Beauty Blog

A friend of mine makes her own all natural skin salves.  Amazing!  I was and still am in awe of this talent she possesses in creating her own moisturizing skin salves from her apartment here in Los Angeles.  I don’t have the details on the exact process or ingredients she uses but I was inspired to go out and hunt down some of my own little recipes for natural beauty remedies and perhaps try concocting a mixture of my own.  After just eating an entire small carton of strawberries from the local farmer’s market, I thought it appropriate to seek out a formula that calls for strawberries and I found a good one for exfoliation:

The Strawberry Hand and Foot Exfoliant:

• First you will need 8-10 ripe strawberries, two tablespoons of olive oil, and one teaspoon of course salt such as sea salt.  You could probably even substitute this with some of the Epsom salts.  I highly recommend Walgreens Apothecary Natural Mineral Epsom Salt.

Buy 2 for $3!

• Mash up the strawberries, and mix with olive oil and salt.  Apply over hands and feet, rinse, and pat dry.

For those of you who like taking indulgent baths, you know…the kind that you see offered at fancy spas with rose petals and stuff like that?  Well now is your chance to create your own!  Creating your own rose water bath is easy.  You will need one cup of rose petals, OR one half cup of rose water which should be fairly inexpensive, and one half cup of coconut milk.

Home Health Rose Water is basic and should do the trick, it usually retails for about $4.69 (Lowest price on Smarter.com).

Add all ingredients to a warm bath and sink in!

Find at Smarter.com:  Shop for more Epsom salt.
Discounts on Home Health products.

For those of you who don’t indulge yourselves in a hot bath every once in a while, you must start immediately!  Taking a hot bath has become something therapeutic not only for my body, muscles and skin, but for my mental state as well.  I’ve always loved finding great personal care products, but I especially love splurging on sweet smelling bubble baths, soaps, scrubs and bath salts.  You may have noticed these things have become a bit pricier over the years due to the fact that they are getting made with fancier ingredients and have an expensive label slapped on them.  Of course these products usually work fantastically and you feel good using them, but you can also create your own little spa atmosphere at a very reasonable price without sacrificing quality.

After recently using up all of my favorite Maria Evora Beach Rose bath salts (which are fabulous by the way…but also $12 per bottle), I went out late one night to pick up something a little more inexpensive at my local drugstore.  I ended up finding a great bargain:  Walgreen’s Apothecary Epsom Salt Lavender Soak: $3.49

These salts are great! Not only were they dirt cheap, they smell good and work well.  I try to soak in a bath full of these at least once a week…if not for my body, for my own mental health!  Upon returning from a desert camping trip this weekend, I came home grubby!  As does anyone after camping, but the salts worked wonders on ridding the smells of earth, dirt and campfire smoke that were in my hair and on my skin.  For years, epsom salt has been used as a natural remedy for soothing muscle aches, sprains  and stings.  Although these are perfect for the bath, the salts can be used for several different things and are a fantastic ingredient when creating your own products such as body scrubs for the face and body.  They are also perfect for soaking your tired, sore and aching feet in while giving yourself a home pedicure or when you just feel like pumicing your feet.  While soaking in a tub of the epsom salts, which are natural magnesium sulfate crystals, your body will be absorbing the minerals through the skin which will not only draw out toxins and relax your muscles, but will act as a sedative for the nervous system.

All this goodness for $3.49?!  Pick up a milk carton full, it will last long and your body will thank you.

Find at Smarter.com:  Shop for more bath salts.