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

ChelC-3P0's every day makeup tutorial

Alright! So I did this a while ago... "did" is kind of an overstatement, but bear with me. I tend to get compliments on my makeup fairly often, so I thought I'd spread the love and let you guys know what kind of products I use and how I use them. I intended to make it a Lana Del Rey inspired look, but I fucked up my extensions and could only do half my hair, and I also really have no idea how to actually make them look nice... but I tried, and that's all that matters. Here is a relatively half ass tutorial for how I usually do my makeup, all the products I used will be pictured below. 

 1. Obviously start with a cleansed/moisturized face. If you have a primer that you really like, then go ahead and use it. I've had a couple that I really like but the one that I currently have isn't the best (super greasy) so I just opted to go without it.

 2. If my skin is bad, I'll put a really thin layer of foundation on before my concealer just so I have a relatively even skin tone. It's not always a necessary step, and sometimes it feels a bit cakey, but I hate when I'm blotchy so I just deal with it. I use a 5-shade concealer pallette because I almost always need brightness and redness corrector (dark circles, acne scars, etc) So, use the light purple sparingly underneath my eyes, and the green over top of any scars or pimples or general redness you want to be covered up. Over top of that DAB, don't spread the other concealer that matches your skin tone. I usually use a makeup sponge and just spot it around until everything is properly blended.

 3. Go over everything lightly with a powder. I'll usually use a loose translucent, but I have a loose tinted one as well that I like. Pressed is fine too, it's really just personal preference.. or whatever you find in your makeup bag. It's just to make sure the concealer doesn't look make you look greasy.

 4. Bronzer and blush! DO NOT go crazy with bronzer. I don't care if it's the middle of july and you bake in the sun for 12 hours a day, nobody looks good when their entire face is the same shade of orange. I usually use a large powder brush, and I'll take a very light bronzer and go on the tops of my cheeks, my nose, forehead and chin... basically all over. I'll put a little more emphasis on my cheeks, and using a smaller powder brush I'll use a little blush right where the sun would normally burn my face (I don't know what that spot is actually called, just put it wherever looks natural)

 4. Eyeliner. I have one specific eyeliner I LOVE and unfortunately I couldn't find it anywhere, so I had to make due with some random ones I stole from my sister. My eyes are usually what I get the most compliments on. I'm a fan of the cat eye, because I rarely wear mascara on my bottom lashes and my eyes are already massive so it just emphasizes them a bit more. If you have small eyes, it'll help open them up.

 5. To get a good angle going, just extend from your bottom lashline upwards until you reach a spot you think is good. I usually extend mine pretty far out, and depending on the occasion you can make it more/less dramatic.

 6. The worst and most frustrating part about this is getting your eyes to match! Despite several emotional breakdowns, I eventually got better. Start from the inner corner of your eye and bring the eyeliner all the way across the top, thickness is up to you, and stop right when you get to the outer corner of your eye. Then, connect the line you drew outwards before. I like to make mine straight because I think it looks better when my eye is closed.

 7. Do your other eye to the best of your abilities.

 8. Cursed with Romanian gypsy eyebrows, I have become an obsessive compulsive plucker. So lately I've had to fill in my eyebrows just so they look relatively decent. I usually use a pencil, but if you have an angle brush and a powder (sometimes I'll just use eyeshadow) that works too.

 9. So this is where I attempted to do my hair... This is more or less my natural hair.

 10. Obligatory "I don't know how the fuck to use these" picture. I actually lucked out finding extensions that were my exact hair colour, and I got them with the intention to make my hair less boring.. I've used them once, and it was for a bun. Great investment right?

 11. I managed to do one side of my head Lana Del Rey-ish. I couldn't make the other side look right, and these ones barely did. I tried though! Don't even bother asking me how I did this because it was just a shit ton of trial and error. I used a wand though, if that helps.

 12. Take pouty mirror face pictures of yourself. OH for my lips, I actually just blended concealer and lipstick together because I didn't have a good colour... but usually I use a specific lip gloss that just corrects itself to your lip colour. 

                                      Voila, I look socially acceptable.

Portfolio Professional Correctors, Lise Watier, $31 online (I think I bought it for more in store)

 Best concealer ever. Kinda pricey, upwards of 30 dollars I think... But definitely worth it. I got mine at shoppers drugmart.

O Gloss Intuitive Lip Gloss, SmashBox, $22

 Favorite lipgloss. It tastes good, and it'll change your lips to a really nice colour that compliments your skin tone. It actually changes to a different shade depending on who wears it (I've tested it out) so it always looks right for you. I forget how much it is, but it's Smashbox so again a little pricey in comparison to most lipglosses I'd be willing to purchase.

Happy Booster Glow & Mood Boosting Blush, Physicians Formula, $12

For all my facial cosmetics I usually use Physicians Formula. It causes me the least breakouts, it has really great coverage, it looks super natural and they're just great products overall. This blush is really awesome, it isn't obnoxiously pink and it gives you a nice glow. According to the box and the website, it is  "Infused with our Happy Boost Blend, featuring Happy Skin and Euphoryl, natural plant extracts which have been shown to promote a feeling of happiness by mimicking the effect of Endorphins and helping protect the skin from environmental stress."  I have yet to see the effects of that, but for a blush it's great. 

Bronze Booster Glow Boosting Pressed Bronzer, Physicians Formula, $15

 Also physicians formula, this bronzer comes in several shades and it also has that nice radiant glow when you use it. I can usually use this one all over my face because its relatively dull, so it doesn't make me orange or anything. I've tried several of their bronzers but this is the one I'm using right now.

Extreme Art Liquid Eyeliner, Gosh Cosmetics, $16

 The BEST liquid eyeliner I have ever bought in my entire life. It goes on super well, and it stays on forever. Taking it off is kind of an inconvenience, but it's well worth it to not get gross chippy bits or smudgey under eye black circles throughout your day/night. Only downsides are that it takes a little while to dry, so if you have massive eyes like me, blinking too quickly after applying it can be a pain in the ass. Other than that, 5 stars.

Fineline Brow Pencil, Physicians Formula, $5

 I only got this because I'm a fan of the other products, but for the most part an eyebrow pencil is an eyebrow pencil no matter where you're getting it. It lasts, it isn't too goopy.. it's good.

Mineral Wear Talc-Free Mineral Illuminating Powder Duo SPF 16, Physicians Formula, $14

 This is the loose powder I use, it has two shades in it so you can use one side for when you're feeling a bit pasty, the darker side for when you've been in the sun more, or blend them for a perfect shade. Goes on super light and doesn't ever feel too makeuppy.

Great Lash Mascara, Maybelline

 I'm pretty sure everyone that's ever applied mascara has owned at least one of these guys. Always does the trick. I usually use it for just my bottom lashes if I put mascara on them at all, or when I just need to give my eyelashes a pick-me-up I'll throw this on because it's not too obnoxious.

Volum' Express Mega Plush Mascara, Maybelline

 Latest addition to my widely diverse mascara collection. It's great for my top lashes because although they're very long, they're super straight. So it helps them keep their curl and add volume.


Hopefully this was somewhat helpful to you guys, definitely try these products if you get the chance, I swear by them now.
Happy Friday :)
ChelC-3P0