My Name is Mud

Or... at least my face is.  Don't believe me?  Look!

The things I do for you guys.

I kept joking with Eric that we were going to be making mudpies, but this is oh so much more than that.  Our first mud mask!  Yes, really.  And this is some high-end stuff, which is making its way into our luxury line.

The primary ingredient in this mask is Dead Sea mud.  Then, we added Rhassoul clay, Bentonite clay, and sea kelp to make our own custom blend for the biggest benefit.

What's the hype about mud?  Why Dead Sea mud?  Never having used a mud mask before, I had the same questions!  So I did a little research, and here's what I found out about Dead Sea mud...

Believe it or not, it's believed that Dead Sea mud is one of the healthiest things you can use on your skin.  Seriously.  And it's pretty much for the same reasons so many people travel to the Dead Sea itself to reap its benefits.  What are those benefits?  Improved blood circulation and natural skin generation, cleansing and removal of dirt particles, impurities, and toxins, skin relief for disorders such as psoriasis, eczema, acne, and even wrinkles, moisturizing, and the removal of dead skin cells.  And as it dries, it pulls out any toxins that may be present in your skin cells from your everyday diet, while firming and tightening this all-important organ.  Yes, that's right, if you remember from your first anatomy class, skin is the body's largest organ!

This mud has such a high concentration of all natural salts and minerals that your skin needs, like potassium, magnesium, sodium, bromine, and calcium, that it's unlike mud from any other place in the world.

And with a mud mask like this, you don't have to travel to Jordan or Israel to get these benefits!

If the mud is so great on its own, why did we add the clays?  The better question is how could we not?  We wanted an all-in-one product that provided the absolute most value it could.  So... about those clays...

Rhassoul clay has been used for over 1400 years as a natural beauty treatment for skin and hair. It has a unique ability to absorb tremendous amounts of water, which makes it ideal for cleansing and detoxifying the skin. It also has a higher percentage of trace minerals than other clays, without any petrochemical derivatives, synthetic preservatives, surfactants, or artificial colors, all of which are common in commercial soaps and cleansers. It has been found to leave the skin with less dryness, less flakiness, improved skin clarity, elasticity, and firmness, and improved skin texture.

And Bentonite clay has long been known for its therapeutic abilities.  Due to its high absorbency and its ability to pull oils and toxins from the skin, it is one of the best clays for making poultices and an excellent ingredient for skin care and spa treatments.

And then there's that sea kelp again, which we also use in our Mock Turtle shampoo and Deadwood Spa Bar.  What's up with the sea kelp?  Sea Kelp is being used increasingly for cosmetic purposes, due to its high vitamin and mineral content, as well as its essential fatty acids and chlorophyll for detoxification purposes.  It has a natural elasticity that makes it an ideal ingredient in cutting-edge anti-wrinkle beauty regimens.  It can revitalize both skin and hair.

So you see, we didn't cut any corners with this stuff.

At all!  And it's easy to use.  You take just a little on your fingers and coat your entire face lightly, being careful to avoid your eyes.  It starts off feeling cool, of course, while it's wet.  As it dries, it feels warm and tingly, and you can feel it tightening on your face as it works.  By the time the photo was taken, it had been drying a while, and it wasn't actually easy to smile!  Once it's dry, after about 10 or 15 minutes, you rinse it off, and it comes off clean, leaving your skin pretty darned smooth and soft.  At least, that was my experience.

And Eric's.  He wouldn't let me snap a photo of his muddy face, but he loves mud masks and you can bet your socks he tried it too.

(And no, I have no idea where I came up with "bet your socks," but I kinda like it!)

We've dolled up our Dead Sea Mud Mask in these beautiful little jars, and they're all ready for you now!  So... have at 'em!

Submitted to:

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.

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.

Real Luxury

Ever go to a real spa? One of those places, I mean, where they use all the fancy salts and seaweed wraps and spend hours (and many, many of your dollars) using these really weird-sounding ingredients to pamper you? And they work! I mean, seriously, who'd think that salt could ease your aching muscles and skin conditions?  To be fair, probably not any salt does.  I wouldn't suggest taking the salt shaker off your kitchen table and dumpin the contents into your next bath, for instance.  But salt from the Dead Sea, that's a different story.

Did you know that the Dead Sea is the saltiest body of water in the world?  The salt concentration is actually so heavy that it can keep anyone afloat, even people who have trouble floating anywhere else.  No kidding.  And the salt from the Dead Sea is different from any other sea salt.  Whereas most sea salt is approximately 90% sodium, Dead Sea salt is only 10% sodium.  The rest is comprised of various beneficial, even essential, minerals including magnesium, potassium, calcium, and bromine.

The best way to reap the benefits of the salt is probably to go have a soak in the Dead Sea itself, and many do make the trip.  Not everyone can afford to take the money or time to go to that beautiful location, tucked between Israel and Jordan, though.

This is why people spend the crazy amounts of money they do at spas, using products containing Dead Sea salts and reaping the benefits here at home.

And then seaweed?  Who figured out that seaweed was beneficial to the skin too?  Don't get me wrong, I love my sushi, but sea kelp as a skin regimen?  It just looks so... seaweedy.  It's the real deal, though!  It's high in vitamin and mineral content, as well as essential fatty acids and chlorophyll for detoxification.  Plus, it's got a natural elasticity that makes it ideal in cutting-edge anti-wrinkle beauty regimens.  It confers its elasticity to the skin and hair, revitalizing both.

Last, but not least, lanolin.  Lanolin is a wax produced by sheep to keep their coats waterproof!  In cosmetics, though, it's used as a soothing skin cream and in shaving cream.  It's even used as an ointment base because it absorbs so well into the skin, carrying the needed medicines with it.  Don't worry, it's taken from the shorn wool, without any harm to the sheep.

Why all the information?  We've got a new product of course!

The first in our Luxury Line, this Deadwood Spa Bar is part soap, part spa treatment.  It is a soap base, but that's just what's holding it together.  This bar has shea butter, lanolin, sea kelp, and a high concentration of Dead Sea Salt.  It's a pretty bar, very textured, with white speckles and sage green and forest green marbling throughout.

This is not your every day soap.  In fact, we recommend that you don't use it more than 2-3 times per week.  It's a rough bar, with very little lather, but lather isn't the only way to pamper yourself.  This bar is for special occasions.  It's for that tough day when you just really need to take care of yourself.

And I'll give you a personal anecdote.  I've got a bad cold, have since Wednesday or so.  I've been miserable, and everything hurts, head to toe.  Yesterday, I used this bar in the shower, and I swear for several hours afterwards, my muscles weren't hurting anymore.  It didn't last forever, the cold eventually won over the bar, but those hours lifted my spirits unbelievably.

The cold, of course, also means that I can't smell a thing.  It's annoying.  So I can't tell you that I've personally been able to smell this bar.  I know that it's scented with cedar, sweet orange, eucalyptus, and lemongrass essential oils, but I can't know personally yet what that means.  Rest assured that Eric was the one who did this, though, so you aren't relying on my guesswork.  According to Eric, it's great.  As he puts it, it's a very complex scent, very woodsy with tones of citrus and just a hint of eucalyptus.  Sounds good to me!  I'll let you know as soon as I can smell it for myself.  Fingers crossed that it turns out to be later today.

A Re-Introduction

I already told you about our Fizzy Bath Bars, but here's the visual!

Awaken is made with sea kelp in the mix for green specks and some wonderful properties it has.  It's scented with lemongrass, sweet orange, and eucalyptus essential oils, and is amazing for getting your mind going!

Romance is a pretty pink bath bar, containing cocoa butter and scented with geranium, clove, and lavender essential oils that combine to smell like roses!  It's still all natural - the pink comes from the bit of cocoa powder we've included, as well as some amazing freeze-dried powdered raspberry!  Yes, really!

And last, but not least, Serenity contains yellow kaolin clay for a nice creamy color and the wonderful properties of the clay.  It's scented with lavender and rosemary, for a heavenly relaxing scent that fills the whole room and turns your bath into a haven.

You Want Some!

Starting NOW, well... as soon as this posts, at any rate, the next ten orders on our site will include one of our NEW LIP BALMS!  Get kissable lips for Valentine's Day!

When you place your order, just tell us in the comments section which one you want.  If you can't decide and don't specify, we'll choose for you.  Each balm is selling for $5.00, so this is a very cool deal for our next ten customers.  Plus, it gives you a chance to check our our brand new stuff!

Here are your choices:

Chocolate Chip Mint...

It's full of luxurious olive oil, sweet almond oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, and vitamin E, in a beeswax base.  Even better, it's made with real dark chocolate and peppermint essential oil for a chocolate chip mint taste and smell that's irresistible!

Orange You Glad I'm Your Honey...

Sweet orange essential oil gives this balm its wonderful scent, but it's the olive oil, almond oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, honey, and vitamin E suspended in the beeswax base that will save your lips from the cold winter wind.

Eucalyptus:

Made with olive oil, almond oil, cocoa butter, shea butter, and vitamin E in beeswax, plus eucalyptus essential oil that's great for healing chapped lips and clearing your nose when you've got a cold.  Plus, it's a light sage green from the sea kelp we've added, known for its high vitamin and mineral content, antioxidant properties, and ability to confer elasticity.

and Totally Tasteless:

Our most basic balm is made solely with olive oil, grapeseed oil, cocoa butter, beeswax, and vitamin E to pamper your lips without all the extras and with no nut-based ingredients, even shea.  Do keep in mind that our equipment may have been in contact with nuts and nut products, so if you've got severe allergies be careful.

Jump on this one!