Sales Incentive

As I mentioned, I am trying to increase sales and , hopefully, have more steady sales.  Right now I am up to 379 sales in my etsy shop and I would like to hit 400 or more by Labor Day.  So every order until I hit 400 sales will receive a free 4 ml scar treatment.  This is my best seller-very popular!

Hyacinth-Flower Essences

I made my first flower essence of the year yesterday.  For those of you who are not familiar with them they are similar to homeopathic remedies.  The flowers are floated on Spring water and infused in the sun for a few hours and then preserved with Brandy.  A dose is a few drops in water and you can dose pretty much as often as you feel you need to.

Some people believe there is a transfer of vibrational energy from the flower to the water.  Since we are still talking about an actual infusion with plant material I believe there is a more scientific, physical explanation for the action.  Science just doesn't know how to see it.  I believe the action is related to cellular memories-maybe it's just a different wording for the same phenomena, I don't know.  I believe essential oils operate this way too, at least partially.  Anyhow, they work.  The reason I believe in them is that they work with animals so there is no placebo effect there could be with humans.  I know my dog trusts me implicitly with my plant medecines-because she knows she will feel better.  That's all I need to know!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/71340429/hyacinth-flower-essence.  There is the new listing and I also have Borage available and I will be adding many more as plant material becomes available.

I am considering some other experiments like combining flower essences and essential oils in sprays and possibly some homeopathic doses of essential oils.  Watch for further posts as I may seek out volunteers for these.  If you think you might be interested in being a test subject for me go ahead and leave a comment and I will contact you.

How to Shop for Soap

This seems like a weird question but I'm sure we have all bought soap that looked and smelled wonderful, but after we use it our skin is all dried out and we're not so impressed anymore.  This is mainly true of commercial soaps but you may have had this experience with handmade soaps as well.  It is my goal to educate as much as possible with this blog so I want to educate consumers about what to look for when buying handmade.

I recently dropped off some of my soaps at Truly Bluegrass where I have items consigned and one of the owners snagged a bar for herself.  On my next visit, she told me that she had tried all of the natural soaps in their store but mine was the only one that hadn't dried her skin out.  I know why.  There is one basic mistake that soapers and makers of other handmade skin care items make.  Coconut oil is NOT a moisturizing oil.  It is a DRYING oil, especially in soap.  If you want to test this out for yourself, go to your grocery store or health food store and buy a bar of Kirk's Coconut Castille Soap.  It costs about a dollar and change for a bar so it won't be an expensive experiment-go buy a bar and take a shower with it.  It's made with just coconut oil and I GUARANTEE this soap will dry your skin out more than any other soap you have ever used!  The same goes with another popular ingredient in handmade soaps-Palm Kernel Oil.  I can't imagine you can add enough shea butter to make up for the drying effects of coconut oil AND palm kernel oil in any soap recipe.

That said, I do like some coconut oil in my soap because it makes a firm bar with lots of suds.  But my primary ingredient is olive oil.  It's stable and moisturizing but isn't creamy and doesn't make lots of bubbles in soap.  So the key here, like everything else in life is balance.  I use enough coconut oil to make a good lather and make the soap firm, but it isn't my primary ingredient.  This is why my soaps aren't drying like other handmade soaps.

What to look for?  When I list my ingredients I list the items in order of content-that is the first ingredient on the list is what I have the most of -so when I list the ingredients in my soap I list olive oil first because that is the most plentiful ingredient.  This is how you are legally supposed to label items so I always assume that are others are doing the same.  So if I look at a listing for a bar of soap and the first ingredient is coconut or palm kernel oil, I assume that the soap is mostly coconut and/or palm kernel oil.  I can honestly tell you that if I see BOTH as ingredients, especially the top 2 ingredients, I won't buy it-and yes, I do buy soap from other people from time to time.

Now, ironically, I am off to make Monoi lotion bars with coconut oil.  I will be balancing the coconut oil with avocado butter and some light vegetable oils, like almond, grapeseed, sunflower, etc.  I am using the coconut oil because it's a must for Monoi oils and I have a bottle of coconut oil from India that has a heavenly coconut scent that I can't duplicate with essential oils.

Black Friday Specials

I still have soaps and essential oils on sale.  Now through Christmas Eve I am offering free shipping on orders over $20 and orders over $50 will also receive 10% off.  Soaps are 20% off and EO's are 10% off through the rest of 2010.  So if you want to stay in your nice, warm house and shop take a look in my shops!

Hyenacart
Etsy
JASaromatics
Artfire

Important Announcements

I am starting my "Black Friday" specials this weekend and running them until Christams Eve.  I will be offering free shipping on all orders over $20 and all orders over $50 will also receive a 10% discount.

In January I will be closing down my Hyena Cart store-maybe even in December.  It just hasn't been a good fit for me there and with all my other sales slowing I can't justify keeping it.

For those of you in the Central Kentucky are, my products are on consignment in Lexington, Midway, and Versailles.

In Lexington I have items at the First Touch Therapeutic Massage center located at 2028 Regency Rd Suite 100.  So if you need a massage that's the place to go and you can check out my oils, soaps, etc. while you're there.

In Versailles I have items at Truly Bluegrass located at 173 North Main St.  As the name implies, only Kentucky artisans are featured and it's like Heaven when you walk in the door.  My friends and fellow teambluegrass members, Joey and Kelly Graves of WhimsyBeading are also consigned there.

In Midway I have my products in DamselFly Studios located at 126 East Main St.  So if you're near one of these locations stop in and check out all the items they have made by local artists.

October Giveaway

For October I will be giving away TWO one ounce tins of sage ointment.  This isn't regular garden sage but Ceremonial White Sage.  The smell is absolutely heavenly, and this herb has a long use as a natural incense for ritual, meditation and purificatrion cermonies.

Sages are cooling, deodorant, anti-inflammatory, purifying and anti-infectious.  Try this on wounds, on sweaty feet to reduce perspiration, rub a little on your chest to break up congestion or even to alleviate hot flashes.  One customer who bought this oil from me described it as a garden in a bottle.  I LOVE it!

Leave a comment for one entry.  I am also going to allow extra entries-leave 3 comments if you make a purchase from ANY of my stores-leave 3 comments and tell us what you bought.  Leave an extra entry if you follow me on twitter, youtube, or follow this blog.  This contest will end on October 31st at midnight (eastern time).  You can have lots of entries if you purchase from me more than one time.  I am going to be starting to stock for the Holidays so keep checking my stores for special offers!

Carrot Seed Essential Oil

This essential oil is steam distilled not from the seeds of domestic carrots but from the wild carrot AKA Queen Anne's Lace. Yes this lacy plant that grows wild everywhere yields an oil that is absolutely marvelous in skin care. It has a rather earthy fragrance and really doesn't have a lot of use in blending as far as perfumery goes. I do like it blended with lavender or patchouli for skin care and to improve the smell.

Wild carrot seed oil is a must in blends for older and mature skin. Just so you know ladies, mature skin is generally defined as anyone over the age of 25, so I'm not just talking about wrinkled old ladies. It does help to moisturize dry skin and combat wrinkles, but it also improves the texture of the skin and correct scarring. So if you weird texture or scars from doing battle with acne (and using alcohol based toners) then carrot seed will help your skin look younger and healthier.

You can make your own facial oil by combining no more than 25 drops of essential oils in 1 ounce of carrier oil. Buy a cobalt blue or amber glass bottle with a dropper top. For oily/acne prone skin the best carrier oils are grapeseed or hazelnut oil. For essential oils try lavender, geranium, palmarosa and add a drop or 2 of carrot seed. For mature skin try avocado or apricot kernel oil with your choice of lavender, neroli, rose, patchouli, jasmine, with carrot seed added.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about specific oils!

Marshmallow

I have uploaded a new herbal video about Marshmallow. I love this plant, the leaves are soft and fuzzy and the whole plant contains a soothing mucilage. this mucilage coats and soothes wounds and inflammations both internally and externally. It loves soil that is NOT well drained, however, as you can see from the photos, it can adjust even to Kentucky clay if you keep a watchful eye on watering. My Marshmallow is planted in front of a 6 foot fence so you can see it's quite happy in my garden.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbFM5q1iOR4

Echinacea Video

I have posted a new video-this time it's all about Echinacea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAvzYEO-w-4

Lemon Balm

I have a video up about Lemon Balm. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRzC29mtC8g

Happy Thursday!

I am enjoying a peaceful lunch hour, inside where it's nice and cool. It has been very hot and humid in Kentucky already and it's not even Summer yet! However, it was like this last June then we had the COLDEST July I have ever seen in my life! It was really nice but the trade off seems to be big ice storms in January and I don't want that.

I have officially run out of St. John's Wort oil but I have several of the salves made up. Fear not-my plants have already started blooming so I have more oil going already. It should be ready in 2 weeks and I have until about mid-August to keep harvesting flowers.

I will probably do a video on this wonderful plant and post it this weekend. If you haven't looked at any of my videos you can check me out on youtube. I have a link under my favorites on this blog. Don't forget to subscribe-this is a BUSY BUSY time of the year for the herbalist! I generally don't make an appearance on the videos because I am filming on my cell phone early on Sunday mornings while my neighbors are asleep and I haven't gotten dressed or even brushed my hair yet. I am not used to this but they are getting better. I may also post about echinacea soon because my coneflowers are big and bushy and I am getting TONS of flowers!

I will talk to y'all on youtube on Sunday!

Arnica video

I have a new video on youtube-this time Arnica. I will have more coming over the Summer and Fall. Still to come goldenseal, ginseng, lemon balm, marshmallow, echinacea, roses, peppermint, spearmint, plantain, clary sage, helichrysum, St. john's wort, Yarrow. So stay tuned to learn more about herbs that you can easily grow in yourself and use for natural health and beauty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_Yjxt4p0DE

Roses

Time for another educational post. This time another favorite of mine-Roses.

Roses have been used for medecine, perfume, and to flavor foods for thousands of years (yes they taste good, too). All roses are non-toxic, astringent, healing to the skin, anti-inflammatory, regulate female hoemones, laxative, liver and blood cleansers. Plus the fruit, or hips, are higher in Vitamin C than citrus fruits. So if you have look at the bottles of chewable Vitamin C tablets, they are usually made with rosehips.

Not all roses are fragrant. Some will bloom continuously some bloom only once and they're done. They have a very low essential oil content so it takes an enormous quantity of rose petals to make a little bit of oil. It takes 30,000-50,000 pounds of roses to produce 1 pound of essential oil. Now, you know why the oil is so expensive! Thankfully, it's also a very potent oil so that expensive little vial of rose oil will last a really long time.

Although all these roses won't make much essential oil, they will make LOTS of rosewater. So if you can't afford the essential oil try purchasing the Hydrosol. It can be used as a body spray, linen spray and in foods for flavor. It's the original flavoring agent for the soft candy known as Turkish Delight.

One drop of essential oil on pulse points makes a fabulous, long-lasting, all natural perfume. Roses are also used to keep skin young looking, and to treat thread veins and redness. If you have delicate, sensitve, inflamed, mature or dry skin-rose is what you need. I love to combine roses with german chamomile, with a little calendula and lavender sometimes. They combination smells wonderful and heals your skin, and keeps you beautiful.

Any questions? Leave a comment or you can contact me through any of my stores.

Infused oils and the Joys of Customs

Today is my youngest nephew's birthday and the Feast Day of John the Baptist. USUALLY, on June 24th I know I can start harvesting my flowers from my St John's Wort. This year the harvest has come early, probably because we have had tons of rain this year. So, as you can see, I already have 2 jars of oil going. The large jar on the left I started right before I took the picture and the smaller jar I started a week ago. You can tell the oil is changing colors already. But I still have at least 3 more weeks to go before it's ready. This is one oil that I make sure I always have on hand. It is nothing short of miraculous on burns, inflammed muscles, cuts, and to repair damaged nerves. I always include it in sports rubs to help heal sore muscles.

I had gift certificates for my hyena cart store in the June spotted box. I had a customer email me about my body balm she wanted to try but she said she is not crazy about essential oils except for peppermint. So I told her I could do that for her, and she emailed me back and said she would like a citrus mint if I could do that. So I was kinda nervous and excited at the same time. I pulled my bag of citrus oils out of the fridge and started smelling them, smelling the peppermint and playing with a blend. I decided on peppermint with a little bergamot, lemon, and steam distilled lime. Well, I got an email from her yesterday after she received it and she is absolutely in love and wants more plus a cream with the same blend. She said she wanted to swim in it! This is why I love doing custom orders. It gives me a chance to get to know people, use my imagination, and hopefully make a customer incredibly happy. The feedback she left me was awesome-I couldn't have made up better feedback myself.

I have decided to keep up the monthly giveaways. I haven't decided if July's will end early or late since I will be out of town at the end of the month on vacation. I will let everyone know later.