One thing leads to another
Tomasicchio discovered her passion for creating healthy skin care products through her career as a massage therapist and craniosacral therapist (a hands-on method of enhancing the functioning of the body through gentle manipulation of the craniosacral system of membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord). She trained in herbalism with the idea that she would create teas and tinctures for her clients, she says, but when her studies involved learning to make a cream emulsion (over a campfire in the woods during outdoor study of plant materials) it was a revelation. She never did get into making the teas and tinctures, but her “inner alchemist was awakened,” she says. “When I’m making a cream base, everything is melt and mix and whip, and it’s so much fun watching it transform. Everything smells so good and I love learning about the properties of the essential oils.”
A Gardiner native, Tomasicchio became a licensed massage therapist in New Jersey after moving there for college, but in 1999 she felt the call of home and moved back to Gardiner, where she became licensed for New York and opened her practice at 29 South Chestnut Street in New Paltz in 2000. She maintains that practice currently several days a week.
Tomasicchio creates her skin care line of products in a separate studio space behind her home in Gardiner. The structure was first put up by her husband, a pottery-making enthusiast, but when he stopped using the studio as much because of back problems and her business began taking off — becoming too much to continue doing out of her kitchen — he encouraged her to take over the studio space.
The studio walls are lined with windows that let in plenty of natural light and the space is equipped with a stove, fridge and mixer along with plenty of room for storage of materials and workspace. A bathroom was recently added, because Tomasicchio plans to offer workshops in the sunny space and she has someone there now helping her make the products as her business continues to grow. Further down the road, she says, she’d like to offer mentorship to women through Family of New Paltz, who would benefit from learning the skills of making products along with the business end of things. “I’d like to give back,” she says. “I would love to be able to mentor women who are looking for a second chance. They could learn how to manufacture, go out and do a market and at the same time, they get to heal on a different level because of working with the essential oils. It’s aromatherapy.” She’s taught several people how to make the products in her studio, she says, and they always come out of working there very relaxed. Part of that is the pleasure of working with the materials, and part of it is the healing qualities of the essential oils (which permeate the studio). “In aromatherapy, you sniff pure lavender to calm you. Fragrance oils don’t do that, only the pure essential oils do.”
Simple ingredients work
Beyond the health benefits of her products, “simple ingredients really work,” says Tomasicchio. You need less of them because they are more effective. “A little goes a long way,” she advises, demonstrating with a sample of the bergamot and lemongrass body cream, a tiny dot of which obligingly makes her point. That particular cream is even an option for vegans, being made with vegetable wax instead of the beeswax Tomasicchio often favors. New products she’s developing include hydrating facial serums of essential oils and a body butter that comes with an application stick so one doesn’t have to dip one’s fingers into the product.
Tomasicchio will be doing a demo of one of her most popular products, the sugar scrubs, at Adams Fairacre Farms in Poughkeepsie on Saturday, November 15 from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The sugar scrubs exfoliate and get rid of dead skin cells at the same time they hydrate and moisturize, leaving the skin silky smooth without feeling a bit oily or greasy. There are several combinations: “Refresh” is made with spearmint, cedarwood and frankincense; “Citrus” with lemon, grapefruit and sweet orange; and “Clarity” with juniper, geranium and bergamot.
The Made With Love line of products includes face and body creams along with therapeutic balms that Tomasicchio uses in her massage practice, as well. There is a muscle relief formula with natural anti-inflammatories — she picks the wild St. John’s wort for it herself — and a cold and flu balm made with fresh rosemary brewed in olive oil and strained, then blended with essential oils that promote decongestion. And unlike the well known commercial brand that uses petroleum as its base, hers uses beeswax that she gets in Pine Bush.
“Bug Off” is a chemical-free spray that keeps the bugs away with grapeseed oil, witch hazel, and pure essential oils, and the natural room sprays, like the one made with rosemary, geranium, eucalyptus and peppermint (naturally antibacterial and antimicrobial), can also be applied to pillows, linens, a mattress, litter box, pet bed or gym shoes, Tomasicchio notes.
Where to find
The products are carried at Adams Fairacre Farms in Poughkeepsie and Wappingers, the Village Market in Gardiner and Wellness Rx in High Falls. They’re found at local festivals and craft fairs — including Unison’s upcoming annual holiday market and the November 23 Picklefest in Rosendale — and are available online at www.madewithloveskincare.com. Open houses will be held at the Made With Love studio on Sunday, November 16 and Saturday, December 20 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 904 Albany Post Road in Gardiner (on GPS, use “New Paltz”) and the studio will soon keep open hours on a regular basis. Check Facebook for definite dates, advises Tomasicchio; look under “Made With Love Skin Care.”
