The Natural Beauty Workshop

Good Times at The Customer Care Desk

Kelly, one of our hard working customer care providers spends a good deal of her day answering the phone, responding to emails, and generally holding down the fort at the From Nature With Love customer care desk.  She literally responds to hundreds of questions over the course of a work week, and somehow always remains cheerful and enthusiastic.  We couldn't be more thankful to have such a sweet and sunny person to work with.

Recently, Kelly encountered an equally adorable customer.  Their email exchange went something like this:

 

Cheryl:

How I love thee FNWL apricot fragrance oil! Let me count the ways...

Hi there. I'm just writing to find out when you think the apricot fragrance oil will be back. I love it, as you can see! Happy holidays, and please tell those elves to get cranking on the apricot fragrance oil! Bath bomb lives are depending on it! 

Kelly:

To love a fruit 'tis a mighty fine thing. The aromas and colors remind one of Spring. For the sweet smell of apricot in bombs for the bath, please be informed that new stock we do have! :o)

Thank you so much for the email / poem! It certainly put a smile on our faces this morning. :o) We actually just received our new stock of apricot fragrance oil and it is now available on the website! 

Cheryl:

YOU are my hero, as I will attest, bestowing a gift on the apricotless! 
Heh heh. Thank you for making my day (and knowing how to play). You rock. 

 

And just as quickly as the cuteness began, it was over.  We must have the best customers on Earth.  Thank you all for being so darn loveable.

New Fragrance Oils at From Nature With Love

Our newest Fragrance Oils at From Nature With Love are simply superb!  I enjoyed reviewing and describing them nearly as much as I will enjoy using them up!  Along with my descriptions, I've given some ideas for how to use these Fragrance Oils.  While my ideas are dandy, I would love to hear yours!  Have you used any of our new Fragrance Oils yet?  How did you use them, or what do you plan to use them for?

Fragrance Oil: Dark Kiss BBW Type
This Bath & Body favorite combines a sophisticated blend of dark vanilla and musk with burgundy rose, Peony, and amber.  It's topped off with light plum, sweet rasperry and bergamot.  Our Dark Kiss BBW Type Fragrance Oil is a great choice for body mists, solid perfumes, or perfume oils.  It would also be wonderful in a body cream or lotion.

Fragrance Oil: Frosted Ginger
A light twist on classic ginger, Frosted Ginger Fragrance Oil is soft and subtly spicy.  Frosted Ginger Fragrance Oil would do nicely in a whipped body cream or a sugar scrub.  Also try using Frosted Ginger in your perfume blends.

Fragrance Oil: Mahogany Suede
Mahogany Suede Fragrance Oil has a spicy, masculine aroma that blends a soft base with light citrus and exotic woods.  Mahogany Suede Fragrance Oil is great for use in mens' products.  Try using this manly fragrance in shaving soaps, body lotions, or soaps.

Fragrance Oil: Peace
Peace Fragrance Oil begins with the aroma of sweet vanilla and smoky incense blended with green herbs and warm spices.  Peace Fragrance Oil would be wonderful in soaps, lotions, or perfumes.  Also try our Peace Candle Fragrance Oil to use it in your home fragrance recipes. 

Fragrance Oil: Secret Wonderland BBW Type
Our Secret Wonderland BBW Type Fragrance Oil is a delightful blend of fruit and floral aromas.  Creamy sandalwood, coconut and white amber are blended with delicate gardenia and jasmine, then topped with the sweet scent of wild berries.  Use this yummy scented Fragrance Oil to scent just about anything!  It would smell wonderful in soaps, scrubs, body butters, and perfumes.

Fragrance Oil: Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin
Rich pumpkin blends wonderfully with the scent of carmelized sugar and warm cinnamon.  Reminiscent of a pumpkin creme de pot, our Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin Fragrance Oil is deliciously tempting.  I have a feeling that Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin Fragrance Oil would make an unbelieveable soap!  It would also be great in body butter.  Don't forget to try out our Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin Candle Fragrance Oil as well.  It would smell wonderful in candles, wax tarts or reed diffusers!

Now is a great time to try out our new Fragrance Oils!  Don't forget to use discount code, NBWS4277 at checkout to save 7% on qualifying items!

Introducing The Natural Pet Care Section at From Nature With Love

Let's say you have a medicine cabinet filled with natural ingredients that you use to care for yourself and your family.  You may have found yourself wondering whether or not this magic chest of herbs and oils could benefit your pets as well.  With a little guidance, you certainly can use natural ingredients to enhance your pet's health and well being.  You just need to know a few ground rules before getting started.

First of all, it's important to remember that though our pets may share similar spirits to us, their bodies are alltogether different.  An ingredient that does one thing for a human could do something very different for a dog, or could even poison a cat!  Make sure that you research any ingredient thoroughly before giving it to a pet.

Another thing to keep in mind is dosage.  Pets are much smaller, and their systems process the active chemicals found in natural ingredients much differently.  For instance, while certain essential oils are safe for use with dogs, their enhanced olfactory senses make it necessary to dilute them even further than you would for a human child.  On top of that, dogs come in many sizes.  The smaller the dog, the smaller the dosage.

There are some ingredients that can actually harm your pets.  Cats are especially sensitive to essential oils.  Their internal systems cannot metabolize most essential oils, making even the tiniest amount potentially poisonous.  For this reason, many aromatherapists and holistic vets advise against ever using any essential oils with cats.  Instead, hydrosols or herbal tonics are often used.

This may sound a little overwhelming, but with proper education and guidance, making natural pet care products for your furry family members can become a regular part of your routine.  Look for well qualified authors when gathering recipes for your pets, and remember, it doesn't hurt to double check the safety of the ingredients in your recipe.  It can be very helpful to keep some books on hand that cover some of the basics.  One book that I really enjoy refferring to is Holistic Aromatherapy for Animals by Kristen Leigh Bell.  This book goes in depth into natural pet care for dogs, cats, horses, and small animals.  We also carry two great books on natural pet care in our book store.  Check out Dr. Kidd's Guide to Herbal Cat Care and Dr. Kidd's Guide to Herbal Dog Care.

It's also important to choose only the highest quality ingredients when formulating for your pets.  From Nature With Love makes that easy with our new Natural Pet Care Ingredients Section.  You can be sure that the ingredients offered here are always as described, and you can contact us anytime if you have questions about the purity, origin, or nature of our ingredients. 

Have you had experience creating natural products for your pets?  We'd love to hear your stories!

Sleepover Party Edition Body Care Craft Kits

We're please to introduce our brand new line of Body Care Craft Kits, the Sleepover Party Editions!  These special Body Care Craft Kits each make six portions of handmade skin care product that can be created and enjoyed at your next slumber party.  Combine any of these new kits to throw a special sleepover spa party for your guests!

 
Strawberry Slushy Scrub Kit - This scrumptious smelling scrub is made with sweet sugar, and naturally moisturizing fruit and vegetable oils. White Sugar and dried Strawberry Seeds gently exfoliate your hands and feet, while Coconut Oil, Watermelon Seed Oil, and real Strawberry Seed Oil condition the skin with a bounty of essential fatty acids, antioxidants, and vitamins. Paprika and Beet Root add a touch of natural color to the mix, making this scrub extra fun to make and use. This recipe is made fresh to order and should be used as soon as it is mixed up. The kit makes enough for six slumber party guests to scrub their hands and feet until they are soft, smooth, and strawberry pink!  The scrub is meant to be enjoyed at the party, eliminating the need for excess packaging.

Shimmering Thai Coconut Bed Time Powder Kit - Add a touch of scent and silky softness to your bed sheets, and your body, using this Shimmering Thai Coconut Bed Time Powder. This handmade powder is lightly scented with sweet Thai Coconut, and shimmers with sparkling Silver Mica. The easy to make recipe yields six containers of shimmering powder that your guests can take home after the party. Enjoy this body powder after invigorating the skin with our Sleepover Party Edition Strawberry Slushy Scrub. Then sprinkle lightly in your sleeping bags to enjoy the sweet aroma while you slumber. Apply the powder to your feet before putting on your clean socks to make your feet feel extra smooth and silky.  The Shimmering Thai Coconut Bed Time Powder Kit contains enough ingredients to make six containers of sweetly scented, soft, shimmering powder for your body and bed sheets.

Raspberry Vanilla Facial Oil Kit - Packed with skin loving natural ingredients, Raspberry Vanilla Facial Oil is a moisturizing bed time treat for your skin. Red Raspberry Seed Oil, Rosehip Seed Oil, and Vitamin E 400 Oil are naturally high in antioxidants, essential fatty acids, and nutritive vitamins that help to repair and condition the skin. Jojoba, a natural liquid wax, mimics your skin's natural protective barrier, to help keep your skin smooth, supple, and happy. A sweet touch of Vanilla Fragrance Oil makes it a soothing treat before bed time. This kit makes six bottles of Raspberry Vanilla Facial Oil; perfect for your slumber party guests to take home after the sleepover has ended.  The Raspberry Vanilla Facial Oil Kit contains enough ingredients to make six bottles of nutrient-rich, moisturizing facial oil.

White Chocolate Facial Kit - This gentle facial mask is made with White Kaolin Clay to gently cleanse the skin without stripping it of its moisture. Oat Flour soothes the skin with its natural anti-inflammatory properties. Real Cocoa Powder and our decadent White Chocolate Fragrance Oil complete this yummy facial with a sweet scent, and a smooth, chocolaty color. This recipe is made fresh to order, and should be used as soon as it is mixed up. The kit makes enough for six facials, perfect for a slumber party!  This facial kit is meant to be enjoyed at the party, eliminating the need for packaging.

 

Purchase our Sleepover Party Edition Body Care Craft Kits individually, or visit this page to order 3 or more Kits to save 5%.  Looking for our classic line of Body Care Craft Kits?  We are still proud to offer over a dozen different Body Care Craft Kits at From Nature With Love.  Check them out here!

New Aluminum Packaging Choices at From Nature With Love

We've recently introduced two new packaging options to our line of Aluminum Bottles and Containers at From Nature With Love.  The first is our all new 3ml Brushed Aluminum Spray Tube.  This delicate sprayer bottle is perfect for perfumes, body mists, aromatherapy misters, and facial spritzers.  Starting at $2.25 each, or discounted in cases of 12, 24, or 180, they make an affordable choice for packaging any small, liquid formulations. 

We've also added 1/4 oz. Slider Tins to our inventory.  These adorable little tins are a great way to package lip balms, solid perfumes, or oil based salves and ointments.  Only 2 inches wide, they are as cute as can be, and easily carried along in a purse or tote.  Available in packs of 10, 50, 100, or 1000, you can stock up on these super cute tins quite easily. 

 

New Ingredients Added to the FNWL Color Palette Search Tool!

Earlier this year, we introduced our Color Palette Tool on FromNatureWithLove.com.  In its first release, the tool helped to pair our line of Fragrance Oils and Candle Fragrance Oils with a palette of 24 standard colors.  We're happy to announce that this tool has now been expanded to include our line of Essential Oils, Floral Waters, and Flavor Oils!

We've received some great feedback on our original incarnation of the FNWL Color Palette Tool.  We hope that you'll continue to enjoy using this tool now that it can be used to search even more of our products!

Introducing the From Nature With Love Color Palette Tool

Pairing colors and scents is an important part of creating gorgeous, memorable skin care products.  Creating a presentation that pleases the eye will not only attract people to pick something up, it can actually enhance the overall experience.  Because of our subjective senses, choosing the right color to accompany a particular aroma can play a huge role in a recipe's success.  

To help make color choices easier, From Nature With Love has created a searchable Color Palette Tool that allows you to browse our massive selection of Fragrance Oils and Candle Fragrance Oils by color.  This innovative tool can help your creative process start from the visual end, giving formulators a new source of inspiration for recipe planning.  If you prefer to start your creative process with scent, you'll be happy to know that each of our individual Fragrance Oil and Candle Fragrance Oil product pages are now marked with suggested color choices. 

In the future, we'll be adding lots of other products to our Color Palette Tool.  Keep an eye out for our next addition.  Essential Oils will be added soon!

What are your favorite color and scent combinations?  We'd love to hear about them in the comments below!

From Nature With Love Affiliate Program

The natural and handmade skin care industry is blessed with a lively, ever-growing online community.  Blogs, shops, forums, and informational sites abound on the web, creating a vast network of knowledge, and support across the internet.  This community can be an invaluable resource intellectually, but thanks to the Affiliate Program at From Nature With Love, members of this online community can generate extra revenue as well. 

The Affiliate Program at From Nature With Love provides relevant websites with special, tracking links to FromNatureWithLove.com.  These links are used to direct traffic from your blog or website to From Nature With Love.  They can be included as banner ads, in articles, or even in recipes, when listing ingredients.  When a visitor from your website makes a purchase at From Nature With Love, you can earn up to 8% commission on the sale.  So, while you are directing your readers to a supplier you know and trust, you are earning extra revenue from your website.  Occasionally, we even create special kits or ingredient samplers to help cross-promote our affiliates.  This is a great option for websites or blogs that showcase their own recipes.

Click here to learn more about the Affiliate Program at From Nature With Love, and to apply for the program.

The Natural Beauty Workshop is Featured in the New Publication: Business Technology

From Nature With Love and The Natural Beauty Workshop is featured within the new 258-page book, Business Technology: A Guide for Midsize and Small Business by Michael W. Johnson.

We're honored to be selected as the blog highlighted within the "Business Networking & Showcasing Through Blogs" section of the book:

I am still in the midst of reading through this informative book, and am already finding it to be a nice foundation for small businesses that want an introduction and fundamental grasp of the technologies and resources that can help within all areas of their business processes.

Business Technology: A Guide for Midsize and Small Business Author: Michael W. Johnson Publisher: WAIN Technologies LLC Copyright: 2009 ISBN: 0615299210 / 978-0615299211

A special thank you to author Michael W. Johnson for featuring the Natural Beauty Workshop. For more information about Business Technology: A Guide for Midsize and Small Business, please visit the book description on Amazon.com.

From Nature With Love Announces the Launch of Beauty By the Batch

The staff of From Nature With Love is excited to announce the launch of Beauty By the Batch!

Through a growing library of Personal Care Articles, Beauty By the Batch teaches the benefits of using handmade beauty, health and home care products and objectively guides readers on what to look for when shopping for natural, artisan-made products.

We also will be presenting a diverse selection of talented personal and home care product artisans showcased within the Artisan Directory. Although we do not endorse artisans appearing on Beauty By the Batch, the review and approval process for artisan listings is strict. We'll never knowingly allow unethical artisans to appear within the site’s Artisan Directory.

Beauty By the Batch was conceived to meet two specific needs:

1. Although the benefits of utilizing natural and nearly all-natural skin care, health and home care products is well-established, most of the population remains unfamiliar with these benefits. With all of the contradictory media attention given to "green living," we know it can seem like a daunting task to learn more about natural products and discover how to find the most superior and luscious products available.
   
   Beauty By the Batch aims to educate and enlighten its visitors with lively yet educational information on how easy it can be to introduce natural products into one's lifestyle.
   
   
2. Most of us that are on staff with Beauty By the Batch make our own beauty products and have a deep passion and knowledge for the artistry and science that is involved. We are intimately aware of the challenges and limitations in marketing and promoting handmade beauty and home care products. We are also well aware that there are companies, large and small, that compete based on price or deceitful practices as opposed to competing based on quality and concern for the wellbeing of customers.
   
   We know that both quality conscious consumers and devoted artisans want to be brought together. Beauty By the Batch does exactly that. Beauty By the Batch features a comprehensive Artisan Directory that showcases some of the very best handmade beauty, health and home care artisans. Of course we cannot endorse any particular company nor do we have the staffing to be able to test every product that each of our artisans/advertisers makes, but we promise to never knowingly accept advertising or showcase an artisan or company that we know does not meet our Artisan Code of Conduct.

For a limited time, qualified artisans can entroll for a FREE six month listing ($180 value) on Beauty By the Batch. Click here to learn more and to enroll!