Rebecca at the Well Foundation
ISBN: 978-0982726426
Published January 13, 2013
Trade paperback, 328 pages
It’s been about a year now that I switched to organic foods. My family has used and experienced the benefits of homeopathy and natural remedies and non-toxic household cleaners for more than fifteen years. So when I saw this book about creating natural skin care, hair care and bath and body products, I was excited. It’s the one area I still have not looked into too seriously. My 12 year-old daughter has been looking up recipes of facial masks and body cleansers on the Internet so I knew she would love this book.
Organic Beauty is a beautiful book. It has a very detailed table of contents, making it very easy to find info. It has colored photos, colored font titles, and pastel-colored boxes with handy tips and recipe variations interspersed throughout the book. There are tons of recipes that can replace ALL of the products in your bathroom, including toothpaste, mouthwash, body scrubs, lip balms and glosses. I must say, I was impressed.
It’s clear that the author has a vast knowledge of essential oils and aromatherapy. I’ve always known that commercial products are toxic to my body, (they include parabens that raise the risk of breast cancer) but I also find that natural products are not available everywhere and expensive for the most part. A lot of the recipes in this book include ingredients I found in my kitchen. I had to go out and buy the essential oils, though, because I did not have any on hand, except peppermint.
I bought organic Sweet Orange ($8.49) and Tea Tree ($9.99) essential oils, each 15 ml bottles, (Divine Essence brand) at my local natural store. My daughter had a slew of post-it notes on all the recipes that interested her, but we decided to try an easy one. A lot of the recipes look easy. You just need the ingredients on hand. I will slowly be stocking up on essential oils and other base ingredients so that whenever we feel like making a facial cream or body scrub, we don't have to run to the store. We made:
Orange-Vanilla Body Scrub
What you will need:
1 cup Epsom Salt
½ cup Olive oil
½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
4 drops Orange essential oil
What to do:
1. In a small bowl, stir together all of the ingredients.
2. Place the scrub in small containers and give away as gifts or keep for yourself.
This recipe was super easy! It took all of 5 minutes to put together.
We used pure vanilla extract, the orange essential oil, The Epsom Salt we got at the $1 store and extra virgin olive oil.
We first mixed in the olive oil with the Epsom salt, and as you can see it made the mixture very green!
Next we mixed in the vanilla extract.
And finally the 4 drops of orange essential oil.
Result:
I took a tablespoon of the body scrub mixture and scrubbed my very dry chapped hands with it all over and then rinsed them. My hands felt soft and smooth afterwards. My parents were over when we were experimenting, and my dad--who has rough and calloused hands--did the same thing I did, and remarked that he liked how the scrub left his hands feeling softer and smoother too.
Finally, my daughter used it in the shower and LOVED it. She liked that her skin felt very soft afterward, and she liked the smell too. It wasn't powerful at all. She said that people with oily skin might want to use less olive oil, but for those with dry skin (like she has) it was perfect. She told me she would be using this homemade product again and again.
My dad helped my daughter put some in a container using a funnel and a chopstick. We then gave it to my parents to take home to use. They were very pleased!
In conclusion, we highly recommend Organic Beauty to all who love body products and want to experiment making their own natural products. The recipes were easy enough and the book is user-friendly. Our copy of the Organic Beauty is already dog-eared, what with my daughter looking through it and wanting to try a lot of the recipes. We are having fun with this book, and I'm happy to have discovered a book that teaches us how to make our own beauty products both for our family or to give as gifts.
Note: This book is rated C = clean read.
About the author:
Rebecca Park Totilo’s flair and passion for life bursts into living color when she writes and speaks, as you will see in the visual way she presents herself. She literally believes in the “show, don’t tell” principle in everything she does. Becca has ministered to literally millions of people via television, radio and live appearances. She is an award-winning published author of over 40 books, including “Therapeutic Blending With Essential Oil”, “Heal With Essential Oil”, and “Through the Night With God.” Her credits include working as a contributor writer on two best-selling series (“Quiet Moments with God” and “Stories for the Teen’s Heart”) which sold over one million and five million copies respectively. She is also a freelance writer for several national magazines include Christian Parenting Today, Discipleship Journal and Woman’s World.
Rebecca’s photography work has appeared in numerous national magazines such as Woman’s World, Sports Spectrum, Evangel, and Sharing the Victory. But by far, her greatest accomplishment, if you asked her, is after a decade of rejection slips (with almost 150 in one year!), Rebecca hit it big in 1999, with over 13 books contracts, ranging from teaching curriculum to gift books and devotionals for adults. Truly, its her grit determination that makes her inspirational writings draw such a mass market appeal.
Rebecca graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1986 with a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Information Systems. In addition, she attended Faith Bible Institute in Richmond, Virginia for instruction in ministry and University of the Nations in Hawaii. She is also trained as a Clinical Aromatherapist and is an international educator offering online courses on the art of perfume-making and how to blend with essential oils worldwide on her website http://rebeccatotilo.com. Rebecca owns a cute soap boutique, Aroma Hut, near the beach in Florida where she practices as an Clinical Aromatherapist.
Rebecca won the Writer of the Year in Non-Fiction (National Writer’s Association)
Rebecca Park Totilo’s flair and passion for life bursts into living color when she writes and speaks, as you will see in the visual way she presents herself. She literally believes in the “show, don’t tell” principle in everything she does. Becca has ministered to literally millions of people via television, radio and live appearances. She is an award-winning published author of over 40 books, including “Therapeutic Blending With Essential Oil”, “Heal With Essential Oil”, and “Through the Night With God.” Her credits include working as a contributor writer on two best-selling series (“Quiet Moments with God” and “Stories for the Teen’s Heart”) which sold over one million and five million copies respectively. She is also a freelance writer for several national magazines include Christian Parenting Today, Discipleship Journal and Woman’s World.
Rebecca’s photography work has appeared in numerous national magazines such as Woman’s World, Sports Spectrum, Evangel, and Sharing the Victory. But by far, her greatest accomplishment, if you asked her, is after a decade of rejection slips (with almost 150 in one year!), Rebecca hit it big in 1999, with over 13 books contracts, ranging from teaching curriculum to gift books and devotionals for adults. Truly, its her grit determination that makes her inspirational writings draw such a mass market appeal.
Rebecca graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1986 with a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Information Systems. In addition, she attended Faith Bible Institute in Richmond, Virginia for instruction in ministry and University of the Nations in Hawaii. She is also trained as a Clinical Aromatherapist and is an international educator offering online courses on the art of perfume-making and how to blend with essential oils worldwide on her website http://rebeccatotilo.com. Rebecca owns a cute soap boutique, Aroma Hut, near the beach in Florida where she practices as an Clinical Aromatherapist.
Rebecca won the Writer of the Year in Non-Fiction (National Writer’s Association)
Reviewed by Laura & Daughter
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