My Face

This is me.

Pretty cute, right?  Sorry, had to throw that in there.  Hehe.

As a kid, I had pretty decent skin, even through my teen years. I got lucky.  Sure, once a month or so, I was likely to break out a bit, but for me, "breaking out" meant a bit of an issue on my chin or nose.  Once I hit my 30s, though, my skin changed, much to my dismay.  I'm more prone to a mild rosacea, especially when I'm stressed.  And I'm more prone to dry patches here and there and the occasional breakout.  Still in limited areas, still not a huge deal, but annoying to me.  Like a lot of women, after all, I'm my own worst critic and have a tendency to sometimes examine every millimeter of my face in my light-up magnifying makeup mirror.

Yeah, I'm nuts like that.  You know you are too.  Admit it.

Well, the other day, Eric looked at me and said, "Your face looks better."  And it does.  I noticed it too.  Me, the critic.

What's the difference?

I've been alternating, depending on my whim, between using Purity and Oatmeal Honey as a facial soap, rather than my old fancy facial cleanser (the one that is $32 for 8.3 oz and contains both sulfates and parabens, harsh and potentially harmful chemicals I definitely neither want nor need).  Hm...

Oh, and when I'm not using Purity or Oatmeal Honey, I'm saving time by washing my face in the shower... with my favorite Mock Turtle shampoo bar!  Reef Botanicals shampoo, you see, is just as healthy and harmless as the soap; it's just formulated to be more lathery and have extra hair-healthy ingredients.  That way, it's just as good as any of the other soap for skin, but even more healthy for hair.

With cocoa butter, chamomile, tea tree oil, eucalyptus, sea kelp, and honey, it's bound to be great for both hair and skin.

In fact, we have some customers who save time in the shower by just using their favorite Reef Botanicals shampoo from head to toe!

As for me, I'm curious to see the progress on my own face.  I'll keep you posted.

It's Official!

It definitely wasn't easy.

After much discussion and some debate, sleeping on it and thinking about it, Eric and I have come to a single conclusion: We just can't beat a name like Mock Turtle.  We love it!

That, my friends, is the new and official name of what was previously dubbed our "Contest Shampoo."

Our winner, who should be very proud of herself, is Tiffany Calvert.

We would like to truly thank everyone who participated and had fun with this, our first effort to give something back to you guys and to get you involved.  We had a great response, with well over 100 entries, and we appreciated over each and every one, the ones that taught us new words, the ones that made us giggle, and the ones that just plain sounded like pretty damn good ideas.

Contest Update

Our shampoo naming contest ended last night, and with well over 100 entries, we've narrowed it down to the top five.

To do so, Eric went through the emails we received and pulled all of the proposed names, without any identifiers, and printed up a copy of the list for each of us. We each narrowed the list down separately, then together, and then haggled to reach the top five. They are, in alphabetical order (and we still don't know who they belong to, since we haven't checked):

Mermaid Tresses
Mock Turtle
Scentual Morning
Sea Dew
Sun Salutation

After we've had some time away from the list, tomorrow night we'll haggle some more and announce the winner at 10 p.m. EST.

Thanks to everyone who entered! Check back tomorrow to see what we picked!

Finally! And a Contest!!!

So here it is, and I must apologize for the wait - the photo of our new shampoo.  I've been using it for the past few days too, and I absolutely love it!  Now that I know how to use bar shampoo (sparingly, that is), I don't have the slightest hesitation over this one.

It's a stronger scent than our first shampoo, which I find great for waking me up with the tea tree and eucalyptus.  In short, it rocks.  You can see it's greener than the other one; that's the sea kelp, said to be great for hair.  I honestly can't rave enough about this one, so I might as well stop here and introduce...

well, that's the thing.  We haven't got a name for it!  Hair Dew (our first shampoo) took much thought and made sense for that product, but with this one we're stumped.  So... we're leaving it up to you.  I should let you know that this contest is not limited to followers of the blog, it's also open to Facebook fans, Twitter followers, members of the Handmade Artists' Forum, members of other discussion forums of which I'm a member... in short, everywhere.  The prize?  A free bar of this new shampoo!  We'll send you one, and we'll foot the bill for shipping too (in the lower 48 of the United States).  If you're outside of the lower 48 states, you can feel free to enter, but shipping charges will be paid by you.

To enter, click here and use the contact form on the Reef Botanicals site to give us your idea for the name of the shampoo.  Unlimited entries per person, and the contest will end on Sunday, February 14, 2010, (yes, Valentine's Day) at 10 p.m. EST.  Just note that only entries emailed via the website contact page will be considered.  The winner will be announced here on Tuesday, February 16, and contacted via email for a mailing address.

Our ingredient list, to help you with ideas:  A variety of oils, cocoa butter, chamomile, honey, sea kelp, tea tree essential oil, eucalyptus essential oil.

For those of you who can't wait and want to buy the new shampoo before it's named, it's available on the site as "Contest Shampoo."

Lathery!

Our new shampoo is, anyway.

Yup, a second option for you.  And me.  We had a request for a shampoo made with chamomile, which is reputed to control dandruff.  Plus, I wanted one with less of the butters.  So we've done it!  This shampoo is made with chamomile tea, cocoa butter (no shea - or nuts of any kind, actually), various oils for a great lather, honey, sea kelp for elasticity (in your hair, not the soap) and hair health, and tea tree oil.  And it's scented with eucalyptus, for a really nice mix with the tea tree.

Yet another success!  And I'll have photos for you tomorrow.

The Holidays Have Been Extended!

I was having a kind of "eh" day yesterday.  I wasn't feeling well and didn't get anything done that I intended while Eric was out all day.  So when the doorbell rang, I was not really keen on seeing who it was, but if I don't check, Meg (aka our "doorbell") doesn't stop barking.  If you have a dog, you know how that goes.

So I trudged to the front door, braced myself for the impending chill, and looked out.  The postman was just leaving, and in my vestibule was a fat padded envelope.  From the United Kingdom!

Did I mention I'm also a face painter and henna artist?  I am.  In fact, if you're at all interested in body art (or if you've got kids and should be interested in face paint safety for them), check out my blog on that subject.  This is relevant here only because I'm a member of several body art online discussion groups.  On one of those, many of us all around the world have become very good friends.  So a few years ago, someone suggested that we have a secret Santa exchange.

This was my gift!  What a pick-me-up for an otherwise ick sort of day.  In addition to some face painting supplies which I can't get here in the U.S., at least not easily, a beautiful card, and some wonderful organic chocolate, my secret Santa, a lovely woman, sent me a soap making book!

It's from a London publisher, and we haven't seen it in any stores here.  And man, has it got some good ideas.  We'll be incorporating those in the coming weeks and months, and you reap the benefits when the new stuff hits the store!  Well... of course, we reap the benefits too, since we do use our own products and creations, but we share, so you do also!

My favorite part of the gift, though, were the four essential oils she sent!  Lavender is a staple, so I was happy to see that.  We've got tea tree oil on order, but the order has been delayed and we really wanted to work with it this weekend, so that's a great boon to us.  And then there are cajeput and geranium!  Cajeput is a really interesting scent, close to eucalyptus, but a little bit sweeter, and with a hint of a menthol tinge.  It's used a lot in mixing henna, and is said to have beneficial properties.  It's used in aromatherapy because it's invigorating, purifying, and a natural expectorant.  It's also used topically to relieve arthritis.  I can't wait to try it!  I spent much of the afternoon researching good recipes for it and other scents that work well with it, because we like to mix.

I must say, I'm most excited about the geranium.  I really wanted some floral scents other than lavender, and was actually thinking of purchasing a geranium essential oil to play with.  It smells wonderful and will be showing up in several of our products, you can be sure.  Geranium essential oil also has been said to have various benefits, including promoting healthy cell growth, reducing scars, speeding up the healing of wounds, and in the treatment of various skin diseases.  Plus, it's scent is used for it's deodorizing properties and is an uplifting cross between flowers and mint.  I bet you can't wait for us to begin using it either!