skincare line designed to work with the skin's natural repair and rejuvenation system, rather than overriding or irritating it. By blending nature's best offerings, Monastery aims to balance the skin's natural barrier. The brand emphasizes absolute oils chosen for their non-irritating properties and high efficacy, ensuring each ingredient is of the purest form and highest quality.
Monastery's Skincare Philosophy
Athena Hewett, aesthetician and founder of Monastery, developed her skincare philosophy after struggling with persistent acne. A month-long backpacking trip unexpectedly cleared her skin, leading her to question her existing skincare routine. Upon returning to San Francisco and resuming her old habits, the breakouts returned, prompting her to seek a different approach.
Hewett's initial creation, the Rose Cleansing Oil, was designed to support the skin's microbiome, maintaining its natural balance. Understanding that preserving the skin’s bacterial environment was key, she formulated the oil to remove impurities without disrupting the skin barrier. Her expertise, honed over 10 years as an aesthetician, allowed her to test her products on clients, achieving striking results.
Monastery's approach contrasts with the trend of increasingly complex skincare routines, advocating for fewer products with better results. The brand's "quiet luxury" ethos views skincare as a ritual, a practice of self-care. The name "Monastery" itself evokes quiet, ritual, and self-care, inspired by a monastery near Hewett's great-grandmother's home in Greece.
Monastery sources its ingredients globally, prioritizing the highest-quality botanicals. While initially working with small farmers, the brand's growth necessitated a shift to larger suppliers, similar to winemaking where seasonal changes affect ingredient texture, scent, and feel. Hewett remains hands-on, experimenting freely in her San Francisco lab.
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Lab Edition 008: Universal All-Natural Body Balm
Lab Edition 008, by Monastery Made, is a universal all-natural body balm that brings together sought-after botanical ingredients to tone and hydrate the skin. Emphasizing minimalism, the Monastery team experimented with various plant ingredients to create a formulation with just eight components, each offering significant skincare benefits and working synergistically.
The balm is intended for the hands and body, and can be used anywhere the skin needs a lift.
Key Ingredients and Their Benefits
The Monastery Universal Balm combines several key ingredients, each carefully selected for its unique properties and benefits:
- Mangifera Indica (Mango Butter Cold Pressed): Derived from mango seeds, this butter is rich in antioxidants and fatty acids, providing deep hydration and nourishment to the skin. However, it's important to note that Mangifera Indica Seed Butter isn't fungal acne safe.
- Vitis Vinifera (Grapeseed Oil): Extracted from grape seeds, grapeseed oil is packed with potent antioxidants like Vitamin E, Vitamin C, proanthocyanidins, polyphenols, flavonoids, and anthocyanins. These antioxidants help protect the skin from damage caused by free radicals and promote a youthful appearance. Grapes have many skin benefits.
- Cera Alba (Organic Beeswax): Beeswax, the wax used by bees to construct honeycombs, acts as a texture-enhancer and emollient. A 2003 study showed beeswax to be a stronger emollient than petroleum jelly. As an emollient, beeswax helps hydrate the skin by creating a protective barrier that traps moisture. The structure of beeswax is mainly long-chain alcohols and the esters of fatty acids. There are three types of beeswax: yellow, white, and absolute. Yellow is pure beeswax taken from the honeycomb. White beeswax is created by filtering or bleaching yellow beeswax. Absolute beeswax is created by treating beeswax with alcohol. Beeswax used in cosmetics are purified. Beeswax has been used throughout history and even in prehistoric times. Some common uses for beeswax still used today are making candles, as a waterproofing agent, and polish for leather.
- Citrus Aurantium Var. Amara L. (Neroli Oil): This exquisite neroli oil rejuvenates and regenerates the skin's outermost layer. Neroli oils truly represent the highest expression of beauty the botanical world has to offer. Citrus Aurantium Dulcis Oil comes from the bitter orange, an orange native to Southeast Asia. This orange is commonly used in cosmetics and food. It is a common ingredient for marmalade.
- Santalum Spicatum (Sandalwood): Sandalwood improves skin elasticity and evens out hyperpigmentation, promoting a more balanced and youthful complexion.
- Chamaecyparis (Hinoki): Also known as Hinoki Essential Oil, Hinoki is a cypress tree native to Japan. It lends its antiseptic and barrier protective properties to the balm, helping to protect the skin from environmental stressors.
- Piper Nigrum L. (Pepper Black Oil): Black pepper oil activates and uplifts the skin, enhancing its overall vitality.
Additional Considerations
It is important to note that Ribes Nigrum isn't fungal acne safe. Piper Nigrum Seed Oil is an oil.
Applications and Rituals
Apply the Universal Balm anywhere your skin needs a boost. Intended for the hands but great for the entire body and even face.
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Monastery's commitment to ritual-driven skincare has found a partner in Ara’kai, a Copenhagen-based spa. The partnership materialized with Ara’kai becoming the exclusive European home of the Monastery Super Glow Signature Facial, a treatment that blends botanical formulations with sculpting massage techniques.
Monastery has also teamed up with the spa at New York’s Hotel Chelsea, with Hewitt as its inaugural ‘artist in residence’. Backstage, she prepped models using a soon-to-launch Monastery product featuring a proprietary ingredient never before used in skincare. The routine was finished with Monastery’s Aloe serum and the Coppola x Monastery Hideaway Essence - a product Hewitt created in collaboration with director Sofia Coppola - ensuring a perfectly hydrated, balanced, and shine-free complexion that complemented Diane Kendal’s make-up direction.
Innovation and Future Developments
Monastery continues to innovate, with one of the most recent additions to its line-up being The Deep Red, an at-home LED deep red light mask. Hewett is constantly sourcing new ingredients and experimenting with formulations, often taking years to perfect each product. Each formula spends at least 6 months in the treatment room before ever being launched to the public.
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