Donna Maria's Handmade Beauty Connection
June 14, 2004

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1. HBN Update: Welcome New & Renewing HBN Members!
2. Handmade Beauty Spotlight: Body Wisdom West
3. Handmade Beauty Recipe Of The Week: Banana Beauty Mask
4. Beauty & The Business Trivia Question: win some lovely handmade soap made by a member hose products were recently featured in Oscar Gift Bags!
5. The Handmade Beauty Cookbook: Join the Handmade Beauty Revolution!
6. The Lifestyle CEO™: The Balance Myth: Be Prepared -- For Everything To Go Wrong!
7. Handmade Beauty Product Review: Rose Bath Salts

Blooming Lotus | Jennifer Denslow | Missouri
* renewing member; handcrafted soaps and herbal delights; wholesale, retail, private label

Namaste Body Products | Jessica White-Padgett | Kansas
* renewing member; personalized, natural products that you design; over 70 scents to choose from

Enchanted Essences | Lisa Straub | Pennsylvania
* renewing member; handmade aromatherapy products made with pure essential oils and natural sources

Monave Mineral Cosmetics | Debbie Bilezikian | Maryland
* renewing member; raw cosmetic colorants and bulk blended mineral cosmetics for private label

Makin Scents | Tracy Lynn Benfer | New Jersey
* renewing member;  hand mixed custom scented bath salts, lip balms, solid perfumes, bath powders and glycerin soaps

Adi Gilon | Adi Gilon | Maryland
* all natural handmade cosmetics and makeup

Dewberry Acres | Jim & Dania Johnson | Oregon
* bath product line (scrubs, fizzies, butters, soaps, etc.) designed around the concept of stress-relieving luxury

Allured Publishing Corporation | Marie Kuta | Illinois
* journals and books to educate the handmade toiletries and personal care industry

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.

Banana Beauty Mask is a nice treatment for any skin, especially dry and/or sensitive. Pictured at left is me wearing it so you can see how it will look on your face! That's my daughter looking on, and wondering what happened to mommy's face??!

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 is the third in a series of articles on the topic of The Balance Myth. If you missed the previous installments, you can enjoy them as follows:

Introduction
Family Is Not Always First
Help Yourself By Letting Others Help You

This week's article focuses on how even though we prepare and plan for the future of our business enterprises, we should not forget to prepare for things to go wrong. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not a fatalist -- you probably know that if you've been reading this newsletter for even a few weeks. But I am a realist, and like you, I've been around the block enough to know that things can go wrong when we least expect them to. No matter how much we do right, and no matter how many eventualities we plan for, that one "Fatal Error" always sneaks its way in and tries to rain on our parades.

But there are some things that we can all do to prepare for the possibility that something will go wrong. I'm not suggesting that we sit around worrying all the time about potential problems. What I am suggesting is that, in planning for and expecting the best, we should cultivate the type of mindset that can cope effectively when things go wrong. Here are 4 thing you can do to make that mindset work for you.

1. Be Eager To Find The Silver Lining. When things go wrong as they sometimes do, it's best to meet the problem head on and look first for the blessing in disguise. Look at the situation for what it is, and then search for the silver lining. In other words, look on the bright side. Embrace the new situation and consider it an opportunity to vary your routine and do things a bit differently next time. Kayla was launching a new handmade soap website using a web designer/friend to do the web work and design the company's logo. About halfway through the process, Kayla began to feel like she was not getting her money's worth. She realized that her designer was taking advantage of their friendship by not getting important work done in a timely manner, and then making herself scarce when Kayla tried to track her down. Kayla's plan of launching her website in June was not going to come to fruition and nothing seemed to be going right. Kayla decided to cut her losses, terminate the designer's services and hire a designer that she did not have a personal relationship with. Kayla ended up having to pay for some things that she did not think she should pay for, but to cut her losses, she bit the bullet, paid the outstanding invoices and is embracing the unpleasant experience as a learning opportunity. People who consider difficult times as learning opportunities tend to emerge from them better equipped to quickly overcome the next challenge. Be eager to find the silver lining. Actively search for it. It's always there, waiting to surprise you with a blessing.

2. Never Give Up. As bad as it gets, remain determined to refuse to collapse under bad situations. Instead, again, consider them as learning experiences. Many members of HBN tried over and over again to make soap, lotion, cream or whatever product they dreamed of selling. They may have tested dozens of formulations and poured hundreds of dollars worth of raw materials literally down the drain before finding a formula that was just right for them. Persistence is rarely a waste of time! Write down the things you want to accomplish. Be specific and realistic. When the hard times come, look at your list of goals and monitor the progress you've made toward them. Chances are that the progress outweighs any problematic situation. Weigh the cost of giving up vs. clearing the bad time and moving forward. Then decide not to give up.

3. Listen To Your Instincts. Don't succumb to the temptation to over-analyze every little detail of a situation. Be realistic, yes, but don't neglect looking at the situation from an intuitive perspective. Listen to your hunches -- a lot of the time, they are right on! Getting a "bad feeling" about something can be compared to standing on a railroad track and feeling the vibration of the oncoming train. Don't just stand there and let the train hit you! Get out of the way! Here's how I do this. When I'm feeling doubtful in my gut about a situation, I find a quiet place and reason a bit with  myself. I describe out loud what the facts I know are telling me, and then I describe out loud what my gut is telling me. I make a sort of mental score card, and if the positive facts I know outweigh the bad feeling in my gut, I go with them. But if my gut is queasy even in the fact of seemingly "good" facts, I have learned to go with my instincts. It has kept me out of a lot of trouble and I have become practiced at it over the years. Listen to yourself. Try it! It works!

To be sure, bad situations will always come. But when they do, be prepared for them by finding the silver lining, deciding in advance that you won't give up no matter what, and allowing your gut to guide you as a way to minimize bad times in the first place.

In next week's final article in the series, we'll tackle the benefits of scheduling priorities and tracking progress. Don't miss it!

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

I am pleased to introduce Lorrie Bujnovsky, HBN's new handmade beauty product review panelist. While I enjoy receiving so many delightful goodies, alas, there just aren't enough bath and beauty hours in a day for me to try and review them all. So starting this week, Lorrie will be reviewing products with me!

I met Lorrie because she had been tooling around HBN's member directory in search of new products to try. She stumbled upon a few website links that needed a bit of editing and wrote to give me a heads up. After making the changes, I got to know Lorrie as a l longtime purchaser of handmade beauty products through HBN's website and elsewhere! One thing lead to another, and we now have a new product reviewer!

Lorrie is a 35 year old Ohioan of Hungarian and Czech descent. She has a warm skin tone with peach undertones. Her skin tend to be oily and acne prone, but becomes very dry during the winter and periodically through the year. She likes to use products with little to no synthetics for skincare, bath and makeup. Lorrie has earned a certified first degree Black Belt in the Korean Style of Combat Hapkido. Her favorite scents include lilac, rose and honeysuckle, plus she also likes "musky" aromas as well. She works as a word  processor for a law firm. Her first review is of a line of products that is not new to me, but which I have never had a chance to try before. Give us the scoop Lorrie!

Rose Bath Salts
$17.50 |  8 oz.