I love finding quick and easy DIY skincare recipes! Here’s one that I make every year for family and friends. This makes a nice little stocking stuffer, or teacher gift, that is cost effective and different from baked goods or the yearly gift card. You can pair it with some bath salts, a loofah and tie it up in a…
Here are a few benefits of creating your own natural cleaning products at home: Here are some common household ingredients that you may already have on hand: I love these simple to find ingredients as they can be combined to make many different types of household cleaning products. They are relatively inexpensive and safe to use around the house. Beware…
One of the easiest DIY projects to make has to be bath salts. Once you have the basics of blending Epsom salt and sea salt, you are ready to create so many different scents simply by changing up the kind of essential oils. Let’s begin with a mineral muscle and joint soak. Did you know that Epsom salt releases magnesium…
Making your own elderberry syrup at home is easier than you think! I purchase my elderberries at Voyageur Soap and Candle, you may find some in your local health food store or elsewhere online. Just be sure that you are ordering Sambucus nigra (botanical name). Here are my two favorite recipes that our family has used throughout the years. Want…
Hemp seed oil is cold pressed from hemp seeds (Cannabis sativa). The benefit of using hemp seed as a carrier oil is that it is a rich source of polyunsaturated omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, as well as α-linolenic acid and omega-6 γ-linolenic acid. These help build healthy cell membranes and also help produce the skin’s natural oil barrier, thus…
VINEGAR-DO NOT MIX THE FOLLOWING! Downside of using Vinegar in DIY cleaning productsDid you know that vinegar needs at least five minutes for killing bacteria and 30 minutes for viruses? Vinegar is also quite harsh to be used on many household surfaces, such as marble, granite or natural stone countertops. The acid in vinegar can etch (mark permanently) these surfaces.…
Known as the “king of oils” frankincense essential oil is produced from the Boswellia Carteri. True frankincense comes from four main species of Boswellia, a scraggy and very hardy tree. The trees start producing resin when they are about eight to ten years old. Frankincense is tapped by slashing the bark, which is called striping, and allowing the exuded resin…
So, what exactly is an “active ingredient”? Active ingredients in skincare are functional ingredients that have a certain or desired effect on the skin. Think of the ingredients such as retinol, Vitamin C and Vitamin E which are known to have well documented effects when included in a skincare product. They are known to help fight free radicals, stimulate collagen…
Vitamins in skincare have many benefits for the skin including the prevention of pigmentation, (Did you know that three leading causes of skin pigmentation are genetics, sun exposure, and some medications?) the stimulation of collagen synthesis, and they can have an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory effect.Here’s a simple breakdown of what they do: Vitamin A (INCI: Retinyl Palmitate) Vitamin A…
Creating your own natural shampoo at home is actually quite simple! If you can follow a recipe, you can easily follow a formula. Formulating is chemistry, like baking, you need the right ingredients to have a successful result!Beware of the many “shampoo” recipes that you will see on social media. I have seen so many that simply are not good…