In this issue:

• About to arrive: Poppy seed oil, elderberry seed oil, oat oil, strawberry oil - and barbary fig oil, and ylang ylang II...
• Our organic lemongrass essential oil - the fascinating story behind it
• New recipes: Winter shea whip, Nappy ointment with NZ kawakawa infused oil
• Substitution: Mustela Cold Cream Nutri-protective Face Cream for Baby

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Arriving from the UK
We are delighted to bring you four new oils from traditional British plants which have long been appreciated for their nutritional qualities. These oils provide superior natural skin nutrition - and will be available to you in mid-May.
 
Poppy seed oil: Made from wild white poppies in the UK, this softens, smooths and protects, and is effective in hair care, lip balms and baby products as well as skin creams and balms. Poppy seeds have a very long history of use in nutrition and skincare, as they are rich in minerals, tocopherols and essential fatty acids.

Elderberry seed oil: There's a scientific name for what makes elderberry oil unique: The fruit is rich in anthocyanins, a group of flavonoids that act as natural antioxidants. Elderberries have five times the anthocyanins of blueberries, and twice the antioxidants of cranberries.
Elderberry oil has a rich, silky skin feel and is readily absorbed.

Strawberry seed oil: Omega 3 and Omega 6 essential fatty acids make up 80% of this luxurious oil. We recommend it for use in luxury night creams for older, drier skin. We also suggest including a small amount in a light body oil or lotion.

Oat oil: An exceptional oil to include in formulations to nourish and soothe maturing, sensitive and damaged skin. It penetrates the skin rapidly, and is also great for hair. Oat oil is high in essential fatty acids, antioxidants (including vitamin E), and phosopholipids.

The UK countryside has a treasure store of genetic diversity: the hedgerow. Plants traditionally used in a multitude of ways have survived in its shelter through the onslaught of mechanised farming, and are now being rediscovered as powerhouses of skin nutrients. Click here for photos and more.

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Now the stories of oils that just haven't made it to New Zealand yet!
We know many of you are eagerly awaiting the arrival of barbary fig oil from Morocco. We have bought oils direct from Moroccan producers for years with no problems, but this time our payment has been rocketing around the virtual world for months - sometimes glimpsed in the distance, so we kept thinking the payment would eventually arrive where it was needed. The bank says it's there somewhere - but where, we wonder?? So we have paid for it again and it should be here by the end of April.

Ylang ylang II essential oil has been on order from Madagascar for a similar time. (We have some ylang ylang III to tide us over until it arrives.)
But Madagascar has been rocked by cyclone after cyclone, with serious storms in between. I hadn't heard news of Madagascar's storms until we had an email from the assistant of our supplier. A month ago the supplier had headed off to pick the ylang ylang to make our oil, but the weather has been so bad that he's still not back. No phone coverage out there... so we are hoping that all is ok!
Clearly there are massive storms that we don't even hear about. The photo is of Cyclone Giovanna making landfall in Madagascar, causing chaos in 2012. It was followed a few weeks later by severe tropical storm Irina, which caused even more deaths and devastation because it was unexpected. Since then Madagascar has survived a number of serious storms, the worst being Cyclone Chedza in January this year, which killed many people.

As I'm writing this, Cyclone Helen has weakened to a category 1 cyclone as it nears Madagascar, but is nevertheless bringing 120 kph winds, up to 250mm of rain causing local flash flooding and maybe landslides - along with a storm surge that could be 2 meters in places.

Makes New Zealand seem like a safe haven...
 

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Organic lemongrass essential oil – sounds simple, doesn’t it? But like many of the products sold by Go Native, this beautiful oil has a long, hard story behind it.
Go Native’s organic lemongrass essential oil comes from a community of upland farmers on one of the many large islands that make up the Philippines... read more...
 

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New recipes
These two recipes don't contain water, so don't need a preservative or emulsifier.
As long as you keep the same proportion of waxes, butters and oils, you can substitute your favourite oils for those in the recipes.

Winter Shea Whip
(Makes 400g)
300g organic shea butter
100g rosehip oil or organic sunflower oil
2g essential oil/fragrance oil (optional)

1. Melt shea butter until it is slightly soft only, not completely melted.
2. Add rosehip or sunflower oil.
3. Whip with an electric whisker as you would for whipping cream (not a stick blender) until it has doubled in volume.
4. If the mixture is too soft, pop it in the fridge until it hardens up a little then continue to whip.
5. Spoon into jars.

Makes 200g
80g kawakawa infused oil
40g shea butter, wildcrafted
40g calendula infused oil
20g coconut oil, organic virgin
20g NZ beeswax
few drops lavender and chamomile essential oils (optional)

Melt everything (except the essential oils) together gently in a pot.
Take off the heat and add the essential oils. Stir.
Pour into a container and leave to set. Our 200ml pot is ideal - it has a heavy bottom so it stays in place when you have only one hand free!

 

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Substitution:
Mustela face cream for baby
The Mustela range of baby care products is gathering an enthusiastic following in New Zealand. Their marketing is superb. The expertly chosen language authoritatively soothes parental fears. What new mother can resist knowing that she is using a product that "strengthens the cutaneous barrier"? Well, some of you have confidence in your baby's cutaneous barrier. You love to keep things simple for your babies, and want to know exactly what is going on their delicate skin.
So... this is a substitution with a difference. In our experience, the skin of a healthy baby maintains an exquisite glow with little help from us - and the natural smell of a healthy baby is too miraculous to be overwhelmed with perfumes. So skincare for babies can be kept very simple. If you really need to apply something, try organic almond oil, or organic camellia oil, or one of our gorgeous New Zealand cold-pressed oils - hazelnut comes to mind. (Of course there's a need for some kind of nappy protection, too - see the Nappy Ointment recipe above or check out our baby care recipes.)

What are the hero ingredients in Mustela Cold Cream Nutri-protective Face Cream for Baby?
What are the other ingredients?
Read more...

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Kind regards