The Melvita Foundation, organic products and the importance of beekeeping

I promised them folks at Melvita that this post should be up within this month and it is already the middle of the month >.<

I have never written about Melvita in here (as in, the company itself) and I am sure a lot of people do not know about it. In fact, Mr Oosband himself at first thought it sounded a bit like a multi-level marketing scheme or a vitamin enriched drink ;P

When I was first introduced to this brand, I thought its arrival into Malaysian shores is so timely. I have been talking to many friends who have posed a good question to me - that why are skincare nowadays so difficult to maintain? What they meant was, that skincare nowadays only work well for a good 3 months at least unlike those years when my mom only used Shiseido for more than 10 years and worked so well. Thus, the question was, is it due to the harsher chemical content in today's cosmetics that make our skin so sensitive that we keep needing stronger formulation? A couple of my friends who are residing in Australia have already switched to using organic skincare because of this point and over there, organic products are so easily available.

What I like about Melvita, that I've discovered, is in its brand principles. Ok, I've only tried their Narcissus Extraordinary water and the eye care set hence, I probably can't say much about the efficacy of all their products. But, I am intrigued by their overall business model because they don't only offer organic products to you, their entire collection are all an organic lifestyle - they have a skincare range, body care, hair care and baby care. Even their packaging uses environmental-friendly materials.

As part of the Earth month in April, I wouldn't want to say so much about only switching off your lights for just an hour of the year. Instead, it'd be good to also start introducing to you a skincare brand that lives up to its name, which means Honey (MEL) and Life (VITA) in Latin.

Bernard Chevilliat, their founder, a biologist, started Melvita from a passion for bees and beekeeping as bees have been facing major depletion in their colonies across the globe with declining numbers throughout the years due to the increase in usage of insecticides, pollution and uncontrolled urbanisation. In their products, only excess honey is used so that the bee colony will not be endangered.

When I spoke to them folks in Melvita, I was intrigued to learn that their entire factory in Ardeche, France, promotes everything green and friendly to the environment.

And as a commitment towards this cause, Melvita formed the Melvita Foundation in 2010 with hopes to play a role in protecting nature and safeguarding bees throughout the world. The foundation supports any initiatives that aim to protect nature, raise awareness about the ecology and promote organic farming. If you can't relate to the relevance of bees, here is a quick summary of how bees help our environment and satisfy your love for honey...

Facts*:

• Bees have existed on earth for almost 80 million years
• Pollinating insects generate 65% of our food diversity
• 85% of flowering plants depend on insects for pollination
• To produce 1kg of honey, bees have to visit some 500,000 flowers and fly some 40,000km (equivalent of the earth's circumference)
• Bees carry out 80% of pollination

*the information above was given by Melvita

I am aware that many Malaysians nowadays are finding ways to switch to everything organic because they believe that we should be friendly to the environment, kind to animals and most importantly, kinder to ourselves. Of course, not everyone agrees to it and so I am only doing my small bit to spread the word on its importance.

I have to admit, I am not a fan of bees. I am afraid of them! But as it is the Earth month, this would be a good time for this piece of information, for a start, and if you are interested, you can learn a lot more about this worthy cause.

If you need more information, you could always check out Melvita's website or follow them on facebook (not sure if they have any local fb page yet).

I don't know about you, but when one talks about the environment, the first thing I would think of would be conserving water. I think water is so important (apart from other factors like trees, recycling, minimising carbon footprint, etc.) because at the end of the day, all of us need water to live and we use water everyday that people always take water for granted. It is essential and I don't just practice or impose a good habit of conserving water in my family in April only because Earth Day falls in April. The initiative is endless.

What about you... what do you do to help the environment? Would you change your skincare products to organic skincare because you care for the environment?