Easy Salt Scrub Tutorial

Wintertime has a tendency to take it out on our skin. The extremes in temperature and often the harsh wind can chap, chafe and dry out skin causing it to become red, dull and flaky On of the simplest and one of the most fun solutions to this problem is to exfoliate and moisturize and what better way to do it than by making and using your own salt scrub? Here is the simplest and most basic recipe.

To make approx 250 ml (approx1 cup) of salt scrub you will need
150 ml of your oil of choice. I prefer to use a mix of grapeseed and sweet almond oil as they sink into your skin nicely. If you want to get more exotic you can use coconut oil, or jojoba. I don't recommend using corn oil, mineral oil, baby oil or cooking oil, and olive oil should be used when mixed with another lighter oil as it gets sticky and leaves residue if used in too high of a concentration.
300 ml fine salt (For those with sensitive skin, you can alway substitute sugar for the salt, but remember to rinse well, and you won't have the added cleansing benefit of the salt)

Mix the two together well in a separate bowl then pour into a jar and seal. If you are on a budget, the Dorito's brand salsa and chip dip jars (and other jars of a similar shape) work very well. I like to spray paint the lids or cover them in decoupage or a pretty fabric. To use your scrub, simply get a handful and scrub onto dry skin then rinse off with warm water, or soap in a hot bath after to use it as a bath salt soak!

If you want to make the recipe a bit more interesting, you can get fancier ingredients, like Sea salt, Epsom salts or Dead Sea salts instead of plain table salt. You can use any combination of salts you'd like. There are lots of different types of salts out there, including black and pink ones! For colouring, I like to add a dash of powdered mica pigment (or loose mineral eyeshadow which is pretty much the same thing) to mine and a few drops of my favourite essentil oils or oil based perfumes to give it a nice scent. Alternately, you can steep herbs and flowers or plants that give off a dye in your oil of choice and heat it up until the oil has gotten the colour from the plants. I did a fun berry scrub once and soaked raspberries in hot oil for a few hours, strained it, and added it to my salts. The result was a lovely fruity smelling pink scrub! You can also add dried herbs such as lavender or rose petals or chamomile. For herbs you can leave them chunky to add the the aesthetic appeal, or you can powder them to make a finer scrub. You can also add things like Vitamin E, Shea butter (melted of course!) or glitters! To add these extra ingredients, remember to always mix the dry ingredients together first, and the wet ingredients together before mixing everything. This way you will get a more uniform product.

Exploring completely new territory again...this time with lotions

I used to ''make'' my own scented lotions by using a cheap unscented lotion base and adding things like oils, scents, beeswax, colours, shea butter etc to it, but I want to make my own, from scratch, using natural ingredients. And, like most of the craft projects I am now making (like the art quilt, hoodies, gypsy skirt etc), I have never done it before. The basic recipe involves oil, beeswax, scent, ad lots of whipping, at this point in time, having my hand mixer all in one piece would be fantastic, but, I will have to use my whisk. YAY! Ok, not really.

 This will be updated, later on tonight when I finish, or fail....

UPDATE: It took me an extra day, but I have succeeded!!! The formula I made is more of a dry skin balm than a lotion as its a bit thick and a tiny bit oily, but it sinks into your skin beautifully and makes you feel velvet soft, I love it! I made enough for just one jar of the lotion using beeswax, grapeseed oil and unrefined coconut oil. I scented it with one of my handmade essential oil perfume blends called Yoni, which is a light lemony-vanilla scent. It is absolutely decadent!!! I put it in one of these awesome spice jars I found, it's about 60ml worth.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260661991467

While I was at it, I decided to finally use two small little pots I had lying around and make a lemon-mint lip balm. I made them with almost the same formula as the lotion just a bit more beeswax and coconut oil, and added peppermint & wintergreen essential oil, honey and a few drops of lemon flavouring (the only non-natural part). I also added a couple drops of benzoin as an antibacterial and preservative. One is colourless and the other I coloured pink with natural mica mineral pigment and it gives the lips a faint hint of pink shimmer.

NEW! Salt Scrubs now being made for sale!

I have finally perfected my recipe for several types of salt & sugar body scrubs! I'll be listing them on my Zibbet, Yardsellr and Ebay pages within the next day or so, whenever I find the SD card for my camera so as to take pictures! I will be adding new formulations but for now, I have these on offer:
Nourishing Rose & Almond Sugar Scrub- With real rose essential oil this is a rich yet delicate scrub, great for sensitive or mature skin.
Invigorating Eucalyptus & Mint Salt Scrub- Definitely a wake-up call, this cooling scrub is great for those morings when you can't quite wake up!
Purifying Tea Tree & Lavender Salt Scrub- For those problem skin areas, these oils are antibacterial and blemish fighting.
Sensual Sugar Scrub- With a warm amber & spice scent

They'll be available in 500ml tubs for £8 or $10 each. Any suggestions, purchase requests or questions, please leave me a comment!

Easy Soap Making Tutorial

For any of you who want to make your own solid soaps for yourself, for gifts, or even for sale, there is an easy and fairly quick way to do so, with little effort! It does take a tiny bit of perfecting, but here you go...

Materials

Solid soap base: These can be bought for fairly cheap online, for beginners, buy one that is microwaveable, and READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. Burnt soap is not good. Skin burnt with hot soap is even worse.

Soap molds: Again, these can be bought for cheap online and there are literally thousands of designs!
Fragrances: You can buy cheap synthetic fragrances and for beginners, or if you want to be a bit more decadent you can use essential oils. I prefer the latter, but it takes a bit of practice to get the combinations right so the soap still has a fragrance. Fragrnces are usually the most expensive part of the soap if you are using essential oils or perfume oils, but it's well worth it! Make sure to read the cautions about certain oils though as some are not safe for skin contact and many are not safe for children. Hot liquid can evaporate a lot of essential oils so you may have to use more than you expected.

Colouring: Food colouring can be used, but it doesn't mix very well with most soaps, and will dye EVERYTHING. You can buy liquid dyes, or, my favourite, use natural mica powdered pigments. Also, if you want to be really natural, you could find non toxic plant dyes like henna, teas, and even berries, and steep them in the melted soap before straining and adding fragrance, this produces a very orgnic natural result and often will imprt a bit of fragrance and the beneficial properties of the plant into the soap as well!

Decorations and additives: These can range from dried plants such as rose petals, lavender and even coffee grounds (great for cellulite!) shea butter, cocoa butter etc. to make it more emollient, to glitters, other types of soaps such as coloured chunks in clear soap, or even soap petals. For kids soaps, it's fun to place a small toy inside a clear soap so that as the child uses the soap, the toy eventually is revealed.

Directions
1. Melt your soap base. Always follow the directions, stir thoroughly, and be careful, hot soap burns like hell, and sticks to your skin.
2. Add pigments and mix well
3. Add small additives like glitter and dried plants of you want a uniform appearance at this time.
4. Any additional decoration, such as an abuncance of glitter or extra pigment on the top of the soap (the bottom of the mold) should be done now, and quickly, so your soap doesn't start to solidify.
5. Add fragrances last when the soap is a little cooler, and mix well.
6. Pour immediately into molds and leave covered with a tea towel or cloth.
7. When the soap is hardened and easily pops out of the molds, lay the bars on a sheet of wax paper, put in a cardboard box and leave to ''cure'' for at least a week. This will harden the soap fully and make it less prone to bending, denting, and getting otherwise misshapen.
8. To package, I like to use coloured cellophane and a fun sticker, or tissue paper, with a strip of wrapping paper wrapped around the middle like a ribbon. Of course, you can always use ribbon. This is your project, be creative!!

Resources/Supplies:
http://www.naturallythinking.com/categories/Ingredients/ http://www.justasoap.co.uk/catalog/index.php
http://www.soapbasics.co.uk/
http://www.thesoapkitchen.co.uk/melt_and_pour_soap_guide.htm
http://www.gracefruit.com/