| Merry Christmas! We hope you have a wonderful day and if you need to travel, please travel safely. Enjoy your day and we will see you back in the New Year! Our first day of work in 2010 will be January 4th!
UPS and USPS are closed. No deliveries will happen today. Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by December 1st for posts during October and November.
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| Mary’s Elbow Cream is similar to Tina’s Lanolin Butter in the fact that they both were created as heavy salves for rough skin. What is the difference? The Tina’s Lanolin Butter has Liquid Glycerin in it, which is water soluble. The Glycerin means that the Tina’s Lanolin Butter is an emulsified product. Mary’s Elbow Cream does not have any water soluble ingredients, so it is anhydrous mixture (meaning there is no water in the mixture).
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Recipe:
Weigh all ingredients into your microwave safe container. Microwave using short bursts of time, stirring every 20 to 30 seconds until all the ingredients have been melted. Do NOT microwave until the mixture is completely liquid as the mixture will be too hot to handle. The Beeswax will be the last ingredient to melt and if you are patient, simply stirring will melt the Beeswax. Pour into your containers and allow to cool. Try to not move the containers much until the cream has set to prevent accidental messes. Notes: Definition of Anhydrous: Not containing water. Merry Christmas!
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 Collect needed supplies.  Weigh all the ingredients.  Melted ingredients.  10 mL jars filled with the cooling cream.  Cooled cream on my finger. |
| Recently we added Acai Butter to our catalog, and we have received several questions about what products can be made with this fun butter. Our response? Use it anywhere you would use other similar butters such as Shea, Mango, Almond or Olive Butters. Today, I’ll show you how to make our Lotion Bar Recipe with Acai Butter instead of Shea Butter.
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Recipe: (Makes 6 ounces)
Weigh all ingredients into your microwave safe container. Microwave using shorts bursts of time until all of the ingredients are melted. It took me about 2-1/2 minutes, stirring about every 30 seconds. Once all the ingredients have been melted, pour into your lotion bar tubes or molds. Allow to cool completely before capping or removing from molds. The final lotion bar will be a beautiful tan color. This recipe will fill 9 Lotion Bar Tubes and each tube will contain approximately 0.64 ounces of product. Notes: If you would like to add a fragrance, use our Fragrance Calculator to calculate the amount of fragrance you want. Simply choose the “Lotion, Cream and Body Butter” product option and the weight of the complete recipe for the first step, then choose the fragrance or essential oil of your choice and click on the “Calculate” button on the bottom of the screen. Merry Christmas!
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 Cooled Lotion Bar on my finger.  Collect needed supplies.  Weigh all ingredients.  Completely melted and ready to pour. |
Whoops! I thought I had announced the winners of the October & November kits, but apparently in the holiday rush, I forgot! I enjoyed reading all of the submissions. It was a hard task to choose the two winners since all of the posts were excellent. Both of the winners of the MMS Perfumer’s Kits were both new soap makers! I loved their perspectives and stories.
This blog post is a great tutorial of Sheri’s soap making process. Her blog was educational and entertaining. I hope you enjoy her post.
This blog post is informative from Alesia’s perspective of learning to make soap. She talks about how she is enjoying the chemistry of making soap and its appeal to her. I hope you enjoy her post
Congratulations to Sheri and Alesia! I will be contacting both of you for a shipping address. Soap making is a very exciting hobby, but the intensity of soap excitement is multiplied when we share it with others.
Remember, I still have several Perfumer’s Kits to give away. Each month will reveal a new lucky winner. Need an update on the rules? Click here to see the original post. I’m now accepting submissions for blogs and videos posted in the month of December.
Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Wow!
Merry Christmas!
| Yesterday, I made the Spa-erific Salt Scrub as a gift jar and I promised that we would make the Winter Survival Sugar Scrub today.
Collect needed items for the Winter Survival Sugar Scrub:
Recipe:
Weigh your sugar and fill the jar of your choice with the sugar. I prefer to weigh the sugar and then place in a plastic bag to combine to prevent brown sugar clumps. Once the jar has the mixed sugar, cap and set aside. You are finished with the jar until you decorate. Set the bottle of your choice on the scale and weigh each liquid ingredient into the bottle. After all the liquid ingredients have been weighed, cap the bottle with a non-dispensing cap. Now the bottle of liquids is ready! Directions to include with your scrub gift. Shake bottle of liquid ingredients until completely mixed. Pour half of the bottle into the jar and gently stir with a spoon. Empty the rest of the bottle into the jar and finish stirring. Now the scrub is ready to use! Stir before each use for optimal exfoliation. Use once a week for best results. You could also include a washcloth or a bath poof, an after shower cream, and a lip balm. Enjoy! Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by January 1st for posts during December.
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 Finished scrub on my fingers.  Finished jar of salt and bottle ready for labels and then gift giving. How I put together the scrub gift set:  Collect needed supplies.  Weigh the white sugar. |
| Every Christmas, when I make various bath products as gifts for friends and family, I hear “How do you do that?” and “This must be so hard, I can’t believe you actually make this by hand!” or my personal favorite, “I wish I could make this!” This year, I actually have a solution for those on my gift list that wish to make their own scrubs.
Let me tell you where my inspiration came from. I was looking online to find a suitable gift idea for a friend who only bakes occasionally, but always enjoys home baked goods. A large tin filled with my own baked goods? That might work, but it is a short lifetime gift and may not be consumed in time. Then I read about mixes in a jar. You simply add the ingredients in layers to the jar, decorate and then give with directions for use. This is when I had my little light bulb pop into action over my head! Why can’t I make a scrub that I layer the dry ingredients in a jar and mix the liquids in a bottle? What are the advantages to this little gift? My friends can mix their own scrub, and I don’t have to worry about a scrub leaking in transit for those friends I ship Christmas packages. I don’t create the mess of trying to pour the scrub into jars, which is a big bonus in my eyes! Today, I’ll show you how I made the Spa-erific Salt Scrub and tomorrow we will make the Winter Survival Sugar Scrub. Collect needed items for the Spa-erific Salt Scrub:
Recipe:
Weigh your salt and fill the jar of your choice with the salt. Once the jar has the salt, cap and set aside. You are finished with the jar until you decorate. Set the bottle of your choice on the scale and weigh each liquid ingredient into the bottle. After all the liquid ingredients have been weighed, cap the bottle with a non-dispensing cap. Now the bottle of liquids is ready! Directions to include with your scrub gift. Shake bottle of liquid ingredients until completely mixed. Pour half of the bottle into the jar and gently stir with a spoon. Empty the rest of the bottle into the jar and finish stirring. Now the scrub is ready to use! Stir before each use for optimal exfoliation. Use once a week for best results. You could also include a washcloth or a bath poof, an after shower cream, and a lip balm. Enjoy! Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by January 1st for posts during December.
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 Finished scrub on my finger.  Finished jar of salt and bottle ready for labels and then gift giving. How I put together the scrub gift set:  Collect needed items.  Weigh salt into the jar.  Weigh liquids into the bottle. |
| Do you know anyone that has rough and chapped hands or feet? Every winter, I can guarantee if I don’t take care of my hands, they will become so rough that I’m more likely to have my hands catch on jackets and that always HURTS! I love this formulation as a bedtime ritual for healing my hands. I simply rub the butter over my hands, then cover my hands with cotton gloves (or socks) and sleep. It is amazing how much softer my hands feel the next morning. This method also works on feet!
Collect needed items:
Recipe: (Makes 8 fl oz)
Weigh all ingredients except the essential oils into the microwave safe container. Microwave using short bursts of time. Stir after each burst to help melt the Lanolin without making the temperatures too hot. It took my batch a total of 2 minutes in the microwave with stirring every 45 seconds or so. The glycerin will become hot quickly and since it settles to the bottom of your container, the bottom will not be a place to hold until all ingredients have been mixed together thoroughly. Add the essential oils and stir until the mixture has cooled sufficiently to pour into your desired containers. Notes: You can also find this recipe in our Recipes Section in the Lotions, Creams & Other Things Section under Tina’s Lanolin Butter. Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by January 1st for posts during December.
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 The cooled butter on my finger.  Collect needed supplies.  Weighing the lanolin.  Adding the Conditioning Emulsifier. |
| I had so much fun making this lip balm, I forgot to take pictures for my first six batches! This lip balm is a wonderful, non-fractionating type for the pocket. This is a lightly flavored lip balm. My intention was to have a smooth, buttery lip balm that kept a balmy mixture on the lips like a high end, long-lasting lipstick.
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Recipe:
Weigh all ingredients except the Vitamin E Acetate and Cheesecake Flavor into your microwave safe container. Microwave in short bursts until all ingredients are melted. The beeswax will take the most time to melt, but if you stir the lip balm after the other oils have been heated, it will melt quickly. Once the oils have been melted, add the Vitamin E Acetate and Cheesecake Flavor. Once all of the ingredients have been mixed together, I added a touch of White Lip Balm Color to the melted lip balm. Stir until all of the color has been incorporated into the mixture. Set your rectangular lip balm tins out to pour the lip balm into them. This lip balm can cool quickly, so make sure you don’t dawdle in pouring. You may have to reheat the lip balm to continue pouring. Notes: I was able to test several flavors for consideration as new products. If you get one of these samples, I would love to hear your opinion about these flavors. The flavors I tested were Butterscotch, Red Licorice and Pomegranate. We have had several requests for these flavors, so now we looking for your opinion. |
 Collect needed supplies.  Weighing ingredients.  Beeswax is almost completely melted.  Adding Cheesecake Flavor. |
What if you want to make a different sized batch than the 100 gram batch I made? Simply decide how much lip balm you want to make, either in ounces or grams. Once you have determined the amount of lip balm to make, multiply that weight by each percent to get the necessary weight for your ingredients. For example, if you want a 10 ounce batch, multiply the final weight by the percentage. When multiplying percentages, think of your percentages as parts of a dollar: 30% is 30 pennies and therefore 0.3, 18% is 18 pennies and therefore0.18, and so on.
Your math should look like this.
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Amount of Lip Balm to Make 10 ounces Same Same Same Same Same |
Written as Percentage or Decimal 30% or 0.3 20% or 0.2 30% or 0.3 18% or 0.18 1% or 0.01 1% or 0.01 |
Final Ingredient Weight 3 ounces 2 ounces 3 ounces 1.8 ounces 0.1 ounce 0.1 ounce |
Percentages confuse you? Try reading the Ratios, Percentages and Parts Per… post.
Recipe with Size Variations Examples:
| 10 ounces to fill 50 tubes 10 * 30% = 3 ounces Macadamia Nut Oil 10 * 20% = 2 ounces Beeswax 10 * 30% = 3 ounces Soy Butter 10 * 18% = 1.8 ounces Kukui Oil 10 * 1% = 0.1 ounce Vitamin E Acetate 10 * 1% = 0.1 ounce Cheesecake Flavor Oil Touch of White Lip Balm Color, Oil Soluble |
13 ounces to fill 50 Size 33 Jars 13 * 30% = 3.9 ounces Macadamia Nut Oil 13 * 20% = 2.6 ounces Beeswax 13 * 30% = 3.9 ounces Soy Butter 13 * 18% = 2.34 ounces Kukui Oil 13 * 1% = 0.13 ounces Vitamin E Acetate 13 * 1% = 0.13 ounces Cheesecake Flavor Oil Touch of White Lip Balm Color, Oil Soluble |
Aloha!
Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by January 1st for posts during December.
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite 
Head to Toe Cream
Good Luck!
Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by January 1st for posts during December.
Macadamia nuts are plentiful on Oahu. A ripe, harvested nut looks like this:
Ripe, harvested macadamia nuts.
The crack open this nut, Mother Nature has given you a hint: look for the small white-ish dot and apply pressure there. Special nut crackers can be used or a direct hit with a hammer will work.
Macadamia nuts are large and a great resource of oil. The nuts and their outer shells remind me of hazelnuts, sometimes known as filberts, except macadamia nuts are bigger than hazel nuts.
Here are some cracked open macadamia nuts.
Opened macadamia nuts on the left and empty shells on the right
These nuts offer an oil that is high in oleic acid and is very shelf stable.
I’m going to share 3 recipes with you that focus on Macadamia Nut Oil. Because macadamia oil has shown to be helpful to the skin for UV protection, I am going to make a lip balm. I’m also making a massage oil which can be used as a face and skin oil to moisturize the skin. And lastly, I will be making macadamia pancakes. I know that isn’t cosmetic related, but I liked the pancakes and French Toast from Boots & Kimo’s in Kailua. Their mac sauce is yummy. While I can’t duplicate their dreamy sauce, I can make pancakes.
Aloha!
Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by January 1st for posts during December.
 Macadamia nut cracker ready to be used. |
 Cracked macadamia in the nut cracker. |
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