Fresh Bet Bits, Claire Burke Original Memories, Home Fragrance Product Updates and Commentary

Years ago we sold essential oils and then folks stopped buying them. Lately we have had more requests for essential oils from our storefront customers; so we added the Caswell-Massey essential oils.

Apparently there wasn’t enough variety, and our customers continued to request more essential oil choices. Dawn uses Lavender essential oil for relaxation and they can also be combined with carrier lotions to be applied to the skin. Add a few drops to bathwater for a relaxing tub soak.

I think Annie Oakley offers a nice variety of essential oils at reasonable prices. We are now offering these in pure single scents and Aromatherapy blends.

This past July while attending the Gift Show, I had a chance to meet Rebecca; who is the co-owner of Sonoma Lavender. She told me that heat wraps and spa booties were some of her most popular items. I had seen them in their catalog before, but wasn’t sure about offering them.

Well, I came home and thought about it for awhile and decided we should give it a go. So, we now have quite a bit of new Sonoma items for your spa at home personal time this winter. Sonoma also introduced their new scent: Sonoma Spice - absolutely fabulous dahling!

We have always offered the Sonoma Lavender because Lavender is such a personal favorite of mine. The Sonoma Eucalyptus was their 2nd scent they released a few years ago and it has definitely been picking up in popularity. Many companies just don’t offer Eucalyptus and the Sonoma is all natural…win-win!

Now their new Spice is beautifully presented in rust and purple colors with some of my personal faves: cinnamon, cloves, lemon and rosemary. (I just adore Rosemary!).

Kayce and I have been busy adding all the new Spa Plush heat wraps, neck pillows, spa booties and sachets-by-the-yard to the website for the past week. All of these plush spa beauties are made from rich fabrics that just make you want to run your hand across them and savor the softness of their touch. Beautiful colors in elegant greens, Vibrant Purple & Rust and of course soothing lavender colors in various embroidered or dot patterns.

My mother Norah, used a neck pillow as she got older to help naturally relieve neck aches. She would pop it in the microwave briefly and then lay in her lounger with her neck pillow late in the afternoon. This sage green color was Norah’s favorite!

Personally I love the Purple and Rust colors. Winter will soon be here; so grab a pair of these fabulous spa booties to warm up cold and aching feet:

Last, but not least, consider these fun heated pets for your inner child:

We have Lou the Lavender Teddy Bear, Spunky the Spice Monkey, Lulu the Lavender Poodle, Lil the Lavender Bunny and Lovey the Lavender Lamb. These fun heated pets look great and they are functional aromatherapy when heated in the microwave to release their fragrant blends.

I have always thought about adding Badger to our offering; especially since they are from my home state of New Hampshire. In keeping with our natural and organic direction for 2007, I decided to start out with a few of their best sellers:
* Lip Balms
* Healing Balm, Sleep Balm and Cuticle Balm

Now I use lip balm all the time because I rarely wear lipstick anymore. The Badger lips balms are soft and not waxy…I like that. They also come in 6 great flavors: Chai Rose, Cinnamon Bay, Ginger & Lemon, Highland Mint, Lavender & Orange, Tangerine Breeze and Unscented.

After the new Badger balms arrived, Leia said she thought we should add their Face & Body Sun Block cremes. I have terribly pale skin that burns easily, so I make my outdoor time brief these days. However, I know many folks do enjoy outdoor activities and sunblock is a necessity these days. So, we have added the SPF 15 and SPF 30 Sunblock by Badger.

We barely got these into stock and had already sold out of the SPF30. This is a wildly popular product that works great! Be sure to give it a try before your next vacation.

Earlier this summer we decided to offer the Lavender Lil Bunny and your response has been great. While attending the Market this past July, I noticed that Sonoma Lavender had two great new “heated pets” available. They are so cute! So, we are now stocking LuLu the Lavender Poodle and Lou the Lavender Teddy Bear.

All of these heated pets are cuddly and come with a removable lavender insert. They can be warmed briefly in the microwave and are machine-washable. Sonoma Heated Pets are handmade in the Napa Valley or California and utilize organically grown Lavender.

Lavender relaxes and encourages sleep as well as lifts mild depression and elevates your mood. It relieves pain; from headaches to achy muscles. Pamper body and senses with this age old remedy.

Click here to see all of our natural, beautiful products by Sonoma Lavender.

I have just created a new page on the Fresh Bet site that is solely dedicated to all-natural and organic goodies. Our Sonoma Lavender/Eucalyptus/Rose has always been organically grown in the Sonoma Valley of California. These products are beautifully created by hand by local artisans.

Now, I am pleased to introduce one of our newest lines by Natural Spa that is produced in the USA by ECOS who pledges to create healthy indulgences that are entirely botanical to refresh, restore and enhance your personal environment.

Made with simple, uncomplicated ingredients that never contain parabens, dyes or synthetics. Choose from Lavender Glass Cleaner, Parsley All-Purpose Cleaner and Pomegranate Dish Soap. We also offer Hand Lotion and Hand Soap in Black Currant, Grapefruit, Pomegranate and Lemon Grass. YUM!

Click here to visit our new Natural/Organic page.

All this year, I have debated about bringing in more all-natural and organic bath and body products. Personally, I prefer these products and I believe more and more of our customers will also be interested in going this route. Recently, we sent out a survey to all of our Newsletter customers and your response in this area was very encouraging.

Thus, I am delighted to report that we now offer a beautiful line of Nail Polish by Peacekeepers that is entirely natural and formaldehyde-free. Now you can feel good about painting your nails knowing that you aren’t putting carcinogens into your body.

PeaceKeepers, a line of nail polishes for which all profits, after taxes, are used to support women’s health advocacy and human rights issues. All PeaceKeeper beauty products fund projects such as breast and reproductive cancer research, osteoporosis research, clinical depression research, domestic violence prevention, gender equality advocacy, infanticide prevention, and rape prevention.

We are starting with 7 of their best selling colors along with the French Manicure Kit. PeaceKeeper Nail Paints are extremely long wearing! You can be assured that we never use toluene, formaldehyde, acetone or phthalates in our formula - and of course, no animal testing. Also, the large rounded bottles are easy to hold while you are painting your nails!

For more information, click here.