For every finished recipe that makes it onto The Natural Beauty Workshop, or into a kit on From Nature With Love, there are countless test batches and tinkering that go on behind the scenes. Often, readers ask me adivce on formulas that they are working on, and more often then not the answer I give them is experimentation. Trial and error is the only way to know if a recipe really works, or if a theory you have is sound.
Can you create an all natural lotion using floral wax instead of beeswax? Will Roasted Coffee Oil really smell nice when paired with Mandarin Essential Oil? What would happen if I used Jojoba Wax Beads instead of Beeswax? There is only one way to find out, and if you learn to take a little joy in this side of your work, it can open up a whole new world for your recipe formulation. Imagination is a wonderful thing. I could spend hours lost in a world of scents and colors, toying with what combination to whip up next, but unless I'm willing to put in the leg work, which can sometimes be boring, frustrating, and downright tiresome, all the imagination in the world would be useless.
A friend of mine, who also happens to be an amazing musician, told me once that you have to write a hundred songs for every one that you keep, and that he thought of the failures as a process of elimination. For every combination of melody and rythm that didn't work, he got one step closer to finding one that could make your heart sing. It's the same with many creative processes, and cosmetics formulation is certainly one of them.
So my message to you all this morning is to embrace experimentation. Take a chance, and whip up something you haven't tried before. At times, trial and error can be sorely disheartening, but when those moments of success come along, you will feel brilliant.
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