The Essence of U

OK, I'm back and ready to fastward things a bit to bring you up to date.

Over the next few years, I continued to create pieces of jewelry, teaching my self techniques along the way. I began to incorporate bead and stone emblishments to create one of a kind pieces. The majority of my customers came from my job where I did office work. After a while I had a large following of customers who brought for themselves and their family and friends. I also had a few NY boutiques that would sell my jewelry as well.

In 1998 I married my husband, Duane, and in 2000 we had our beautiful daughter, Gi'Anna and in 2001 we moved to Philadelphia.

Gi'Anna was eventually diagnosed with allergies, atopic dermatitis, also known as eczema and asthma. Her allergies included fish, eggs, nuts/peanuts and some airborne allergies. We were told that eczema and asthma sometimes go hand in hand. We had to give her steriodial asthma medication and a prescription creams for her eczema. Both doctors and friends recommended everything from vaseline and crisco (yes, crisco that you cook with, but it is actually skin softening as well), to steriodial creams and lotions for her eczema. Gi'Anna received some relief with the use of Steriods, but that was only temporary. Once we stopped the use of the steriods, the flare-ups would return and since steriods are more damaging to the skin the longer you use them, we stopped using them altogether.

I began to take the suggestions of some family and friends and tried some natural creams and lotions as a solution for Gi'Anna's skin, but yet again no relief. I began to do my own research on eczema to find it's cause and to see if I could blend a natural cream or lotion for my daughter. My search turned up information that I was unaware of (nor did the doctor tell me some of these things) :

1. There is no "cure" for eczema, only treatments.

2. There are different forms of eczema, like atopic (allergic), neurodermatitis (is a severe, chronic form of eczema which is started by an allergic predisposition, but pyschological factores plays a role too. Most people with this form also has asthma and suffer from hay fever, like my daughter)

3. Not everyone's eczema can be treated the same.

4. Eczema usually occurs in families and is often passed down.

I began to purchased a few natural butter and oils and blended them together and made creams and lotions. I started to try them out on family and friends and they where a hit. I even had teachers from Gi'Anna's daycare placing orders. During the christmas holiday season, I could not make enough lotions, I had orders coming on a daily basis, with request for more items. So I began to create body polishes and body washes and before I knew it, I had a line of skin care products that were selling like hotcakes. I even started to get orders from some friends of friends in New York, so I decided that I had a good thing going and wanted a way to combine my love for jewelry making and now my love and desire to offer wonderful skin care products to all. That's how The Essence of You!, Where beauty begins, began! We offer Body Indulgence, our natural beauty and skin care line and Tieast, The Essence of Design, our eclectic, handcrafted jewelry and accessory line (http://www.theessenceofu.com/).