Omni & AguaVit – “Elixir of Life”

Omni & AguaVit – “Elixir of Life”.    Keys Skip Generation Technology – Blended Whole Botanicals

We introduced two new products that significantly advanced us and the industry a few years back. AguaVit and Omni (“Elixir of Life”) are those products that employ a remarkable change in how we produce products that offer functionality, efficacy, and performance.

Traditionally, companies blend ingredients to create a new product. These can be oils, essential oils, extracts, and blends of separately processed ingredients. Often, these ingredients are estered or separated and refined for a specific function. For example, Vitamin E can be refined from vegetables to look for and extract only a portion of the Vitamin E or the creation of a Tocopherol substance using refining processes. Then, many ingredients with separated functionality are blended to create some action. This is a lot of work, and I continually question separating components of any natural substance to increase its intensity. Deriving an intense form of Alpha Hydroxy Acid (AHA) from fruit like apples sounds natural, but it is not. The intense action of an AHA burns the skin to exfoliate rapidly, with many consequences beyond red skin. So it is true of many estered ingredients found in skincare products.

Keys Blends Organic Fruits, Vegetables, Herbs and Spices

A few years ago, I was introduced to a company in Switzerland named Zeller AG. It was founded by an herbalist around 1864 named Max Zeller. It has continued to make herbal remedies depending on herbal concoctions that it creates in its own gardens. Similarly, Horst Rechelbacher, Aveda’s founder, created a new company named Intelligent Nutrients (IN) to develop herbal products that he grew in Wisconsin. Both companies were breaking ground for skip-generation thinking in the natural products industry because they are thinking about the whole person using whole ingredients.

To further clarify, scientists and engineers often refer to a term called next generation. Skip generation is a term used by some quantum scientists to describe a revolutionary way of thinking or skipping many next-generation changes. It is often characterized by “going wide” or futurist thinking.

Functional Ingredients Science

As I thought about starting to use herbal extracts and ingredients to create new treatments and functional products, I began to wonder what would happen if we combined the whole ingredients into a blend and then extracted the complimentary ingredients whole and in one step. Rather than taking ten fruits, spices, vegetables, and herbs and processing each as an extract, what if we blended them whole to create a symphony that plays in harmony? What benefit would we gain for people, if any?

Imagine firing up your blender and building a whole-ingredient smoothie from herbs, fruits, spices, and vegetables that help digestion. Yet another blend of different fruits, vegetables, spices, and herbs created an elixir that thinned the blood or another that reduced tension. It happens every day, you say, at your local health food store. This does not happen with supplements or skin care products.

Watching a TV show years ago about how Angostura Bitters are made in Trinidad, I realized the process was not only possible, it was very doable. The trouble was what to blend to make something that performed a specific function for the skin that we wanted. It is not as complicated as mapping the Human Genome, but it is certainly something that requires understanding how many whole ingredients might interact together. It is a fairly complicated math model.

After four years of testing, quantum modeling, and research, we have created a directory of functional ingredients to predict what they will do when blended and used on the skin. These are whole ingredients combined raw and whole in a slurry where no water is added, no processing yeasts or catalysts, and no chemicals meant to separate vitamins, hydrosol, or essential oils—just a mash of natural whole fruits, herbs, and spices.

The process is tedious and yet quite simple. It is not unlike how beer is brewed or a fine French liquor is made. We grind, pulverize, and blend specific organic fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices and let them sit in an enclosed vessel for a period of time that can range from days to weeks. This wort (mash) is transferred to a processing unit that is custom-designed and made of crystal in a spherical shape. Heat is applied to the ingredients to elevate the wort to a specific temperature. Then the ingredients are sent through an advanced process that reduces the remaining liquid to create a serum or syrup free from the hydrosol (solid matter). This ingredient is placed into a glass container and shipped to our production factory to be diluted and packaged.

Technically, this is now a whole single ingredient that performs a specific function on the skin based on our functional ingredient map. The ingredients can be blended with essential oils or other functional ingredients that we have created to offer “multi-purpose” functionality.

Ariane & Miras Functional Ingredients

The core of Omni and AguaVit are two highly functional distillates. Ariane and Miras are our first two functional ingredients created in our facility in Oregon. They are both quite different and offer extremes in what makes up our process of creating a functional ingredient. Ariane is a complex blend of fruit, vegetables, herbs, and spices. Miras is a blend of various parts of the forsythia plant designed to create a very complex structural, functional ingredient that is then blended with Ariane to create a specific product that has many, many functions for the skin.

Ariane Functional Assembly

We blend & distill whole organic orange, lime, cranberry, cucumber, juniper berry, star anise, cassia cinnamon, anise seed, ginger and clove.

Miras Functional Assembly

Miras is created by blending the fruit, leaves, and roots of the Forsythia plant to create a very high blend in Betulinic and Oleanolic.  Betulinic is a naturally occurring pentacyclic triterpenoid that has anti-retroviral and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as a more recently discovered potential as an anticancer agent.  Oleanolic or oleanic is a naturally occurring triterpenoid, widely distributed in food and medicinal plants, related to betulinic.

Further Wikipedia reference for:

Betulinic Acid (Click Here)

Oleanolic (Click Here)

Recently, there have been studies in connection to Betulinic Acid and Psoriasis. Here is an NIH paper and references to other practical applications (Click Here.)

We have noted over the years that customers reported relief from Psoriasis and Eczema using Omni Spray.

Functional Ingredients Create Functional Products

AquaVit

AguaVit (pronounced ˈä-kwə-ˌvēt\ ) Means ‘Water of Life!’

It is a Natural, Chemical-Free Restorative Toner and tonic Refresher

Here are the primary uses, features, and benefits

• Botanical Skin Tonic

• Refreshing Spray

• Makeup Enhancer

• Makeup Setter

• Luminescent Finisher

• Fast Skin Hydrator

• Anti-Aging Restorer

• Anti-Inflammatory

• Anti-Itch Calmative

• Aromatherapy

Omni

OMNI is a Universal Solution, Natural Elixir, and Herbal Remedy

Here are the primary uses, features, and benefits

 • Botanical Skin Elixir

• Herbal Therapy

• Anti-Inflammatory

• Antioxidant

• Anti-Aging Restorer

• Calms Redness

• Anti-Itch Calmative

• Aromatherapy

• Fast Skin Hydrator

• Helps with common skin disorders

Over the years, I have received many questions about Betulinic Acid.

There has been much research about Betulic Acid in cancer studies. There are a few plants in the world that Betulic Acid can be extracted from. One such company has patents on the process of getting Betulic Acid from white birch trees, which is why we chose Asian forsythia.

Betulinic acid, a naturally occurring triterpenoid compound found in forsythia fruit, offers numerous benefits for the skin. Here are some of the key benefits: 

Antioxidant Properties: Betulinic acid acts as a natural antioxidant, protecting the skin against free radicals and carcinogens, such as ionizing radiation and UV rays, which accelerate skin aging.

1. Stimulates Collagen Synthesis: Betulinic acid strongly stimulates the synthesis of collagen and elastin in the skin, which are proteins that help maintain skin firmness and elasticity. This can help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and improve the overall texture and appearance of the skin.
2. Anti-Inflammatory Properties: Betulinic acid has anti-inflammatory properties, which can help soothe irritated skin, reduce swelling, and relieve symptoms of chronic itching. This makes it particularly beneficial for conditions like atopic dermatitis, allergies, and psoriasis.
3. Antimicrobial Properties: Betulinic acid inhibits the growth of acne bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, which can help prevent acne and other skin infections.
4. Regulates Sebum Secretion: Betulinic acid acts as a sebum secretion regulator, which can help manage oily skin and prevent acne breakouts.
5. Photoprotective Effect: Betulinic acid has been shown to have a photoprotective effect, meaning it can help shield the skin from the harmful effects of UV radiation.
6. Promotes Skin Healing: Betulinic acid has been shown to promote the survival of skin flap areas, reduce tissue edema, enhance the number of microvessels, and promote angiogenesis. It also attenuates apoptosis and alleviates oxidative stress, which can aid in skin healing.
7. Safe for Use: Betulinic acid is entirely safe for the body and does not have toxic effects, even at very high concentrations.

Given these benefits, betulinic acid is a versatile ingredient that can be incorporated into a wide range of skincare products, including serums, moisturizers, and masks. It is suitable for all skin types and can be particularly beneficial for those with sensitive or aging skin.

Revolutionary Is An Understatement

Our development of whole functional ingredient blends is more than revolutionary. This is skip-generation science at its best. Natural functionality mapped based on components of whole fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices blended to perform specific functions on the skin provides efficacious features and benefits. One step, but with a world of functionality that can be tailored to specific outcomes and without harsh estering or processing with chemicals.

I really wanted you to understand the science behind them first. These two new products will begin an entirely new family of named functional ingredients at Keys.