SaltyandSweet: 2013

11/11/13

DIY Body Scrubs!

From Alexis ~
I know every girl thinks about going out to get body scrub at some point, but we usually forget, are overwhelmed by the selection, or its just to darn expensive! We always hear body scrub is an easy way to keep your skin healthy, and most of you beauty enthusiast's like nice skin without the cost. So here I am putting a few recipe's that include typical house-hold ingredients, a few splurge items, as well as cute ways to dress up your body scrub and make it your own.

Sugar Scrub:

One of my ultimate favorite beauty DIYs that you can make in under 10 minutes is a DIY Sugar Scrub you can use to exfoliate your body and your lips with only using ingredients you can find in your very own kitchen! I featured this scrub in my September Favorites post and heard feedback from a lot of you to create a post all about it. I created this body scrub doing research ages ago on what ingredients are good for your skin and decided to make a scrub according to what my body currently needs.

Above is a little cheat sheet I made of the 6 ingredients you can mix and match according to what your body needs or what ingredients are available at your home or your local supermarket.
The most important ingredient is the brown sugar and/or white sugar that will work as the scrub (preferably brown sugar, but you can mix both)
The second most important would have to be the coconut oil or olive oil (use only one, either coconut or olive oil) which have both been proven to be very good for the skin in moisturizing
And as an additive, if you need to lighten darker patches of skin (knees, elbows, underarms, lips), you can throw in some lemon juice or honey (Be careful with using fresh lemon juice, because lemon juice tends to lose it’s acidic properties after a day so it’s best to add this only when you’re about to use the scrub.)
As an even added extra: Vitamin E, Which is the best vitamin for your skin. You can get vitamin E capsules at your local drug store, cut it open and put it in your sugar scrub too!
There are no exact measurements, just make sure you have more of the sugar than the liquid ingredients because it most often melts down the sugar. You’re looking for a pasty substance, nothing too runny and of course you’d want to have the sugar grains present.
My own current combinations:
Body scrub: 2 parts brown sugar + one part olive oil + one part honey (place in any jar container like in the photo above, make sure you have a lid on it! I keep my scrub in the shower.)
Lip scrub: 2 parts brown sugar + one part coconut oil (*you may include a touch of honey to lighten your lips if you find them too dark, do not use lemon juice as the acidity can dry your lips*) (makeup cosmetic containers are available at beauty supply stores or department stores)
Use the body scrub in the shower, exfoliate in gentle circular motions for about 2-3 minutes. You may do this at least 2-3 times a week.
As for the lip scrub, I use it before I apply makeup, or at night before I go to sleep. I scrub my lips for 2-3 minutes, wipe away the sugar (it tastes kinda nice too, like cocojam if you use coconut oil. yum!) with a washcloth or simply wash it off, and afterwards I take my sugar scrub, dab my finger on it to pick up the coconut oil + honey and use it as a lip balm before bed so my lips can soak it up.
So there you have it! A very easy, very cheap sugar scrub that you can use for your body and your lips! No need to go out and buy from expensive brands at the mall. You can’t always be assured what’s in them anyway. Making your own proves that what you’re using is healthy and definitely good for your skin! ;)

There are only 3 ingredients you need to make this simple body scrub:

Brown Sugar
Olive Oil
Honey

and your all set to mix!

Salt Scrub:

5 Tbsp Sea Salt
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Lemon

Then mix, starting to see the pattern? Most natural scrubs contain olive oil due to its nourishing powers.

Fruit (Essence) Scrub:
R450

2 cups organic cane sugar
1 cup carrier oil
8 drops essential oil(s)
1 drop food coloring

Keep in mind if you add food coloring into any of these recipe's you may run the risk of dyeing your skin, yikes!

For a cute country jarred look cut out a circle of a fabric of your choice, and have either a rubber band or a ribbon on hand and tie it down to the lid, it will cause a cute frill effect.

That's all for now, I will be on the lookout for face mask's and other face products, and remember these body scrubs can be used on your lips as a nice exfoliate ~ SaltyandSweet (literally)

4/29/13

Weekly Wishlist #1

Weekly Wishlist by raalx featuring aldo earrings
So I have decided to start a new weekly post, called "My Weekly Wishlist". It will contain 7 items which i am dyeing to own, every week I will update it with different items. This week I found the cutest baby doll blue dress while searching through Google it just so happens I found a very similar one of polyvore! I just love the little glitter details and how it has a cross-the chest design. Definitely a cute dress ! Next i have a leather jacket in a dark-light tan color. It has that quilted feature that I just love in leather jackets, I also have seen them on many iPhone cases and I also find that absolutely adorable. I just loved a drawstring (backpack) they are so adorable and trendy and this backpack happens to be a leather one, and I love leather anything...well to an extent. I have also been eyeing lace brogues lately, they are kind of like oxfords (a lot actually) and I just love this more structured look of a flat and how they have laces on them. The lace gives it a more vintage feminine look and i just love lace. Lastly I have my jewelry picks, first I found a Tiffany&co necklace that is so classic and adorable, it also is a fashion necklace, which I don't own a lot of and desperately need. There are also some Indian (kind of lol) it reminds me of a spear and I just love tribal inspired things. This black & white diamond twisted bracelet is to die for pretty, it not only is glittery but the classic style will look good on any arm. I should be posting some newer posts TOTD , favorite makeup look, and maybe a few surprise ones this month. With the end of school nearing I have confidence I will have more blogging time on hand to spend with you guys!
Remember to keep it salty&sweet always,
Alexis

2/24/13

Out and about

A few weeks ago me and my sister a.k.a fellow blogger Bianca, went out to a park near were we live, it was really nice out so we decided to take some pictures for our blogs. My sister also has a giveaway going on right now for some nyx lipstick @ sweetlamode.

As always,
Alexis

1/4/13

Spring 2013 Trend Alert

Spring 2013 Trend Alert by raalx featuring a print dress

Must Have Jewerly

Must Have Jewerly by raalx featuring dannijo

TOTD #1

Okay,so im going to start making totd's now (Tips of the Day), my sister(younger);also a blogger (link below) does these often and i thought they'd be an awesome edition to my blog. So im just going to stop babbling and get to the tips :)

1. Any moisturizer is good moisturizer! Many of you think you need to go out and buy a really expensive high-quality moisturizer,but low and behold that is not true. I've done my research, Aveeno drugstore brand works just as well as Lancome's moisturizer, it may not be an exact dupe, but hey? Moisturizing is important and whatever you can get your hands on is great.
2. There is sun EVERYWHERE. So don't skip out on sunscreen. I don't mean to sound like your mother, ha ha, even i don't wear sunscreen everyday (most of the time) but its important and we all should (tsk tsk). So don't skip out and your skin will be lovely when your older :)
3. Water bottles can harm the environment, and cause wrinkles! Really, its true, while when your young like me you may not need to worry about it as much, as you age and drink out of water bottle's the pursing/sucking of the bottle causes wrinkles around your mouth. Who would have guessed that! Try a water bottle with a spout to pour like a waterfall, and drink out of glasses too! ( Picture does not belong to me! Tips are from research on the web ;)---)
Check out:
SweetLaMode
My Polyvore

Past Post's:
Spring 2013
Must Have Jewelry
Long Time No See :(

P.S: To view more posts just go back home and scroll through all my posts, i will be adding a new page to serve as a table of contents/ tips/etc! Look forward to that :)
Thank-You again for reading, and don't forget to follow!!!!
I appreciate you all and don't forget to comment feedback :D