Algenist and Solazyme HQ visit, the Benefits of Algae

On Tuesday, the 26th, I was chosen as one of the 4 in my store to visit Algenist labs in South San Francisco. It was an exciting opportunity that I can't wait to share with you all.

*** right, quick disclaimer, yes I work at Sephora, but this blog and review are in no way affiliated with them. I do this of my own freewill, on my own time. I receive no payment. My words are my own and not a reflection of Sephora, Algenist or it's values***

I was amazed at the level of organization they had considering it was the first time they had done something like this. The bus picked us up promptly and we arrived right at noon. They gave us all name tags as we got basic introductions. We were then escorted into the conference room where a mega tasty lunch was served.

Schedule of events on our testing table

 

meeting Fredric Stoeckel, VP. He was so open, and extremely funny

Oh right! We were not allowed to take photos inside, but they were kind enough to take pictures for us, and even provided a usb drive before we left. So I basically just rummaged through and looked for all the photos I was in.

The Gist behind Algenist

In a nut shell Solazyme discovered that Algae has a surrounding layer of cells that protects it immensely; from all forms of environmental weather changes, toxins, and free radicles. They harnessed this power and named it Alguronic acid. They researched it and figured out how to make it treat your skin like it does algae. Then a few years later they went beyond that and harnessed the inner cells into an incredibly restorative oil

A list of their products

And this is what we got. They are so generous

I own a few of their products all ready but I will give a full review once I try them all for the required 10 days. They have a 10 day turn around on the effectiveness of their products.

This wasn't just a meal and lecture, it was an actually an all inclusive tour of Solazyme the parent company of Algenist, they make everything from fuel, to food, all our of algae!!

we got to see how they test on the algae

and the vats they are grown in

it takes 4 days grow a strand of algae into a 600 litter vat like this!

The liquid is then dried with intense heat, only about 25% of the liquid can be solidified, the rest is just water that evaporates. That is then pressed into sheets that get crumbled, then pressed into sheets gain to remove as much oil as possible. The flakes smell like an ice cream cone but crumble like powdered milk, then if you squish it, it turns to liquid. 

They basically press it repeatedly until the oil as clean as possible, the less flake and more oil, the lighter in color it gets, and the thinner in viscosity. (Ten points for slytherin for using a science word!!)

We even got to taste the food they make. they can remove egg, butter, and milk and make products that are juts as tasty, but have less calories. I loved the candy and ice cream, the cookie was good and soft but I prefer crunchy cookies. 

And that was my day at Algenist Labs

<3 Alice