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Donna Maria's Handmade Beauty Connection
September 16, 2002

A Publication of The Handmade Beauty Network
ISSN 1530-9630 | Vol. 3, Issue 36
To subscribe, click here.

This Week's Sponsor
Green Valley Aromatherapy

100% Pure Essential Oils & Aromatherapy Products

International suppliers of oils, fragrances, carrier oils, diffusers, books, hydrosols, creams, bases, bottles and floral waters. Bulk, wholesale, retail.

Check Out Our September Sale!!

• Origanum (Oregano) oil - 20% off

• Basil oil - 20% off

• Apricot oil - 25% off

• Cocoa Butter - 30% off

• All dried herbs - 50% off

Check out our monthly e-newsletter and free catalog.

Green Valley Aromatherapy | 4988 N. Island Hwy., Courtenay, BC V9N 9H9
Toll Free (877) 572-7662 | Email: greenvalley@57aromas.com

1. HBN Update: Welcome New & Renewing Members & HBN Members On The Move!
2. Come One, Come All To Next Month's Natural Products Expo East Trade Show!
3. New At MakeYourCosmetics.com:  Rhassoul Sea Salt Body Scrub
4. Handmade Beauty Trivia Question: win two samples of soap ("Good Plain Soap" and "Rose Soap") from HBN member Kathleen Lewis Beauty Worldwide!
5. Create The Life You Love™:  A Surprise Special Announcement!!
6. Handmade Beauty Product Review by Donna Maria: A Look At Two Body Butters!

Desert Naturals | Lori & Mark Kagan | Nevada
* renewing member; soaps and sundries formulated to nourish the skin with pure essential oils for aromatherapy benefits and fragrance

Passiflora Soaps | Maria Uribe | Florida
* gourmet bath products made with the finest ingredients and also have the benefits of aromatherapy

Between Friends Too | Lisa Lengstorf | Arizona
* wholesale exotic oils, butters, fixed oils, specialty containers, etc. for your soap making and body essential needs

Wisteria Health Alternatives, LLC | Lynn J. Bikoi | Louisiana
* look for our grand store opening in New Orleans in October 2002

Groovy Bathstyle | Michelle Kamb | Texas
* fresh, handmade 100% natural, vegan bath products for those who demand the very best

Good Neighbor Soap Company | Heidi Worthington | Connecticut
* quality, handmade, safe, natural, and non-toxic soaps and sundries

~ HBN Members On The Move!!

HBN member Kristen Leigh Bell of Aromaleigh is pleased to announce new additions to her mineral cosmetic colors. After years of specializing in both color cosmetics and bath and body, Kristen has beefed up the cosmetics to add bunches of new eye shadows and variable finish loose face powders and blushes! Tons of colors to choose from: indigo, julep, cosmos, raisin and many more! And stay tuned for an announcement about the impending publication of Kristen's new book in just a few weeks!

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!

Come One, Come All To Next Month's Natural Products Expo East Trade Show!

Silk'n Shea (Oregon) - fine synthetic-free products made with shea butter, herbs, essential oils and other natural ingredients
sunny brae body works (California) - creams, soaps, balms and more created to integrate the healing qualities of the natural world into your day through the use of herbs, essential oils and vegetable oils
The Persimmon Tree Handcrafted Soaps (Delaware) - cruelty-free handmade soaps and bath salts made with olive, coconut and palm oils, cocoa butter, natural colorants, pure essential oils and fragrance oils
Masterpiece Bath & Candle (Maryland) - handcrafted soaps, bath salts, body powder, lotions, cremes, all-natural soy candles and many other products for bath, body and home
Terra Soleil (New York) - Grow Younger Face Care, Condition Your Body Skincare and Body Balms For Every Body. Terra Soleil nurtures natural health and beauty inside and out. All products contain exquisite and precious oils.
Queen B Bath Company (Illinois) - Wholesale of premium quality natural bath and body products. Elegant packaging and a line  of quality and affordable bath accessories too! Private label available.
Bathsheba (Georgia) - Handmade bath luxuries from exotic oils blended to create the perfect bath experience
African Shea Butter Company (Virginia) - Suppliers of hand-crushed, yellow and refined shea butter and makers of natural shea butter products ... lotions, creams, butters, lip butters, soap an bath salts
Essential Wholesale (Oregon) - Set up a "scent it yourself" area in your shop with unscented cosmetic bases, private labeling and custom formulating; suppliers of raw materials to help businesses large and small

Rhassoul Sea Salt Body Scrub is a wonderful recipe submitted by HBN member Anastasia Crabtree of Anastasia's Ideas. Ana is always coming up with something fun and inventive, and this recipe doesn't disappoint. Fragrant with roses and smoothing to the skin, you'll love the way this recipe makes your skin look and feel!

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

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!

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!

Last Week's Answer: sun protection factor (SPF)

This Week's Question: I hail exclusively from Morocco and am used in cooking for my nutty flavor, as well as to add moisturizing properties to hair and skincare products. I am extracted from the nut of a type of fruit and am rich in flavanoids and tocopherols. Inside the fruit is a nut that contains the kernels from which I am extracted. What am I?

To win this week, be the first person to answer today's question and win two samples of soap ("Good Plain Soap" and "Rose Soap") from HBN member Kathleen Lewis Beauty Worldwide!

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 will be notified by email and their name posted at HBN's home page.

The last 4 weeks have brought a wonderful 4-part series of articles by guest writer and HBN member Polly Fletcher of Life Balance. In the series, Polly shared with us keen insights into the wonderful learning adventure she enjoyed in France earlier this year. If you missed the first series, you can enjoy all four parts here:

Part I: Introduction To The French "Aroma" Connection
Part II: Grasse: The Perfume Capital Of The World
Part III: The Crux of Polly's Adventure: The Distillery
Part IV: Polly's Parting Advice On Choosing Essential Oils For Your Handmade Toiletries

As promised, this week brings an exciting surprise special announcement! 

Both Polly and I received a lot of positive feedback and inquiries about her articles, so much that it prompted me to contact Jim and Robbi Zeck of Aroma Tours® to inquire about setting up a trip to France for HBN members so all of us could have a chance to obtain similar knowledge. The result of that contact is that, HBN and Aroma Tours are pleased to announce the Handmade Beauty Aromatic Trip To France, a business trip for HBN members only!

To view the full itinerary, click here! To register, click here!

This opportunity presents a wonderful opportunity for HBN members to enjoy a working vacation and we encourage all business owners to check with their tax professionals to make sure that they receive whatever tax benefits are available as a result of this trip to see first hand how some of the ingredients used in your products are manufactured!

The itinerary has already been prepared and includes a perfume workshop, distillation demonstration, trips to lovely French shops and restaurants, a trip to a soap factory, a visit to a 12th century abbey's rose garden, strolls through early lavender fields and more! For the entire itinerary, click here.

Aroma Tours has set up a special page at their Web site for HBN members to register! Join us for this fabulous trip!

If you have any questions about the trip, just email me!

"Use This" Body Butter by Blue Bath And Body, Switzerland
8 ounces | $23.00 (US)

When I first read the name of this product after I received it as a surprise in the mail, I thought it was quite clever. It sat around my house for a few weeks before I delved into the jar, and when I did, I scolded myself for waiting so long! The rich and creamy texture of this unscented product (except for the quick whiff of cocoa butter) is really tops! It's a special blend of really simple ingredients: shea and cocoa butters, sweet almond oil and beeswax with Vitamin E added. It's the perfect balance of those goodies, creating a rich, thick butter that is a pleasure to spread across my skin. If you have dry skin, you need to USE THIS!!

I have started using this product on my daughter as a diaper balm and I just love the way it glides across her skin. She's a quick little one and she rarely keeps still for very long (that's my fault says my mom!), but when I start to massage her little legs, butt and torso with "Use This," she slows down long enough to enjoy the massage and I love the way it makes her skin fee. My husband has also tackled the jar, spreading it with abandon on the patches of very dry skin on the back of his legs. I kept seeing it appear on his Rich, creamy, thick, soothing. I hope there's some left when the weather gets really cold ... I'll have to hid it from hubby to make sure!

You can buy "Use This" and some other handmade goodies at HBN member Blue Bath And Body.

Breast & Belly Butter by Botany's Desire, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
4 ounces | $20.00

When I first received this product in the mail a few weeks ago, I had also received a few other body butters made by a few other companies. I used the other companies' products first and while they were all filled with shea butter (which is one of the main reasons to buy body butter in the first place if you ask me!), they were also considerably grainy. Shea seems to have a tendency to lend a grainy texture to a product if it is not melted at the proper temperature as a part of the manufacturing process. Anyway, I digress.

I picked up my bar of Breast & Belly Butter preparing myself for another grainy experience ... but I did not get one! From the moment I tried this product, everything from the smell to the smooth glide going on were fabulous! It's a blend of shea butter, ghee (a semi-liquid form of clarified butter used in traditional Ayruvedic healing), wheat germ oil, meadowfoam oil, sesame oil and some herbs including wild yam. It also contains a blend of unnamed essential oils ... I can detect some citrus. The product also contains virgin coconut oil and the combination of the fresh smell of coconut with the citrus is divine. Finally, Breast & Belly Butter contains a type of oil that is the answer to today's Handmade Beauty Trivia Question!

I let my sister-in-law (my most enthusiastic handmade beauty product convert!) try it and she insisted that I give her some ... she left with half the jar! But the rest is mine and I'm going to enjoy it all the way down to the last drop - and then get some more!

You can buy Breast & Belly Butter from HBN member Indigenous Beauty. The Web site is under construction but in the meantime, contact Sandra for a product list!