Well imagine buying bath and body products from someone who literally grew up amongst the natural ingredients of the products you really love, felt the plants with her hands, smelled their natural aromas, and became familiar with them all over years of cultivating.
This was the case for Sabine Dodane of Reves de Sabine, or in English, Dreams of Sabine.
Sabine was born and raised in Franche-Comté, a beautiful region of France with lush countryside, dense forests, waterfalls, and rivers. Growing up, she spent a great deal of her time outdoors and, ever since she was a kid, was always happiest in nature.
With her family, Sabine spent two months every summer in Ibiza, an island off the coast of Spain. It was a place of beauty that encouraged a simpler way of life and they lived literally off the grid there (no TV, no telephone, no electricity… our water supply came from a cistern, below the house, that collected rainwater). Because she and her family had no electronic distractions, their time was spent being creative in every way possible. Sabine and her sister would spend hours pampering themselves, crafting hair or face masks, and other body products that were made from pure, unprocessed, local ingredients. She felt completely in her element.
Sabine became passionate about natural beauty treatments and aromatherapy over the years because she was experiencing firsthand how good it felt to be able to combine ingredients from nature to care for our beauty, and how much it contributed to our looking, feeling, and smelling amazing.
Well, like many of us, Sabine never thought of creating her passion as a career at first. She studied graphic design in order to become a professional designer for packaging but always wished she could shape what was on the inside of her packaging as well.
She later moved to Ventura, California and, to offset the stress of her full-time job, started spending all the free time she had making natural self-care products, blending essential oils, and studying aromatherapy. It was therapeutic to work in her natural element again amidst the high-stress she was dealing with at work; it was a safe haven amidst the storm. Then one day it hit her that making aromatherapy products was what she was destined to do. She quit her job, bringing the talent of graphic design with her for her own packaging, started making her own line of bath and body products… and hasn’t looked back since.
When asked what inspires her most, this is what she had to tell us:
“To me, nature is an infinite source of inspiration. When I’m outdoors, I’m always smelling, touching, feeling, observing… I find myself calmer, happier, healthier than anywhere else. And that’s just by being around trees, water, rocks, birds, bees, etc… So when I’m back in my studio, I always combine the therapeutic properties of natural ingredients to formulate clean and wholesome skincare, haircare, fragrances, anything that will contribute to an overall sense of wellbeing.”
Her inspiration also comes from people sharing their skin, nail, or hair issues with her. Sabine is a problem solver and, to her, nothing is more rewarding than finding a natural solution that is truly effective for someone.
Still living in Ventura, Sabine’s favorite place to create is in her studio. “It smells fantastic, I listen to beautiful, peaceful music. It is quiet and away from the hustle and bustle of city life. I have no distractions. It was a raw artist studio space that I slowly transformed to fit my specific needs. I just love being there.”
Anything that smells great is Sabine’s favorite to create. While she knows there is a fine line between aromatherapy and perfumery, she is only interested in creating fragrances that also contribute to a person’s sense of wellbeing. To her, a blend of essential oils should play an equal role in making you feel your best and smelling to inspire.
So the next time you need to refill your bathroom shelf with healing or fragrant products, decide if you want to buy something that was created in a lab or from someone who grew up with the leaves between her fingers, learning, feeling, smelling, and experimenting her whole life with these elements.
Treat yourself. *wink*
**Editor’s note: This article was composed as a joint effort between the Made By Her staff and Sabine herself.