Aromatherapeutic cream
Charlotte Taylor
St Cuthbert's College
Year 11 Technology, 21-week project
Teacher: Sandie MacLeod-Smith
Charlotte's Technology class was given a brief to research the growing public interest in alternative health and beauty treatments. She decided to create a product that would harness the alternative healing properties of aromatherapy, provide quantifiable results to an individual client and have the potential to be successfully marketed to the New Zealand public.
Charlotte found the perfect client in a middle-aged mother of two who suffered from swelling, itching and general pains in her lower legs from poor circulation and varicose veins that conventional medicine had had limited success in treating. From numerous questionnaires and interviews Charlotte found that her client needed a product that could provide soothing and cooling relief for an extended period when applied to the skin, and had a slightly off-white colour and consistency similar to sunscreen so that it left no residue.
After extensive research on the internet and consulting local aromatherapy specialists and books, Charlotte came up with a list of essential oils with the appropriate cooling and soothing properties. She presented these to her client, who selected from the list the fragrances she liked, leaving cypress, lemon and jasmine essential oils as the key ingredients. These were then incorporated into a simple base recipe using carrier oils such as sweet almond and carrot, and beeswax and cocoa butter, to create the right consistency.
Combining these elements into one product proved to be quite a difficult balancing act. Charlotte learned through a process of trial-and-error, where certain ingredients were either increased, decreased, or removed all together as she received feedback from her client. By the third batch her client still wasn't getting the cooling properties she desired. Charlotte examined the active ingredients of existing products, such as Nivea Cooling After Sun Spray, and identified aloe vera oil as a key ingredient, which she added to subsequent batches.
Charlotte's 'Mumbly Pegs' pamphlet (click to view)
Over the course of the project, Charlotte came up with seven individual batches before finding a cream that most effectively met her client's demands. Changes were made to the initial brief as the light off-white colour and smooth texture proved impossible to achieve with the key ingredients. A compromise was reached when Charlotte trialled a pale yellow colour that her client approved of and a texture more like a body butter that melted to the appropriate consistency with body heat. This consistency also made the small bottle her client wanted as a container impossible, so a pottle was chosen instead.
With her cream completed, Charlotte developed the packaging, labelling and promotional materials based on her client's specifications. Helped by brainstorming sessions with her classmates, she came up with a distinctive colour palette and slogan that has turned her school project into a marketable product.
Although the finished product differs from her initial brief Charlotte is satisfied with the project's result. "I have really enjoyed researching, developing and producing an aromatherapy product and this project has been a complex and interesting challenge from the start. Although there were some issues with the finished product that I'm not completely happy with I feel they could be resolved with further testing. Overall I feel that I have produced an excellent product that suits my client's needs well."
Teacher comment
The Production Process
(click to view)
Charlotte is a highly motivated Technology student who did a lot of work of her own volition for this project. Her client was her mother who had problems with her legs and Charlotte worked with a given brief to provide a real solution for her, finding out which essential oils were appropriate to deliver the outcome she wanted, then developing and making the cream for use. Charlotte paid real attention to details throughout and was always open to suggestions from experts, teachers, classmates, and her peers. Using all the information available to her, she pulled it all together, developing and producing the best possible outcome to meet the brief. Charlotte's latest plan is to study engineering, but she is also a very talented costume designer, having recently won a competition in this area. So the world really is her oyster.
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