Bubbling Bath Salts

This DIY like most of my DIY's is extremely easy, however this one only requires TWO ingredients! How cool is that?! Like my last few posts this one has a video too! Click HERE to go directly to that video on youtube, or watch it below.

Materials:

• Mixing bowl 
• 1 cup measuring cup
• 1/3 cup measuring cup
• mixing spoon
• sheet pan

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Epsom salts
• 1/3 cup body wash

Mix everything together then spread evenly on a sheet pan and let air dry for 24 hours. I like to let it dry for up to 48 hours, and I like to stir and re-spread it every 12 hours but that isn't necessary.

Store in an airtight container, mix 1/4 to 1/2 cup of salts with running water for your bath.


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DIY Natural Beauty Gift Basket

This is a simple little gift basket that I put together using dome diy beauty products and some chocolate, plus a homemade gift tag that I made at a party. Don't Forget to watch the video to see how I put it together!
if you would rather watch the video on youtube follow the link HERE.

Basic lip balm recipe;
In a double boiler, Melt 1 Tbsp beeswax, 2 Tbsp cocoa butter, 1 Tbsp almond oil, a few drops of tangerine and vanilla oil. pour into containers.

DIY ginger snap body scrub

Pink Peppermint Lip balm I used a different one but I haven't posted that recipe yet.

The goats milk soap is a basic melt and poor soap from etsy.

Berry basket from target

Alter eco chocolate bars

Honey patties

Other things you could add are things like a mini loofah, tea, bath salts, clay mask, bubble bath, nail polish, lotion, anything that you like that is shelf stable.


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I'm not sponsored by anyone, I just really like these chocolates and they were on sale, so extra bonus!

Gingersnap Body Scrub DIY

HEY! I did another video! This week I made a gingersnap body scrub. Gingersnaps are my favorite cookies to make and to eat this time of year and I love to make sugar cookie body scrubs so I thought why not use molasses and make gingersnap body scrubs! I also figured the spices would be a bit warming this time of year too. You can use essential oils instead of the spices, but I felt like keeping it simple and making a recipe that pretty much anyone can make without buying anything special. I used sugar for this scrub (duh, cookies! am I right?) and I used coconut oil and almond oil for the moisturizer. I wanted to use coconut oil because I wanted that rich fattiness to kind of mimic butter without, you know, using butter. Anyway this is such a fun recipe because I felt like I was making cookies but unlike cookies this will last longer. Wouldn't this make such a cute gift pared with some homemade gingersnap cookies? If you would rather watch the video on youtube you can easily click the link HERE.

Ingreadiants: 
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar (or 1 cup white with 2 Tbsp molasses)
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 cup liquid oil (such as almond)
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp ginger, ground
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and allspice)
  *optional body wash/liquid body soap, 1 tsp to 1 tbsp

Directions: 
Mix all ingredients and store in an airtight container.
This also works well as a lip scrub just make sure you don't put any soap in it if you use it for that. You can  use just coconut oil and use a little extra to make tubes of lip scrub also. Maybe I should make a video on that.

I've been posting lots of videos and I have a whole bunch more in the works so if you want to keep updated subscribe via email on the side -> or you can also subscribe to my youtube channel, that button is on the side to or just use THIS LINK.

Wonderful Wintergreen Bath Bombs

Bath bombs are really fun use but they can be a bit of a pain to make. My preferred way of making them is without the water and just putting it in a container to sprinkle it in. For gifts you can put it in a sachet with enough for a single use. Like bath packets that you would buy at the store. I like to mix up bath bombs with ingredients that  I want mixed into my bath that can clump up, such as goats milk powder, oat flour, etc. The reaction helps mix in ingredients when you have a cooler bath also. When you use a powdered color it is helpful to be able to mix it in with the reaction as well. If you don't want to bother with the citric acid, you can use cream of tartar, or even baking powder in place of the baking soda/citric acid combo will work. But if you want to go really crazy you could skip the acid in the bomb and just use the baking soda then when you go to put it in the bath add in apple cider vinegar to create the reaction. That would make it really easy to make the bath bomb but you would need to add them both at the beginning of the bath for it to incorporate all the way.  Don't forget to watch the video below or you can go to it on youtube HERE.
I have tried to make Bath bombs with melted coconut oil before, and it does help them to stay together but it also doesn't mix into the bath quite as well but if your water is really warm/hot then you could probably get away with it just make sure your area that your mixing everything together is nice and warm otherwise the coconut oil will harden before you get everything mixed in.

Ingredients 
1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup citric acid
3 1/2 Tbsp Epsom salt
1/4 - 1/2 tsp mineral pigment
2 Tbsp Almond oil
5 Drops wintergreen oil
5 drops of vanilla
Spray bottle of water (optional)

Mix together the dry ingredients with a whisk you could sift the baking soda beforehand to get out all the clumps. Add in the oils. Spread out the mixture and mist with water, mix, repeat until it comes together when squeezed. Press firmly into a mold and turn it out.

Or skip the water and place mixture in a clean container and sprinkle a couple of tablespoons into a bath.

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Glossy Pink Peppermint Lip Balm DIY

This diy was inspired by my favorite holiday ice-cream, Pink Peppermint. Mountain Rose Herbs has a great diy for tinted lip gloss that I had been wanting to try out. Since I was going for more of a balm instead of a gloss I added a little extra beeswax and I'm not really into geranium so I changed the essential oils that I used to suit my needs. I also have been really loving almond oil lately so I used that instead of macadamia nut oil.

This recipe is easier than it seams and is so great for the winter. It has a glossy finish with a rosy hue. You need to make the alkanet root infusion first but that is so simple. 

Its just 5 Tbsp of liquid oil (I use almond) and 1 Tbsp of alkanet root gently heated together in a double boiler until the oil takes on the color of the root. The longer you let it sit the more color will be extracted. strain out the root and you've got your infused oil to use in the lip balm recipe. Watch the video to see how it's done and you can use the directions below to make it easier. 

Pink Peppermint Lip Balm

1 Tbsp plus  1or 2 teaspoons of beeswax 

1 Tbsp of coco butter 

3 Tbsp of your almond oil alkanet infusion

5 drops of peppermint oil

10 drops of vanilla oleoresin 

In a double boiler, melt the beeswax, then the coco butter, then add in your oil and stir till its all combined. Once its all melted add in the essential oils. Poor into lib balm tubes or tins. let sit until hardened. 

This recipe can be changed up depending on what you prefer in a lip balm. If you don't want it to be as glossy and you want it to shield your lips from the winter, add an extra couple teaspoons of beeswax. if you want it to be more buttery add a half Tbsp more of coco butter. if you want it to be more of a straight up gloss play around with using a higher oil to wax/butter ratio. You could even exchange the coco butter for coconut oil and that will make it more of a gloss just definitely put that in a tin instead of a tube. And if you don't quite like how it turns out, melt it down and add a little more of something. I like to test mine out by putting a little bit in a tin and cooling it down in the fridge until it sets. This can be a bit deceiving so let it warm up slightly if you've let it sit in the fridge to long. 

I hope this inspires you to try something new this week. DIY's are so fun for holiday gifts and the extra thought goes a long way to make people feel special. 

Have A great week everyone!

Natural beauty on a budget

Hey! So I've got a new video up. I'm trying some new things out, I'm not sure if I like the song or the Instagram filtered look, but hopefully I'll  keep it up and make some more. I've got a few ideas such as a lipstick diy, and maybe a lip gloss recipe. As I'm writing this my husband is sitting next to me burning a beeswax candle that he just made by squishing it together... He left the match in it and so now it smells like honey and burning hair. I guess he can't ever complain about my diy's haha!

This video features four products that I have been using regularly for a while now. I like them all quite a lot because they all work well for my sensitive skin and nose. My skin can get irritated pretty easily, and my nose can smell everything to an unpleasant extent, like the smell of dust irritates my nose, it's lame. 

Let me know what you think, please don't tell me about that annoying blotch I realized it after it was uploaded, can any of you tell? feel free to complain with me, just not at me haha! Anyway just watch the video I guess. (wow I really need to get better at this, don't I?)

Ok, so my favorite thing is for sure the Buddha butter. Ohmygoodness it is wonderful! I like all the other stuff, but they are just practical things, Buddha butter feels like a luxury. Like a mini spa, a small moment of indulgence. Can you tell that I'm obsessed? even when I was in humid Florida this stuff was essential. It is never to oily for me, and it always works just the way you want a body butter to work. I don't think I have anything interesting to add about the other products so I'm going to end this now and go get ready for bed. Have a great week everyone and happy thanksgiving! 

100%pure Vitamin C Serum review

I've been wanting to try a vitamin c serum for awhile now, and thanks to my mother I've been using 100% pure's vitamin c serum since Christmas.

100% pure vitamin c serum 

It has a very nice consistency, it feels similar to aloe, and it does have it in it which is nice instead of it having glycerin as the main carrier, which I'm not that big of a fan of using on my face. Aloe works much better on my face than glycerin and I've noticed everything soaks in better with the aloe than with products I've used with glycerin. A lot of vitamin c serums I've seen have glycerin in them so I haven't wanted to try those. This one doesn't have glycerin until the very end of the ingredients, which is kind of weird but I haven't had any problems with my skin getting all weird from it like I've had with other products, so it must not be enough to effect it. The pump works pretty good too, I've never had a problem with 100% pure's bottles not working. The only thing is that it isn't glass like a lot of their other products. It's not a big deal, I just like glass better.

Vitamin c serum is supposed to boost collagen production, brighten the skin tone, and stimulate cell renewal. I haven't really noticed any changes in collagen, but then again I haven't had a problem with that yet and I do take a collagen supplement so anyway on to the parts that I have noticed. So far my skin tone has gotten more even especially where I still have skin discoloration from being pregnant. Vitamin c serum is much gentler than using something like lemon juice to lighten your skin, and it seams to even it out better than just lightening it which I really like since I don't want the rest of my skin to lighten, just the scars and the "mask of pregnancy" around my mouth. It got rid of several scars, but the one I was really wanting it to take care of was a larger one on my cheek. It got rid of that one within just a couple of days. Another thing that I've really liked about it is that since my skin is combination, both a more oily T spot and my cheeks and jawline getting really dry especially when I'm stressed, it has helped keep the dead skin that dosn't like to come off easily on my cheeks and jaw from sticking. By sticking, I mean even with harsher scrubs (that I'm not very fond of for many reasons) it just dosn't like to come off. So I end up with layers of dead skin making it even harder to get those spots to get moisturized and happy. It seams to have helped with redness as well, but not as much ass the brightening serum did. (I'll do a review on this one later.) I tend to get bumps of skin (kind of like little skin tags) around my eyes that I usually get rid of with lavender oil, but the vitamin c serum has taken care of those without me needing to add lavender. I don't usually put much around or on my eyes so I hadn't been using the serum on or around them, but once I got a couple of little bumps I decided to try it out and I didn't have any irritation and it got rid of them within a few days. Not quite as fast as the lavender oil, but I didn't need to add one more step to my routine which was nice. 

Other than that the only other things is that the smell is nice. It's very mild with no added fragrance. It is also very easy on my sensitive skin. My skin has a tendency to get red and irritated by anything that it dosn't like, and I haven't had a problem with this serum at all. I've been using it for a month now and haven't even used 1/3 of the bottle so even though it's one of the more expensive things that I use on my skin it ends up not being to much with it lasting so long. Also since it is a vitamin c serum it's very shelf stable so I don't need to worry about it going bad. Over all I am extremely satisfied with this serum. I've never used it by itself, I've only used it without a moisturizer a couple of times, and even though it was alright, my skin felt better using a. moisturizer. 

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Kid friendly kombucha recipe

Kombucha is supper awesome, I love it and it makes me feel great. My son also really likes it. He likes any kind, any strength, any flavor, it doesn't matter, he loves it! I, on the other hand am much more picky about my kombucha. So why is this post called kid friendly? Because it doesn't have any possibility of caffeine, and anyone who doesn't like really astringent things and likes there kombucha on the sweet side will like this kombucha. Personally it's a little sweet for me, but it's really difficult to make this kombucha very sour/astringent because of the natural sweet quality of the red tea. This is how my mother makes it since my dad prefers it. I've never seen this kind at the store so more than likely the only way for you to get this kind of kombucha is by making it yourself. Also this is a great way to make it if you don't have much time and have a tendency to forget about it since it can take more brewing time than other teas. In fact, you can actually just let it set in the water until it cools. Green rooibos tea however dosn't work the same as the red. 

It's very easy to make. Simply boil a gallon of filtered water, dissolve a cup of sugar into it, and steep 5 teabags of red/honeybush tea for 5 minutes or until the water has cooled. Once it is cool mix it with a cup of starter and your scooby, or a bottle of plain kombucha that has some culture in it. Cover with some cheesecloth, or a tea towel and let it sit for 4 days to 2 weeks depending on how warm your house is. 2 weeks if it's in the 60's, 4 days of its about 80, and a week if it's average. If you are using a bottle of kombucha to start it, a scooby will start forming on the top. You will know if it is done by a scooby being formed, it being slightly fizzy, and by it being about as sour a lemon aid. Or if you've ever had one of those apple cider vinegar drinks, it's about like that. Maybe like sweet and sour sauce, but not nearly as sweet. And maybe not even as sour. Man I'm doing a weird job of explaining this. 

You can put it in smaller jars and let it sit for a day and it will get fizzy. You will want to put you scooby in a jar with a cup of kombucha to save in your refrigerator until you want to make another batch. Also, you can simply empty out your gallon jar, wash it and put you scooby and cup of kombucha back in and start another batch. It's really up to you. 

It tastes pretty good mixed with other juices too, and if you want to get rid of some of the sugar from that, then do a second ferment by letting it sit on the counter for a day or two. My toddler prefers his plain and in his Thomas the train sippy cup, but you can enjoy in whatever vessel you see fit. 

I hope you enjoy your kombucha, or as the small creature stealing my bracelets off my arm calls it, juice. 

Find my original post on kombucha Here

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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.