Donna Maria's Handmade Beauty Connection
February 28, 2005

1. HBN Update: Welcome New & Renewing HBN Members!!
2. Feature Article: Food & 'Fume: Cooking With Essential Oils
3. Handmade Beauty Recipe Of The Week: Sweet Orange, Ylang Ylang and Geranium Bath Salts
4. Beauty & The Business Trivia Question: win some essential oil!
5. Handmade Beauty Product Review: Honey Almond Lotion by HBN member Silk'N Shea
6. Handmade Beauty Book Review: Aroma: The Magic of Essential Oils in Foods and Fragrance by Mandy Aftel and Daniel Patterson

Renewing Members!

Innerglo Home Spa Products | Terina McKinney | New Jersey
* transforming the ordinary bathroom into a sacred space with bath oils, bath salts, sugar scrubs, bath teas, etc.

Essence of Esther | Valerie Yates | Georgia
* soap, foaming bath oil, bath salts, body scrubs, massage oil, lotion, body creme, butter and balms

Ambrosia Naturals | Michele Pepin | California
* exquisite toiletries made with natural ingredients and delicate therapeutic grade essential oils

New Members

Pelle Dolce Soaps, LLC | Linda Ruda | Massachusetts
* handmade soaps rich in silk, shea butter and goats milk; wholesale, retail and private label

Beaut-A Shea | LaVaughn Bortscheller | Kentucky
* aromatherapy products

HBN Members On The Move!

The Handcrafted Soap Makers Guild is excited to announce that they will host their Eighth Annual Conference, Transitions for Growth...Reaching Your Goals, taking place April 27-30, 2005 at the Ramada Plaza Suites and Conference Center in downtown Pittsburgh, PA. For more information visit their website. 

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.

While using essential oils in food products is not a new concept to me, I don't meet many people who are familiar with the art of using essential oils in foods. When you think about it, that's slightly odd considering so many aromatic oils are extracted from products that are commonly used in foods including cinnamon, orange, lemon, vanilla and rosemary. About 10 years ago, I was introduced to the concept of using essential oils in foods when I saw a recipe for Lavender Oatmeal Cookies in an old issue of the print publication produced by the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy. At that time, the publication was called Scentsitivity. The recipe, which called for dried lavender buds and lavender essential oil, made delicious cookies and I confess to also enjoying a bit of the batter as well.

The second time I revisited the idea of using essential oils in food was in 2000 when I purchased The Essential Oil Cookbook: Outrageous Recipes For Weight Control And Long Life, self published by Menkit Prince. (I have the second edition, which indicates a publication date of 1999.) While I've had the book for several years, I have only tried one recipe: Tahitian Tahini Sauce, made with tahini, ginger and lemon essential oil. The recipe suggests serving it over parboiled or steamed vegetables or grains but I smothered chicken with it and baked it. It was delicious.

Several years have passed since I thought much about using essential oils in food unless I was making a beauty product. (Several of my aromatic food recipes can be found at MakeYourCosmetics.com.) But when I heard about Mandy Aftel's plans to release a book on the subject last year, I could hardly wait to see the results. Having known Mandy for a few years, mainly through her now defunct Natural Perfumer's Guild, and enjoying learning a bit from her about some of the world's most unusual aromatic oils, I eagerly awaited her book, Aroma: The Magic of Essential Oils in Food and Fragrance (reviewed here). Finally, I have had a chance to spend some wonderful time with it, and it is a treasure indeed.

Says Mandy, "Having essential oils in your pantry is like having an herb garden in constant full bloom, except the access is easier. It's fun to experiment and create your own recipes. Just be sure to buy pure and natural essences and make sure they contain nothing synthetic." From my personal experience, this is easier said than done. If you are going to ingest essential oils, I suggest developing a good relationship with the supplier(s) of the oils you will eat and make sure they can assure you of the purity of the oil. While this does not necessarily mean that they actually buy the oils directly from the distillery, that is one way to confirm quality and purity.

Since rediscovering the idea of putting essential oils into my foods, I was even inspired to use one of my favorite essential oils in a little recipe of my own. To 1/2 pound of fresh strawberries, I added 1 drop of lime essential oil, a bit of lime juice and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. I stirred it all up and let it sit for about an hour before serving it for lunch at room temperature with bananas. My kids loved it, and it made the kitchen smell nice and fresh.

Get more information about The Essential Oil Cookbook here. To enjoy my review of Mandy Aftel's book and get some fantastic recipes for "food and 'fume," click here.

Enjoy the smell and benefits of orange essential oil, the headiness of geranium and the exotic sweetness of ylang ylang in this recipe for Sweet Orange, Ylang-Ylang and Geranium Bath Salts submitted by author and perfumer Mandy Aftel.

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: What human hormone produced by males and females is produced to a greater degree in males, thus contributing to males being more prone to acne than women?

Last Week's Answer: Androgens

This Week's Question: Mandy Aftel and Daniel Patterson suggest a few different ways to maximize the enjoyment of essential oils in food products. One of the ways is to subject the essential oils you will use to a process which causes their flavor to be fixed so that when the oil is used in a recipe, the flavor from the oil in the resulting food product is full bodied. The process involves diluting the oil in a particular type of medium. What is that medium?

Be the first to correctly answer this week's question and win some essential oil!

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!

Honey Almond Face & Body Lotion
8 oz. | $15.00 (glass bottle; product also available in 4 oz. size and in plastic)

A few weeks ago and for a time last month, it was nearly 60° in the Washington, DC area. This week, it is barely getting above freezing and there are several inches of snow on the ground. Having been teased with spring in the middle of the two coldest months of the year, I am longing for some sunshine and April showers. I only have to wait another 4 weeks or so, but in the meantime, my skin continues to take a bit of a wintertime beating. Especially my hands.

Lucky for me there's Honey Almond Face & Body Lotion from HBN member Silk'n Shea. From the moment I opened the box containing the lotion, I was impressed with the beautiful ribbon around the neck, making an elegant presentation. This lotion contains shea butter and hydrolyzed silk (like nearly all Silk'n Shea products do), along with oils of avocado, grapeseed, meadowfoam and avocado. Even though it has all of these rich oils and shea butter, it manages not smooth evenly onto my skin without feeling like it's leaving behind an oily residue.

The aroma of honey and almond was absolutely and without a doubt reminiscent of the aroma that I have associated for years as associated with the Jergens® brand, but since the Silk'n Shea scent is 100% pure, the aroma is actually a bit more subtle and pleasant than the mass produced product. 

You can get your own Honey Almond Face & Body Lotion and lots of other goodies make with silk and shea butter at the Silk'n Shea website.

This is not your average cookbook! And after making a few of the recipes, it's also now a prized addition to my cookbook shelf. Enjoy the review of this book which sports recipes like Panfried Potatoes with Safron-Garlic Mayonnaise, Cumin, Lavender & Oakmoss Solid Perfume and Tuna-Tomato Tartare with Lime Vinaigrette!

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™