Tallow Face Cream DIY

I'm a pretty big fan of tallow. Not only is it very absorbable and doesn't make my comedogenic prone skin break out, it also has an array of vitamins such as vitamin D, A, K, E,  antioxidants and anti-microbial properties that keep your skin nourished and healthy. I use it as a body butter, face moisturizer, and to oil cleans with. Since it is so thick, I need to either use a cleanser or a Norwex cloth to clean it all off though. Then I moisturize with it. If you don't know what tallow is, it is rendered animal fat, generally from cows or sheep. If that's a little weird for you, stay with me for a second. Tallow has been rendered down so that it's just fat, and you eat that fat anyway, so you might as well put it on your face since it reduces wrinkles, skin damage, and moisturizes like nothing else! Tallow is so similar to the oil your body naturally produces, that is absorbs as much as it possibly can and utilizes all those wonderful vitamins. By putting tallow on your skin, it gets fed directly without you needing to eat more fat. If your body has a hard time assimilating all the nutrients you put into it, a good way to nourish your skin and body is to nourish it from the inside. Weather that's from getting your magnesium from an empsom salt bath, or getting your iodine by absorbing it through your skin, or helping it along by using tallow, you really can't go wrong. Especially since with a lot of things, like iodine, your skin won't absorb more than what your body needs so you won't need to worry about getting to much. Besides, Tallow is so inexpensive! I got a whole pound from etsy for only $12! I do like sheep tallow better though, simply because I think it smells better. 

To make a more easily spreadable tallow balm/butter, melt 1/2 cup of tallow in a double broiler (I use a measuring cup in a smallish pot with a couple inches of water) and blend it with 1 Tbsp of jojoba oil. It doesn't need to melt completely, just enough so that the tallow can blend in with the jojoba oil.

Sometimes I let it melt so that part of it is melted and the rest is just really soft, like this..

Other times if I've let it all melt, I put it in a bowl that has been sitting in the freezer. This helps it get cold fast so that I only need to whip it with the beaters for a little bit. It isn't necessary to beat it, but I do find that with it whipped it its a little easier for me to not use more than I need. This stuff goes a long ways! Now is the time where you can add other oils, like seabuckthorn (if you don't mind your skin being a little orange for a bit) and essential oils such as frankincense, geranium, and chamomile. 

Ingredients

1/2 cup Grass-fed Tallow

1 Tbsp Jojoba oil

Optional, beneficial facial oils such as sea buckthorn, Tamanu, etc, and essential oils such as rose, frankincense etc. 

Warm up the tallow in a double broiler until it is really soft/ partially melted or fully melted. In a bowl that you've kept in the freezer, mix the tallow and the other oils with a blender, or if you don't want it whipped, just mix it all together and poor into a clean jar. Use as desired, go with what feels like the right amount for your face. Remember that sometimes your face can need a bit more than other times and you can always put more on later too. I find that I generally need a large pea size amount for my face, but I like to do my ears, neck and shoulders too so I usually do a nickel size. I can take a minute for it to really spread around since it's like jojoba or shey and more like a waxy oil kind of thingy. (If that makes sense.) 

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Green tea and mango smoothie

This smoothie is soooo good! Basically its just a cold green tea late blended with mangoes, but even simpler than that to put together. The mango gives it an extra creamy fruitiness that really compliments the matcha. Have you ever had mango green tea? Or maybe a green tea with tropical fruit flavors in it? It's like that but cream, delicious, and smoothie-fied!

Ingredients

• Frozen mangoes 2 cups (fresh can be used but it will turn out more like a fresh lassi)
• Yogurt 1/2 cup (optional)
• Kefir 1/2 cup (optional)
• Milk 1-2 cups [depending on if you use the yogurt and kefir or not (nut milks may be substituted)]
• Matcha powder 1/4tsp - 1 tbsp (depending on your taste (you will need a bit more than usual)
• Water, only if you need more liquid and you are keeping it low on the milk

Additional supper foods

• Collagen powder (optional but it adds extra nutrition and creaminess)
• Whey protein (grass fed and processed on a low heat. Mix enough with water and it can replace the milk)
• colostrum powder (can be mixed with water to replace the milk and it makes it so creamy!)
• Maca or other kinds of super foods that go well with late flavors. I personally don't like maca or mesquite but if you do have at it!

I also really like brewing gean and white teas, and blending them with fruit and a little honey. My favorite combination is green tea and peaches. Something about it is just so incredibly delicious, like the tea and the peaches with the honey just bring out so many delicious flavors!

If your interested here is the link to my green tea late recipe.

Thanks for reading! 

Vanilla Orange perfume diy

This is such an easy perfume, that lasts all day with a lingering scent of vanilla, orange, rose and subtle notes of tree resins to round out the sweetness. The base is a mixture of infused vodka. You can make this whole perfume by simply infusing vodka with vanilla, orange rinds, rose petals, and tree resins, or you can use a base of vodka and add in extracts and oils, or just oils. What I did this time was mix together vanilla extract (homemade) with vodka (so that its no to strong) and added in orange oil, rose water concentrate, cedarwood oil, and elemi oil (similar to frankincense and myrrh).
If you want to make a body splash mix together equal parts rosewater or orange blossom water (or a combination of the two) and vegetable glycerin. I prefer the extract and oil recipe near the bottom. It is easiest for me since I always have the ingredients on hand.


All oil perfume
container for solid or liquid oil perfume. the liquid one should be an old essential oil bottle, a dropper bottle, or roll on.
1 oz of an oil, mango butter for solid, or jojoba, almond or another neutral oil.
5 drops of orange oil
5 drops of vanilla oil
4 drops of rose oil
1 drop of cedarwood
1 drop of elemi (or frankincense or myrrh)

All extract perfume.
This can be done three ways. Either making all the extracts separate and putting them together later, or mixing all the ingredients into one extract and having them saturate the vodka together. The third way is by mixing pre-made extracts with vodka, but you will still need to use a couple of oils.

If you are going to make the extracts separately follow how to do that here.
The ratio will need to be
5 parts vanilla (if making yourself use vanilla beans cut in half lengthwise)
5 parts orange (if making yourself use orange rind)
2 parts rose (making yourself use rose petals)
1 part cedarwood needles
1 part tree resin. (use a resin such as myrrh or frankincense)
Vodka to cover and vodka to dilute once you've made your extracts.

Mixing them before you put it into the bottle will make it easier to tell the ratios. Add in the vodka and let sit until the scent is to your desired strength. If it gets to dark be careful not to get it on your clothes.
If you make your extracts separate you will need to mix them together in about 4 weeks.
You can also make any of these extracts and mix them with essential oils.

Extract and essential oil perfume.
25 ml bottle
15 ml vodka
9 ml vanilla extract
7 drops of orange oil
4 drops rose oil or 10 drops rosewater concentrate
1 drop cedarwood oil
1 drop elemi, frankences, or myrrh

Mix into a 25 ml spray bottle.

Body splash
Using this recipe  for rosewater glycerin body splash, make your base. You can use all rosewater in this recipe or orange water and use rose oil, or do half and half. You may need to add in more orange oil no matter what depending on your preference.
Depending on what water you use, use the ratios above as a guideline.

Some other oils that can be nice to add are, fennel, tangerine, and geranium.

I sure do hope this makes sense. If you need more help feel free to comment below.

Natural Bath Essentials

Baths are marvelous! It might be rare that I am able to take one these days, especially one uninterrupted by my toddler, but when I can I like to have a variety of products to use. Bath time for me, equals spa time, and I like to have everything I need in one place so that my spa time doesn't get interrupted. 

I like to mix things up as I see fit, depending on what kind of a bath I want to have, weather it's for detoxing, moisturizing, nourishing my skin, or a combination. Since I buy a lot of products in bulk, it really helps to put them in smaller containers so that they don't take up so much room and it is easier to find exactly what I want. I so look forward to the day that I can keep everything out on a little table next to my bathtub, but untill then I am keeping everything in an old Epsom salt bucket with a lid. Having everything in smaller containers really helps to make it so that they all fit inside it too. This way my toddler can't mess with everything and everything stays dry and out of the light; helping to keep things fresh and to not go rancid. 

Things I keep for my bath

Raw Honey (I mostly let it sit on my face while I take my bath)

Powdered goats milk (gets rid of dead skin, and softens skin. I also use as face wash)

Esential oils

Real salt brands bath salts

Epsome salt

Dead Sea salt

MSM flakes (type of sulfur, keeps skin healthy)

Herbs, rose petals, calendula, chamomile, lavender, etc

Cloth baggies to put the herbs in so that I don't have a huge mess to clean out of my bath

Bubble bath

Alo Vera (usually just for masks for my face but I do add it to my bath sometimes)

Floral hydrosals

Dragons blood (makes pores smaller, I only use it on my face)

Tamanu and seabuckthorn oils (so healing and full of vitamins)

Cocoa butter (usually just for my face or sometimes my hair)

Cuticle oil

Bath oil

Bentonite clay (for the bath and masks)

What I really like about the things I use in my bath, it that I can mix things not just for my bath, but also for body scrubs and face masks. So I can mix together my bath oil with some salt and I have a body scrub, or I can wash my face with oil, do a clay mask, them moisturize with a honey goat milk mask, and then let some dragons blood set on it before I rinse that off too and finish off my skincare by spraying some hydrosal on it for toner and then applying my tamanu seabuckthorn oil. 

If I had more room in my Epsom salt thingy then I'd put other oils, clays, salts, herbs, and probably turmeric, probiotics, apple cider vinegar, oat flour, and... I don't know, but I'd probably come up with something! 

Some extra things I like to have that I don't keep with my bath stuff but probably should, is a bowl and spoon/whisk/whatever mixing thing to mix concoctions up for my face, and washcloths. 

Other bath stuff that just doesn't leave my shower is things like, soap, and shampoo, and I'm guessing you can guess the rest. 

I think that's all I wanted to do for this post, I hope you found it helpful. The easiest way to find out about new posts is over on the side bar in the subscription box for you to put your email in and new posts will go directly to your email.