Summer Skin Care Regiment

During hot summer months we all have to adjust our skin care regiment. As a nicer and hotter weather moves in more people break out due to increased perspiration and increased time we spend outside. Because of this, our skin produces extra oils and accumulates extra dirt and debris, thus allowing more pimple-causing bacteria to grow. My skin type is combination and I find summer the most challenging time for my facial care. All I'm trying to do during summer is to keep my oil production down and milia or tiny bumps (with white heads or without) under control. You can't really cure these problems, all you can do is prevent them. During hot months make it a habit to wash your face with soapy water a number of times a day. If you have oily skin, wash your face at least twice a day with our Tea Tree Cucumber facial bar or Geranium facial bar. If you have dry skin, wash your face not only in the morning but also at bedtime to remove excess oil and makeup. Creamy Classic Lavender facial bar or Milk ‘n Honey bar would be your best choices. If you have combination skin, I recommend using Geranium facial bar or Milk ‘n Honey twice a day during hot summer months. You can also use our All-Natural astringent toners to clean your face as many times as you need. And here is a hint on how to get the most out of your toner: during especially hot days keep your toner in a refrigerator and use it all over your face and neck to wipe out the dirt, to replenish and refresh your skin.

Everyone spends more time outdoors during the summer, which means that environmental debris and pollutants can have an additional impact on your skin's ability to remain elastic, free of bacteria and excess sebum. I personally notice more problem spots after a day of gardening or day at the outdoor art show. The great way to deep cleanse, sooth, draw out extra oils and firm your skin would be to use of our All-Natural Clay Facial Masks once a week and even more often during summer. Clays are widely used in spas all over the world. I love them especially for their ability to detoxify tone, gently exfoliate and deep cleanse our skin. They are full of rare minerals and they are designed by nature to absorb impurities from skin as they dry. After 15 minutes of our clay mask treatment you will wash away (together with clay) extra sebum and dirt, and add a few years to your looks by returning natural elasticity to your skin. Oily Skin owners: Sea Kelp Detox is for you. Dry and sensitive skin owners: Strawberry Fig would benefit you best. Combination skin: Banana Mango would work great for your skin.

Due to hotter weather you may feel less need to use your moisturizers and it is perfectly fine. For our Facial Serum users I would suggest to play with your usage amounts or maybe even postpone use of it completely during the summer. Try using less drops per area and spread it thinner on your face. Just recently I started using my serum every other day instead of every day and I am thinking about cutting it down to once a week. I just wash my face with Milk 'n Honey soap (in my soap dish now) as many times as I need , use my new favorite Apple Twist Toner and I am good to go until evening! For Oily or Combination Skin owners I would recommend replacing your moisturizers completely with our All-Natural gentle Facial Toners. They are light, refreshing, soothing and moisturizing.

If you have extra oily areas, you can dry problem areas with Glycolic Acid pads. 10% Glycolic Acid and 5% Cylicilic Acid formulation is mild enough to not give you any skin irritations. You can get pads at your dermatologist office or online. Read list of ingredients carefully to make sure there is no Acetone!

Adjust your makeup regimen to the summer climate and your outdoor activities as well. Select powder blushes and eye shadows rather than cream products because they are less irritating and more likely to hold up in hot and humid weather. Use mineral foundations that will double you as SPF protection. If you need a good mineral foundation you can find some here and here. Learn how to apply natural-looking, barely there makeup for those outdoor occasions.

Enjoy your summer friends! Till next time,
Liana.

Sixth Fan Page Giveaway

Our number of fans has finally reached 200 mark. It has been jumping up and down due to recent changes on Facebook, but I think it is safe to assume that it is a solid mark now. This giveaway is all about summer! The winner of the sixth giveaway will get a $25 Gift Certificate to our store. Please feel free to share this giveaway with your friends, however there are some rules: to enroll in MH's 6th Fan Page Giveaway you must be a Marmalade Hills fan on Facebook; you must be 18 years of age or older; and you have to leave a comment to this post on our blog.

Please leave your comment and tell us: what is your favorite summer scent? It can either be your favorite fruit, flower, food or simply a scent that can instantly remind you of summer even during coldest winter months.

Please leave your comment underneath this post. If you leave a comment as anonymous, don't forget to sign your comment. This giveaway will be closed for comments exactly one week from today-June 1st. As always random winner will be announced on our Fan Page.

I am looking forward to your comments! Good luck!
Liana.

Healthy Nails Tip

From little girls to teenagers, young women to older age women, we all love to have beautiful, healthy looking nails. There are salons for the care and beautification of nails but the basic care has to start from home. Well maintained nails are a true reflection of good health and hygiene. Try some of these really easy, natural tips from www.SimpleHealth.com to make your nails stronger, less brittle, more shiny and even to grow them faster and longer.
1) Dip cotton swab in fresh lemon juice and rub for 5 to 7 minutes on the nails, doing each nail one by one. After the rub do not wash hands for 10 minutes. Thereafter, wash your hands with tepid water. Regular application of lemon juice will make your nails stronger and give them a natural shine.
2) To remove paleness from the nails try including beet root and Vitamin D into your diet.
3) Soak about handful of raisins in the night in water before going to bed. When you wake up in the morning, drink this water and eat soaked raisins. This will improve your iron content restoring the natural pinkish-reddish tinge on nails and palms and even add a glow to your face.
4) For growing nails, instead of rubbing lemon, keep the nails dipped in a bowl of tepid lemon water for 5 minutes. This helps to deep clean the nails also. Wash with cold water immediately after that.
5) Like for other parts of our body, the intake of 3 servings of dairy every day is beneficial to the nails as well. It will prevent the brittleness and weakness in the nails and will avoid the nails getting chipped every now and then.
6) If almond oil is available to you, massaging the nails with almond oil daily makes the nails beautiful, strong and cures the brittle nails problem.

This article was altered from the original version which you can find here

If Marmalade Hills' Body Oil is already your favorite product, you can utilize it for massaging it into your nails, as it is made of highly nutritious and moisturizing natural oils that will reduce brittle nails problem and improve elasticity of the skin (cuticles) around your nails.

P.S. if you have missed our previous healthy tips you can find them here:
Clean Truth about Antibacterial Soap
10 Foods that are healthier than you think
Healthy Nails Tips
Healthy Hair Tips
When to buy Organic and when it's ok not to
Benefits of Green Tea
Beauty Sleep
Fish Oil or Omega 3 & 6
How to add years to your life

What is soap?

I wanted to talk about natural and cold process soaps in particular, since I started this blog. But because it seemed like such a massive subject I have been putting it off and putting it off untill today. So get yourself a hot cup of cocoa and read on...
According to various legends, modern soap has its origins at mount Sapo where sacrifices were often cremated and hardwood ashes would accumulate (an early source of alkali). These ashes mixed with the tallow of the sacrificed animals. It is said that after a heavy rain a yellow runoff from the fire pit made its way downhill from the temple. The local women washing their clothes in the river noticed that their clothes were cleaner when the river ran yellow. Over time it was learned that adding salt water to the mixture would precipitate the removal of glycerin and excess water, thus making the soap harder, and not subject to the month long curing process required of true handmade soap. This old-fashioned "yellow soap" was used for laundry, dishes, and the occasional bath. But don't forget, it is just a legend. I am not sure whether anybody really knows the true story.
Well then, what is soap? Soap is a result of chemical reaction between oils and alkiline solution (the base, popularly referred to as lye) this process is also known as saponification. Soap cannot be made without lye. But be sure that because of our precise formulation and a curing period of six weeks, there is absolutely no trace of lye left in Marmalade Hills' natural soap. So how does soap work? Soap molecules can dissolve in water and at the same time they can dissolve grease molecules. While normally oil and water do not mix, the addition of soap allows oils to dissolve in water, allowing them to be rinsed away easily as water strings down your body and into the drain. Brilliantly simple! Nature has her ways of taking care of everything, doesn't she?
What is so special about handcrafted, cold process soap? All soaps are not created equaly. Today's soaps are often made from cleaning agents, such as synthetic detergents and are designed to look like a "beauty bar" or "body bar". The truth is that they are made with the same chemicals you use to wash your dishes or your car. Marmalade Hills' natural cold process soaps are completely different from mass produced soap or even glycerin soaps (these are sold as melt and pour bases). Our handcrafted soaps are made from skin loving, vegetable ingredients and other nature derrived ingredients like earth pigments, clays, herbs and essential oils. Our soaps will not over-dry your skin, as many tend to believe. The cold process soap is the best thing for your skin! In fact I recommend it even over our natural shower gels - those are not as gentle, because even though they are both technically natural, they are not made the same way...but that's another story. All our cold process soaps are made with high-quality, natural ingredients carefully chosen for their healing and beneficial abilities. Food grade Olive Oil is used as a base oil (about 50% of all oils), we also add coconut oil and palm oil for hardness. No vegetable shortenings or canola oil here. In addition I love to play with herbal infusions, prescious oils and butters by adding them at the end of the saponification process. It is called superfatting. This way additional oils do not go through full saponification process, they retain their nutrients and hang around to make our soaps extra moisturizing and gentle. All Marmalade Hills' soaps are made from scratch, using time tested "cold process" method. We mix warm oils, lye and water together. We pour raw soap in small 10 lb molds, let it sit wrapped in blankets for 48 hours. We unmold, cut, weigh and package soaps by hand. So you are getting the most unique yet very functional treat you can get!
Finally, how to take care of your cold process soap? Cold process soap will last you for a very long time if stored properly. Do not leave your soap under a running water, store it away in a dry spot of your shower on a soap dish with drainage holes on the bottom. You can use a regular soap dish, but you must use simple soap saver in this case.

Got SOAP?!

Holiday SALE

Our Spring line of products has been finalized and it means that it is time to make some room for our new, deliciously smelling inventory! Enjoy the remaining stock of our popular seasonal products at 50% off! We had a great run this Holiday season and have only limited quantities of each product left. Remember, when these are gone they are gone until next Winter!

Spring/Summer Collection Reveal

Even though you may still be shivering from mid winter freeze, at Marmalade Hills it is already Spring if not Summer! My studio smells like juicy apples, apricots, emerald ferns and sweet florals. Many of your favorite products will be updated with new sophisticated fragrances and coordinating designs. I also have formulated a few brand new products that will join a family of "all-time favorite" products. Here is a quick peek at our new fragrances: Applecot Tini, Woodland Ferns, Thai Coconut and Sweet Pea. Our artisan soaps, body lotions, body washes, soy products, bath bombs and linen mists will be available in these yummy new scents. Inspired by new and exciting ingredients I have decided to expand our collection of facial masks, whipped body polishes and facial toners. In a few months we will be introducing Applecot Puree Body Polish formulated with real apple extract and apricot shells for extra scrubby ability; Applecot Firming Facial Mask with naturally derived alpha-hydroxy acids; Apple Twist Facial Fusion which is nothing more than pure Apple Fruit Water and plant extracts. This all is coming up in Spring of 2010, but for now I hope you are enjoying your winter wonderland!

Featured Product - Body Butter

It is always a battle for me to decide which product I should feature. I tried and love every single one, if I did not, I wouldn't be making it of course. As always I struggled this time as well but decided that it would make sense to talk about the winter essential product and it is hands down the Marmalade Hill's ultimate body butters. Our body butters are made from scratch starting with African Shea Butter as a base ingredient, extra virgin coconut oil, grape seed oil, meadowfoam seed oil, tapioca powder and Vitamin E. Each ingredient has been selected due to its individual qualities. * African Shea Butter has been praised for centuries in Africa and is very well respected now for its ability to moisturize and nourish dry, damaged skin. It has been clinically shown to provide benefits from just dry skin to many minor dermatological diseases (if you have a serious skin condition, you should see a doctor). * Coconut Oil is the source of two of the most powerful anti-microbial agents found in any food substances. These are Capric Acid and Lauric Acid. They are the same acids that are found in mother’s milk and keep the baby protected from infections. When these are applied on skin, some microbes (good ones) present on skin convert these acids into Monocaprin and Monolaurin respectively, thereby replacing the protective acid layer on the skin. Finally, Coconut Oil is soothing on skin and highly penetrating. * Grape Seed Oil has the same antioxidants as green tea, black tea, berries, and red wine. These antioxidants are called procyanidolic oligomers (PCO’s), known for their health giving properties, and are more powerful than vitamin C and vitamin E. The Grape Seed Oil known for its ability to lock-in moisture, leaving your skin feeling more supple and smooth, and it does not leave a greasy feeling, which makes it ideal to use on all skin types. * Meadowfoam Seed Oil is an absolutely exquisite oil that provides a cornucopia of cosmetic uses. Containing over 98% long-chain fatty acids, this oil is a prized medium for applications which require a moisturizing and rejuvenating benefit for the skin and face. Meadowfoam Seed Oil is one of the most stable natural lipids known with extraordinary resistance to oxidation. * And the last but not least ingredient is a Vitamin E oil. The benefits of Vitamin E for the overall good health of individuals are substantial. In particular, Vitamin E is very important antioxidant, regulator of Vitamin A and an excellent anti-aging agent that makes skin look younger by reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. I find this a perfect combination of oils which makes our body butters extra fluffy, quickly absorbent, extra moisturizing and extremely nourishing to the skin. We call them "ultimate" because they fight dry and damaged skin with pure force of nature! Use them as an all over body deep moisturizer, stretch mark reducer, or sunburn soother. Choose from our 4 different scents: Lavender Silk, Tea Tree Blossom, Cranberry Fig and Coconut Lime. And remember very little goes a loooong way!

Check out previously featured products here.

Third Fan Page Giveaway

We have been having regular Fan Page Giveaways every time Marmalade Hills acquires 30 new fans! Our third Fan Page giveaway is here! Anyone who is our fan onFacebook can enroll to win! This time winner will receive a set of Handcrafted Soap and Lip Balm of their choice!
There are a few rules: to enroll in this giveaway you must be Marmalade Hills’ fan on Facebook; you must be 18 years of age or older; you have to comment on this post and tell us which scents would you like to see in our Spring/Summer collection?. Here are your choices: 1-Big Apple; 2-Sweet Pea; 3-Honeysuckle; 4-Woodland Ferns; 5-Cantaloupe Lily; 6-Apricot Parfait; 7-Saffron Honey. If you are submitting your comment as anonymous you will need to leave your first name and last initial at the end of the comment. Giveaway will go on for one week, until 12-22-09, collecting comments from our fans. Only the ones who left comments will participate in giveaway. After one week I will use online Randomizer to choose a winner. Winner will be contacted via Facebook messaging about their shipping information.

Good Luck!

In case you missed it, results for our first and second Fan Page giveaway are here and here.

Second Fan Page Giveaway Results

Big thank you to our active fans for participating in our Second Giveaway! I wish you all could win, but we will only have one winner tonight. As always I have numbered fans' comments as they were posted: 1-Mary Barris, 2-Monica, 3-Kess N and Crystal W, 4-Christine Wilson, 5-Donna Maria. Here we go... drum roll please (not the same without it)


Our winner is Monica! Congratulations Monica, you are getting your gift of choice: Zesty Cranberry Omega 3 Body Lotion! ENJOY!

Wrapping Ideas Holiday Style

After one of our fans gave me an idea to divide our soy melts into a smaller size sets and give them away as Holiday gifts for teachers, I instantly knew how I would do it and here is how:
1. For this project you will need a set of Marmalade Hills’ pure soy melts set, sheet of scrap booking paper or cardstock, ruler, small plastic bags (I got my bags from a craft store in beading supplies aisle), scissors, pencil, stapler, and a gift tag of your choice. I have purchased my custom tags from Sarah. She can make you custom color tags with any text you like.
2. Try to predict the size of the paper panel you will need for your bag. My panel had to be 3” x 3”. Sketch it on paper and don’t forget to put a dividing line right in the middle to assist you in perfectly straight folding.
3. If you need a few of these panels just cut out the first one and trace copies of it right on paper, no need to measure anything multiple times.
4. Fold your panel in half helping yourself with a ruler by placing it right against the dividing line.
5. Put your plastic baggy between folds of the panel. Don’t forget to put your melts inside the bag first (it’s kind of important)!
6. Staple panel and baggy together and attach your tag to the front. Done.

As soon as I was done digesting soy melts wrapping idea, another one popped into my head. What if I shared with you how I wrap Marmalade Hills’ Soap Stack holiday style?! I love it because it reminds me of a big candy and if you can come up with a way to secure it on your Christmas tree you can turn it into a deliciously smelling ornament!

1. I usually take one tissue sheet and fold it in half. It is important for tissue to be in two layers, extra layer makes it more durable and prevents tears. Put your soap stack in the center of the sheet and fold one side of tissue on top of the stack.
2. Take another half of the tissue paper and put it on top of the first one and secure it with a piece of sticky tape. Make sure that the side with a sticky tape will go on the bottom of your final product.
3. Take two strings of paper raffia or any ribbon that you have handy and tie it in a bow on a distance of 1 ½” to 2” from the stack edges, this will ensure tissue not to be too close to the stack edges and not to tear. (I hope it makes sense)
4. Tie ribbons into bows, attach you tag and if you think that your edges are too floppy just neatly trim them off. Done.

And this is how our final product looks like!

Second Fan Page Giveaway

Our second Fan Page giveaway is here! Anyone who is our fan on Facebook can enroll to win any product from our shop! There are a few rules: to enroll in this giveaway you must be Marmalade Hills’ fan on Facebook; you must be 18 years of age or older; you have to comment on this post and tell us which product you would like to select as your prize and why. If you are submitting your comment as anonymous you will have to leave your first name and last initial at the end of the comment. You cannot choose sets as your possible prize, only one particular item. Giveaway will go on for one week, until 12-12-09, collecting comments from our fans. Only the ones who left comments will participate in giveaway. After one week I will use online Randomizer to choose a winner. Winner will be contacted via Facebook messaging about their shipping information.

Good Luck!

In case you missed it, results for our first Fan Page giveaway are here.



Bookmark this on Delicious

Elf Shelf Raffle

I have 22 email addresses in my sign up sheets. I will contact all the participants about the raffle once and those who have checked the box for receiving updates in the future, will be automatically signed up for our Newsletter. I have numbered all the participants as they were added to the list and here it is as follows:
1-Jenny M; 2-Amina G; 3-JoEllen G; 4-Chris W; 5-Ann W; 6-Annete O; 7-Wendy C; 8-Sue S, 9-Kevin M, 10-Andrea D, 11-Sue R, 12-Tanya A, 13-Nancy S, 14-Sherrill J, 15-Mary Ellen H, 16-Kathleen S, 17-Michele K, 18-Megan B, 19-Michael S, 20-Mary B, 21-Mali B, 22-Brittany L.
*In case of unclear handwriting of the email addresses, winner’s email notification may come back to my mailbox. In this case I will subtract that person from the list and random number for the winner will be regenerated.
The lucky winner will be getting our Omega 3 Body Lotion and One Bar of Soap.
And here it goes! Drum roll please…

Our lucky winner is Mary Ellen! Congratulations Mary Ellen! I can neither recollect who you are nor if you made a purchase that day, but I will gladly mail you your prize as soon as I have your shipping info! and don't forget to select your scents!

Thank you very much to everybody for stopping by at our booth last Saturday! If we could grab your attention among many other wonderful crafters, it means we are doing something right! Hope to see you in our shop and don’t forget to use your Free Shipping codes that some of you received at Elf Shelf.

Happy Holidays!


Bookmark this on Delicious

Elf Shelf 2009

I finally came to my senses after the show. When I applied for this show I had no idea what to expect and I had no idea how big this show was. I just knew that I have to make progress every day and keep moving ahead. What a crazy time that was: taking care of kids, I gave up on cleaning the house, going to the studio to make products, cooking dinner, back to the studio to make more products… Last night before the show, we stayed up till 2:30am finishing labels and got up 3 ½ hrs later to go to the show. That day was really rough, but adrenalin kept me going and I think, I haven’t eaten all day that day, just coffee and water. Thank God I had my friend with me, who was helping me with everything. I am not sure if it is even possible to do shows on your own. Our booth was in the last room, so the foot traffic was kind of light compare to the two main rooms, in the early morning it even looked a bit empty. People started coming in at 9am sharp! We had our first sale 30 min or so after the opening. We burned and crashed with our first credit card order, it was a $40 purchase and the system was BUSY! Why does it always have to go this way? The lady was very nice and gave us a check and made another $30 purchase :) It was a good start and now looking back, we were pretty busy all day: meeting people, telling them about cold process method of making soaps, talking about benefits of using natural skincare products, making orders, refilling shelves with products, making customized gift sets and processing cards. We could hardly catch up on things, because it was a lot of people around our booth at all times and we tried to be helpful and attend to every stopper-by. There were many different people: some were just wondering around and stopped by just to get a chocolate, some went straight to soaps, and some were interested only in facial care. A few of my good friends stopped by to show us their support and make a purchase, it was very important to hear their words of encouragement. So after all, it was a great show with a big turn out of 1,600 guests and us making great sales! If this is how people shop when the economy is bad, then I can hardly wait to find out how they shop when the economy is good! We had 22 people sign up for the raffle which will be held tonight. The winner will get Omega 3 Body Lotion and one Soap of their choice.
Marmalade Hills will be back to Elf Shelf next Holiday season for sure, only bigger and better and in either of two main rooms! This show has taught me so many things and I cannot wait to improve my flaws next year. I will keep trying until I get it perfect!

I wanted to share with you some of the pictures from the show, please keep in mind that I had only 3 ½ hrs of sleep that night :) So have mercy!
Early Morning: setting up (next year I will have a huge banner behind my booth to cover up any ugly doors or walls)
Side View with soap rack, body mists and soy melts.
Display with raffle sign up sheet, my MICE poster and Specials Menu.


Bookmark this on Delicious

1st Fan Page Giveaway Winner!

Although we had only three comments submitted and therefore only three people enrolled to win our prize, we have our First Fan Page Giveaway Winner who will get our Silky Bath Bomb and Natural Lip Balm with Rose Hip Oil! I have numbered fans’ comments as they were posted: 1-Cristina Wyatt, 2-Christine Wilson, 3-Mary Barris. And the winner IS! Drum roll please… Cristina Wyatt! Congratulations Cristina! I will be putting your body treats in the mail as soon as I receive your shipping info. Don’t forget to choose your scents!
Our next Fan Page Giveaway is just 5 fans away! (rules are here). Next time I want to try a different approach, I will let you guys pick the prize! So stay tuned!


Bookmark this on Delicious

Thank You!

Last few days before the show have been very busy. But everything seems to be coming together. I have set my mind to not let anything spoil this fun experience. So I am not nervous at all…yet. I am sure it’ll get to me more on Friday. Since I have never done a show before I have no idea what to expect. I will be just happy to meet new people, establish new contacts, see my old friends and family, but picking up one or two wholesale accounts won’t hurt either! I cannot wait to practice my sales skills, polish up my knowledge about Marmalade Hills’ products and become more organized and prepared to take my business to the next level, because I do have an idea on where I want to be the following week after the show. I would like to get my first retail location where my products will be offered with full shopping experience. This show will definitely put things like my price point, feedbacks, presentation, in perspective for me. I will not be posting much to my Fan Page up until Monday. I will need to retreat and enjoy whatever will be left of my Thanksgiving with my family. On Tuesday, we will have a raffle that would be held at the show and hopefully we will pick up some new fans out there as well and maybe even have another Fan Page giveaway back to back! And then I have a few fun Holiday ideas up my sleeve inspired by one of our fans, Christine Wilson. So stay tuned and hope to see you at the show and in our shop!

Hope you have a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving!

Thank You for supporting Marmalade Hills!

Liana.


Bookmark this on Delicious

Fan Page First Giveaway

We have been around Facebook only one week and we already acquired over 30 fans. So it is time to start a fun tradition of regular giveaways. I love giveaways because they give us a chance to introduce our fans to Marmalade Hills’ decadent and natural products. And it gives our fans an opportunity to pamper their senses and have spa-like experience in their own bathroom. Our lives are full of every day chaos, adult responsibilities, constant pressure from reaching and achieving our personal goals. In order to maintain our sanity we owe to ourselves to slow down, relax and take a deep breath before plunging into the new challenges.
In addition to many other future giveaways, our Facebook Fan Page giveaway will take place each time we acquire 30 new fans. Prizes for each giveaway will be announced on our Fan Page. To enroll in this giveaway you must be Marmalade Hills’ Fan on Facebook; you must be 18 years of age or older; you have to leave us a comment on our Facebook page, topic for comments will vary for each giveaway and will be announced on Fan Page. Giveaway will go on for one week, collecting comments from our fans. Only ones who left comments will participate in giveaway. For our first giveaway I have chosen two of my personal favorites: Silky Cream Bath Bomb and Lip Balm. After one week we will use online Randomizer to choose a winner. Winner will be contacted via Facebook messaging about their shipping information.

Good luck!


Bookmark this on Delicious

Featured Product - Omega 3 Body Lotion

This post will be the beginning of the series called “Featured Product”. I have to start with one of my favorite items “Omega 3 Body Lotion”. It is a replacement and upgrade from our original Gentle Body Lotions line that some of you have been introduced to before. The first time I have tried this lotion, I fell in love with its texture and the after-feel of it. Cold weather is already upon us and everyone needs an extra nourishing and extra emollient lotion in their arsenal. The texture of this lotion is on a thick side, but it sinks into the skin momentarily, leaving your skin feeling soft, supple and moist. It leaves absolutely no greasy or oily residue and because it has no silicone-by or petroleum-by ingredients it feels like your skin can breathe after application. You know how sometimes, after using a lotion, it feels like you just dipped your hands into a sticky, heavy clay mixture? With Omega 3 Lotions you will feel absolutely none of it! In case of a body/hand lotion, it is important for it to be free of “dirty words” like parabens, phthalates and such because it is a leave-on product and most of the ingredients will be absorbed by skin and transferred into the blood stream. Our Omega 3 Body Lotions are made of pure botanical and plant derived ingredients. We are using Grapeseed, Hemp, Sweet Almond and Sunflower oils that are cold pressed to retain their minerals, vitamins and essential fatty acids. Omega 3 is found in Hemp oil. With its healthy essential fatty acid composition of Linoleic and Linolenic acids in the perfect ratio of 3:1, it also contains the relatively rare Gamma-Linolenic fatty acid that the body needs. They are called "essential" because our body is not able to reproduce them, and because they help to nourish and maintain a healthy skin on cellular level. Omega 3 has been found to assist in correcting problematic skin; typically, psoriasis, acne, and eczema. Additional properties from Shea Butter, Japanese Green Tea, Chamomile, Aloe Vera and Vitamin E, makes this a great skin rejuvenator. To guarantee fungus-free and bacteria-free lotions we do have to protect our water in oil emulsions (this is what lotions are) by adding gentle, paraben-free preservative at the ratio of 0.003% of net weight of the product. We offer Essential Oil scented lotions in Tea Tree Blossom and Lavender, and Fragrance Oil scented lotions in Zesty Cranberry, Gingersnap, Sea Foam and Sugar Fig. Our Essential Oil Lotions are a bit more expensive due to usage of pure, therapeutic Essential Oils. Omega 3 Body Lotion can make a thoughtful gift this season for special people in your life.

P.S. if you have missed our previous healthy tips you can find them here:
Clean Truth about Antibacterial Soap
10 Foods that are healthier than you think
Healthy Nails Tips
Healthy Hair Tips
When to buy Organic and when it's ok not to
Benefits of Green Tea
Beauty Sleep
Fish Oil or Omega 3 & 6
How to add years to your life

Fight Flu, Wash Hands! Helpful Discount

Cold and Flu Season is in full swing and I am just terrified of my kids getting sick. I know sleepless nights will come, non-stop crying and stuffy noses can happen any day now. I am preparing myself for possibility of juggling holiday shows, ton of holiday orders and being sick myself or having sick kids at the same time. It seems impossible to prevent cold or flu when you share everything with everybody in your household. But there are two things that everybody can do: take vitamins and WASH HANDS! I remember, before I was making my own soap, every winter we all had to use a ton of regular soap as frequent as 20 times per day! And I remember that my hands felt like if I wash them one more time, my skin would peel off of them. Harsh detergents in soap burned, dried and scaled my skin and no lotions, no matter how much or how often I would use, could help. My husband had the worst case of dry hands in winter, it was painfully uncomfortable. After constant washes the skin on his hands would turn white and it felt dry, like paper. He would use a ton of lotions but at the end of the day would always end up with the same problem. For the past few years that I have been making my soaps and using only soaps I make, I can proudly declare that our household is “dry skin-free”! It is truly a miracle. Even in winter months I do not need to saturate my hands in lotion every 10 minutes. My husband’s hands feel great and even sometimes he can forget to use lotion completely.
I wish everybody could experience the power of natural soap and wash hands as frequent as possible to stay healthy and happy this winter season. So I have decided to run a promotional SALE on some of our most soothing and gentle soaps until the end of this year. Just add WASHHANDS09 at check out and get 20% off on the following soaps:
Lemongrass Moisturizing Soap with Shea Butter
Classic Lavender Moisturizing and Nourishing Soap with Shea Butter and Goat Milk

And don't forget to check out our Seasonal Sales, Oatmeal Honey and Forest Sprite would be an excellent choice for Gentle and Moisturizing Hand Soap and they are already discounted!



Bookmark this on Delicious

Product Party Report

My Friday was very intense. I totally missed the whole day, it seems like I went from Thursday straight to Saturday. I was preparing all day and had time only for breakfast. I was running on my adrenalin and excitement. We got up early Friday morning, took my daughter to preschool, my little one to my mom’s and went straight to my studio. I don’t know what I would’ve done without my mom and my in-laws! They took over the kids for the day and I was able to work, work, work, as fast as I can. I thought I was very well prepared as far as the product stock, but I had to label everything, shrink wrap, make signs, set up the picture show, print out the price lists and get it all boxed up and loaded into my car….of course I was running late and my exit from the freeway was closed! Where was my GPS when I needed it! When I finally got to the house my friend, was already rallying for me, so people were ready and excited to see my amazing lotions and potions. The hostess, Nicole, is a friend of my friend (and now my friend too) and her house is beautiful and very eclectic! She put a lot of love and her own personality into her home. I was just blown away by her kitchen backsplash. It’s a huge copper backsplash that she designed and welded by herself! And it’s at least 4’ x 6’ humongous piece of metal! It looks totally cool and artsy. I wish I had a picture of it to show you! Actually I don’t have many pictures from the party. I was hopping to get lots of pictures, but I was so busy setting everything up and then talking to people that I just forgot about my camera. I set my table up as fast as I could and it turned out great and I didn’t forget anything… oh no, I did: I forgot my business cards! D'oh! I was so mad at myself. Thank god I had a bunch of price lists that I gave away with every purchase…. Anyways, where was I? I was lucky to have a huge dining room table right next to the front door, so nobody could miss me! I had my bath bombs set up on a cute pastry tower; had my digital picture frame with product slideshow; sign with specials, bowls with cashews and dark chocolates for guests, and the rest of the products basically setup on the table displaying themselves.
The bottom line is: the party turned out great, I was very excited to introduce people to my natural skin care and I really enjoyed talking about it. I made quite a few sales and most important a lot of new friends!!! I loved doing parties and my friend who is my biggest fan will have a huge party in August where Marmalade Hills is already invited! Yippee! Can’t wait!


P.S. if you are interested in having Marmalade Hills at your party send me an email!



Bookmark this on Delicious

“Tile Me Beautiful” Shout Out

Tile Me Beautiful is my new favorite blog! Michelle is an open and funny girl. And I LOVE, LOVE her tiled pieces! I wish I could have this tray someday! It’s simply gorgeous and very unique! Michelle had picked our bath bombs as her favorite bombs! And it made me feel so warm and fuzzy inside. I’m very proud of my silky cream bombs and it is awesome when somebody appreciates things you love! Thanks Michelle!



Bookmark this on Delicious