Scent-sual awareness

I was reading another Newsletter post in my email today, when I came across this little bit of research regarding SCENT and how it affects the way one purchases products.



"Research is showing that "sellers can actually increase both sales and the perception that they're selling quality goods" when they manipulate scents in their stores. Two kinds of odors are being looked at, the kind that come from the products themselves, and the unrelated odors that surround a buyer—intentional or not. A Canadian researcher and his team found that citrus smells increased sales, as well as the perception that the store's products were high quality. Coach (handbags) and Sony are both said to be experimenting with sensory branding in their stores. The researcher warns, however, that it's a complex equation of layering, which can backfire if a scent clashes with other scents in the retail environment." Source: http://www.theprovince.com/


I have known for many years that Scent plays an important role in how we manage ourselves and our lives. I have studied herbs and essential oils for many years and have conducted a few of my own little experiements during some of my soap making classes.



I love to see how each of us is drawn to exactly the Scent we need to create balance in our mind, body, soul, and psyche. Some days I am drawn to citrus scents when I am feeling a little down, some days I crave the scent of Lavender when I am under a lot of stress or have trouble sleeping. I sometimes even enjoy the scent of Anise (which is unusual for me), but I have come up with a few blends that include Anise where I still get the benefits without the overwhelming aroma of black licorice.



You can go to our website to get more information about Scent, Aromatherapy, and products that may help to balance your psyche. Please call or email us if you have ANY questions about our products and their use.



Do you find that article interesting? Please tell us about a time when you had been drawn to a particular plant scent or essence.

Holiday Thoughts

Holidays arrive so fast these days. I truly enjoy all the holiday happenings, the dinner parties, office parties, school parties, ok, I guess I just like spending time with people eating good food. Can you blame me?





We have some great Gift Sets for you to present your Holiday Host/Hostess when you arrive to the Holiday Parties. Please check out all the fun gift sets we have put together for you.





If you haven't yet signed up for our Newsletter, this is just a reminder to do so before our December Holiday Specials end. All newsletter subscribers get special discounts, Gift with Purchase offers, free shipping, free local delivery, and more. We want you to Pamper Yourself Pretty with Chamomile Cottage Products. Your skin will LOVE you for it!





I know this is a special time of year, but it is also a very difficult time of year for many people who may be out of work or whose hours have been cut to keep their employers in business until our economy gets back on it's feet.





I am currently working on two special orders for some of my business customers who want to give special gifts to family this season. One family member owns a winery, so I have been asked to make Wine Bar Soap, Lotion, and Liquid Soap for a gift basket using HIS wine from their family winery. I am very excited about this project and will post photos as soon as the products are ready.





We want you to know if you have a special request for a scent or soap shape we do not offer online, please email or call us. We are happy to work with you to make custom products for your special family, friends, boss, co-workers, garden club members, church associates, teachers, babysitter, dog sitter, mail carrier, delivery driver, and anyone else you want to honor with a special gift.





We can customize our Glycerin/Transparent Bar Soaps, Cold-Process Bar Soaps, Liquid Soaps, Lotions, Sugar Scrubs, Body Butters, Diffuser Oils, and more.





There is no additional charge for creating custom products, except for adding specialty Essential Oils such as Sandalwood, Rose Absolute, Jamsine, or Orange Blossom (Neroli) for example. These essential oils are extremely expensive and the price of the product would increase based on our purchase prices and the amount needed to create the product you want.





~PLEASE ASK~


Please don't hesitate to ask us about what we can do for you. We love to be creative with our products and give you want you want or need.

Family Time

We have had a long summer here in Mt. Laurel. I had a few very serious family medical emergencies starting in May and continuing throughout summer. After spending weeks in California helping my sick father take care of my bed-bound mother who is in the end stages of Alzheimer's at age 61, I came back home to my 75 year old mother-in-law who has spent most of the summer in hospitals, out of hospitals, weeks of 5+ doctor's appointments weekly and then back in the hospital two weeks ago.

All of these events have been hard on my family, but have also proved to me that my values are in the right place, putting family first. I can always get another job, I can always start another business, I can always buy another car, I can always work on my yard or house later, but I can't replace family after they are gone.

Spending time with my parents, my son, my mother-in-law, and my husband's family this summer has brought a lot of pain, uncertainty, sorrow, and emotional exhaustion, but it has also brought us much closer together. I am grateful for my loving, understanding, supportive husband, my patient 11-year old son, and my stamina. God has made us stronger this year.

I have always respected the Nursing profession greatly, but hadn't known how much they could mean to those of us who are struggling with so many medical hurdles. The nurses at the hospitals we have gotten to know this summer have become very special to our family, as I am sure many other families as well.

We had so many nominations for Nurses in June and July, it took many days to read through all of them. Thank you for taking the time to nominate someone special. We have chosen the names of the winners for our weekly Deluxe Gift Set recipients and will announce the names soon.

I would like to give a personal THANK YOU to Dottie at Virtua Memorial in S. Jersey for taking such good care of my mother-in-law, Fran, these last few days. As well as Miss Betty on the Third Floor who is a very sweet and kind a person and a great nurse.

We are very excited to unveil our Fall Product Line Photos soon - the scents will make you drool! You will certainly be late for work as you scrub with our Pumpkin Pie, Spiced Cider, Cranberry Orange Oatmeal, or Harvest Bar. These soaps are FABULOUS!

We will be offering free samples to the first 100 people who email us, we just ask that you pay for shipping. These soaps will become your new favorite. Don't miss your chance to try them for free. Email us at donna@chamomilecottage.com for your free samples.

Beach Feet

Another summer enters the South Jersey Shore. Are your feet ready for the beach?

School will be out soon, people will be packing up and heading to the shore for the summer or at least a few weeks of shore house rentals.



Beach Tips to stay healthy this summer
1. Wear sunblock when outdoors. Make sure to apply sunblock liberally to young children and reapply often during the day even if you used waterproof sunblock. Keep babies covered, face, arms, head, feet, cheeks when out in the sun. I have seen too many babies with bad sunburns at the recent craft fairs in New Jersey. Not good for babies to have sunburn. Very painful and they can't tell you they need a drink because they feel dehydrated. At least an adult or older child can tell you they are thirsty.

2. Drink lots of water and use bathrooms frequently (too much water can make you sick, too).

3. Apply lotion to your skin (and to your children's) when you are out of the sun to keep you skin moisturized.

4. If you take your pets to the beach or just out in your backyard, PLEASE make sure they have access to some shade all day and a constant supply of fresh water (if you leave them outside all day - leave a hose running into their bowl).



5. If you do get sunburned skin, make sure to drink extra fluids, use lots of lotion, and keep the sunburned skin covered and out of sunlight until it heals. If you start peeling, protect the new layer of skin extremely well to prevent more severe sunburn. You can also try our Lavender Herb Vinegar Spray with Aloe Vera Gel on sunburned skin to stop the stinging pain and with the lavender herbs infused into the vinegar, aloe gel, and lavender essential oil help to promote the healing of your skin.

Beach Package *Special Price until July 15* Only $45.00
We have a new Beach Ready package just for your "Beach Feet" and sun-drenched skin that includes an 16 ounce Super Sugar Scrub, one 8 ounce Light & Lovely Lotion, an 8 ounce spray bottle of our Lavender Vinegar Herb Spray for sunburned skin, one bottle of non-toxic fingernail polish and one bottle of non-toxic polish remover. Special bonus: 2 ounce Vinegar Herb Spray Bottle for your beach tote.





Next month will be Chamomile Cottage's Nurse Appreciation Month
We will take nominations through this month and into July for your favorite nurse then choose one Nurse each week during July to be honored. We will hand-deliver (or ship if they do not live in the S Jersey/Philadelphia/DE area) a Chamomile Cottage Deluxe Gift Set to the winner with a framed Certificate of Appreciation. If there is a nurse at your doctor's office who really listens and is attentive to your needs or symptoms, if you couldn't have gotten through your father's surgery last month without the emotional support of his ICU nurse, if you were in labor six months ago for two days and the nurse kept feeding you ice chips so you wouldn't dehydrate and spoke encouraging words to you, please send us their first and last name, the hospital or doctor's office name and address where they work and we will include them in our Appreciation Month.



Aromatherapy History Part 2


The Greeks learned a great deal from the Egyptians, but Greek mythology apparently credits the gift and knowledge of perfumes to the gods. The Greeks also recognized the medicinal and aromatic benefits of plants. Hippocrates, commonly called the "father of medicine" practiced fumigations for both aromatic and medicinal benefit. A Greek perfumer by the name of Megallus created a perfume called megaleion. Megaleion included myrrh in a fatty-oil base and served several purposes: (1) for its aroma, (2) for its anti-inflammatory properties towards the skin and (3) to heal wounds.
The Roman Empire built upon the knowledge of the Egyptians and Greeks. Discorides wrote a book called De Materia Medica that described the properties of approximately 500 plants. It is also reported that Discorides studied distillation. Distillation during this period, however, focused on extracting aromatic floral waters and not essential oils.
A major event for the distillation of essential oils came with the invention of a coiled cooling pipe in the 11th century. Persian by birth, Avicenna invented a coiled pipe which allowed the plant vapor and steam to cool down more effectively than previous distillers that used a straight cooling pipe. Avicenna's contribution lead to more focus on essential oils and their benefits.
Within the 12th century, an Abbess of Germany named Hildegard grew and distilled lavender for its medicinal properties.
Within the 13th century, the pharmaceutical industry was born. This event encourages great distillation of essential oils.
During the 14th century, the Black Death hit and killed millions of people. Herbal preparations were used extensively to help fight this terrible killer. It is believed that some perfumers may have avoided the plague by their constant contact with the natural aromatics.
Within the 15th century, more plants were distilled to create essential oils including frankincense, juniper, rose, sage and rosemary. A growth in the amount of books on herbs and their properties also begins later in the century. Paracelcus, an alchemist, medical doctor and radical thinker is credited with coining the term Essence and his studies radically challenged the nature of alchemy and he focused upon using plants as medicines.

We will have a busy summer working to launch our business ideas and products. Thank goodness we have much support from our family and friends. August will be our Family/Friend Support Appreciation Month so start thinking about who you want to nominate for August's Special Award Gift Set.

Chamomile Cottage Family

Welcome To Our First Blog

Chamomile Cottage Soaps & Learning Center

Monday, June 2, 2008

Welcome to our first blog. We want to provide you with information about all-natural products, essential oils, aromatherapy, healthier choices, our Craft Fair appearances, the wonders of New Jersey, and elsewhere as well as provide you with new Chamomile Cottage Product information and class schedules.

Enjoy!

Our first official Craft Show in Collingswood NJ was a long day, but a GREAT event. We met so many new people who were very interested in our handmade herbal products.

We had a Gift Set Giveaway that day and the winner was Andrea B from Cherry Hill, NJ. Congratulations Andrea! We're sure you'll enjoy the Lavender Rosemary Bath Salts, Super Sugar Scrub, Glycerin Soap Bar, bottle of lotion, and Great Grape Lip Balm.

Thank you to all our regular customers for coming out to see us in Collingswood that day, you all showed us great support.

Come see us in Moorestown on Saturday, June 7, 9:00AM-3:00PM for the

32nd Annual Moorestown MBA Moorestown Day.

Special products for the Summer

I know New Jersey is well known for it's beaches, boardwalk, and summer sunbathers, but please be sure to apply heavy sunblock many times daily, especially on your children who are outside all day.

If you think there's a possibility of getting too much sun, you should order a bottle of our Lavender Vinegar After-Sun Spray. It will help soothe your sunburn sting and heal your skin with the added Aloe Vera Gel and Lavender Essential Oil. You should certainly not be in the sun on these beaches without a bottle of this. Click here to purchase at our summer

kick-off *Special Price* of only $10.00.

Information about Aromatherapy (each week I will post more information for you on this subject)
The origins of aromatherapy date back thousands of years. In brief, aromatherapy is the use of volatile plant oils, including essential oils, for psychological and physical well-being. Although the term aromatherapy was not used until the 20th Century, the foundations of aromatherapy date back thousands of years. The use of essential oils in particular date back nearly one thousand years.

The Chinese may have been one of the first cultures to use aromatic plants for well-being. Their practices involved burning incense to help create harmony and balance.

Later, the Egyptians invented a rudimentary distillation machine that allowed for the crude extraction of cedarwood oil. It is also thought by some that Persia and India may have also invented crude distillation machines, but very little is known.

Oils of cedarwood, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg and myrrh were used by the Egyptians to embalm the dead. When a tomb was opened in the early 20th century, traces of the herbs were discovered with intact portions of the body. The scent, although faint, was still apparent. Although the cedarwood the Egyptians used was distilled by a crude distillation process, the other oils the Egyptians used were most likely infused oils.

The Egyptians also used infused oils and herbal preparations for spiritual, medicinal, fragrant and cosmetic use. It is thought that the Egyptians coined the term perfume, from the Latin per fumum which translates as through the smoke. Egyptian men of the time used fragrance as readily as the women. An interesting method that the men used to fragrance themselves was to place a solid cone of perfume on their heads. It would gradually melt and would cover them in fragrance.