A new post from over at Bella Luna…

Rich, green and so soothing, avocado oil is my new favourite raw ingredient.

When I started making my own skin creams, it was about finding the best ingredients for my skin and creating a really lovely blend of vegetable oils, butters and essential oils.

As much as I love making my own blends, packaging them up, giving them away and using them myself, I find myself more often using oils and butters neat.  You know how busy life can get, so when I haven’t had a couple of hours to whip up a fresh pot or two, I grab a chunk of Shea butter or a teaspoon of vege oil.

I brought home a bottle of cold pressed avocado oil, just off the shelf of my supermarket, tried it out, and wow, I’m loving it.

Avocado oil absorbs easily, has a mild and not unpleasant aroma, is VERY green (so watch your clothes) and is a rich source of vitamin A, B1, B2, D and E, as well as amino acids, pantothenic acid, lecithin and other essential fatty acids.  It apparently has many long term benefits, is effective in softening skin, soothing eczema, and healing other skin problems.

Of course, you can just cut open a ripe avocado and make yourself a face pack too!

As Bella Luna, my next Nana Technologies workshop is coming up next week, Thursday evening, 7 – 9pm at Highbury House, 110 Hinemoa Street, Birkenhead, Auckland, more details, including how to book, are available here.

I’ll have some samples for you to look at, raw ingredients, and we’ll talk about some of my favourite raw ingredients, and how you can tailor your skin creams to suit your own needs and preferences.

Maybe you read my previous posts about my big new venture, Bella Luna, making skin care products from local ingredients, lovely local ingredients, with no nasty petrochemicals, good for people and good for our planet..

Big news is I have applied for an AMP Do Your Thing Scholarship, I’m so excited, if I can get some extra $$ it will make it all happen faster, I have been working on it over the last couple of years, and I’d love to get it out there for people to use.

So watch this space, and if you like, you could even vote for me in the people’s choice award!  Oh and swing by my Facebook page, I’ll be looking for peeps to try some samples…

So it’s about time I made an update this big new thing of making and selling some beautiful skin care products…

Today I made another batch of my favourite cream, it’s a lemon and rose night cream, SO divine, it smells like a delicious lemon cheesecake when I’m blending it, oh so yum.

Looks good ahy?  All my products are made from natural ingredients, and use natural rather than synthetic preservative, are mostly organic, grown and crafted in New Zealand.  I have made some adjustments to the recipe and it will be one of the first products I will make available to you.  Can’t wait!

Just sorting out some pretty packaging and the whole media online launch thingee…  I’m also trying not to be too sidetracked into making more creams for myself and friends, I keep giving the stuff away for people to try.  Can’t help it, it’s exciting and I want to share it around!

I have been working on  a new venture, it’s very exciting to write about it and I suppose now I really need to.  My plans is to make beauty creams, from mostly locally produced organic ingredients.  Such as lovely olive, almond, rosehip and macadamia nut oil, plant and bees waxes, and beautiful essential oils like lemon and lavender.  I will have to source some really special ingredients like Shea butter and couple of other products that just don’t grow here, as well as organic coconut oil.

For the last year or two I have been making and perfecting my balms and creams, I love making them and it so good to work with such superior ingredients.  What’s also exciting, and partly why I’ll be writing more about it and sharing photos of my work and probably giving out samples (yes!  Lucky YOU!) I’m planning on applying for the AMP do you thing scholarship, it would make a huge difference if I could get a little extra cash to get it all off the ground, wheels move somewhat slowly for me these days with the kiddies an’ all.

Here are some jars I’m going to fill, I’m starting out with small jars so people can test them out, 15ml and 30ml, they are very small when it comes to labeling – but I have to start somewhere!

They will look good.

With the last issue of World Sweet World came a recipe for cold cream, it can be used as a cleanser, moisturiser, and an all over body butter.

The woman who supplied the recipe is Rachel Fabish, and I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if I noted it here, I’m also very keen to make my own beauty products and save on packaging and all those additives.

So here are some photos of the process, unfortunatley Luna woke the moment I reached the ‘move the mix off the heat and continue mixing until it thinkens’ stage – so I think it is not quite as smooth as it may have been.  Also, the rose water has started to separate slightly, and I’ll be interested to see if that maybe as a result of the interruption too – as I will be making it again – such a nice idea for a gift!

So here’s the ingredient list:

6 Tablespoons olive oil

28 gms bees wax (or 1 Tablespoon candelilla flakes) for my first batch I used bees wax as I was unable to source an alternative..

2 Tablespoons Rose water

Essential oil (I had lavender at hand)

Put the olive oil and wax in a glass jar in a pot of hot water and heat gently until the wax has just melted..

Next, warm the rose water, remove jar from heat and slowly add the rose water to the mix, this is when Luna woke up… so I had to stop and get back to it..  I stood the jar in a dish of cold water to speed it up, and added the lavender oil.  Very quickly it thickened, and also began to separate slightly, it is still very nice to use, although a tad heavier than the facial moisturisers I have been using.