Manuka Honey Lip Balm

What can I do on a rainy saturday afternoon?... a while ago I would have replied: "BAKING"... Now that I have to lose 10 KG, I can no longer say that... therefore my new reply is "MAKING COSMETICS"... To be more specific, today's reply was "MAKING MANUKA HONEY LIP BLAM YAY"

My plan is to prepare a bunch of nice natural and homemade products for x-mas gifts. As I have a big family, it is not to early to get started!

Not long ago, I have discovered the amazing and famous New-Zealand Manuka honey. This honey is simply amazing and deserves a whole article dedicated to it (in a future post..).

With cold winter approaching, it is essential to have a good lipbalm to nourish and repair the lips... Here is my recipe full of nice natural ingredients. Really easy to make (even easier if you do it with the Naturalis machine):

For a quantity of 30ml - 3 little jars or 3 sticks... (I personally find it best if you use sticks as it is more hygienic):

• 4 full teaspoons of organic Shea butter (Mango or Cocoa butter are also good)
• 4 TADs of Apricot kernel oil
• 5 grams of natural beeswax
• 6 drops of natural vanilla extract
• 2 DASH of Manuka Honey (any organic honey is fine though)

Melt and mix all the ingredients together and pour into containers while it is liquid. Let the balm cool down (10 minutes) and it is then ready to use :)

A productive sunday afternoon

What a productive day! 
I am usually lazy on sundays... hehe not today!! Went to buy a nice Aloe Vera plant (I just love it!!! It will have a whole dedicated post later), and... I have been making cosmetics! I love it when I come up with a whole bunch of stuff!

I have made a few things, mainly for my mum as I am now her official cosmetics provider (and since she ran out of products)
She wanted a cream that removes stains on the skin. I have made a night cream full of good stuff for her, it is anti wrinkle, anti stain and moisturising! Since I am real big on Aloe Vera at the moment, I have also made a daily moisturising face gel and an eye serum. I will see her next Friday and I can't wait for her to see all these little things :)
My mum is very very girly, she just LOVES glitters and shiny stuff so I have inspired myself from a recipe found on Magic Gigi's blog and made her an awesome shiny body gel (smells delicious too).

More about that later, I am now off to enjoy the last moments of this sunday evening (I hate sunday evenings.... means monday is coming)
xx

"The Bro" stands by you to fight sebum and acne

I initially tried to create a face moisturising cream for my teenage brothers but it turns out they really cannot be bothered putting some moisturising cream on.... Oh well, one day they will realise what they have been missing!
In the end, my boyfriend adopted "The Bro" and uses it every day as a daily moisturiser :) I also happen to use it as I find it awesome to keep my makeup on my face all day long!


The texture is very light, not oily at all and thanks to Witch hazel and tea tree oil, the sebum is not showing up :)

My boyfriend came up with the name "the bro" to initially make it more attractive to my brothers... did not work but we decided to keep that name... seriously, this thing is like a good buddy that gently takes care of your face :)

Using the one pot emulsion technique in my machine, I launch the hot emulsion program with the following ingredients:

• 55 ml of Spring water (it is best not to use water from the tap)
• 5ml of Hamamelis water (whitch hazel) (Anti oxidant and astringent)
• 10 ml of Rice Bran oil (amazing to fight external evil things such as pollution, Uvs, etc...)
• 1 TAD of Glycerin
• 2 TAD of Emulsifier

Once done, I proceed to the additives and select the cold emulsion program :

• 2 DASH of Xantham Gum 
• 12 drops of Benzyl alcohol (preservative)
• 5 drops of Tea Tree Essential oil
• 5 drops of AHA additive

Once the mixture is done, I pour it into a sterilised container and I am done :)

This can keep for about 4-5 weeks

The one that started it all

Last summer, my mum got the idea of offering me the Rowenta Naturalis machine for my birthday..
"what is the Rowenta Naturalis" you may say.... I have actually heard it is not yet available in all countries.
This brilliant little machine enables you to make your own cosmetics at home in a very very easy way! (no need to have a big mess with a thousand pots and whisks everywhere! It enables you to make your products using the "one pot" technique)
By giving me this awesome gift, my mum had no idea that I would start a crazy journey with homemade cosmetics. 
I searched for blogs, shops, recipes, and even started creating my owns thanks to inspiration coming from everywhere!
With this little machine, I can make anything from lipbalms to face creams, scrubs, masks, shampoos etc...
You can find more information here http://www.rowenta-naturalis.fr