i've been inspired. well, sort of: i have always had a bit of a trying relationship with traditional skin care because of my sensitive skin and so i sometimes struggle to find the right combination of "things" to use on my skin without having adverse reactions. over time i've built up a pretty boring and tame routine of water, make up wipes, and a tea tree foam cleanser to remove make up and clean without adding oils or unnecessary gunks to my face, as well as a light moisturiser when i'm a bit dry; i now have an unhealthy relationship with lucas' paw paw oil for the lips that i am almost ~sure has created a terribly over-dried lip sitch that i struggle to get past.
so, when i saw some of the uk's best beauty bloggers talking about making their own lip products, from natural ingredients and nothing more than products from their cupboards and water from the tap, well, i was intrigued. could home-made products be better for my skin, and could it save some time and effort buying and trying hoards of others? well, it's worth a try, right?
what i found in the cupboard to use (clockwise from left): raw sugar, stem ginger (for its plumping and also syrupy qualities, milo for flavouring (could use cocoa powder or hot choc too), lemon juice, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a spoonful of honey, coconut oil, an old lipstick. so the lipstick wasn't in the cupboard but it was found, regardless. with these few ingredients i got to thinking and tried to work out what combinations i could come up using these, and decided a gentle lip scrub and moisturising lip balm would be best.
here's what i did: added a teaspoon of brown sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon to a small dish and added the honey - slowly, so as to not dissolve the sugar, to bond it all together. i then added an end-of-the-spoon amount of coconut oil to the mix to thicken that bad boy up, and voila! one pretty damn tasty lip scrubby thing to battle the season's dry lip sitch.
with the left coconut oil i also thought i could make a nice little moisturising lip balm, so in another little pot i added about a tea spoonful of the oil, a couple of drops of the stem ginger (apparently ginger gives that "bee stung", kylie jenner, lip plumped look that's all the craze right now), and a slice of the old lippy i found, just to add some colour to the mix. i blended that all together and added a bit more of the coconut oil when i felt it was a little to thin of texture to what i'd like on my lips, and a sprinkle of the milo for flavouring, and there we go. another bloody easy little combo of bits from the cupboard that work perfectly well for another purpose.
i'm pretty happy with the results, and wonder what else i can come up with. i've always got avocados laying around, and i hear they make a great base for a face scrub. maybe watch this space...
with the left coconut oil i also thought i could make a nice little moisturising lip balm, so in another little pot i added about a tea spoonful of the oil, a couple of drops of the stem ginger (apparently ginger gives that "bee stung", kylie jenner, lip plumped look that's all the craze right now), and a slice of the old lippy i found, just to add some colour to the mix. i blended that all together and added a bit more of the coconut oil when i felt it was a little to thin of texture to what i'd like on my lips, and a sprinkle of the milo for flavouring, and there we go. another bloody easy little combo of bits from the cupboard that work perfectly well for another purpose.
i'm pretty happy with the results, and wonder what else i can come up with. i've always got avocados laying around, and i hear they make a great base for a face scrub. maybe watch this space...
