Just sharing some pictures of what is about to come in my shop

Yesterday I spent all day doing this and I was royally pooped. I had 12 oz of goats milk and wanted to use it. I made 2 of these creams the other day - and the rest 5 scents yesterday.

I made the cream with shea butter, goats milk, zinc oxide, cucumber peel extract and green tea extract.

My next project would be to use my new fruit extracts - custard apple (rich in natural AHA) and papaya extract....let the creations begin! I just dont know which butter to use with them - shea, mango or mowrah....I like them all :-)






ACCAI BERRY & SATIN Body Yogurt











STRAWBERRY JAM Body Yogurt











PAPAYA PASSION Body Yogurt











BLUE RASPBERRY Body Yogurt











PINEAPPLE SLICES Body Yogurt











LEMON BLOSSOM Body Yogurt











MOROCCAN SANDS Body Yogurt







Weekend time now, hopefully wont have to do anything and will be able just to relax :-) Happy weekend everyone!!!!


MeaCulpaBodyandBath.etsy.com

Whipped Body Icing with Shea Butter

I am so sorry that I havent been around much lately. I see that I lost followers too...:-( I got new fragrances and new extracts - papaya and custard apple...so I was in the kitchen formulating new things. This is one of the new formulas I came up with.


The whipped body icing is light and creamy. I made it this way so its easy for me to add scents to it. The thicker and greasier ones - like the Vanilla Hazelnut with Mango I got, are hard to add fragrances to because of their velocity.



The main ingredients in this one are Grapeseed Oil and Shea Butter with the mineral Zinc Oxide. I just love it when something is so beneficial for your skin, without the harsh additives as the commercial creams have, and it smells divine!

Shea Butter has been used for generations in African cultures as a moisturizer, health aid, and healing balm. In its purest forms, it is a solid fat with a high skin absorption rate. This makes Shea Butter a high ly val ued product for almost all skin types. It does not have a scent or smell, but today’s products offer a variety of aromatic scents and fragrances added to it. This high-fat butter is choc k full of naturally occurring Vitamin A, E, an d F. Many women can apply megadoses of Vitamin E to reduce stretch marks, wrinkles, and skin cracks.

Shea butter w ill p revent bumps from shaving, razor irritation, rashes, and even eczema. Use it sparingly during the summer months as it is very high in moisture; however, winter calls for a different regiment in most states! Shea Butter is a fantastic moisturizer for the outdoor enthusiast who suffers from chapped and cracked skin. Even sunburn in the summer can be soothed and reduced considerably with regular shea butter application. Shea butter has a high level of cinnamic acid, which is a naturally occurring sun screen; it will absorb easily into the skin and pores without clogging.

Grape seed oil is high in procyanidolic oligomers (PCOs); the same antioxidants found in berries, green and black teas, and red wine. According to some experts, PCOs are more powerful antioxidants than vitamins C and E. In fact, berries, green and black teas and red wine are known for their health-giving properties.

Using the grapeseed oil in skin care products, helps to tone and tighten the skin. Grapeseed oil contains a high amount of linoleic acid, which is a fatty acid essential for the health of the skin and cell membranes, and is the reason it makes such a wonderful moisturizer, as it truly nourishes your skin.

It is 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.

So, now that we know what each ingredient do....look at the pics to see what fragrances I have made with this formula for now....there will be many more to come!

You can find these and more at the DEEP MOISTURZIERS Section at Etsy:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6254361&section_id=5928068

In awe with the goodies I recieved in mail last week :-)

Well, we usually play games of giveaways at Etsy and we trade goods for goods :-)


From a recent giveaway - to which I was late to offer my products for free and couldnt participate - Laura from lauraly send me a nice print of an oak tree. The awesome thing is that me and her talked about it months ago and I told her that in my country the oak is sacred. Its a place where the Samovila's live and people used to bring offerings there for their mercy. Laura is a wonderful artist and a most amazing person that glorifies nature in her art. She remembered what I have said about the tree and send me the print. I was sooooo happy and a huge smile showed on my face when I opened the envelope. Placed it right at my computer desk, so I can look at it at all times!



From the recent trading game, I got some soy tarts from Luanne, an etsy artist that makes some strong scented candles, tarts...she send me blackberry, mullberry soy tarts and a goodie bag that she chose the scents and now I cant wait to burn them!


Klamathriverfinest is another favourite of mine! She makes some awesome soaps and she send me some tarts too! Her Mayan Gold and Sedona tarts blew me away and my husband fell in love with the Sandalwood and Vanilla scent...her lip balms are also one of a kind. Dont miss out on checking her out!

Results of the hair and scalp serum for dry, frizzy and out of control hair

How do I start this story?

My husband took the Morning Dew body butter with him at work, because (silly him) he got sick and tired of borrowing other peoples creams so he can apply it on his elbows and dry spots. This lady tried it, loved it and gave me a call so I can send her some via hubby...wait, the story is not about the cream :-)


For the purpose of having a visual of the type of hair and skin I am trying to figure out a treatment - I will say that she is African American. As far as I know all my friends have a problem with extreme dryness and ashiness of the skin AND with managing their hair.


So....Angie asked if I can mix something up so she can apply it to her scalp and hair, because they are way too dry and out of control. She said that she usually wears her hair in a wrap and she would love to have something to keep it manageable.


Well, right away I thought of the Jojoba Oil and how it has always been used in hair treatment, such as dandruff, split ends, conditioning the hair and skin - because its not really an oil, its a liquid wax that is comes closest to our skins sebum! I put some peppermint essential oil to give it cooling effect AND some green tea extract to aid the peppermint in fighting dandruff and dry skin.


She called me yesterday and she was ecstatic! She let me know that her hair now is soft, silky, shiny and not at all greasy! Its easier to manage it and she loves the feeling of the peppermint! Wow...I was so happy to hear her say that!Its always a good feeling to hear how you helped someone :-)Angie even said that she wants to take the serum to her beauticians and let her use it. If she likes it, most likely I will supply her with some more. I made her 2oz and she said that thats a LOT and its gonna last her forever!


I hope good things are gonna keep coming for this serum. If you wanna see what I got her, its right here:

HAIR and SCALP SERUM for damaged and coarse hair


Women...we are some weird creatures....we would do anything to look good and a good looking hair is the first thing that we need to have! Its our pride, its our everything! Take care of it! Stop and think what are you doing to it with all those expensive perms, dies, relaxing it etc....stop and make it healthy again so you could be the eye stopper. Dont let your hair start looking like a broom's end with a bow on it. The bow is not gonna make it all better! This serum can be the start. Its all natural, so there is no danger of chemicals in your precious mane and there is no animal products or byproducts!

Benefits of Witch Hazel for the skin and general health

I wanted to talk a little bit about Witch Hazel. As some of you know, I use Witch Hazel in all my skin cleansing mixes and aftershaves, together with the floral waters, about which I wrote earlier.




Native Americans introduced witch hazel to early European settlers. They applied a strained decoction of the leaves and twigs to small wounds, insect bites, sore muscles and joints. They also sipped witch hazel tea to treat bleeding, inflammation, and hemorrhoids.



Witch Hazel is a valuable cooling topical astrigent for various ailments, including varicose veins, hemorrhoids, abrasions, bruises and other skin irritations. It is also good for clearing out the redness produced by eczema and smoothing wrinkles. Witch hazel is used in pads to help smooth discomfort from rectal and vaginal surgery and stitches. The bark decoction also is useful as a gargle in releiving sore throat.



Benefits of witch hazel for specific conditions include the following:



Burns, cold sores, cuts and scrapes, insect bites and stings - witch hazel helps to releive the itching of insects and poison ivy and helps to dry out cold sores. A prominent tannin found in witch hazel, hamamelitannin, has been shown to constrict blood vessels and stem bleeding from abrasions due to shaving nicks. Other tannins in witch hazel help to keep wounds clean, prevent swelling and combat infection. Witch Hazel can cool sunburns and other minor burns.



Eczema - a double-blind placebo-controlled clinical test found that witch hazel cream offered a mild, anti inflammatory effect effect for eczema without the side effects of prednisone.



Diarrhea - both witch hazel bark and witch hazel leaf teas are effective against diarrhea, but the gentler witch hazel bark tea is better for use in treating diarrhea (and stomach upset) in children.



Periodontal disease - witch hazel leaf gargles and mouthwashes form a protective lining over the mucous membranes of the gums and the mouth. These products are particularly useful for sore gums that are accompanied by sore throat.



Now that we had a little intro into witch hazel, let me say this:


Witch hazel bark teas are intended for treatment of acute rather than chronic diarrhea. If diarrhea persists, contact a doctor.


Do not use the commonly available witch hazel water. While it has been approved by the FDA, its healing benefits derive from the alcohol rather than the witch hazel itself. Do NOT use commercially prepared witch hazel water internally!!!


Distilled Witch Hazel sold in drug stores and pharmacies typically contains no tannin (which is useful). Essential oil of witch hazel is not sold separately as a consumer product. The plant does not produce enough essential oil to make production viable. However, there are various distillates of witch hazel (called hydrosols or hydrolats) that are gentler than the "drug store" witch hazel, which contains alcohol.







You can find my products with witch hazel here:

Etsy witch hazel section


Artfire witch hazel section

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Etsy

ArtFire

Get ready for summer and for the UV Rays by moisturizing with natural products!

The sun is one of the factors for pre mature aging, for nasty looking skin...yeah, I said it! All that tanning might look good now, but imagine what your skin is going to look like down the road! You know, sometimes I think that the arabic women have a lot to teach us! The covering of the face and head has a practical reason too - they protect their skin from the sun, they use floral waters and they take care of themselves. They do!


Yesterday I spent all day making this cream and I was way too exhausted to write about it even today!


I packaged it in a jar and in a bottle - just for convenience. Some people dont like getting their fingers in a pool of cream....lol


Some of the natural UV ray protectors are Green Tea, Cucumber, Zinc Oxide and Rose Floral Water. To aid these ingredients I added Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter, Sesame Seed Oil, Safflower Oil, Coconut Oil, Orange Blossom Floral Water, Colloidal Oatmeal and Milk.


There is NO bad natural ingredient. All these work together to keep the skin moist, so it doesnt get THAT damaged from the suns rays. That way you can avoid a bad sunburn. It can help with a relief of a mild sunburn, but dont expect a miracle! The oatmeal and shea butter can sooth, and the cucumber peel and green tea extract can cool it off and aid it with vitamins and anti oxidants.


Zinc Oxide is also here and I havent been stingy with the ingredients - its a mineral that the body requires for the synthesis of collagen, which is a requirement for the healing of skin wounds. Zinc is also a component in the proper functioning of enzymes that are required by the body to repair skin wounds. Another benefit of zinc for proper skin care is that it is a natural insect repellent and a natural sunscreen (zinc oxide effectively blocks the sun’s ultraviolet rays).

Shea butter is extremely therapeutic, helping to heal cracked, aged and damaged skin. Shea butter penetrates the skin and leaves it feeling soft and smooth. It has vitamin A, E and is highly compatible with skin. Shea butter has antimicrobial and moisturizing properties and provide protection from the UV rays of the sun while repairing cellular degeneration.Using Shea Butter is a great way to prevent your skin from sagging by using this natural oil to keep it moisturized. Shea Butter can help prevent the formation of free radicals as well as keep the skin's connective tissues supple and strong. It can also help bring back a youthful appearance by dissolving dead cells on the skin's surfaces


Coconut Oil is widely used in Indonesia for its moisturizing properties and keeping the skin look young.


Scheherazade was the first person to give the sesame superhuman powers when she held her Arabian caliph spellbound for one thousand and one nights with her tales of intrigue and adventure. Because sesame pods readily burst open at the slightest touch when they are ripe, Scheherazade provided Ali Baba with the magic words, "Open Sesame" to instantly open the cave, a robber's den, in her exciting story about "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves." Sesame oil rubbed on the skin may soothe a minor burn or sunburn as well as help in the healing process.


Orange Blossom water helps inhibit sebum production in oily skins, making this an especially useful skin care product for teenagers who often have an excess of skin oils. Great for use on all skin types, especially for oily and mature skin types as a balancing and toning facial mist. Its regenerative properties promote the production of collagen and discourage dry, wrinkled skin while stimulating the replacement of old cells and balancing the skin's natural acid. It also stimulates the circulation of lymphatic fluid to reduce puffiness, and relieve swelling in the facial area.



Rose Water is a gently cleansing and toning product for all skin types. Maintains the pH balance, stimulates regeneration processes, has a calming effect in acne and sunburns. As a result the skin texture becomes even and elastic.


Safflower Oil serves as a botanical alternative to mineral oil and other synthetic ester emollients. It is high in Linoleic acid, which is beneficial for the treatment of dry skin


Colloidal Oatmeal Colloidal oatmeal works great to help relieve dry, skin patches (Eczema), psoriasis, acne, bug bites, sunburns, and other minor skin irritations. It also helps relieve chicken pox, poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, and other itching and scratching rashes.

An excellent exfoliant, milk contains natural alpha hydroxy acids, which help to gently slough off dead skin cells. In addition, milk helps to reduce redness and soothe irritated skin.


It is best to combine green tea with zinc oxide-based sunscreens because zinc oxide is chemically inert and should not react with green tea (which some chemical sunscreens might do, especially in sunlight).

Recent research has shown that topical application of green tea extract can protect you from the damaging effects of the sun and prevent, or even reverse the skin damage that can lead to aging, wrinkles, spots and skin cancer.Green tea extract can be added to sunscreen to expand protection before sun exposure. It has also been shown to be beneficial when applied after sun exposure. So even if you have already suffered sunburn green tea extract can help to reverse the damage.

Cucumber is rich in vitamins, minerals and enzymes essential for strong cell growth and repair. In addition, cucumber peel offers a natural source for a fresh, powerful antioxidant.Cucumber Peel extract can be used to keep the facial skin soft while providing a natural sunscreen. It also acts as a skin toner and can be used in astringent. Revitalize stressed and tired skin, leaving calm, cool and radiant.


So, moisturize, moisturize and moisturize....did I say that enough? :-)


Etsy:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=20954977


Artfire:

Bottle

Jar