The Handmade Beauty Connection
August 29, 2005
Please keep our HBN members and friends in the path of Hurricane Katrina in your thoughts and prayers this week!

Renewing Members!

Mandrake Apothecary | Sara Phillips | California
* natural perfumery, luxurious emollients, aromatic alchemy

New Members!

Nordic Skin Essentials | Carla Anderson Baker | New York
* delivering SPA quality skin care products to the privacy of your home

Lavendula | Shinil Quilty | Nevada
* natural, handmade beauty products

When you visit MakeYourCosmetics.com, it's easy to buy the ingredients you need by clicking on our Selected Supplier links:

[Editor's Note: Our June 27 issue contained a feature article on natural insect repellents, suggesting that lemongrass, catnip, geranium, lavender and lemon oils are effective natural alternatives to chemical repellents like DEET. Last week, an article in the Washington Post covered the topic and also strongly suggested lemon eucalyptus, basil, rosemary and fennel.]

 How many of you like me, remember beginning to see cosmetics containing small gem stones or crystals a few years back? The first one I saw was contained in a massage oil that was packaged in a clear bottle so the pretty stone was clearly visible. I remember reading something on the back of the bottle about how the stone was "charged" with some kind of energy. I wasn't sure what that meant but I bought it anyway because it was nice to look at. I don't recall what happened to that bottle of oil, but over the years, I have continued to read with great interest the labels of products containing pretty stones. While visiting HBN member Blue Moon Herbals' website recently, I saw a lot of information about gem stones in products so I decided to talk with Debbi Quinn, the owner, to get the 4-1-1.

dM: How did you get started making your own bath and body products?

DQ: My interest in natural products started at an early age. My grandmother made her own soaps and toiletries in Italy where we lived. We ate fresh foods and used all-natural products. Looking back, it was just a natural progression for me from feeding my body in a healthy fashion to feeding my skin. I began to make my own lotions and creams and eventually started selling them to others. My business has changed greatly over the years, and while the formulas are still natural, the complexities have evolved to include many modalities like aromatherapy, Bach flower healing and gem stone therapy.

dM: How did you get the idea of mixing gem stones and flower essences in with things like shea butter, almond oil and essential oils?

DQ: I have been a certified crystal healer for many years and have always used flower essences. About 10 years ago, I began to study energy, the chakras and other body centers and I realized that our auras are actually made up of geometric patterns of energy. Back flower essences are the signature pattern of the matter whether it be plant or mineral -- the actual energy. They are utilized to balance the energy points in the body. Just as carrier oils and products are used to "carry" essential oils, I decided to see if carrier oils could also be used to "carry" the vibrations of various crystals in cosmetics. When I began using them myself, the results were amazing. Naturally, I have been sharing them with my customers ever since.

dM: How do you select a crystal to use? Can I just go out in my back yard and pick up a rock, wash it off and put it in my massage oil and enjoy some kind of noticeable effect?

DQ: First let’s talk about cleansing a stone. Say, you buy a crystal at a store. During its travels it has picked up the energy of many people – some negative and some positive. You need to clear all energy from the stone before your energy is added. Cleansing simply clears all negativity and vibrations from the stone. This is absolutely necessary before using any stone for healing. The clearer the energy, the more power in the stone. Cleared crystals are bright, clear and feel good, sometimes tingly or cold. Hot, cloudy stones need clearing. When charging or clearing a gem stone you focus its properties on something specific-merging the stone's intent with yours. One procedure would be to simply take a cleared, cleansed stone in your hand, sense its energy and quietly focus your intent. When making a product I use only gemstones I have cleared and charged myself. Also because we are working with energy here, on days that I may feel under the weather or depleted, I will simply not work. If you just get a rock from your yard, you might get a good therapeutic product due to the essential oils, base oils and other ingredients, but the emotional and vibrational intention contributed by gem stones would be absent.

dM: Can you give me an example?

DQ: A rose quartz is a stone for love, healing, compassion and more. If I were adding my intent to it, I would be either looking for love to enter my life, sharing love with someone else or just adding my blessings to the stone and sending it on its way. The stone's "original intent" is it's properties.

dM: Can you provide some examples of customers who have used your products with crystals with positive  results?

DQ: Sandra, one of my clients, had suffered for years with severe panic attacks. She approached me at a time in her life when she was ready to try something “different”. With nothing to lose, she chose to try one of my aura mysts for internal cleansing, and she also wore a blend of recommended essential oils, essences and crystals daily. Two weeks later, she reported a sense of calmness and was able to go shopping for the first time in years with no symptoms of anxiety. The blend also helped Sandra remember and address an incident from her past which turned out to be the cause of her very first panic attack.

 Haven't joined HBN yet? Still waiting for HBN to offer just the benefit for you? If that describes you, email me and let me know what you'd like to see! In the meantime, me and the Handmade Beauty Babies are at work on lot of new things, based on member feedback! I'll be announcing this year's Handmade Beauty Brunch next week and this week, I'm pleased to introduce Handmade Beauty Radio!

Handmade Beauty Radio is a fun and exciting new way to encourage and strengthen your relationships with your customers. Through Handmade Beauty Radio, HBN has partnered with Cheryl Martin, an award-winning journalist, author and motivational speaker, to create an active audio link at your website which features your 15-minute interview! While the written word is necessary at your website, the fact is that your customers are social animals who would like nothing more than to interact with the people who are making the products being sold. Audio on your website is the next best thing to talking to your customers one-on-one on the telephone "live." Plus some industry experts say it can also increase sales! Why not give your customers a chance to hear you describe your products and mission to serve them in your own words?

Here's how it works! HBN will work with you to prepare a 15-minute professionally edited script which Ms. Martin will use to prepare your interview. The 15-minute interview is scheduled, recorded and saved so that you can upload it to your website for visitors to your website to enjoy. Give your customers an additional reason to buy from you with your Handmade Beauty Radio interview!

To show how effective this method is, earlier this month, Ms. Martin interviewed me and 3 longtime HBN members about their businesses and how HBN has complemented their business growth. You can enjoy it here!

For further information about how you can schedule your own Handmade Beauty Radio interview, contact me.