Last Day for Chance to Win LuraLu's Shimmering Body Souffle

You too can be glowing, LOL, for free! Each pertient comment left today and each follow gets you a chance to win your own Shimmering Body Souffle from LuraLu's!

I'm Glowing, LOL!

I had lunch with friends today at O'Charlie's and one of them told me I was glowing :). I did visit Palm Beach Tan yesterday for my weekly Mystic Tan (a spray tan, of course), But I've been doing that for a couple of months now and she's never said I was glowing before. My husband says it's because we had a very good weekend together and he showered with me attention, but since he does that on a regular basis, I don't think that's it either, LOL! I think it's my Shimmering Body Souffle with gold and bronze mica. Just a light touch gives you a subtle glow. Of course, it could also be due to the fact that I got to spend the entire afternoon making products. I made Creamy Bath Oil, Whipped Shea Butter, and Sugar Scrub, all in my favorite scent of the moment, Ginger Essence, And when I was done, I took one of each, stocked my bathroom, took a long, relaxing bath, and enjoyed them all, LOL! So it's a toss up...my "glow" could be due to one of my products, or it could be due to the joy that comes from just doing what I love to do. What's your vote?

Rosemary Mint Handmade Soap

Hubby and I were playing with a light box that he made me and various props. He took some great photos for me, like this one of my rosemary mint soap.

I'm so excited! I got my soap stamp today

A couple of weeks ago I ordered a custom soap stamp on Etsy. It arrived today. And of course I couldn't wait to try it. The soap that I stamped with it was about 4 weeks old, and I am amazed at how well it worked. I dipped a small paint brush in mica to really make it stand out and got a little heavy handed with it. I might get better results if I brush a little mica on the stamp itself before pressing into the soap. And the picture could certainly be better but my husband is the photographer in the family and he won't take any pictures until I make dinner. Can you imagine that, LOL? The nerve!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Top 10 tools for Making Soap, Lotion & other Bath & Body Products

The neat little gadget I found yesterday (see it here) made me wonder....how many other neat little gadgets are there out there that I'm missing out on. So let's hear from all you soapers and bath and body crafters out there. What are some of your favorite tools?

Here are some of mine, in no particular order.

1) My stick blender. I can't live without it. In fact I have 3. One is for soap, one is for lotion, and one is a spare in case one of the other 2 should die in the middle of a batch.,

2) A crock pot. Again, I have multiples. I really like instant gratification so of course I like to do hot process, and frequently have more than one batch going at a time.

3) An accurate, dependable scale. This is a must have. Accurate measuring of ingredients is critical. I prefer to measure in grams as it is more precise than measuring in ounces, so that feature is a must, as is a tare feature that allows you to place the bowl on the scale then reset the scale to zero.

4) An assortment of stainless steel bowls and pots in various sizes from small condiment containers with lids to large stock pots.

5) An assortment of stainless steel spoons in various sizes from measuring spoons to large ladles.

6) Several heavy duty heat resistant glass measuring cups in sizes from 2 cups all the way up to batter bowl size for things that need to be microwaved.

7) Spatulas. My favorite remains the one that SoapEquipment.com gave to all of the attendees of one of our past Alabama Soap and Candle Association Annual Meetings. It's big, sturdy, and very heat resistant since it's made of silicone.

8) My infrared thermometer, the point and shoot type, that I can use for testing the temp of an emulsion to see if it's cooled enough to add preservative and/or fragrance. I can also use this if making soap using the method in Anne L. Watson's book, Smart Soapmaking, where you recognize trace by temperature changes.

9) Soapmaker Software - I use this for everything from keeping up with inventory/ ingredients to calculating correct lye amounts, and predicting the hardness, lathering ability, and conditioning of a particular recipe.

10) I can't say for sure on this one yet, but I'm thinking that digital measuring spoon that can also measure volume is going to have to be on my top 10 list.

So what's on your top 10 list? Do you know of any other cool gadgets that I need to check out? Maybe it needs to be a top 15 or top 20 list. I'm thinking now about my favorite soap mold, my cutter, goodness, the list could be endless, couldn't it?

I just bought the neatest gadget from ThinkGeek!

It's a spoon that measures by weight or by volume. It is supposed to be accurate from .1 to 300 grams (.005 to 10.5 oz.) and allows you to switch between ounces and grams. You can also measure volume using the markings on the spoon. How neat is that? It will be so handy when measuring out tiny anounts of ewax, or stearic, or preservative when I am making lotions. Find out more about it here. In case you're wondering, no, I don't get a commission, LOL! I just think it's going to be a VERY useful tool. I can't wait for it to get here!

Cleopatra’s Beauty Secret…Cleanse Your Face Like Cleopatra did!

Cleopatra’s beauty was legendary. Her beauty bewitched both Caesar and Marc Anthony. She undoubtedly had many beauty secrets. One of them was that she cleansed her skin with oil. Archeologists have uncovered tombs of ladies of that era that contained jars of cleansing cream in them. The cream was reportedly a mixture of oil and lime.

Have you ever tried oil-based facial cleansers? If you haven’t you should. They feel so good on your skin and they cleanse your skin ever so gently. I know what you’re probably thinking, especially if your skin is naturally oily..…Ick, Putting oil of my face, no way. The thing that you need to realize is this…like dissolves like. It’s a basic concept of chemistry that you may remember from your high school days. Also, if you have oily skin, using harsh drying products can cause your skin to produce even more oil.

To cleanse your face with an oil based cleanser, pump a small amount of cleansing oil into dry hands, then gently massage onto dry face and neck in a circular motion. Massage well, as it is the massaging action that loosens oil, grime, and makeup. Next, take a warm wet washcloth and place over your face. Leave it over your face for a couple of minutes until it begins to cool. Use the washcloth to gently wipe the oil and dirt off your faceaway. The texture of the washcloth should help to gently exfoliate, removing dead skin cells. Rinse your washcloth out in hot water and wipe away any remaining impurities. You may have to repeat a couple of times to remove any remaining dirt and oil. When done, rinse well with cool water to help close the pores. You'll be left with soft, clean skin, and a beautiful, healthy glow. No additional cleansing is necessary. If your skin feels dry and tight, follow with your favorite moisturizer. If you skin is prone to oiliness, you could use your favorite toner after cleansing.

If you want to go all natural you can do this at home with EVOO (extra virgin olive oil). If you would like to try this but you would prefer a cleanser than can be rinsed away more easily, try Luralu’s Facial Cleansing Oil. An emulsifier is added to help it rinse off cleanly.

It's a Giveaway! Win LuraLu's Shimmering Body Souffle!

It 's a giveaway! Who doesn't love free stuff? Especially when it's LuraLu's awesome Shimmering Body Souffle. Light and fluffy, it just sinks right in to your skin, leaving it with a subtle sheen thanks to gold and bronze micas. My blog is new and I want to extend my reach with plenty of followers and interesting commentators. You get one entry for following my blog and one additional entry for each pertinent comment made on the blog between now and July 1. Come on, you know you wanna win, LOL! Get your glow on with my Shimmering Body Souffle. It's also available for purchase on Etsy at http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26783772 at a special introductory price of only $12.95. If you want to request local pickup in Montevallo, convo me and I'll setup a custom listing for you with $0.00 shipping charges.

It's a Glorious Saturday here in Montevallo, AL

I woke up early which irritated me just a bit...I confess, I was looking forward to sleeping in. It turned out to be a good thing though. I planted a giant hosta before it got too hot, and I made an awesome shimmering body souffle that I am very pleased with. It's light, fluffy, and sinks right in, leaving my skin soft, with a subtle glow. I even took a picture of it, and did all this before 9:00, LOL! Sometimes, when our plans don't work out, it really is a good thing. If I had slept in I might not have gotten any of that done. Oh, and I got a picture of my body souffle and a gorgeous double Kwanza daylily. Take a look!

Bloom Where You Are Planted!

I noticed this little flower last week, growing in a most unlikely place, in a crack between the driveway and the garage. It's probably from a seed that fell from the windowbox under a second story window after the petunias went to seed last fall. My daughter must drive right over it several times a day, and still it thrives. You gotta love a tough little flower like that. I aspire to be that resilient. How about you?

So Who's LuraLu?

That would be me, Alison McMillan Chappell, aka ArtsyAllieKat on twitter. That's actually the name of my budding bath and body business. It's a combination of my maternal great-grandmother's name (Leura) and my paternal great grandmother's name (Lula). Those who know me well, know that I am a genealogy buff. In the process of researching my family history I learned about quite a few amazing women in my lineage, with Leura and Lula being two of my favorites. Leura was a businesswoman, in a time when few women were in business. She and her daughters together with her husband Ben, ran the City Hotel in Monroeville, Alabama which was famous for it's wonderful family style meals. She also ran a sucessful dressmaking and tailoring shop too. She's an inspiration to me.