Donna Maria's Handmade Beauty Connection
March 15, 2004

 -->This Week's Sponsor <--

Baby BouquetTM Natural Skin Care for Babies Natural skin care for babies and young children 10% off any Retail order! Just enter coupon code BBHMB10 under Specific Merchant Instructions at Checkout (Does not include shipping. Valid thru 3/31/04) Baby BouquetTM Wholesale Orders $10 off all orders at or above $250 minimum and (FYI:Initial minimum order of $250. Reduced to $200 for HBN members) ***FREE SHIPPING*** Call for special discount pricing on orders over $350 Just enter coupon code BBHMBW-5 under Specific Merchant Instructions at Checkout

1. HBN Update: Welcome New & Renewing HBN Members!
2. Unleash The Power Of Your Beauty Business at dM's Beauty Business Boot Camp!
3. Handmade Beauty Recipe Of The Week: Peppermint Cucumber Whipped Body Cream
4. Beauty & The Business Trivia Question: win some unusual base oil
5. The Lifestyle CEO™: Are You Or Aren't You? That Is The Question! Part 3
6. The Big Beauty Breakdown: The Body Shop's Coconut Body Butter
7. Handmade Beauty Product Review: Suite Of Products From HBN Member Baby Bouquet

Mint Meadows | Theresa Billy | New York
* renewing member; goat milk soaps and herbal sundries made on the farm; wholesale/retail

Provincetown SoapWorks | Lynne Davies | Massachusetts
* renewing member; bath and body products blended & packaged by hand; soaps stamped with a view of the harbor

Dragonfly Soaps | Jacquelyn A. Barth | Pennsylvania
* renewing member; products that are kind to your skin and to the environment

Lush | Canada
* fresh handmade cosmetics

Healing Angel Therapies | Lakenda Wallace | California
* aromatherapy / flower essence blends to promote mental, emotional & spiritual healing

Dreamers Candles | Maryann Darr | Texas
* bath oils, body scrubs, and soon, soaps and body and hand creams

Aromaceuticals | Katharine Koeppen | Texas
* superior quality essential oils from the most reputable distillers in the market

Garden of Wisdom | Markey Martin | Arizona
* raw materials and supplies to make your cosmetics

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.

1. Branding Your Business: How To Maximize A Key Competitive Advantage
2. Using An Email Newsletter To Promote, Market & Grow Your Business
3. How To Get Inexpensive Media Attention For Your Business
4. FDA Regulation: Get Answers To Your Pressing Regulatory Questions

Only $180 for all 4 information packed workshops, held March 27, 2004. Includes valuable networking opportunities! Don't miss this chance to benefit from business growth tips and camaraderie with fellow entrepreneurs!

Early Bird Registration closes Friday, February 20 and will not be available at the door!
HBN Members Enjoy Discount!!

Spaces are limited so sign up early to reserve your spot! Sponsored by Kim Lutz Isenhour of Lutzy's Lather! To register, click here or email Kim at LutzysLather@msn.com or (717) 226-1530. Register online, by phone or by email!

Peppermint Cucumber Whipped Body Cream is a hard working cream for hands, body and all rough areas. Massage it liberally into hard working hands and feet.

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!! 

Last Week's Question: I founded the California Perfume Company in the late 1800's, and sold the Little Dot Perfume set including these fragrances: violet, white rose, heliotrope, lily of the valley and hyacinth. I could never have imagined that my small New York company would, after generations of transition, become one of the largest and most successful cosmetics companies in the world with $6.8 billion in net sales in 2003.

Last Week's Answer: David H. McConnell

Be the first to correctly answer this week's question and win some of the exotic oil that is the answer to this week's question!

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!

\Life.Style CEO\n.  A person who owns and manages a business, not solely for financial gain, but also to enjoy the personal rewards of entrepreneurship, independence, flexibility and fun.

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

1. Flexibility
2. Supportive Family Members & Friends

This week, we take a look at the role of energy and stamina, and the most successful and happy Lifestyle CEOs have a lot of it! And why do they need so much energy and stamina? Because while owning your own business may be fun and rewarding, it's also a lot of plain old fashioned hard work! Stamina has been defined as enduring strength and energy and you need lots of it to prosper in business. To have be a successful Lifestyle CEO, you have to work smart of course. But there's no way around it: you have to also work hard. And to work hard, you have to have stamina. So this question, and the answer to it, will tell you a lot about whether you are destined for success as a Lifestyle CEO. 

How many of you can testify to the fact that owning your own business rivals running an Olympic marathon in terms of the energy and stamina needed to make it work??!!! (I see all of those cyber-hands going up!!) A high energy level is an essential characteristic of a successful small business owner. Our businesses often take on our personal characteristics. Some people are naturally high energy so their businesses will be naturally high energy. Others have to work harder than others at maintaining the level of enthusiasm necessary to stick out their venture. If you have a high energy level, more power to you! You will probably have relatively few problems harnessing the kind of stamina needed to make your enterprise a success.

But if you are not naturally high energy, adding a small business to an already full life may be difficult for you. I am a naturally high energy person which allows me to tackle most tasks with vigor and see them through to the end. But even with my high energy level and enthusiasm for the topic of small business ownership, it is still difficult sometimes to squeeze it all in. I cannot count the number of times I find myself working at 2:00 in the morning just before or after a breast feeding, and then making my way to the kitchen to wash dishes because I couldn't get to it right after dinner! In fact, as I write this, it's 3:55am. Whew!! I'm tired again just thinking about it.

Of course exercise and eating healthfully are not only keys to business success, but are often also keys to long life. In addition to those, here are a few of the things that can help anyone maintain a high energy level.

1. Take At Least One Day Off A Week. Don't panic! I don't mean a workday! As I write this article, it is the wee hours of a Monday morning and one of the reasons I feel capable of tackling it is because I took all of Sunday (and most of Saturday) off. I visited with a friend from out of town Sunday morning (Hi Kia!!), visited my parents in the early afternoon and then returned home to fix dinner for my cousin and her new husband. While I admit to thinking about things I would have to do in the office a few times throughout the day, I was not preoccupied by them -- they weren't going anywhere after all! I was pooped at the end of the day, maybe even more pooped than I would have been had I spent the day in my office. But freeing my mind from the cares of business allowed me the time away from it that I needed to refresh my soul with other things in life that matter. I am the first to admit that it is usually tough for me to pull myself away from my office for an entire day, but when I do, I feel revived and refreshed when I return. Investing energy in people and things that will long outlast any business venture restores my spirit and helps me begin my work week with renewed vigor and enthusiasm. Sunday may not be the best day for you to stay away from work, but whatever the day, try to find it in the week so that you can rest from business work and concentrate on those things that matter most in your life.

2. Take At Least One Warm & Reviving Bath A Week. Last week was a banner week because I got to enjoy not 1, not 2 but 3 baths. While I was interrupted a time or two to nurse a cranky baby, I still enjoyed those baths! Not too many Sundays go by when I don't light some candles and take a warm bath and I did this last night. But having a week where I get to have 3 is a miracle -- and one of which I took full advantage. Deep breathing, softened light and scented water were the only things I allow myself to contemplate as the cares of the week before dissolve and then go down the drain. While the bath doesn't make the cares go away forever, it does allow me to temporarily forget about them so that they don't seem so overwhelming when I sit down to deal with them on Monday morning. Taking a weekly bath reminds me that I don't always have to be "doing something," and I can simply enjoy "being." And once I take the time to run the water and add a few essential oils or scented treats (a favorite is my Lavender Bath Syrup which you can get the recipe for at www.MakeYourCosmetics.com), I don't want to do anything, and this provides me with renewed stamina I need to do "everything" on Monday! 

3. Spend Special Times With Good Friends. On a monthly basis, I try to schedule some time with a friend or two. We may enjoy a spa treatment, a brisk walk, some shopping, coffee and a bagel (Karen, are you there??!), a movie, a fun lunch or just time sitting on the floor in the family room talking. Whatever we choose to do, taking the time to nourish the satisfying personal relationships in my life gives me cherished time away from business. When I return to it, I feel a renewed sense of purpose, meaning and excitement and am prepared to roll up my sleeves once again.

So be sure to ask yourself if you have the stamina demanded by small business ownership, and remember that taking continuous steps to renew your energy level will not only be good for your business, but also good for your health!!

*The Lifestyle CEO column was formerly known as "Create The Life You Love."

Coconut Body Butter is a great last word in dry skin pampering. Not only does it feel great going onto my skin but it's super rich and nourishing without being too greasy. It contains coconut oil and shea butter, along with other ingredients designed to moisturize without leaving me slippery, plus a decadent chocolate/caramel/vanilla/coconut scent that is to die for! (Can I spread this on top of a sheet cake?) I can use this product on my hands and pick up a piece of paper right away without worrying about greasy fingerprints. The Body Shop has several body butters in their line, including Shea Body Butter (which smells like almonds!), Blueberry, Mango, Olive and Sesame.

For the Big Beauty Breakdown, HBN members click here.

This week, I'm pleased to review a suite of products from HBN member Baby Bouquet. Not only do the labels remind me that the products are clinically and allergy tested, and dermatologist reviewed, but I just love the logo of the little babies playing around in flowers like they don't have a care in the world -- which I guess they don't. After all, it's mommy and daddy, and of course these wonderful products, that do all the real work! If I owned a gift shop that catered at all to new moms or people looking to treat them, I'd have to carry this line. One look at those cute little flower babies on the label and I'm trying to figure out who I know with a baby so I can buy some and give it to them!! All products reviewed below (except the diaper balm) come in Vanilla Coriander and Orange Lavender. I like them both, but Vanilla Coriander is my favorite!

Gentle Baby Shampoo and Body Wash
7 ounces | $18.00

For bath time, Gentle Baby Shampoo and Body Wash is great not just for my kids but also for me. It comes in a convenient foamy pump bottle so my daughter (age 2) has fun learning how to bathe herself. "I want fluffy soap mommy!" It's a very mild product made with aloe and oats, creating a gentle medium for cleaning hair and body. When it's not in the bath tub, it's in my own shower stall or at some sink or other in the house standing ready to wash someone's hands quickly and conveniently. You all know how much I love my handmade bar soap, but with kids, convenience and fun is key so I like to use this instead to wash everyone's hands after potty time.

Comforting Baby Massage Balm
5.5 ounces | $22.00

This product is my favorite in the line, not only because of the product (which is wonderful), but also because my son (5 months) loves it being used on him. He is a boy in every sense of the word, relishing any opportunity to have his mom (or anyone else for that matter) massage his skin to a smooth baby soft glow. Made with sunflower seed oil, shea butter and avocado butter, Comforting Baby Massage Balm is thick, rich and buttery without being terribly greasy. Most importantly it allows me to glide my hands effortlessly across chubby thighs, a round belly and cute little fat feet. (Anyone got some ketchup and a hot dog bun??!) I try using it on my 2-year old now and then, but she can't seem to sit still long enough to enjoy it these days!

Soothing Baby Diaper Balm
2.5 ounces | $18.00

Soothing Baby Diaper Balm comes in especially handy for me since my 2-year old daughter is not quite where I'd like her to be in the potty department. I therefore use it on both kids, plus spread a generous amount of whatever's left on my hands on some rough spot or another. It's effective without being heavy.

Creamy Baby Lotion
8 ounces | $20.00

Last but not least, although it's a "baby lotion," after I'm done bathing, massaging and diapering, I'm ready for myself so Creamy Baby Lotion has become mommy's treat! Again, my favorite is the Vanilla Coriander aroma and I really like it for soothing my skin and soul after a few hours of all of the above. (Bring me a pillow -- and some of that Sleep Easy Pillow Mist I reviewed in the February 23rd issue!)

You can get your own collection of these goodies, plus some Baby Eczema & Cradle Cap Oil (which I have not tried yet) at Baby Bouquet.