DIY Body Oil, DIY Lip Balm, DIY Deodorant

Hi My Lovely Natural Sistas and Brothers,

Today I am coming at you with three super simple DIYs that are in heavy rotation in my house. All super simple to make, work the same if not better than shop bought ones, and you are saving yourself so much money :) Plus you will know what goes into your skincare, I always say, check the ingredients! No matter what the front of the package claims, ALWAYS flip the bottle and scan the ingredient list! There were so many times I was greenwashed, when "natural" and "organic" and "award winning" shampoo or face wash contained SLS. Or natural cosmetics had dimethicone and other nasty chemicals in them. It may seem you have to have a chemists degree to decripter the labes these days, but adopt my common sense approach to things - if you don't understand the ingredients, your body won't either. If the label has more than 10 ingredients, put it back and run away from it! When in doubt, you can always double check EWG Skin Deep for doubtful ingredients or products.

Anyways, back to my DIYs!
First one is body oil, the yellow looking one in the top left glass jar. The ingredients are super simple, coconut oil, Weleda body oil and orange essential oil to give amazing fragrance. (Seriously how did I live without it for so long?). Coconut oil is the base of this butter or oil, you can use it on it's own as I did for so many years, but now I started to experiment with it a bit, hence where the Weleda body oil comes in. (basically to make it strech it for as long as possible, because at 20€ a bottle it's not cheap and used on it's own it runs out quite fast, making it an expensive habit) With this method I can make a bottle last for a year or so. Yes, I am cheap, I know. But I like to think I am canny saving money and I prefer to spend my hard earned cash somewhere else. On average, ladies go through 8 bottles of body lotion/butter a year, and it's scary to think how many chemicals they are putting on their bodies not to mention the cost of it all. Switch to this simple DIY and your wallet and your body will thank you. Not only you will save, but you will put only good ingredients on yourself, and your skin will show it very soon, I promise.

Second is the lip butter. 
Again, the ingredients are super simple, coconut oil, beeswax and honey. In the double boiler melt a tablespoon of oil with a teaspoon of grated beeswax, stir until it's melted and quickly take off the heat taking care not to burn yourself. when cooled and begginging to set, stir in half a teaspoon of honey and pour into a little jar, here I am using an old recycled metal tin.

Third is the deodorant, I saved the best for the last - this simple DIY will save your life! That is kinda exaggerating things, but I am sooo soo happy to have found this recipe online a while back. Natural deodorants don't work, full stop! This is one area I struggled the most since going green, because nobody wants to smell, right? And after wasting so much money on natural deodorants that wouldn't do anything I said enough is enough and made this simple concoction and haven't looked back! I used to bike 6km for my morning commute (and the same back) and I didn't smell at all! I gave it for my non-natural friend to try, and sceptical as she was, she confirmed the same, after moving furniture around the house by herself all day she noticed she didn't reek at all at the end of the day! So that only confirmed I am onto a good thing for me :)
Now, I bet you are expecting some complicated procedures and hard to find or unheard of ingredients, right? Wrong! I bet you have all the ingredients in the house already, and the whole process will set you back no more than 2 minutes.
So, grab a spoonful of baking soda (aluminnium free, please) a spoonful of cornflour and just enough of coconut oil to make it into a paste and mix it all together! Simple, I told you so!
Now, I have to mention the original recipe called for arrowroot powder instead of cornflour, so if you happen to have that ingredients, use that instead, it has deodorising properties on it's own, l would love to use it, but haven't located it in Dublin yet. Of course you can add your fave essential oil into it, just to couple of drops, and be mindful that citrus EO's are photosensitive, just telling you.. Also test first for sensitivity to baking soda, as some people cannot use it at all.

Disclaimer - I am not a doctor, nor I am telling you to do the recipes outlined here. I am sharing what works for me, and you can try it or not at your own peril. You can be allergic to any ingredient under the sun, whether natural or not.

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Much love,
Renata.

My Floral Waters

 

Hi my lovelies, 

These are my floral waters :) I refuse to shell out 6-20€ for toners or fancy micellar waters when these are the same if not better! And it doubles up as a face setting spray, so you can skip those nasty paraben filled skin finishing sprays too.

What are floral waters?

Rose and other floral waters are a byproduct of essential oil production. When rose petals are steam distilled, the water that’s left behind after the oil is separated out has a rich rose fragrance and contains the hydrophilic (water loving) components of the plant material, giving the water therapeutic qualities. In skincare, we often refer to this water as a hydrosol, and it is one of the most gentle and refreshing things you can put on your skin. In the case of rose, the water is infused with soothing, moisturizing and regenerative properties. As long as it’s pure and not cut with artificial fragrance, flavors or additives, the rose water in your kitchen doubles as a skincare ingredient.
 They are commonly found at middle eastern grocers, Whole Foods - if you're lucky enough to have one nearby, and other gourmet markets. They are affordable (a little goes a long way) and pure distilled floral waters — no extra ingredients.

 So how do I use it?

 I remove make up and tone face with these, as well as spray the face and hair to refresh it throuhout the day! Also, you can set make up with them, and you will get that glow effect as well as hydrated skin. So many reasons to use them :) And these floral waters are edible kind, no nasty additives in them for sure. Your skin will thank you, trust me! All of them cost less than 1.5€ per bottle and take aaages to finish, cos you get 200 to 300ml, way more than in the fancy shops.I got mine in Indian shop and I highly suggest you do the same :)

So tell me if you've tried them already? If yes, what did you like/dislike about it? If no, will you buy it? Please share below, I would love to hear from you :)

Have a lovely day!

Renee.

Natural Solid Perfume DIY

Hi There My Green Sisters,

Good afternoon everybody, today I am coming at you with a natural perfume DIY, hope you will enjoy it as much as I do! So, long story short, I had to give away all my perfumes after switching to natural products, and since I am really aprehensive about buying scents online (seriously, how can you choose a scent online?) and natural perfumes in stores here in Dublin are practically non existent, so what's a gal to do? Make my own of course :) Here's the recipe for you all, and a little disclaimer first - I am no expert at this, and I am not telling you to do it, I am only saying it worked for me and I didn't get any irritation, you can try it at your own risk, or not, your choice, ok?


Here's what you need:
Two little pots or perfume pendants if you have it 
Teaspoon of beeswax (or vegan wax)
Teaspoon of oil (I used almond oil)
Double boiler (aka pot with hot water and a metal bowl on top)
Essential oils (or fragrance oils) of your choice
   

Directions:
Put the oil and grated beeswax on the double boiler and stir for a minute or two until the beeswax has melted, take off the heat,let it cool a bit and carefully pour into your pot, here I am recycling a pot from old solid perfume form Lush and a little eyeliner glass jar, these worked perfect, and you can use whatever you have, even old chapstick tube would work perfectly too) and add essential oil or fragrance oil. (here I am using Yankee oils from their aromatherapy range, Stress Relief and True Bliss, since these are already perfume blends, and they smell gorgeous! Of course you can use single essential oil instead, let's say orange or experiment with your own essential oil blends, just bear in mind that you would have to keep the perfume for a month before using it). The reason I am using Yankee is because one, these smell amazing, second of all I do not have enough nice smelling essential oils to blend myself, third I used to work with Yankee and I know they use purest quality wax for their candles, so I am assuming they use purest quality for their oils too. Plus I tested these neatly on my hand and I did not get any irritation, but please do not try this at home :) As you can see, these pots I am using are small, so I added 10 drops in each pot, but the beauty of this recipe is that you can adjust the scent to your liking, 5 drops will give you nice mild scent, 20 drops will be very strong, but beware if you're prone to headaches. Just start small, and you can go from there.


Another plus for this recipe? Why, yes, it is the cost of it, I am assuming it's less than 50 cents for the whole thing, I mean 2 little pots of solid perfume! And how much would you pay for it in the shops? 10€ and upwards, right? So I encourage you to go ahead and make those for yourself and for your little ones, rose scented ones will work beautifully for Valentines day, and these would make perfect gifts, because you made them specially for the person in mind :)

Let me know if you have any questions or tag me on istagram if you will have a go at it, I would love to see the results!

Lots of love,
Renata.