More Makeovers

Or, as we say here in the northeast, make ovahs.

I've converted my baby soap into a full sized bar of unscented, dye-free goodness.

Pauline has completed her transformation to a 100% natural bar.

Stella Marie now proudly offers four 100% natural soaps: Ocean State, Tempest, The Straight Soap and Pauline.

Open Market Pics

Here are a few pics from the Providence Open Market this past weekend ;) They are all from the show organizer's image library - in other words, I can't take the credit for them.

A beautiful Chinese dragon.

The lively crowd.

Me & my sweetie minding the booth.

A Sneak Peek

Here are a few shots of some new stuff.

Ocean State

French Clay Bars with Encrusted Salt on Top. Scented with a Geranium and Tea Tree EO blend. I was really trying to capture the scent of the beach roses that grow so heartily ocean-side. 100% Natural.

Ginger Verbena Soap Cupcakes with Dried Calendula

Tempest (a makeover)
Spearmint Soap with Crushed Dried Mint Sprinkled In - 100% Natural


Java Lava (a makeover)
Coffee Soap with a Hint of Chocolate
Now featuring locally roasted coffee beans!

Beastie Bar (a makeover)
Banana Chocolate Soap

Check out all the new Salt Soaks - now available in the shop!

Hot off the Press

Or should I say, cyber press?

I am really excited to have just been featured in Celebutante Sisters, a super fun and exciting new site with the latest on fashion, beauty and juicy celebrity gossip! Kerri and Andrea have really done a marvelous job launching and maintaining this gem. What's even cooler? They are Red Sox fans, too!

Read a full interview with yours truly and enter for a chance to win a Stella Marie giveaway!

Providence Open Market

If you live in Providence and want to check out some cool, local indie finds, come down to Lippitt Park on the East Side this weekend. We'll be there - and we'll be bringing new products with us!

Come support your local peeps!

More Changes

I'm on a roll with changes these days. Here is a hint at one of the latest changes to the line:


I am discontinuing fizzing bath powders to make room for salt soaks. I am reeeeeallly excited about this product. The soak consists of 3 different types of salt, including dead sea salt. There will be 4 varieties offered: pink grapefruit, tangerine & lime, coconut cream and lavender. I will be making some modifications to the gift sets in the next couple of days, to reflect this addition to the Stella Marie collection.

Further Conceptualization

Most of this stuff just stays in my head. However, I've decided to document a few things on the company blog. Just for kicks. These are further developments and considerations for the lab notes I posted a couple of days ago.

1. Tempest (spearmint)
Though it would be fun to use a botanical to dye this soap, I have read that indigo root can bleed and who the heck wants that on your skin? I attempted red cabbage water, which was unbelievable beautiful in its pure extracted state but it became a odd shade of orange when lye was added to it and it smelled less than pampering. I've decided to keep this soap dye free. Spearmint essential oil is all this soap needs to get noticed.

2. Pauline (lavender)
Same plan as before (lavender EO) minus the botanical dye. I am going to decorate the soap with locally-produced lavender buds and I think this will be very pretty on its own.

3. The Straight Soap (dye and fragrance free)
Same plan as before.

4. Ocean State (EO TBD, but likely tea tree, sage, eucalyptus or an EO blend)
This soap, I am hoping, is going to freaking rock. It is going to be scented with a pungent, medicinal EO (but not overly used, so as to give the soap a hint rather than a punch) and dyes with liquid chlorophyll (100% natural dye - yields a beautiful light green). The soap will be topped with big, chunky grains of sea salt. This soap is an homage to Rhode Island.

5. Beastie Bar (banana chocolate)
This soap, though not in consideration for a proposal to Whole Foods, will be undergoing a change. The soap will be dyed brown, the chocolate and banana FOs will be blended (current version: bottom portion is banana and top portion is chocolate) and the top will contain chunks of my unscented soap for decoration. The main reason for this is the high concentration of vanilla is the banana FO. It discolors the entire soap and while this is ok (since the soap is banana chocolate), I'd really rather keep the yellow chunks pure.

I will have pics of all the soaps up on the blog soon.

Pics from Vanson Open House

Here are a few pics from today's event!

Now Available in Downtown New Bedford, MA

Do you live in the New Bedford, MA area? Would you like to purchase fragrant and moisturizing handcrafted soaps and body scrubs made by a girl who grew up in New Bedford? Then stop on in to Vetu, a super cool and stunningly hip gift shop, located in the heart of New Bedford's historic downtown shopping district! Seriously, these women know their stuff. Their inventory kicks butt!

Lab Notes

I attended the Local Producers Seminar at Whole Foods yesterday. It was a very interesting and informative event. Whole Foods is so very dedicated to their green mission - it is something that all of their employees are terrifically excited about. And it is contagious! I consider myself to be a fairly green person, though I haven't exactly started to compost. Yet.

When I met with the Whole Body folks, I was really inspired. Their standards are very high and they do not accept product that isn't 100% natural (save for 1 or 2 lines that I assume were grandfathered in somehow). They encouraged me to create several soaps for Whole Foods that were void of any type of synthetic dye or fragrance. When Whole Foods speaks, Kim listens!

Here is the plan, at this point:

Pauline, my lavender soap, will soon be scented with a lavender essential oil and dyed with botanicals. I am also going to be using locally grown lavender buds to decorate the soap.

Stella Baby, which is already 100% natural, will become a larger bar and will likely undergo a name change. I like, "The Straight Soap," like the name of this blog, but it isn't final.

Tempest, already scented with a spearmint essential oil, will also become larger and will be dyed with botanicals.

And lastly, I am going to introduce a new 100% natural bar, possibly scented with tea tree oil. This is still very much in the beginning phase of conceptualization.

I will have an official product launch in support of these changes, so be on the lookout!

Change is good;)

New Venue

Stella Marie is now available at The River's Edge Flower Shop ;)

The River's Edge Flowers & Gifts

2172 Broad Street - Pawtuxet Village, Cranston, RI 02905
401-941-9972

[View of Pawtuxet Village]

Passport to Style Photos

A few pics from the Passport to Style event at the CambridgeSide Galleria ...





A few pics from the Passport to Style event at the CambridgeSide Galleria ...

May 2009 Soap of the Month

Stella Marie has chosen to recognize all of the brave and honorable women who fought for equal rights - the grandmothers of feminism - with May's Soap of the Month, Suffragist.

She is a lemon verbena delight with the gentle exfoliation of crushed sunflower seeds. The Suffragists adopted the sunflower as a symbol of their powerful movement.