Flowers For Mom Giveaway by Glory Be Herbals and Adirondack Aromatherapy

It's here!  The giveaway for Mother's Day is finally here and I have teamed up with Gretchen from
Adirondack Aromatherapy for this one.  I LOVE her products and you will too! 

Gretchen is giving away a bottle of her Monoi de Tahiti (coconut oil infused with Gardenia flowers), a bar of her Perfect Peace crystal gem soap, a 5 ml bottle of her Victorian Flowers perfume oil (Lemon Verbena, Lavender, Geranium, Rose and Violet leaf-a personal favorite of mine) and a wooden soap deck (keeps your soap dry between uses so it won't melt away).

I am giving away a set of floral based creams to keep your Mom's skin glowing all packaged up in a vinyl travel bag for convenient storage and travel.  This set will include a jar of my best selling cold cream (made with chamomile infused oil), Stephie's Rescue Cream (a medicated cream made with Lavender infused oil and Lavandin essential oil), a bottle of Calendula and Rose calming lotion, and a jar of my new Lavender body butter.  I haven't even listed the body butter yet but it is made with Lavender infused oils, Lavender hydrosol and High Altitude Bulgarian Lavender essential oil!  I have been using this on my hands before I go to bed and it soaks in quickly, makes my hands soft and helps me sleep soundly.

The combined value of this giveaway is at least $75-we want one lucky winner's Mom to have a FABULOUS Mother's day!  This will end at midnight on May 4th and the winner will be contacted on May 5th.  We hope to hear from the winner right away so we can get it all in the mail to you in time for Mother's Day (you will be receiving 2 packages).  To enter simply leave a comment and let me know why you think your Mom is the best!

Visit my store or Gretchen's store for more beautiful all natural gift ideas for Mom.  Open to the US only.

Hydrosol Sale

I am having a sale on hydrosols in my artfire store.  All hydrosols are 20% off!

Still Playing With the Still

I did a distillation of some dried roses last night and wasn't really happy with it so I made a strong infusion from 3 different dried roses.  This morning I'm distilling last night's distillate with the strong infusion and some rose hips and it is coming out beautiful.  I may also do some elderflowers today too.

I know Spring appears to be early-we are going to be in the 70's all week.  Yet I'm still impatient and can't wait to have fresh plants to work with.  Just in my garden I will have tons of Lemon Balm, Spearmint, Peppermint, Basil, Rosemary, catnip, calendula and hopefully Helichrysum.  Lest we forget the various Roses I'll have to play with.  My husband will probably move out if I have the house reeking of flowers all summer. I want a Rosa Rugosa Rose bush from Horizon Herbs, for the flowers and the hips-I love the EO so it should make some awesome rosewater.  I am also going to buy seeds and/or plants of German Chamomile, Roman Chamomile, Ceremonial White Sage and Tulsi Basil.  i have some Lavender but not enough to do much hydrosol so I may have to stick with dried herb there-but that one came out fantastic and produced more essential oil than I ever dreamed!

I am going to start listing some of these this week so if you are interested in hydrosols and aromatherapy you should consider making a purchase. 

Happy Holiday

I am up early, as usual, but getting some work done.  I am working on some perfume materials again.  I have some Tonka Beans soaking in pure grain alcohol-I started this yesterday and the alcohol is already quite aromatic.  I also am working on some amber oil.  I had some benzoin stashed away that was the most fluid I've ever purchased.  I decided to work it into some fractionated coconut oil with the help of a crock pot hot water bath.  it actually mixed very well without the heat but I figure some mild heating will really help the benzoin and oil to blend.  Actually, it's a good thing because it turns out the labdanum needed some additional heating and of course I have already added the vanilla.  I am getting 2 ounces of amber oil out of it-a 50/50 mix of absolutes and FC oil.  This is going to be an awesome base for my oil based perfumes.  I may attempt to infuse the remainder of the Tonka Beans in oil when there is enough sunshine and mild weather to put it outside.

I have also discovered a VERY reasonably priced copper still thanks to Gretchen over at ADKaromatherapy.  Money's a little tight right now but by the time Spring is here to stay I will have one.  In the meantime I will daydream about all the local and garden plants that I can distill.  We have red elder trees everywhere around here.  They have the most toxic berries but also the most aromatic flowers.  From my garden-Lemon Balm, Roses, Peppermint, Rosemary, Lavender, Basil, Calendula, Chamomile and hopefully Helichrysum.  If I can talk the hubby into it I would love to buy a Rosa Rugosa bush from Horizon Herbs, too.  I LOVE that essential oil and having the hydrosol on hand would be a dream.  For now, I have an aromatic climbing rose and my Jackson&Perkins Aromatherapy rose that would make some dreamy rosewater.  The AT rose bush makes HUGE flowers so I could get a good distillation with 3 flowers.

Just checked the amber oil again and it has clarified and turned an amber brown instead or soupy tan.  Some stuff settled out and I stirred and stirred and ended up pulling out a sticky chunk of sediment about 1/4 teaspoon sized.  I will strain the rest through cheesecloth but this is looking ans smelling good.  I'd say I've gotten all the funky stuff out from the solvents that were used to make the absolutes.  This was worth the trouble.  I love benzoin but it's just so difficult to work with and so is labdanum absolute.  I usually dissolve them in alcohol but it difficult to incorporate into oil based perfumes and leaves sediment in alcohol, so I couldn't use much.

I'm excited!

Cyber Monday Sale

I have extended my sale through today-use Coupon code TURKEY to get 20% off in all of my stores!

Perfumes

Lately I have been on a perfume making frenzy.  I am working on an all natural amber because even the so called "natural" ones on the market have some artificial (and irritating) notes that I don't like.  So I decided to make my own.  Research isn't easy, amber recipes are a closely guarded secret, but I have come up with one that I like.  This will be a fabulous base note in other blends and will work as a stand alone fragrance.

I've also been learning about the perfume family called Chypres.  A basic blend is bergamot, oakmoss absolute, patchouli and labdanum absolute.  There is so much room for variations by adding petitgrain, jasmine, rose, citruses, sandalwood, etc.  So actually, I could blend my 3 favorite perfumes (eau de cologne, soft patchouli, and amber), add a little oakmoss and have a perfect perfume.  I also have some of my amber blend, mixed with choya loban and a little birch tar essential oil and it is smelling very deep, smoky, and sensual. 

I am having fun and I think I have several masterpieces in the works!  I'll keep you posted.

Comfrey Special

I just finished a special batch of comfrey salve for a friend and I had extra so I will give a free 1/2 tin to my next 6 customers.  This is olive oil infused with fresh comfrey leaf, dried lavender buds and loaded with Bulgarian Lavender oil.  I use comfrey all the time for my eczema outbreaks, rashes and for wound healing.  I have also used it in the past for tendonitis.  The docotrs told me I would have it for life but since I starting using comfrey on it, I can't remember the last time I had a problem with it.  And my tendonitis was in my wrist and I work with my hands all day.

Comfrey contains allantoin-a known cell regenerator.  It speeds healing and strengthens tissues.  Comfrey has even been used to speed the healing of broken bones.  I also have a client who buys tons of it from me for her psoriasis because it's the only thing that has ever helped her.  She is also buying it for her daughter who is starting to develop patches of it.

Comfrey also heals bruises and sore muscles and reduces swelling.

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!

Rose Geranium

I recently purchased some essential oils from a new supplier including some Rose Geranium (pelargonium roseum) not to be confused with Geranium (pelargonium graveolens).  I wanted to give it a try since I'm not a big fan of the scent of Geranium and it's supposed to have a rosier smell.  I am really enjoying the Rose Geranium, to the point that I even used it in my bath and in my nebulizer last night.  The properties seem to be the same as Geranium but the scent is definitely more floral and it's much more tenacious.  I am going to try it in a perfume too, and I have already made a body butter with it.  It's a great detoxifier and hormone balancer, cooling, relaxing and can be used on the skin for burns and to balance sebum production.

I am thinking about offering some incentives in my store so I can try to keep my sales up.  I'm doing well overall but my sales are all over the place.  One month I'll do $200 or $300 dollars then the next I'll do $50 and during the holidays I'm starving!  So I will be offering incentives and I would really like all my loyal customers to think of me at Christmas.  Share with your loved ones :)

New Giveaway

I haven't had a giveaway for a while so I decided it's time.  I want to give away a big prize to one lucky winner on August 1st so you can celebrate my birthday with me!  I am giving away a free consultation (value of $50) that may include herbal, aromatherapy or flower remedy treatment for what ever you need.  I'm really excited about this and I want all my readers to be excited so I am making this available worldwide and I'm going to give you tons of chances to enter.

Leave a comment and tell me what you want out of the consultation (1 entry).

Follow my blog (1 entry)-I have lots of other opportunities coming in the near future so you may want to keep up!

Follow me on twitter (1 entry)-the link is to the right of the page...........

Tweet this giveaway and leave a comment telling me you did.

Post this giveaway to your Facebook page and leave a comment telling me you did.

Make a purchase from any of my stores and leave 3 comments with the transaction ID.

That's up to 8 entries!  I'll choose the winner whenever I roll out of bed on my Birthday (August 1st) and my family is done showering me with love and gifts (yeah, right).  Good Luck and I look forward to working with the winner.

Did I mention that you'll receive free stuff as part of the consult?  Yup!

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.

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!

Vital Earth Traditions

You may think I'm crazy to buy products and post a review of a "competitor". The truth is all herbalists have their own style, and even though I could make similar products for myself, it's nice to buy something that was made just for me :).

While reading a review on www.handmadebeautyreview.blogspot.com I decided to check out the website for Vital Earth Traditions (www.vitalearthtraditions.com). The proprietress is a professional massage therapist named Kelly Lynch Ring and she makes a wonderful array of natural herbal/aromatherapy products. I was impressed by the Therapist Sample Pack so I ordered one. I received 4 2 oz bottles of herbal massage lotion (arnica, lavender, chamomile, and unscented), one 2 oz bottle of herbal massage oil, 1/2 ounce jar of peppermint foot cream, a 2 oz jar of herbal muscle and joint cream, a 2 oa jar of herbal massage cream, plus a free bar of her recycle soap. She uses the leftovers from old batches to make these pretty bars that she sends with orders and donates to charity.

I am loving these products. I received my surprisingly heavy box Friday. The first thing I tried was the muscle and joint cream on my legs, which were sore from running around like a maniac for 10 hours at work that day. Boy, did I feel better! On Saturday morning before work I used the foot cream on my feet BEFORE work to get the circulation going. The peppermint is very cooling and stimulating. I have also used the Lavender massage lotion on my neck, the arnica massage lotion, and the herbal massage cream. The massage cream is really nice when you want to work the muscle instead of just applying a product. It has enough slickness, or glide, so your hands move smoothly across the area you're working yet it absorbs well into the skin after you're done.

I stand behind my products 100% but I also highly recommend Kelly's products. It does take a little while to receive your order because she makes everything fresh when orders are received and she is BUSY because her products work!

A New Giveaway

Here's a giveaway worth checking out. Home Made Beauty Reviews is giving away a product from Vital Earth Traditions. I looked at the site and have placed an order with them. They have a discount available for epople who find them from a blog so mention my blog or Homemadebeauty reviews and follow the directions. Kym has also posted a review of some of their products.

http://homemadebeautyreview.blogspot.com/2010/03/vital-earth-traditions-review-and.html

I MADE SOAP!!!!......Again

This time I am celebrating my first batch of hot processed soap. It is in the mold cooling but I scraped some scraps together and made a little "bar" that I have already washed my hands with twice. It is looking great! I made a rosewood exfoliating soap with apricot kernels. I had made the sanme soap from rebatched soap before and loved it so I just had to do it again. I may make some more tomorrow or later this week in lavender with some lavender buds mixed in. Watch for it in my stores!

UPDATE 3/10/10-The soap has been unmolded and cut. I am going to let it harden for a few days but it came so beautiful I'm getting ready to make another batch! This time it will be a lavender/citrus castille soap. This is FUN!

Medicated Oil

I have a small amount of medicated oil back in stock. It is slightly different than the original batch since I was working with all dried herbs. There is no all-heal in it and I added some wood betony. It smells very close to the original and the addition of the wood betony will make it more relaxing.

I will be able to make more very soon as many of my plants are starting to peak above the soil. We are forecast to have warmer temps for the next week-let's hope it stays that way and Spring is finally here! We have been warming up a little but we have had so much snow this year that some of it still hasn't melted! So every now and then you see a batch of snow on the ground while you're driving around.

Man am I ready for Spring!!!!!!!!

My 1st Review

Yes, I have had my first official review. Check it out here:
http://homemadebeautyreview.blogspot.com/2010/02/lavender-ylang-ylang-bath-salts.html

Essentail oils are awesome! I'm always excited to share my love for aromatherapy with someone else and I really am excited about this blog. I want everyone to follow the Homemade Beauty Reviews. She is putting out really useful information about products that she is buying anyway. This is great information especially if you are new to handmade and all natural products.

Thanks Kym!

Lavender Essential Oil

I haven't posted an "educational" post in a while and since I actually have some time today I figured it's about time I did one! I have decided to talk about Lavender essential oil today since it is by far the most useful oil. I use more of this oil in a year than I do of all my other oils combined. You might conclude that is my favorite oil but you would be wrong. I do adore Lavender and it is ONE of my favorites-I would put it in the top 10 but definitely not my favorite. So why do I use so much of it? Because it is quite literally good for everything!

It is one of the few oils that is safe to use undiluted. It can be used for beauty, first aid, for psychological well-being, and even in home made cleaning products.

For beauty-It is a skin regenerator so it can help keep skin beautiful and youthful. It is disinfecting and healing so a drop or 2 on a cotton swab applied to a zit will DRAMATICALLY speed healing. You can add a few drops to a bottle of store bought witch hazel to make a healing toner for normal or acne prone skin. It also prevents scarring if you use it faithfully.

For first aid-it is an insect repellant so if you apply some before you go outside it will keep the bugs away from you while you work in the garden. If you forget to apply it, like I ALWAYS do, you can apply a drop to bug bites to neutralize venom and prevent swelling and itching. When I have a mosquito bite I apply a drop a couple of times a day until it heals. It can also be used this way on cuts and scrapes. I even used it this summer on vacation to relieve nausea with my daughter. Peppermint would have been better but I wanted to pack light so I only took a vial of Lavender in my purse. We were at the Washington monument and she decided to jump from the embankment instead of walking around and I guess she jarred a nerve. She was so nauseaous that she literally couldn't stand. I had her inhale the lavender oil from the bottle and in a few minutes she felt better and was able to keep walking. You can also massage a few drops over your forehead and back of your neck for tension headaches.

For psychological uses-It has a reputation as a relaxing oil. It would be more accurate to say it's balancing. If you are stressed out it will help you relax enough to go to sleep. But you can also use it during the day to relieve stress without getting sleepy. You can use a burner to diffuse the scent in your house or use a few drops in the bathtub, make a pillow spray, or sprinkle a few drops on a tissue and stuff it into your pillow case.

Around the house-there are lots of nice recipes on the internet for making your own cleaning products with essential oils. Lavender is one of my favorites to use this way along with rosemary, citrus oils, fir needle, and pine.

Plus.....Lavender is not expensive. You can usually find good quality Lavender for $15/oz. When you consider that you will be using it a few drops at a time, an ounce will probably last you for a year.

Things to consider when picking a Lavender oil...........the varieties of Lavender oils will probably give you a headache so here are my recommendations (opinion). Lavender 40/42 is not for therapeutic use. Lavindin is a hybrid of lavender and spike lavender and has a pretty medicinal smell, although it has the same properties as lavender. If you want a more herbaceous oil try Bulgarian or Maillette (sweet lavender). If you want more floral try a French Lavender. My absolute favorite is High Altitude French Lavender-this is the most delicate lavender I have ever used.

I hope everyone finds this information useful. You can contact me or leave a comment anytime you would like to know more.