Mineral Cosmetics

I have been researching the many brands of natural and mineral cosmetics available with the view to selling a range in my shop. I must say I was rather sceptical about putting raw crushed rocks on your face without any cream-like base to smooth them on. I also like my products to work beautifully and feel luxurious which sometimes means they cannot be completely natural.

After many hours googling I finally found a mineral cosmetic range that ticked all my boxes - attractive packaging, good website,vibrant colours, a proper lipstick (not just rock pigment but in a creamy base) and most importantly clear instructions on how to become a stockist.

It is an Australian company and all the pigments are from rocks found in Australia. All products including the lipstick are completely natural. I won't mention the name as I am still evaluating them.

I now have some samples and was pleasantly surprised by the efficacy of the foundation which comes in several shades. You simply brush the pigment onto your skin using downward strokes. I also dabbed the minerals onto blemishes with my finger which worked very well. The best thing about the foundation is that you don't feel like you've got anything on your skin which for someone who won't go out of the front door without make-up is quite a liberating feel. I have also tried mixing the foundation pigment in our face cream and this also gave good coverage.

I found the eyeshadows quite difficult to apply until my daughter suggested using a wet cotton bud. This made the colours much more irridescent and stopped the pigment from landing where you don't want it. I wasn't given a set of brushes to apply the pigments so I will definately need to get some to see if it is any easier with a proper brush. Unfortunately I wasn't sent a lipstick or blusher so I am going to get some of those before I decide to stock them.

So although I need to do some more research I may well be a convert. The lipstick will be the decider!

End of Term Pressie Rush

It's that time of year again when harrassed parents need to find gifts for their childrens' teachers, teaching assistants, matrons etc. etc. I sometimes worry that one poor teacher will end up with exactly the same present from each of her pupils.

As an ex-teacher I know how nice it is to be appreciated and I really enjoy making beautifully wrapped gifts to make people feel special.

Gift buying can be stressful especially if you don't want it to be a token present. So I spend a lot of my time dreaming up different gift ideas and how they are going to packaged. Good packaging is often the most expensive and time-consuming part of creating a brand.

Luckily, as a small manufacturer, I can try out different ideas in my shop and online to see what appeals. Men are attracted to different styles of packaging to women and are always grateful if they don't have to wrap it.

With online shopping you don't even have to post it yourself, that's my job!

Six months to Christmas

Its six months to Christmas and seems I am already too late! The lovely on-line home of independent shops and producers like myself, http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/ is sending out Christmas stockings and press releases to magazines and newspapers already and I still haven't got my photos sorted let alone finalised all my gift offerings.

But my beautiful Artful Teasing labelled gift boxes have finally arrived and so I can get going at last. I've had them custom made to fit my personalised bath oils and natural soy wax candles but I am sure I can think of a few other things to put in them.

Merry Christmas!!!

Trade Mark Dilemma

I've wanted to start a new brand for some time. My customers love the pure essential oils I use to fragrance my products but I'm afraid you just can't get essential oils from some of our most popular plants. Take bluebell for instance, you can get a hyacinth absolute which is a wonderful heady perfume, but it has a heavy, earthy base note which dominates over time. Not at all like my gorgeous Woodland Bluebell fragrance with it's wonderful green freshness.

So I want to keep using my beautiful floral fragrances that my customers love so much but which don't really fit into the Artful Teasing ethos which is grounded in the use of natural oils. Hence the need for a new brand name.

My fantastic graphic designer, Janice, suggested 'From the Garden' which we I thought was great; floral fragrances inspired by our magnificent Sussex gardens especially for you or a loved one. I did the searches - nothing on google, hurrah! The web address was free - even better. But my husband (in his infinite wisdom) did a Trade Mark search - disappointment. It has been registered by a well known soap manufacturer from the USA.

Apparently companies spend thousands of pounds registering catchy sounding phrases which they might never use. Oh well, back to the drawing board..... So I am going to call my floral fragrance brand 'A Garden So Lovely' and have 'from the garden' as a tag line. A comprimise but I can live with it.

So bluebell, lily of the valley, gillyflower ........ you can be in my lotions and potions 'from a garden' called 'a garden so lovely'.