DIY Coffee Face Scrub

 I have been very busy this last weekend working on DIY projects. I thought to myself as I was working on my DIY Lotion Bars, might as well whip up a couple recipes... I already had all the products and measuring cups and spoons in front of me... and I was in need for a face scrub. I wasn't sure what to use and as I was sipping my coffee it came to me... I would be using coffee grounds... and I had just brewed some coffee... so all was good!

 I had heard of people using coffee grounds in a scrub but I had to do a little research beforehand, just to make sure it was safe to start with and I also wanted to know why it would be good for the skin. I found a lot of information on the web. Mostly using coffee on your skin will help with any redness you could have and it has anti-inflammatory properties. Now as a base... why not my favorite one of them all: coconut oil... simple but soooo effective on the skin being hydrating and soothing.

YOU WILL NEED

Equal parts of coffee grounds and coconut oil. I used half a cup of each. My coffee grounds were still damp.

DIRECTIONS

Using a bain marie melt dow your coconut oil. Then, pour over the coffee grounds in a mixing bowl.

You will see the coffee grounds fall to the bottom. Put the bowl in the refrigerator for five minutes or until the coconut oil starts to harden again.

Then with a whisk or a fork mix everything up! If the coconut oil is too liquidy put the bowl in the refrigerator for another minute or two then whisk again... 

Repeat until everything holds together in the centre of the bowl as so:

You mixture is now ready to put into a nice container. I had a plastic one that had the perfect size but I thought I'd make it prettier using washi tape:

And voilà!!! A perfect scrub in a perfect container :-)

I used the scrub twice already and it smells divine! What's not to like about the smell of coffee. The coconut oil melts nicely onto the skin. You need to be gentle while scrubbing because coffee grounds are really hard but using gentle circular motions is the key to success! And as with any scrubs, avoid the eye region. Then rinse under lukewarm water. The coconut oil leaves the skin hydrated while the coffee grounds give the skin a lovely pink glow! The next day my skin still felt so soft. You could easily use this scrub all over your body!

DIY banana goodness face mask

We are having crazy weather these days... going from -30 degrees celsius to +6 degrees the next day with 30mm of rain falling from the sky... My skin has been doing pretty well since I started using my DIY Honey Face wash. It stays hydrated throughout the day and for the first time in many years I don't feel any rough areas on my chin and my cheeks (I used to get them all the time during winter). I even feel my complexion has improved. My skin feels soft and has a nice rosy glow about it. Even the blemishes I could get from time to time have disappeared. Even though all seems good I still feel I need to give the skin of my face a little extra love twice a week during winter. This is why I came up with a face mask recipe that feels like an angels whisper on my skin! I had all the ingredients at home already and it's pretty easy to make!

You will need:
- Half banana (hydrating, rich in vitamin C)
- 2 tablespoons of raw honey (leaves the skin soft, has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties)
- 2 tablespoons of rolled oats (hydrating, is a natural cleanser, removes excess oil)
- 2 tablespoons of yogurt (reduces discoloration, skin brightener, hydrating)
- 1 teaspoon of chia seeds (rich in essential fatty acids, rich in antioxidants)
- 1 teaspoon of lemon juice (exfoliates, brightens the skin)
- White tea (protects the skin)

First of all make a cup of tea and let it come to room temperature. As you can see on the photo, I put the chia seeds in a glass. Chia seeds will absorb around 8 time their volume when in contact with liquids. They then have a gelatine texture (which is really nice on the face) Once the tea is at room temperature, add 8 teaspoons of tea to the chia seeds. Also mix in the honey. Set aside for 5 minutes. 

This will happen:

See how the chia seeds grew in volume! Now is the time to put the mask together:

In a bowl mash half a banana with a fork. Add the lemon juice and mix well. You can then add all the other ingredients: chia seeds, yogurt and rolled oats (that you previously have put in the coffee grinder bringing them to powder)

  
And there you go! As simple as that! I use it on a clean face and leave it on for 10 minutes. It can be a little messy but I tell you, it is worth the mess! My face feels brand new after that! And so soft! I keep it in the fridge for up to a week.

It almost looks like breakfast!... well... you could eat it! That is the great thing about this face mask! If it is good for my belly imagine how good it can be for my skin!  

DIY Basic Lotion Bars

Before I begin with this recipe... I got some great news a couple days ago... My little sister will have a baby next september! I am ecstatic!! I will be an aunt for the first time! This is such good news! My 13 year old daughter will finally have a cousin! Babies have a great power... the power to bring smiles and happiness to families. That is what I believe! They are little rays of sunshine that escaped from the sky :-)

I thought of sending a little box of surprises to my sister... just little bits and pieces to make her smile. I will do a blog post later this week on the contents of this little box for expecting mothers. Of course this one is personalized to her tastes but most certainly it will give a general idea of little things to look for. The main components of the box are lotion bars I made yesterday. These bars are made from organic ingredients and I have not put any essential oils or perfume into them. They have a sweet scent due to the natural smell of the ingredients but nothing more. I wanted to keep them as natural as possible. My sister will be able to use these hydrating bars on her growing belly to prevent stretch marks.  They are very easy to make and know that this is a base recipe. You could add the essential oils of your choice depending on what purpose you want to give the bars. I will let you know in the directions when it would be appropriate to add the essential oils.

INGREDIENTS:

equal parts of *I used 1 cup of each*:
- coconut oil (provides deep moisture)
- cocoa butter, I grated mine (rich in antioxidants, hydrating, healing properties for sensitive skin)
- beeswax, I chopped it into flakes (anti-baterial properties, locks in moisture)

A couple tablespoons of sweet almond oil *I used 2* (rich in vitamins, hydrating, emollient qualities)

A couple capsules of vitamin E *I used 4* (protectant, healing, hydrating)

DIRECTIONS:

Prepare a bain marie. I used a tempered glass measuring cup in a pan containing 2 inches of simmering water.

Add your beeswax and let it melt away. As you can see I am using a chop stick to mix things around.

Once the beeswax has completely melted, turn of the heat but leave the pan on the stove. Add the coconut oil and the cocoa butter to the beeswax and melt them down. It happens on its own really but I like mixing with my chop stick.

Once melted down remove the measuring cup from the pan (be careful the handle will be hot, use a towel to pick it up) and add the sweet almond oil and the vitamin E to the mixture (punch a hole in the capsules with a knife and press the oil out, discard the capsules). This would be the time to add a couple drops of essential oils if you were using any. Mix well.

You can now fill your molds. Silicone molds work best I find but you could use regular muffin pans.

I found some pink and blues cupcake molds and thought it was funny to use both colours since we don't know if my sister is having a boy or a girl... or both! Leave them on the counter a couple minutes until they start to set then transfer to the fridge for at least a couple hours. After that they are ready to go! They melt nicely with the body's temperature and are very hydrating. They also smell divine! The scent reminds me of the Bounty Chocolate Bars I eat from time to time; a mix of chocolate and coconut... heaven for the sense of smell! I wrapped them up in waxed paper and found and old candle tin to store the bar that will be used every day. I hope my sister likes them!

DIY Honey Facewash

Winter is here!!! My favorite season! Oh! I love cold weather and snow! But my skin being very sensitive, it goes a little crazy during winter time... I need to moisturize from head to toe every day and stay away from products that contain harsh chemicals. The lesser ingredients, the better!!!

When it comes to facewash I have the same problems! Store bought products make the skin of my face very itchy and dry (even those made for sensitive skin!!). I decided a couple months back to make my own facewash... This facewash contains my favorite ingredient of them all and is very easy to make.

DIY Honey Facewash

you will need:

- Rosewater glycerine (I buy mine at my local drugstore)

- Honey (non-pasterized)

- Castile soap (I use unscented baby mild castille soap from Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps. Found mine at Target)

and also:

- a whisk

- a mixing bol

- a small funnel

- the container of your choice to store the facewash (this recipe fills 2X80ml containers)

- a mesuring spoon (1 Tablespoon)

Measure out your ingredients and put into the mixing bol:

100ml Rosewater Glycerine (attracts moisture onto the skin, works as a protectant)

3 Tablespoons of Honey (leaves the skin soft, has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties)

3 Tablespoons of Castile Soap (made with organic oils, free from synthetic fragrances and preservatives and is eco-friendly)

Whisk away! (not too much because you will see your product lather... but enough for everything to be well combined).

Using your funnel, fill your container and voilà!!! It can't get easier than that!!!

The consistency is very liquidy... You could also use glycerin alone instead of rosewater glycerin which would give you a thicker facewash... I keep mine in the shower and use it morning and night making the product lather in my hands before applying... then rinsing in warm water. The honey makes the smell divine! My face is left soft and feeling hydrated!

DIY face toner

This has been a very busy week! Between work, house chores, cooking, the boyfriends birthday, and my new crossfit addiction, I have not had any time to whip up a recipe of face toner. I have been going without it for over two weeks now and my face is paying for waiting that long. I have very sensitive skin... it's not dry but can be, it's not oily but I get occasional spots, when it's cold in the winter it goes crazy....pfffffffff!! My skin regimen has changed in the last couple months. I have tried many products for sensitive skin and always find them too harsh even though they are meant to be soothing. So now, I go as natural as I can. I will post my morning and night face routine very soon.

Back to toner! There are many recipes out there. I took the time to read alot and do a little reasearch on the subject. I came up with a simple 3 ingredients recipe for my new toner:

Rosemary Peppermint Honey Diy Face Toner

Ingredients:

- 1 rosemary sprig
- 1 white tea with peppermint bag (you could use one white tea bag plus one peppermint infusion bag if you can't find the same I use)
- Raw honey
-Water
- 1 container of your choice ( I use my old Lush toner container)
- 1 small funnel

1- boil water
2- make yourself a cup of tea (not for drinking)
3- add your sprig of rosemary to your cup of tea

4- let everything sit for 4 minutes
5- toss the rosemary and tea bag away
6- let the tea get to room temperature (I puit mine in the freezer for 7 minutes)
7- then add a teaspoon of raw honey

8- stir for one minute, then using the funnel pour into the container of your choice

*I keep mine in the fridge, the coolness of the toner on the face feels really good! After 2 weeks, I make a new recipe*

I chose raw honey (has not been heated, pasterized, or processed in any way) for its many beneficial properties: it contains vitamins and anti-oxydants and has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. It leaves the skin soft and smooth and is an effective treatment for your occasional spots.

White tea is rich in anti-oxydants that will protect the skin.

Peppermint tea will soothe skin irritations... and smells divine!

Rosemary is rich in vitamins and anti-oxydants. It also has anti-inflammatory properties and used on the skin will provide you with a healthy glow. And once again, smells so good!!!

DIY eye makeup remover

In the past months I have been reading alot of DIY recipes for beauty products. The main reason is that I beleive I should know exactly what I put on my face every day. I was raised reading food labels. I was taught at a very young age that my body absorbs what I feed it (inside out) whether it is the food I eat or the products I use on my hair, face and body in general. To be frank, I always had the thought in the back of my mind but never really gave it any importance whatsoever.

A couple of weeks ago I decided I would make big changes in my lifestyle for my own benefit and also my daughters. My father gave me so much information all my life to help me make the right choices and I just never put all this knowledge to good use. I will elaborate on all these changes in the next weeks but right now since I had a little diy recipe to whip up today and I thought I would share it with you. My daughter and I ran out of eye makeup remover. We have been using our homemade version for over two months now and we love it!!! I have sensible eyes and any kind of store bought eye makeup remover always makes my eyes tingle and often burn even making the delicate skin around the eye area all red. And when I happen to find one that doesn't hurt my eyes I am faced with another problem: I can't get rid of my mascara properly and end up literally scrubbing my eyes of my face!!!

After doing some research on DIY recipes, I got inspired to try combining olive oil and rose water to make our eye makeup remover. Olive oil is known to help breakdown makeup and impurities. This is what will work on that mascara we love so much. It wont clog pores and will keep the delicate skin around the eye hydrated. I used some organic olive oil... the same I eat every day in the salad dressing I make!

 
Rosewater is moisturizing and it acts as an anti-inflammatory, soothing the delicate eye area. It is often found in beauty products. As the olive oil, rosewater is a source of antioxidants and is known beneficial to sensitive skins.

DIY EYE MAKEUP REMOVER

Ingredients:
- Olive Oil (organic if possible)
- Rosewater
- Travel shampoo containers

*Fill your container accordingly: 1/3 olive oil and 2/3 rosewater.

I made two bottles, one for my daughter and one for myself. The oil and rosewater don't mix together as you can see in the bottle on the left. Give it a good shake (as seen in the right bottle) before pouring a couple drops on your cotton pad. I like putting the damp cotton pad on my eye and holding it there for a couple seconds before I wipe off the makeup... just to let it attack my mascara properly. My eye area is left with no trace of makeup at all. I sometimes wait up to 30 minutes after I washed my face to put on my skincare products (lotion and all) and my eye area still feels hydrated after all that time! It is better for my delicate eyes and better for the wallet. My daughter loves it as well! Eyes are happy, daughter is happy, wallet is happy and so am I!