The Natural Beauty Workshop

Moringa Oil

Moringa Oil has been used for ages in cosmetics, food, and medicine.  Its rich antioxidant content makes it incredibly stable, a handy attribute in ancient times, but still helpful today.  Smooth, moisturizing Moringa Oil also contains quite a bit of Vitamin A, C, and E, making it a nutritious treat for the skin and hair.  Moringa Oil makes an excellent ingredient in cleansers, lotions, soaps, and hair products.  It is also a popular ingredient for use in perfumery, as its mild aroma and stable shelf life are a boon to a variety of fragrant formulations.

What kinds of recipes have you used Moringa Oil in?  Please share your experiences with this ingredient in the comments below. 

Creamy Rice & Coconut Scrub

This creamy cleanser looks soft, but it packs a serious punch.  This recipe can be used as an occasional exfoliating facial scrub, but it would be too harsh to use daily.  As a body scrub, this cleanser can be used to provide a thorough dermabrasion more regularly.  Creamy Coconut Milk, soothing Aloe Vera Gel, and scrubby Rice Powder make up the bulk of this recipe.  It is topped off by cleansing White Kaolin Clay, and gentle Jojoba Wax Beads.  The scrub has a loose, liquid texture, and smells faintly of fresh Aloe and Coconut Milk.

Creamy Rice & Coconut Scrub
Makes 4 ounces (by volume)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup Aloe Vera Gel 
• 1/4 cup Rice Powder, Fine
• 1/8 cup Coconut Milk Powder
• 1/ 8 cup White Kaolin Clay
• 1/8 cup Cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon Jojoba Wax Beads, Brown
• 1 teaspoon Jojoba Wax Beads, White
• 10 drops Grapefruit Seed Extract

Directions
Sift the following ingredients through a mesh strainer or flour sifter into a small mixing bowl: Rice Powder, Coconut Milk Powder, White Kaolin Clay, and Cornstarch.  Mix the dry ingredients well, then add the Aloe Vera Gel and stir vigourously to combine.  Continue stirring the mixture until it becomes smooth, then mix in the Jojoba Wax Beads and the Grapefruit Seed Extract.

Usage & Packaging
This scrub fits nicely into two 2 ounce PET Jars with White Lids.  To use, massage the scrub very gently onto the skin in a circular motion.  Follow with a toner and moisturizer of your choice.

How do you like your scrubs?  Soft & gentle, or strong and abrasive?

Maracuja (Passion Flower) Oil

Also known as Passionfruit Oil, this exotic Oil is a treat for the hair and skin.  Rich in Essential Fatty Acids, and high in vitamin C, Maracuja Oil can be very beneficial when added to dry skin and hair formulations.  Maracuja Oil also contains a significant amount of the nutritive minerals, calcium and phosphorus.  Stable sources of Vitamin C are rarely found in skin care ingredients, making Maracuja Oil very special.  These beneficial properties combined with its light, easily absorbed texture, make Maracuja Oil an excellent Body or Hair Oil.  It can also be combined with other ingredients to create facial serums, hair conditioners, creams, lotions, and moisturizing masks. 

Have you used Passion Flower Oil in skin or hair care recipes?  Tell us how you used it and whether or not you enjoyed the results.

Hand Carved Labels for Bath & Body

Creating your own unique labels for handmade products can be a rewarding, creative process, especially for those who really love to get "hands on" with all aspects of their creations.  Rubber stamping and block printing are two great ways to create labels that are totally unique and handmade.  With a few simple carving tools and a short list of supplies, you can get started on making lovely handmade labels for your lovely handmade bath and body products.

Rubber Stamping
You can purchase ready made rubber stamps at most craft supply stores, or choose from a huge selection of online purveyors.  My favorite sources for rubber stamps are on Etsy.com.  The rubber stamp community on Etsy offers a great selection of stamps that are really special.  Many artists will happily carve a custom stamp just for you or your business as well.  When I got married a few years back, I used custom made stamps from an Etsy artist to label all of the envelopes for our invitations and thank you cards.  The great thing about using rubber stamps in your packaging is that you can easily use the same stamp on note cards, receipts or invoices, shipping materials, and business cards.  You can stamp just about anything that goes along with your product.  Best of all, ready made stamps are incredibly easy to use.  Just dab them onto an ink pad and press them onto your paper.  You can learn about more advanced stamping techniques at About.com.

If you'd like to make your own rubber stamps, just get a nice sized piece of rubber and some wood carving tools.  It takes a little practice to get your technique down, but carving rubber stamps is very easy and fun.  Just draw an outline of your design onto the rubber and carefully carve it out using a carving tool.  Carving with rubber stamps is the easiest of most carving based print methods since rubber is so soft and pliable.  You can find blank rubber stamps at most Art Supply Shops locally, or you can try looking online.  One particular resource that carries a good variety of supplies and tools is DickBlick.com.  Learn more about carving rubber stamps here. 

Block Printing
Block Printing is very similar to Rubber Stamping, except that instead of using Rubber as a stamp medium, you'll use wood, cork, or linoleum.  These materials are a little bit harder in texture, but the principles of carving are the same.  Block printing is referred to as Lino Printing when linoleum is used for the stamp.  Here's a quick tutorial on Lino Printing, which uses the same technique found in most block printing mediums. 

Here are some photos from my last handmade labeling project.

My hand carved blocks.  The one of the left is rubber, and the two on the right are cork. 

Labels printed in different inks.

Labels made with my rubber stamp.

Finished labels, ready for action!

How do you make the packaging for your handmade products special?

Cardamom

Photo by VeganBaking.Net

Cardamom has a sweet, pungent aroma that you may recognize from Asian Cuisine.  This warming spice blends beautifully with florals, citrus, and other spices.  Add it to perfume blends to increase complexity, but when it comes to Cardamom don't be heavy handed, the spice can be quite loud in large doses.  Some fun fragrances to experiment combining Cardamom with are Banana, Chocolate, Mandarin, Clove, Ginger, Grapefruit, Pear, or Vanilla.  

We carry both a Cardamom Essential Oil, and a Cardamom CO2 Extract.  Both are high quality oils, devoid of the bitterness that can sometimes be found in cheaper Cardamoms.  Of the two, Cardamom CO2 Extract is my personal favorite.  

What scents do you enjoy blending Cardamom with?