Posts Tagged ‘lotion’

Posted on February 18, 2010 - by Leslie Billera

Groom Your NVI (Napa Valley Intelligentsia)

Napa Valley conjures fields of lavender, sweeping vineyards and abundant olive trees.  But how much do you really know about Napa?

It’s time to ramp up on your Napa Valley dinner party parlance…

• Napa Valley is 30 miles long; its regions include American Canyon, Napa, Lake Berryessa, Yountville, Oakville/Rutherford, St. Helena, and Calistoga.

• In addition to its famous grapes, a wide variety of fruits and vegetables thrive in Napa including oranges, prunes, apples, olives and more.

• The Napa Valley is a name derived from the language of the area’s native Wappo Indians and has come to mean “land of plenty.”

• The Wappo Indians had no written language. They shared their ideas, stories, and feelings by speaking only. Stories and customs were passes down by parents to their children.

• 1823 marks the first written description of Napa. Word spread of the region’s abundance, and by the late 1840s, quicksilver mines and lumber mills had set up shop.

• Steamships ferried people from San Francisco, and the railroad carried tourists seeking the healing waters of Calistoga.

• Tough times did darken Napa’s sunny days:  Napa’s famous Silverado mine dried up in 1875, a grapevine disease in 1893 killed off most of the vines, and prohibition shut down most wineries altogether in 1920.

• In 1968, California’s first Agricultural Preserve was created. This zoning ordinance established agriculture and open space as the “best use” for the land within Napa County. Known as the “Ag Preserve,” it’s an agricultural model followed by many others today.

Now uncork one of Napa Valley’s hundreds of wines, start simmering the sauce, and over artisan bread dipped in the local extra virgin olive oil, enjoy a northern California-style dinner peppered with Napa Valley love and lore.

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!