Skincare Naturals » Recipes

Dark African Natural Cocoa Butter Prebuy Sale

Jan — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 03:38:39 +0000

Here is a bit about the Cocoa Butter…

The dark African Natural Cocoa Butter ™ you find at Skincare Care Naturals differs from the other cocoa butters we stock (organic steam deodorized and organic unrefined) in one major way, it hasn’t been through the fermentation/roasting process that is used to separate the cocao butter or cocoa powder from the bean.

It hasn’t been through the fermentation/roasting process that is used to separate the cocao butter or cocoa powder from the bean.

This leaves all the anti-oxidant (flavonoids) and natural fats, trace minerals and vitamins, intact, making African Natural as close to raw as you can get.

The fermentation and roasting are what create the chocolate taste and smell of processed cocoa butter.

Despite smelling and tasting different than processed cocoa butter, African Natural has all the same physical characteristics except for colour.

This butter smells like the cocoa we make hot cocoa from, which is part of the reason that it is such a popular ingredient. Dark Cocoa Butter is softer and slightly more greasy than other cocoa butters, but absorbs very quickly into the skin.

Use in skin care formulations requiring a thickening agent that will also create a smoothing & moisturizing effect on the skin.

Non-greasy and velvety smooth – it literally sinks right into your skin and hair used in small amounts. Delish!

Physical Specifications

Scent: Smells like cocoa to me. NOTE: The scent in this butter is not strong enough to scent most end products on its own.

Colour: Cocoa – Dark brown blackish colour.

Absorption: Absorbs easily into skin

Benefits: Great for use as a smoothing, moisturizing, thickening agent in soaps & other skin care formulations.

Gives a unique colour – excellent for summer time skin care products if you are wanting to make a dark brown product – or use just a little to control the depth of the final product colour.

I like to use cocoa butters in general for their powdery feel – this one has a totally decadent smoothness too it as well. Besides, it’s just really cool!

No cocoa butter collection is complete without dark cocoabutter. Helps with the prevention of stretch marks. Rich in Vitamin E & anti-oxidants.

Practical Uses…

Dark Cocoa Butter is great to use in your skin care formulations to take advantage of it’s moisturizing, softening, & smoothing effects. It makes a very unique marbly brown soap.

Nice if used in oils such as olive, jojoba or avocado. Or for a really yummy scent, try it with virgin coconut oil.

Dark Cocoa Butter is like any other cocoa butter – you can use it to moisturize your skin and help with the prevention of stretch marks during pregnancy or any time that rapid weight gain (or loss!) is predicted.

Great for use in recipes when a thicker or harder texture is desired. May also help to counteract against the sticky texture of certain fats, such as shea butter.

NOTE: It really is dark in colour and may stain clothing and skin. I did have some melt on a white tablecloth and it did come out when I hand scrubbed it with laundry detergent but it’s something to be aware of.

To see a few ways that I’ve used it for soap…

CROCK POT SOAP (great potential to make a lovely Tigers Eye gem soap)

http://skincarenaturals.com/natural-skin-care-blog/blog/recipes/black-cocoa-butter-homemade-soap-recipe/

HALLOWEEN SOAP

http://skincarenaturals.com/natural-skin-care-blog/blog/recipes/spooktacular-halloween-soap-recipe/

Storage Recommendations Store Dark Cocoa Butter in a tightly sealed container, out of direct sunlight. Will have a shelf-life of up to 3 years under proper storage conditions.

TREAT YOUR SKIN THE HOMEMADE, NATURAL WAY! Dark Cocoa Butter is a great ingredient to use in your all-natural soap and skin care products. Take comfort not only in knowing exactly what ingredients are in the products you are using everyday, but also that your ingredients are 100% pure and natural!

PRICING DETAILS…

Dark African Natural Cocoa Butter Prebuy Sale

Pricing excluding taxes and shipping to you.

25kg – 470.00 (price pr lb – 8.85)
10kg – 200.00 (price per lb – 9.41)
5kg – 105.00 (price per lb – 9.88)
5lbs – 53.00 (price per lb – 10.60)
1kg – 26.00 (price per lb – 12.24)

Order/payment deadline is Sunday Dec. 11

Expected mailout date from me to you is Monday Dec. 19 – 22th.
(note: if that date has to be updated I will keep all participants posted as ordering during the
Christmas Season can be unpredictable.)

Accepted payment method is paypal (using account or credit card processed through paypal) or email transfer.

Money Orders and Cheques are accepted but delivery schedule will be adjusted according to the time line of receipt by me and when
the bank clears the cheque.

Pricing after the prebuy…

25kg – 495.00 (price pr lb – 9.32)
10kg – 225.00 (price per lb – 10.59)
5lbs – 75.00 (price per lb – 15.00)
1lb – 14.99

NOTE:

In order to keep stock fresh and to guarantee you price breaks for supporting
Skincare Naturals, I’ve created the following pricing scale for bulk items.

PREBUY - deepest discounts – preorder – waiting time depending on
demand. Wait time is typically 1 – 2 weeks for 25kg sizes. Smaller sizes will
depend on demand and current stock. I will contact you with any details of the
buy. If for some reason the buy is cancelled you will receive a full refund
within this time frame, or sooner if you let me know

QUICK BUY – overstock pricing – temporary discounted pricing – ship time 1 -
3 days.

REGULAR PRICING – in stock – ship time 1 – 3 days.

CURRENT PRICE SCALE

Current pricing for Dark African Natural Cocoa Butter is QUICK BUY for 5lb size, regular price

other sizes – 25kg is always preorder pricing as it is not an in stock item.

ORDER HERE…

8oz and 16oz sizes…

http://www.skincarenaturals.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=5513284

5lb, 10kg and 25kg sizes…

http://www.skincarenaturals.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=6305174

Using Thanksgiving Leftovers for Homemade Skin Care Videos

Jan — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:50:43 +0000

Thanksgiving leftovers for skin care? You bet!

Here are a few videos that I thought you might enjoy to help you clean out your fridge and freshen up your skin.

How to Use Leftovers – on Your Face!

BellaSugarTV: bella.popsugar.tv Facebook facebook.com Twitter: twitter.com This holiday season, find out how your skin can benefit from a Thanksgiving feast. Watch our video to see which fall ingredients make the best beauty boosters, and how to make…

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Leftover Facials

Beauty Expert Stacy Cox showed how Thanksgiving leftovers can be used to reduce wrinkles and under-eye swelling.

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Cranberry Ninja Facial Mask

A fast and easy “double duty” facial mask that you can do yourself! Home-made and organic, this fresh and fab concoction encompasses all of your skin care needs!

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“The Great Pumpkin Facial”

Embrace the autumn season with this tutorial on how to make a fabulous homemade, organic mask in no time at all! Right from your own kitchen, create something that will make your skin glow better and brighter than any jack-o-lantern!

Thanksgiving Facial

Sweet Potato rejuvenating mask facial. Ingredients: 1 Sweet potato or yam. 1 egg Cinnamon Honey DIRECTIONS: Boil sweet potato till tender. Peel skin off potato. Smash potato. Add egg to potato. Add cinnamon and honey to potato. Spread on face and lea…

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LOOKING FOR INGREDIENTS?

If you want a few things to help spruce up your Thanksgiving face mask, you can get some great exfoliants and clays at Skincare Naturals - your do it yourself one stop.

Homemade Face Mask Clays

Green and Clean – Window Cleaner

Jan — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 15:31:30 +0000

I’ve been cleaning windows like crazy around here (btw, that’s not me or my windows. But I like them!).

I can’t believe the difference it makes, and with spring just around the corner, it just seems the right thing to do.

Why not let the sun shine in!

My new favourite glass polisher is plain old rubbing alcohol. It lifts grease, finger prints and adds loads of shine.

Here’s how I use it.

1. Clean the windows with a cloth and water in a pail with some essential oils and soap in it. A good sponge works well for the stuck on stuff once it’s been softened up by the water. This works very well on fly doo doo – we had a huge amount of flies around here last summer – it seemed to be their year. If your windows aren’t so dirty you can use a spray bottle with water and essential oils added. Be sure to shake it first.

2. Wipe with a dry cloth to get most of the water off.

3. Slightly dampen a cotton pad with water. It seems to boost the rubbing alcohol and you don’t need as much.

4. Put a bit of rubbing alcohol on the cotton pad. The magic begins.

5. Shine your window. It will come up like glass! It also will get the residual dirt and grime along with a little germ killing action.

I use it to polish the front of my microwave too. It’s never looked better! (you may want to do a test spot on yours if you try it, it may depend on what kind of microwave you have.)

Here are a few more ideas for making your own environmentally friendly window cleaners.

Making Your Own Non-Toxic Window Cleaner

Window-washing may not seem like a potentially harmful activity (unless you fall off of a ladder).

But there are potentially harmful chemicals such as solvents in commercial window cleaners, and each time you use them you are inhaling toxic chemicals, getting them on your skin, and putting them into the environment.

Below are some inexpensive, easy-to-make recipes for effective window cleaners. You probably have some of these ingredients on hand. If not, these products are inexpensive and diluted with water so they last a long time.

1. Vinegar
No list of home-made cleaning products would be complete without some mention of vinegar. A germ killer and grease cutter, white vinegar (not apple cider, balsamic or other “fancy” vinegars) is responsible for those streak-free, clear results we all desire for our windows. You can clean windows with just vinegar and water - 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon vinegar per 2 cups of water (going too heavy on the vinegar may cause fogging). Or, you can combine this ratio with:

2. Liquid soap
To the above vinegar-water solution, add 1/2 teaspoon castile soap or other biodegradable, natural liquid soap. Spray on, wipe with a soft cloth, and use a squeegee to scrape off the remaining cleaner. If you just have bar soap (a pure coconut soap works wonders as a cleaner – especially on stainless steel) you can soak it in what ever liquid you are using for a few minutes – some will dissolve into the solution.

Simply using soap and water is an option, too. Mix 1 tablespoon castile soap with 2 cups of water. Soak a sponge in this soapy water and apply liberally to windows. Use a squeegee to remove the excess and wipe dry with crumpled newspaper or a soft cloth. If you want to use bar soap, just shred a little into the water and shake gently as it dissolves. Be careful not to use too much or it will clog and become too thick – a little dab will do!

3. Club soda
Perhaps you have heard of club soda’s ability to remove stains. It can also be used to wash windows. Combine 1 tablespoon white vinegar per cup of club soda and spray onto windows. Use a soft cloth or crumpled newspaper to get streak-free results. I have personally never tried club soda to wash windows. I would love to hear from you if you have.

I like to do my windows when it is not too cold so that the water/window cleaner solution doesn’t dry fast enough and not too hot so that it dries too fast – both result in streaks. A nice sunny day that warms the windows is just right – and makes for an enjoyable task. Crank the tunes and your all set!

A good non toxic environmentally friendly window cleaner is so easy and cheap to make, there is no reason to use chemical cleaners that not only pollute the environment, they also get in your lungs and on your skin (which then may be absorbed into your bloodstream).

Especially if you have the kids help – and press their fingers, noses and tongues and what ever else is handy against them on a regular basis!

And when you use essential oils, there is so much flexibility and choice as to what scent you feel like infusing your home with, it’s just a matter of a few drops to change your home from citrus, floral, spice or coniferous. Can’t beat that!

Grab your own Green Cleaning Kit here.