Going Natural - DIY Summer Beauty

For the past few months I've really sought out more naturally based skincare products and wanted to share a few found favorites. Along with these there are a few easy to make kitchen beauty recipes that have been surprisingly good and can make for welcome gifts. Find those below.

A few things here have already been mentioned and gushed over in the past including Lavanila's Vanilla Coconut (with the now wonky, going south orchid from so much handling!). A newer edition also receiving lots's of love is the Monoi Tiki Tahiti Pitate created out of natural coconut oil, monoi and jasmine flowers. Kiehl's and the brightening serum from Tatcha have been mentioned already too. All of these remain in constant rotation and use.

Along with those are a really decent hand soap by Pangea. The scent is very strong in and earnest lavender and cardamom although they make a number of other scents as well that are just as luxe... really perfect for house guests. The other is a little stick of pure cocoa butter by Africare. It smells exactly the same as a milk chocolate bar and has so many uses. Best of all it hasn't melted in high heat. Lastly, I purchased so many things from the Derma E line. One that is really, really good is their Dmae Alpha Lipoic C-Ester Serum. It's light and soothing in the prickly heat of summer. Still there are so many natural beauty products that can be whipped up in the kitchen, here are a few:


- DIY Gift Idea -
Coffee Sugar Body Scrub
Recipe:
2 Cups natural granulated sugar
1 Cup natural sea salt
1/2 Cup used coffee grounds
1/4 Cup sweet almond or olive oil
2 Tab honey (optional)
1 teaspoon vitamin E oil


Combine all the above ingredients and blend together well. Place in a glass jar with a lid and if possible keep in the fridge. This is lovely on the legs and helps with sun beaten skin and circulation. Using used coffee grounds is important because the heat of the coffee making process releases the caffeine into the scrub. The vitamin E &/or honey serves as a natural preservative.

Ginger Bath Salts
Recipe:
3 Cups of natural dead sea salts
1 Tab ground ginger root powder
1/2 Cup Epsom salts
1 teaspoon vitamin E oil


Blend all of the above ingredients together and store in a glass container with a tight fitting lit. Adding a spoon tied on with raffia makes for a swell, ready to use gift. A scoop or two is all that is needed.



It's really interesting what the different salts do and how they effect the body. To learn more read my Mum's blog post here on Natural Muscle Soothers and for more gift wrapping ideas for your finished bath salts see here.

Image: mam for Gave That