Month: July 2012
Face steam bath
I used to do a lot of steam baths for my face in my teens when I suffered from acne and my skin was uber oily. Now, I have combination skin and still quite oily in a T-zone. I know, no need to worry about early wrinkles and dryness but believe me, combination skin with large pores is a bit of maintenance. So here the steam baths come in handy. They are great for purifying and cleaning your skin.
To prepare the steam bath you need a heatproof bowl, a towel, hot water, some herbs and essential oils. Fill the bowl with hot water and add the herbs. If you have dry skin, use rose petals and a bit of almond oil. It will moisturize your skin once evaporating. If you have oily/combination skin, use chamomile flowers, lavender or rosemary. You can even use fresh chopped parsley or mint and a slice of lemon. Actually, you can create a steam bath individually tailored to your skin needs, but generally keep it simple. If you don’t have any herbs at the moment, use some essential oil.
Once the bath is ready, cover your head and a bowl with a towel and let the steam to open your pores. Stay for about 5-10 minutes above the bowl, relax and breathe. It is not only good for your skin but also for nasal passages and sinuses. Follow with some chilled floral water to close the pores.
Tropical body polish
Not much summer in London! It has been raining since…spring??? It is lusciously green but we are not having much sunshine in here. So all that gloomy weather gives me an inspiration to create a bit of a tropic in my own bathroom
The solid coconut oil will work wonder in this recipe.
First mix coconut oil with 2 spoons of jojoba or almond oil and whip it with a spoon for a soft mixture. Now to the fragrance! To create an exciting tropical smell, I add 5 drops of orange, lemon and grapefruit essential oil to the coconut mixture. Then gradually stir in brown unrefined sugar and mix it all up. Done! I use really fine sugar granules which makes gentle scrub, it almost melts on the skin. Demerara sugar could be good especially for the dry areas like elbows, knees and heels. Apply the scrub to the damp skin and massage in circular movements. Treat your chest and neck gently. The scrub leaves skin soft, smooth and delicately scented with coconut. I love it! And no need for an extra moisturizer.
Beauties from Naturallythinking.com
Yes! The box from Naturallythinking arrived yesterday and I had so much pleasure in opening it! It is a lovely company promoting natural, organic spa and aromatherapy products. They are all paraben free, vegan and animal friendly. They really stock everything what you can dream off from essential oils to body butters and even jars and bottles. They also have a shop down in Carshalton, South London but I haven’t been there yet. I am planning to go the The Lavender Harvest at the end of the month and pick up by hand some of the finest English lavender. Check their website here http://www.naturallythinking.com/ or find them on Facebook. Last weekend I visited Naturally Thinking shop in Carlshalton. Right in the middle of High Street of this small town, the shop has a nice dispaly and really spacious inside. I got some essentail oils, good prices there! I will definitely go back there another time again.
I have ordered some floral waters, macadamia and jojoba oils and two essential oils. I love the packaging which is recyclable and environment friendly. I keep them on my desk because they look so lovely! Colourful labels. Lavender water is purple and rose one is pink! How simple and how perfect! I love they give info about sourced product like rose form Bulgaria, lavender form England, orange from Brazil, witchazel from USA, grapefruit from Cyprus.There is also information about how the product works and how to use it.
All thumbs up for Naturallythinking!!
Macadamia oil to beat cellulit
Fabulous, rich macadamia oil is extracted from the nuts of a native Australian tree. It is very beneficial for healthy looking skin and hair. Will bring relief to sunburn skin. Very good for stretch marks and scars as well. It is said that macadamia oil in his unique structure is similar to natural body’s oil so it easily penetrates the skin and hair. It is also great when fighting an orange peel and cellulite. It nourishes, soothes and tightens the skin. Like a little lifting.
So ahead of approaching summer holidays, I have been massaging my body with macadamia oil. To make all process more successful, I add few drops of essential oil which help burn fat and smooth the skin. There are few to choose from like juniper, rosemary, grapefruit or cedar wood. I have been using rosemary lately and just waiting for grapefruit to come in a parcel with all other natural beauties. I will write about them in next post!
Beautywhizz 