Photo by muha…

I was working on a large order a few days ago and after running around with all the tasks that had to be done I came to the conclusion that after a 12 hour day, there were still some tasks left that I had to get done. I was exhausted, my back ached, I needed a mini spa break in a big way! But after using this easy and quick fatigue beater, I felt energized and ready to finish my work. And just as important, after getting only about 4 hours of sleep I woke up feeling rested and refreshed. How was that possible? With a special bath. Yes, by adding bath salts made with epsom salts and aromatherapy essential oils to a warm bath, I was able to both recharge and relax allowing me to have that extra burst of energy when I needed it most. We all have times when we have a lot to do and not enough time to get it done without rushing and a lot of stress. If you can spare about 15 minutes for a bath, you can reclaim some of that lost energy to save the day.

The key ingredients of these stress relieving bath salts include epsom salt, lavender and sweet orange essential oils. Epsom salt helps to soothe muscle aches and promotes relaxation and stress relief. Lavender essential oil helps to relieve restlessness, calm nervousness, and promote feelings of relaxation and peace. The delicious fragrance of sweet orange essential oil uplifts the spirits.

The next time you feel stretched to the limit try an epsom salt bath to help you feel more energized, rest better and end your day on a peaceful note.

Disclaimer Note: This information is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any health issue, ailment or illness. Please consult your doctor or health care professional for any health concerns you may have.

Photo by: beamillion

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Olive oil is one of nature’s best kept beauty secrets. Olive oil skin care products have been used for centuries to moisturize, condition and protect dry skin. Pure olive oil, used to make luxurious body butters, and moisture rich bath soaps is an abundant source of antioxidant nutrients that condition and repair skin for smooth youthful texture and softness. Olive oil is non-comedogenic and absorbs into skin without clogging pores.

The moisturizing benefits of olive oil improves skin suppleness and elasticity to make skin feel softer while smoothing dry skin lines and wrinkles. The benefit of helping to improve skin suppleness also makes olive oil body butters an effective skin conditioning treatment to help prevent stretch marks during pregnancy. Olive oil body scrubs exfoliate skin while providing rich moisture that leaves skin smooth, soft and glowing. Pure, natural olive oil soap cleanses without drying to maintan the natural moisture balance of healthy skin.

Natural olive oil body butters, and olive oil soaps produce the best results when these products contain high concentrations of pure olive oil. Skin care products containing an abundance of this nutrient rich oil are a superb choice for cleansing, moisturizing and protecting dry and sensitive skin.

Photo by aubergene

Several years ago, as I began to enjoy fine incense, I came across the hand dipped charcoal variety. This incense (if dipped with high quality essential and fragrance oils) has a smooth, soft fragrance that is absolutely wonderful! Being the craftsperson that I am, I decided to start hand dipping my own, experimenting with my favorite perfume and essential oils. The results were fantastic, creating some of the best charcoal incense I have ever found!

The characteristic that sets charcoal incense apart from other incense is its purity of fragrance. Charcoal burns with little fragrance of its own, allowing the true fragrance of the incense to be released into the air, lingering long after the incense has been burned.

Burning incense can create a peaceful environment that enhances the experience of meditation and relaxation. Incense has been used for centuries to scent the air of houses of worship, and to promote inspired thought.

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For more information about EsanSpa hand dipped incense click here.

For interesting information about the origins of incense, click here.

Injoy!

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An effective spa beauty treatment to smooth and soften dry, rough hands is a natural sugar scrub. You will be surprised at how soft and pretty hands look and feel after this quick treat! The skin of our hands really takes a beating on a daily basis, and hands are one of the first areas to show signs of aging. Sun, cold, and exposure to dirt and harsh chemicals (especially those found in common household cleaning products), dries the skin of our hands leaving them looking rough, dehydrated and wrinkled.

A moisture rich natural sugar scrub works wonders to get rid of dry skin and restore youthful softness. This quick and easy hand treatment reveals fresh new skin that absorbs moisturizers better and minimizes fine lines and wrinkles. The bonus here is that a sugar scrub is great for getting rid of dull, dry skin and bringing a radiant healthy glow to the rest of your body too!

Hand Spa Treatment

You will need:

Natural Foaming Sugar Scrub

For the spa treatment:

- Wet hands.

- Scoop a quarter size amount of foaming sugar scrub into palms and massage into hands, working scrub into a creamy lather. (I like to include arms up to the elbow in my hand scrub treatment too.) Scrub as if you are washing your hands (including arms if you like), for a minute or so. Rinse.

- Apply a rich moisturizing cream and you’re done.

Now hands look and feel glowing and beautiful!

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I just opened a new shipment of organic shea butter to check quality this morning. Shea butter is a natural product and as natural things go, some batches are softer or firmer, more granular or smoother in texture, etc. So I wanted to see what I have this time. As I cracked the seal on a gallon tub and looked inside I discovered that this batch of shea butter is…. beautiful! Smooth, creamy textured with an ivory white shade tinged with the palest yellow. I dipped in a spoon, (no - not to eat it) just to massage some into my hand. It was at this moment, as I admired the feel of my skin after applying a little bit of this buttery bliss, that I started to think of all the natural beauty benefits of shea butter.

Shea Butter Benefits

Shea butter is one of the most effective natural dry skin care and antiaging beauty treatments available. It helps to improve skin tone and elasticity which helps skin look smoother, moisturizing dry skin and making wrinkling less noticeable. Shea butter evens skin tone by helping to fade dark spots and blotches, while getting rid of dry skin. After an application of shea butter, skin becomes softer and more supple. It looks younger, with a natural healthy radiance.

Shea butter also:

- Softens and moisturizes feet (especially effective for dry heels).

- Is an excellent massage butter, providing smooth glide while absorbing into skin without feeling greasy.

- Moisturizes and helps to keep skin supple during pregnancy, helping to reduce the appearance of stretch marks.

- Soothes and moisturizes baby’s sensitive skin, helps to eliminate cradle cap and protects skin against diaper irritation.

Shea butter is an excellent addition to your daily beauty regimen. With regular use of shea butter products, your skin will look and feel its beautiful best.

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Today I have an announcement about my new Essential Oil Perfumes. Inspired by the pure essential oil blends I use in my body butters, creams and soaps, I wanted to intensify these wonderful natural fragrances for a longer lasting scent. I’ve been working to get the essential oil concentrations just right and now the 1st fragrances are available at EsanSpa.com.

I am a big fan of essential oil perfumes because they are natural, however some of these fragrances may not be very long lasting. But, I think you will find that EsanSpa Essential Oil Perfumes last for hours. Essential oils tend to have very delicate fragrances that evaporate quickly when exposed to air and light. Nevertheless, the aroma of many essential oils including lavender, jasmine and geranium to name a few can be extended by blending them with more stable essential oils with longer lasting fragrances. During my product “tests” I sometimes thought my fragrance had evaporated but was surprised by a compliment by someone asking me about the scent I was wearing. So my Essential Oil Perfume was still there, lingering softly!

I blend EsanSpa Essential Oil Perfumes in a carrier oil base of jojoba oil, which is not oily at all and absorbs into your skin very quickly. These fragrances are packaged in a convenient glass rollerball applicator that is convenient to use and take with you.

EsanSpa Essential Oil Perfume fragrances include:

Wild Jasmine: A soft, romantic floral blend of jasmine, crisp citrus and exotic ylang ylang.

Ginger Tea: A classic and exotic blend of cassia (similar to cinnamon), clove, patchouli and fresh citrus. This fragrance has the unique characteristic of mellowing and softening with the warmth of the body to further enhance its enchanting scent! It is a wonderful fragrance on men and women.

Peaceful: A soft herbal lavender fragrance with floral notes of lavender, geranium, ylang ylang and a hint of citrus. This aromatic perfume blend has a clean, fresh fragrance with a unique, calming aromatherapy quality.

I have plans to add more fragrances to this line in the next few months, and I”ll be announcing them here as each fragrance is released.

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If you have hard, cracked heels and dry feet you can be on your way to smooth sandal ready feet in minutes with this relaxing foot spa treatment. The key ingredient is a natural foaming sugar scrub. Sugar contains alpha hydroxy acids that dissolve dry skin while sugar granules polish for feet that look and feel incredibly soft and smooth. The added bonus is the relaxation you will also enjoy. The scrubbing action of sugar granules creates a great massage for the feet. After this foot spa treatment you will feel more relaxed and peaceful.

With the time investment of about 15 minutes, this foot treatment will allow you to “put your best foot forward” with feet that look and feel smooth and soft.

Men enjoy this foot treatment too. Massaging the feet and getting rid of hard, dry skin makes feet feel surprisingly comfortable.

For this Sugar Spa Foot Treatment you will need:

Natural Foaming Sugar Scrub: The best sugar scrubs for feet contain natural soap that provide foaming action to both cleanse and provide “glide” that allows hands to move smoothly over feet for a more effective and relaxing massage.

Moisturizer: Olive body butters and shea butters work wonders for dry feet. Look for body butters and creams that contain natural oils including shea butter, olive oil and soybean oil. These natural oils absorb into skin to moisturize and condition feet.

Foot Spa Treatment

1 - Exfoliate. In tub or foot bath, wet feet. Apply sugar scrub to foot (an amount about the size of a quarter) and massage. As sugar scrub begins to lather, continue to massage for a few moments. Repeat with other foot. Rinse.

2 - Dry feet.

3 - Moisturize. While feet are still moist, apply body butter or cream and massage into feet to condition skin and protect against dryness.

Depending on the severity of dry skin on the feet, the first foot spa treatment may completely solve the problem. If hardened dry skin remains, use this foot spa treatment each week until feet are smooth and soft.

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If you have ever wanted beautiful healthy lookin skin, but were not sure how to get started, I have some easy to follow natural skin care tips that product amazing results. But before I get started, I would like to welcome you to the new EsanSpa blog! Although I have been making natural skin care, bath, and spa products for many years (about 16), I am brand new to blogging.

For my olive oil skin care, shea butter and spa products visit: EsanSpa.com

1 - Drink water, water and more water.
Water hydrates all skin cells and is essential for moisturizing and balancing skin. Drink a minimum of 8 glasses per day. An abundance of pure water is best. Your body has to work to obtain water from all other types of liquids, including juice and tea.

2 - Use olive oil, shea butter and other vegetable oil soaps.
These natural skin care soaps provide gentle effective cleansing without drying or irritating your skin.

3 - Cut back on long hot baths and showers (dry skin).
Hot baths and showers feel marvelous, but you are removing natural oils from your skin. Warm water is best, and try not to bathe/shower for more than 5 minutes.

4 - Gently pat “blot” your skin dry with a towel after bathing or showering.
Brisk rubbing with your towel removes natural oils from your skin. Blot skin dry to allow towel to absorb excess moisture.

5 - Exfoliate once or twice each week.
Skin looks naturally radiant after treatment with an exfoliating product (my favorite is a wonderfully fragrant all natural sugar scrub made with pure olive oil, sugar, and citrus essential oils) or tool (loofah, mesh sponge, ayate cloth, etc.). After exfoliation new skin cells absorb moisturizing products more effectively, and retain moisture better. Exfoliation also increases circulation, tones skin and helps to get rid of cellulite.

Start your exfoliation regimen with a sugar scrub, or use a loofah or mesh sponge with a natural vegetable soap, and give skin a good polish. Be careful not to use too much pressure or excessive scrubbing the first time you exfoliate, as this can irritate skin. Massage gently during the first few sessions, and gradually increase the amount of pressure and duration. Skin becomes less sensitive to exfoliation over time with regular, once or twice per week sessions. Committment to exfoliating your skin at least once per week will reward you with super smooth, radiant skin.

6 - Moisturize skin with pure botanical (plant based) skin care products.
Effective moisturizing is essential for balancing and protecting skin. Pure shea butter and olive oil skin care products are excellent moisturizers for dry skin. For best results, apply moisturizer while skin is still damp after bath or shower, to seal in water hydration.

7 - For a natural toner try floral waters.
Tone and balance facial skin with a light mist of floral water (hydrosol) such as rose (all skin types, best for dry skin), lavender (oily and combination skin), or orange blossom (oily skin). Mist face with these softly fragrant natural toners before appying your moisturizer. After misting, cup palms and gently “press” the mist into your skin until skin feels moist not wet, then apply moisturizer. Your skin will absolutely love this nourishing water hydration and thank you with softness that lasts all day.

8 - Add more fresh fruits and vegetables to your diet for optimal nutrition.

9 - Cut back (or cut out) sugary sodas and sweetened drinks.

10 - Get enough rest. Yes, there is such a thing as beauty sleep!

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