The Meaning of "Handmade"

Hold onto your hats my friends, coz I'm about to take you for a ride down the hippy, soul-speaking river!

This past weekend I was invited to present the SkIndulgence line to "Wine and Wrinkles", a woman's group that honors entrepreneurial women working in the health and wellness industry.  The experience was so awesome for me, and I walked away filled with so much encouragement!

At one point the conversation turned to vegetarianism.  I've been a vegetarian for most of my life, and I choose to be as such for countless ethical and environmental reasons; the whole health aspect is just an added bonus.  I was sharing with the women that one of these reasons relates to "energy", and I don't mean "I feel so energetic"!  I described that I feel the animals know when they are about to be slaughtered, and, as such, fear and stress are coursing through their bodies.  When we eat this meat, I feel that fear and stress are then taken into our own bodies.  There is enough fear and stress in the world to go around, and I can't fathom voluntarily taking more in through the consumption of fear-drenched flesh.

I then went on to say that I feel this type of energy also translates to the products we use.  When I use a commercial product, I feel the disconnect in it; I feel the cold machinery and disgruntled factory workers. By contrast, when I make my products I envision skin healing and beauty being revealed by whoever will use that product.  I only craft my products when I am feeling positive; if I am hurried or cranky I put it aside so my negative energy won't get added as an unwanted ingredient.  The same goes for the hats and blankets I crochet; with each stitch I envision love and warmth.

Yeah, I know there isn't any scientific proof to back any of this up, but I still like to think it adds a little sumpin-sumpin!

Tax Relax Promotion

With tax day upon us we could all use some stress relief, eh?  SkIndulgence has a full line of bath and body products designed to help melt that stress away.  Check it:

• Salty & Sweet Body Scrub
• Sweet Dream Lavender & Chamomile Body Wash
• Relaxing Bath Tea
• Relaxing Bath Salts
• Relaxing Bath Pack (salts & tea combined)
• Sweet Dreams Lavender & Chamomile Body Butter

For the next 48 hours any sale of $25 and up (excluding shipping) will receive any full size relax product!  Just let us know in the comments which product you'd like, and we'll get it to you lickety split!

Happy shopping!

"All Natural" vs. "Made With Natural Ingredients"

This weekend I was at the drug store, and I wandered down the skin care aisle to check out the competition.  I saw countless products claiming to be "natural". In recent years, with a growing conscious to the environment, it's become "trendy" for mainstream brands to market "natural" products.  While I think the idea of this is totally awesome, obviously, I find that it is, unfortunately, more often than not just a gimmick to increase sales.  All too often the bottles that boast "made with natural ingredients" contain mere drops of a natural ingredient or two amidst their usual combination of chemicals.

Take this moisturizer, for example.  The front label claimed it was "natural", but when I turned it over and read the ingredients, this is what I found:

Um, what's "natural" about this? The only ingredients I know for sure are natural or are even words I can pronounce with any certainty are "glycerin" and "water". 

Years ago I made a commitment to not put anything in or on my body if it had ingredients that I couldn't picture in my head*.  Mother Nature knew what she was doing and gave us everything we need.  In the words of Louis CK, all we need is just laying on the floor waiting for us to use it!  What the heck is "Cyclomethicone"!?!?  I've never seen one, have you?  When I Google it, rather than seeing a plant or clay, I see a scary chemical compound diagrammed out that brought back dreaded chemistry classes.

By comparison, here are the truly all natural ingredients of SkIndulgence's Night Cream for Normal to Dry Skin:

See the difference?  Even if you don't know what "calendula" is off the top of your head, you can Google it and see that it's a flower.  This is the difference between "all natural" and "made with natural ingredients".  You've gotta turn that bottle over and check out what's really in it!  Remember, what we put ON our bodies goes INTO our bodies, and if it would be dangerous to eat, why would you wanna smear it on your face?

*Not that I always adhere to this commitment (I AM human after all), but I try!

Exciting New Products!

The last few weeks we've released some really exciting new products, and I thought it was a fantastic time to update you all and give a coupon code to the store!  Now about those products:

• I absolutely love hiking and backpacking, and I’ve been waiting so impatiently all winter long for spring so I could release this product!  It’s an outdoor survival set including a carabineer clip with travel size tubes of insect repellent, first aid balm and an SPF 30 sun screen – all made with natural ingredients, of course! This palm-size set is handy for hikers, backpackers, and pretty much all outdoor adventurers. Find this product by clicking here.
• The next new product is an eye serum formulated with the highest quality botanicals to combat fine lines, wrinkles, and puffiness around the eyes.  I package this serum in an easy-to-use roller ball bottle that eliminates the need to pull and tug sensitive eye area.  I’ve been using mine every night for the last two months, and I just got carded at a Rated-R movie…so it appears to be working perfectly! Find this product by clicking here.
• The third and final new product is a blemish stick to gently yet effectively fight off blemishes and acne.  This handy product is formulated with several sought-after ingredients including black walnut hull and tea tree oil.  It, too, is packaged in an easy-to-use roller ball bottle so you can quickly swipe it on blemishes without transmitting oils from your hands to the blemish.  I carry this around with me in my purse and use it throughout the day whenever I see a blemish popping up.  Find this product by clicking here.

To celebrate these new products, I’m offering a great deal of 15% off your entire order with the coupon code NP15PER!