Bentonite Clay Masque

Facial masks have recently become one of my favorite beauty routines to do every once in a while. Even though I don't do them every day or even every week, I think they are an important and incredible part of a natural beauty routine. It always makes me think of the ayurvedic principle called "dinacharya", which means the importance of a daily routine, be it health or beauty. And though you definitely don't have to do clay facial masks everyday, I think there's a lot to the concept of "self-pampering", especially in our modern society in which self care and self love seem to be kind of taboo. Taking time out of your day to make sure you appreciate yourself and your body is supremely important both mentally and physically, and throwing in a few of these  face masks every once in a while definitely helps!

Homemade Lip Balm

One of my numerous attempts at making all homemade christmas gifts this year was homemade lip balm. Now lip balm is one thing that i've always kind of pushed to the wayside and considered too expensive to buy, but now my whole viewpoint on the stuff has changed. Why would I pay $5 for a tiny little tube of burt's bees when I can make ten times the amount of the exact same peppermint beeswax lip balm for under $3? Seems silly now... but now I (and hopefully my family too) will have luscious, hydrated lips all winter!

Honey Almond Facial Soap

So I've recently been reading all about the skin healing benefits of raw honey on the skin. Not only is it great for you to eat, but it has amaaazing effects on practically every skin type. This article lays out all the benefits, but to surmise it is:

-Antibacterial and antimicrobial
-Can be drying or moisturizing, depending on your skin
-Contains tons of good-for-you enzymes
-Helps repair sores and scars
-No additives!

Be careful what you use though...only Raw or wild honey works. Other normal types of honey will often contain additives or only be a certain percentage actual honey. I got this stuff from Trader Joe's (also goes wonderfully in tea)

What I did for the cleanser was:

2 Parts raw honey

2 parts liquid almond castile soap (though any would work, I just like the idea of honey-almond)

1 Part warm water

I just added the honey and warm water and stirred it up, then added the castile soap and stirred again until everything was mixed well together into one liquid. I tried it for the first time tonight..its amazing! My skin was literally glowing..incredible what nature can do! 

Here's the final product

Followed by some ACV toner this makes the perfect nightly skin care routine!

Homemade Tinctures and Body Lotion

Today one of my best friends and I decided to take a mental health day and go get a reiki session and spend some time shopping for herbs. Probably one of the best decisions I've made in a while. After the absolutely extraordinary and enlightening reiki session, we bought a huge number of herbs to make tinctures with. I decided to make a women's health tincture, a liver detox tincture, and a quit smoking tincture. We'll see how they turn out in 3-6 weeks!

Here are the fledgling tinctures..updates to come soon!

We also made a lavender, bees wax and almond oil body lotion. It works phenomenally. Can't wait to experiment with more essential oils/ body oil combinations. 

Apple Cider Vinegar Facial Toner

The benefits of apple cider vinegar have really been coming to the forefront as of late. After stumbling across this post a few days ago, I decided I'd give it a whirl.

I used about a 1:3 ratio of ACV to water for this. Only time will tell how what effects it will have. I'll report back.

***And check out this link for a ton more health benefits and uses for ACV. It's crazy how much stuff this smelly liquid can do.