The Natural Beauty Workshop

Introducing Botanical Origins

We're excited to announce the addition of Botanical Origins to our family of web sites.  Botanical Origins will offer a line of ethically produced and environmentally friendly retail products for home and personal care.  The site has launched with its wonderful line of Monoi based personal care products, wonderful for skin care, hair care, and natural beauty.  We'd like to encourage all of our readers to pay a visit to our newest web site, Botanical Origins, and we hope that you will continue to visit as our product line expands.  Welcome, and thank you!

Thank You!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, The Natural Beauty Workshop would like to thank each and every one of our blog readers for making this website great. Since the blog's launch, we've posted over 500 articles, more than 75 of which contained recipes!   Over the years we have received over 1 million views, thousands of comments, and boatloads of email.  The response that our readers have given us has made the experience incredibly rewarding.   We've been viewed by readers in countries worldwide, and are proud to have been able to contribute to the online natural and handmade skin care community in the United States and abroad!

Thanks so much, readers!   We look forward to providing you with plenty more recipes, articles, and feedback as time goes on.  Speaking of feedback, what are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?  Share your Thanksgiving stories in the comments below.

A Guide to Stocking Your Natural Beauty Pantry

Keeping up with an all natural, handmade beauty regimen has its challenges.  Not the smallest among them being the gathering of ingredients.  Let's say you are in the mood to whip up a fresh mask?  Do you have all of the ingredients on hand?  What if you're hair is looking a little lack luster.  An herbal vinegar rinse or a hot oil treatment might do the trick, but have you got all the ingredients in stock?

Just like the kitchen pantry, your beauty pantry should include good sized reserves of staple ingredients.  Having these main ingredients on hand means that you can whip up a treatment on a moment's notice.  It can also help you save money on your beauty routine.  Buying larger amounts of natural ingredients often costs less per portion.  Instead of buying a little bit here and there, keep a stock of your most used items.  Order your specialty items in smaller amounts.  Keep an eye out for Sales & Specials.  Those are great opportunities for purchasing large amounts of pantry ingredients!

So what exactly should you keep stocked in a Natural Beauty Pantry?  That depends on you.  Everyone's routine is a little different, so selecting the exact ingredients is up to each individual.  However, I can give you some tips to get you started.  Here are some of my must-have Natural Beauty Pantry Items.

• Oat Flour Fine - I use Oat Flour in almost everything!  It's great for scrubs, milk baths, facials, and for making gifts like bath bombs or soaps. If you prefer a grain that isn't wheat based, try keeping a stock of Rice Bran Powder instead. 
• Honey Powder - Keeping Honey Powder on hand allows me to whip up fresh facials, everyday cleansers, and special treatments for skin and hair.
• Sea Salt and Epsom Salt - These two salts are essential for baths and salt scrubs, two of my favorite homemade beauty recipes!
• Fractionated Coconut Oil - This shelf stable Carrier Oil is very versatile.  It can be used in hair care recipes, scrubs, lotions, balms, and massage blends.  It has almost no color or aroma, making it a great fit for a wide range of formulas.  Use Fractionated Coconut Oil alone, or blended with more expensive Carrier Oils in your recipes.
• Raspberry Seed Oil - I keep a small stock of super nutritious Raspberry Seed Oil at all times.  This oil is rich in antioxidants and essential fatty acids, making it a great addition to beauty boosting facials, moisturizers, and hair treatments.  This is my go-to super oil, but yours may be different depending on your skin type and preferences.  No matter which oil you choose, it's good to have a bottle of something your skin and hair loves close by. 
• Essential Oils - While there are countless essential oils that can be used in natural beauty, I keep a small selection of my favorites stocked at all times.  Your favorites may be different, depending on the recipes you use most, but for me I love having the following oils in my pantry: Niaouli, Lavender, Mandarin, Eucalyptus, Carrot Seed, Roman Chamomile, Peppermint, Bergamot, and Ylang Ylang.
• Beeswax - An important component to a long list of recipes, Beeswax always comes in handy.  I use it in lip balms, salves, body butters, and pomades on a regular basis.  It can also be used in lotions and creams, if it is combined with the right additives.  I also like to keep a little Emulsifying Wax for quick emulsions.  If you are vegan, you might prefer to keep Candelilla Wax stocked in your pantry instead of Beeswax.
• Hydrosols - These gentle waters are great as toners, but can also be used as hair spritzes, hair rinses, wetting agents in masks and facials, and water phases in creams and lotions.  My favorites are Rose, Yarrow, Rosemary, and Neroli.
• Cocoa Butter & Shea Butter - These are by far the most popular Vegetable Butters for use in natural beauty products, and for good reason.  They are both wonderful for your skin, and they are both pleasant to use.  I keep a tub of each stocked at all times so that I can always whip up a quick batch of moisturizing goodness.
• Kaolin Clay - Having a clay that matches your skin type is very important, if you ask me.  Any time I am feeling dingy, I whip up a mask with a little clay.  20 minutes later, I feel fresh and pretty once again.  It also makes a great addition to daily cleansers, scrubs, soaps, or body masks!
• Apple Cider Vinegar - This is very inexpensive to buy by the gallon and can be used to detox your hair, tone your skin, or even soothe itchy bug bites.  Infuse it with dried herbs to amp up its super powers.
• Jars, Bottles, and Bags - Don't forget to keep a stock of packaging on hand to pack up your creations.  I keep Lip Balm Tubes, 2 oz. PET Jars, 4 oz. PET Jars, and Small Cello Bags handy all the time. 

Now that you've had a peek at my Natural Beauty pantry, check out what some of our readers keep stocked.  I asked folks on our Facebook Page, Twitter, and on Google+ to share their essential beauty ingredients.  Here's what they told us:

• Allyson: The "essential" essential oils: lavender, tea tree, peppermint, sweet orange, rose absolute; grapeseed oil, rose water, glycerin, honey, and witch hazel!
• LaWanda: Coconut Oil, JBCO(Jamaican Black Castor Oil), rosemary, peppermint & lavender essential oils, shea butter.
• Dawn: Jojoba oil is #1 great for hair and skin, essential oils of lavender, eucalyptus, patchouli; honey and witch hazel.
• Liz: Castor oil is my #1! Honey, ACV (apple cider vinegar), tea tree oil, mango butter, avocado butter, brown sugar, kosher salt, epsom salt. lol Should I go on? :)
• Robbin: Coconut oil, avocado butter, castor oil, aloe vera juice, shea butter...nothing fancy!
• Stepha: Shealoe, murumuru , illipe butters are my faves. I love so many oils, but if I had to choose a few it would be castor oil, coconut, olive, sweet almond, grapeseed, brazilian nut, hempseed and camellia. I would also have to have some aloe vera gel and honey :)
• Sabine: Olive, almond, coconut oil, shea butter, sugar and some basic EO/FOs. Some lye. That's pretty much all thats needed to make a whole load of things.
• Deann: I'd add beeswax to that list.

So what do you keep in your own natural beauty or soap making pantry?  We'd love to find out!  Let us know by leaving a comment.

Making Bath & Body Gifts for the Holidays

If your holiday gift list looks anything like mine, you may be wondering just how on Earth you will be able to tackle the whole thing.  Between my husband and I we have eight nieces and nephews, seven siblings, four in-laws, four parents, and one grandparent.  Throw friends and co-workers into the mix and you've got a small army going.  While we would love to give each and every person on our list a special gift individualized to their taste and personality, that's just not very practical.  To make things easier, we like to produce some of our holiday gifts in batches.  We've made baked goods, hand crafts, and even Mix CDs over the years, but some of our most well received presents have been handmade bath & body products.  Things like Lip Balms and Bath Salts are very affordable to make, especially in bulk, and people just love them.  Get creative with your scents, colors, and packaging, and your gifts are sure to be a big hit.  You can use them for teacher gifts, secret santas, or stocking stuffers too!

Here are some of our favorite Holiday Gift Projects from The Natural Beauty Workshop. 

• Lip Balms: Lip Balms are easy to make, and one batch creates tons of small gifts, perfect for stocking stuffers, goodie bags, or gift bundles!
• Easy Bath Tub Fizzies: Another affordable gift that can be made in bulk batches.  Fizzies and bath bombs can be made in a variety of shapes and scents with whatever molds you have on hand. 
• Milk Baths:  Milk Baths make a luxurious gift in record time.  Just mix the ingredients in a bowl and package them up.  
  
• Melt & Pour Soaps:  These quick and easy soaps are such fun to make.  You can create a variety of soaps in fun colors and scents using one simple formula.
• Bath & Body Bases:  Use our line of Bath & Body Bases to create lotion, cream, body wash, or even shampoo. 
• Herbal Sachets:  If you have a knack for sewing, you may enjoy making up these herbal sachets.  These make wonderful gifts and can be scented naturally. 
• Upcycled Gift Wrap:  Making your own gift wrap from upcycled materials is a great way to keep your holidays green and sustainable.  It makes a perfect accompaniment to natural bath and body gifts.

We also have some more advanced recipes that would make wonderful holiday gifts. 

• Candy Cane Sugar Scrub:  Our most popular recipe ever, this colorful scrub can be made from scratch, or with the help of our Body Care Craft Kit
• Cranberry Pumpkin Salt Scrub:  This is a good choice for folks who prefer dinner over dessert.  The Cranberry Pumpkin Salt Scrub is a sweet, but nutritive recipe for exfoliation.
• Chocolate Peppermint Bath Bombs:  These smell delicious, and are oh so cute.  You'll love making these little bath fizzies as much as your friends will enjoy receiving them.
• Creamy Walnut Lip Butter:  Nothing says Winter like the aroma of freshly roasted nuts.  Treat your friends and family to this deliciously creamy lip balm.

Don't forget that we also carry a superb collection of Body Care Craft Kits, which are great for making holiday gifts, but also make wonderful gifts themselves.  Treat your favorite body care enthusuasist, or beauty product fanatic to the gift of handmade skin care! 

While you are shopping for supplies and packaging at From Nature With Love, remember to use discount code NBWS4277 to save 7% on all qualifying items in your online order. 

Bath & Body 101: A Crash Course in Cosmetics Formulation

The world of natural and handmade skin care is a popular one.  Every day countless new brands launch their carefully formulated lines of cosmetics into the arena.  Our industry has become abuzz with fresh faces and hopeful beginners, each dreaming of creating a handmade beauty empire to call their own.  But how did they get started?  If you want to follow suit, where do you begin?  We get this question a lot, and my best advice always remains the same.  Start out by formulating GREAT products.  When you are ready to start a business, it's best to have a cupboard filled with tried and tested recipes to build it on.  When you do reach that point, it's time to reach out to business experts.  You won't need my help anymore.  

So the next question is: How do you formulate great products?  The first step is to prepare yourself for a long journey.  The only way to formulate truly great products is through experimentation and experience, and that takes time.  You'll have to learn, first hand, how different ingredients behave, what you can expect from a formulation, and how to predict a shelf life.  At the very beginning, you'll need to learn the basic components of the most standard bath & body recipes.  With the exception of soap, which deserves its own post, (if not its own book), here is a list of starter recipes and articles.  Using the links below, you can learn how to make everything from lip balms to bath bombs.  Once you master the basics, you can start whipping up your own, totally original formulations.  

Formulation Articles

• Making Bath Bombs
• Blending Handmade Perfume Oils
• Making Powdered Milk Baths
• Making Lotions and Creams
• Making Natural Facial Cleansers
• How to Make Bath Salts
• Making All Natural Body Powders
• Making Natural Deodorants
• Creating Mineral Makeup
• Making Lip Balm
• Making Balms for Dry Skin
• Creating Moisturizing Facial Oils
• Making Salt Scrubs
• How to Use Cosmetic Clays
• How to Make Clay Facials
• How to Make a Body Wrap