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Donna Maria's Handmade Beauty Connection Newsletter
June 24, 2002
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---> This Week's Sponsor:
10% Off Skincare at Celestial Body!!

Through June 30, save on our skincare products and hydrosols!! See our "Zitz" line, Lemon Lotion, Miracle Mist, Peppermint Splash, Sunny Honey and more! Hydrosols come with a FREE usage guide and profile. Jojoba-infused oils available in August. Choose from calendula, St. Johns Wort, red clover, yarrow, chamomile, comfrey leaf. Reserve before June 30 get sale price! 

FREE Melissa Distillation Demonstration At Our Farm June 29!!

See and smell the beauty of essential oils and hydrosols being made. Stroll through fields and organic gardens. See our site for details! Hydrosols are "water with PIZZAZ," and a great addition your lotions and soaps and gentle enough to spray directly on face and body to tone and soothe skin and emotions.

Yarrow: will take the itch out of just about anything
Melissa: soothing to sunburns
Peppermint: Great in summer beverages

MORE!!

Celestial Body Aromatherapy
Email: celestialbody@undata.com | Call toll free: (800) 882-6858

1. HBN Update: Welcome New & Renewing HBN Members
2. HBN & Members Featured In The Washington Times Newspaper!
3. HBN Conference & Trade Show Survey!!
4. Handmade Beauty Trivia Question: win some lotion bars I made with herbal infusions and essential oils of ylang ylang, rose geranium, myrrh, etc.!
5. Create The Life You Love™: Making Yourself Memorable, Part IV: Be Extraordinary
6. New At MakeYourCosmetics.com: Jasmine Smooch Sticks
7. Handmade Beauty Product Review by Donna Maria

~ Welcome New & Renewing HBN Members!

Holistic Alchemy | Lisa Taylor Barger | Arkansas
* Authentic Aromatherapy Soap; vegetarian friendly, organically grown botanicals; no animal products

The Laughing Rabbit Soap Co. | Charlotte Hayer | Oklahoma
* quality handcrafted herbal soaps; check our "Patchouli Patch!!"

Fields of Ambrosia, Inc. | Deborah Jasien | New Hampshire
* earth friendly, therapeutic bodycare products

Acordia of Colorado | Kathy Francis | Colorado
* renewing member; provider of HBN's members only products liability insurance program. For details, contact HBN

Missouri Soap  and Bath | Debra Hendron | Missouri 
* traditional handmade Ozark soaps and liniments, lye soap, pine tar soap and fragrant botanical soap

~ HBN Member Enjoys Well-Deserved Publicity!!

HBN member Cindy Baird reports that she has enjoyed two new and exciting publicity perks over the past few weeks! First, she and her business, Paradise Valley Natural Skincare, were featured on the Designing Texas Television Show last week! You can view the streaming video here. Click on the "Designing Texan" link. If you have any questions about viewing the video, contact Cindy.

Second, she is featured in today's issue of the Fort Worth Star Telegram. Congratulations Cindy, you busy bee! We're rooting for you!!

Learn more about our members and their exciting activities by visiting their Web sites through HBN's Online Member Directory!!

Last Week's Question: Recently, a group of school aged children entered a contest to invent new products to solve life's everyday problems. The contest was sponsored by a well-known electronics company and the National Science Teachers Association, and the winners enjoyed several prizes including US savings bonds and trips to Washington, DC. One of the winning inventions causes the bath tub to associate your reflection in a mirror with a particular water level and temperature, thus causing the tub to automatically fill with water at the level and temperature you prefer. To win this week, be the first to provide the name of this fancy bathtub gadget as described above.

Last Week's Answer: The Bath Butler

This Week's Question: Though I have pretty much no nutritional value to speak of, I am often used in skincare for my ability to revive and refresh. My fresh juice is a wonderful beauty treatment all its own and is commonly used in facial toners and spritzers and to soothe tired, puffy skin. My scent is very light and difficult to duplicate, and most attempts result in poor imitations. When it comes tome, there's nothing like the real thing! What am I?

The first person to respond with the correct answer this week will win some lotion bars I made with herbal infusions and essential oils of ylang ylang, rose geranium, myrrh, etc.! Perfect to soften knees, elbows and any dry areas of skin.

Please read the contest rules here before submitting your entry.

While time does not permit me to respond personally to all entrants, the winner will be notified by email and their name posted at HBN's home page.

For the past few weeks, I've been sharing a series of articles on making yourself memorable. If you missed the first three installments, you can read Be An Expert here, and you can read Be Consistent here. You can read last week's installment, Be Internet Savvy, here.

Today, we address the significance of being extraordinary. Being extraordinary means being "more than ordinary." Ordinary is not all that bad I guess. There are lots of ordinary businesses in the world and they are doing just fine. But while being ordinary is not the end of the world, it's certainly not exciting. It's ... well ... just ordinary, and who wants to be just ordinary? Here are some things to think about so help you devise some ways to be extraordinary in your personal and business pursuits.

1. Be Distinctive. That's right, have your own unique style! When and wherever you can, don't look and be like everyone else. Create your identifiable "signatures," and modify them now and then as you (and the times!) change. Avon executive Andrea Jung is always seen in public wearing her signature white pearls, Princess Diana was always recognizable because of that shy look she would give with her eyes ... you could recognize her with just a photo of her eyes! The Sephora chain of beauty stores has its products displayed according to color. It's very compelling and distinctive, so distinctive that a major department store was sued by Sephora for copying it's color coordinated style! Working with your own personality and resources, create your own signatures and be consistent about using them so people identify them with you.

2. Be The First. Nadia Comaneci was the first gymnast to score a perfect 10 at an Olympic event. Madame CJ Walker was the first American female millionaire. By making it a point to be as "human" as possible, Oprah Winfrey created an atmosphere where women could "buy into" her vision. She is the first successful talk show host of African descent. Everyone remembers these women, so be the first at something and you will be remembered too!

3. Be The Only. Yes! Few things can take the place of being exclusive. I'm still waiting for the first and only handmade lip balm with legal SPF claims! I'd remember (and buy!!) that! Avalon Products, a company in California, is the only company that tells consumers on their labels exactly how much of their product is made of organic ingredients. The Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild is the only non-profit organization designed to cater exclusively to the needs and interests of soapmakers. These things are memorable. They create buzz, and people remember buzz, which means they also buy it!

Think about these 3 things: distinctive, first and only. Look at your business life and look at your life in general. Assess your unique gifts, talents and characteristics and pool them together to be extraordinary. People will remember that, so they'll remember your business. Once that happens, and you have a good product, you have customers, and repeat customers at that! Be extraordinary! Why settle for anything less??

Next Week: Be A Leader

Jasmine Smooch Sticks are the recipe for the week! Actually, I received a special request for them, so here they are! When you visit MakeYourCosmetics.com, it's easy to buy the ingredients you need to make your goodies by clicking on our Partner links:

Essential Wholesale: natural unscented cosmetic bases, pure essential oils, absolutes, carrier oils such as avocado, virgin coconut, sweet almond, jojoba, shea butter and specialty packaging supplies!

Bramble Berry, Inc.: over 80 different, fully tested fragrance oils (including the exclusive "Relaxing" and "Energy" blends), over 250 soap molds, essential oils and unscented bases.

Lynden House International , Canadian supplier of soap and candlemaking supplies such as fixed oils, perfumes, essential oils, molds, powdered milks, colors, pre-made bases, candle wax, wicks, embeds and more!

This week's review is of several products from Celebrate Life ... naturally where owner, wife and mother Amy Lung makes fabulous handmade soaps, sea salt scrubs and other bodycare treats. Celebrate Life ... naturally has been an HBN member for a long time and after I tried their products, I couldn't believe it took me so long!! Here's what I tried:

Celebrate Life ... naturally soaps retail for $3.50 wrapped and $3.00 unwrapped. (Believe me, you want wrapped because it's so pretty, see below.) Amy also wholesales her soaps. Contact Amy to inquire about wholesale pricing.

Fresh Cut Flowers really smelled just like it says. Of the 3 soaps I tried, this one was my favorite!! I don't usually care whether the products I use remain on my skin for scent after bathing. For me, the pleasure is in the bath itself, and if the aroma lingers on my skin, so be it, but I'm not disappointed if it does not. For some reason, scent doesn't stay on me long anyway. But I digress. After using Fresh Cut Flowers, I noticed that the scent lingered on my skin, and I liked it. Throughout the morning I used this soap, I sniffed my wrists and was tempted to drive to the nearest flower shop and put some fresh cut flowers on my dinner table. No time to do that though, so I really enjoyed this soap as a nice substitute. As an added bonus, Amy swirled chlorophyll into the soap so it was green, white and oh-so-fresh. I need to find out where this fragrance oil comes from because it was just gorgeous!! (I'll add that to my long list of things to do!!)

Smell the Roses, naturally, is a pink colored bar that smells, well, like roses. Actually, not "JUST" like roses, but it certainly is a fine stand in for the real thing. Amy added cardamom and sandalwood for added staying power and to infuse a bit of the "exotique" into this bar, which also has raspberry seeds sprinkled throughout for a bit of gentle exfoliation and texture. I use a nylon cleansing "puff" to bathe (and it creates a fabulous lather), so I rarely actually exfoliate my skin with a bar of soap. Still, it's great to have exfoliating ingredients in handmade soap anyway, even if it's just for added interest. This is a nice choice for any of you rose fanatics out there ... a perfect gift for Mother's Day or a mom's birthday!

Oatmeal Honey Scrub is a warm and toasty scent that reminds me of wintertime and nights by the fire with hot chocolate and cookies with chocolate chips that are still warm from baking. Not that this soap smells like food, but it does have that warm, "wrap me up and squeeze me" scent that many people like. You could almost bite it just for that reason! Amy reports that this soap is her best selling bar and why shouldn't it be? She's added honey, cocoa butter and oatmeal for a moisturizing and exfoliating bar. I'd like to make this soap for gifts this holiday season, but since I doubt I'll have time, I'll have to call Amy to order some.

Now for the final thing to say about her soaps ... they are beautifully wrapped! I mean, really! They have a crinkle cut edged sleeve made of nice paper that is flecked with a bit of color. Plus, there is a pretty ribbon (of complementary color of course) around the width of each bar. They are all the EXACT same size so are great for display in your store. For a spa, they are fabulous because the soft, feminine colors combine for extra interest. No one could resist being drawn to a basket of these soaps when they are in the mood for pampering. And I'm so excited that I have yet to unwrap the "Lemon Aid" bar (made with lemon and litsea) ... can't wait to try that one!!

Celebrate Life ... naturally also has a really nice Sea Salt Scrub Body Polish available in 3-ounce and 10-ounce bail jars. (I enjoyed the Lemon Alive scent with lemon and litsea essential oils), along with a few other goodies. Amy is planning a hiatus for part of the summer so there's no Web site ordering at the moment, but if you want some of her fabulous soaps and stuff, contact her soon before she runs out of current inventory!! You can call Amy at (814) 456-0401.