Donna Maria's Handmade Beauty Connection
January 24, 2005

1. HBN Update: Welcome New & Renewing HBN Members!!
2. Feature Article: Winter Skin Update: "Let Your Health Glow!
3. Handmade Beauty Recipe Of The Week: Java Cellulite Scrub
4. Beauty & The Business Trivia Question: win a copy of the Handmade Beauty Cookbook!
5. Handmade Beauty Product Review: Crystal Essence Butter by Blue Moon Herbals

5-Year Renewing Members!

All this year, HBC will highlight members who are renewing for their 5th straight year of membership! Our 5-Year Renewing Members joined HBN in 2000 and have this week renewed their memberships for a 5th year without interruption. I am eternally grateful to all HBN members, but especially these who put their faith in HBN in the early days when there was no track record and no one was sure it would last. I'm excited to say that HBN has lasted and so have these members! Please visit their websites. Be inspired and buy something new and delicious just for you!

Honeychild Handmade Soap Co. | Robert May | Wisconsin
* 5-Year Renewing Member; Roberta May has been making soaps especially for dry skin types for years, using "extravagant amounts of luxurious oils." Her Honeychild Handmade Soap Co. is the culmination of her soapmaking expertise. She makes her soaps rich in shea butter and cocoa butter, enhanced with silk and scented with skin-friendly essential oils or fine fragrance oils. She also has body mists scented to match, a subtle Shimmer Creme, and a Shea Butter Creme. Try soaps like Brown Sugar (shea and cocoa butters with raw silk), Blue Velvet (oakmoss, lavender and patchouli) and Puppy Love (for your canine friends). Get some of your own Honeychild goodies at Roberta's website.

Thimbleberry Hill Soapworks | Elizabeth Savard | New York
* 5-Year Renewing Member;5-Year Renewing Member; Thimbleberry Hill Soapworks specializes in handcrafted goat milk soaps, shampoos, lotion bars, body polish and TubTabs. We pride ourselves in crafting cruelty-free products designed to pamper our customers with the extras they deserve! Email Elizabeth for more details!

Outer Body Experience | Sarah Porter | Colorado
* 5-Year Renewing Member;5-Year Renewing Member; I first met Sarah Porter when her business was just beginning to take off. Today, she's come a long way from a few bars of soap, bath salts and milk baths to thousands of units of product sold at health food stores and natural markets around the country. You can choose your Outer Body Experience: Tranquil, Adventurous, Exhilarating, Soothing or Practical. The essential oils blends in each match the experience so you are never in the wrong mood for your own Outer Body Experience. Enjoy your own today at Sarah's website!

Nature's Gift | Marge Clark | Tennessee
* 5-Year Renewing Member;5-Year Renewing Member; Marge Clark is well known for many things, but to me the most significant are (1) her undying love of essential oils; and (2) her consistent desire to share their benefits with anyone who will listen. Marge has built her business through great adversity (you can read her inspirational story here) and today offers a wide selection of organic and wildcrafted essential oils and hydrosols through her retail store and at her website.

Renewing Members!

Niwot Soap Works | Lee Johnson | Colorado
* natural lotions and creams especially for the dry climate of Colorado

Oliver Aromatics | Darlene Oliver | Washington, DC
* My man body oil, OOh Baby Baby body oil, Jazzy Jasmine Hair Oil, Hair-n-Body Butter and more

Via Botanica Body Care | Lori Kott | California
* handmade soap, hand and body lotion, sugar scrub, body butter, lip balm, massage cream, and soy wax candles

Barcelona Bath & Body | Rachel Lane | Texas
* premium line of soaps, room sprays and candles

New Members!

Desert Woman Botanicals | Monica Rude | Minnesota
* Fab Foot Creme, Rehab Creme, Lavender Light Lotion, herbal healing salves and more

HBN Members On The Move!

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.

It's that time of year again, when old man winter comes along! Not only does he dump snow all over the place (like he did over the weekend on the east coast -- I'm digging out from under 6 inches -- but I understand many of your are digging out from under many more!), but he also wrecks havoc on our skin. While I am blessed to have normal to oily skin most of the year, from January through March, my skin cries out for additional moisture several times a day.

According to HBN Seed Member and licensed esthetician Ricey Clapp of Inner Sanctum Salon & Day Spa, my skin's many cries for moisture are a direct response to the peculiarities of winter air. During the wintertime, all of life endures a sort of "contracting". Since we're not meant to have the same activity level that we have in warmer times of the year, this process of pulling inward is a natural seasonal change that is first be observed in the autumn when the leaves begin to wither and fall from the trees. As this happens, there is a downward pulling within the tree of all vital life forces. Our skin and our bodies as a whole undergo a similar process, which is a natural response to outside air becoming dryer and less apt to hold the moisture that our skin so desperately needs to remain healthy. During the cycle of the year, we have less physical energy and are not as prone to undertake large projects. We don't perspire as much so our skin doesn't breathe as effectively, and we sleep longer and more deeply. We stay closer to home as our  life forces pull inward so we can experience some of the creative rest we need to replenish ourselves for the arrival of spring. During this time, we are in a period of semi-hibernation and our skin. as the visible interface between our internal and external worlds, is one of the first places to reflect this state.

To have optimal skin all winter, we must strive to maintain the delicate balance between energy conservation and a tendency toward stagnation. In other words, we must continue to maintain physical movement without overtaxing the body. Especially during the winter, Ricey advises to first begin with our inward parts by eating nutrient dense foods and seasonal root vegetables (locally harvested where possible and appropriate) such as sweet potatoes, deep sea fishes, raw nuts, fish oils, flax seed oil, oatmeal, parsnips and beets. These foods help create internal bodily moisture which is reflected in healthy skin. The essential fatty acids in flax seed and fish oils provide structure and integrity to our epidermal cells so that they remain strong and are less prone to rupture and moisture loss. Avoiding crunchy, hard foods like cold cereal, dry crackers, popcorn and sweets helps in this process.

Much to my personal disappointment, Ricey advises taking fewer baths or showers during the winter, and using warm rather than hot water when bathing. If like me you can't seem to give up your baths, Ricey recommends a pre-bath cured sesame oil treatment, which Ayurvedic practitioners believe is warming and invites the full life force to be present from an internal perspective. To enjoy the treatment, cure some good quality organic sesame oil by warming it (do not boil it) and then allowing it to cool. Massage your entire body with the cured sesame oil, then take your bath or shower as usual. This Ayurvedic pre-bath treatment moisturizes the skin before the bath or shower, while it also cleans the skin by drawing and washing away dirt and oil. After bathing, there remains a light layer of sesame oil to protect the skin.

Let Your Health Glow!

Ricey recommends this that you Let Your Health Glow with this 4-step twice daily regime for dry facial skin.

Step 1. Cleanse
In the morning, you may only need to cleanse your skin with a splash of warm water. Otherwise (and at night), cleanse your skin with a creamy cleanser made with organics, or make your own using a blend of equal parts of jojoba and coconut oils combined with the same amount of water as oil. (For example, 1 tablespoon of jojoba oil + 1 tablespoon of coconut oil + 2 tablespoons water. Shake well to emulsify before each use.) These oil based cleansers emulsify dirt so it is washed from the skin. While I have never had a problem with good quality handmade soap, Ricey does not recommend using soap on the face because its alkaline qualities tend to strip the skin's delicate and protective acid mantle, which is made up of sebum and perspiration, both of which are hard to come by in cold weather.

Step 2. Exfoliate
If your skin tends to be congested (as does mine), use a gentle exfoliator next. Ricey recommends the "press and roll" technique of application. That is, instead of scrubbing the exfoliator across the skin, even gently, form it into a log shape and press and roll it over and over again across the skin. This causes less tugging and helps stimulate the skin's lymphatic functions, the systems that drain excess fluids, proteins and cellular waste from the body. A nice homemade exfoliant is made up of finely ground oats and almonds, mixed with enough organic extra virgin olive oil to cause it to form a nice log shape in the hand without crumbling. Generally, an exfoliator is needed only once a week or so.

Step 3. Tone
If your skin feels excessively dry, skip the toner. If not, use a blend of plant water with a touch of vinegar. A good recipe is 4 ounces of rose hydrosol with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Use a cotton pad to apply by gently blotting the skin. The vinegar helps draw out active principles of the natural plant materials and also encourages the active principles in the plant ingredients to penetrate the skin.

Step 4. Moisturize
In the morning, you may blot a little bit of high quality vegetable oil onto damp skin. Don't rub it into the skin. Instead, blot it across the skin using your palms and fingertips and allow it to naturally absorb before applying makeup. Ricey recommends making your own moisturizer with 1 ounce of any of these oils:  Borage, red currant, rose hips, black currant or a combination. Add a small Vitamin E capsule to retard oxidation.

For nighttime moisture, Ricey points out a little known truth. "One of the biggest mistakes people with dry skin are prone to make," says Ricey, "is applying too much moisturizer at night. Doing this causes the skin to produce less moisture on its own since it begins to be conditioned to your external application. To encourage dry skin to create its own natural moisture, apply less and less night moisturizer each day as your skin begins to make more of its own. This will create a more balanced skin and you'll find that you need to use smaller amounts of external moisturizer. Of course remembering to moisturize your body by eating the right foods helps as well," says Ricey.

For healthy skin all year long, Ricey uses and recommends one of her favorite books: The Truth About Beauty by Kat James. You can buy it by clicking on the book cover at the left. Ricey says that Kat's book has helped her not only to treat her own skin but also as she develops treatments for her clients through her practice at Inner Sanctum Salon & Day Spa.

Ricey Clapp is a licensed massage therapist, certified physician's assistant, manual body worker, esthetician, and is certified Dr. Hauschka method of skincare. She has studied aromatherapy extensively in the US and abroad and is also a registered Bach Remedy Foundation practitioner. She lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with her husband and two cats. Ricey is a Seed Member of HBN since it started in 2000. I have personally enjoyed many treatments at her salon, and you can read reviews of a few of them here. (Scroll to Item #4 to enjoy the review.). Ricey works in her salon on Monday and Friday afternoons and on most Tuesdays. You can book your own holistic treatment (which includes customized skin evaluation and take home maintenance recommendations) by calling Ricey at (301) 585-3758 or emailing her.

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!

Last Week's Question: State the name of HBN's very first Beauty Call guest, and also the name of the person's very successful beauty products company.

Last Week's Answer: Kim T. Gordon, author of Bringing Home The Business, was HBN's first Beauty Call guest in July 2000. You guys are really on your toes, showing me that you may remember some of HBN's exciting history even better than I do!! While Kim Gordon was our first Beauty Call guest, she does not have a very successful handmade beauty business. (That would have been Sandy Maine, our second Beauty Call guest.) I had forgotten about Kim, who was the guest a few weeks before Sandy. Kudos to last week's winner for either doing great archival research on the Web or having a fantastic memory!

This Week's Question: As reported in a previous issue of this publication, the inspiration behind HBN comes largely from a dear friend of mine who passed away in 2004. To win this week, state her name and the state where she lived.

Be the first to correctly answer this week's question and win a copy of the Handmade Beauty Cookbook!

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!

Crystal Essence Butter
4 oz. | $16.00

Debbi Quinn of Blue Moon Herbals works quietly and gently to infuse crystal essences into each of her products. I have tried several but one of my new discoveries is the Crystal Essence Butter. I tried the Vanilla Orange Cream "flavor." Made with virgin coconut cream and monoi de Tahiti, this product is simply luxurious on the skin. This product is not designed for the face and is a bit too heady for that I think. My favorite way to use it is on my damp skin after a shower. I come out feeling deeply smoothed. Not only does it feel good on my skin, it smells fantastic with one of my favorite natural essence combinations: vanilla and orange. The formula is rich and oily -- perfect for my dry winter skin -- but be careful that once mine melted once, it never hardened all the way again. Instead, it took on more of a more liquid texture on the top. I suppose I could harden it in the fridge or stir it with a clean knife or coffee stir stick or simply pour off the top into a bottle with a flip top lid and use it as a body oil, but I just dip my finger in it and use it that way. When faced with a choice between three other salves I have on hand, my daughter chose Crystal Essence Butter to smooth her raw bottom after a little potty training accident last month. A little goes a long way. Don't neglect your skin during this dry winter season. Try some of Blue Moon Herbal's Crystal Essence Butter! In addition to Vanilla Orange Cream, it's also available in NightMagick Body Butter, Night Fire and Night Passion. Each comes in a pretty organza bag for elegant gifting -- for yourself or someone special! Crystal Essence Butter is available at Blue Moon Herbals.