Lip Balm

It's winter time, the air is dry and cold, and my lips are always chapped. I am buying so many different chapsticks, some work while some are not so great. I carry them around with me every where I go and have one in each pocket, in my living room, bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen... I always have to have my chapstick like I'm addicted to it. So I thought that it should be fairly easy to make your own and sure enough, it is!

After taking an online class at the Aromahead Institute, I made my own lip balm today. It is so wonderful! It leaves my lips feeling moisturized, nurtured, and soft. I made two different "flavors" - one with Orange Essential Oil and another one with Honey Ginger Essential Oil. The ingredient list is very short and includes only beeswax, jojoba oil, shea butter, and coconut oil. Last I added the essential oils.

Go to my website to check out the recipe.

Have a smoochy winter

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Treat Yourself to a Cup of Yogurt

A reader recently asked me if I know of any yogurt moisturizer. While I never used yogurt for any of my creams, I find yogurt makes a great moisturizing facial mask that is gentle enough to use 2 or 3 times per week. The zinc and lactic acid are good for breakouts, it closes pores, and exfoliates dead skin cells.
You can use plain yogurt (best is a full-fat or greek yogurt) and apply it all over your face and neck area before rinsing it off with lukewarm water. Be careful to leave the eye area out.
If you would like to make yourself a more fancy facial mask, you can mix the yogurt with
Cucumbers - moisturizing and astringent
Rosemary essential oil - anti-bacterial and soothing especially for oily skin
Honey - soothing
Oats - exfoliating
The nice part about this absolutely natural facial mask is that you can eat the left overs :)

The reason why I am not experimenting with yogurt, which contains live bacteria, in my creams is that I would have to add too many additives and preservatives for the cream not keep a few days. Athens Korres sells a moisturizing cream with yogurt. It has a ton of ingredients and sometimes one ingredient has to be used to stabilize another. Here is a breakdown of all their ingredients. I included the Hazard Score in ( ) taken from Skin Deep which is rated on a scale of 0 (low hazard) to 10 (high hazard):

Water, Yogurt
Butylene Glycol - humectant; used to retain moisture (Hazard Score: 1)
Steareth-2 - it is a stearic acid used to form an emulsion so that the cream does not separate
Isononyl Isononanoate - skin conditioning agent, emollient (Hazard Score: 0)
Macademia Nut Oil - skin conditioning agent - occlusive which means it slows down the loss of water from the skin (Hazard Score: 0)
Mannan - film former (Hazard Score: 1)
Olive Oil Unsaponifiables - skin conditioning agent - occlusive; emulsifying and cleansing agent
Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis Oil - Sweet Almond Oil - skin conditioning agent - occlusive (Hazard Score: 0)
Steareth-21 - solubilizing agent (Hazard Score 1)
Triticum Vulgare - Wheat Germ Oil (Hazard Score: 1)
Xylitylglucoside - humectant (Hazard Score: 0)
Hydrogenated Polyisobutene - Polymer used to increase thickness (Hazard Score: 0)
Triethylhexanoin - humectant (Hazard Score: 0)
Butyrospermum Parkii - fancy name for Shea Butter (Hazard Score: 0)
Anhydroxylitol - humectant (Hazard Score: 0)
Amyl Cinnamal - it is the organic compound of Amylcinnamaldehyde and it is a fragrance ingredient. While it occurs naturally in plants, in cosmetics it usually is synthesized. The smell is something like jasmine (Hazard Score: 6)
Benzyl Alcohol - it has several functions: external analgesic, fragrance ingredient, preservative, and solvent (Hazard Score: 6)
Benzyl Salicylate - it is a fragrance ingredient that has a sweet floral aroma (Hazard Score: 6-8)
Cetearyl Alcohol - emulsion stabilizer (Hazard Score: 0-1)
Coumarin - fragrance ingredient with a sweet nutty scent (Hazard Score: 8)
Dehydroacetic Acid - preservative (Hazard Score: 1)
Hydroxycitronellal - fragrance ingredient with a sweet floral aroma (Hazard Score: 5-6)
Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde - fragrance ingredient (Hazard Score: 5-6)
Isoeugenol - fragrance ingredient with a scent like carnations (Hazard Score: 6)
Linalool - functions as fragrance ingredient with a floral smell (Hazard Score: 8)
Magnesium PCA - humectant (Hazard Score: 0)
Manganese PCA - humectant (Hazard Score: 5)
Panthenol - a plant derived form of vitamin B that is hydrating and penetrates into lower skin layers (Hazard Score: 2)
Fragrance - more fragrance that are now in such small amounts that they do not have to be listed
Sodium Dehydroacetate - preservative (Hazard Score: 2)
Sodium PCA - increases the water content of the top layers of the skin by drawing moisture from the surrounding air. (Hazard Score: 2)
Tocopheryl Acetate - Vitamin E which can be cancerous (Hazard Score: 4)
Xanthan Gum - thickener which I also use in creams (Hazard Score: 0)
Xylitol - humectant (Hazard Score: 1)
Zinc PCA - humectant (Hazard Score: 2)

Wow, that is a long list of ingredients and I am sure it is a wonderful cream. However, I would never use it. Even if the fragrance ingredients are in such small amounts, applied on a daily basis, these ingredients are all absorbed by our skin. Instead, why not use 100%, Pure Grade, Grade A Essential Oils?

Sending naturally beautiful wishes to all!

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Cleopatra's Milk Bath

(from wholeliving.com and ezinearticles.com)
The Legendary Queen of Egypt was known for her exquisite complexion. One of her secret beauty treatments, the milk and honey bath are still being used today.

One of the main ingredients, Milk, contains lactic acid, which helps to exfoliate your skin. The lactic acid in milk is an alpha hydroxy acid, which helps to cleanse the deepest layers of the skin. 

Honey has an abundance of health properties.
First of all, it is composed of sugars like glucose and fructose so it is also a gentle alpha hydroxy acid. It’s made up of both minerals and vitamins to help nourish and heal the skin. Since it also contains phytochemicals that kill viruses, bacteria, and fungus, it’s has a natural anti-inflammatory effect which heals wounds quickly. This makes honey a good substitute for wound dressings.

Here are a couple of ways to enjoy these 2 main ingredients found in her ancient beauty secrets.

Cleopatra Honey & Milk Bath

Ingredients
• 1/2 Cup Powdered Milk
• 1/2 Cup Raw Honey
• 2 teaspoon Jojoba Oil (optional)

Mix ingredients in a large bowl and pour your warm bath. Soak for up to 20 minutes to infuse these beneficial ingredients in your skin. This recipe makes enough for one bath.

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Let's talk about Lemons

Lemons, the yellow tangy fruit that make my mouth water by just thinking about them, are not only rich in Vitamins C, B, and A, but they are also a great disinfectant, have anti-haemorrhagic properties, and keep the cholesterol level in check.

Lemons already have a long-time history and it is said the first lemons grew in India and China and later were introduced to Persia, Iran, and Egypt. Christopher Columbus brought the lemon seeds to the Americas.

Lemons are used for culinary uses, in skin care, and are a household multi-tasker:

• In skin care, lemons are used to treat blemishes. Mix some lemon juice and honey, apply it to your cleansed face and rinse with warm water. Your blemishes will heal due to the astringent and antiseptic properties.
• Lemons deodorize, disinfect, and remove grease and stains especially when mixed with baking soda.
• Lemons are used in the treatment of wood and cashiers use lemons to moisturize their fingers when dealing with a lot of bills.
• Lemons are a natural bleaching agent and can be used to remove stains as well as clean grout in the bathroom. Mix lemon juice with water and brush the grout with a toothbrush.
• Lemon juice cleans silver, brass, and copper.
• Lemons get rid of garlic odor on hands. Just rub your hands with a lemon slice and rinse with warm water.

The lemon rind has equally many uses in the culinary world as well as otherwise.

• Lemon rind with Espresso - I've always wondered why I am being served a tiny piece of lemon rind with my espresso. So far, I have not been given a definite answer but several versions of applications have it that

1. a) the lemon rind cleanses or disinfects the outside of the cup or the spoon (rub the yellow part around the edge of the cup or the back of the spoon)
2. b) if the espresso is too bitter, the lemon wedge neutralizes the bitterness with its acidity. Be aware that the use of the lemon rind may just be an insult to the person who served you the espresso!

• The rind is also used to make an Essential Oil which has various uses as well

1. a) I use lemon essential oil in my drinking water or to flavor my foods. Important: use only 100% pure or Grade A essential oils for internal use!
2. b) Lemon essential oil is a great air-freshener when diffused
3. c) Lemon essential oils is also a mood enhancer as it lifts the spirit and works against depression.
4. I also used lemon essential oil to clean glue and tape from my wooden floor.

As the saying goes "when life deals you lemons..." I only can say to use them wisely and remember, they disinfect, cleanse, deodorize, are great for your health, are antiseptic, and enhance your mood :-)

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Lavender & Honey Body Cream

I just made a new batch of Lavender & Honey Body Cream. Love it!!! The cream came out smooth and leaves your skin moisturized and silky soft with no oily residue.

Here are the ingredients:

Fats
5 g Hempseed Oil
20 g Apricot Oil
16 g Almond Oil
14 g Borage Seed Oil
3 g Vitamin E

Liquids
25 ml Lavender Florasol
95 ml Water

Thickeners/Emulsifiers
12 g Emulsifying Wax
3 g Beeswax
1/8 tsp Stearic Acid
1/8 tsp Xanthan Gum
1/2 tsp Borax

In a water bath, I heated the fats and the liquids in separate pyrex containers until the waxes were melted. The borax was added to the liquids. After the waxes were melted, I mixed (with a hand mixer) in the Xanthan Gum until it dissolved. Then, I poured the liquids slowly into the fats while mixing both together on slow speed with the hand mixer. I continued to mix for approximately 8 minutes. Last, I mixed in the essential oils and filled the cream into sterilized jars and containers.

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