Our New Organic Aloe Vera Cream Bases

We have been trialing some new organic creams that we use as the bases for some of our products. We want to keep all of our products up to date and fresh, whilst maintaining their standard and quality. So we are really excited to be able to say that the new bases have far exceeded our expectations!

We have seen definite improvements in the appearance and texture of our skin. And so, we will be replacing all of our existing organic cream bases with the new range.

We are finding the creams are lighter under makeup but still ultra hydrating. The reason for this is they are Aloe based creams. Aloe Vera is extremely hydrating, restorative and light. We will post a blog later this week on Aloe Vera so you will know why we love it so much for our skin.

You can expect some new additions to our range as well. We are introducing a Night Cream which is a little heavier than the Moisturising Facial Creme, and a deliciously light Facial Serum.You can expect the same great blends of essential oils, extracts and all the other natural ingredients we use to tailor your products, just with a new and improved base!

We think you will love these, and look forward to hearing your feedback once you have tried them!

Erin and Clare

Christmas Stocking Fillers

We've gone Christmas Crazy!!

Have a look at our special offers to treat your family, friends and home.

Body Butter 250mls. Usually retails for $30.
If you buy 2 in a single order, before 15th December you will pay $20 each.
If you buy 3 in a single order, before 15th December you will pay $15 each.

Hand Soaps for the bathroom and kitchen. Usually retails for $10.
If you purchase more than one of the lavender and sweet orange option in a single order they will be reduced to $6 each.

Prepare early for Christmas

We have put together some special gift packs.

There is the Christmas Face Care Kit consisting of:
50ml cleanser
50ml toner
50g face scrub
20ml moisturiser

Usually retails for $45, Christmas special price $35


Or the Christmas Body Care Kit consisting of:
50ml shower gel
50g body scrub
50ml body butter

Usually retails for $32, Christmas special price $25

We think your friends will love these!!

　

Summer Citrus

Erin has recently been spending some creative time in her manufacturing rooms, and has come up with some beautiful uplifting citrus blends that we can use to tailor your usual products for summer.

Have a look on our website at our standard product range, and when you call or submit an order online, be sure to advise us that you'd like your products to come in the summer citrus range. You'll be thrilled with the results! 

Oil of the Month - May Chang (Litsea Cubeba)

To all of our lovely followers, thank you for bearing with us whilst we have been going through our period of transition.

Starting from this month, we are going to be highlighting our "oil of the month". To kick us off, this month, we are writing about May Chang (litsea cubeba).

Litsea Cubeba is Erin's favourite of all of the essential oils.

She believes this to be a savoir for modern day living. In our fast paced, sleep deprived world with too much stimulation causing fatigue, lack of mental clarity and anxiety, this is a must use oil. Known as the Oil of Tranquility,  it is a stimulating, uplifting, refreshing oil that calms body and mind.  It has a tonic effect on the nervous system which eases symptoms of stress such as anxiety, confusion, inability to concentrate and fatigue of the body.

As many essential oils have a great effect for reducing stress, we particularly love to use this oil when our minds and/or hearts are racing. It is a great oil to use in the work place every day, when you're feeling down, lethargic or uncomfortable.

As an added bonus, it elicits feelings of happiness with it's fresh happy scent, and even better, it's safe for use during pregnancy, and postpartum if you have the baby blues, to uplift and bring feelings of happiness.

Summer is on it's way!!

With the weather warming up, make sure your skin is primed and ready to show off.....
Exfoliate at least once a week and moisturise your whole body daily to ensure you are not scaly.

We don't want to scare the tourists!!

Check out our website http://www.natashajames.com.au/ for our beautiful products to keep you bikini ready!

Hello Spring!!!

With the warmer weather upon us it’s time to update your skincare.

I recommend lighter facial moisturisers to get ready for summer.  I'm blending lots of light citrus oils for fresh, clean, summer skin.

Get yourself stocked up on all your body products now.  Again get some bright citrus body lotions or body butter.  I always have a wattleseed body scrub all year round.  But this year I have a pink grapefruit body scrub and a sea salt body scrub.  Great to get your legs and feet ready for exposure!

Lastly for today, a very good friend of mine has an obsession with smelling like summer all year round.  She loves the coconutty smell of reef oil.  And who doesn't think of summer days when we smell this!  So for the last couple of years I've been making her tubs of coconut body butter.  The coconut is a fragrant oil and not an essential oil.  So it’s not something I would usually promote on our website as such.  But I have had many requests from people who know her I thought, why not?

Keep your eye on the webpage, I’ll be adding this as a buy now later this week.

 Happy Spring!!!!

New Baby Products

As you will be aware from our previous blog posts, between us, Erin and I have children ranging in age from almost newborn to five years and Erin has worked really hard to develop a great range of kids products that we both use daily on our little ones.

Each of these products is designed to perform it's declared function gently (i.e., shampoo, conditioner, body wash, moisturiser etc), so as not to irritate newborn skin,but in addition, each product is soothing, calming and will assist with sleep and relaxation. These products also help with nappy rash, and can be tailored to assist with dry skin, eczema, cradle cap and so on, whatever is ailing your new addition. 

Try some of these products out on your little ones, and let us know what you think!! 

Baby wash for nappy rash

Sorry we haven't been in touch for a while......we have been busy juggling keeping up with our orders and looking after our families whilst the cold and flu season has taken over the central coast. Fortunately, thanks to Erin's cold and flu remedies, we have beaten these more easily than in previous years!!

Anyhow, onto the real topic of todays post. Nappy Rash!

Erin's new little boy is now six months old, and my daughter was one last week.

They are both just beginning to produce teeth, and of course, with that comes the dreaded nappy rash. Both Erin and I have used Natasha James products exclusively on our babies since they were born. We make a beautiful baby bath and shower gel which is delightful (and full of soothing essential oils that protect and heal), and for after the bath time, we have a wonderful all over body lotion. I have been using this for baby massage every night since my baby was a newborn, and not only does it keep her skin beautiful, but I am convinced the oils in it help her to sleep. This wonderful cream is also fabulous for nappy rash. Just add a little of the body lotion each time you change her nappy, and those sore patches will disappear.

Happy parenting!

Erin and Clare

New addition to our product range - travel packs

We are so excited about the newest addition to our product range. 

At last we are going to be able to provide you with your favourite products in a convenient travel pack.

Designed especially for people on the go, these packs are ideal for your gym bag, perfect for a weekend away, a short holiday, or simply for trialing our products.

Coming in soon normal, combination, dry and acne prone skin types as standard, these packs contain:

• 50ml Cleansing Gel (paraben and phosphate free)
• 50ml Organic Soothing Toning Mist
• 50g organic Natasha James Facial Scrub/masque
• 50g organic Natasha James Moisturising Crème

These packs will be priced at $60.00. Keep your eyes on our website for the launch. 

Re-launch Competition Winners

Congratulations to the three lucky winners of our re-launch competition!

Dawn Morgan
Carol Kingsley
Tamara Brown

Your gifts are on their way.

Enjoy with our love. xx

Natasha James – Face Oils

Our face oils are a delicious blend of pure plant oils packed with antioxidants, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals which are vital ingredients for healthy and beautiful looking skin.

Our face oils are a must for any skin type and we have formulated blends accordingly. They have a wonderful balancing effect on sebum production so oily skin will not become oilier and skin will never look shiny or become clogged. It’s actually the opposite. After a short period of regular use your skin will be radiant and feel extremely soft and smooth.

We also have specialty oils for specific conditions such as rosacea, scars and cleansing oils for those with acne and prefer to cleanse with an oil during typical breakout times.

And last but not least in addition to the Soothing Eye Gel, we now have a luxurious Eye Oil…. For deep moisturising and soothing the delicate eye area.   

How to use face oils

As our regular followers will have noted, we have just launched our face oils, and we are really excited about these. They have made a real difference to our skin – to the point where friends and family are noticing, and asking what we are doing differently!

There are many different ways to use face oils. To date, we have been using ours as a kind of booster or serum, under our moisturiser. We would recommend, for newcomers to face oils, that you use them in this way, after your scrub & mask once or twice a week. So, your routine would be: cleanse, scrub/mask, tone, face oil, moisturise. Ensure that you give yourself a fabulous face massage whilst applying your oil. This helps the oil be absorbed into the skin more quickly and deeply. If you are happy with the results you are getting from your oil, you can start adding in more often, perhaps every night, after toning, and before your moisturiser. Erin has got to the point where she is using hers twice daily, morning and night – see information about this in our blog post on combination skin face oils.

There is a huge amount of information on the internet about the benefits & uses of face oils. We will be adding more in the future, but for now, enjoy your experimentation!

As ever, let us know if you would like to hear more on this topic, or if there are different subjects that you would like us to add to our blog.

More soon, Erin and Clare.

Natasha James.

Face oil for combination skin

I (Erin) have combination skin, and if you’re anything like me, my worst time of year is from now until the end of spring. My dry parts (along the jaw line and neck) are dry and itchy and prone to break outs while my oily parts (my t-zone) are more oily and red. Not a good look.

Thankfully these days, I don’t really seem to get the big breakouts any more. I used myself as one of the guinea pigs for our original facial cleansing range and, although I still get a few hormonal spots, I don't suffer from the constant breakouts along my jawline and neck. I use our cleanser, toner and moisturiser twice daily, and use the scrub when needed.

But as soon as this time of year hits, I can feel the dry itchiness start and have to make sure I absolutely never skip cleansing and moisturising.

As we mentioned a few weeks ago, we have been developing some face oils. I am delighted to announce that they are my new favourite thing!

I have been testing one for “problem” skin. I recently stopped breastfeeding and my hormones have been a tad haywire. I've had a few spots and I especially noticed how oily my forehead and nose were. We had formulated a blend to balance this kind of oily/dry combination and clean up spots that pop up, and I have been testing this out for a few weeks.

I was a little skeptical at first and thought I would only use the oil at night as an extra moisture treatment ..... but I liked it so much that I decided to give it a go through the day too, and I LOVE using it under make-up! What I hate most about wearing make-up is how greasy and itchy it feels after a few hours. I found using the face oil under make-up practically eliminates this feeling. So much so, I’d forget I had make-up on and not need to wash my face the minute I walk in the door as I usually do!

As our skin changes from week to week, I am using two different oils. I use the more antiseptic one when my skin looks a bit average or I have a few spots and on the other days, I use a general balancing blend to sooth and moisturise. It feels awesome to come home after a busy day, smooth your oil on after your shower - you can literally feel your skin relax and soak up the goodness!

For those of you breaking out now, try adding a face oil to your routine. You won't regret it! Our range of face oils are now available on the website www.natashajames.com.au . Be sure to contact us so we can make your formulation just for you.

Winter skin care

Your skin tends to be drier in winter as there is less moisture in the air. In addition, certain types of room heaters also draw moisture from the air – and from our skin......so to save ourselves from becoming scaly & lizard like, we need to up the ante on our moisturising routines. Make sure you exfoliate face and body regularly, use a richer or less drying toner, and make sure your face cream and body lotions are richer and more moisturising than the ones that you use in the Summer. Using an organic moisturiser on damp (just out of the shower) skin will not only add moisture to your face and body, but will also prevent moisture loss over the day. Apply at night to re-hydrate whilst you sleep! If you already have very dry skin, we suggest you up the ante and use a body butter. They are heavier and are absorbed over a longer period of time. As they sit on your skin for longer, they leave a sheen on your skin which makes your skin look lovely and dewy – really pretty if you are going out for the evening! We find the Natasha James organic face moisturisers are great to maintain moisture during the winter months. They are heavy enough for the cold weather but wont leave your face greasy and shiny. 

Cold remedies

With Winter just around the corner, we are starting to get prepared in our own homes, and thought we would share with you what we do to try to ensure that our families stay healthy and happy through the colder months.

Our Cold's blend:

Although one of our motto's is “aromatherapy oils, not just for oil burners” we are both HUGE fans of oil burners and have them on the go ALL THE TIME in our homes. Personally, I have one in my office where I burn a special blend that Erin makes for me, that is put together specifically to enhance concentration. I have been using this for around five years now, and I LOVE it. In the living room, we burn a variety of different oils, depending on our mood, whether we are entertaining or relaxing, playing with the baby or watching tv etc, and in the bedroom, we sleep really well if we go to bed with lavender in our oil burner*. BUT, in the winter months, I swap and change between our usual room blends and our “colds” blend. I use this a couple of times a day if I feel I am starting to get a cold - to try to fight it off, and once that cold has taken hold, I use it all the time....I find it really helps my chest, with breathing and blocked up noses, and if I am really struggling, I put a 1-2 drops of this in a bowl of steaming hot water, and inhale with a towel over my head to really try to clear myself out (this helps to clear up acne breakouts too, as a side note!!).

Alternatively, you can add the Cold/Flu blend to your own carrier oil to use as a massage oil. Massage your kids feet when they are sick, leave the oil on and let it absorb to help ease their symptoms.

The colds blend we make contains oils to boost our immune systems to make it harder for the winter bugs and virus's to get in, and to make our bodies stronger to heal and reduce our symptoms when those bugs do get a hold of you. It also deodorises the room and helps with sleep.

Not all colds are the same. We each have different symptoms that present when we do get a cold, such as a chesty cough versus a dry cough. We can tailor your blend to suit your own symptoms and help to make you feel better more quickly.

Winter Chest rub:

Remember, from when you were little, the smell of Vicks when we you a cold? We love those memories......

We have created a blend to ease winter woes. It helps to help boost immune function to fight colds and flu and it eases chest congestion, makes breathing easier and helps with sleep when we are sick.

Best of all, it's all natural. Essential oils blended with a beautifully creamy, moisturising body butter. Once rubbed onto the chest or upper lip, the cream is slowly absorbed and the essential oils are continuously released as our body heat melts the body butter.

*    * remember, if you go to bed with an oil burner burning, make sure you have enough water in the reservoir to last the night or at least until the candle burns out. Ideally, use a pre-used tea light, that will not last too long, or better yet, use an electric oil burner, as these are safe to leave on all the time.

Check out our relaunch competition to win your own electric oil burner, or we can order one for you from our suppliers.... you would need to send us an email for this. 

Two weeks on....

Phew!! so, it has been two weeks since we re-launched Natasha James, and we have been really busy.

For the last few months, Erin has been researching and experimenting with face oils, and in the last few weeks she has refined her recipes so that we are almost ready to launch these. We have designed these so that whatever your skin type we will have one suitable for you. We will be giving a lot more information on face oils, what they can be used for, and how to use them when we launch them. We are really excited about this new product. We have also been looking at other additions to our product range – more later – but have made some exciting decisions about how to move forward. Make sure that you keep your eyes open and be the first to hear about these.....

We have also been reviewing and updating our website, our facebook page and our blog, and ensuring that all information is current. We are going to be updating all three sites regularly, to ensure that however you follow us, you have our most up to date information. We have posted a couple of adverts on facebook, one about the relaunch, and one about our Mothers Day gift packs, so let us know if these have reached you.

As ever, let us know your feedback. If there is something that you would like to see or hear from us, let us know, and we will add it to our list of topics to research and blog about. We want to ensure that you are getting what you want from us, so your feedback is essential!

Take care,

More soon

Erin & Clare – Natasha James.

Mothers Day Specials

We have just realised that Mother's Day is just around the corner!!

And, what better way to say "thank you" to the lovely ladies in your life than with a special offer pampering pack. We have put together two gift sets that we know will be appreciated by your loved ones.

The Body Pampering Pack $135 (RRP $160)

Organic Wattle Seed body scrub

Organic Wattle Seed body lotion

Natural bamboo and linen exfoliating mitt

The Deluxe MoisturePack $220 (RRP $260)

Organic Wattle Seed body scrub

Organic Wattle Seed body lotion

Natural bamboo and linen exfoliating mitt

Rose Facial Toner

Hydrating facial creme, formulated for mature skin*

* Note: We can tailor the facial creme to your requirements, but if not specified, we will include one with extra hydration for a more mature skin.

If these packs don't suit you, you can build your own pack, containing three or more products, especially for mothers day, by contacting us. These packs will be subject to a 20% discount.

** Baskets pictured are for display purposes only.

Relaunch Competition

As part of our relaunch, we are offering gifts to 3 lucky clients.

Each person who places an order over $100 with Natasha James before the 30th April (Mother's Day gift packs excluded) will be entered into our special prize draw and 3 lucky winners will receive a beautiful electric oil burner.

Image for illustrative purposes only. Actual item may differ from display

- You've got to be in it to win it!!

Click here to place your order

Natasha James Relaunch!!

We are very excited to be writing this, as it marks a new start for Natasha James.

Natasha James (Face, Hair and Body - naturally) has new management and is raring to go.

Erin remains on board and is delighted to introduce and welcome Clare as a new business and creative partner to Natasha James. We have been in a slight hiatus (both busy having babies), and are now in a position where we can devote ourselves afresh to the business.

We are going to be revamping our website over the coming weeks, sharing our news with you - check out our blog regularly for posts to hear our ideas and to be the first to hear about our new products, and most excitingly, we are going to be adding to our product range.

We want to take this opportunity to say "thank you" to our existing clients, and "welcome" to our new ones. We are looking for ward to working with you to make your perfect products.

Together, we will continue to make and develop your everyday skin care products, tailored specifically to your needs.

With our new found energy and vigour, we will be improving and expanding our range to further cater for every day use and also those special pampering routines, and everything in between.

We're sure that all our exciting changes will appeal to you.

As always, don't hesitate to get in touch, we'd love to hear what you'd like to see from Natasha James. Contact us or "Like" us on Facebook. We'd love to hear from you all!