Handmade Beauty Connection
March 29, 2004


A Publication of The Handmade Beauty Network
ISSN 1530-9630 | Vol. 5, Issue 13

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This Week's Sponsor: Green Valley Aromatherapy







  • Aromatherapists to assist you
  • Recipes online
  • Excellent customer service
  • On-time delivery
  • Competitive prices
  • Located in Canada
  • Selling around the world!

  • Green Valley Aromatherapy
    www.57aromas.com

    Our business helps your business make good scents!



    Toll Free: 877-572-7662 or email us.

    1. HBN Update: Welcome New & Renewing HBN Members!
    2. Handmade Beauty Recipe Of The Week: Lemon Salt Hand Scrub
    3. Beauty & The Business Trivia Question: check out last week's winner!
    4. The Lifestyle CEO: Are You Or Aren't You? That Is The Question!
    5. Handmade Beauty Product Review: Soaps by HBN Member
    Tvål!


    1. HBN Update: Welcome New & Renewing HBN Members!

    Brookline Cosmetics | Gail Brook | Colorado
    * an anti-aging, anti-oxidant additive for your skincare products

    Essencia | Juliana Lipe & Alison McCloskey | Louisiana
    * bath, body and skincare accentuating the rich gifts of nature and providing uncompromising benefits for the skin

    HBN Members On The Move!

    Heaps of super congratulations are in order for HBN member Essencia, which reports that its handmade (by hand, from scratch that is!!) products were included in some official celebrity gift bags at this year's Academy Awards! Congratulations Juliana and Alison!!

    HBN member Bill Bates of Splendid Blends Natural Skin Care is excited to announce the opening of new web store!!

    Learn more about our members and their exciting activities by visiting their Web sites through HBN's Online Member Directory, now with 4 ways to search: (1) by state/country; (2) by member business name; (3) by keyword search; or (4) using our new alphabetical listings.


    2. Handmade Beauty Recipe Of The Week: Lemon Salt Hand Scrub

    Every now and then, a really simple recipe is in order to satisfy those cravings for something spa-like, yet super easy. Lemon Salt Hand Scrub is one such recipe.

    New Features At MakeYourCosmetics.com!
    Register to enjoy printable recipes, site user recipe ratings and your own personal recipe book! HBN members are automatically registered using their usernames and passwords! To register, just click here!! 

    When you visit MakeYourCosmetics.com, it's easy to buy the ingredients you need by clicking on our Selected Supplier links:

    Essential Wholesale: pure essential oils, over 200 cosmetic bases, hundreds of carrier/fixed oils such as meadowfoam, cranberry, jojoba and shea butter plus a new Short Run Private Labeling Program!

    Bramble Berry, Inc.
    over 105 different fragrance and essential oils (including their exclusive "Energy" and "Relaxing"), all soap tested, soap molds and unscented soap bases!

    SunRose Aromatics: pure essential oils (many organic), carrier oils and other aromatherapy products, each carefully selected for quality. Check out their new Perfumer's Emporium.

    The Scent Shack: fragrance oils and soap supplies. Fragrance oils are pre-tested in cold process, melt & pour soap, and candles, and test results are listed at the Web site. Scents tested by soapers for soapers!

    From Nature With Love: over 1,600 ingredients and supplies, including cosmetic ingredients, spa supplies, bath accessories and packaging supplies!


    3. Beauty & The Business Trivia Question:
    last week's winner was Mary Lindsey of West Sacramento, CA. Mary won some fantastic handmade soap!

    Last Week's Question: Before the Handmade Beauty Network was known as the Handmade Beauty Network, it was known as this.

    Last Week's Answer: The Handmade Toiletries Network

    This Week's Question: I am a reaction between acids and alcohols occurring in essential oils that are mainly relaxing and soothing, and many of which have anti-fungal properties. A lot of me nearly always guarantees a pleasant smelling essential oil. Examples of me include bornyl acetate and lynalyl acetate. What am I?

    Be the first to correctly answer this week's question and win some fantastic handmade soap!

    Please read the contest rules here before submitting your entry. Put "TRIVIA CONTEST ANSWER" in the subject line or your answer will not be considered.

    While time does not permit me to respond personally to all entrants, the winner's name will be announced in the next newsletter!


    4. The Lifestyle CEO: Are You Or Aren't You? That Is The Question!

    This series takes a look at the qualities that seem most useful and prevalent in successful Lifestyle CEOs. If you missed the previous installments, you can view them here:

    1. Flexibility
    2. Supportive Family Members & Friends
    3. Energy & Stamina
    4. Having & Maintaining An Open Mind

    This week, we examine the significance of thinking HUGE!  In business as in life, we start with nothing. As we grow from children into adults, and as we grow our businesses from conception to reality, one thing remains constant: all achievement in business, no matter how big or how small, starts with a single idea. But after you have the idea, you cannot stop there. Successful Lifestyle CEOs make a habit of watering their ideas as they would water a plant so it can mature into something worthwhile.

    When you start a plant from seed, you don't want it to remain a seed do you? Of course not! You want it to grow into a lovely plant. You have a vision for your seed when you plant it. Perhaps you want it to have blooms if it is a bloomer, or if it is not a plant that blooms, you will want the leaves to be full, colorful and vibrant, right? Either way, it all starts with the idea you have in your head of what you want your plant to look like. The more beautiful you want your plant to be the more you will take care of it. And so it is with business. If you think your business will blossom and flourish beyond anything you could ask or think, and you maintain a positive attitude, it will happen for you. If, on the other hand, you treat your business with a sort of "if it works, great, but if it doesn't work, I can always go back to my full time job" attitude, guess what? You'll probably end up back at your full time job. So think HUGE and don't even be limited by your thoughts! Imagine your business growing to exactly where you want it to be and begin acting and thinking like you are already there. Once you act the part, it's only a matter of time before it's reality.

    1. Don't Let The Turkeys Deter You. Ignore people who spend their days telling other people (and you) why they can't do such and such. It's true that misery does love company. There are some people in my life who seem to only want to be around me when I have a problem. It always seems that they relish the chance to hear about someone else's problem so theirs doesn't seem so bad. Those people are nowhere to be found once my problem is solved though! I make it a point to avoid those types of people now because they weigh me down. Both personally and professionally, they are like a noose around my neck constantly seeking to drag me down with them. Don't share your business challenges with such people because they will only help you dwell on the problem when you should be focusing on getting around the problem. Is your business facing an obstacle right now? If so, ask yourself: am I focusing on the obstacle or am I focusing on how I can put the obstacle behind me? If you are focusing on the former, change your mindset to the latter ... and get rid of all the people in your life who would prefer to see you stuck with your problem rather than helping you figure out a way around it.

    2. Picture Yourself Where You Want To Be. When I was young(er!), my mother always told me to emulate the person in the office whose job I wanted. Obviously, this is not appropriate for everyone since I noticed quickly after entering corporate America that, even though I wanted to attain a certain position in the company, I did not want to act like the people who held those positions at that time! But anyway, you get the point. Whatever it is you want to be, wherever it is you want to be and whomever you want to be ... start looking and acting the part now and there's no reason why you can't attain your goals. What if Oprah Winfrey had pictured herself where she was in 1980 instead of where she wanted to be? Well, she would probably still be where she was in 1980. But look!! She's not only where she wanted to be, but she has surpassed that!! Oprah not only thought HUGELY of herself, she also thought HUGELY of the people she was trying to reach. Within all of us is the potential to do the same thing. Picture yourself where you want to be and you'll find yourself taking the steps to get yourself there. Not only that, you'll find that the people you need to believe in your will also fall in line. And before you know it, there you'll be ... where you want to be!

    3. Employ The Art Of Positive Self-Talk. You may have all kinds of reasons why you think you can't make it to where you want to be in business. Perhaps you think the market you are in is already flooded. Or maybe you think you don't look a certain way or have a certain amount of education. Well, maybe you do and maybe you don't. But one thing is certain: if you think you can't achieve your goal, you won't achieve your goal. Is that motivation enough for you to begin to think positively about yourself as a Lifestyle CEO? Sometimes I put motivational notes on my bathroom mirror and around my office where I can see them throughout the day. When I see them, I repeat them to myself and they become a part of who I am. When you think positive thoughts, you feel more positive. And when you feel positive, there's nothing you can't accomplish. A few of my favorite motivational notes:

    "It is never too late to be what you might have been." George Eliot
    "Action is the antidote to despair." Joan Baez
    "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." Eleanor Roosevelt
    "If you think you can, you can. If you think you can't you're right." Mary Kay Ash

    If you enjoyed this article about Big Thinking, you may also enjoy this one on "Dreaming HUGE!"

    Join me next week when I conclude this series with "Tying It All Together."


    5. Handmade Beauty Product Review: Soaps by HBN Member Tvål!

    Handmade Soaps, various scents
    Approx. 4 ounces | $5.00 (CDN)

    A lovely lavender/blue colored swirl through a slightly off-white colored bar. That’s what you see when you view Tvål!'s (the Swedish word for soap) Blueberry Verbena handmade soap. But if you stop there, you’ll be missing the treat of a lifetime, for this 4-ounce bar is infused with one of the most delicious fragrances I have ever enjoyed. Who’d have thunk it? Blueberry Verbena? Lemon verbena, yes, I’ve heard of that and everyone knows what it is. But Blueberry? All I can say is, you gotta try it. The aroma is sweet and fresh, uplifting for spring and reminiscent of the tiny bit of tartness you may anticipate as you contemplate biting into a fresh slice of blueberry pie.

    The packaging is quite nice, wrapped in pretty paper with a label and decorative strip, it’s wrapped like a gift already so you’ll never be without that last minute “thank you.” Keep a stash of the same scent on hand in an airtight container and you’ll always be prepared. This soap and others in Tval!s line, are planned to complement their line of other products, including body butter. I also tried the Ginger Fit and Carrot, Honey & Orangeblossom soaps and both are wonderfully aromatic. But back to the beginning – it’s the Blueberry Verbena that lit my entire bath and bedroom with a smile-bringing aroma. As with most handmade soaps, this bar’s life is extended by storing it in a draining soap dish between uses. More than other handmade soaps I’ve tried lately, it’s especially important with this bar, which developed quite a creamy suction* when left on the flat tub ledge surface. It was fine once I found the slatted soap dish (which my daughter had "hidden" under the sink!), and stored the soap there.

    To purchase Tvål products, including lip balm and body butter, in the above fragrances and others, visit their website.

    *That doesn’t happen with all handmade soaps – if anyone knows why it happens with some and not others, let me know so I can share!)


    Visit The Handmade Beauty Connection Archives.

    Visit our suite of Web sites serving the handmade toiletries industry:

    HandmadeBeauty.com: the leading industry trade organization
    MangoButter.com: 500+ suppliers of raw materials and packaging, updated weekly!
    MakeYourCosmetics.com: ingredient encyclopedia & original cosmetics recipes
    DonnaMaria.com: sound advice for your small business, Create The Life You Love™


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    Donna Maria, Publisher & Editor-In-Chief, DonnaMaria@HandmadeBeauty.com
    The Handmade Beauty Connection
    The Handmade Beauty Network | www.HandmadeBeauty.com

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