Happy Moon Festival!

Happy Chinese Mid-Autumn (Moon) Festival!  I always take a few moments during this time of year to observe the moon, and revel in the shear awesomeness of nature!  

9-11-2001

Light a candle and remember what happened today.  9-11.  

Uses Of Roman Chamomile Essential Oil (Aromatherapy And Essential Oils)

I have been using essential oils for about thirteen years now.  The power of essential oils never ceases to amaze me.  Today I used roman chamomile essential oil (latin name: Anthemis nobilis); it has been a favorite of mine for years.  There are a few different chamomiles used in aromatherapy; all of them are lovely, but they have some similar and also some different properties.  Roman chamomile is a well known anti-inflammatory so it is thought to be helpful for sore muscles, as well as for irritated skin.  I have found that it is good for all skin types, especially sensitive (though if you have a rag weed allergy, don’t use it).  It is used for emotional uses too: it is thought to be calming, so it is useful for issues like anxiety and stress. 

I can attest to its useful for many of these issues.  I was in a lot of pain today (I usually have daily all over body tension or pain, but today was especially bad) and I had a severe headache on top of that.  So I used a body oil made with roman chamomile essential oil (a very simple formulation, just 1% in an ounce of carrier oil), and lightly massaged it in.  Immediately my muscles relaxed and stopped hurting.  The headache lessened and within minutes was nearly gone.  I felt calm too, and I could finally think since the pain was gone.  I have used roman chamomile many times over the years for my muscles, and it usually works for me.  I have also used roman chamomile numerous times for irritated skin and insect bites with success.

The scent is sweet, herbaceous, and many people describe it as apple like.  The color varies from yellow to a very light blue.  Children seem to especially like the scent too (one of the few essential oils that is totally safe for babies and children.  Dilute well for kids: use half the adult concentration).  The price of roman chamomile (as well as german chamomile) has gone up a lot in recent years (in the past, it used to be pretty inexpensive but recently I’ve seen it for $60-80 or more an ounce retail wise), but since essential oils are used well diluted, only buying a few ml is plenty.   Some companies also sell it diluted in a carrier oil, which is more affordable (depending on the dilution, it can probably be diluted even further).  Most essential oil vendors sell roman chamomile essential oil, but be sure to buy only from reputable vendors (see the right hand side of the blog, or my old posts on where to buy essential oil for some good vendors).

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!  I hope all the dads out there are having a marvelous day with their children!

I wrote an eco living article for today, so I hope you enjoy the article and spend some time with your dad. :)

Happy 10th All Natural Beauty!

Ten years ago my friend Sharon started the all natural beauty website and anb portal (and over five years ago started the anb mall), which I have been glad to be a part of!  I found the anb websites in 2005; I first started as a fan and forum poster.  Then Sharon invited me to write a couple articles and contribute recipes to the website.  We became friends and I eventually met Sharon (at a Jeanne Rose aromatherapy class hosted at her house). When Sharon started the anb mall, she asked me to be the eco living writer there.  And when I started my skin care business a few years ago, I naturally became a partner to all three of the all natural beauty websites.  Last year I also became the eco living and DIY natural beauty formulating expert too.

The anb websites are more than just a bunch of great articles, recipes, and links to natural skin care companies.  It is a community of Indie businesses, aromatherapists, herbalists, natural skin care formulators and crafters, natural perfumers, and the readers and all natural beauty enthusiasts!  To me natural skin care is more than just beauty, it is about taking care of ourselves and the Earth too!  And that is the true spirit of the anb websites and its community.  So Happy 10th Sharon and anb!  And here's to another 10 more!

To celebrate there is a weekly free skin care product giveaway on the anb websites, as well as a nearly sold out summer sampler.  Sadly I could not contribute to the sampler or the giveaway this time, since Earth Alkemie is currently still closed (I need to renew my business insurance before I start selling or donating products again.  I hope to reopen during the summer).  But definitely check out the giveaway and the sampler; lots of other good companies have contributed, including some of my personal favorite companies like Monave (a mineral makeup and skin care company), and allnaturalcosmetics.com (which sells many different natural brands of natural skin care, including Earth's Beauty and Cosmetics without synthetics--which is their signature line).

New anb eco living and DIY formulating articles

I've been extremely busy the past couple months (helping take care of my family, way too many doctors appointments, and trying to find time to craft and work on reopening my skin care business).  The past couple weeks I have done a lot of writing (three articles and working on a fourth).  The first two are up, they are on coconut cream and coconut juice in cosmetics, and fruit and herb powders in cosmetics (by cosmetics I mean skin, hair, and body care).  These two articles were all natural beauty eco living and DIY expert questions (I get asked so many great questions!).  The articles are long (I am wordy and try to be very complete in my answers) and I took some time to write and answer them.

Blog posts with more information on these coming soon (I have a lot of those posts to write, so recently I have just been posting the links to the actual articles without related blog posts with extra information).

Enjoy the articles!

Happy Mother's Day!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day!  May all the moms out there have a joyous day, today and every single day.   And may people respect Mother Earth and all her bounty.

Some of my more recent articles (Eco Living, DIY Natural Beauty Formulating)

I am behind on blogging.  Things here have been overwhelming for the past month (with my dad's health, my health, plus I have a nephew now!).  I am working on a few new entries, and have to blog about my most recent articles that I haven't blogged about yet (I usually add extra information related to the articles on this blog, and also Earth Alkemie's--my skin care business--blog).  So for now, I will just post the links to the articles, and write or finish my blog entries later.

Here are the links to my two most recent eco living articles on anb (all natural beauty) mall.  The first is on spring cleaning.  And the newest one is a Mother's Day article which has a recipe for a lovely vegan coconut scrub!  You can currently access my coconut scrub article using this link, which goes to the main page of my eco living articles.  In june, however, you'll want to use this link, which currently goes to page 2 of the article, but come June it will be the link for the whole article.

Did you know you can use tea as a fake tanner?  Read my article for information on how!

I also wrote a very long article on ingredients to use on dry hair and dry skin (includes links to many of my previous recipes on the anb websites).

Happy reading and crafting/trying all my recipes! :)

Eco Living: Deep Conditioning Hot Oil Hair Treatment

Winter can really dry out the hair.  Since it is now spring, I have shared my recipe for a deep conditioning hot oil hair treatment in one of my eco living articles. 

This recipe is very versatile, you can make it as simple or as complex as you want!  For example to make a really simple treatment just use one carrier oil or one carrier oil plus one essential oil.  Or you can use a few different carrier oils and a mix of essential oils.  The possiblities are endless.

I recommend doing at least one deep conditioning treatment a week.  You can use a hot oil treatment (like in my article) or something like mayo (check out one of my older eco living articles for a mayo based hair treatment).  Or even something as simple as using a store bought conditioner as a deep conditioner: wet the hair, and leave it in for an hour or so.  Rinse or shampoo out.

Sometimes I will take a store bought conditioner, and enrich it with other ingredients (like a hair oil, mayo, honey, essential oils, etc).  Then I will dampen my hair, apply the conditioner, and leave it in for at least an hour (while I do errands around the house), and then I shampoo it out with soap (usually African Black soap or another real soap).  Other people may be able to just rinse it out (depends how dry your hair is).  Follow with an acidic rinse (vinegar rinse or an infusion) and done!

More articles and blog posts to come! :)

For more information on ingredients used in hair treatments check out Earth Alkemie’s (my aromatherapy skin/hair care and perfumery business) blog.

Happy Chinese New Year, Newest Eco Living Article On Tea (Eco Living, All Natural and DIY Skin and Hair Care)

Happy Chinese New Year! Gongxi fa cai!  It is now the year of the Snake (which started on the 10^th).

Because it is Chinese New Year (we celebrate it for two weeks to a month), I wrote this month’s Eco Living article on green and white tea in cosmetics.  I have included two hair and skin care recipes.  One is an infusion (strong tea), which can be used in many different skin and hair care products, such as toners and hair rinses.  The other is a clay based mask that is made with the infusion.  It is simple but pure bliss!

Writing about green and white tea was inspired by my first trip to China many years ago.  During my trip I visited the Dragon Well tea plantation in Hangzhou. Dragon Well green tea is one of the most famous and highest quality teas.  The tea there is very special;  when I visited the plantation, they told us that the highest grade of Dragon Well tea was only sold in China and that they did not export it outside of the country (so anything sold in the US and other countries is the second highest grade and lower grades; or at least that was how it was 10 years ago, not sure about now).  Dragon Well first grade tea is a national gift (so Chinese leaders/diplomats give this tea to leaders and diplomats of other countries).  While we were there, some of the employees at the plantation told us about the benefits of green tea in skin care.  So when I was thinking of what to write this year for Chinese New Year, I thought about my trip and the use of green tea in cosmetics.  :)

A funny story: after my family visited the Dragon Well tea plantation and bought some of the first grade tea (we couldn’t resist, it really was the best green tea I have ever tried), the tour guide took us to a nearby shop in the area that sold tea and other gifts.  At the store, I bought a jasmine scented green tea (a mix of rolled jasmine flowers with green tea).  When the tour guide saw what I had brought, she made a face and commented it wasn’t that good quality, but I shrugged since I had already bought it.  To me, it smelled good and was inexpensive, and I figured if it wasn’t that good I could still use it for skin care.  After I got back home, I tried a cup, and that cheap tea was better than any of the jasmine green teas I had tried here in the U.S!  

I hope to revisit China again one day (when health and finances allow).  I'd like to revisit some of the same places I saw last time, but also visit some new places too.  I've heard from others that have visited it within the past few years how much it has changed so it will be interesting to see how much the same or how different it is.

Another post about the green and white tea article, with more info on green and white tea in skin care, on Earth Alkemie's blog, my business blog.

Natural Ingredients And Acne (Eco Living and DIY Natural Beauty Formulating Expert article)

I have a few new articles to post here (some eco living ones, and also working on some new entries just for this blog).  The first article is an article on natural ingredients and acne.  It is both an Eco Living and DIY Beauty Formulating Expert article and also a natural info article (thanks Sharon for making the article the main article on anb portal for February!).

There are so many great ingredients that I couldn’t mention in the article (not enough room)!  But I mentioned a few of my favorites that are easy to find, and most of them can be found locally.  I also try to focus on a lot of fresh ingredients that most people already have in their kitchens!

A few other lovely ingredients I didn’t get to mention are papaya (which has natural enzymes that mildly exfoliate the skin.  Plus papaya in masks is a traditional remedy for clear skin!) and shea butter.  Shea butter is very easy to find, but it can sometimes be hard to find cold pressed, unrefined shea butter (I recommend cold pressed, unrefined shea butter because it is very different than a solvent/hexane extracted, highly refined shea.  The textures are very different, and highly refined shea is stripped of its nutrients).  Shea was one of the ingredients that helped clear my skin many years ago (12 or so years ago) when I had acne (I can't believe I've been learning about natural skin care for that long, and plants for far longer than that.  I first became interested in botany/biology in high school!).

For more ingredients and products that are great for acne check out the post on my business blog (this post is in regards to Earth Alkemie products that are good for acne).

anb's 2012: The Year Of Natural Skin Care

I really enjoy writing for the three all natural beauty websites (all natural beauty website and anb portal and anb mall) since I not only love educating people on all natural skin care, but also on green alternatives.  When my friend Sharon (owner of the three anb websites) released her ‘2012: The Year OfNatural Skin Care’ article, I was pleasantly surprised that three of my articles made the list!  My Eco Living/DIY Natural Beauty Formulating articles on professional made products versus home made products, lemon juice in skincare, and age spots made the cut!  Yay!  Thanks Sharon, so happy that you love my articles!  Many other great articles and product spotlights are listed too!  Check it out!

Eco Living: Green Resolutions

I am behind on posting about some of my articles.  My most recent (January's) eco living article is on green resolutions!  It is really easy to be green, it all begins with just a few simple changes.  

This year I have a lot of eco resolutions.  I am working hard to reopen my eco-friendly natural skin care and perfume company, Earth Alkemie (I've been closed for over a year due to my health issues, and my dad's health issues.  I help take care of my dad).  I hope to write more eco living articles and continue to educate people on all things green (so far I am off to a great start.  I will post about my articles as soon as they are finished and published online).   I am also always on the lookout for finding even more green alternatives and solutions, and just living my life as green as I can.  I eventually hope to return to ecological biology or community work in the future but I am still dealing with my health issues (so it won't be anytime soon but I am working towards that) so I am taking one step at a time. :)   I am a big believer in small changes=huge impacts. In my opinion, both small and huge changes are needed for environmental sustainability.

I hope you enjoy the article, and choose to make a few green resolutions this year too!  

ANB spotlight

I think most people by now know how much I love natural skin care and eco alternatives.  But I also love how many people I have met because of my interests in the natural world. I have made several friends over the years because of all things green.  Some I’ve had the pleasure to meet face to face, and some I haven't met in person yet, but I feel so honored that they are part of my journey.

The all natural beauty (anb) websites recently started doing spotlights on their readers (the three anb websites are owned by my friend Sharon).   I was pleasantly surprised that the first spotlight is on my friend Barbara.  Barbara and I have been friends for years (we met on a forum), she is a very kind and very sweet woman.  Reading her spotlight really moved me; she mentioned how much I helped her with her skin, and how much she loved my skin care products.  Thank you Barbara for not only being a friend, but for spreading the word on natural beauty!  :)

Eco Living: Green, budget friendly gifts. And greening your holiday!

I usually don't post about old articles (unless they haven't been blogged about yet).  But I decided to  post again about last year's holiday related articles.  The first eco living article is on how to green your holiday (ideas on how to make your holidays a little more eco-friendly).  The second is on green and budget friendly gifts.  Lots of ideas on simple to make, nice gifts that are also easy on the wallet.  :)  I have included lots of links to my old recipes too.  Have a Merry Christmas and wonderful holiday!

Eco Living: Candy Cane Toner

When I was writing my newest eco living article earlier this month, I really wanted to share a recipe utilizing vanilla since last month’sarticle was on making vanilla products.  So I decided to share my recipe for my candy cane toner!  This toner smells like candy canes (peppermint and vanilla) and is simple to make.  Best of all it is totally all natural too!  Happy holidays!

Eco Living and DIY Natural Beauty Formulating: Age Spots

I just wrote an article on using natural ingredients to help improve the appearance of age spots.  The article started as a response to a question from an all natural beauty website reader (I am anb’s eco living and DIY natural beauty formulating expert), and Sharon (owner of all three of the anb websites) decided to make it all natural beauty website’s December All Natural Info article too!

There is a wide array of natural ingredients that can help improve the appearance of the skin, but I only wrote about using local, food based, or easy to find ingredients; many of which can be found in your cupboards or fridge or a local health food store.  I also included links to some of my previous eco living article recipes utilizing most of the ingredients! 

I listed a lot of different ingredients (since different ingredients work for different people, and I personally believe a combination of different ingredients is needed for best results), but that only scratched the tip of the ice burg!

One thing I love about all natural ingredients is that they have multiple properties.  So all of the ingredients listed in my article may be helpful in improving the look of brown spots.  But all of them are also great for a wide range of other skin issues and conditions too.

Eco Living: Vanilla :)

I haven’t posted here in a long time (I’ve been focusing on taking care of my health and my dad too).  But I am going to start posting again more since I have a backlog of posts I need to write (I need to post all my previous eco living related articles, as well as new posts exclusive to here). So here is the first of the posts. Last month's eco living article was on vanilla! I included lots of recipes on vanilla extract (alcohol and glycerin based), and vanilla infused oil.  Both can be used in baking or for skin care (if using for consumption, make sure you are using food grade ingredients).

It is usually best to buy vanilla beans online, since it is much less expensive and the quality is superb.   You can get 1/2 to 1 pound for much cheaper than buying in a super market, and if you buy from a vanilla vendor, most likely the beans will be fresher since they have a higher turnover rate so the beans won’t be sitting around for several months on a store’s shelf.  There are a couple different grades of beans: I always try to buy organic beans and to get the highest grade possible since higher quality beans have the best flavor.

There are also a few different species of beans, which vary in flavor.  Most people are familiar with Vanilla planifolia, which yields a rich vanilla flavor.  Vanilla tahitensis is vanilla, floral, and fruity.  Both make delicious vanilla products!

For best storage, I wrap a few beans in parchment paper or plastic wrap.  Then I package it in zip lock bags, and I make sure to push most of the air out (I try to use biodegradable zip lock bags which decompose in landfills in a few years, you can find them at whole foods or other health food stores).  Then I put that in either another zip lock bag or a glass container.   I learned the parchment paper/plastic wrap tip from a coop I was in a few years ago: but I use the zip lock bags or glass containers to really keep the air out.  This helps keep the beans moist and plump: my beans have stayed fresh for a long time using this method.

Quick tip if you have really dry beans and don’t want to make extract or an oil: you can grind them up and make vanilla powder.  

There is also a vanilla paste: one of these days I am going to try to make my own!

For more information on vanilla in skin care products check out my vanilla post on Earth Alkemie’s (my skin care business) blog.

0082912 Blog updates

Answered a comment on an old post on vegetarianism and hypoglycemia.  Thanks Louise for your comment!  I wil try to post more on this topic in the future.

Please note all comments are moderated.  Spam and any comment with a link it is immediately deleted. Thanks for understanding!

Jasmine Infused Oil

Pictured: Jasmine Infused Oil

A week or so ago I bought a jasmine sambac plant.  Right now it has mostly buds and only a couple flowers, so hopefully in a few days more buds will open and bloom.  Jasmine is one of my favorite scents.  There is nothing like the scent of jasmine; many people have never smelled the real thing.  Most of the jasmine scents on the market are synthetic since a single ounce of real jasmine absolute or the co2 extract is really expensive: anywhere from $150-300 wholesale, so most companies don’t use the absolutes. I use three jasmine absolutes (from different species) and two jasmine waxes in perfumery and natural skin care.  I have also tried the co2 extract as well as the organic extract (which is made similar to the absolute but made with benign and organic solvents). True jasmine is sensual, deep, sweet, and honeyed.  The plant I have smells similar to its absolute, a bit less intense but still heady. Its scent is pure heaven! :)

A few days ago I started making jasmine infused oil, which is similar to making other herbal infused oils (just made with fresh flowers instead of dried, and it will require multiple infusions).  My plant is medium sized, so far only two flowers have opened, and it has just a handful of buds, so I imagine it is going to take me a while to make the infused oil.  I placed the first of the flowers in a few ounces of carrier oil (I used fractionated coconut oil for its long shelf life but any oil can be used).  I’ll be doing each infusion for shorter amounts of time (just a few days each time, since this is using fresh plant parts, and I am doing multiple infusions—whenever the flowers bloom).   I used a jar for now (easier to strain or pick out the spent flowers) but will place the final product in a bottle later.  This will probably take me several weeks to months to complete, so a bit longer than the typical infused oil, but I am sure it will be well worth the wait!

I can’t wait until it is done so I can compare the scent of jasmine infused oil with (diluted) jasmine sambac absolute and jasmine sambac wax.  I’ve had jasmine plants in the past but I have never made a jasmine infused oil before, so I am excited to see how it turns out!  Definitely will be using the final product in perfumery or skin care!