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Donna Maria's Handmade Beauty Connection Newsletter
July 8, 2002
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This Week's Sponsor: The Scent Shack

Our Newest Scent Has Arrived At The Scent Shack!! 

Ginger Papaya Fragrance Oil! is a fabulous base of Hawaiian ginger blended with notes of papaya and melon to create a wonderfully subtle scent - only $24.85 per pound.

New Lower Mica Prices - just $4.50 per ounce or $16.00 for 4 ounces

Don't forget about our new clear 8 oz. bullet bottles. Available with white disc cap or white lotion pump.

1. HBN Update: Welcome New & Renewing HBN Members
2. Handmade Beauty Trivia Question: win a sample of my new Summer Blossoms Blend!!
3. Create The Life You Love™:Making Yourself Memorable, Part VI: Be Calm Under Pressure
4. New At MakeYourCosmetics.com: CocoMango Foot Bar
5. Handmade Beauty Product Review by Donna Maria

~ Welcome New & Renewing HBN Members!

Intricate Aromas | Rachel Colthorp  | Washington
* blending pure essential oils and other natural ingredients to provide an all natural skin experience

Natural Indulgences, LLC | Margaret Helm-Duell | Oregon
* body care for peace of mind! handmade Toiletries of all kinds, make your own kits and herbal delights

Selah's Soaps & Sundries | Yoki K. Hanley | St. Croix, USVI
* renewing member specializing in the fragrances of St. Croix. Are you ready for the Crucian experience?

~ HBN Mentioned In Home & Design Magazine!!

The late summer issue of Home & Design Magazine's Washington, Maryland and Virginia issue features an article about HBN members' participation in the American Botanical Seminars and Reception held at the US Botanic Garden & Conservatory on May 9. (If you missed our press release about that event, you can read it here.) Home & Design Magazine is the publication for luxury homes and fine interior design and furnishings. The article summarizes the Botanic Garden event hosted by Donna Bayliss, and highlights the fact that several HBN member products were distributed to attendees at the event, including spouses of members of Congress who had earlier attended the First Lady's luncheon honoring Laura Bush. Also highlighted is a presentation on products for active lives and beauty delivered by HBN member Rachael Shapiro of A Woman Of Uncommon Scents! To view a list of all participating HBN members, click here!

~ HBN Member Going Out Of Business Sale!

HBN member The Soap Garden (Washington state) announces it's going out of business sale! While stock lasts, until July 28, all products, equipment, containers and raw materials are on sale. The domain name, thesoapgarden.com, is also up for sale! For details, call (425) 353-4348 or email thesoapgarden@prodigy.net. 

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

Last Week's Question: Currently, these raw materials are being studied for their ability to, among other things, help prevent cancer. They are present in significant amounts in many fruits, including raspberries, blueberries and other deeply colored fruits. They belong to a family of compounds known in the food and flavoring industries as "flavonoids" and are thought to help give skin a rosy glow. What are they?

Last Week's Answer: anthocyanitins

This Week's Question: I am used to make liposomes and am often used in cosmetics manufacture to stabilize emulsions and improve their texture and emollience. I am present in very high quantities in a common breakfast food, as well as in soybeans. I am also used as an emulsifier and texturizer in baked goods, shortening, chocolate and salad dressing What am I? 

The first person to respond with the correct answer this week will win a sample of my new Summer Blossoms Blend, made with tangerine, pink grapefruit, ylang ylang, ginger & etc. I've been using this blend in a toner I made with rooibos tea and witch hazel. Add it to your own toner ... guaranteed to tone your skin and make you smile!!

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 things you can do in business to make yourself memorable and therefore, generate confidence and repeat business. The first 5 installments were:

1. Be An Expert here.
2. Be Consistent here.
3. Be Internet Savvy here.
4. Be Extraordinary here.
5. Be A Leader here.

This week, we take a look at the value to your business of being calm under pressure.

Have you ever noticed that when a toddler takes a minor tumble, he looks around to see if any adults seem to be concerned? If everyone seems unaffected, he'll get up and go on about his business. But if anyone seems frightened for his safety, he immediately breaks out into tears. I guess he figures: "If anyone looks scared, I must be seriously hurt, so I'd better panic and start crying just in case." Well isn't that just like human nature ... to panic just because everyone else is?

But if you're in business and something goes awry (and something WILL go awry), it's best not to panic, isn't it? Let's face it, even when we plan and prepare, bad things do happen. Shipments get lost, bottles break, Web sites "go down," the wrong raw material arrives the day before we need to present finished products to the client, etc., etc. When these things happen, the last thing you want to do is panic. (At least you don't want to show that you are panicking.)

In the face of adversity, it's best to display a controlled, even keeled attitude. Be calm under pressure and you will be remembered as a level-headed business person who can handle whatever is thrown your way. People want to do business with business owners like that! It means that they can afford to panic because they have the assurance that the person dealing with the crisis affecting their business won't panic! Here are some tips on remaining calm under pressure.

1. Practice Poise. Poise has been described simply as "composure." Another phrase to describe poise might be "a state of balance or equilibrium." When the craziness strikes, catch yourself in panic mode and simply decide to display composure instead. Make a mental note to practice this every chance you get, even outside of the business context. Once you've done it a few times, you will find that it is second nature. At first, while you're "practicing poise" on the outside, you may be panicking on the inside. But after a while, you will see that the poise and composure will become your common state of being. Once your mind decides to be composed, your it will be easy to make your body, and thus your actions, follow suit.

2. Practice Deep Breathing. This simple task can help prevent a panic attack in even the most stressful situation. When faced with disaster and given every reason to panic, simply stop, close your eyes and take a few long, deep breaths through your nose. Allow the air to flow into your lungs, expanding your diaphragm as much as possible. Feel the life giving oxygen moving into your blood stream, and being carried throughout your body. Then exhale, allowing the air to escape through your mouth. Feel the tension in your body release as you blow out the air. Do this for as long as you need to do it in order to maintain a sense of composure in the face of adversity.

3. Always Remember: It Came To Pass. When I was first learning about the Bible in Sunday school, I was amazed (and annoyed) at how often writers introduced a new thought or sentence by saying "it came to pass." No matter what was about to happen, it never just "happened." Instead, it always came to pass. I'm not really sure I ever came to grips with what that phrase meant in the Bible, but I do know what it means to me in my life because my mom once told me.

When I was going through a particularly difficult period in my life several years ago, my mom simply said to me, "Well, always remember, whatever it is, it came to pass." Those simple words have followed me ever since, and no matter how frustrated, disappointed or angry I become over any situation, I always remember that it came to pass. It came, yes. But it will also pass. And that means it won't last forever. And that means that one day, I won't even care about it anymore.

So, practice poise and deep breathing. But if you're not disciplined enough t do that, or if neither of them work for you for some reason, surely remembering that "it came to pass" will help you to remain calm under pressure. Your customers will thank you, your friends and family members will thank you and, most importantly, you will thank yourself for doing something positive to minimize your stress level!!

Next Week: Be Honest

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!

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!

Simple Hemp Soap by Botanical Earth
5 oz. | $6.00 or 7 oz. | $8.00

Recently, I received a delicious bar of soap from HBN member Botanical Earth. One of their specialties, the Simple Hemp Soap is made with nearly 30% food grade hemp seed oil. It was a lovely green color from the hemp oil and lightly scented with rosemary essential oil. The soap itself had a silky feel even before I used it. In the bath, the lather was creamy, thick and soothing. The wrapping was unusual and very appropriate for the bar: 100% summer weight Hemp muslin.

Botanical Earth owner Debra Hendron is a third generation soapmaker. Her grandmother, who owned her own herbal soapmaking business in the 1970s, was a great teacher, and Debra made her first batch of handmade soap at the tender age of 8. Botanical Earth has tons of other kinds of soaps, including bars made with essential oils, milk, herbs, oats, vegetable oils, clays and more! Plus there's a nice assortment of other goodies like salves and creams, as well as a line of products for pet and home care. Check it all out here!