An idea has been zooming all around my brain lately… but it only solidified Wednesday night while I was learning how to make lip balm, facial toner mist, and a body salt scrub. It’s still in the works, so I won’t say much now but it’ll be a long process of experimentation, but I am so very happy to let you lovely readers in on it! Maybe you’ll get to try out the end-product 😉 I’ll tell you about the journey along the way. As for last night’s event, I had so much fun! I realized the process of making my own skincare products brought a combination of three things that I Iove together: culinary arts, science, and beauty.
Is this a cooking class?
I’m surprised that the livingsocial venue (at least the one in DC) is so spacious! And I didn’t realize the turnout would be so great. Jill Dickens from Evolve Skin taught the class. Her story was really interesting and also inspiring. Something she emphasized quite often can be summarized in her following statement –
If you can’t eat it, it shouldn’t be going on your skin.
For the skincare products, it’s best to use distilled water. In this case we were saving water, so the water used above will be the same one as the one used for the toner. The double boiler method is used a lot in making these products. Very simple to do. Boil a pot of water, put another bowl on top (something that can stand the heat, of course), and voila! You’ll be able to avoid having your products burn or getting into contact with water.
Lip Balm
Here’s the coconut oil in our double boiler. Coconut oil can be help with dry skin and can moisturize your hair.
Candilila wax (left), derived from a Mexican shrub, is used as a substitute for beeswax. If you’re ever working with a recipe that calls for beeswax and you want to use this as a substitute, you only need to use one-half of it.
Unrefined cocoa butter (right) was added. It looked like shredded cheese to me. It can help in extending shelf life for one year and can also help for stretch marks. Keeping this in mind 🙂
A drop of Vitamin E (d-alpha-tocopherol) was added. It can also extend shelf life and is a very thick oil.
Pipette the mixture into your lib balm tubes. Set it aside and let it cool. And voila! Here you have the lip balm.
Green Tea Facial Toner Mist
The base of the toner here is green tea. Green tea is an antioxidant that protects the skin from free radicals and helps to maintain skin elasticity. Aloe vera was added; it can be used for dry patches and for sunburns. Lavendar oil, an antiseptic, was also used. It helps to get excess impurities out of your skin and is good for wrinkles, sunburn, and stress (calming aromatherapy). The toner has a shelf life of about 2-3 weeks if placed in the refrigerator. If you add in a drop of Vitamin E oil, you can extend the shelf life for ~2-3 months. Pretty sweet, huh?
Detoxifying Body Scrub
This is a body scrub not for the face but rather for the body. If you were making a scrub for the face, you would need to use a much finer salt. Epsom salt is detoxifying and can be found almost everywhere (CVS, Walgreens, etc). Other ingredients included castille soap, extra virgin olive oil (penetrates deep into the skin and provides long-lasting deep moisture by providing a shield for the skin). You could replace the EVOO with grape seed oil or some other veggie-ish oil. We went for peppermint oil to sooth and cool the skin. It helps to clear, awaken, and brighten your [tired] skin. It’s anti-bacterial, anti-viral and energizing. Quite simple… combine all the ingredients into a bowl and you’ve got your body scrub.
The finished products 🙂 Remember to store everything in air-tight containers and keep in a cool place. Have you ever made your own beauty products? Please do share! 🙂
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