Technical Difficulties

The web host for Reef Botanicals is having some technical difficulties, so the site has been down since last night.  They're working furiously to correct the problem.  However, if you have any questions about our products or the sale before it's back, or would like to order anything in the interim, please email us at store@reefbotanicals.com.

Thanks, and sorry for the inconvenience!

Father's Day Sale!

For one week, and one week only at Reef Botanicals:

Our new "Father's Day gift baskets" are 25% off, costing only $30 instead of the regular $40.  The temporary price is already reflected on the site.  Just order one and we can ship it directly to dad, or to you so you can see his reaction when you hand it to him!

This basket is packed full with:
*One Smooth Operator shaving soap, scented with lavender.
*One matching Smooth Operator shaving oil.
*One Clean Cut shaving soap, scented with patchouli, lavender, fir, and rosemary.
*One matching Clean Cut shaving oil.
*One Mashed In:  Spring Seasonal, our luxurious beer soap, made with Sam Adams beer, crushed hops, and ground barley for a wonderful scent of baking bread.
*One sage green and very soft organic cotton washcloth.

It is the ultimate in pampering for the men in your life!  Dad can enjoy a shower with our amazing beer soap, and then get down to shaving... a soak with a nice hot washcloth, some skin-loving pre-shave oil, and then the amazing lather of our luxurious shaving soaps that contain spa-quality Rhassoul clay to avoid the need for gels and glycerines.

The basket will continue to be available long after Father's Day, for the regular price of $40, so it'll be great for birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine's Day, or any other gift-giving event... but get it now for Father's Day for just $30!

As if that wasn't enough, the sale continues:


Every item in the Reef Botanicals Men's Line is on sale for one week, buy two items, get one item of equal or lesser value for free.  Just purchase two items and then let us know in the paypal comments or via email what you'd like for free!.

You can choose our Smooth Operator Shaving & Bath Soap.

Or our matching Smooth Operator Shaving Oil.

If you like your shaves a little spicier, try our Clean Cut Shaving & Bath Soap.

Or our matching Clean Cut Shaving Oil.

For a terrific bath or shower experience, there's our Mashed In:  Spring Seasonal, soap made with Sam Adams, hops, and barley, and scented with just the barest touch of cedar.  This one's my favorite!

Get three of the same thing, or mix & match!

Sale ends at midnight on June 15.

Artist Spotlight: Part Twenty-Two

I'm very happy to introduce you this week to Stephenie, of Dream Again Jewelry.

Raised in the country, just outside of a small town in California, with dogs, cats, chickens, coyotes, and a host of other species making up the menagerie, as well as lots and lots and lots of grapes, she was the oldest daughter of seven children.  Her mom had been waiting for her for quite a while, so once she arrived she was spoiled into an appreciation of girlie, pretty things, including jewelry.

The upbringing really shows in her creations, which she's been making for 17 years, since she was 20.  The impetus to create rather than just appreciate came when she stumbled upon her first bead store, while on vacation in Santa Cruz.  She was overwhelmed and fell in love, and that was that.  With no idea how to go about making jewelry, she bought some beads, leather, and clasps anyway, and got to work researching.  After devouring a plethora of book, searching the internet, and a bunch of practice, she can now say that she's a heck of a jewelry maker!

Her treasures are all one of a kind, and you can see the pleasure she takes in making them.

Stephenie has a poetic streak that translates into her pieces.  As she puts it, "I find myself continually inspired by the ocean ... I am talking about the rough and wild northern coast of California. There is only a little sand and lots of ragged, rocky coastline. It is free, unencumbered. I want to create a line of jewelry that reminds me of the raw, stark beauty of that coast.  Perhaps I can make some jewelry that reminds me of a dark and stormy day at the beach. The kind where you are bundles up in a hoodie and rolled up jeans, with bare feet braving the iciness of the water. I want to make jewelry that is natural and raw."

Wow!

And there's chainmaille.  I make my love of chaimaille no secret.

But she also has a more delicate side, using cloisonné beads, which I also love, and beautiful pink pearls.

If your tastes run more to the modern and sleek, she's got you covered.

Intrigued?  Interested?  Thought so.  Then you'll want to check out her blog.  Just feel like shopping?  I understand.

A Bit of Random

I've just gotten back from celebrating National Doughnut Day, which means I got a free doughnut with my iced coffee at Dunkin Donuts today.  And no, this wasn't a marketing ploy by Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme to all get us to go buy drinks, it's actually a real day!  Apparently, it was started in 1938 by the Salvation Army, to honor the women who had served doughnuts to World War I soldiers.  Pretty neat.

It's all day today, so be sure & get your free treat!

And we've got some new flowers in the yard.  It's lily time, apparently.  It's tough, because it's so incredibly hot that these pretty pink ones are fading almost as soon as they bloom.  They're in a spot that gets direct sunlight, so the deep pink is gone pretty much within a day; I think these two bloomed this morning or late yesterday and were much darker before I got a chance to bring out my camera.

Unfortunately, you can see behind them where the ones that bloomed a day or two earlier are already turning brown.  It's hot out there!

We've also got these red ones, which are doing better behind the house.

As of today, I noticed the orange ones had bloomed on the side of the house.  They're brand new and still doing well, despite the heat.

Of course, don't forget we've got some new products for the guys and we'll soon be having a Father's Day sale!

We Want You to Know

Really, we do.

We want you to know what you're using. We want you to pay attention to what your putting on your body. To that end, we have finally come up with Reef Botanicals labeling and packaging with which we're happy.  You can see it in the photo of our very cool Father's Day gift basket.  But to make it easier, here's a close-up.

Pretty, right?  Great for gifting to others or to yourself.  But it's more than pretty.

We wanted to keep the packaging as minimal as possible, so where outer packaging isn't absolutely necessary (like it is for our liquid products such as shaving oils and scrubs), we've done away with it almost completely.  Each bar of soap now comes to you like a gift, tied with a bit of natural hemp twine, which holds a pretty slip of paper telling you what variety of soap it is and every single ingredient contained therein.

Now... the FDA doesn't actually require labeling on soap, but we have nothing to hide and we actually want you to know what you're putting on your body.  As another rather intelligent soaper correctly said to me, and I might be paraphrasing here, if you wouldn't eat it, why would you want it on your skin?  After all, things you put on your skin eventually get soaked into your skin.  Want an example?  That's how nicotine patches work!

Of course, cosmetic (i.e. non-soap) items, like our scrubs, lip balms, and bath bombs, do require proper labeling, which is to say the labels need to comply with INCI nomenclature.  What the heck is INCI?  INCI means International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients, and there's a standard way of listing each ingredient on an item.  Since we had to so that for the non-soap items, we just went ahead and did it for the soaps too!

From now on, every product you receive from us will be labeled as you see in that nifty close-up with the INCI ingredient list.  As we edit the site, they'll be up there too!  And if you have any questions about any of our ingredients, please feel free to email us at store@reefbotanicals.com.  We do pay attention!

And in case you're wondering, yes, we hand-make every single label and hand-tie it to every bar of soap.  Doesn't get much more handmade than that!

It's for boys, but I like it.

Eric has developed a pre-shave oil, just like you find in the high-end stores and at the fancier barber shops.

It's the first step in a pampering, close shave.  The oil is used before shaving to soften the beard and prepare the skin for a close and comfortable shave without leaving an oily residue.  It's ideal for men with sensitive skin, ingrown hair, razor burn, or tough beards.

They're formulated with only natural, healthy, skin-loving oils and essential oils for scent.

Why do I like it?  Because after Eric soaks his face with a hot, wet washcloth, then uses his pre-shave oil, and then his shaving soap to shave, he's got a really smooth face and it doesn't scratch me when I try to kiss him, that's why!

He's done two scents so far, to match our current line of shaving soaps.  That means there's a Clean Cut Shaving Oil, made with patchouli, fir, lavender, and rosemary essential oils and there's a Smooth Operator Shaving Oil, made with just lavender essential oil.

You can find them on their own on the Reef Botanicals site, or as part of our special Father's Day gift basket, also on the site.  The basket's got one Clean Cut shaving soap and matching oil, one Smooth Operator shaving soap and matching oil, one Mashed In bar soap, and one sage green, very soft organic cotton washcloth for that great pre-oil soak before shaving.

The baskets are currently listed at $40, but look for a sale from June 7-15, when they'll be 25% off!

This post is part of the "I Made It" Blog Party at "Everything Etsy."

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.