Our New Brick and Mortar Friend: Nonny’s

image copyright Nonny's

I am very happy to announce that my line of products is now available at the newly opened Nonny’s in Fountain Hills, AZ. Nonny’s is a retail store filled with handcrafted items, refurbished vintage home goods and a floral section. It is the creation of Jerrod Alcaida, who was a wedding and event planner in LA for several years. He decided to come back to his home state and set up a retail space where he and his partner, Chad Harr, could combine several of their interests, all focusing on beauty, creativity and celebrating life’s mileposts, big and small.

image copyright Nonny's

Besides their retail selection, Nonny’s continues to provide wedding and event planning services. In addition, they offer custom floral arrangements by mother-daughter team Diane Gonzalez and Katherine Gonzalez, who are past and current Arizona State Floral Designers of the year. There are some great photos of their floral creations on Nonny’s Facebook fan page.

image copyright Nonny's

Nonny’s is also offering a variety of classes that include holiday decorating, centerpiece arrangements, and gift wrapping. The full schedule is available on their website. All of this (as Dori Wittrig said in her recent blog post on Nonny’s) is part of their mission to provide “an alternative and unique vision for your home, garden and everyday celebrations of life, inspiring harmony between interior & exterior spaces and enhancing those special everyday moments.”

image copyright Nonny's

If you are in the area, please stop by Nonny’s at 16858 Avenue of the Fountains, Suite 102, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268 and tell them I said, “Hi!”

Have an Eco-friendly Valentine’s Day!

Herban Lifestyle Bath Bonbons made with Fair Trade Cocoa Butter

This post was written by Katie Peige, Herban Lifestyle’s Sustainability Associate

This Valentine’s Day, you can show your love for the people in your life and your planet with eco-friendly gifts and experiences. Herban Lifestyle offers a range of bath and body products that are made with natural, organic, and fair trade ingredients, which you already know from reading this blog. But what about some other Valentine’s Day treats and traditions? Here are some ideas for gifts that are kind to you, your loved ones, and the planet:

• For cards, go paperless with e-cards or get crafty and re-make some cards out of old cards or magazines. Another fun option is to send a grow-a-note card that has seeds embedded in the paper so you can send a card and flowers all in one! Greenfield Paper Company offers a huge selection, as do several Etsy sellers, including girl*in*gear studio, who has some gorgeous plantable Valentine cards. Petco also carries them as does Capitol Hemp, and My Organic Market.

image copyright girl*in*gear studio

• Flowers travel long distances to get to us, often from South America requiring a lot of fuel. Together with the pesticides needed to grow them, cut flowers can have a very large carbon footprint. This Valentine’s Day opt for a potted plant or an organic, local bouquet of flowers. Check out the very sustainable Green Space for bouquets and plants.

image copyright Divine Chocolate

• Show your love for the world and your gift recipients by going with organic and fair trade chocolate this Valentine’s Day. There are many brands with exquisite products, like Divine Chocolate. Mmmm, it’s orgasmic! Remember to look for organic and local wines while you are at it!

Herban Lifestyle Fuzzy Valentine Soap

• Save water, bathe together! And bring some of our earth-friendly bath products to add some sassy fun to the experience.

• For date ideas, check out the Eat Well Guide to find local and sustainable restaurants in your area or head to the local museums and parks via the Metro system.

• Plan a staycation in the DC area, its all the fun of a vacation only locally and definitely screams green both for the environment and your wallet! Plus, there are many wonderful Smithsonian museums with free admission, all of which are Metro accessible.

image copyright Smithsonian Museum of American Art

• If you do decide to travel, check into a green hotel that seeks to reduce their water use and have a low impact on the environment. You can search for green hotels using the “Green” Hotels Association webpage.

• Give cco lingerie: feel sassy and sexy in organic cotton, organic hemp, organic silk, recycled fibers, or Lenpur, a material made from white pine tree clippings. It’s the gift that satisfies you and your partner and is available for men and women. Check out Treehugger’s guide to sustainable lingerie here.

image copyright EarthSake

• Sleep on organic cotton or bamboo sheets. You’ll sleep soundly knowing that your soft as silk sheets have a lower impact on the Planet.

• If this turns out to be one of the most important Valentine’s Day ever, spare yourself from conflict by purchasing responsibly sourced diamonds and fair trade metals. Or go vintage: A family heirloom or beautiful antique ring makes a very romantic statement.

And, of course, check out the Herban Lifestyle website for our fun Valentine gift sets that will really get you in the mood!

Discovering the Beauty of Natural Products

This post was written by Katie Peige, Herban Lifestyle’s sustainability intern

I recently started an internship with Herban Lifestyle. I got the position in part because of the knowledge about natural beauty I had gained from my experience at ecocentricity!, an eco-friendly gift shop in Phoenix, AZ that sells, among other things, bath and beauty products from locally-owned businesses. Last month, I returned to Phoenix to pay a visit to my Alma Mater for an Alumni reception and to visit my friends and “Phoenix Family” that I had left behind six months ago. I had only started interning a few weeks prior and was not only learning about the natural, organic, and fair trade ingredients found in Herban Lifestyle products, but found myself obsessively checking out labels on any bath products I came in contact with.

On my second day back in Arizona, I woke at 6:30 am to help my organic, natural, locavore and thoroughly earthy-crunchy former roommate sell locally-made tamales at the farmer’s market (something she does every morning). I had a wonderful time walking around the market sampling salsas, peanut brittle, chocolate, cupcakes, desserts, and of course tamales. I was also excited to see the natural beauty products there, since I am now an expert! I read many labels and was tickled to spot ingredients that I had just entered into the Skin Deep Database for Herban Lifestyle. There was a smorgasbord of soaps, lotion, lip balms, deodorants, shampoos, massage oils, and facial scrubs. Some were really creative, with exfoliants such as natural and plastic loofah embedded into the soap. This reminded me of the exfoliating properties of our Fuzzy Soaps, which have a built-in wool “washcloth” on the outside. I discovered lotion in solid form, that came in a tube like deodorant. I later found you can get solid perfumes in a tube, too. There were even cosmetics made out of goat’s milk, which was a new concept for me.

I collected these vendors’ cards and headed over to ecocentricity to tell my former boss about all the fun, local, bath and beauty products products that she could potentially carry. At the store, I saw a lot of new natural soap that comes in loaves so customers can purchase as much as they want and pay by the ounce. I also saw my old favorite lip butter, which comes in an array of natural flavors, and my mascara made from tea and blackberries.

In the store, there was a display calling attention to the Skin Deep Database, explaining that some products that are ranked highly toxic even though they claim they are “natural.”  I smiled when I recalled the time I had spent entering products from Herban Lifestyle’s new Naked Line into the database, all of which scored a 0 or 1 (on a scale of 0 to 10) for toxicity.

Entering products into the Skin Deep Database made me more aware of the importance of knowing what ingredients are in my personal care products. I have not used a lot of cosmetics in my life. so I feel good knowing I haven’t been smothering my face in toxins. But now I am working on replacing my soaps and shampoos that I had no idea were bad for me and the planet (I am really digging the Herban Lifestyle Deeply Herbal Shampoo Bar). That’s one more earthy-crunchy step I’m taking to reduce my ecological footprint, and reduce my exposure to environmental toxins.

Introducing the new Herban Lifestyle Naked Line

the new Herban Lifestyle Naked Line

Herban Lifestyle recently launched a new beauty and skin care line that is stripped down to the bare essentials. Herban Lifestyle’s Naked™ line uses only the highest quality natural, organic, and fair trade ingredients that have been minimally processed and void of any harsh chemicals.

Naked Body Butters

The line includes body butter, belly balm, mineral soak, bath tea, healing salve, lip balm, body soap, facial soap, facial masque, and facial toner. Prices range from $5 for the lip balm to $35 for the bath tea.

Naked Cold-Processed Unscented Soap

“My new line celebrates the gifts of the earth and the naked beauty in each one of us. We encourage everyone to get Naked and relish nature at its best,” says Kearns. “Each product is designed to provide luxurious body care while using rich natural ingredients and making a minimum impact on the earth.”

Naked Chocolate Vanilla Lip Balm

In keeping with Herban Lifestyle’s commitment to the earth, all Naked products come in glass or aluminum containers with 100% recycled labels. As with all Herban Lifestyle products, 10% of gross sales from the Naked line are donated to nonprofits promoting the health and wellbeing of people and planet.

Join Us at Squidfire’s 2009 Winter Art Mart

Join us and 60 other amazing artists and crafters at Squidfire’s Winter Art Mart in downtown Baltimore on December 12. This year’s festivities will be held at the Du Burns Arena in Canton. As always, the art mart will feature some of the best diy/indie crafters from all over the East Coast. Whether you’re looking for handmade soap, freshly baked dog treats, unique paper goods, or even locally roasted coffee beans, they will have it there.

So I hope you can join us on December 12, from 11am-6pm, at the:

Du Burns Arena
1301 S Ellwood Ave
Baltimore, MD 21224

Introducing Herban Lifestyle™ Man

Since I introduced the Herban Lifestyle™ line of products in August 2008, my customers have primarily been women. Even though the products can be used by anyone, I have been told that my packaging is “girly,” so it doesn’t always appeal to men. They don’t see it as something that is made for them. Over the past year, I have had numerous requests from customers, both men and women, for the addition of men’s products to my offerings.

So, in response to customer demand, I am happy to announce the launch of my new line of products made just for men. Just like all of my products, they are truly natural — made only from natural and organic ingredients, with no artificial fragrances, synthetic preservatives or petroleum-based ingredients. However, the Herban Lifestyle Man products come in distinctly manly packaging!

The line, which is currently available in my online store, on Etsy and at World of Good, includes shaving oil, facial soap, after shave and facial lotion.

I Love Ewe

I recently bought my first order of hand-carded wool from a family farm in Wisconsin. I have been using the wool to make my felted soaps. Their wool is hand dyed with vegetable dyes. I bought a sampler of five colors, my favorite of which is pictured in this photo. This wonderful green color is made from a combination of Indigo and Marigold. Yummy!

New Natural Felted Soaps

Today I posted a new product to my Etsy shop, my felted organic soaps. I have been wanting to try this ever since I saw felted soaps in a pottery/gift shop in Sperryville, VA last year. 

I found a family farm that raises sheep and sells carded wool dyed with only vegetable dyes, and used this to wrap around my organic oversized soaps. It took a few tries to get it right, but I finally produced several nice examples.

The beauty of felted soap is that it makes the soap last longer, plus the wool acts as a gentle exfoliant. The wool shrinks as the soap gets smaller. And when the soap is all used up, you are left with a little felted pouch that you can reuse — you can even add a new bar of soap, sew it up and start all over again!

Valentine Chocolate Mint Soaps

Valentine Chocolate Mint Soap

A few months ago, when my naturopath recommended that I cut out certain foods from my diet (including wheat, dairy and sugar), I found myself compensating by developing new bath and body products that fed my cravings through their scent. My clients seemed to really enjoy these food substitutes, and so, for Valentine’s Day, I thought I would come up with a candy substitute. And that’s how my chocolate mint soaps were born.

These soaps are made to feed your chocolate cravings without a single calorie! They make a wonderful gift for someone special — including you! Made from pure vegetable oils and organic peppermint essential oil, organic cocoa powder, and tinted with pure vegetable coloring, this soap smells delicious and is super gentle on your skin.

 These yummy-looking soaps come packaged in a handmade lokta paper box, with shredded kraft.  Each box contains four .75oz/23g soaps, and retails for $14.00. Available from my Etsy store for a limited time.

Handmade Bath Products Workshop 11/1 in Bethesda

On Saturday, November 1st, from 11:00 – 1:00, I’ll be holding a workshop at Be You Wellness Center and Spa in Bethesda, MD. In this 2-hour hands-on workshop you will learn the basics of making natural bath and body products. We will talk about how to use various ingredients, including essential oils, and how they benefit your body. We will get our hands dirty (or clean, as it were), by making a selection of guest soaps, a jar of bath scrub and a jar of facial masque for you to take home. We will also work on packaging, making these items great gifts for friends, family or yourself!

For more info, or to register, call (301) 493-4911, email info [at] beyouspa.com or visit http://www.beyouspa.com/events.html.

The cost is $40 including materials.