Handmade Beauty Connection A Publication of The Indie Beauty Network
February
14,
2005
Happy Valentine's Day!
Age does not protect
you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age.
Jeanne Moreau
ISSN 1530-9630 | Vol. 6, Issue 7
To subscribe, click here.
1.
Announcing the Handmade Beauty Business of the Year!
2. IBN
Update: Welcome New
& Renewing IBN Members!!
3.
Feature Article: Bring The Beauty Inside -- Indoor
Handmade Beauty Craft Activities For Kids
4.
Handmade Beauty Recipe Of The Week:
Bulgarian Rose Lip Treat
5.
Beauty & The Business
Trivia
Question: win some
rose concrete
6.
Handmade Beauty Product Review:
Herbal Essential Oil Inhalers
by Inhalation Products
7. Handmade Beauty Book Review:
Essence of Love by Maggie Tisserand
1. Announcing
the Handmade Beauty Business of the Year!
I
am pleased to announce that the 2005 Handmade Beauty Business of the Year
has been selected, along with 2 Honorable Mentions!
Ten entries were submitted to the panel of distinguished judges for IBN's first annual endeavor to recognize exceptional members and their outstanding contributions to the handmade beauty industry. The entries reflected a wide range of experiences and covered a representative selection of businesses.
Congratulations to winner Essential Wholesale and Honorable Mentions Moonshine Soap and Rainbow Meadow!!
To
meet the winners and learn more details, click here!
2.
IBN
Update: Welcome New
& Renewing IBN Members!!
5-Year Renewing Members!
All this year, HBC will highlight members who are renewing for their 5th straight year of membership! Our 5-Year Renewing Members joined IBN in 2000 and have this week renewed their memberships for a 5th year without interruption. I am eternally grateful to all IBN members, but especially these who put their faith in IBN in the early days when there was no track record and no one was sure it would last. I'm excited to say that IBN has lasted and so have these members! Please visit their websites. Be inspired and buy something new and delicious just for you!
Natural Impulse Handmade Soap and Sundries | Karen White | Alabama
* 5-Year Renewing Member; Karen says that her products are "the fragrant solution to so many of life's little problems. And if the breadth of her line is any indication, she's got the solution to a LOT of problems! Soaps in 9 categories (including "Almost Edible" and "Southern Exposure," plus gift sets, accessories, bath salts, bath soaks, solid perfume, lotion, foot soaks, dream pillows and more can solve a lot of problems if you ask me! Karen is a self-described "olfactomaniac" (a term she coined to describe people who love scent as much as she does) and runs her business from her home in suburban Birmingham. Karen has been a member of IBN since April 2000. You can solve some of your own life problems at her website!
Renewing Members!
Wheaton Soapworks, LLC |
Jane Kern Brooks | Illinois
* bringing
handcrafted luxurious soap from our studio to your home
Pampering
U, Inc. | Lynn Turner | Maryland
* handcrafted bath, body and home fragrance products
Na
Praia | Michelle Gorman | Texas
* matching lines of all natural, handmade soaps, salt scrubs and bath sal
New Members!
A
Natural High | Valkyrie Lang | Indiana
* full line of natural products
for bath, body and home
Blue
Bell Naturals | Sinikka Foster | Arizona
* natural and organic bath,
spa and home care products
IBN Members On The Move!
IBN member Jena Thompson of Daisy Blue Naturals is pleased to announce the birth of her son, Ethan River, born January 31, 2005, and weighing in at 6 lbs., 12 ounces, and 20 inches long! Congratulations Jena and we are excited to celebrate with you!
IBN member Chris Richter at Carrot Tree Soaps is excited to announce that her business is featured in the February 2005 issue of Country Business Sampler, page 41, as "New and Noteworthy." Great news Chris! wholesale orders from this.
Learn more about our members and
their exciting activities by visiting their Web sites through
IBN'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.
3. Feature
Article: Bring The Beauty Inside -- Indoor
Handmade Beauty Craft Activities For Kids
It's
rainy and gray outside so you had to cancel the trip to the local park. How you
were looking forward to tiring the kids out so you could fit in a nap before
dinner! Just because the weather doesn't cooperate, you're still on the hook to
entertain the little ones. Your options are limitless but if you don't feel like
leaving the house in the rain to buy ingredients and accessories for crafts,
your salvation may be no further than your own kitchen pantry.
I have read that engaging children in craft activities has a positive influence on their self esteem and creativity, two things they will definitely need to get a long well in a competitive world. Crafts also help enhance motor skills and provide for hours of family fun. Invite a few of the neighborhood playmates and you've got a Pop Party of the best kind -- inventive and surprising!
Here are some fun handmade beauty product projects that can be made with things you probably already have in your pantry. You can get as fancy as you want but these quick and easy recipes can tide you over until you get some of the "fancier" ingredients suggested in other recipes at this site at and our sister site, MakeYourCosmetics.com.
Recipe #1: Lemon Pink Facial Spritz
Ingredients
1 drop red food coloring
4 ounces cold water
1 drop lemon essential oil
1 spritzer bottle (one used to water plants, that has had only water in it previously; a clear bottle is nice because the pink color will show through)
Place all ingredients in the spritzer bottle and shake well. Spritz face and other body parts to refresh and stimulate the senses. Children can have fun shaking the bottle, which is necessary before each use to break up the essential oil drop which will not dissolve into the water. Shaking helps them burn some energy too! If you don't have lemon essential oil, the zest of a clean lemon and a spritz of juice from the lemon will result in a similar effect. Blue food coloring can be used for boys.
Recipe #2: Sneaker Saver Powder
Ingredients
4 ounces cornstarch
5 drops peppermint essential oil
Place the cornstarch in a wide bowl. Add the essential oil and stir well to mix. You can put the mixture in an airtight container and shake it as much as you want. Have all of the kids collect their shoes and use teaspoons to put a teaspoon on the mixture into each shoe and shake it down to the toes making sure to completely cover the entire bottom of the shoe. If you don't have peppermint essential oil, use some dried peppermint leaves to achieve a similar effect. Store any leftover Sneaker Saver Powder in an airtight container for future use.
Recipe #3: Rainy Day Bath-A-Seltzer
1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup citric acid
4 drops food coloring
8 drops fragrance oil
Combine all of the ingredients together in a wide bowl. Stir very well, then go and take a bath. Use small spoons to add the Rainy Day Bath-A-Seltzer a little at a time to the tub and watch the fizz and color develop. While you obviously can't get all the neighborhood kids into one bathtub, I had fun with this project with my own two kids on rainy Saturday afternoon.
There's no end to the way ordinary kitchen pantry products can be used to create rainy day handmade beauty fun. Take a tour of your own soon and make some mental notes of how you can make the most of a rainy afternoon on the spur of the moment. You'll pass the time in a fun way, stimulate open minds and create useful products all at the same time! Enjoy!
4. Handmade Beauty Recipe Of The Week: Bulgarian Rose Lip Treat
I
love Bulgarian
Rose Lip Treat because of the divine scent of roses, plus the
deepish pink color borrowed from the rose concrete, sea buckthorn
and alkanet root.
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!
5. Beauty & The Business Trivia Question: the winner of last week's contest was Nicole Salim of Temple City, CA. Nicole won some rose oil!
Last Week's Question:
A popular line of cosmetics is named for an Indian book which is generally considered to be the world's oldest manual on lovemaking. To win this week, state the name of the cosmetics line and the name of the person who is credited with authoring the manual.Last Week's Answer: Kama Sutra is the line of cosmetics. Vatsyayana is the name of the person credit with authoring the manual.
This Week's Question: I am the child of Venus, the Roman god of love and beauty. I am a winged creature who flies around on Valentine's Day (and on other days when you're not looking) pointing my magical bow and arrow at your heart to inspire feelings of love and romance. Who am I?
Be the first to correctly answer this week's question and win some rose concrete.
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!
6.
Handmade Beauty Product Review:
Herbal Essential Oil Inhalers
by Inhalation Products
In
nearly 4 years, I have not had a full night's sleep. I am either getting
up to nurse my 15-month old son or rising to nurse the cold or other
ailment of a now 3-year old girl. Finally, this month, I have started
weaning my boy and this Go To Sleep inhaler has been on my nightstand for
several days to help me find my way back to restful slumber. After nearly
4 years of restless nights, I was expecting that sleep would come easily.
Much to my surprise, it has not. I guess it's been so long that my body
just doesn't know what to do! Either way, it seems that when I remember to
use my Go To Sleep inhaler, rest comes a little easier -- it certain
smells better! Made with a Lavandula vera and Anthemis nobilis
(Roman Chamomile) essential oils, a few whiffs of this helps me slow down
and relax, taking my mind off of the millions of things I have to do. This
is a great way to prepare your mind, and thus your body, for a night of
rest and rejuvenation.
When
I was a young girl, my mom used to give me a Vick's inhaler to help clear
my nose when I had a cold. I loved the smell of it and since then have
used Vicks's products for the same purpose, enjoying the wonderful aroma
of eucalyptus essential oils and how it helps clear my nasal passages. But
compared to the Wild Radiata Essential Oil
Inhaler designed for the same purpose and made by Inhalation
Products, the Vick's brand smells medicinal and sharp. As a matter of
fact, I have had a cold for a few days now and I have really enjoyed using
the inhaler to help me breathe more freely and clearly. Made with Eucalyptus
radiata essential oil, the inhaler really does the trick -- and fast.
I'm sure it doesn't hurt that the aroma makes me think of my mom, so it
also brings comfort and joy to use this product.
You can get these two inhalers, plus a variety of other ones (Flu Away, No Head Ache, Woman's Hormone Balance, etc.), all made with pure essential oils, at the Inhalation Products website.
7. Handmade Beauty Book Review:
Essence of Love by Maggie Tisserand
Since
I have made so many different kinds of skin care and bath and body
products using essential oils, I was excited to read a book that addressed
use of the oils from a purely romantic perspective. Enjoy the review
of this book which sports recipes like Enliven-a-Tired Body Bath, Sensuous
Douche and Energizing Massage for Body or Mind.
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:
450+ 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™
Have your ad seen by nearly 5,000 subscribers! ! Click here to see why Essential Wholesale says that the returns from their newsletter ad "just keep on coming," and why The Scent Shack says, "Our sponsorship of The Handmade Beauty Connection went over very well, we had a huge number of hits on the day the newsletter was published, plus we got quite a few new customers."
Donna Maria, Publisher & Editor-In-Chief, DonnaMaria@HandmadeBeauty.com
The Handmade Beauty Connection
The Indie Beauty Network | www.HandmadeBeauty.com
Copyright (c) 2000 - 2005 by The Indie Beauty Network (IBN) and Donna Maria. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized distribution or reproduction is prohibited. IBN does not necessarily endorse any product, event or ideology featured in The Handmade Beauty Connection (HBC) or on IBN's website. All information is provided on an "as is" basis and no express or implied warranties are given. Any use of the information contained in the HBC or on IBN's Web site, including Recipes, is solely at your own risk. IBN and Donna Maria disclaim any liability in connection with the use of all recipes, products reviewed and other information. Except for sponsorships, HBC refuses compensation from companies to feature or mention their names or products. Opinions expressed in any Product Review are personally those of the reviewer and do not represent the views of IBN, Donna Maria (unless she is the reviewer) or any other person or company.
