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Donna Maria's Handmade Beauty Connection
October
11, 2004
A Publication of The Handmade Beauty Network
ISSN 1530-9630 | Vol. 5, Issue 42
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1. HBN Update :
Welcome New
& Renewing HBN
Members!
2. Handmade Beauty
Spotlight: Fields of Ambrosia
3. Handmade Beauty Recipe Of The Week:
Antibacterial Bathroom Cleaner
4. The Handmade Beauty University: Legal & Regulatory Issues!!
5. Beauty & The Business Trivia
Question: win some
colorful mica!
6. The Handmade Beauty
Cookbook:
Join the Handmade Beauty Revolution!
7. The Lifestyle
CEO™: Packing A Plush Punch!!
1. HBN
Update: Welcome New &
Renewing HBN Members!
Between
Friends Too | Lisa and Eric Lengstorf | Washingotn
* renewing
member; wholesale suppliers of exotic oils, butters, fixed oils,
cosmetic grade micas and glitters, specialty containers and more Claire's
Pure & Natural | Irene James | Oregon
* renewing
member; products formulated from
natural, organic, and premium ingredients drawn from the elements of nature Scentsory
Soaps | Sue Flood | Ohio
* renewing
member; handcrafted soaps, body butters and lotions made in small
batches with fine ingredients Raesin
Images | Rae Kat Switzer | Louisiana
* Mineral
Cosmetics that ROCK; Chiffon eyeshadows and more Naturally
Posh | Robin and Robert Klanott | Alaska
* posh herbal soaps and products for
retail, wholesale, private label and special orders Organic
Being
| Lisa Spencer | California
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.
2. Handmade Beauty Spotlight:
Fields of Ambrosia
 This
week's HBN Member Success Spotlight shines on HBN member Fields
of Ambrosia, a New Hampshire manufacturer of body lotions, sugar
scrubs, handmade soaps, body butters and creams. After
being "retired" for a few years, Deborah was searching
for new ways to enjoy her extensive gardens. At the same time, she became
interested in incorporating natural products into her personal body care
regime. Her dual quest led her to a soap making pot, which of course led her
to wonder if she could make other more luxurious items.
Hmmm -- sound familiar? You can enjoy the
rest of the Fields of Ambrosia spotlight
here!
Member Success Spotlights are one of the many benefits of HBN membership. To
learn more about Fields of Ambrosia
and
all of the other HBN members profiled in HBN's Success Spotlights, click here.
3.
Handmade Beauty Recipe Of The Week: Antibacterial Bathroom Cleaner
 Antibacterial Bathroom Cleaner
cleans your bathroom and give you the peace of mind that you are using ingredients that are kind
to the planet.
When you visit MakeYourCosmetics.com,
it's easy to buy the ingredients you need by clicking on our Selected
Supplier links:
Essential
Wholesale: pure essential oils, over 200 cosmetic bases, hundreds
of carrier/fixed oils such as meadowfoam, cranberry, jojoba and shea
butter plus a new Short Run Private Labeling Program!
Bramble
Berry, Inc.: over 105 different fragrance
and essential oils (including their exclusive "Energy" and
"Relaxing"), all soap tested, soap molds and unscented soap
bases!
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!
From
Nature With Love: over 1,600 ingredients and supplies, including
cosmetic ingredients, spa supplies, bath accessories and packaging
supplies!
4. The Handmade Beauty University: Legal & Regulatory Issues!!
 The
HBU telenars are fabulous! I am participating in all 8 of them and I
look forward to each and every one. Throughout my work week, I hear
the comments from the previous telenar resonating in my mind. I find
myself relating the advice to my business each day and I have been
inspired to restructure and reorganize to work more efficiently!
Thank you for bringing these classes into my office, HBU!"
Ellie Trinowski, Moonshine
Soap.
"Wherever
you are in planning your business you find encouragement from dM!"
Tricia Godin, planning a start up in Massachusetts
Tricia
and Ellie aren't just talking about being successful beauty business
owners, they are doing something about it, and HBU is there to help.
Don't let another day go by watching other people
fulfill their dreams! Our next course is filling up fast so reserve
your space today!
Labeling Your Products In
Accordance With FDA Regulations (A Dirty Job But Someone's Gotta Do
It!)
Thursday, October 14 (90 minutes)
11:00am Pacific; 12:00noon Mountain; 1:00pm Central; 2:00pm Eastern
This telenar promises to save you
hundreds of hours of agony trying to figure out how to properly
label your products. Stop all the guesswork and
get the answers you need so you can move on
with the business of being in business! To register
for this fact-filled class, click
here!
5. Beauty & The Business Trivia
Question: last
week's winner was Jan
Laferriere of Canada. Jan won a a 1/2 hour
Lifestyle CEO Consultation with dM!
Last Week's Question: Hi,
my name is Ray Kroc and I founded McDonald's Corporation. Though I am no
longer here, what I did to revolutionize the way a hamburger is made and
sold lives on and nearly everyone in the world has heard of me and my
hamburgers. But while I sold hamburgers for a living, hamburgers were not my
business -- nor are they the real business of McDonald's even today. The
"real" business of McDonald's is something very different, and it earns our
shareholders far more money than hamburgers. State
McDonald's "real" business.
Last Week's Answer: real estate
This Week's Question: Last week, it was
announced that Richard Axel and Linda Buck share the Nobel Peace Price for
Physiology or Medicine, awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The pair
won the prize for for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the
organization of the olfactory system. Specifically, their research showed
that, in mammals, more than half of the 900 genes devoted to detecting odors
have mutated to the point of uselessness during the course of evolution,
evidence that people have gradually come to rely more on vision and hearing
than on smells. Their research also showed that in each person, an
astonishingly high percentage, 5%, of these are devoted
entirely to the sense of smell. What are these?
Be the first to correctly answer this week's
question and win some colorful mica to make some lovely goodies of your
own!
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!
6. The Handmade Beauty Cookbook:
Join the Handmade Beauty Revolution!
 "Delicious"
... "Scrumptious" ... "ideal reference guide"
These are just some of the praises for the
Handmade Beauty Cookbook!! Don't miss this
sneak preview of our book, which will be made available for purchase
exclusively from Handmade Beauty Network members soon!!
Enjoy recipes like Citrus Spa Salt Glow
by DK Mind & Body, Eczema & Dry Patch Balm by Essential
Wholesale, Cocoa-Castile Soap The Scent Shack and Island
Blossom Cream by Fallen Muse WebWorks and so many more!
7. The Lifestyle
CEO*™: Packing A Plush Punch!!
 \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.
Denise McMillan had never been much of a
Material Girl, but quite by accident, she has become one. It happened in an
instant. Denise, a former legal assistant, was shopping for a lingerie bag
for a friend. After finding nothing inspiring, she decided to buy some
fabric at a local store and have a friend make the bag for her. Her first
foray into the fabric store took no less than 4 hours, after which she
emerged not only with an exquisite piece of fabric for her friend's bag, but
also the genesis for a new business. "It was my light bulb moment and I
was clearly in love," she recalls. And Plush was born. Cindy Asendorf,
Denise's partner, sews the bags in California while Denise runs all other
aspects of PlushCreations from her Texas home.
Pre-Plush, Denise, age 44, was working as a
legal assistant, a career to which she felt "no connection." After
having her son in 2000, and discovering her passion for fabric, she very
much wanted something of her own. Plush became a happy diversion from being
"Mom 24/7," and since she could runt he business from home, there
was no question that Plush would grow. The Plush website launched in April
2003 and sales have quadrupled since then. Denise and Cindy have invested
all profits back into the company by adding jewelry travel bags and bags
sets especially for brides. They expect to become profitable in 2005.
 Like HBN members, Denise
(pictured at right) is making
products she loves. Before Plush, however, she had no retail sales
experience. And what has she found to be the most valuable commodity of all?
"Time," says Denise. "Time is a valuable commodity and to get the
exposure we needed, we have to rely heavily on the Internet. With a
small child at home, the luxury of traveling to stores and shows to get
exposure is not feasible. This has forced us to find unique ways to market
Plush products." I'd say the Plush girls are off to a pretty good
start, with their jewelry bags included in the presenter gift baskets at the
10th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® earlier this year.
The Bouquet of Roses jewelry bag (pictured
above) is one of many beautifully designed Plush travel bags. It's made with
bright, beautiful silk brocade fabric with pretty floral print and gold
brocade piping all around. The inside is lined with electric blue moiré. A
blue bead trim adorns the flap and the bag is enveloped around the middle
with a pretty silk ribbon. As you might imagine, PlushCreations are limited
in number. They are not only pretty and practical, but well made with great
attention paid to detail. PlushCreations can be found in California, Texas,
North Carolina and Tennessee. Their specially designed Plush for the Cure
bags support breast cancer research.
The
beautiful bags made by Denise and her partner at Plush prove that "Handmade
Beauty" comes in many forms, and that handmade business of any kind is
a marathon, not a sprint. But as marathons go, it's an infinitely an
enjoyable one, and Denise's PlushCreations shows that with focus, patience
and attention to detail, beautifully handmade products can be sold at a
profit, paving the way for familial wealth and the personal rewards of entrepreneurship, independence, flexibility and fun.
You can find your own beautiful plush
creations at PlushCreations.
Thanks for reading! If the Lifestyle CEO
articles are helpful to you, please send me an email
and let me know!
Visit The Handmade Beauty Connection Archives.
Visit our suite of Web sites serving the handmade toiletries
industry:
HandmadeBeauty.com: the
leading industry trade organization
MangoButter.com:
450+ suppliers of raw materials and packaging, updated weekly!
MakeYourCosmetics.com:
ingredient encyclopedia & original cosmetics recipes
DonnaMaria.com:
sound advice for your small business, Create The Life You Love™
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new customers."
Donna Maria, Publisher & Editor-In-Chief, DonnaMaria@HandmadeBeauty.com
The Handmade Beauty Connection
The Handmade Beauty Network | www.HandmadeBeauty.com
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