Why does my Untouched Face Cream have a gentle scent of marzipan?

Because it is made with Apricot kernel oil, and we have left that oil exactly as it was pressed. A gentle scent of marzipan is what Apricot kernel smells of when nobody has refined, bleached or deodorised it.

The kernel inside the apricot. Pressed once, and left as it came.

Our Untouched range is built on that single principle: virgin first-press plant oils and butters, certified organic, with nothing added and nothing taken away.

With our Untouched Skincare Range you are holding the base itself. A high quality, super clean, vegan cream, lotion or base oil, made from virgin first-press certified organic plant carriers and nothing else.

Untouched Face Day Cream. The scent is Apricot kernel, and it is meant to be there.

Untouched Face Day Cream
$49.95, 50ml

What does untouched actually mean?

Untouched describes the ingredients, not the absence of a scent. Most of the plant oils used in skincare arrive at the distribution houses already refined, bleached and deodorised. The trade calls it RBD, and it is done for sensible industrial reasons. A refined oil is colourless, odourless and identical from one drum to the next, which makes it easy to formulate with and easy to scent however the brand pleases.

It also takes things away. The colour, the scent and a share of what the plant put into the oil in the first place all leave with the processing. What remains is a neutral carrier, and a neutral carrier is a blank to be filled.

There is a quieter point inside that one. Refining is a chain of steps, and each step has its processing aids: clays, carbons, filter media, enzymes. An unrefined oil has been through none of them, so there is nothing to trace, of any origin. That is why vegan is a plain statement for this range rather than a claim that needs a footnote.

We took the other road. The oils and butters in our Untouched skincare are virgin first-press, and once extracted they are left alone. Nothing refined, nothing bleached, nothing deodorised. The consequence is that every product in the range carries the gentle, natural scent of its own ingredients and a colour. Apricot kernel oil smells faintly of marzipan. Sweet almond oil smells of almonds. Cocoa butter smells, unmistakably, of chocolate. It varies a little from batch to batch, as anything that came from a field rather than a factory will.

Apricot kernel oil smells faintly of marzipan. That is the fruit, not a fragrance.

That is the whole of what the name means. Untouched describes the ingredients, not the absence of a scent.

Untouched, unscented and fragrance-free. Are they the same thing?

They are three different statements, and only one of them tells you what was done to the base.

Fragrance-free means no fragrance was added. Fragrance, or Parfum, is a single word on an ingredient list that can stand in for dozens of compounds, and it is almost always synthetic. Nothing hides behind that word in anything we make, and in this industry a great deal hides behind it. Fragrance-free says nothing about the oils and butters underneath, though, and in practice most fragrance-free bases have been refined and deodorised until they smell of nothing at all.

Unscented means the finished product has no detectable scent. Quite often something has been added to achieve that, a masking agent whose job is to cancel whatever the base would otherwise smell of. Or the product has gone through a serious process of deodorising.

Untouched means the base was pressed once, gently, and then left as it was, as nature intended. No fragrance, no added essential oil, and nothing removed. So it has a scent, quietly, of exactly what is in it. That is the ingredient speaking for itself, and we would not have it any other way.

A 100% pure essential oil, for the record, is none of the above. One plant, distilled, with a botanical name, a plant part and a country of origin you can look up. Untouched has no added essential oil either, because in this range we would rather you chose your own. Which brings us to who it was made for.

Who is the Untouched Skincare range for?

Three kinds of people, and most of us are at least one of them.

Skin that prefers nothing added. Some skin is particular about what is put on it, and added fragrance is the thing it is most often particular about, because fragrance carries the largest number of separate compounds and the least disclosure. Untouched never had it. What you are holding is a short list of certified organic plant carriers, each with a name you can read, and each one exactly what that name says.

A routine that is simple. Five steps for the face. Cleansing Oil, Facial Toner, Face Day Cream, Intensive Serum, Face Night Cream. Three for the body. Body Hydration, Body Lotion, Body Oil. Use all of them or use 1. Nothing in the range competes with anything else in it, and nothing competes with a scent you already wear.

Making it your own. Our Untouched Skincare bases are the beginnings rather than a finished statement, and this is the part of the range we enjoy most. Add 1 to 2 drops of an essential oil to a scoop of cream or a few drops of serum, blend in the palm, and you have made something that exists nowhere else. Change the essential oil and you have changed the product while still assuring it is completely natural. Depending on what you like, what your skin seems to be asking for that day, and what is in the cupboard, one jar could become a dozen different creams over its life.

It is also the economical way to build a range. One base, 1 or 2 oils, and the oils last for months, because you are using them by the drop.

Seven that sit beautifully in the Untouched Skincare range, chosen for their scent and their provenance:

• Rose Damask, Rosa damascena. Soft, full and unmistakable. A single drop is enough.
• Chamomile Roman, Anthemis nobilis. Sweet and apple-like, and the gentlest of the 7.
• Geranium, Pelargonium graveolens. Green and rosy, brighter than rose itself.
• Palmarosa, Cymbopogon martinii. Fresh and rosy, with a trace of lemongrass in it.
• Mānuka, Leptospermum scoparium. Warm and honeyed, and native to Aotearoa New Zealand.
• Sandalwood Australian, Santalum spicatum. Soft, woody and slow to fade.
• Immortella, Helichrysum italicum. Rich, a little like maple syrup, with a trace of wood smoke.

How do you add an essential oil to the Untouched Skincare range?

Take a scoop of cream or a few drops of serum into the palm, add 1 drop of essential oil, blend with a fingertip, and apply as usual. Add a second drop only if you want more. Never put a neat essential oil straight onto the face, and if an oil is new to you, try the blend on the inside of the upper arm first and give it 10 minutes. If you react, it is a better place to find out than your face.

1 drop into the palm, then the cream. Never neat on the face.

What should the label tell you?

The same 3 things we ask of any label, ours included.

• Every ingredient named, with nothing folded under Fragrance or Parfum. Be aware of trademarked ingredient names, as they could hide what someone does not want you to know. Look it up before you trust it.
• A certifier named, not self-declared. Ours are AsureQuality, certified since 2009, and BioGro, certified since 2012, and both certify the finished product as well as the list of all ingredients.
• A best before date, because plant oils have a life where they are most active, and a company that knows when they were pressed will tell you.

Very few can stand behind all of that together.

The range

For the face. Cleansing Oil, brand new to the range, certified organic Jojoba, Apricot Kernel and Castor oils with natural Rosemary extract. Oil cleanses oil: massage into dry skin, lift away with a warm cloth, and the day comes off with it. Facial Toner, four certified organic floral waters, alcohol-free. Face Day Cream, our signature cream, reformulated with CO2-extracted Rosehip and Evening Primrose. Intensive Serum, light, and made for sensitive and dry skin. Face Night Cream, the most concentrated cream we make, formulated with Black Cumin, Chia Seed and Rose Hip seed and pulp oil.

Brand new product, image coming soon Cleansing Oil $39.95, 50ml

Brand new product, image coming soon Facial Toner $39.95, 50ml

Face Day Cream $49.95, 50ml

Intensive Serum $59.95, 25ml

Brand new product, image coming soon Face Night Cream $64.95, 50ml

For the body. Body Hydration, for the stubborn dry places that are always exposed, elbows, hands and feet. Body Lotion, light and quickly absorbed, for after the shower. Body Oil, perfect for massage, the base for a blend of your choosing whether the evening is romantic or the muscles have earned it, or used as it is where skin is at its driest. Each comes with a 500ml refill (Body Hydration, Body Lotion, Body Oil), so you keep the bottle and change what is in it.

Body Hydration $39.95, 100ml

Body Lotion $39.95, 100ml

Body Oil $34.95, 100ml

Body Hydration, Body Lotion, Body Oil. The same rule, below the neck.

Browse the whole Untouched range. Precision crafted in New Zealand, at our solar powered facility at Muriwai Beach, Aotearoa. Founded 1988.

The short version

• Untouched describes the ingredients. Virgin first-press plant oils and butters, certified organic, never refined, bleached or deodorised, and vegan without a footnote.
• Though the range is not without scent. It has the gentle natural scent of what is in it. Marzipan from Apricot kernel, chocolate from cocoa butter.
• Fragrance on a label is one word for many compounds, almost always synthetic. Untouched has none, and no added essential oil either.
• It is for skin that prefers nothing added, for anyone who wants a simple routine, and for anyone who likes to add their own oils.
• 1 to 2 drops into the cream or serum, blended in the palm, never neat on the face.
• On any label: every ingredient named, a named certifier, a best before date.

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Need to Know is our series answering the questions people actually ask about essential oils, one at a time, without the marketing. Precision crafted in New Zealand.

Have a question you would like answered? Ask us and it may become a future edition.

Ngā mihi
Dr Bo Hendgen DO ND AM