A Publication of The Indie Beauty Network
ISSN 1530-9630 | Volume 7, Issue 3
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1. IBN Member Update: Welcome New & Renewing IBN Members!
2. Handmade Beauty Business Magazine: 1Q 2006 Issue!
3. Lifestyle CEO Report: Special Guest Lisa Price Will Join Me!
4. Get Fit In 2006 With the IBN BIO Challenge!
5. Handmade Beauty Trivia Question: win something wonderful!
6. Handmade Beauty Product Review: Shea Lotion
7. Feature Article: A Renaissance Woman For The Ages
8. Nominate Your Choice For The 2006 Handmade Beauty Business of the Year!
9. Products Liability Insurance Update: Read Our Letter To RLI

This Week's Recipe: Coconut Orange Dry Skin Butter (this link will open a new window to the recipe so after checking it out, you can easily come back here to enjoy the rest of the newsletter!)

The 1Q 2006 issue of the Handmade Beauty Business Magazine is underway! There will be several exciting features, among them: (1) an update on the products liability insurance issue; (2) a feature on members with physical retail or spa locations (if you have one and wish to be included, email me right away!); (3) a feature on men's grooming products (if you have some, let me know!); (4) an interview with a member who is using handmade beauty to take "doing well by doing good to a whole new level" and more!

"We have received copy of the magazine and love it. What a classy publication -- it's the Bible for the handmade products industry." Remah and Omileye Joseph, ISLANDTHERAPY, United Kingdom"

If you are a member of IBN, your subscription is included in your annual dues! Join IBN and get your subscription included with your membership! Or subscribe today!

"The Handmade Beauty Business Magazine is wonderful! I can read the sense of pride and accomplishment in the "Thank You" article in the back. What an accomplishment, and proof positive that a dream can be lived." Niambi Davis, Sand and Silk, Maryland

Please support our magazine sponsors! To learn how you can associate your brand with the first and only full color print magazine representing our growing industry, click here to request our Media Kit!

I love OUR new magazine! Just dropping a line to let you know I received the Handmade Beauty Business magazine and it is TERRIFIC! I really loved the article about Dennis and Kayla of Essential Wholesale. What they went through with their business mirrors what we are going through (have gone through) now! What an inspiration!" Jay Ento, Designs by ONE, California

\Life.Style CEO\n. A person who owns and manages a business, not solely for financial gain, but also to enjoy the personal rewards of entrepreneurship, independence, flexibility and fun.

What else is in store at Lifestyle CEO:

• Conference - Lisa Price of IBN member Carol's Daughter (recently featured in Vogue and Celebrity Living magazines) has been confirmed as a speaker at the first Lifestyle CEO Conference on January 28, 2006 in Washington, DC. Register today! Licensed child care is available! Email me if you'd like a personal "Suggestion" sent to someone who loves you to give you the Conference as the ultimate holiday gift to support your business endeavors! Spaces are filling up -- reserve yours today!
• Blog - Come blog with me about everything from business to life and everything in between! New blogs include an inspirational message to encourage you to dream big and move toward your dreams!
• Book - Set for publication next month, and featuring the revolutionary new "Lifestyle CEO Business Action Model (BAM!!) Copies can be reserved for shipping next month!
• Meet other IBN members at the Conference! They're coming from all over -- New Jersey, Texas, New York and in between!

Please read the contest rules here before submitting your entry. Put "TRIVIA CONTEST ANSWER" in the subject line or your answer will not be considered. While time does not permit me to respond personally to all entrants, the winner's name will be announced in the next newsletter!

Shea Lotion
8 oz. | $21.00 or 16 oz. | $40.00

Beauty, simplicity, order and grace -- that's the Morgan Jane "mantra," according to designer, owner and IBN member Morgan Miller. I think they've hit on all 4 with this wonderful Shea Lotion. Made with shea butter and meadowfoam oil and other natural ingredients that make it rich and thick, it also has a subtle blend of essential oils. No fragrance oils in this simply beautiful product! My nose has lost a lot of it's power by not spending as much time with essential oils as I used to, but I swear I smell spices. Just a touch though -- more like a hint of spice.

But the best part is the rich texture which smoothes easily into my skin without leaving a really greasy feeling. This product offers intensive therapy on a number of levels, especially with simple, natural, pure essential oils. It's a moisturizer that's hard to beat! I've been keeping it in my car between the front seats so it's at the ready during these cold winter months. Waiting at a red light, stop sign or in traffic can't bother me since I just whip out my Shea Lotion and soothe my self, my skin and my nerves all at the same time. 

I wonder if road rage would decrease if everyone had a bottle of Shea Lotion in their cars? You can "test drive" it for yourself and see at Morgan Jane! While you're there, note the smooth, clean lines of their beautiful labels and packaging (some of the best I've seen!) and pick up some dobby and baby care goodies too!

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Alicia Grosso owns Annabella and Company Creativity Collective, a group of handmade toiletries that are sold under several brands, including Aunt Bunny and Bunny’s Garden. In addition to being a soapmaker, Alicia Grosso, is the author of “The Everything Soap Book” and “Soapmaking: A Magickal Guide," a Senior Lecturer in Theater and one of the speakers at the upcoming Lifestyle CEO Conference.

About Alicia

Alicia calls herself an “interdisciplinary artist.” She is currently a Senior Lecturer of theatre at University of Southern California. She teaches many courses including Introduction to the Theatre, Stage Makeup, Introduction to Technical Theatre, Directing and Stage Properties. She’s been on stage as an actor and performer and behind stage directing. “I’m a good enough actor, but my heart lies in teaching, directing and design," she says. Her primary daytime focus is her teaching job, but at home, she morphs into a leader of a different kind.

The Collective

“I’ve always been fascinated by communities of artists and I observed that my home has been a hub for artistic activity and a gathering place for artists, “says Alicia. “My husband John and I hear all the time that our home is a place a rest and renewal, and that people feel creatively energized by being there.” Alicia calls her husband John Rivera “the energetic force that makes my life possible. He is unfailingly supportive, a willing test subject, a tough and honest critic and my biggest fan.” “Our home is open to friends, students and family,” she adds, “and once a person has contributed creative energy to Annabella, they are a member of the Collective if they want to be.

The Collective is made up of real, incredible women. Many women, and some men, have contributed creative energy in many forms throughout the years.” Alicia says the company began with her and her friend Julianna, whose husband sometimes calls her Annabella, hence the name. Alicia and Julianna started Annabella and Company when they were making and selling hats, handbags and earrings in the early 1990s. “The hat and earring thing was kind of an accident, “she says. “Julianna and I were not literally starving artists, but we didn’t have much extra money and would save up about $30 a month and treat ourselves to a lunch at Farfalla Restaurant in West Hollywood.”

At the time the two were working together on theatre projects and spent a lot of time on the run. The lunch was their treat, a chance to shed the paint-covered jeans image and put on lipstick. The women were both crafters so their “dress” for lunch would include crocheted handbags, and earrings and hats they’d made. “Frequently women would ask where we bought our accessories and offered to buy them right off our bodies when we said that we’d made them,” she says. “We made a concerted effort at selling for awhile, but we didn’t get the business we needed to continue it on a casual basis and with day jobs and theatre projects at night we didn’t have time to put more into it.”

Julianna moved to San Francisco and Alicia continued to make rayon crochet handbags for private clients. “Then in the spring of 1995, I was offered a job as a teacher at USC, right at the same time I’d started making salve,” she says. “Being a theater teacher at a university was my dream job, and I went into it with great energy and enthusiasm,” she says. “For a while it was a part-time job, so I taught myself to make soap to go with the salve.”
As her teaching job expanded, Annabella and Company also expanded and the only money she had to begin her toiletries business came from what she made selling her crocheted handbags to private clients.

Annabella’s Wares

Alicia stills makes crocheted bags, earrings and necklaces off and on, she says, to complement some of her product lines. She has a new line called Avalonia that includes earrings and meditation beads along with soap, lotion, fragrance and small crochet bags she makes from yarn she makes. (That's not a typo -- she makes crochet bags from yarn that she also makes -- you read that correctly!) “It’s a perfect example of multiple facets of my life coming together -- jewelry design, soap and toiletries, fiber arts and spirituality,” says Alicia.

Alicia makes everything from scratch except melt and pour soap. Her products include cold process soap, lotions, cream, balms, butters, scrubs, bath teas, lip products, hair conditioner, aromatherapy blends, natural perfume, and others. “I’m always in process,” she says. “Some things I’ve been doing include refining the aesthetics of color swirling in my soap, reformulating my basic soap formula to offset the alarming increase in the price of olive oil, learning about hair conditioner ingredients and formulating a private label conditioner for my friend who is a very talented hair designer.”

Alicia is also working with exfoliants. “I’m a big fan of exfoliation, especially bamboo sap grains and ground vanilla beans. I’m trying to create the perfect foaming exfoliating facial cleanser. Her best selling product is and always has been Bunny’s Garden Soothing Salve, which has a dedicated following. “It was the first thing I made on purpose and people love it,” she says. “I love it! It smells good, feels good, it does many things, it is inexpensive and it has a bunny on the label (I have a rabbit obsession as you can tell from the names of my product lines.). I’m a gardener and I made it for myself and other gardeners.” (Annabella's products are available for wholesale too!)

What Lies Ahead

Alicia says she keeps the selling part of her business “strictly limited” and, besides internet sales, she only sells soap and toiletries at two events a year. She keeps this business small on purpose. “Although I’ve had many opportunities to go full time, I continue to choose not to,” she says. “If that changes, I have all the systems in place to move it to the next level including a business plan.”

She says there are a number of variable that might line up that could make going “full time” a viable option. “What I do know for sure is that my creative drive is unquenchable and I know I’ll be creating new things during the next three to five years and beyond, “says Alicia.

Tips for Handmade Beauty Business Owners

Alicia says one of the most useful guidelines she’s found is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. “Maslow orders from bottom to top the things that humans need. At the base are physiological needs, safety need, belongingness, love and esteem,” she says. “Once the ‘base’ is in place, you move to the next level, which is the need to know and understand and the need for aesthetics. When those are working, then you can move to self-actualization and transcendence.”

For Alicia what this means is that “you have to create a strong base from which you can venture. You need a job that can provide a secure home and a network of family and friends. Keeping the job, paying the rent, interacting with your network all work together to create that secure base.” For her the base includes the spiritual. “I think a strong sense of spiritual direction is very important,” she says. “my spiritual group and the personal growth work I do with them are very beneficial to me in all aspects of my life.”

Alicia adds that you risk that base when you begin a venture like a small business. “If you’re able to hang on and transform the source of your money from your ‘job’ to your business, you’ve made it farther than most people,” she says. “You also need to become an expert, like dM says,” Alicia adds. “The way you do that is to study, create, work, push yourself, get feedback, revise, practice and work some more. You really need the skills to back up your assertions. Positive attitude and desire are good, but you really do need to know what you are talking about. Learn by doing!

Connecting With IBN

Alice joined IBN in early 2002. “IBN has provided me with information and inspiration,” says Alicia. “Every week I make time to read this  newsletter. I look at every new and renewing member’s website, read the articles and even enter the contest! I won once and got a consultation with dM that helped me get the confidence I needed to move forward with a project that is ready for a big promotional push.”

A Renaissance Woman For The Ages

The dictionary defines "renaissance" as "of, relating to or characteristic of the artistic and intellectual works and styles of the Renaissance era." Alicia Grosso is here in the 21st century redefining that term to include this very day and age. Her unique combination of level-headedness and the ability to know how much risk she can tolerate at any particular time in her life, she sets an example we can all follow: Pursue your dreams, pace yourself and enjoy the journey. And speaking of pacing yourself, Alicia can fill retail and wholesale orders with notice. Products are described and many are photographed at her website, but if you don't see what you're looking for, contact Alicia by email.

Help IBN Celebrate 6 Years of Serving the Handmade Beauty Industry!! 

Nominations are now being accepted for the Handmade Beauty Business of the Year Awards!!

The nominations are rolling in! To celebrate, with your help, we will honor a member who exemplifies the spirit and tenacity of the handmade beauty industry. Our goal is to recognize and share the winner's amazing accomplishments in the hopes that others will be encouraged to pursue their dreams. The winner will also be posted to IBN's website, included in the Handmade Beauty Business Magazine and included in any other locations as deemed appropriate by IBN.

Judges are Alison Deyette of Style Bakery, Anissa Mook of Indie Shopping and Tanya Sharma of CiCySuds.

To find out more and nominate your choice for the 2006 winners, click here.

To read about the 2005 winners, click here!

As you know, IBN has formed the Home-Based Personal Care Business Task Force to address the fallout surrounding one of the (if not the only) nation's only 50-state suppliers of products liability insurance for personal care products businesses who operate from their homes' decision to cease providing such insurance for companies that gross over $5,000 per year in revenue. The decision has his many IBN members hard and because I know that the memberships of other organizations are also affected, several of us have banned together to form the Task Force.

Among other things, we have drafted a letter to the president of RLI to express our concerns and advise of the devastating impact their decision has had our home-based manufacturers and their families. We also asked them to ask them to reverse their decision and suggested some alternatives. This is a coordinated approach and the leaders of the Handcrafted Soap Maker's Guild, The Natural Perfumery Group and the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy have joined in as signatories.

To view the letter, click here. To be added as a signatory, follow the instructions below the letter.

If you wish to be a signatory as well, follow the instructions at the end of the letter.

There is power in our numbers! While this letter may not change RLI's mind, it will also be sent to the insurance commissioners' of all 50 states, including yours. It is therefore the first step in an advocacy strategy that I expect to extend throughout 2006 and beyond.

Best & Success!!
Donna Maria
Editor, The Handmade Beauty Connection
The Indie Beauty Network | www.handmadebeauty.com

Copyright (c) 2000 - 2006 by The Indie Beauty Network (IBN) and Donna Maria. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized distribution or reproduction is prohibited. IBN does not necessarily endorse any product, event or ideology featured in The Handmade Beauty Connection (HBC) or on IBN's website. All information is provided on an "as is" basis and no express or implied warranties are given. Any use of the information contained in the HBC or on IBN's web site, including recipes, is solely at your own risk. IBN and Donna Maria disclaim any liability in connection with the use of all recipes, products reviewed and other information. Except for sponsorships, HBC refuses compensation from companies to feature or mention their names or products. Opinions expressed in any Product Review are personally those of the reviewer and do not represent the views of IBN, Donna Maria (unless she is the reviewer) or any other person or company.