A blog dedicated to natural skin care, chemical facts, home made DIY recipes, product information & reviews and other interesting, healthy, good for you, tidbits. Enjoy!
< Keywords: hello all you super mums, glass impressions, joli natural skin care >
Recently I decided to give myself a gift. I purchased a special Acapulco Coffee Mug from Glass Impressions shop.
What I really like about this mug is it's thick and sturdy and hard to break (perfect for someone clumsy like me).
Glass Impressions etch the glass and offer a range of designs to choose from.
I, of course, chose Super Mum.... because who wouldn't :)
When I got my mug the first thing I did was make myself a special Super Mum drink (also known as Irish Coffee).
Ingredients:
Brewed coffee (you can use instant)
45ml Tia Maria
A pinch of chilli powder
A pinch of chocolate powder (I used maca powder)
Whipped Cream
1) Brew some hot coffee and fill the glass 2/3 with coffee.
2) Add 45ml Tia Maria.
3) Gently dollop whipped cream on top until glass is full.
4) Sprinkle chilli and maca powder on top.
5) ENJOY!!!!
Some time ago JOLI approached Sarah Wilson (of I Quit Sugar fame) because she seemed like a like-minded individual with the same interests in ethics and chemical free skin care and so forth.
Upon speaking with her PA to enquire about whether Sarah would be interested in trying some JOLI products, emailing back and forth to determine if JOLI were inline with Sarah's ethics, then determining which products Sarah would like to try etc. JOLI sent Sarah 100ml Light Moisturiser, 100ml Enliven Facial & Body Scrub, Moisturising Lip Balm and sample pots of Soothing Salve and Rich Cream Moisturiser (a value of around $80 plus postage and packaging).
As you can imagine JOLI were quit excited to be having a celebrity (of sorts) try our products and were, of course, hoping she would LOVE them so much she would write a wonderful review about our ethical and environmentally friendly chemical free natural skin care. One of the most natural brands on the market.
Imagine our surprise and horror when not only does Sarah not thank us for the products and doesn't even have the courtesy to let us know the products are received, let alone let us know that's she's using or enjoying them... but instead writes an awful article [titled: this makes me angry] making it sound as though our sending her products was unsolicited and wasteful, and that we're an unethical company wasting the earths and Sarah's resources.
It was slightly shattering and... well... just a little bit rude.
Sarah states that every item received either requires a polite thank you note or detailed email saying it doesn't sit well with her ethics. Sarah didn't send a polite thank you note or detailed email nor did her PA. JOLI heard nothing until we read her article and saw the products we'd sent featured in a picture. The only real waste of resources in sending these products to Sarah was the time and effort I personally put in to gifting this to her (put together by hand by me - no junior PR staffer here). In hind site I wish I hadn't put the products in a reusable box with a reusable pretty ribbon although it might have made no difference to Sarah, if the products were packaged our usual way with recycled bubble wrap and recyclable packaging.
Full article here: https://sarahwilson.com/2013/04/this-makes-me-angry/
After the article aired I contact her PA to ask if Sarah had been expecting the JOLI Natural Skin Care because she'd included them in her 'guff' and was told yes Sarah has said yes to receiving them... yet still no thank you for taking the time to send them or whether they're being used/enjoyed.
Image from Sarah Wilson .com
JOLI's Response [which was deleted from Sarah's blog]:
I have to say I find this rant a touch on the humorous
side.Not all is as it appears with the
guff you were sent.As one of the
senders of guff featured in your picture above I would like to say that I did contact you to ask if you wanted to receive my guff.
After some understandable scrutiny on your part I was kindly given permission
to send guff to you.
I take great care in my packaging choices and am an avid
believer in reusing and recycling. A lot of my packing is reused and recycled packing, i.e. been sent to me which I
then reuse such as bubble wrap. Or recyclable. Nothing is wasted. What isn’t recycled is Australian made, which
supports small local businesses, our economy and cuts down on overseas shipping
and extended carbon emissions related to that.
Any paper work scent with the items is important information
about the contents, otherwise you’re running blind. There are no toxic
chemicals in said items, and no sugary snacks.
Postage may be a vast drain on the countries resources
(employed postmen might disagree), all that sorting and traveling and carbon
emissions, yet, as one good person pointed out to me – the postmen are going
that way already. Giving them extra mail doesn’t negate that fact.
Airplanes (on which you fly) are the biggest environmental
polluters there are. Of course your carbon footprint is offset by your
commendable bike riding and healthy lifestyle. The point being, many of
us have our own carbon offset.
Regardless of all that, I truly hope you are thoroughly
enjoying the guff I sent you, which is perfectly inline with what you stand
for. Natural and good for the environment.
To this day Sarah never sent a reply, feedback or thank you note regrading the products she was gifted.
As an essential oils skin care retailer I often get asked which essential oil brand(s) I use in JOLI's products. People often ask if I'm using one of those companies that boast 100% pure therapeutic grade essential oils... supposedly the best of the best.
don't ingest essential oils
Here is what I have to say about that:
1) There is NO such thing as therapeutic or aromatherapy grade essential oils. Don't just take my word for it, look it up. There are no such agencies testing the grade of essential oils and deeming them to be more pure or more therapeutic than others. The only people claiming there is such a thing are those selling products based on those claims. 2) Those making those claims have NOT, and nor do they have the resources to, test ALL other brands to ensure those other brands are not as pure as their brand(s) claim to be. Again there is no registry or agency whereby all essential oil companies report the purity or grade of their essential oils. 3) Those companies selling these 100% pure therapy grade essential oils often suggest ingestion of essential oils is SAFE. This sends out alarm bells!!!! The potency of essential oils is such that it could have serious ramifications if ingested. For example 1 drop of peppermint essential oil is equivalent to approximately 20-30 cups of peppermint tea. Would you drink the strength of 20-30 cups of peppermint tea in one sitting?
You should NOT take essential oils internally unless advised by a qualified and registered aromatherapy practitioner. Those selling essential oils on behalf of companies who make these claims are NOT qualified and registered aromatherapy practitioners, and are merely repeating what they've learned from the companies who oils they're selling. WITHOUT qualification!!!!
4) Add to the above point: if these companies really are selling the purest of essential oils that means ingestion of said oils could be even more hazardous than diluted, lesser quality essential oils. Danger! Danger!
5) Quite often these brands are far more expense than any other oils on the market, due to the (false) claims they make. It is not a viable option for any business to purchase the most expensive oils (up to 5x the cost of other brands) on the market, especially when there are reputable companies selling excellent quality essential oils at a more affordable cost.
The moral of the story:
Beware of purchasing from any company that tells you their essentials oils are the purest on the market, are therapeutic grade, indigestible and cost more than other brands.
Even though my vegetable garden is a fairly new project my olive tree has been growing for near on 13 years and began fruiting after 10 years.
Each year around this time the children and I go out and collect as many olives as we can for pickling. We have so much fun climbing the tree, climbing on the roof and cubby house. Like little monkeys, gathering olives in buckets, hats and pockets.
Olives ready for pickling ~ JOLI NSC
We picked them when they're green or else the birds will get to them first and we'll have none for ourselves. We also leave many olives in the top branches for the birds to enjoy.
The olives are washed to remove any bird droppings and pickled in a collection of jars.
~ Marinated pickled olive recipe ~
Pickling ingredients: [step 2]
1.5kg fresh olives
1/4 cup sea salt
4 cups water
1 cup olive oil (approx)
Marinade ingredients - suggested only, you can choose and omit ingredients:
Olives in jars ~ JOLI NSC
2 cups olive oil
1 cup water
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 large cloves garlic
4 bay leaves
4 dried whole red chillies
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon peppercorns
6 thick slices lemon
3 sprigs fresh thyme
Stage One ~ rinsing to remove bitterness ~
1) Using a sharp knife slit the olives down the sides in two or three places through to the stone.
2) Place the olives in containers and cover with water. Weigh the olives down so they remain submerged. Change the water every day for 5 days (use the water on your garden). You will notice the olives begin to change in flavour and go from unpalatable to almost edible. You can do this stage longer if you feel the olives need it.
3) Discard water and rinse olives.
Stage Two ~ pickling ~
1) Place the salt and 4 cups of water in a saucepan and stir until salt dissolves. Place olives in jars and pour the brine over them, covering them. Pour enough olive oil over the top to cover the surface of the olives.
2) Seal tightly with lids and store in a cool, dark place for 8-12 weeks. The longer the better to help decrease the bitterness of the olives and allow them to soften.
TIP: keep the above liquid, store in labelled jars (olive pickling
liquid step 2), sealed tightly and reuse for next time and next time.
Stage Three ~ marinade ~
1) Combine 2 cups olive oil with 1 cup water and 1/2 cup dry white wine in a non-reactive saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and add the other marinade ingredients - adding and omitting ingredients to your taste. Stand for 30 minutes.
2) Add a lemon slice to each jar. Add olives and arrange garlic, bay leaves etc. attractively in the jars.
3) Cover with marinade and seal. Store in a cool dark place for up to 6-12 months or longer. Leave for at least 2 weeks before opening. Refrigerate after opening.
Even though my vegetable garden is a fairly new project my olive tree has been growing for near on 13 years and began fruiting after 10 years.
Each year around this time the children and I go out and collect as many olives as we can for pickling. We have so much fun climbing the tree, climbing on the roof and cubby house. Like little monkeys, gathering olives in buckets, hats and pockets.
Olives ready for pickling ~ JOLI NSC
We picked them when they're green or else the birds will get to them first and we'll have none for ourselves. We also leave many olives in the top branches for the birds to enjoy.
The olives are washed to remove any bird droppings and pickled in a collection of jars.
While looking at ladies fashion trying to figure out what style of clothes I like I stumbled across an Australian women's fashion online website. At first I was in awe of the pictures because the dresses are so well made and feminine. I started to browse, making a mental note of dresses I liked; looking at the instructions, sizing charts, about us, contact us and terms and conditions. Supposedly order processing takes 3-5 days and then up to 12 working days to post (max 3 weeks).
While they don't outright say it they elude to being based in Australia yet have no business contact details aside from an email address (which didn't strike me as odd since it's not unusual for online websites to only have email contacts). I looked up their business name and found they have an ABN and a street address in Sydney yet the business has been listed by a Chinese name (person or company). They had another business in 2015 under a different name that no longer exists - what happened to it? Couldn't find any information on it.
I sent them an email enquiry about site info and received an email back that did not originate from Sydney, they copied and pasted a standard response from their website and didn't answer my question.
It was time to look for reviews and sure enough I found some on their Facebook page, 99% of which is negative. Mostly regarding the long postage times over 1-2 months, low quality clothing not looking like the pictures and incorrect sizing. All comments are replied to with courtesy responses. Tracking of orders is done via an overseas (China) courier company.
This lead me to wonder even more about the company. How could they claim to be based in Australia while selling low quality items they ship in from China? This is false advertising and the very least.
My detective work took me here, there and everywhere and I ended up finding out about dodgy (scam) companies that set up websites in China using photos they've stolen from other websites and selling second rate items. Items made in sweat shop factories where employees are asked to replicate items pictured on the websites. Judging by the quality of the work often reported, the employees don't seem very skilled and quite often have no idea how to replicate the product well. From there I looked around for other sites scamming the Australian public and was horrified to find that there are many and when the companies are confronted about their dubious existence they close their websites down, change business names and open new websites. I was further horrified to find reporting these companies isn't very easy leaving me, and no doubt others, unsure as to how to actually do it.
Customers who report dodgy products to the companies have emails ignored, phone numbers don't work, items are often lost in transit, arrive second rate and have to be returned in order to receive a refund, which often isn't given. There is no way to chase the company down, reporting them is tricky and often futile, returning items is costly, so many just cut their losses and China gets it's money from ripping off other countries with fake items: clothing, jewellery, electronics etc. These companies have infiltrated not just Australia and the US, but France, the UK, Thailand, India... just about every corner of the globe!
Now this isn't to say ALL companies from China are illegitimate fake scammers; numerous people have purchased knockoff items they're happy with, but BEWARE and do your homework. If unsure ask for more information because somewhere out there someone knows. One thing to look out for is photos that also appear on other websites (you can do a reverse image search), this is a sure sign the photos are fake, and fake photos mean fake companies! Also not having standard photo styles, such as consistent background colour, product placement etc.
While this article isn’t for our vegan friends it is about helping those who wish to reduce their meat intake. More people are becoming aware that the way we produce and consume meat has a largely ill effect on the earth and our bodies; the vast quantities we consume, the suffering of animals and the environmental impact of raising animals for meat.
So if you’re moving towards eating less meat this article should help. Also chickens have less environmental impact on our earth than other animals (see diagram).
Using one whole free range chicken this is what I did to make one bird feed our family (of four) for six days.
Remove the two breasts/chest area and place in a freezer container. No need for impressive knife skills, just do the best you can. Remove the wings, drumsticks and thighs (I like to separate the thighs from the drumsticks because there are more pieces to go around). Two batches of chicken ready for freezing and using later on in the week.
Place the remaining body of the chicken in a large pot, stuff and onion into the cavity, and cover with water. Add some flavours if you like such as peppercorns, cloves, garlic and bay leaves and add salt to taste. Cook on a very low heat for at least three hours.
When the chicken stock is done allow to cool before removing the body of the chicken and strain the liquid into glass bottles. This makes several (recycled) wine bottles of homemade chicken stock which you can freeze and use at your leisure.
Meal two: slow cooked chicken Italian style. Wings, drumsticks and thighs slow cooked in 800g of crushed tomatoes with Italian herbs and some home grown olives. Served with brown rice (or mashed potato if you prefer).
Meal three: use one bottle of chicken stock in a vegetable risotto.
Meal four: the chicken breasts were cut into bite sized pieces and used in a yummy homemade butter chicken sauce, served on a bed of brown rice.
Meal five: after eating the Italian style chicken (meal two) there was a fair amount of very flavoursome tomato sauce left over. This sauce can be poured over cooked pasta as a rich flavoured Napoli sauce.
Meal six: using another bottle of chicken stock cook some macaroni and a large tin of beans, with added Italian herbs and make a delicious and hearty Minestrone.
These dishes are just an idea of how the whole chicken can be used in many different, economical ways and it takes me back to a time when families were frugal with food and used every bit to make food go a long way.
Monday morning was grocery shopping morning. With a view to NOT enter the supermarkets all produce was purchased from the local businesses. We're really lucky where we live because our green grocers has a huge variety of produce including accompaniments like sauces, spices, noodles...
Fruit and vegetables came to $70. Break down: sweat potato, 5 garlic bulbs, handful of fresh ginger, 6 mandarins, bag of apples, bunch of bananas, 500g strawberries, grapes, 6 figs, 4 large carrots, cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower, snow peas, free range eggs, trio of dips, a bag of walnuts to snack on and tomato passata.
Meat from local butcher, consisting of a handful of chicken necks for the dog, a handful of small chicken pieces and 3 chicken breasts, came to $18 (the necks and pieces are cheap).
Local bakery, three wholemeal loaves of bread came to $5.
Italian delicatessen, 3 bags of pasta, mozzarella, large bag of parmesan and large bag of Italian cookies (for school snacks), came to $25.
Tuesday dinner =
Pasta neapolitana. One bag of rigatoni pasta topped with some left over tomato sauce I made the previous Sunday lunch (before shopping) and parmesan cheese.
Wednesday dinner =
Minestrone made with the handful of chicken pieces, onion, garlic, 4 potatos (from last weeks shopping), one carrot, rehydrated chick peas* and a quarter bag of riccioli pasta.
Thursday dinner =
Stir fry vegetables with rice. Broccoli, snow peas, garlic and ginger, with an egg, coriander and oyster sauce*.
During this time a banana cake was made with old bananas and staples. I did a quick shop on Thursday to get milk and butter because I forgot to get these on Monday.
Friday dinner =
Cauliflower and chicken soup, with one whole cauliflower, one chicken breast fillet, garlic, onion, stock and a cup of dried lentils*.
Saturday dinner =
Left over minestrone.
Sunday dinner =
Bread and trio of dips. The bread was warmed in an oven after being lightly tossed with olive oil then served with a trio of dips.
We made a carrot cake on Sunday with two of the carrots and a cup of the walnuts, eggs and staples.
This is to feed a family of three and by Sunday we have 4 bananas, two apples, half a bunch of grapes, garlic, ginger, cucumber and sweet potato, two chicken fillets, two loaves of bread (we must have had at least another half a loaf prior to shopping) and the accompaniments such as cheese, milk etc.
Monday dinner =
Chicken breast baked in tomato sauce with onion, garlic and mozzarella cheese, served with sweet potato mash.
Tuesday dinner =
Cucumber salad with feta cheese and home grown olives. The last bag of pasta with parmesan cheese (with bolognese sauce made with mince from the freezer) plus home-made garlic bread with half a French stick (from the freezer).
Wednesday dinner =
Left over cauliflower soup with buttered bread.
Breakfast is cereal* and milk, lunch is a sandwiches, biscuits, fruit and water, afternoon snack is fruit or cookies, sometimes yogurt if we have it or cake if we've made some.
*Staples = from the pantry / freezer - items usually in stock.
Recently I decided to give myself a gift. I purchased a special Acapulco Coffee Mug from Glass Impressions shop.
