Homemade Moisturiser with Shea Butter, Aloe Vera and Almond Oil

With my homemade experiments working quite well recently. I decided to try and refine my moisturiser recipe for the winter. My current moisturiser has done wonders for my skin. Check out homemade moisturiser. However, I feel like I need something a bit more intense for the winter months.

I decided to add Shea Butter to the mix. Having used it in my homemade lip balms, I thought I'd try it here. Shea Butter is very rich, but it is not pore clogging. Did you know that there is a comedogenic (pore clogging) scale? Shea Butter and Aloe Vera score 0 on this scale, meaning that it is not at all pore clogging. See this website on Comedogenic Scale For Other Ingredients

Ingredients:
Shea Butter
Aloe Vera Gel
Almond Oil
Essential Oil is optional ( I used Orange)

I recently used shea butter to make a hand cream and tried to whip it by hand, mixing it with almond oil. The result was a great thick moisturiser, but it took a lot of hard work and the shea butter left some small grains in the cream.

This time, I decided to gently heat the Shea butter in a pan so that it was easier to mix.

I used 3 tablespoons of Aloe Vera Gel and added 1 tablespoon of Almond Oil and used a knob of shea butter. I wasn't so strict with amounts, but I would say the amount of butter you would need for a sandwich. This makes enough for 1 jar. I used an old moisturiser jar and rinsed it with boiling water.


Method:
I whipped the aloe vera and almond oil together first. It should have a yoghurt consistency. If it is lumpy, you probably need more aloe vera. I then heated the shea butter very gently on the lowest setting. Once it melted, I gradually added the shea butter to the mixture while mixing it in.

I ended up with a lovely creamy textured mixture. I added about 3/4 drops of Orange essential oil, which is just lovely. Shea butter doesn't have the most pleasant of smells. It is quite strong, but I can see how some people might actually like it too. Perhaps it's one of those Love/Hate things. Adding essential oil helps with the smell.

**orange works fine for my skin, but my mum said it irritated her skin and she is a bit allergic to citrus fruits, so try another oil if you have allergies**

I was very pleased with this moisturiser. I have quite dry skin and it has worked really well for me. The Aloe Vera has a tightening quality to it, whereas the shea butter has the intense moisturising element. I find it works well under my makeup as well and keeps my skin hydrated all day.

MUA Nail Varnish £1

Shade 1 - Dark Metalic Blue

I got this shade to match my spidery halloween makeup. I loved the shade in the bottle as it appeared to have little glittery specs.

On application, I found the nail varnish to be very thin and one coat would definitely not do. I had to apply around 4 coats in the end. Saying that, the varnish did dry pretty quickly between coats.

As you can see the first coat is very transparent

Getting better with coat 2

Coat 3 is adaquate, but there were still little see through streaks in some places.

I was disappointed with the colour as the metalic "gliterriness" didn't show through. From any sort of distance, the colour looked black rather than blue.

Not too much of a big deal for a halloween costume, but not really what I expected it to be. I found the varnish to be long wearing, lasting up to about 1 week.

I am really impressed with MUA as a cosmetics range in general. £1 for a nail polish is a god send if you're playing with one off colours for a bit of fun and experimentation, so I'd be interested in trying out more colours. I like their eyeshadows too. Check out my review of MUA Eyeshadow.

I also recently bought one of their eye shadow palettes, which I will review soon.

On the whole, I think this nail varnish is value for money. It takes a little more applications than other products, but I don't mind this for the price. I would like to try out other shades in this range to compare :)

GOSH Natural Touch Foundation

I would never normally buy a foundation in a hurry, but the day before I went to America I had to get something better than the drying foundation I was already using. Luckily it wasn't too much of a disaster.

So I was just looking for something light for the warm weather. I nearly gave up and this caught my eye as I was leaving the shop.

Costing only £8.99 I thought I'd give it a shot. Wearing it for the first time on my flight over was probably not a good idea. I don't think I've ever had a foundation that survives a long haul flight.

What you should know about my skin first:

• Dry
• Pale
• Occasional acne
• Red blemishes from acne

What it says on the bottle:

• Flawless Natural Finish
• Organic Sweet Almond Oil
• Moisturising and Nourishing
• SPF 8
• 30ml

Available in 6 shades - I tried 36 Ivory

My skin is quite dry and I'm an on/off sufferer of acne, so coverage is important to me most of the time. I wasn't too concerned about coverage for my holiday though. I just wanted something that didn't feel heavy in the heat.

The texture is very light and colour is natural (yellow toned). It contains sweet almond oil, which is great for the skin. Comes in handy pump bottle and one squirt is enough for the whole face.

I like the feel of this foundation on my face, it's very lightweight and goes on smoothly. I would describe the coverage as light to medium. If I had a bad breakout, I'm not sure this would make the cut, but at the moment the coverage is enough. I would liken it to the Smashbox Healthy FX foundation as far as texture and coverage goes.

On my skin, I didn't find that it was very buildable. When I tried to go over my blemishes again it kind of clumped. It worked better when I touched up blemishes with some concealer.

I've been wearing it everyday to work and I'm finding that it is lasting all day long. I've also been getting more skin compliments since using it, so I guess it looks pretty good and natural.

It looks more natural than the Revlon Colourstay Foundation I've been wearing recently. I don't look like I'm wearing makeup, which is a plus for me. The shade is a tad too dark for my pale skin, but it's not bad.

One downside for me would be that it smells quite perfumey, but it's not overpowering. 

Apart from that and the fact it doesn't build well, I think it's a great sheer foundation that lets my skin breath for a change. It's great value for money at £8.99. I've been using it for 2 months now (everyday) and there is still plenty left.

Homemade Lip Balm With Shea, Coconut and Orange

This is the latest of my homemade beauty experiments and I have to say, I was pretty impressed with the results.

I used to think making my own beauty products would be time consuming and just add to everyday stress. But in fact, it's the opposite. It's a bit like baking cakes and is very therapeutic. The hardest part is getting your ingredients together.

I've heard a lot of bad reports about petroleum jelly, so after already making my own Homemade Moisturiser, I thought I'd give lip balm a go.

This one involved a little bit of "cooking".

What you need:

• A small pan - a non-stick one worked well for this
• Containers/pots

Ingredients:

• Shea Butter
• Beeswax
• Coconut Oil
• (Optional) - esssential oil of your choice. I used Orange

These ingredients are really easy to source on the internet. I got mine from Amazon and got the Coconut Oil in Holland and Barratt.

I wasn't too strict about amounts, but as a general guideline, I tried to use about a tablespoon each of shea, beeswax and coconut oil .

I grated the beeswax and added it to the pan. Turn the heat on the lowest possible setting. You only want to melt the ingredients so that they are easier to mix together.

Once the beeswax has melted, add your shea butter and coconut oil. Once melted give the mixture a stir. Then add about 8 drops of essential oil.

Begin spooning the mixture into your containers. Some people prefer to use a little funnel for this part, but it worked fine for me to just spoon it in.

Leave the mixture to cool and voila, you have your very own homemade lip balm. This recipe made 4 lip balms.

If you prefer your lip balm softer, you can add more oil to soften it up or less beeswax. The lip balm has a lovely coconut/orange smell and is very nourishing for the lips. I left it on overnight and woke up with lovely soft lips.

It's also possible to buy empty chapstick tubes on ebay if you prefer that.

The great thing is, they make great presents for family and friends :) Have you experimented with lips balms? Let me know if you gave this receipe a go?

Alison Claire Foot Cream Bio Natural Beauty

I'm sure I'm not the only one to admit that I completely neglect my feet. Although the few times I actually bothered to do a foot scrub or moisturize or visit a chiropodist (once), my feet felt amazing afterwards. Have you ever had foot rub? so good if anyone is willing to do it for you ;)

It's like looking after your feet relaxes your whole body, feels refreshing and makes you think "why don't I do this more often?". It has the amazing ability to make you feel light on your feet.

So I was quite excited to try out Alison Claire's Peppermint and Witch Hazel Foot Cream. Alison Claire products are described as bio-natural. And I love this concept, as lately I've been obsessing with natural beauty products and have even been experimenting with my own recipes.

Check out my posts on homemade moisturizer and oil cleansing :)

Reading a bit about the product range, I learn that their ethos is to eliminate the use of chemicals found to be harmful in mainstream products. They describe the four main "nasties" that they ensure they don't use as Laureth Sulphate, Parabens, Phenoxyethanol and PEGS. Quite scary what some of these chemicals can do. Find out more on their website here. The products also don't have preservatives, synthetic fragrances or colors. Sounds like my cup of tea!

So on to the foot cream! I love the packaging design. It's very simple, which is in sync with the idea of natural products. On opening the foot cream there is an amazing smell of peppermint. I love it,  it's so fresh and uplifting. Perfect for tired feet! The texture is quite light, kind of like a mousse, which I think is great for a foot cream as you don't want anything too dense that will take a long time to absorb.

I decided to use this after a bout of house cleaning. So it was well deserved if I do say so myself. It was so nice to just give my feet a bit of rubbing attention. The coolness of the peppermint really cooled my feet down and the smell was so nice. After giving myself a 5 minute massage with the cream, I felt great. This would probably be even better if you can get someone to do it for you ;) It didn't take long for cream to absorb into my skin either.

I have horrendously dry skin, so for me, I would probably need something more intensive as far as hydration goes, but I think this would be a great cream for other skin types. I could smell the zingy freshness for ages as it was still on my hands, which was lovely.

As well as peppermint and witch hazel, the cream contains aloe vera (my wonder product!), marshmallow and comfrey to condition the skin. The witch hazel is an astringent which helps get rid of loose skin cells. Tea tree oil and green tea are also used for their antibacterial qualities.

Full of lovely goodness!!!

The foot cream is £12 for 200ml. Most products are around this price range with the lip balms at £4 :)

Have you come across the Alison Claire range? I would love to know what you think of the products.

Olive Oil - Oh So Versatile

I'm in love with a beauty product I've just discovered. Having only ever used it for cooking, I'm so amazed that this product can be used in so many ways for home beauty.

Yes, Olive Oil. I'm so excited to have discovered it's beauty uses as it's cheap and I always have it in the house. I also know exactly what I'm putting on my skin, knowing that it won't damage it.

Why is it so good?
It contains Vitamin A and E, both well known to promote healthy skin. It also contains Hydroxytyrosol, an antioxidant preventing free radical damage to the skin cells. Olive oil repairs and renews skin. These factors make it a great moisturiser as the olive oil traps moisture in your skin. Olive Oil does not clog pores like many high street products. Could it get any better?

Here are my top uses for Olive Oil...

Moisturiser
It takes olive oil a while to sink into skin, so I personally would only use it before bed

Makeup remover
I was amazed by how good this product was at removing my makeup. I've tried other commercial makeup removers and facial washes and was disappointed that many of them still left makeup on my face! Quite disappointing if you've spent a lot of money on them.

** pour a little olive oil into the palm of your hand, spread over your face, let it sit for a wee second and then remove with a cotton pad. It's so good!**

Top tip - it's also suitable for removing eye makeup and is a great substitute for eye cream. I remove my makeup in the evening and just leave the residue on overnight. After a few weeks I saw definite improvements. My delicate under eye area is looking great at the moment. Really bright and more plump. I'm well pleased with this!

I've taken to just splashing my face with water in the morning rather than washing and stripping the oils away. I have quite dry skin, so this works for me.

Facial Scrub
Mix with bicarbonate soda or sugar or sea salt for a great moisturizing scrub. Some people say use the sugar for body rather than face as it may be too abrasive.

Hair conditioner
Apply to hair as you would normal conditioner. Almond Oil and Coconut oil are also good options :)
It can also help dandruff. Apply to hair, leave for 5 minutes and shampoo after.

Nails and Cuticles
Rubbed into nails and cuticles, the skin is conditioned and the nails shine.

Have you tried Olive Oil in your beauty regime? Let me know below :)

Eyeshadow base budget comparison

So... as I'm completely skint these days (after leaving the family home, getting married and having to look after myself), I've decided to try and be a bit more choosy about makeup products.

I sometimes wonder if high price really means high quality in the cosmetic industry. Or is it a bit like jeans - all made in the same factory with different labels put on them?

After a phase of spending big on products, I've decided to go proper "budget", because I literally will not be able to do anything enjoyable if I spend all my money on makeup.

One of my staple makeup bag products is an eye shadow base coat in a white or ivory colour. I ran out of my No 17 one (which I didn't think was that good) so I put out a request on twitter for some suggestions. Someone recommended Urban Decay shadows, but honestly, I cannot afford £14 for an eyeshadow. That's like 14 loaves of bread lol

So I called into Superdrug. Not looking at the brand names, I was just looking for a nice ivory shadow with a touch of shimmer. I came across the MUA and Accessorize concessions. They both had decent looking Ivory shadows. The MUA one was £1! And the Accessorize shadow was about £2.99 or something ridulously cheap. I bought both - why not for that price?


The first one I tried was the MUA shadow. It's quite metallicy, so I would guess I'd prefer to wear this one in the evening. It probably wasn't subtle enough for me for day time. Although it did make a nice colour to layer browns etc. on top.

With a base coat, I normally cover my whole eye completely from lash to my eyebrow. This way, you've kind of added a highlighter to your brow (if it has some shimmer).

Throughout the day, I did realise that the shadow had creased, so not really ideal, but I was still happy enough with it for the price.

I hadn't expected to like the colour of the Accessorize shadow as much. It looked to have a gold tinge to it, but in fact it was more subtle and less metallic than the MUA shadow. This is more what I was looking for. It made my eye look quite smooth and evened out before applying some browns to create a smokey eye. I was quite surprised, as it blended really well with my eye shadows.

In contrast to the MUA shadow, there were no problems with creasing or wearing off. I'm quite happy with the Accessorize shadow. I will still use the MUA Shadow. Admittedly I have never used an expensive eyeshadow, so I can't compare them at all for you. I'm happy to use the budget version and be oblivious to what's out there on the higher end of the market. If I tried an expensive one, I'd probably like it too much :)

Have you tried any of these products? Are you a fan of more expensive eyeshadows? I 'd love to know the difference :)

Facial Cleansing- with Oil!

Wow, I was very dubious about trying this one out, but I'm determined to find a better alternative to using evil chemicals found in most cosmetics - even the expensive brands.

The idea behind this method is that oil breaks down other oils. It will also not strip away your natural oils that you really need to keep you skin in top condition. Castor oil is good for cleansing and drawing out impurities. Olive oil is very hydrating and full of antioxidants

Ingredients:
Castor Oil
Extra Vigin Olive Oil

**recommend trying a nice smelling essential oil (a few drops), as castor doesn't smell too good**


You can experiment with ratios, but as I have very dry skin I used 1 part Castor Oil to 2 parts Olive Oil. Castor oil makes the mixture quite thick and gloopy, so it sticks to your skin well without coming off.

Method 1:
Apply the mixture your dry face and gently massage into skin
Apply a hot face cloth to your face and leave for about 10 mins
Then use the towel to remove the oil from your face

Method 2:
Same as above except don't use the hot towel
Apply before getting in the shower and rinse it off at the end
You may need a little help to wipe off residue with a cloth or cotton pad

Don't worry, I know it feels strange at first, you skin might feel a little greasy and the whole sensation is a bit alien, but after completing the method, I took a look at my skin and it LOOKED cleaner than it has in a long time. The cotton pad I used to wipe away the residue had grim on it! I also only needed to use a little moisturiser before putting my makeup on.

I suffer from Acne and have very dry skin on bottom part of my face.

So far I've only tried it twice and the results are good. The only downside is I'm not too fussed on the smell of the castor oil, but I am going to try adding a few drops of nice smelling oil to see if that makes a difference.

If you have any questions, post below. Or if you have tried it, let me know how it went. I would love to know how it works on other skin types :)

Palmers Cocoa Butter Tanning Cream

This is a revelation! Yes, my hubby likes the smell of my fake tan!

He usually won't come near me when I've fake tan on, but last night he was shouting "what's that smell, it's really nice?"

Firstly I should say I'm quite pale and have normal-dry skin. My mum raves about Palmers cream, so I thought I'd give the tanning lotion a go. It contains cocoa butter and vitamin E - both lovely for your skin.

It feels nice when applying it, as it just seems like you're rubbing lotion into your skin. It does take a wee while to absorb, so I wouldn't do this in a hurry before work or anything. I put it on before bed.

It's described as a "gradual tanning moisturiser", so I was shocked to see it had properly developed the next morning. I was expecting to have to apply for a few days to see a difference. The next shocker was I didn't reapply it and the tan lasted for about a week! It seemed to get darker and then died down again.

I was very pleased with this - because it's all about minimal effort for me! I think if I applied it once a week it would maintain a nice tan for me.

The colour was very natural. If you're in to deeper tans, it would probably work to apply it everyday. I was super impressed with this product and it only cost about 6 quid! It comes in a pump bottle which is great and less messy.

I think I'm converted and will reach for this rather than the expensive brands from now on. Well pleased! :)

**unfortunately the tan developed the usual fake tan smell on the second day. There is no getting away from that smell! **
Have you tried it? Let me know what you think.
Any other fake tan recommendations? Comment below :)

Homemade Moisturiser

I've suffered with bad skin for about 7 years now. Weird, because my skin was ok until I hit 23 years old. Since then I've had acne on and off. I've tried all sorts of medications and products, but it's still here!

So in the past few weeks I've decided to experiment a little with homemade beauty products. While having acne, I also have terrible dry skin and it suddenly dawned on me that the products I use to clean and moisturise my face are probably stripping the natural oils away. I have no idea what the chemicals in cosmetics are and what they are doing to my skin. So on my quest, I discovered that a lot of stuff I already have at home can be use to make my own products.

Ingredients I've been trying out:

100% natural Aloe Vera Gel
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Almond Oil
Honey
Vitamin E Oil
Bicarbonate Soda (Baking Soda (not Baking powder)

There are many other products to try, but so far I've been messing with these.

First up - I tried making a moisturiser with Aloe Vera Gel and Olive Oil. Aloe Vera gel is amazing for healing skin and I find it gives moisturiser the thickness and "stickiness" needed to mix with the oil. Olive Oil is a great moisturiser for skin, but I did find the mixture a little too oily for me - May be great before bed, but not to wear under makeup. So I ordered a bottle of Almond Oil online, which is supposed to be more absorbent. I find the Almond Oil is working better and isn't as greasy.

I mix 3 parts aloe vera to 1 part almond oil. Give it a good long whip to combine the two together. This gives a really nice light moisturiser. I am still finding that parts of my skin are dry, so for the next batch, I will add a little more oil to the mix and see how it works, but this really depends on your skin type.

It feels so good knowing exactly what I am putting on my skin and it is quite therapeutic making my own products. I have noticed an improvement in the smoothness of my skin after 2 weeks. The great thing is you can adjust the amounts to suit your own skin and I'm sure it will end up being a money saver!

Next I will try and make a hydrating face mask and scrub!
Stay tuned for the results! :)

Please comment below and let me know if you have tried any homemade products. I am still experimenting and would love your ideas too :)