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Me Time Therapies Beauty Secrets Article

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Beauty secrets Green Parent Article – Sept 2020

https://thegreenparent.co.uk/articles/read/metime-therapies-beauty-secrets  

Extract from Me Time Therapies Beauty Secrets  Article

I started out offering Complementary therapies and over the years have branched out into teaching short courses in Indian head massage, Aromatherapy and Reflexology. In the past 3 years, I have trained as a Mindfulness teacher and now offering 8-week Mindfulness classes. I have also created a natural skincare range over the past 3 years .

The natural skincare products are

· Vegan Body Butter

· Relaxing Massage Balm

· Invigorating Citrus Massage Balm

· Make your own Body Butter & Lip Balm kit (Vegan)

Even though I have been in business for over 20 years, I only started to focus on my brand three years ago when I was creating my first product; Make your Own Body butter & Lip Balm kit.

By offering Wellness therapies, courses and products, my brand is about helping others and being of benefit to them by sharing my knowledge and skills.

SELF-CARE SECRETS

1. An Epsom Salt bath with Neroli & Geranium Aromatherapy oils followed by lying on top of my bed with a cosy blanket and doing a Mindfulness Body Scan.

2. Getting out into nature either into my garden or a walk by the sea helps me calm down when I feel overwhelmed by my ‘To-Do List’.

3. I also use Hand Reflexology when I am feeling anxious by massaging the Diaphragm, Solar Plexus and Head reflexes. I can do this anywhere (travelling or at home) as my hands are easily accessible.

BUSINESS PLANS

I am about to launch a Muscle Relax Massage Balm which is suitable for Body Massage, Indian head massage or for achy muscles post-exercise.

I teach a Self-Care Wellbeing Day and I am formulating a plan in how to create this as a Self-Care Kit to launch in October to sell as a Christmas gift.

THREE WAYS TO BE MORE SUSTAINABLE

1. Food – buying fresh ingredients, bulk buying nuts, pulses& rice and avoiding processed, over-packaged foods.

2. Organic gardening – having a compost bin and by avoiding pesticides it has encouraged bees & butterflies into my garden.

3. Making as many natural skincare products myself and buying natural skincare products that are free synthetic chemicals & preservatives.

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Summer Scents That Remind Us Of Our Favourite Holiday Destinations Article

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smell Aromatherapy

Summer Scents That Remind Us Of Our Favourite Holiday Destinations Article

Extract from  Cosyowl.com/guides/summer-scents-linked-to-our-favourite-holiday-destinations/

With many Brits unsure on whether to book a trip abroad to their favourite destination of choice, reminiscing on the scents abroad can be a comfort for many. Speaking with Clinical Aromatherapist Geraldine McCullagh of Me-Time-Therapies, the research also looked into how scent is linked to these types of holiday memories.

Geraldine commented:

“When we breathe in a scent such as a perfume or a food smell it triggers a reaction in the part of our brain (limbic system). The limbic system associates smells with emotions and memories. Our ancestors would have used scents to associate with feeling safe or in danger. If they had previously smelt food that was going off but still ate it, they would have stored this memory of being sick. The next time they smelt a similar smell of food going rancid, they knew not to eat it. Scents were extremely important to them to keep them alive.

“Breathing in a certain smell can stir up instant memories of the past holidays. The best example of this is when we smell sunscreen at home, it transports us back instantly to holidays in the sun. We usually associate the smell of sunscreen with images of ourselves lazing by the beach or pool and having fun. Another example for me is smelling cinnamon and transporting me back to the memory of eating Apple pie in America with friends”.

From the research carried out, sunscreen was a popular scent for holiday goers, with many remembering destinations such as Greece, Spain, Italy, Australia and Peru.

Geraldine continued:

“In today’s society, we are using scents such as lavender oil to fragrance our bedrooms to associate with feeling relaxed. Every time we smell lavender in our bedrooms we link that to the memory of relaxing and sleep.

“Supermarkets also use memory and smell to evoke fond memories. They waft the smell of cooked chicken through the supermarket. The smells instantly connect us with a favourite Sunday lunch with the family. We then buy the cooked chicken to relive this fond memory. The smell of a dentist waiting room or hospital can trigger memories instantly of feeling anxious and afraid even if we are just accompanying a friend/family to a dentist or hospital appointment.”

So whether you’re set to stay at home in 2020, or planning on booking a holiday for 2021, take some time to reconnect with the scents that remind you of your favourite destination!

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Plastic free mission at Me-Time Therapies

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Meet the Maker - Eco products by Me-Time Therapies

Plastic free mission

My Plastic free mission when creating the Make your own Body Butter & Lip Balm kit in 2017  was to make it as ethical as possible and to help you cut down on 1-use plastic packaging.

Make your own Body Butter &Lip Balm kit

The kraft Cardboard Box:   you can reuse it  for e.g. store jewellery, hair accessories, craft accessories or Aromatherapy oils

The aluminium tins: you can reuse them when you make a new batch of Lip Balms & Body butters. You can also use them to decant sun lotion, aloe gel, after sun when going on holiday.

Bottle: the bottle is 100ml so you can reuse it for lotions to put into hand luggage/handbag to meet airport restrictions of the size of liquid bottles.

Tissue paper:  you can reuse it for wrapping presents.

Making your own skincare helps with going plastic-free

By learning to make your own natural skincare, you are cutting down on purchasing one-use plastic skincare containers and bottles.  By following the Recipe Cards and video tutorials, you will see how easy it is to make your own natural skincare in your kitchen. You can reuse the aluminium jars provided in the kit over and over again for your Body Butters and Lip Balms.

Massage Balms & Vegan Body butter

In 2018, I added to the natural skincare range and now offer

Relaxing Massage wax
Relaxing Massage Wax|Balm

Relaxing Massage Balm

 

 

 

 

Invigorating (Citrus) Massage Balm

Citrus Invigorating Massage wax
Invigorating Citrus Massage Wax|Balm

 

Muscle Relax Massage Balm

Muscle Relaxing Massage wax
Muscle Relax Massage Balm|Wax

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vegan Body Butter

whipped body butter vegan

I use aluminium jars for the Massage Balms and the Body butter rather than hard plastic containers or 1-use plastic skincare jars/bottles. Once the balms and body butter have been used, the aluminium containers can be washed and reused or repurposed e.g. storing seeds to sow in the garden, storing paper clips or coins.

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Aromatherapy scents article in House Beautiful

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Aromatherapy scents will make you feel calm and less anxious, according to science.

Here is the part of the article where I am quoted on ‘how Aromatherapy scents can affect our mood’.

Geraldine McCullagh, a registered Clinical Aromatherapist at Me-Time Therapies, commented: ‘When we breathe in a scent, it triggers a reaction in the part of our brain (limbic system) and sets off a reaction in our bodies such as feeling calm or energised. The limbic system also associates smells with emotion and memories.

‘People tend to like the fruity-floral aroma of bergamot, which can result in feeling relaxed and their spirits uplifted. Lavender reduces muscle tension, and is regularly used to aid sleep. Geranium helps us to feel emotionally balanced and helps to reduce anxiety caused by stress and overwork.

‘Citrus scents are associated with an uplifting mood. For example, orange is sometimes called “sunshine in a bottle”, due to making people feel joyful and positive. Frankincense can create a sense of peace, helping people have time to breathe and be still.’

Geraldine says to stop anxiety from escalating, we can ‘train’ ourselves each time we feel anxious. ‘We can breathe in a smell and start to associate that smell with making us feel calm,’ she adds.

Full article 31st March 2020 –  www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle

 

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Article in Happiful- Mindfulness & Aromatherapy to feel calm

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calm - breath meditation

How scents can help root us to the present moment and help us feel calm

I am interviewed about how I blend Aromatherapy and Mindfulness together to help me feel calm.

Here is the article – A short-cut to mindfulness

Meditation is the usual go-to mindfulness technique, and is highly recommended, but it can also be helpful to find quick ways to anchor yourself throughout the day for those moments when you can’t really drift off into a meditative state.

A tool that’s been helping me recently is so simple, I’m not sure why I didn’t think of it sooner – scent.

Why does scent help us feel calm?

The reason aromatherapy can be so powerful in helping us feel calm is because it triggers our limbic system, the part of the brain linked to emotions and memories. Speaking to Cosy Owl following their survey results, clinical aromatherapist Geraldine McCullagh expands on this.

“When we breathe in a scent such as an aromatherapy oil it triggers a reaction in the part of our brain  and sets off a reaction in our bodies such as feeling calm or energised.

“The limbic system also associates smells with emotion and memories. For example,  the smell of Lavender can trigger a memory of a summer holiday in France and associate that memory with feeling relaxed.”

Geraldine goes on to say that because of this link between scent and memory we can effectively train ourselves to associate a certain scent with feeling calm.

“The next time we are starting to feel anxious, we can smell the essential oil and our minds will associate the smell with feeling calm. It means that we can stop the anxiety from escalating.”

So, next time you’re feeling overwhelmed with worry, find a scent you adore and breathe it in for a few long, slow breaths. Focus on the scent and being exactly where you are.

You can read the full article here – 3rd March 2020 – happiful.com/using-scent in Mindfulness/

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Glasgow Herald feature ‘Pamper yourself with these wonderful beauty products’

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Glasgow Herald -amper yourself with these wonderful beauty products

The Glasgow Herald online has featured Me-Time Therapies as one of the five Scottish based skincare companies. The ‘Make Your Own Body Butter & Lip Balm’ kit is included as a 100% natural beauty product.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17933058.pamper-wonderful-beauty-products/

The ‘Make your own Body Butter & Lip Balm’ kit is a wonderful starter kit in learning to make your own 100% natural skincare. The ingredients are 100% natural so that they are kind to your skin. By making your own skincare, you are also being kind to the environment as you are cutting down on single-use plastic beauty products. This also leads to saving money.

As I stated in the Glasgow Herald feature, the kit is proving popular with:

  • Eco-conscious – they are cutting down on plastic waste by making their own natural skincare. They can also re-use the jars, bottles & box.
  • People with sensitive skin – they are making fragrance free Body Butters & Lip balms and which are also free from toxic chemicals.
  • Vegans – they are making their own Lip Balms without using Beeswax.

The Lip Balms and the Body Butters are easy to make. Recipe cards and video tutorials are included with step by step instructions. Options are also provided if you wish to fragrance your Lip Balms and Body Butters with Aromatherapy oils.

Amazon review: This little kit came with lovely ingredients and clear instructions. The body butter we made has worked really well, leaving us moisturised. It’s all natural stuff, so great for our sensitive skins and it’s eco-friendly. Best of all, now we know how to do it, we can continue to make our own toiletries and experiment with different oils etc. This part of being eco-friendly is very easy!

10% of the profits of the ‘Make Your Own Body Butter & Lip Balm Kit’ go towards buying more medical equipment and beds in a Medical Centre in Ghana.

This kit allows you to make their own natural Lip Balms and Body Butters in your own kitchen hence the Motto ‘Created By Me, Made By You’.

The Make Your Own Body Butter & Lip Balm Kit can be purchased and shipped by Amazon. The cost is £20 plus free delivery from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=me+time+therapies

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East Lothian entrepreneurs

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East Lothian female business owner

I was delighted to be invited by East Lothian Business Gateway to be on the panel of East Lothian entrepreneurs. At the “Talking Business” event, we shared the good and also the challenges of running your own business with the audience. Members of the audiences also got the opportunity to ask questions on our experiences as East Lothian businesses.

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How East Lothian Business Gateway helped Me-Time Therapies

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East Lothian Business Gateway

I am featured in the latest East Lothian Business Buzz magazine – P15/16 –
https://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/downloads/file/28228/east_lothian_business_buzz_newsletter_-_spring_2019

Here is the extract from the East Lothian Business Buzz magazine – “A workshop on using social media for business led an established East Lothian business in an unexpected direction – with brilliant results! By attending a Business Gateway Facebook for Business workshop in September 2016, Geraldine McCullagh of Me-Time Therapies can now look back and see that this was the first stepping stone into diversifying her established therapy business. Geraldine had wrongly assumed that Business Gateway workshops were only open to and relevant to new businesses. But attending one workshop opened her eyes and she went on to take part in further workshops on social media and marketing – all relevant to her therapy business. As well as workshops, Geraldine successfully applied for a Digital Health Check and went on to receive support to build a new website. With the confidence Geraldine gained in creating her own website, she decided to create a product – Make your own Body Butter & Lip Balm kit. With a prototype created, she attended her first Biz East Lothian Coffee Morning where she was introduced to Stephen Newlin, East Lothian Business Advisor.
https://www.bgateway.com/local-offices/east-lothian/local-support

Meeting at the Business Gateway office at Queen Margaret University, Stephen recommended Geraldine put in an application for Branding and Marketing Consultancy with the ERDF business support programme. This proved to be a major stepping stone into launching the Make Your Own Body Butter & Lip Balm Kit in October 2017.

The consultancy helped Geraldine create a new logo for Me-Time Therapies as well as a new design for the sleeve of the kit.

From the inception of the idea of creating the kit, Geraldine knew it belonged on Amazon and after some setbacks and frustrations, the kit was accepted by Amazon UK, two weeks before Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To her surprise, she had some sales which spurred her on. At the beginning of 2018, armed now with her new logo and beginning to understand how to sell products on Amazon Prime, Geraldine created three more handmade aromatherapy skincare products – Relaxing Massage Balm, Invigorating Massage Balm and a Vegan Body Butter. Throughout 2018, Geraldine established Me-Time Therapies products on Amazon and gained five-star reviews and repeat customers. Sales in December exceeded her expectations as all the products where popular as Christmas gifts.”

Geraldine said: “I am very grateful for all the assistance and encouragement that I’ve received from East Lothian Business Gateway. Now, having a successful product range, I feel it gives me a strong platform to continue running my own business in East Lothian. I’m also just about getting used to being called an entrepreneur’!”

 

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Women in Business Celebration

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Women business owners

I was invited by East Lothian Business Gateway to the EntreprenHER talk at Queen Margaret University on Tuesday 19th March. The event focused on ‘being women in Business today’ and the challenges that female Entrepreneurs face. Prue Leith (the Bake Off judge) was the main speaker and shared her story of being a woman in business.

Prue Leith said “If you start with an optimistic nature, it doesn’t matter if you fail. Start with an idea that you really care about – that’s what matters.” This really resonated with me as over the past 22 years, I have also worked in a similar way.

I feel very fortunate that over the past 22 years as a female in Business in Scotland, I haven’t faced setbacks or discriminations. During the talk, it mentioned that Women in Business can be held back due to their gender, family commitments and unable to raise capital. Prue also mentioned that she never borrowed money for her business to grow. I have also done the same as that means if a recession hits or the economy slows down, you aren’t struggling to pay back bank loans. Prue said that she knew many successful women in business overextended themselves financially and their business went under.

I got to ask her a question about the difficulty in ensuringWork/Life Balance and how she implements Self-care into her life. She said that she ensured that she allocated time in her diary for holidays to re-charge her batteries. I also like having short breaks and holidays to look forward as this motivates me.

She also said that she loves being in business and although 80 years old next year, she is launching 2 new businesses this year. I hope that I can maintain her enthusiasm and her energy as I allow my business to grow and flourish.

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Privacy Policy & GDPR

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INTRODUCTION – Privacy Policy

This privacy policy provides you with details of how we collect and process your personal data through your use of our site www.me-time-therapy.co.uk  including any information you may provide through our site when you purchase a product or service.

By providing us with your data, you warrant to us that you are over 13 years of age.

Me-Time Therapies is the data controller and we are responsible for your personal data (referred to as “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy notice).

Contact Details

Our full details are:

Full name of legal entity:  Geraldine McCullagh, Me-Time Therapies

Email address: Geraldine@me-time-therapy.co.uk

Postal address: 26 Eskview Road, Musselburgh, EH 21 6NZ

If you are not happy with any aspect of how we collect and use your data, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We should be grateful if you would contact us first about our Privacy Policy if you do have a complaint so that we can try to resolve it for you.

It is very important that the information we hold about you is accurate and up to date. Please let us know if at any time your personal information changes by emailing us at Geraldine@me-time-therapy.co.uk

WHAT DATA DO WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU?

Personal data means any information capable of identifying an individual.

We may process certain types of personal data about you as follows:

  • Identity Data may include your first name and surname
  • Contact Data may include your billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers.
  • Transaction Data may include details about payments between us and other details of purchases made by you.

HOW WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We collect data about you through a variety of different methods including:

Direct interactions: You may provide data by filling in forms on our site (or otherwise) or by communicating with us by phone, email or otherwise, including when you:

  • order our products or services;

Third parties or publicly available sources: We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below:

Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services                              based inside OR outside the EU.

HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We will only use your personal data when legally permitted. The most common uses of your personal data are:

  • Where we need to perform the contract between us.
  • Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
  • Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal ground for processing your personal data. Me-Time Therapies do not send our marketing communications to you via email or text message.

Purposes for processing your personal data

Set out below is a description of the ways we intend to use your personal data and the legal grounds on which we will process such data. We have also explained what our legitimate interests are where relevant.

We may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground, depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please email us at Geraldine@me-time-therapy.co.uk  if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.

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