Val's Overview on How VBE Came to Be
I began playing with essential oils in cosmetics after my sister became enthralled with Aromatherapy. After reading and learning the various information on essential oils and their incredible benefits, I becan to experiment. This was around 1995, and what started of as simple curiosity turned in to a full fledged passion. I was immediately interested in applying their benefits into creams and lotions, but due to the prohibitive costs on the oils, I did not truly focus on this area until 1998.
I knew that in the right combination the possibility of creating a truly incredible oil to benefit healing of the body was a real possibility. I successfully came up with burn gels, insect repellants, body lotions which I gave to friends and families. They in turn responded with “more, more, more.” I decided to focus on one area…the face. Val’s Body Essentials was born in 1998 and has continued to concentrate its efforts in this area.
In the 1st couple of years, I tried dozens of combinations and once again, turned to friends and family as guinea pigs. The results were beyond my wildest expectations. As I began to do research into the marketing of this fabulous cream, I came across a variety of stumbling blocks. Unaware of the potential in internet marketing, I went the usual route…spas, salons, and quality retail chain stores. Enter the government. The packaging and ingredient listing alone was enough to daunt me. But when I realized that in order to do this, ALL my products had to have an extensive shelf life, I decided I couldn’t or WOULDN’T do it.
I refuse to add preservatives. If this means I can’t market them to the world through a middle man, then so be it. What makes this face creams so incredibly effective is the potency of the oils. They are at their best when first added to their carrier, in this case the base cream. By allowing them to be distributed in the mass market, there is a good chance they will sit on shelves or backrooms for months…maybe even years. That was completely unacceptable to me. I decided to do it myself, knowing I would only be able to provide these creams primarily by word of mouth. So, I continued on with other pursuits while still providing my faithful customers with face creams.
With the shift of the economy, I decided it was time to take another look at developing this line and reaching more people. I had been bugging the distibutor of my essential oils for years to come up with a base that was paraben free, allowing me to mass market the creams while continuing to maintain their integrity. Voila! It took 15 years, but here it is! All the compounding of the essential oils and creams is completely controlled by Val’s Body Essentials, thereby allowing me to create creams to exacting standards and offer them to more people.
I am, and have always been extremely proud of this line of face creams. They stand alone and speak for themselves. I encourage feedback and often compound “special” creams for people with allergies or fragrance sensitivities
