by Donna Johnson on May 31, 2007
When I’m not working on all things Indie, I can sometimes be found using stuff in our fridge to make natural cosmetics. My daughter and I whipped up Summer Facial Mask with ingredients we had on hand and some green clay from Indie Beauty Network member From Nature With Love. It’s best for oily skin, which mine is, and will leave your skin refreshed and clean.
Summer Facial Mask
Ingredients
1 egg white
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon rose water or plain water
1 mashed strawberry, top removed
1 drop tea tree essential oil
1 drop lavender essential oil
French green clay to make a smooth paste
To Make
- Beat egg white until slightly stiff. Add lemon juice and stir to combine.
- In a separate bowl, slightly warm the rose hydrosol in the microwave or a double boiler. Add the honey to the rose hydrosol and stir to dissolve. Add the mashed strawberry and stir well to thoroughly combine.
- Add the honey/rose/strawberry mixture to the lemon juice mixture and stir to form a liquid that is lightly gel-like.
- Begin adding clay, one teaspoon at a time, stirring after each addition. The clay will begin to thicken the mixture. Add only enough clay to produce a wet and smooth, spreadable paste.
- Once the mixture is smooth, add the essential oils and stir to combine.
- Modify this recipe for a pre-teen child by omitting the essential oils and rinsing off the mask after about 5 minutes.
To Use
Smooth a layer of Summer Facial Mask over clean face and neck. Rest for 10-15 minutes. Avoid eye areas. If your skin is especially sensitive, omit the essential oils. Rinse well with warm water and pat excess water from face and neck. Follow with toner and moisturizer. This mask may also be used on your back.
If you enjoy making Summer Facial Mask, email me a picture of yourself "wearing" it and I’ll send you a delectable sugar scrub made my a member of the Indie Beauty Network!
For more natural beauty recipes, visit Make Your Cosmetics.com. Enjoy!
by Donna Johnson on May 30, 2007
The dictionary defines enchantment as a magical spell, and that’s what Debbie and Bill Brink of Pure Enchantment in Rocky River, Ohio cast on me when I finally met them in person at the Conference of Handcrafted Soapmakers earlier this month. (See more conference photos here.) The couple launched Pure Enchantment in 2003 after discovering the benefits of using handmade soap on a family vacation in Wilmington, North Carolina. I first encountered them online in July 2004 when they joined the Indie Beauty Network.
Pure Enchantment’s signature product is the shea butter lotion Made with 30% shea butter and oils of almond, avocado and jojoba, it comes in 4 scents: Cucumber Melon, Coconut Lime Verbena, Oatmeal Milk & Honey and Orange Patchouli. The body size is 3 ounces ($13.50) and the purse size is 1/2 ounce ($4.50). If you had been at the conference, you would have gotten your very own sample. Mine was Cucumber Melon and soon it will be all gone. My family and I used to soothe minor sunburn after spending the afternoon at the pool on Memorial Day. You can get the lotion bars here.
In addition to running the business, Debbie and Bill have 5 children ranging from elementary to senior high school. They recently left their traditional jobs in the real estate industry to manage Pure Enchantment full-time. At the conference, Bill said, "We are now wholly focused on Pure Enchantment and glad to be making products in a family owned enterprise that gives us the ability to spend more time together as a family." And isn’t that what being Indie is all about!!?
Until now, Debbie and Bill have declined my invitation to share tips for combining family and business on Indie Business Radio due to concern about the publicity that might result while they had full-time jobs. Now that they have handed in their pink slips, I’m planning to schedule them for a future show. Stay tuned!
by Donna Johnson on May 29, 2007
While I run my business almost entirely online, I am surprisingly awful with computers. I am particularly terrible at using traditional software programs like PhotoShop to edit and load clear, quality images to my websites and blog without pulling out all of my hair (or what's left of it since I whacked it off earlier this month.)
Enter Kim Baron, my website designer at Fallen Muse WebWorks. Kim could probably support herself entirely on my constant need for help with online imaging, yet she graciously told me about Picnik. Now, I can do it all by myself, and so can you. And just so you know how good I am at it, I turned this
into this
in about 5 minutes by cropping the picture and then editing it so everything but Brooks' face and a little bit of the inner tube is black and white. How cute is that?! (I also chose the option to round the edges but for some reason, that feature would not save as a part of the photo.)
So here's the tip: If you're a small business owner who is struggling to crop, resize or otherwise refine a good quality photo for your website, newsletter, blog or other online application, try Picnik. The service is in the beta testing stage which means they are getting out the kinks and eventually, we will have to pay for some of the options. But for now it's free, and Indies love FREE. It's like buddah! Check it out and let me know what you think.
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by Donna Johnson on May 28, 2007
I am of two minds about celebrating Memorial Day because it is so difficult to see so many suffer for reasons that I do not personally embrace. God bless those who have served and are serving.
by Donna Johnson on May 25, 2007
I have always liked my hair. It’s a little on the frizzy side in this picture, but it was taken while I was moving last week. My hair is soft, naturally curly, grows quickly and is long enough to throw up a French braid or pony tail and be out the door in no time. And my husband likes it a lot.
Over the past few years, silver hairs have started to appear. At first, I thought it was neat, but then I noticed that the silver hairs had a different texture. Eventually, even the French braid looked funny with smoothly braided black hair and silver hairs that were all over the place. So I washed that silver right outta my hair in Octboer 2006. It looked nice, but at the end of the day, while the silver hairs were a different color, they were no more cooperative. Plus, the prospect of coloring my hair every month to maintain it was daunting. (Not to mention that my dear mother did this for many years and her hair eventually turned black/violet. I don’t want black/violet hair.)
So a few minutes after the above picture was taken, my stylist Karen chopped all of my hair off.
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by Donna Johnson on May 24, 2007
Summer Facial Mask
