Improvements.

So in the interest of continual improvement I grabbed the avocado oil off the shelf and threw some into my new batch of lip balm. While this addition has turned the lip balm a green-yellow colour I have to say that its turned out to be the best recipe ever. The vanilla and cinnamon oils make this a very tasty balm.

Gotta make up the labels now and I'll take some pictures when I'm done.

Edit: Picture...



Ingredients: Sweet almond oil, avocado oil, beeswax, cocoa butter, vegetable glycerin, vanilla & cinnamon essential oils.

Still more flavours.

Today I finally get to transform my new oils into lip balms. Its a shame that I still haven't received my order from Tasmania. I contacted the woman and she's flat out working a full time job, with her online business as her part-time hobby that's gotten too demanding for her. That means still no spearmint and sandalwood oils. They'll arrive one day tho, just not sure when.

Gotta go pick up some more pots this morning. The I can whip up my final batch of lip balm and get to work on sealing all the labels. I've made up some cards with my email address and this blog for anyone interested. Might get those printed on a colour laser printer so they don't ruin if it's wet. I'll organise that in the next few days.

New arrivals.

The cinnamon leaf and vanilla essential oils arrived in the mail today. They smell fantastic. I can't wait to put together some lip balm. I think they'll make a magnificent addition to a lot of products.

Consequently, I have also found a supplier located in Melbourne so I can get a nice and quick turn around on my orders. Auroma is handy for emergencies, but I can get everything much cheaper through an online seller.

Now, I want to put together some cards that Sarah can put with purchases so people might remember who I am. All this designing stuff is a bit frightening really. I'm not artistic in that way. Tho I guess for now I can stick with the well known phrase 'keep it simple stupid.'

Already popular.

Wow. I'm already selling my lip balm.

3x orange, 4x raspberry.

Sarah suggested a vanilla/cinnamon flavour for those not so into fruit. I totally agree and have purchased essential oils already. They should be shipped tomorrow I hope. I'd really like for the spearmint to arrive. Will follow that up tomorrow. Need to head back to Auroma and buy some more pots. I have an appointment Tuesday in Richmond so maybe I'll drop in on my way to work.

Was looking at selling any excess on ebay. Unfortunately there appear to be a lot of fees associated with selling so I'm going to have to do a bit of research. Need to work out the best way to approach that.

My job for the rest of the evening is to cover the labels so they last. I wish there was an easy way of doing it and that I had thought to buy a better pair of scissors. Oh well, gotta start off simple and all that.

My full set.

Ingredients: sweet almond oil, beeswax, cocoa butter, vegetable glycerin, bergamot essential oil.


Ingredients: sweet almond oil, beeswax, cocoa butter, vegetable glycerin, lemon myrtle essential oil.


Ingredients: sweet almond oil, beeswax, cocoa butter, vegetable glycerin, raspberry flavour oil.

I'm a fool and misspelt 'bergamot' as 'bergamont'. I think it might be one of those words that I'm doomed to mispronounce, regardless of how many times I try. Will have to fix up the ingredients list. Luckily I'm not about to run out of labels anytime soon.

Some people may not be aware of what Lemon Myrtle is. Its a native Australian tree with strong lemon scented leaves. You can read more here.

My first batch.

Ingredients: sweet almond oil, beeswax, cocoa butter, vegetable glycerin, raspberry flavour oil.

Price: $2.00 each.

I'll be making orange (bergamot) and lemon myrtle tomorrow.

In the beginning..

I put in an order from Tasmania last week for a few other ingredients and oils, but they haven't even charged my card yet so I'm not too sure when they'll be arriving on my doorstep.

So while I wait I've been down to Auroma in Hawthorn and have come home with a bag full of goodies. Sweet almond oil, vegetable glycerin, grapefruit seed extract, emulsifying wax, bergamont essential oil (non-phototoxic), raspberry cream flavour oil, lip balm jars and plastic cosmetic jars. I dropped into the shops on the way home and picked up some pure lavender oil, round labels and some sticky tape.

So what are all of these ingredients going to make?
Firstly, I'm going to make up some lip balm with cocoa butter. Bergamont (orange), Raspberry and Lemon Myrtle. Its a shame you can't get raspberry essential oil, so flavour it has to be.

Secondly, into the cosmetic jars will go a batch of face cream. Lavender and geranium oil are amazing together but the geranium oil is on order so I might have to see what I can put together with the oils I have already.

What is the plan?
My plan is to make up a batch of lip balm for each of the different flavours to send to Royal Doof to be sold on the stall being organised. I have 40 tubs so maybe 10 of each to begin with. To make the tubs look interesting I'm going to make up some labels to put on them. One for the bottom with ingredients and another for the top with the flavour. I'm not a designer so I don't know how great they'll look, but sometimes simple is best so I'll see how I go.

Why did you choose bare skin?
I chose the name bare skin because bare implies 'the removal of what is additional, superfluous, ornamental, or dispensable'(1). I want the things that I make to be free of complex, unnecessary or hidden ingredients. Products that contain only natural perservatives and colours. With the pollutants in the air and the products we put on our skin every day it seems all the more important for the first moisturising layer to be natural. That is what I am trying to make.

Alright, time to whip together my first batch. Here we go...