Really useful info for creating homemade liquors for cosmetic use

This is a wonderful post on how to create yummy liquors to use in your cosmetics. They are made using the same principle as eo extraction but without the fancy ingredients. ENJOY!! http://artesanalnatural.blogspot.com/2011/08/licores-cosmeticos_31.html

Herbs part 1: Mentha Piperita

I love herbs, I love growing them, eating them, drinking them, infusing oils with them, and putting them in my products. I love to take care of them and watch them grow. I even caress them and talk to them daily, and get angry at them when I accidentally get cut with my lemongrass. I am a herb nut! But the most rewarding part is that they love me back, they grow beautiful, strong and green and they make me feel better when I need them.

Having said that I would like to share with you the herbs I have growing in my garden and their properties, starting with my favourite - mint.

I have a very sensitive stomach, whenever I get stressed it hurts horribly, so you'll understand that whatever soothes me is my best friend. Mint is one of those herbs that helps my stomach feel like a million bucks, I'll even drink it when I feel OK. I have both spearmint and regular mint and use them both a lot. I love that they are invading plants, this for me means that I will have a never ending supply of tummy happiness.

But this is no new news for anyone. So I got to investigating.

What else is mint good for? Well....it relieves stomach cramps, indigestion, and nausea. It relieves muscle pain, inflammation, back pain, headaches and migraines. It is also used for the respiratory system specially reducing asthma, bronchitis and dry cough spells. And finally it clears your mind and aids concentration. Who wouldn't love this marvelous herb? It also aids in the production of oil, special for those with dry skin, as well as having a calming effect in case of bug bites or sunburn.

Which products do I use it in? I have two soaps that have mint as their main fragrance ingredient - via essential oil - Mint seaweed soap and chocolate mint soap. I use it in all of my creams by infusing 100% of the water in my formula with mint, and this is said to help stimulate natural oil production without it being and actual oil that will make skin feel icky, it also gives a sense of freshness thanks to the menthol found in the leaves. And finally I have a lip balm that contains mint essential oil for lips that need extra care.

What do I combine mint with? Since I have a sweet tooth, my first combination was with chocolate :) I then read about combining it with rosemary for the added muscle stimulation properties - good for a tired legs cream for example, and it can also be combined with lemon to aid in the mental fatigue department.

What do you use mint in?

Back again - after a long pause

Hey everyone, I'm back again after not posting for a while. It's been a caotic couple of months - with my dermathologist asking me to stop making soap for a while - I almost died! It's like asking me to stop breathing! I made my best effort not to do anything related to soap, I didn't even go near my lab so as to avoid temptation - and I did it, I managed to stay away from soap for the full month. I also didn't see any improvements on the state of my face.

So after 2 full months of antibiotics, 1 month without milk cheese or anything realted to it, 1 month of not making soap and absolutely no improvements on my face I went to another dermathologist (my ObGyn's husband who is very well know around here). He told me to get off the antibiotics and all the creams the other Dr. gave me (could've saved me $300 just going to him in the first place) and he told me that what I have is acne and since it did not respond to the pills I should just go ahead and take this one pill that will eliminate the problem forever. It's a bit pricey but in three months I should be as good as new. I really liked his approach, explaining everything and answering very directly and to the point, vs. just commanding and "come see me next month and I'll do a chemical peel" (not the best approach).

Fact is if I'd gone to him the first time around it's very likely that the same treatment would've been given to me, it's just the approach that was different.

So now I'm almost finished with my first month of treatment with this new pill and I'm already seeing some improvement - for which I'm sooooo grateful. I can eat whatever I want to and I can make soap!!

Having this new start, I decided I needed more space and changed where i used to make soaps....I moved to a more lighted and bigger space in the big "garage" we have and now it looks like I have a real lab, not some corner in the garage. I want to start making creams and liquid soap for sale, go viral. So I need the extra space.

I have already done some CP soaps, but the results have been less than great - I want to make really cool swirls but need to keep practicing. Salt soap is great, I could get the swirls I want in that, but it wont stop "crying" because of the sea salt, I can't get anything but tht one here.

So I'll just keep trying, testing, messing with the formula and see what happens.

Glad to be back on track.
xoxo
Irene

A little about me...

I've recently taken a quiz for a training I attended, identifying what personality type relates to me the most. This ultimately helps people around me work with me more effectively and helps me identify how I can best accomplish my goals.
I have a day job, regretfully it's not soaping, it's project management at a very big IT company, I get to work with a loooot of people around the globe, so if I know how I work I will be better prepared to work with others. But this self assessment has also trigerred a more rigourous search for the real me. I feel like I lost myself somewhere a long the way this past year and am trying desperately to find what I lost. I've also been asked to take the strengthsfinder assessment (also for work) and this has also proven to be enlightening. The things I was trying to run away from the fastest I could because they were drowning me are the things that make me - well - me. By nature I'm a realtor, restorative, emphatic, individualizer, achiever and responsible person - and let me tell you, this combination takes a big toll on my feelings. I feel other people's feelings like they were my own (reason why I can't watch dramatic/meaningful movies and shows - they charge me with negative energy), my greatest strength is servicing and listening, I'm intrigued by the unique qualities of each person and take satisfaction from being busy and productive. Finally I am committed to stable values such as loyalty and honesty.
It's amazing how a questionnaire can be so accurate, I couldn't have described myself better than that and although I try to not be that person because it's a heavy burden to carry I still am. So now that I know who I am and what I do best I have a heading on what I need to fix.

And just to make this soap related...here's some much deserved porn. Thank you Sergio for being such and inspiration!

xoxo
Irene

My first job booked - baby shower favors

I'm soooo happy!! I got a call from one of the clients at the last fair asking to please please do 15 packs of 1 oz bars for a baby shower at the end of the month. They both loved the product (mom and grandma) and wanted to share with their guests an unique gift that they could use. The baby shower is going to be a mixer so they needed something useful and unisex. I am so happy they chose my product, the scents are bromelia - funny story about that one - strawberry chocolate and coconut milk.

She's having a girl and asked for a strong pink or pink ribbon...hope she likes the curly things I did with the ends.. I've got the soaps packed and ready to be delivered. I also had the request to put a small sticker with the name of the soap and my contact information in case the other guests were interested in the favors - how cool is that! I wish all customers were like that. So all I have to do now is print the stickers and label the soaps and deliver.

The funny story about the bromelia is that I had this one customer pick the soap up, smell it and his comment was "Wow!! smells just like bromelias" and then gave it to his wife to smell and she agreed. The funny part is that bromelias do not actually have a smell, they're not even flowers, they are just pretty colored leaves. Sooo...since the customer is always right I totally agreed with him and he bought a bar :)

Hope to have more party favor requests in the future...they're awesome fun to make.

xoxo
Irene