DIY make up brush sanitizer cleanser spray

Hello Lovelies,



Welcome back! And if you are new here, welcome 💕💕💕

Today I have a super simply DIY for you, and really, what could be easier? Just two ingredients (three if you count the spray bottle) - all you need is rose water and tea tree oil! (Mine happens to be organic, but it does not have to be). If you don't want to or can't use rosewater, you can use any other floral water that is suitable for your skin. Or distilled water. Plain tap water is not suitable because it will go bad in a few days.
How to do it? Well, it is pretty self explanatory, but if you want me to be specific, here's how - fill 200ml bottle with rose water, add 10-20 drops of tea tree (also known as melaleuca) oil and voila, you are done! Tea tree oil is an antibacterial, antimicrobial, antiseptic, antiviral and many other good things that I won't go into details of, but in this instance it makes it perfect for a purpose of cleaning and disinfecting your make up brushes in between proper washes. I use this spray after every use and clean the brush on the paper towel, and properly wash all the brushes every week. After getting dermatitis on my face I am anal about not getting any bacteria on my brushes or make up for that matter. Why risk infections, right?
One word of caution before you start, please do a patch test to make sure you are not allergic to the tea tree oil, and obviously not use it if you are indeed allergic! If you find the smell too offensive for your sensitive nose, reduce the quantity to 5 drops. I does smell rather strong.
P.s. this doubles up as a refreshing room spray and a deodorant in a pinch (I know I used rose water all over in a sweltering heat in Greece last summer and found myself not needing a deodorant) This would not work for everyday life though. Just wanted to throw the thought out there to make your products work overtime for you :)
And there you have it, your own DIY make up rush cleanser spray! It only costs less than a euro to make and it works great, and now you can ditch those shop bought sprays and save yourself so much money! And spend it where it matters more, for example to buy more make up :)


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Lots of Love,
Renata.

  

Natural Aftersun Care (And A Few DIY's)

Hi there my loves,

Toda's post is all about the natural sun care, or should i say after sun care! Let's say you overindulged in the sunshine a bit and after you've come inside you realise you got a sunburn, your skin is red and hot and you just don't know what to do with yourself! I've been there too, I remember the last time i got a sunburn I ran into the pharmacy asking to give me ANYTHING to help me with THIS!! And I was all in pain and red as a lobster. Taking one look at me the lady behind the counter gave me Clarins (or was it Clinique, l can't really remember since it's been a few years) after sun lotion, which cost me €28, was gone in one afternoon and did not help much! Not fancying shelling out another small fortune for yet another product I decided to have a look at the ingredient list - I should say I wasn't into all things natural then, so this was kinda like a blind shot) - and seeing that the active ingredient is yogurt, I went to the grocery shop and bought giant tub of natural yogurt for less than €2, and all of us rather dubious and apprehensive slathered yogurt on our skin and lo behold, instant relief!! Your skin just drinks it up, I swear! So that is how I discovered yogurt as a natural remedy for skin sunburn. After the holidays I started digging a bit deeper, and now, a few years later and much deeper in all the things natural and green, here is what I can recommend for you my lovely readers!
Aloe vera, yogurt, rosewater (or any floral water for that matter), coconut oil (which I forgot to include in the picture I've just realised, doh!!), cucumber (or it's juice if you prefer), calendula oil, camomile essential oil (blue roman being the best kind for this purpose) or camomile tea, lavender essential oil, these are all your best friends if you've got a sunburt and want to help yourself in a natural way! (much cheaper and better for you I would add).

 And the beauty of it is that you don't need all of these, I am just giving you options! Remember any of these and you will be fine :) I don't use any specific measurements, just use whatever I have on hand at that time, but if you want me to give you some ideas, here they are:
~One cup of natural yogurt for instant relief. Followed by a shower and a few spoonfuls of coconut oil
~A few spoonfuls of aloe vera gel mixed with 2-5 drops of camomile essential oil
~Juice of a cucumber on it's own or mixed with aloe vera gel
~Slice open aloe vera leaf and rub straight onto the skin (make sure to cut sides with thorns off first)
~Pour rosewater into a spray bottle and spray on the skin. You can add a few drops of calendula or camomile essential oil to this, but it's not nessesary. Spray bottle is also not nessesary, you can simply wet a cloth with rosewater and rub it onto the skin, although it will waste more product this way)
~Take 2-3 camomile tea bags and steep in the boiling water for ten minutes. Once cooled down, apply to the skin.

You get the idea :)

Here's what I will be taking on holidays with me this year for our family of four : two or three tubs of good quality coconut oil, two spray bottles with rosewater, camomile essential oil and aloe vera gel.

And one more natural after sun cooling and moisturising DIY:

~Here I took small glass jar and filled with coconut oil and the flesh of aloe vera leaf from my plant (I highly suggest growing one even if you don't grow anything at all, it's so beneficial for you and will come in handy for any kind cuts and scrapes, although l like to use it for skin and hair masks better) and a 10 drops of camomile essential oil (always make sure to dilute essential oils well).

P.s I know lavender essential oil and apple cider vinegar would be beneficial too, but I am from the minority of people who don't like the smell of lavender, so I don't have it in my house, and I've never tried using vinegar on sunburned skin as I am too much of a chicken to do that.


So that is all for now, wishing you all fabulous time in the sun and remember this blog post if you will overdo it :) Have you tried any of remedies here? Or maybe you know some other remedies for sunburn? Please share them below, let's talk :)


Lots of Love,
Renata,

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.

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.

Mini Natural Haul before NO BUY

Mini Natural Haul

Some mini haul to show you, before NO BUY until the end of the year, not to go into details, but I have no income from now on. Sad but true.

Some things I bought in Indian shop in city centre, some i grabbed in Health Shop in Pavillions yesterday.

So a little about each items and first impressions:

Jasmine Hair Oil:

KTC hair oil based in coconut, with jasmine extract, but has mineral oil in it, which I didn't like so probably won't repurchase it. Smells like petrol by-product - hello, mineral oil! - which I didn't like at all. I used this oil in the evening and left it overnight, not the best idea as I even woke up from the bad smell :( cost about 2€, you can get it in Indian shops or Superdrug.com

Amla Jasmine Hair Oil:

After much research I convinced myself I need amla - Indian gooseberry - in my life badly, because it's supposed to help with hair growth, my main reason for getting it. (it has more benefits, if taken as a powder internally it helps to strenghten the immune system and much more). i knew it will have distinctive smell to it, but what I didn't expect that i will get headache from it.. so probably it's a no for me again.

These two oils did strengthen my hair, made it silky and more manageable, so if you don't have a problem with mineral oil, I'd say go ahead with it, but i decided to do my own jasmine hair oil from coconut oil and jasmine essential oil (which I bought too, as you can see in the picture). As for amla, I'll try to get it in the powder form and make my own infusion with almond or Evoo, again, to avoid mineral oil.

Rose Water:
It was a bargain at about 1.25€ but can't give any feedback on it as I didn't open it yet, still using my Atlantic Aromatics Organic Rosewater. will update later.

Neem toothpaste and Clover toothpaste:
These are not pictured, got them from the same Indian shop at around 1.50€ each and I do really like them as both of them do not have fluoride and are more natural than regular toothpastes. Neem one was supposed to whiten my teeth as well as strenghten them, one week later I don't see much difference, but we will see. Clover one is good for gums, which is why I chose it. I will repurchase both of them, but the trouble is my daughter hates the taste of them -well, they're not minty which is why she hates them -and absolutely refuses to use them.

Jasmine Essence Absolute:
It's by Atlantic Aromatics, cost me €7 or so, but I'm disappointed in smell.. the one in KTC hair oil was sooo much better. Nevertheless, I made my own body butter using 5 or 6 tablespoons of coconut oil and about 60 drops of jasmine essential oil. (started with 30 and kept adding more as I couldn't smell much).

Dr.Hauschka Rose Body Oil:
Yay, my first purchase from DrHauschka range! I knew about this range for years but never bought anything because I deemed it too expensive, and my friends were not impressed by it. My original plan was to buy Trilogy organic rose hip oil, but after trying it in store I couldn't bring myself to buy it as thought of using it everyday on my face was off putting - the smell again.. And I am so glad I didn't like it, as for the price of that one bottle I got so much more- this rose body oil and organic neem oil together, a winner. Anyways, I really like this oil and I'll use it as a face oil/serum. The texture is nice, smells nice too, not too grannyish as you'd expect from rose oil.. My only worry is it's limited edition, which probably means by the time I will finish it, it will be gone. I got it in The Health Shop and it cost €8.95 for 30ml.

Pure Organic Neem Oil by Serendipity:
This was 10€ for 30ml and I grabbed it s soon as I walked into the shop. It says external use only so I'll use it for my skin and hair only, and for internal use I'm still on the look out for neem powder. If you know the place to get it in Dublin let me know, please? Pretty please?
I made a pre-shampoo treatment already, consisting of 50/50 coconut and neem oils, now let's wait for long luscious locks, because it's supposed to be the bomb when it comes to hair.

Cocowel Raw Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil:
It's only €6 for 500ml in Dunnes, so go and get some. No, don't go - run! You can thank me later :)
Before I found this, my trusty raw coconut oil was the one from Nourish, Essential Organic, but it costs €14.65 for 690ml. So, do your maths, I am so switching - the new one seems just as good as the old one, organic, raw, all the things I look for in a coconut oil, don't see any differences in texture or otherwise so far, the only thing I can fault is the plastic packaging for Cocowel, but for €6 i am willing to overlook it.

So, to sum things up, i found some new favourites and the things I didn't like only cost two euros, so no big deal.  So far I was always onto new best thing, but now I'll give some love to the things I already own.
 My new motto is - Use The Things You Have.
How about you, any new exciting natural purchases? Tell me below!
Have an awesome day :)

Felted soap

My first attempt at wool felting, these two gorgeous soaps, can't wait to try those! Want to felt all the soaps I have in my house and give those for a presents.. hmm not a bad idea, huh?

Let me know did you ever tried something like this? Would you like a tutorial for it? It is so easy, takes 4mins flat :)

Natural Body & Hair Care Recipes

Hi folks, Here's a few recipes that I am using or planning to use, hope you will find this interesting and helpful :)

 NATURAL UNDER EYE CREAM:
 some coconut oil
a little bit of vit E and/or contents of capsule of evening primrose oil
 Mix well and store in a little jar. Gently pat into under eye area, use minuscule amount. or you can use vit E only, I swear it's way better than shop bought stuff - and with those sky high prices for 15ml, what's the story with that?!


 NATURAL SHAMPOO:
(work in progress so far, will update later as I haven't found my holy grail yet)
1 part coconut milk
1 part Dr Bronners soap
a few drops of essential oil (I use rosemary)
 I mix for 1 or 2 uses only as it keeps for about a week.


 NATURAL MOISTURISER:
1part shea butter
1 part coconut oil
1 part sea buctorn oil


NATURAL HAIR MASK:
1 part raw honey
1 part coconut oil
a few drops of rosemary essential oil
(optional: egg yolk, some olive oil, brandy, greek yogurt or whatever you fancy)
Just eyeball the measurements, keep for 20mins at least. The longer, the better.


TOOTHPASTE:
Coconut oil, himalayan salt, baking powder. You can add peppermint essential oil too, or xylitol powder if you like it sweet tasting. Stevia would work too. Lemon or cinnamon, your choice ;) calcium magnesium powder would be welcome and very beneficial for your teeth health, as per extensive research I found out that teeth an absorb minerals from outside. No, let me repeat it - CAN ABSORB MINERALS FROM OUTSIDE. This is powerful!!


TOOTHPOWDER:
1 part dry ginger
1 part himalayan salt - fine
1 part baking soda.
As per recipe before, you can add your own twist to it - lemon, cinnamon, peppermint flavour, magnesium/calcium powder for extra healthy teeth (I found powdered version in Nourish shop, or you can crush your regular calcium magnesium pill)


SCRUB:
The first thing I started to make years ago was scrub, once my eyes opened that you can make it your own and don't have to spend mega bucks on it..
This is the easiest recipe - go to your cupboard and take .. sugar. Yes, plain ol' sugar will exfoliate your body like no one's business. Eventually you will make your own concoctions, I am sure, but here's my favourite:
Coconut oil
Sugar
Lemon or orange juice
and some zest, if the lemon was unwaxed
your favourite essential oil
or some crushed fresh mint


FACE MASK:
For me it varies, any fruit peels will do, natural yogurt and raw honey are amazing for the skin too. Just go to your fridge and mix something up ;) Here's an example:


RAW CHOCOLATE FACE MASK:
2tbs raw chocolate
2tbs raw honey
1tbs live yogurt
1tbs fine oatmeal

Blend together, apply, leave for 20mins. If you prefer your mask to be moisturising but not exfoliating, leave out the oatmeal.


DIY LASH SERUM:
1 part castor oil
1 part aloe vera gel
2 parts vit E oil


ROSEMARY HAIR RINSE:
 take some rosemary, a handful if dried, two if fresh, boil for 20 mins on low heat. Cool down and use as a final rinse. I'm like obsessed with rosemary now as I feel my hair has thinned, never paid any attention to it before, but it's my best friend now ;)


LIGHTENING HAIR TREATMENT:
Raw honey,
Cinnamon
Olive oil
These two apparently activate the peroxide in the honey, Mix well, leave for 1hr to activate peroxide. Apply on the hair and leave it as long as you can, 20 mins at least.
It will not bleach or visibly lighten your hair, but it will take down a shade or two if you stick with it for 6 treatments at least.



So that's it, my natural treatments revealed, let me know what do you do? Please share your recipes and experiences below. Have a nice day guys :) :) :)