DIY Bronzer!

Good morning everyone! I'm actually up before 9am today, which is insane, but despite how much my eyes hurt I kind of enjoy it. I made this bronzer about two weeks ago and I've just been taking my time with posting the tutorial. No reason for that, just being lazy. I definitely didn't come up with this myself but I did alter it a bit to what I saw. Meaning I couldn't find what actually inspired me to make this so I just decided to go with the flow. Worked out well though.

Just gunna let you know now, I only made one variation of it (the very light one) so if you want more colour or depth etc you're gunna have to experiment with your ingredient ratios.

And so we'll begin. 

You're gunna need: 

1. Corn starch/Icing sugar 
2. Essential Oil
3. Nutmeg
4. Cinnamon
5. Cocoa
6. An empty bronzer container

Ingredients

1. Start out by cleaning out your bronzer container. You can make a loose variation of this, so if you want to do that just put it in a small jar or tupperware thing.

RIP

 2. Start by adding:

1.  1 tbsp cinnamon
2. 1 teaspoon nutmeg
3. 1 teaspoon cocoa 

This step is where you can alter it to the shade you want. Remember that cinnamon = glow, cocoa = darkness, and nutmeg = browny golden colour. Add more/less accordingly. I ended up adding another half teaspoon of cinnamon and a bit more nutmeg.

Used my fancy square bowl for aesthetic purposes.

3. Add 2 tsp corn starch or icing sugar. I had icing sugar pictured, but I changed my mind half way through because I was afraid I might break out because of it.

I hate buying no name brand stuff because I think it's hideously packaged.

 4. Mix 'er all together.

Yup.

 5. Don't keep your laptop too close by if you like to listen to music or whatever while you do this.. I still have ingredients all over it.

ps: If you like folk/acoustic music, I'm listening to this right now, check it out it's good http://8tracks.com/northernground/early-mornings-vol-3

 6. Essential Oil... Let's not talk about why I have this, but this is all I had in replacement for essential oils at home. Yeah it's massage oil, what can I say. It smelled like cinnamon so I rolled with it. I was nervous that it wouldn't harden the way it would if I used essential oils but it did the trick. However, when I make this again (which I will) I'll make sure to get some of the real stuff.

Add 10-15 drops of whatever 'oil' you have. Just get it wet, but not too wet. No pun intended. Moisten it. Goddamn it.

If you want the loose variation, skip this step. Obviously. 

Yeah... just.. yeah.

 7. Pack it all into your container and flatten it out with a spoon or your fingers. Try to make sure it's flush with the edges of the container or once it dries you'll have a hard time closing it.

You're gunna have to let it sit for a couple hours to dry, I put mine on the window sill so the sun would help.

That's it.

Voila!

 So that's all it takes to make bronzer at home. It's cheap, easy, and I'd say it works pretty well. Mine is really subtle but it's nice for days when I don't really want to wear makeup. And it smells unreal.

I wear it every day, haven't noticed any substantial breakouts or anything. It's holding up well for the most part. I feel like if I used essential oil instead my brush would be able to pick it up better. Next time I might try it as a loose powder.

Here are some obligatory selfies over time to show you how it looks. I'm not really sure how to take pictures that emphasize bronzer so.. yeah. This is what you get.

Just bronzer.

Wolf shirt.

Me at this very moment. So happy to be awake, you can see. 

There you have it, kids. Make your own bronzer, save yourself 14 bucks.
Happy Friday :)

ChelC-3P0

DIY: Facial & Body Scrub

Good morning (not really). I'm at work right now, but I don't have anything else to do right now so I'll share this recipe for a facial/body scrub with you guys. I'm a huge fan of exfoliants and scrubs in general, but they can get pretty expensive if you're buying them in-store. So what I started doing was making my own. I can almost guaruntee you'll have all the ingredients in your kitchen, and it'll deliver the same results. This one you can use for face or body, I used it for both. Just keep quantity in mind when measuring ingredients because it sucks when you run out mid-shower. 

You'll need: 

• Honey
• Olive oil (preferably extra virgin)
• Cinnamon
• Grapefruit (or a citrus of your choice)
• Sugar (you can use brown or white, whatever you've got)                   

Like I said.. there's a bit of freedom with this recipe.



Honey, EVOO, Cinnamon, Grapefruit, Sugar

1. Artfully line up all your ingredients and take a moment to remember your life (and skin) before you made this scrub.

 

The cinnamon has several awesome skin benfits. I forget where I first learned that, but it's a favourite trick of mine. It's good for acne, eczima, and it just generally smells good. I have a million uses for cinnamon so I'm sure you'll see those soon.

 2. Start with dry ingredients. I never measure anything.. (it all comes from the heart) so just add ingredients accordingly. A bowl this size had just enough for my face and body. Anyways, add the cinnamon into the bowl. Pretty complicated stuff.

The sugar is good for a few reasons. Obviously it works as the main exfoliant, but it also doesn't clog pores, it fights blemishes and it doesn't fuck around with your skins oil balance.

3. Add a fairly large amount of sugar... this should be proportional to how much scrub you want to have, cause this is the scrubby bit of it. Less sugar, less scrub, oui?

Citrus time. Obviously has a great amount of vitamin C. Also helps to unblock pores, prevent blemishes, etc. Grapefruit in particular is good for anti-aging and sunspots. So if you're gross and peeling like me, it's a good choice.

4. Squeeze about half a grapefruit into the mixture. Or a whole lemon. Or two limes. Or whatever you want really, this is a blog it's not the law.

Honey is relatively good for acne treatment, but it's also an awesome moisturizer.

5. Add quite a bit of honey into the bowl, the honey makes it easier to apply, and if you use it as a mask on your face after exfoliating it'll be less drippy.

Olive oil is an amazing moisturizer. This and the honey combined are what will make your skin feel so awesome and smooth after. It lasts too, which is the best part.

                          
6. Throw some EVOO up in there. You don't need too much, just a teaspoon or so. 
                   

Don't forget to tell your friend to take creepy pictures of you through the mirror!

                        
7. Apply all over your face, and with any exfoliant don't scrub so hard that you rip your skin off. If you have any specifically peely areas like I did, you can focus on them but still only scrub gently so you don't damage anything.

Yeah... yeah.  

                         
8. Leave it on your face for your desired amount of time. If you have to do laundry, keep it on and go throw a load in. If you feel disgusting, wash it off. Again, you've got some freedom here.

Once you wash it off I guaruntee your face will feel brand new. The olive oil makes it feel suuuuper nice after, and it'll smell great too.


Legs:
When you're in the shower, give your pores some time to open up. Use the scrub on your legs until you feel sufficiently scrubbed, and then shave them. Rinse, scrub and shave one more time and after you will have the softest legs on the planet. If you have a hair respawn rate of 4mm per second, then it'll be short lived, but if you're lucky enough to have good genes then you'll be a happy camper for at least 24 hours.

Body:
Just go to town with the leftover scrub and enjoy the results.

* If you have any essential oils at home (if you're one of those people who has stuff like that lying around) then feel free to throw a couple drops of that in there too. If you own them I'll assume you already understand their benefits so I won't rant about that.

There'll be some more DIY spa treatments up eventually so keep checking up! Until then, happy scrubbing. Now go make people touch your legs.

ChelC-3P0