Fresh-Picked Beauty

photo credit: Overland Naturals

Kunzea Essential Oil can help reduce the appearance of blemishes!

I have a hydrating all-purpose beauty balm recipe that contains a potent blend of plant oils that will soothe and nourish every inch of you!!!

Use it as a cuticle treatment, lip balm, heel softener, cheek highlighter, elbow moisturizer, beard smoother, or even smooth your split ends.

Magical Beauty Balm

1 tablespoon Sunflower Seed Oil (Buy HERE)
1 tablespoon Olive Oil (Buy HERE)
4 tablespoons grated Beeswax (Buy HERE)
1 teaspoon Coconut Oil (Buy HERE)
1 teaspoon Shea Butter (Buy HERE)
1 teaspoon Argan oil (Buy HERE)
1 teaspoon Jojoba oil (Buy HERE)
1 teaspoon Calendula Oil (Buy HERE)
1/2 teaspoon Vitamin E oil (Buy HERE)
15 drops Roman Chamomile essential oil (Buy HERE)
15 drops Tamanu seed oil (Buy HERE)

Measure out the sunflower seed oil, olive oil, grated beeswax, coconut oil, shea butter, argan oil, jojoba oil, and calendula oil into a small glass measuring cup and place in a saucepan containing a few inches of simmering water until the butters, oils and beeswax have fully melted. Remove from the heat.

Add in the Vitamin E oil, Roman chamomile oil and Tamanu seed oil. Stir to combine. Carefully pour the mixture into a heat-proof glass or metal container. Allow to harden and cool to room temperature.

Avoid using internally or near eyes.

This information is for educational purposes only, it is not intended to treat, cure, prevent or, diagnose any disease or condition. Nor is it intended to prescribe in any way. This information is for educational purposes only and may not be complete, nor may its data be accurate. As with all herbs, . Do not take internally unless working with a qualified and expert practitioner. Keep away from children.  I am an affiliate with Mountain Rose Herbs,please review my disclosure page for details.. Avoid use  unless discussed with your physician. This information is for educational purposes only.  This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.  This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any condition or disease. Green Blessings!!!

This is the Best Basic Beeswax Cream! Only four all-natural ingredients! You can use this as a cuticle cream, face cream, split-end mender, foot cream, and hydrating all-over body lotion.

I like to get all my ingredients from Mountain Rose Herbs, you can shop with them HERE.

Best Basic Beeswax Cream
makes about 5 ounces

1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon Mountain Rose Herbs Olive Oil (shop here)
2 heaping teaspoons Mountain Rose Herbs Beeswax Pastilles (shop here)
1 teaspoon Mountain Rose Herbs Liquid Lecithin (shop here)
1/4 cup Mountain Rose Herbs Lavender Hydrosol (shop here)

1. Measure the olive oil, beeswax and liquid lecithin into a glass measuring cup that has been placed in a pot with a few inches of simmering water.  Allow the wax to fully melt into the olive oil and lecithin.  Remove from heat and transfer the mixture to a heat-safe mixing bowl to cool to between 70 degrees and 75 degrees F.

2. Heat the hydrosol to between 70 degrees and 75 degrees F.

3. Once both phases are the same temperature, begin beating  the oil/wax lecithin mixture with a handheld mixer set on medium-high speed.  Very slowly drizzle in the warm hydrosol.  Continue mixing for about 5 minutes or until the liquid starts to thicken and emulsify.

4. Transfer to a sanitized container and allow to fully cool down.  Store in the refrigerator and use within 2 weeks.

Making foundations and concealers are super fun! You can custom match the formulas for your skin type and skin color! Follow along for my formula for Color Correcting and Highlighting Concealer.

You need 3.5 grams of fractionated coconut oil (also known as FCO).

You need 1 gram of vegetable glycerine. I like to shop at Mountain Rose Herbs for this ingredient! Shop HERE.

You need 0.3 grams of refined shea butter.

You need 0.8 grams of cetyl alcohol. You can find this at Lotion Crafter HERE.

You need 0.2 grams of sunflower wax. You can find it at TKB Trading HERE.

Add the above listed ingredients into a small glass beaker and place it in a few inches of simmering water to melt all the thickeners into the oils.

Takes about 4 minutes to fully melt.

I like to use white, yellow and chocolate brown liquid pigments for my colorants. These are basically iron oxides dispersed into castor oil.  The tricky part is to go drop by drop until you match your skin color. I like to formulate this base color just a shade darker because I will be adding in more ingredients that will lighten it to my perfect shade.  If you have darker skin, the addition of black liquid pigment is helpful to achieve the perfect match.  Start slow and work your way up.

I started with 1.5 grams of white pigments, 0.02 grams of brown pigment and 0.08 grams of yellow pigment.

Now you need to mix the pigments together.

A little too light for me, so I need to add a few more drops of brown and yellow.

Stir until smooth and blended and check the color. It should be just a shade or two darker than your skin.

Perfect! I am ready to add this base into my liquid wax/oil mixture.

Stir well to combine.

I like to add in some TKB Trading Hilite Blue mica/titanium dioxide and iron oxide blend to give my concealer some light diffusing action and the blue helps to cancel out my redness.  Just 0.03 grams was perfect for my blend.

You also need 1.2 grams of white sericite mica powder.  Add it into the melted concealer and mix well to disperse throughout.

I use the 10 ml dispensing tubes from Lotion Crafter. These are perfect for squeezing out the perfect amount of concealer.

Add the hot concealer into the dispensing tube and allow to cool to room temp.

Here I am without a stitch of make up on.

I decided to use the concealer pretty much all over my face and really focused on my under eyes and my pores. I have nothing else on except the concealer. It is not heavy or greasy. It does not feel sticky at all.  I would like to finish it off with some setting powder to help keep it in place all day. It really works wonders and makes my redness less noticeable. I am very very pleased with the coverage. I feel it is a medium coverage that you can build up with a second layer.

Cheers!

My handcrafted batches of Olive Oil Hand Salve for gift giving this holiday season.

I CREATED THIS POST IN 2012 AND DECIDED TO REPOST IT. If you are thinking about handcrafting your holiday gifts, this recipe is a great idea.  Enjoy!!! -Shannon

Every year I craft a handmade beauty product for my family and friends.  Last year I made Calendula Healing Salve and my friends and family truly loved it.  This year I made a bigger jar of my Organic Olive Oil Hand Salve.  I ended up making a total of 20 four-ounce jars, but I think I might need more!! I am sharing the recipe with you, and due to popular demand, I have created the recipe using common U.S measurements instead of metric.  My recipe makes enough salve to fill 3 four-ounce amber jars. If you need more, you simply multiple the recipe.



The base of this salve uses three Organic oils.  I chose organic extra virgin olive oil, organic sweet almond oil and organic sunflower oil.  The best price I have found on the olive oil is at Costco. I got the sweet almond oil from Mountain Rose Herbs and the sunflower oil from Whole Foods. 

I thickened the salve with beeswax pastilles from Mountain Rose Herbs. You can order it HERE.

To help keep the oils fresh and avoid them turning rancid, I enlisted the herbal power of Rosemary Leaf Extract and Vitamin E Oil. 

I chose to lightly scent the salve with lavender, eucalyptus and rosemary essential oils. 

Organic Olive Oil Hand Salve
(makes enough to fill three 4-ounce jars)

4 ounces Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 ounces Organic Sweet Almond Oil
2 ounce Organic Sunflower Seed Oil
3 ounces Beeswax Pastilles
80 drops Lavender Essential Oil
30 drops Rosemary Essential Oil
20 drops Eucalyptus Essential Oil
40 drops Rosemary Leaf Extract (antioxidant)
40 drops Vitamin E Oil

Combine the olive, almond and sunflower oils along with the beeswax in a large glass measuring cup that has been placed in a simmering water bath.  Heat until the wax and oils melt. Remove from heat and stir in the remainder of the ingredients. Carefully pour into the heat-safe glass jars. Cap and cool completely.

Photo of the oils and wax in the simmering water bath.

Carefully pour the hot mixture into the glass pots. I use an oven mitt when pouring the hot salve.

Notice the cracked middle? This is totally fine and happened to about 1/3 of my pots after they cool.  It does not affect the product at all. I am not for sure why this happens, but if it happens to you, don't worry about it at all!!!

I designed these vinyl product labels which fit perfectly on the four-ounce jars. I bought them from Moo.com. I really like that these labels will not smudge and are water-proof.

I found some pretty green fabric and did a quick-sew reusable gift bag and attached my personalized tag with draw string.


All snug in the gift bags and ready to be passed out to my family and friends for the holidays.


There is nothing that I enjoy more than sharing my herbal knowledge and handcrafted gifts with my family and friends!! I am truly blessed to have so many wonderful gifts from Mother Nature!! Green Blessings & Happy Holidays!!!

-Shannon