The Seattle Luxury Chocolate Salon is Sunday, July 13th, 2008, at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center, 2211 Alaskan Way, Pier 66. 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Tickets are $20 for adults, $17.50 in Advance (recommended). For Advance Ticket purchases and information, please visit http://www.seattlechocolatesalon.com

For purchases over $25.00 Sweet Beauty will give away a 2oz Pot de Crème, chocolate body cream at no charge.

Sweet Beauty had a wonderful time at the Seattle Crave Show on Sunday June 1st. There was plenty to see, taste and buy including chocolate. Take a look at Crave’s Website to see when the next party is www.craveparty.com

Crave Party girls trying out Sweet Beauty with the help of my mom Michelle.

Theo, True Divine Nature, Sweet Beauty and Life in Balance team up to offer relaxation and meditation with chocolate. It was a festive evening with beer and chocolate pairings, chocolate meditation, and organic chocolate spa treatments.

Visit the links to view more about each of these companies.

www.ayurvedaseattle.com

www.theochocolate.com

www.truedivinenature.com

Woman enjoying an sb hand massage

woman enjoying and hand massage from a Life in Balance Ayurvedic Therapist with Sweet Beauty’s Pot de Creme, chocolate body cream.

This home made cleanser not only cleanses and moisturizes your skin…it puts you in a good mood with it’s delightful chocolate aroma.

Oatmeal is a wonderful cleanser to gently remove dead skin cells and residue. Honey is a effective humectant. Milk is rich in protein, calcium and vitamins. Chocolate, along wih being high in antioxidants is good for the soul.

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/4 cup whole milk. You can try soy milk too, it is high in phytoestrogen.

2 T Honey

1 T Cocoa Powder

Finely grind oatmeal. In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the honey and mix again. Slowly add the milk and stir well, your goal is to make a paste.

Apply to moist skin, rubing gently in a circular motion. Leave on for 5 to 10 minutes which usually works better if you are in the bath tub.

If you don’t use all at once. This cleanser should be store in the fridge and used within a few days.

Warm summer months are coming and what better way to welcome them by combining Summer’s Rich Strawberries with White Chocolate.

Cocoa Butter lend a rich chocolaty aroma as well as being soothing and emollient to the skin. Sweet Cherry Oil is also very emollient and high in oleic acid, vitamin A and E, Strawberry Seed Oil is high in antioxidants and essential fatty acids. Try these wonderful ingredients mixed with sugar to gently exfoliate and nourish your skin.

1 cup unrefined cane sugar

2 oz Cocoa Butter

3 oz Sweet Cherry Oil

1 oz Strawberry Seed Oil

1 T Strawberry Seeds

3 to 5 drops all natural strawberry flavor oil if scent is desired (note: flavor oils lend a nice scent and many are all natural)

Directions: Gently melt the Cocoa Butter in the microwave or over a double boiler. Add the Sweet Cherry and Strawberry Oils, stir. Mix the dry ingredients together. Slowly pour the oil mixture over the dry mixture and stir well. Add the flavor oil at the end to suit your taste.

You can change the consistency of the scrub by adding a little more sugar and vice versa.

I source my ingredients from www.fromnaturewithlove.com I get my flavor oils from Candy or Cake making stores, an easy one to find is www.candylandcrafts.com.

Foamy Chocolate, Honey and Vanilla…What more could you need.

1 cup grapeseed or any light oil.

1 cup gentle liquid soap. Dr. Bronner’s available at many natural markets works wonderfully.

1/2 cup honey

1 T Chocolate Powder

1 tsp Vanilla Extract. Powdered is best, but Liquid will work.

Heat the oil in the microwave for 1 minute. Add Honey, Cocoa Powder and Vanilla and stir well. Allow to cool to room temperature.

In a mixing bowl pour the soap. With the hand mixer on, very slowly pour the oil mixture into the soap to create and emulsion.

Put into container and use as desired. This should last a while without any preservatives, but if in doubt throw away.

Orange Kissed Chocolate Milk Bath

Milk, rich in protein, calcium and vitamins is easily absorbed into the skin. Citrus Peel stimulates the circulatory system. Sweet Orange essential oil is soothing as well as a skin softener. Chocolate is wonderful for the body senses and soul.

1/2 cup of whole milk powder (non fat for oily skin)

1/2 cup of cocoa powder

The peel of 1 whole fresh orange. You can twist the peel slightly to release the oils.

20 drops or as much as you like of Sweet Orange essential oil.

Mix ingredients together. I use a whisk right in the tub. Soak for a nice long time, but withing 20 minutes your skin should be nice and soft.

Breathe, Relax and Enjoy.

Warm your body with this chocolaty ginger body scrub. Ginger stimulates the circulatory system, chocolate is high in antioxidants and honey soothes and protects the skin.

1/2 cup raw sugar

1/2 cup unbleached cane sugar

1/4 cup grapeseed oil (you may use any light oil of your choice)

1 T ground ginger or 2 T fresh grated ginger

1 T honey

Mix all of the ingredients together. Apply scrub to moist skin. Rub in a circular motion. Rinse.

Retail Notebook: Sweet Beauty adores your skin, and your senses.

By ANDREA JAMES
P-I REPORTER

LISA FRANCOISE has a simple rule for beauty products: “If you can’t eat it, you really shouldn’t put it on your skin.”

It is a test of will not to scarf down the yummy lip balms and face masks that she sells at her Seattle retail store, Sweet Beauty LLC. The main ingredient in all of her products is chocolate. Real, rich, sinful, delightful, brown chocolate from melted bars.

Francoise combined two career backgrounds — restaurant manager and aesthetician — to invent the line of pleasure-inspired products and open a shop.

“What’s good for the inside is good for the outside,” she says. “Chocolate is really your friend.”

Her signature lip balms range in their chocolaty-ness. “Whisper” has a faint hint. “Taste” has more. “Crave” and “indulge” are made mostly of extra-dark, organic, fair-trade-certified chocolate. “Inspire” has mocha.

Francoise adds natural oils to the balms to provide vitamins and moisture. “Indulge” combines chocolate with beeswax, sweet cherry oil, aloe vera oil, avocado oil, meadowfoam oil, cranberry seed oil, black and red raspberry seed oil, pomegranate oil, cocoa absolute, rosemary extract and vitamin E.

To a reporter’s lips, the balm felt like smeared melted chocolate, only a bit lighter and creamier. Francoise says her balms can curb cravings for sweets, though she has only anecdotal evidence to support that.

While the ingredients are natural enough to consume, they’re not meant to be eaten. The label declares, “for external use only.”
Behind the screens

Behind the screen dividers and down the stairs, the shop boasts a clean but cluttered kitchen, full of plastic containers with batches of products, gallons of oils and midprogress experiments for new products.

Francoise grabbed a Rubbermaid vat of “nourish,” a triple-chocolate demera sugar scrub, stuck it in the microwave and hit “heat.”

After heating it, she stirred the sugary granular mixture with a spatula until it was a finished product. Small batches of scrubs are made by hand in a two-day process. Lotions take two weeks to complete, to let the oil soak with cocoa.

“I always let everything sit for one day at least,” she said. “It’s like when you make a soup, the next day it tastes better.”

The products are not tested on animals. They are tested on toddlers, particularly Francoise’s 4-year-old daughter, Talia, and her friends.

“If they liked it and want to play with it, it’s good,” Francoise said. “They’ve eaten every one of them, and they still lived to tell, so I know it’s OK.”
The business of chocolate

At age 38, Francoise’s skin is soft and clear. A casually beautiful brunette, she wore jeans and black suede high-heeled boots for her interview.

She is a former smoker and sun worshipper who has reformed, she said. She spoke excitedly about chocolate beans and the restorative chemical properties of chocolate.

It has cost her $50,000 to get the business started. In its second year, the business is profitable. Francoise hasn’t yet paid off her debts, but she’s doing better than expected. She hopes to be debt-free in five years.

“I don’t know if I’m ever going to strike it rich, but I’m really having a good time,” she said.

She sells up to a few hundred of every product each month. Prices range from $50 for an 8-ounce Berry Pretty Mask to $5.50 for a lip balm.

Her stepfather, who is a former lawyer and chef, helps to make the products. She’s also hired a marketing expert and an accountant, “because the shoe box wasn’t working.”

She won’t make any outrageous claims — her products just moisturize and make a girl feel good.

“I think the only miracle cream out there in the whole wide world is sunscreen,” she said. “I’ve been using it every day since I was 23.”

Sunscreen, she said, is a notable exception to her eatable-only skin care products rule.
IF YOU GO

Sweet Beauty LLC

2809 N.E. 55th St., Seattle

Hours: Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

More time available by appointment

206-729-7546

sweetbeautyspa.com
P-I reporter Andrea James can be reached at 206-448-8124 or andreajames@seattlepi.com.