Posts Tagged ‘lavender flowers’

Posted on August 14, 2010 - by Leslie Billera

Seek Out Essential Green Clean!

In our 3-part lifestyle series, we’ve covered clothing (organic cotton, bamboo, hemp and more!) and bedding (those marvelous organic mattresses). Less fabulous – but equally fundamental – is green cleaning.

Whether you scrub up at home yourself – or hire someone to do it – you should know that when it comes to clean, you could be living the ultimate irony: spreading dirty chemicals around in the name of clean. One example: antibacterial cleaning products are actually registered with the EPA as pesticides. Does that sound like healthy clean to you?

Western cultures spend up to 90% of our time indoors, so clean indoor air really counts. A clean green home is free of dirt and germs – but also free of toxic pollution. You can use the following ingredients – many of which you may already have in your cabinets – to create powerful DIY cleaning products (great cleaning recipes are easily found using a simple google search):

• White distilled vinegar: Use white distilled vinegar with 55% acetic acid; vinegar disinfects, deodorizes, loosens dirt, removes mineral deposits and more…
• Baking soda: Look for baking soda that is “pure” or 100% sodium bicarbonate. Baking soda is abrasive enough to scrub off dirt and stains; deodorizes carpets, drains and fridges; and softens fabric in the wash cycle.
• Borax and washing soda: These alkaline minerals are stronger than baking soda so wear gloves. They brighten your wash, can be used to scrub stubborn stains from counters or bathtubs, kill mold and make toilet bowls sparkle.
• Soap and water: Experts agree that soap and water are less harmful than antibacterial products – many of which include triclosan – and are just as effective. Good old soap and water can clean everything from counter top to carpet to fabric stains. Don’t forget the basics when it comes to building your green cleaning arsenal!
• Vinegar: Kills 99% of bacteria and is not registered as a pesticide (afterall, you can cook with it too!). Use it in laundry, household filters, cutting boards…pretty much anything, safely and easily!
• Lavender Oil: Self-promotion aside, lavender is truly one of your critical green cleaning ingredients. Add it to all-purpose or glass cleaner or dilute with water to make a lovely antibacterial spray and spread aromatherapeutic love all over your home. 100% essential oil comes in dark glass containers; be sure to avoid the synthetic versions!

Let us know what all-natural, toxin free cleaner you use at home, right here!

Read More: 

Get Your Healthy Home Checklist Here

Three Ways to Avoid Toxic Air Fresheners

Posted on July 17, 2010 - by Leslie Billera

Make Your Own Lavender Sleep Pillow

Tossing and turning? Here’s a do-it-yourself, all-natural way to catch some zzzs – and float away on sweet-smelling dreams!

This mini-pillow should be placed between pillow and pillowcase, and laid on with your head to release the therapeutic aromas.

What you need:

1 cup dried hops

1 cup dried lavender buds

¼ cup dried thyme leaves

3 Tbsp. cellulose chips (cellulose chips are fixatives used to absorb essential and fragrance oils and then slowly release them)

10 drops lavender essential oil

10 drops bergamot essential oil

Two fabric pillows 6 inches square, each with one end open – why not make it organic cotton?

How to:

In a glass bowl or measuring cup, mix the essential oils into the cellulose chips. Cover and set aside overnight. The next day, mix in the dried herbs. Place half of the mixture into each fabric pillow and sew or fasten the open end closed with lace, ribbons or a simple sewing thread.

From: Natural Beauty Basics, by Dorie Byers, R.N.

Note that these essential oils are also known for their relaxing aromas – feel free to swap one or more into your pillow based on  your personal preferences:

• Clary sage
• German chamomile
• Patchouli
• Rose
• Basil
• Neroli
• Sandalwood
• Tangerine
• Myrrh
• Orange
• Frankincense
• Cedarwood

What all-natural sleep remedies lull you to sweet slumber? Let us know here!

Posted on June 22, 2010 - by Leslie Billera

Get Misty with Rose & Lavender

We’ve waxed poetic about organic lavender. We’ve hailed lavender hydrosol for its healing properties. And we’ve even extolled the virtues of lavender in food, both sweet and savory.

But once and a while, we recognize that other worthy floral blooms offer their own contribution to our bath and body routine.

A Rose By Any Other Name…

Like lavender, rose water – or rose hydrosol – soothes irritated skin. It is considered a mild, natural sedative that can act as an anti-depressant. And rose is used in treatments to ease everything from nervous tension to peptic ulcers to heart disease.

This Lavender-Rose Sweet Water Mist is a multi-tasker extraordinaire.  Mix up this DIY recipe and use it to…

• Repel moths and other insects before winter storage
• Promote rest and relaxation before bedtime when spritzed on your pillowcase
• Give your clothes a lovely lift when used as a mist before ironing (see you later spray starch!)
• Use your favorite lavender essential oil from Napa Valley Bath!

So without further ado, here is a great DIY recipe for yourself, or to make as a gift for a friend or loved one…

Lavender-Rose Sweet Water Mist

Ingredients:

- 4 ounces rose hydrosol (available at natural-foods stores)
- 1 ounce distilled water
- 1 tablespoon 150- to 190-proof alcohol, such as brandy, unflavored vodka, or grain alcohol
- 10 drops vegetable glycerin
- 45 drops lavender essential oil

How To:

In a small spray mister, combine rose hydrosol, water, alcohol, vegetable glycerin, and lavender essential oil. Cover and shake well to blend.

While you’re at it, try making Lavender Liquid Body Wash and Lavender Dishwashing Liquid, both of which call for organic lavender essential oil.

source:   WholeLiving.com

Posted on April 29, 2010 - by Leslie Billera

3 Ways to Avoid Toxic Air Fresheners

There are 3 steps to sidestepping toxic air fresheners:

1. Keep clean
2. Shop smarter
3. Do-it-yourself

Before we delve into each, here’s the stinky news on ‘conventional’ air fresheners.

Conventional air fresheners emit heavily scented chemicals infused with synthetic perfumes.  Pine, orange and lemon scents in particular are full of toxic chemicals known as VOCs, or Volatile Organic Compounds.  These proven toxins include:

• Benzene – causes cancer in animals and has been linked to leukemia
• Xylene – linked to nausea and liver and kidney damage
• Phenol – can cause kidney, respiratory, neurological and skin problems
• Naphthalene – linked to blood, kidney and liver problems
• Formaldehyde – linked to cancer, particularly in the nasal cavity

Irony alert!  This is the stuff that’s supposed to ‘freshen’ your air?

Go Green and Clean

If you’ve got a bad smell happening in your home, you’ve got to get at its root. Take the time to discover the origin of the bad smell, and use the internet to help you find all-natural cures. Using air fresheners – toxic or non-toxic – should not be the solution to a lingering odor problem that needs to be ousted, once and for all.

Many of you simply love the aromatherapeutic effects of an air freshener. Good for you – so do we! The trick is to buy green. Green air fresheners typically:

• Come in a recyclable and recycled pump sprayer – not an aerosol can
• Is plant-derived and biodegradable
• Derives its fragrance from natural – not synthetic – essential oils

Napa Valley Bath’s Lavender Hydrosol makes a soothing, toxin-free air freshener you can use every day! A naturally-scented soy or beeswax-based candle works wonders too!

Take Ultimate Control: Make Your Own

There’s always a DIY approach. You can create your own potpourri as follows:

• Choose a pretty vase, preferably antique – or a great flea market find

• Sprinkle your favorite dried flowers inside – of course we recommend lavender flowers!

• Add 5-6 drops of you favorite essential oil blend (experiment and find the scent you like best)

• Place in your bathroom, bedroom or any place you’d like a lift!

What are your all-natural tips for ’scent-ual’ healing at home? Let us know!

Posted on March 13, 2010 - by Leslie Billera

Cooking with Lavender

We’ve waxed on about the soothing, healing power of lavender in your bath, on your skin and as stress-reliving aromatherapy

It’s time to talk about spreading the lavender love around your kitchen. Read on for recipes ranging from Peppered Lavender Beef to Lavender Chocolate Bars to a yummy Lavender Syrup!

Lavender: An Incredible, Edible Flower

Cooking with edible flowers goes back as far as Roman times. Lavender provides a sweet, floral flavor, with lemon and citrus notes. Thanks to its strong scent and flavor, a little goes a long way. Choose organic lavender flowers – they are the safest, healthiest way to cook with lavender.

Lavender: Savory and Sweet

There’s a bouquet of ways that lavender contributes to culinary delights.

On the savory side, lavender adds delicate flavor to pastries, meats, beverages and more.  The secret to success when using edible flowers is to keep the dish simple – don’t use too many other flavors that will overpower the delicate taste of the flower. Here are some top tips for savory success with lavender;

• Substitute lavender in place of rosemary in any recipe.
• Bake scones or shortbread and infuse the cream with dried lavender flowers or press the flowers through a sieve with the flour
• Go all out:  try making Peppered Lavender Beef using Organic Lavender Flowers– and let us know how it turns out!

Not only is lavender an interesting ingredient in sweets, it adds a colorful visual accent. For lavender’s sweet side, you can…

• Sprinkle lavender in a glass of champagne for a sweet flavor and gorgeous garnish
• Bake it  into sweets, like this Lavender Chocolate Bar recipe. This recipe also makes an unusual gift idea!
• Make a syrup with dried lavender flowers and use it to sweeten limeade, lemonade or iced tea, or pour over berries, warm cake, pancakes ice cream and more!

Lovely Lavender Syrup:

• 1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 teaspoons dried lavender blossoms

Mash 1/3 cup sugar and lemon peel in small bowl to blend well. (Lemon sugar can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and store at room temperature.)

Bring 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, honey, and lavender to boil in heavy small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until lavender flavor is pronounced, about 3 minutes. Strain syrup into small bowl. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature. Rewarm syrup before continuing.)

Recipe via Epicurious.com

Please report back if you try any of these recipes and your fellow lavender enthusiasts know how it went!

Posted on December 8, 2009 - by Leslie Billera

Holiday Gift Giving: 2 DIY Perfume Recipes

I saw a White Diamonds perfume commercial on TV the other day – featuring a 1992 air-brushed Liz Taylor – and I thought I’d been sucked into a time travel vortex.

In addition to the post-collegiate flashback (in which ‘I’m Too Sexy for My Shirt’ topped the charts), the dated perfume commercial reflects the sea change I’ve undergone when it comes to the simple term ‘fragrance.’

A typical perfume contains a mixture of between 50 and 100 fragrance chemicals including, but not limited to:

• Coal tar distillates
• Petroleum distillates
• Benzene derivatives
• Aldehydes
• Phenols
• Phthalates (banned in cosmetics in the European Union since 2003 – see more in the ‘jargon alert,’ below )

Today, science makes it possible to dissect any natural scent and recreate it using synthetic fragrances.  Smelling machines, or ‘electronic noses’ use chemical sensors to produce a fingerprint of any scent. ¹

Doesn’t your special someone deserve something a bit more personal this holiday?

Try your hand at either one of these all-natural elixirs, and let us know how they turn out!

DIY Perfume

by Heidi Hill via www.MNN.com

Basic supplies for making perfume:

• 1 1/2 cups chopped flowers (we recommend lavender of course!)
• Cheesecloth
• Medium-size bowl with lid
• 2 cups distilled water
• Small saucepan
• Washed and sterilized vanilla extract bottle, or another small colored bottle with a lid or an airtight stopper

Instructions for making perfume:

1. Wash the flower petals. Gently clean off any dirt and sediment with water.

2. Soak the flowers. Put cheesecloth inside a bowl with edges overlapping the bowl. Put the flowers into the cheesecloth-lined bowl and pour the water over them, covering the flowers. Cover the bowl with the lid and let the flowers soak overnight.

3. Heat the flower-scented water. The next day, remove the lid from the bowl and gently bring the four corners of the cheesecloth together, lifting the flower pouch out of the water. Squeeze the pouch over a small saucepan, extracting the flower-scented water. Simmer over low heat until you have about a teaspoon of liquid.

4. Bottle the perfume. Pour the cooled water into the bottle and cap it. The perfume will last for up to a month if stored in a cool, dark place.

Green Eau de Toilette

by Julie Gabriel, The Green Beauty Guide

Basic Eau de Toilette Supplies

• 1 ounce vodka
• 4-10 drops essential oil of your choice
• 2 tablespoons distilled water

Instructions for making Eau de Toilette:

1. Pour the vodka into a small glass measuring cup (that has a spout) and add the essential oil, stirring slowly until the oil is fully mixed in. Pour mixture into a small, dark, lidded bottle and leave in a dark place (such as a closet) for two days so that the oil can fully blend with the vodka.

2. Slowly add the distilled water, shaking well. Again, let the mixture sit for two days (or more I you want a more potent mix). Now the perfume is ready. If you like, you can transfer it into a pretty spray bottle.

Homemade scents educate the gift recipient on why we can’t always trust what’s in our bath and beauty products. Plus, they earn serious brownie points for being hand-crafted. And most importantly, homemade scents are the healthiest way to smell great – naturally!

Top either DIY scent with a coupon for a relaxing Lavender Oil Massage, and you’ll win the award for best holiday gift, hands-down.

¹ The Green Beauty Guide, Julie Gabriel

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Jargon Alert: Phthalates

Phthalates (pronounced ˈtha-ˌlāt) are found in perfume, soap, shampoo, nail polish, hair spray, mascara and more.  Listed in ingredient labels as dibutylphthalate, DPB, DEHP, DHP. Phthalates are not listed when used in fragrance. May cause developmental and reproductive problems. It is used to make materials more pliable, prevent cracking, and retain scents by ‘fixing’ perfumes to reduce evaporation

Posted on October 27, 2009 - by Leslie Billera

Scare Away Scaley Skin!

Halloween means cooler temps lurking around every corner.  Don’t be haunted by dry skin – give it the extra TLC it deserves.

Napa Valley Bath delivers the decadent moisturizing you need this fall and winter with our Lavender Body Butter. Developed specifically to treat cracked, callused and parched skin, it treats your dry dermis to the nutrition and care it craves in cooler temps.

Highlights from this skin-tastic salve include:

• Aloe Vera Leaf Juice:   Used extensively in skin care and in health care to soothe and protect, aloe vera is also used to treat a variety of skin care disorders as well as burns.

• Safflower Seed Oil: This oil boosts the skin’s firmness, makes it smooth, toned and gives it more elasticity.

• Shea butter: Extracted from shea nuts, shea butter is a great moisturizer and emollient  (something that softens and soothes) with anti-inflammatory properties. Ours is from Uganda, where shea trees grow in abundance naturally.

• Lavender Hydrosol: We’re big fans of lavender hydrosol, the lesser-known and less concentrated sibling to lavender essential oil.  It tones, cleans and delights as only lavender floral waters can.

• Beeswax & Propolis Cera: Busy bees supply us with this natural wax rich in moisturizing fatty acid esters and propolis cera, the waxy component of the resinous material found in beehives.

• Orange Peel Wax: Orange is a natural skin refresher rich in vitamins.

• Wheat Germ Oil: Plant-based oils are the green alternative to toxic chemicals; wheat germ oil contains Vitamin E and essential fatty acids such as linoleic, oleic, palmitic and stearic fatty acids.

• Comfrey Root Extract: Used to repair damaged tissues, comfrey boasts a long list of nutrients including Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin, B complex vitamins, calcium and more.

• Lavender: As you know, we love our lavender. We use both lavandula angustifolia flower oil and Lavandula grosso (lavandin) flower oil for their soothing, healing qualities.

Feed your skin this beauty brew of goodness and keep spooky skin away all year long!