If you’ve been around the internet lately, you might have noticed that there is no shortage of DIY recipes for beauty products you can make at home. For most of my life, I used beauty products purchased at stores, trying this and that, looking for the right fit at a reasonable cost. It was not until about a year ago that I contemplated how my life and health might be improved if I started making some of my health and beauty products at home.
Well, I’m happy to report that my foray into the DIY beauty products world thus far has been a success. By mixing up a few simple recipes, I am saving money and putting less mystery ingredients on our skin. I am excited to share with you two recipes that I have tried and tested and am loving as a part of my daily life.
1 DIY Foaming Face Wash
In my quest to find a better and less expensive face wash solution, a savvy friend told me that she had been happily using a combination of castille soap and essential oils in her daily beauty routine. I found a similar recipe at New Leaf Wellness. Using the recipe, I mixed up a simple concoction of Dr. Bronner’s unscented baby castille liquid soap, distilled water, and tea tree essential oil, and I have been using this lovely face wash ever since!
The ingredients are few:
- Distilled water
- Dr. Bronner’s baby unscented castille soap
- Tea tree essential oil (we use this one)
This is a pretty thin liquid, so it works nicely in a soap bottle with a foaming pump. I am using these foaming soap bottles from Jamhoo.
My typical facial care routine includes washing with my DIY foaming face wash and then smoothing on some spot acne cream. In the morning, I put on a light moisturizer, too. My favorite is Aveda Outer Peace Acne Relief Lotion. The smell and feel of this moisturizer is like a mini spa treatment every time I use it. (Edit: It appears that this Aveda lotion may have recently been discontinued.)
I don’t know what it is, but I think the spa treatment feeling is a combination of the botanical scents and the fact that the smell floods my memory with pictures of getting ready in our villa bathroom in Santorini on our honeymoon. I’ve used this moisturizer for a few years, most often at my home, but I did have it with me in Greece, too, and somehow that memory sticks. With a view like this, maybe it’s no mystery why. (We really stayed at this hotel! Can you believe this beauty? I promise a whole blog post and more pictures to come.)
2 DIY Coconut & Aloe Body Lotion
It doesn’t get much easier than a two-ingredient recipe! After my son was born, we sampled a couple baby lotions, including one from Burt’s Bees and Angel Baby. I like them both, but I was interested to see how a DIY lotion would fare in comparison. I was so pleased to find that this simple concoction of coconut oil and aloe vera gel works great for keeping my boy’s skin soft, and it smells great too.
I mixed the coconut oil and aloe vera gel together in a blender. Once the ingredients were combined, I scooped the mixture out of the blender with a spatula and into an empty glass jar. This is a thick lotion, more like a balm or body butter. It was convenient for me to reuse a glass food jar that had recently been emptied and washed to store the lotion.
Every day, we use this lotion on my son’s skin, from babyhood to toddlerhood. Now that he can help to take care of himself, he enjoys scooping out some lotion with his own fingers and rubbing it on his skin, too. Sometimes, I use this lotion for myself, too, but I will need to mix up a larger batch next time so that we can fill two jars and share the moisture! It’s good for both kids and adults…anyone with skin!
One thing to note is that the lotion will stay in a semi-liquid easily spreadable form in warm temperatures. I noticed that in the colder winter months, it would solidify and then need to be warmed up in my hands a bit after scooping some out, in order to smooth it onto our skin. In the winter, I set the jar of lotion next to my son’s wipes warmer, and the extra warmth from it keeps the lotion more liquid, and we are good to go.
Do you make any beauty products at home? What are your go-to recipes?
Leave a Reply