Sweet Heart, Soft Hands

I often refer to what I do with Scented Journeys as “playing”.  The other day I had some ladies over to the house to “play” and in addition to having a wonderful time, we also made a few items that are really helpful this time of year. Craft time is important long after nursery school is over!

Sometimes it feels as if no matter how much lotion and cream you apply to your hands they still feel dry and cracked. I find this to be the case particularly during heavy gardening season and during dry winter months.  The solution is not necessarily to be found in the aisle of the drugstore, it’s actually in your baking cupboard. Let’s make a sugar scrub!

Sugar scrub is useful for gentle exfoliation and is an excellent and intense moisturizer due to the natural humectant properties of sugar. Sugar scrub can be used on your entire body, including your face.

While commercial options are plentiful the basic recipe is so very easy why not make it yourself? Why subject your subject your skin to chemical colorants and artificial fragrances when the two basic ingredients already smell so great. Add a few drops of your favorite essential oil and the result only gets better!

I have the following flavors available on my Shop page: Lavender, Joy (a beautiful floral blend) and Citrus.  Or find an empty container and follow the simple recipe below.

Sugar Scrub Recipe

2:1 Sugar to jojoba oil by weight

Essential oil of choice to desired strength

Take a small amount of the sugar and oil, massage into hands, feet, face. Rinse gently and enjoy the new found softness!

Note: I always use organic jojoba in my recipes because I find it to be excellent for the skin and very versatile. Any other carrier oil should work just as effectively.

Perhaps this Valentine’s Day you’ll surprise your sweetheart with sugar and fat in a slightly different form. Luckily, this kind won’t find its way to the waistline so you can use as much as you want!

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Sunburn Solution

We were invited to a pool gathering over the weekend. Given that it’s halfway through the summer and despite our light complexion we didn’t get too crazy with sunscreen application. So, when we got home in the evening, we three girls all had some swimsuit lines and pink undertones to our skin. No problema! We’ve got Lavender!

Lavender essential oil is one of the most versatile oils and has been referred to as the Swiss Army Knife of essential oils.  If I were only allowed to carry one oil with me (which I practically am when I fly, and since I can no longer fly with an actual Swiss Army Knife) it would be lavender. It is relaxing, calming and balancing. It relieves headache, burns, cuts, scrapes and insect bites/stings. It is disinfecting, purifying and an antiseptic. And it is extremely balancing for the skin making it an excellent addition to your skin care regime for all skin types.

To treat a sunburn I use the following routine: Cool, repair and moisturize.  Cool the sunburn by spritzing the area with a lavender spritz made up of 15-25 drops lavender essential oil in a 2 ounce mister bottle filled to the top with distilled water. Repair the area by applying lavender essential oil directly to the skin. Pure lavender essential  oil is extremely gentle to the skin and I have always used it undiluted, however if you are concerned about applying oils neat (undiluted) then skip to the next step. Moisturize with 10-15 drops lavender oil in a 1 ounce treatment pump filled to the top with jojoba oil (this oil is in my opinion the best oil to put on human skin, but you may prefer to dilute in sweet almond oil, apricot kernel oil or another carrier oil of your choice).

By the morning our pink had mellowed to a healthy glow and we were ready for more summer fun!

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