Donna Maria's Handmade Beauty Connection
March 14, 2005

A Publication of The Handmade Beauty Network
ISSN 1530-9630 | Vol. 6, Issue 11
To subscribe, click here.

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1. HBN Update: Welcome New & Renewing HBN Members!!
2. Feature Article: The Importance of a Good Night's Sleep (And How To Get One!)
3. Handmade Beauty Recipe Of The Week: Lavender Honey Soft Skin Bath Soak
4. Beauty & The Business Trivia Question: win some lavender essential oil!
5. Handmade Beauty Product Review: Lavender Oil by Vienna's Herbal Compounds

Renewing Members!

Essential Wholesale | Dennis & Kayla Fioravanti | Oregon
* pure essential oils, cosmetic bases, carrier/fixed oils, Short Run Private Labeling Program

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

Ahhh Bath Works | Carol Walck | Colorado
* creams and soap, all handmade one small batch at a time

Wingsets Bath, Body & Candle | Ann Wooledge | Nebraska

Provincetown Soap Works | Lynne Davies | Maine
* handmade soaps, hand-cut & individually stamped with a view of the Provincetown harbor

New Members!

The Creative Concept | Traci Hayner Vanover | Indiana
* I'll see you at their upcoming Soap and Candle Bee!!

HBN Members On The Move ~~ I'd Like To Meet You!

For the first time in 5 years, I am the HBN Member On The Move! While I love the virtual world, I also know that there's nothing like the fun times I have when I get the chance to meet you face to face! To that end, I am pleased to announce that I am going "on the move!" Here's a sampling of some upcoming events. Click on the links or email me for more details!

June 11, 2005: Keynote Speaker, Soap and Candle Bee, Fort Wayne, Indiana (HBN members, put "HBN OFFER" in the shopping cart comments to get your FREE spa CD when you register!)

July 16, 2005: Lifestyle CEO Conference, Orange County, California (discount for HBN members!). Details to come!

October 22, 2005: Lifestyle CEO Conference (discount for HBN members!), Philadelphia, PA. Details to come!

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.

Last year, the ABC network produced an hour-long television special on the benefits of a good night's sleep. For those of you who might have seen it, it's hard to forget the images of the show participants who voluntarily missed several days and nights of sleep to demonstrate how important sleep is to our ability to enjoy life. Without sleep, they couldn't perform even the most mundane of daily tasks, including walking in a straight line.

It's amazing what happens to us when we don't get enough sleep. My 3-year old daughter will adamantly insist that she's not at all tired, even though upside down red triangles form underneath each eye when she needs to get some sleep. According last year's television show on the topic, sleep deprivation is epidemic in the US. This is no doubt the case all around the world as we spend more time taking in the global economy and all that comes along with it, including the onslaught of more and more information and the senseless drive to live a grueling 24/7 lifestyle.

In addition to the obvious benefits of sleep (you can actually function!!), experts cite many other reasons why making sure you get adequate sleep can help change your life for the better. According to Carrie Meyers Smith, a licensed Wellcoach, exercise physiologist and President of Women In Wellness, studies show that women who get less than 5 hours of sleep regularly over time set themselves up for obesity and heart disease. Says Smith, "Exercise can actually help women sleep better and help minimize these risks. While the best time to exercise will vary from individual to individual, women who exercise during the late afternoon or early evening hours tend to sleep better."

People who get adequate sleep also tend to remember their dreams better, and according to Lauri Quinn Loewenberg, President of The Dream Zone, dream recall can give us the tools we need to improve our lives overall. "Dreams are actually short term memories," says Loewenberg, "and lack of sleep is a dream recall killer." According to Lowenberg, a dream is stored in short term memory for about 90 seconds after we wake up, then it fades. Adults who enjoy the recommended 8 hours of sleep each night spend about 100 minutes dreaming and are better able to remember their dreams after they wake up than people who are sleep deprived. "If you remember your dreams," says Loewenberg, "you can then interpret them in ways that allow you to change your life for the better."

For example, if you have a recurring dream that you are being chased, this may be an indicator that you are a procrastinator. If that's the case, your procrastination is probably holding you back in your life in some way. With adequate sleep, you can remember and chart the occurrence of the "chase" dream so that eventually, you can begin to identify yourself as a procrastinator and take steps to do something about it. Without the sleep needed to actually document this personality flaw, you might not ever have an opportunity to address the problem. "People who get adequate rest remember their dreams and can take steps to change their lives as a result. If you don't get enough sleep, you cannot enjoy that benefit," says Loewenberg. Since after we wake up, a dream only remains in our conscious mind for about 90 seconds, try to remain still after waking for at least that long, and then record the dream immediately on a piece of paper kept at your bedside for this purpose. Consult Lauri's book, "So What Did You Dream Last Night?" for more information about tapping into the power of your dreams.

Carrie Myers Smith is a licensed Wellcoach, exercise physiologist and author of "Squeezing Your Size 16 Self Into A Size 6 World," who can be reached through her website. Lauri Quinn Loewenberg is a dream exert and author of the popular book, "So What Did You Dream Last Night?" and can be reached here. For more information about the ABC News program, click here.

Get smooth and silky skin as you relax after a long day and prepare for slumber with this great recipe for Lavender Honey Soft Skin Bath Soak.

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: In their book Aroma: The Magic of Essential Oils in Foods and Fragrance by Mandy Aftel and Daniel Patterson, 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?

Last Week's Answer: oil (Sindy's answer was "olive oil," but that was close enough!!)

This Week's Question: Several years ago, there was a run on dietary supplements to treat insomnia and help minimize the adverse effects of stress and depression. These supplements contained a chemical which naturally occurs in things like bananas and turkey meat. The FDA banned dietary supplements containing this chemical because it was eventually linked to severe muscle plain. Nevertheless, people who eat turkey and bananas might tell you that they sleep more or better as a result of eating those foods, which contain this chemical.

Be the first to correctly provide the name of the chemical and win some lavender 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!

Lavender Oil by Vienna's Herbal Compounds
4 oz. | $14.50

Sometimes the simplest things are the nicest. And in the name of simplicity, I am reviewing one of the simplest products I know, which is also a pleasure to use. This head to toe body oil is a superb moisturizer with the soothing scent of lavender to make it perfect to apply at bedtime after a bath and soak in a warm tub. When I used it, I had a lavender night all to myself. I first bathed with a piece of handmade soap I found tucked in the back of a bathroom drawer. I had hidden it there a few years ago because the aroma of the high quality lavender was so special. (For those of you who may have known Anastasia Crabtree of Anastasia's Ideas, that's where I got the soap. Anastasia is living in Costa Rica now -- I do not have contact information for her but that's the last I heard ...)

So I bathed with the soap and lit my aromatherapy lamp with my Fairy Whispers Aromatherapy Blend in it and enjoyed a good soap and soak. I topped it off with this wonderful Lavender Oil by Vienna's Herbal Compounds and was off to sleep in no time. Vienna also makes other complementary lavender products like salts, face and body mist, powder and face and body creme. You can get these and other goodies at Vienna's Herbal Compounds.

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™