Knots Elementals : Editorial

Editorial

Home-made cosmetics are no longer the preserve of the hairy-legged, hippie-dippy set, says BEATRICE AIDIN

IN THE MIX
The image of home-made face cream has always been more craft fair than Vanity Fair. But all that looks set to change. Concerns about ingredients, allergies and the soaring cost of designer-label cosmetics have increased the popularity of workshops that teach the art of handmade beauty products. So can you be weaned off the beauty hall for lotions and potions you have knocked up in the kitchen? Style puts three of the more popular courses to the rest.

KNOTS ELEMENTALS BESPOKE SKINCARE WORKSHOP, TEDDINGTON
As you sit arround her kitchen table, Barbara Sargent, founder of Knots Elementals, talks you through the properties of various base and essential oils. After an hour of concentrated note-talking, I attempted mixing a few drops of neroli, lemon and jojoba, and manage to create a divine-smelling shampoo. My fellow students are less smug: "Mine smells like stuffing", complains one, who has overdone the rosemary.

Indeed, home blends are fallible, but as each dose can be mixed individually, the cost of getting it wrong is tiny. Next, we are taught how to mix body moisturisers, along with all aspects of aromatherapy, such as how to create a mood or banish a skin problem. Sargent's enthusiasm is infectious, but as I trundle home with my exfoliating scrub, hand cream and few oils - all for about £21 - I wonder if I will still be mixing my own body scrub in a fortnight. However, it takes only 20 seconds to mix, so maybe I will manage.

A few weeks later, my main dilemma, apart from which oils to use, turns out to be what to do with the half-empty bottles of shop-bought products that still line my bathroom shelves.

Best bit: Sargent is a former operations director at Penhaligon's, so you are guaranteed good insider tips. And then there are the very cute glass mixing pots.
Drawback: why are no base materials provided to create a face mask?
Goodie bag: information pack, your own handmade shampoo and body moisturiser, and 10% off all base materials purchased.?
Cost: £50 for a four-hour course; if you can get a group together (maximum 10), Sargent will come to you.
Score: 5/5.

Beatrice Aidin, THE SUNDAY TIMES [JANUARY 13, 2002]

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Editorial

KNOTS ELEMENTALS BESPOKE SKINCARE WORKSHOP, TEDDINGTON

"As you sit arround her kitchen table, Barbara Sargent, founder of Knots Elementals, talks you through the properties of various base and essential oils. After an hour of concentrated note-talking, I attempted mixing a few drops of neroli, lemon and jojoba, and manage to create a divine-smelling shampoo. My fellow students are less smug: "Mine smells like stuffing", complains one, who has overdone the rosemary.

Indeed, home blends are fallible, but as each dose can be mixed individually, the cost of getting it wrong is tiny. Next, we are taught how to mix body moisturisers, along with all aspects of aromatherapy, such as how to create a mood or banish a skin problem. Sargent's enthusiasm is infectious, but as I trundle home with my exfoliating scrub, hand cream and few oils - all for about £21 - I wonder if I will still be mixing my own body scrub in a fortnight. However, it takes only 20 seconds to mix, so maybe I will manage.

A few weeks later, my main dilemma, apart from which oils to use, turns out to be what to do with the half-empty bottles of shop-bought products that still line my bathroom shelves.

Best bit: Sargent is a former operations director at Penhaligon's, so you are guaranteed good insider tips. And then there are the very cute glass mixing pots."

Beatrice Aidin, THE SUNDAY TIMES [JANUARY 13, 2002]