The Natural Beauty Workshop

Cooking With The Ladies (and One Small Gentleman)

Last Wednesday we held another Employee Workshop at FromNatureWithLove.com.  I love getting together with the my co-workers to share a little quality time, knowledge, and fun.  We have a few new faces in our office; Colleen, Alicia, and Marie.  This was a great chance for us all to get to know each other better while everyone learned a little more about the products that we offer.

We were treated to a couple of special guests at this workshop.  Nina, from customer care, invited her mom, Nancy, and little brother, Tycho, to join us.  It was very nice to meet them both, and I think they had a pretty good time.  Tycho was our official helper for the workshop.  He helped stir, helped sniff scents, and he helped keep us smiling the whole time!  Nancy mentioned that she was interested in making a brown sugar scrub, so we decided it would be a great opportunity to whip up a batch of Chocolate Truffle Sugar Scrub.  Here is Colleen on the right pouring the sugar for the scrub.  In the background you can see Alicia, Marie, and Nina's mom, Nancy!

We also made a batch of delightfully gooey lip glosses.  You can see Marie on the right mixing up her cup.  These were made using a secret recipe of Nina's.  I'm going to have to start from scratch and see if I can make a version for The Natural Beauty Workshop.  We each scented and colored our own small batches of gloss.  This gave everyone an opportunity to blend their own unique color and scent.  Alicia, one of our newest additions, turns out to have a natural nose for blending aromas!  She created a captivating blend of Strawberry and Rose Flavor Oil for her gloss.  I tried to coax her into a portrait with her gloss, but Alicia was camera shy!  Maybe I'll catch this master perfumer in the act next time.  Colleen and Nina did some great blending as well.  Colleen scented her gloss with Tangerine and Peach Flavor Oils.  Nina went a step further and blended her colors!  She combined Two Tone Red Gold Mica with Bordeaux Lustre Mica to create a very pretty and unique shade.

All in all it was a great success!  At the end we all left with some yummy lip gloss and a jar of our very own Chocolate Truffle Sugar Scrub.  You can't beat the fringe benefits around here!  To view larger pictures of the ones featured here visit my Flickr Page!

Fresh Margarita Body Cream

In addition to the Margarita Salt Scrub, we made a matching body cream at our recent employee workshop. Fresh creams are so fun to make that it is hard to believe I was ever intimidated by them. The truth is that while I dove head first into handmade skincare, for a long time I shied away from anything that involved water. Emulsion and preservation were very scary words to me.

Luckily, my good friend and co-worker, Margaret, helped me to get past this fear by making my very first cream with me. We used The Minty Lime Foot Cream Kit from the Kits For Crafts line of handmade skin care kits. It was love at first emulsion. Very soon after this fateful day I brought home a copy of  Making Aromatherapy Creams and Lotions by Donna Maria. I devoured every page, thus beginning my love affair with fresh creams and lotions. I recommend this book whenever I get questions about making handmade creams. Donna Maria, the founder of the Indie Beauty Network, really does a great job of describing the process of creating an emulsion. She also provides a wealth of information on aromatherapy, carrier oils, and other natural ingredients. This is a great book!

You might also be interested to know that Donna Maria has a fantastic blog of her own. The Indie Business Blog is a daily inspiration to independent business owners, but it can also be inspiring to anyone who is interested in gaining some positive control over their own destiny.

But I digress, on to the fabulous Margarita Body Cream!

Margarita Body Cream

Ingredients

Water Phase
35 grams Organic Lemon Balm Hydrosol
35 grams Distilled Water
2 grams Glycerin
3 grams Grapefruit Seed Extract*

Oil Phase
12 grams Mango Butter
12 grams Ultra Refined Cocoa Butter
12 grams Peach Kernel Oil
10 grams Emulsifying Wax
2 grams Stearic Acid
1 tablespoon Parsley Powder

Fragrance (Optional)
6 ml Lime Fragrance Oil

Directions

• Add Oil Phase ingredients to the double boiler and melt/mix thoroughly.
• Place 1 tablespoon of Parsley Powder into a fine mesh tea ball or cheesecloth and drop it into the warming, melted oils.
• Allow oils to steep over medium heat for 15 minutes.
• Mix Water Phase ingredients together in a heat proof beaker or container. Pyrex works great. Gently warm the water phase in a sauce pan of hot water. (Just below boiling)
• Remove both ingredient phases from heat.
• Remove the herbs from the warm oils. Strain oil mixture through a cheese cloth, if necessary.
• While constantly mixing the Oil Phase, slowly pour the water phase ingredients into the double boiler. Continue to mix the Oil and Water Phases together. The liquid should become opaque and begin to thicken as it cools. To keep your mixture from separating, continue mixing for at least 10 minutes. You can mix this by hand or with a mixer. If you do use a mixer, I would recommend mixing in 3 minute bursts and letting the mixture rest for a few minutes in between each burst. This will help to keep the mixture from increasing its volume too much.
• Stir in Fragrance Oil.
• Pour into snap cap, disc cap or pump bottles. To make this step easier, pour your lotion into a zip lock bag, cut a small hole in the bottom corner and pipe your lotion into the bottles.

Packaging and Storage

Since this recipe contains water, it is especially fragile and will be prone to spoilage or bacteria growth. The Grapefruit Seed Extracts acts as an anti-microbial, but it is not as effective as chemical preservatives. I highly recommend storing this recipe in small bottles with snap or disc caps. This will encourage the cream to be used quickly, and it will  help to keep the cream safe from contamination. To ensure freshness, use your cream as quickly as possible or within 3 to 6 weeks. This can also be packaged in one or two ounce cream jars, but they will have a much higher risk of becoming contaminated in these containers. If your lotion changes color, odor or texture, it could be a sign that it has expired. Natural products can be unstable so please discard your cream if you suspect it of having turned.

*I chose to use Grapefruit Seed Extract as an anti-microbial agent in this recipe. If you prefer using an alternative preservative, please visit FromNatureWithLove.com for more information on preservatives.

** Citrus Essential Oils, such as Lime Essential Oil, can cause photo sensitivity when they are applied to the skin. For this recipe, I chose a synthetic alternative. However, there are many natural Essential Oils that would be suitable substitutes. For example, Ylang Ylang would be a lovely aroma for this lotion.

Margarita Salt Scrub

During our most recent employee workshop we made some deliciously scented salt scrubs and body creams, inspired by one of our favorite indulgences, the margarita! The first recipe I would like to share is the Margarita Salt Scrub.

Dead Sea Salt and Cold Pressed Lime Essential Oil made this salt scrub totally scrumptious. The Shea Butter Shower Gel Base acts as an emulsifier, and helps to provide an even appearance and fluffy texture to the scrub. For an all natural alternative, you can try using Liquid Castille Soap Base or Liquid Castille Shower Gel Base instead.

Margarita Salt Scrub

1/2 cup of Dead Sea Salt, Fine
1 oz Shea Butter Shower Gel Base
1 oz Fractionated Coconut Oil
2 ml of Lime, Cold Pressed, Mexico Essential Oil (40 drops)
Optional Colorant*
FD&C Yellow #6(3-5 drops) 
D&C Green #8(1-2 drops)

Directions

In a small bowl, combine the Fractionated Coconut Oil and Shea Butter Shower Gel Base. Mix these well, until thoroughly combined. Next, stir in the Dead Sea Salt. Add the colorant and essential oil and mix once more. Spoon into a sterile jar.

Packaging and Storage

The best storage container for this recipe would be a jar made from high density plastic. A PET or HDPE container should do well. Due to the essential oil content in this recipe, the plastic may erode over a long period of time. Since this recipe contains natural ingredients, it should be used long before this becomes an issue. However, I thought it would be worth mentioning just in case. For safety's sake, don't leave this jar of scrub on top of any expensive linens. You never know.

Usage

There are many scrubbing techniques out there, but this is one I am particularly find of. Step into the shower and before turning the water on, scrub your body all over! (Of course, avoiding very sensitive areas or broken skin.) When you are thoroughly scrubbed, turn the shower on and rinse. When the shower is over, make sure to moisturize your skin with a body oil, cream, or lotion.

Preservation

I will leave the preservation of this recipe up to you. The scrub can be made without any preservative, but this will be prone to contamination. If it is left unpreserved, I would suggest handling it with extreme care. Do not take the jar into the shower. Instead, use a clean spoon to scoop one serving at a time into a paper or plastic cup.

If you are using the Shea Butter Shower Gel, please be aware that is does contain parabens. However, this recipe has not been challenge tested, and the preservative content in the shower gel base may not be enough to thoroughly preserve the entire scrub. You can add further preservative to the remaining ingredients, if you choose to. Liquapar Oil would be a good choice if you are going with a chemical preservative. It can be added to 0.3 - 0.6% of the fractionated coconut oil, which is 1 oz. This would be a very minuscule amount.

If you are creating a natural scrub, using Castille soap, you may also want to consider adding some Grapefruit Seed Extract. This will act as an antibacterial agent, but it will not "preserve" the ingredients. It can be added to the formula at 0.5 to 1%. In this recipe that would be 1 drop. While this will help to fend off bacteria, it may be wise to still handle the product with extra care. Exposure to water may still compromise the formula's stability.

*To achieve a green hue with natural ingredients, steep 1 teaspoon of Parsley Powder in 4 ounces of warm Fractionated Coconut Oil for 30 - 60 minutes. Strain the herb from the oil using a cheese cloth. Use this colored Fractionated Coconut Oil in place of the oil in this recipe. No additional colorant should be needed. The excess oil can be stored in a clean bottle for later use.

FromNatureWithLove.com Employee Workshops

Hands down, the best thing about my job is getting the opportunity to learn more about natural skincare every day.  Having the chance to dedicate yourself full time to working on something you are passionate about is a rare gift. I'm thankful every day that I found myself here. I wanted to share that joy and passion with my co-workers at FromNatureWithLove.com. When I shared this desire with Margaret, our office manager, she came up with a wonderful way to inspire the whole team with a passion for what we do.

For the past few months we have been holding employee workshops at our warehouse facility in Connecticut. On one Friday every month, employees from every department get together after work to create a handmade bath or body recipe. So far, we have made lip balms, salt scrubs, even handmade body cream. Margaret and I take turns creating recipes and showing everyone the ropes. It has been such a rewarding experience to see everyone come together as a team and create something special every month. We are getting to know one another better, while shedding a little light on the nature of the products we work with every day.

Our happy team from left to right: (Top) Margaret, Nina, Mike, Eve, Carmen, (Bottom) Pramvera, Marjeta, Sue and Karissa.

This month, the group made a Margarita Salt Scrub and a matching Margarita Body Cream. The idea originated from Victoria, one of our customer care representatives, joking that after a particularly hectic week we should cancel the salt scrubs and make margaritas instead. I decided to compromise by creating two margarita inspired recipes which I'll be sharing with you soon.