Amour Propre

spa vacation

New Year lurks around the corner.  So what will be your New Year's Resolution?  For the next upcoming years, I'll be developing my own brand, my own product.  I've been thinking of this for years now.  Besides creative interests like art and writing, I have grown interest in health and wellness.  For more than 15 years, I've read and perused through health secrets in creating my own natural body products.  After an introduction from a peer, I began in my early twenties practicing aromatherapy.  I started out mixing and experimenting base oils with essential oils (rose, lavender, eucalyptus, etc.).  Each of these oils are intended for specific purposes and not just one but multi-functional purposes.  For example, widely-known lavender oil has been used to hydrate and soothe your skin.  (You may mix in with your regular moisturizer after a sun bath.)  But it can also be used to lightly soak a cotton ball for its aroma scent by simply placing it in the corners of your pillow case.  This may help you have a restful sleep.  For high-quality oil, opt for cold-pressed, not steam-distilled, especially if you are applying directly on your skin or ingesting it.  This will help you get the beneficial effects of the oil.  They say when you begin your own product, start out with something small and simple (preferably something you can hold in the palm of your own hands).  That's a good place to start (before delving into anything complicated).  I'd love to share the secrets that I've learned from books, conversing with others, visiting and trying out every store and product.  Few things I can share:  If you've developed a preference for natural products, pick your base oil.  Say you go to a spa for a massage, the massage therapist would pick out a base oil to use on your body.  At a regular spa session, the massage therapist may use a typical almond oil as the base oil.  Almond oil has medium-base thickness.  If you want a lighter, thinner moisture to your skin, pick jojoba oil (pronounced "ho-ho-ba").  If your body needs more hydration, pick a thicker oil base mixed in like avocado oil.  For mature skin, mix in a bit of evening primrose oil.  On a winter day, you may experience dry skin.  So you may want to pick a product with shea butter.  Have problems with stretch marks?  You may want to pick a product with cocoa butter to prevent further stretchmarks from sudden weight loss/gain or for those dreaded red marks you get from weight-lifting.  (Guys usually get this on their shoulder from bench-pressing.)  Prevention is the key.  This is before deciding on what key, prime, active ingredient to blend in for that added benefit, customized for your own needs.  Keep your body beautiful.  Nourish it.  And of course take time to exercise, stretch, and meditate.  Also rest up and relax. 

My line may be called Luuliljac (coined by my interest in vowels and foreign languages.)  Some of the names I'll create for my line will be used in foreign languages like French and Latin.  One of my body product's name will be called "Amour Propre," Latin for "self-love."  And here is a poem I wrote for it, a Triolet (French, of course, 8 lines with 3 refrains and rhyme scheme: A, B, a, A, a, b, A, B), with 5-7 syllables (Haiku influence).

Amour Propre

  

If I love myself,

I too care for my body,

I pledge for my health,

. . . . If I love myself,

And if I pledge for my wealth,

I bid for myself and everybody,

If I love myself,

I too care for my body.