A while back I answered a great question on using lemon juice for skin care (I am all natural beauty website’s Eco Living and DIY Natural Beauty Formulating expert). Lemon is a wonderful ingredient for skin care (it is a natural lightener). Thanks K for all the excellent questions!

I also love to make lemon ginger tea too (using lemon slices and ginger root). I can’t eat honey but a lot of people add honey to this tea! There are many amazing medicinal and cosmetic uses for lemon, it is one of my most favorite herbs!

A new Eco Living article is up! This month’s article is on reusing packing materials. In the article I have suggested many eco friendlier ways to reuse or get rid of shipping/packing supplies, such as packing peanuts, bubble wrap and cushions. I hope that my article will not only provide information on what to so with excess packing materials, but also inspire others to reuse more items instead of tossing them in the trash! 🙂 Enjoy!

Last month I answered a question on using powdered fruit extracts in place of juices in natural skin care recipes. (Thanks K for the question!). Basically there are a few kinds of fruit powders and powdered extracts (I use many of them in Earth Alkemie’s herbal cleansers, masks, and scrubs. And in my own crafting I also use them in toners and water based serums too). So it is important to know which one you are using, and also if they can be substituted for other ingredients in the products you are making. Hope you like the article!

(Note there are also liquid fruit extracts too but I did not go over them in the article since K specifically asked about the powdered kind. But I love liquid fruit extracts too!).

My most recent eco living article is on water conservation. In this article I have given a few quick eco tips to reduce water usage in the home! These are very simple, but effective tips that are not only Earth friendly, but they are budget friendly too (they will save on your water bill). I have also included links to a few articles, including an awesome calculator from the U.S.G.S. that estimates your water usage!

Enjoy the article! 🙂

At the end of June, I finished two more Eco Living/DIY formulating expert articles. I didn’t get to post about them until now since our power went out (during the huge storms in this area in late June/early July), then I went to a wedding (I am so happy for you J and R! I wish you the best!), and then over the last several days it’s been a bit of a blur (been resting/not posting, then catching up on emails etc and working, and then dealing with more health issues). So I have a lot to post about. 🙂

My first article was an article asked by Barbara (thanks for the excellent question!). It was on fels naptha soap and green laundry cleaning. I wasn’t that familiar with fels naptha soap. But it is apparently a very old brand of soap, and has quite the following. At first, I thought “old soap company: probably real soap and a good formula”. But the current ingredient list (the company is now owned by Dial) made me blink, and the information I found on the old formulation was surprising too. So in the article I broke down the ingredients that were potentially toxic or irritating, and provided references and many other links to good articles on the topic. I also suggested some of my favorite truly natural and eco-friendly, and safe laundry alternatives.

My second article was asked by Khanhlee (thanks! Awesome question!). Khanhlee wanted to scent her melt and pour soap with heather blossoms and asked me for some crafting tips (since heather blossom is not available as an essential oil). I hadn’t made a heather blossom soap before but have made melt and pour soap with herbal extractions (when the essential oil isn’t available) so I wrote about a few types of extracts she might want to try. I hope her soap turns out well! 🙂

Will post about more articles over the next couple days!

My new Eco Living and DIY Natural Beauty formulating answer was recently posted. I just answered a great question about the effectiveness of natural versus lab actives, including spa information, and also using more concentrated natural plant ingredients. Thanks Shanesha for asking the question on anb website!

A few more random thoughts on the topic…

I’m a natural formulator but I believe that people should use what works for their skin, whether naturals or lab actives (there are many lab actives that I don’t recommend though, but there are some that I do). But I don’t like most commercial/conventional brands because of all the fillers, potentially irritating or potentially toxic ingredients, ingredients that do little for the skin, or low concentrations of any actives (natural, labs, and everything in between). And if someone asks me for advice on skin care, I am of course going to talk about naturals first, synthetics second, because although I have researched a lot about lab actives, my focus and passion is about natural ingredients! 🙂

The trick to choosing naturals is knowing its properties and antioxidants/nutrients, and also choosing that your own skin needs. I like naturals because each natural ingredient has at least a few to many different actives in it, or has several properties. For example, cold pressed camellia oil is rich in vitamin E, and other antioxidants like polyphenols. Like other carrier oils, it helps hold moisture to the skin and is emollient. It also helps improve the appearance of fine lines, and improve skin clarity. It does not clog the pores of the majority of people, and in many people actually help improve the appearance of their blemished skin. It also softens and conditions hair. For many people, it may help improve the look of some types of scars. It is good for very sensitive skin, and safe to use on babies. It is used on a wide range of skin types: normal, dry, dehydrated, combination, blemished, scarred, mature, and is gentle enough to use on those with eczema and psoriasis (since it is non-irritating for most people), as well as brittle dried hair. And these are just many of the properties for just this one plant ingredient. This is one reason why I love plant ingredients: multiple uses, functions, and properties! 🙂

Stay tuned for a couple more answers over the next few days!

Edited to add: posted about my article on my eco blog too, and posted other thoughts there too!

As mentioned in my other blog entries, Earth Alkemie’s Sundae mask and scrub is featured in the all natural beauty (anb) websites’ Summer Sizzler Sampler. Sharon, the owner of all three of the anb websites and SharAmbrosia, wrote a very nice review on Sundae mask and scrub. I am so glad that she and many other customers love this mask so much! Sundae mask and scrub is based on a chocolate mask that I formulated years ago; it was my favorite antioxidant mask for years. Then early last year I tweaked the recipe and made it even better, and last winter it was released as Sundae mask and scrub! I hope everyone likes the mask as much I had in creating it and using it! It is pure chocolate bliss!

I love my dad. Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there! 🙂

As many customers know, Earth Alkemie is a partner to the all three of the all natural beauty (anb) websites (meaning that Earth Alkemie’s products have passed the anb websites strict all natural criteria, and is one of the vendors featured on their websites. I am also the Eco Living writer on their anb mall website, and I am the Eco Living and DIY Natural Beauty Formulating Expert on their all natural beauty website and the anb portal!).

All Natural Beauty Summer Sizzler Sampler:

I am happy to announce the anb’s summer sizzler sampler. It features products from a number of anb vendors, including Earth Alkemie! For this sampler, I have donated sample (0.4 oz) sizes of one of my newest products, Sundae mask and scrub. Sundae was a product that I introduced right before I closed so only some of my customers have tried this delectable mask and scrub. I call it Sundae because it is my chocolate based mask–it has certified organic cocoa, certified organic strawberries and cherries and bananas, almonds, coconut, and vanilla in it: all the makings of a delicious sundae! It also contains blue clay, which is one of my most favorite clays.

This mask helps draws impurities from the skin, and leaves the skin super soft and feeling silky. It also mildly exfoliates using natural grains, nuts, beans, and fruits (so it exfoliates both manually from the small particles, and also from the natural acids in the fruits). And the scent: dark chocolate and vanilla, with hints of lemon and the natural light scent of the added fruit. The scent is 100% natural: no synthetic fragrances added! Most chocolate scents on the market are synthetic (because real cocoa absolute is expensive). For Sundae, I use a combo of organic (the beans were grown without synthetics, but not certified) cocoa absolute and certified organic cocoa powder to create double chocolate bliss!

And to make it even better, I have included a VERY nice coupon too! This sampler contains so many products at a really amazing price! Though the samplers just became available a week and a half ago, Sharon (anb’s owner) posted on facebook that half of them are already gone, so if you are interested in getting a sampler, I highly recommend ordering one soon!

(P.S. If you still have the coupon from the previous sampler, then when Earth Alkemie reopens, I will still honor that coupon for 2 months when I reopen. I haven’t reopened my store just yet though, but just letting everyone know about that in advance!).

All Natural Beauty June Anniversary Giveaway:

The anb websites are having a wonderful June giveaway since it is their nine year anniversary! (Congrats Sharon!) So to celebrate it, there are a lot of FREE product giveaways. I have submitted an Earth Alkemie product for the giveaway. One of lucky winners will receive Alata Samina African Black Soap which is my most popular African black soap, and one of my best selling products. I love this soap! I use it to cleanse my face, body, and my hair! It is my personal favorite African black soap out of all the soaps I carry (though I like them all!). It creates a creamy, rich, gentle lather that cleanses without over drying the skin, and is suitable for all skin types, including extremely dry and dehydrated skin. Like all African black soaps, I highly recommend this soap for blemished skin types. When used as a shampoo, hair is left soft, bouncy, and shiny! One of my most favorite shampoos too. 🙂

There will be a total of ten anb winners (not all of them will receive soap, my soap is part of the grand prize along with many other excellent natural products from other vendors). Check out their website for how to win. Just want to mention to enter these contests, you don’t need to enter any personal information, you are not signing up for anything, and you don’t need to buy anything to enter. All you have to do either comment on their facebook or ask one of the beauty experts–like me!–questions.

I recently went strawberry picking with my family (I had so much fun but on the flip side didn’t feel good that weekend). So when I sat down to write my eco living article last week, I decided to write an article on strawberries. Since I have previously shared my strawberry scrub recipe (in an old eco living article), I decided to share my recipe for strawberry leaf infusion. Many people don’t realize it, but the leaves can be used in skin and hair care, and also for tea! I thought it was a good idea to share because the leaves are often just tossed out but they make a very nice infusion (strong tea).

I hope you enjoy my newest eco living article!