As a former professional cook, Adi McMaster is well acquainted with chocolate and a perfect choice for the inaugural Wairarapa Chocol'Art Festival - but she won't be cooking with chocolate, as much as covering people with it.
Mrs McMaster, trained chef and founder and owner of MARTYGIRL Skinfood, will be a stallholder at the Chocol'Art Expo at Carterton Events Centre next weekend, displaying a range of creams and balms, all with the beloved confection as the key ingredient.
She will be exhibiting alongside chocolate producers, including Schoc, Trade Aid, The Ten O'Clock Cookie Company, Wild Oats Cafe and Fantail Grove, as well as chocolatiers from around the North Island.
Mrs McMaster, who started MARTYGIRL from her Martinborough home in 2013, got the idea to mix chocolate and beauty products after visiting Australia - and discovering a "chocolate bath".
"My daughter does beauty therapy at a resort on Hamilton Island - and she pointed out this big marble bath," she said.