New Website!

I am so excited to announce the launch of the new SkIndulgence website!  The entire product line is now available to purchase directly on this new website!  However, I am still working out the details on how to get discount codes to function; so, if you have a code I suggest continuing to use the Etsy store until further notice (hopefully within a few days).

Happy shopping!

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!

Home Spa Experience

The primary goal of the SkIndulgence Bath and Body collection is to provide a spa experience at home.  Who doesn't love a day of pampering and relaxation at the day spa?  I know that's MY idea of a perfect time!  The state of this economy has created more stress, but greatly impaired our ability to fund its relief.  Solution? Bring the day spa home with you.  Under the right settings, using spa products at home benefits your body and your spirit just as much as at a fancy spa, but without the stress-inducing price tag that comes with it.

My perfect home spa item is the Salty & Sweet Body Scrub. Prep your items in the bathroom, light some candles, turn on some relaxing music, perhaps even brew a cup of strong chamomile tea and get to it!

The body scrub mimics a salt glo at any day spa.  Use it on dry skin and rub in a circular motion over the entire body.  Those who have used the SkIndulgence scrub (and my own vast experiences) have told me that it completely removes dry patches after just one use and leaves the skin feeling super nourished.

If you are up for an extra step (make time for it, it's so totally worth it), you can extend this into a body wrap.  Start by placing a blanket in an empty bathtub. Next, lay an old sheet (one that can get icky) over that. If you have one, aim a space heater at the bathtub and set it just a tad higher than what's comfortable.  Stand on the sheet and massage in the salt glo.  Then lay down (use a rolled-up towel as a pillow), and wrap the sheet around you, then the blanket. If you brewed some herbal tea, now would be a great time to place a tea bag over each eye.  The herbs don't only taste great, but they will soothe tired and stressed out eyes, too!  Chill like a mummy for about 20 minutes.  The ingredients in the scrub combined with the heat, will help to draw impurities out of your body while simultaneously replenishing vital minerals and moisture.

After using the scrub, shower as usual (or keep on relaxing in a hot bath - try the Bath Pack!) and don't forget to moisturize (I recommend the Body Butter, of course)!

All About Lavender

You'll notice I use a lot of lavender in my products.  This is because it is one amazing herb with a rich history and many uses from culinary to medicinal to cosmetic, not to mention it smells absolutely amazing.

The use of Lavender goes back thousands of years, with the first recorded uses by the Egyptians during the mummification process. Both the Greeks and the Romans had many uses for it, the most popular being for bathing, cooking, as an ingredient in perfume, healing wounds, and as an insect repellent. Lavender was used as an after-bath perfume by the Romans, who gave the herb its name from the Latin lavare, to wash. During the Great Plague of 1665, grave robbers would wash their hands in a concoction called "Four Thieves Vinegar", which contained lavender, wormwood, rue, sage, mint, and rosemary, and vinegar; they rarely became infected.

English folklore tells that a mixture of lavender, mugwort, chamomile, and rose petals will attract sprites, fairies, brownies, and elves.  Lavender has been thought for centuries to enflame passions as an aphrodisiac, and is still one of the most recognized scents in the world.

In SkIndulgence products I include lavender in my First Aid Balm for its pain and burn relief properties, in my Insect Repellent to keep the bugs at bay naturally, and in the entire Facial Skin Care for dry skin collection for its gentle antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties.