Beauty Tip of the Day: Clearly Natural Soap

We all want beautiful, silky smooth skin, right? Well, as an avid Dove bar soap user for 20 years now, I thought that this type of soap was the only one for me. Although it didn't make my skin silky smooth, it was better than any other soap brand I came across in the general market. It didn't strip my skin of moisture as bad as the others, so I was happy with that. If I wanted moisturized skin, I just had to use some sort of moisturizer after my shower.

After watching the movie Food Inc., I started to take a closer look at the products I use/consume on a daily basis. I discovered that my beloved Dove soap contains tallow, a saponified animal fat. So how luxurious is that? To cleanse your face and body with essentially animal fat? Horrified, I thought I would have to settle for some plant based soap that would strip my skin of its much needed moisture.

Here is the solution. Clearly Natural Soap, a glycerin soap that is plant based. This stuff is Heaven sent!! I found this gem at my grocery store and decided to try it out (the honeysuckle scent). It has a pleasant natural scent, rinses clean...and here's the best part...it truly moisturizes your skin!! I didn't even apply moisturizer, and my skin is so silky smooth. This stuff is amazing, and I cannot sing its praises enough.

I have to admit, I absolutely LOVE companies that provide all natural products that work better than the chemical laden junk products we are brainwashed to think that are superior. I am also kind of angry about it, because these big companies advertise that we are getting some amazing product, but really its just cheap garbage with fancy packaging. I wonder if the tallow made from animal fat is the stuff the food industry throws out, so the soap makers take the "waste" off the meat industry's hands and turn it into a profit.

Regardless of where the animal fat came from, I am no longer using tallow based soaps. I am so happy to find a plant-based product that truly delivers and is superior to the tallow based ones!

Homemade Beauty Tip: Brown Sugar and Honey Facial Scrub

Hello folks! I have another homemade beauty tip you are sure to enjoy...Brown Sugar and Honey Facial Scrub. I'll cut to the chase and give you the recipe for it, and tell you my rave review about it after.

In a glass jar, fill it halfway with turbinado raw sugar (I used the one with bigger granules, but if you want a gentler scrub, try the kind with finer granules). Add a teaspoon of jojoba oil, mix it around. Then fill it with honey until it is completely saturated, and mix it around. That is it.

You can make this in single batches (like in a ramekin) or in a jar for continued use. I made a small batch just to try it out, loved the results and made a larger batch for daily use.

This super cheap scrub can be used on the face or the body. People prefer the sugar scrub for the face because it is gentler than the salt or nutshell scrubs. The sugar exfoliates, the honey cleanses and moisturizes, and the jojoba nourishes and moisturizes the skin as well. This scrub is gentler than the store kinds made with ground nutshells, is cheaper and works great. After using this, my skin is radiant, refreshed and glowing. Also, it's best to use it in the shower, that way you can be sure to rinse it off completely. The best part about it is, there are no harmful chemicals, it's cheap, it smells great, and provides excellent results.

Homemade Sea Salt Scrub: Spa Quality at an Affordable Price

As a mother of two boys and a full time college student, I sure need a good pamper session here and there. Recently I attended one of those at-home parties where a consultant shows you a bunch of beauty products to try and buy. Looking through the catalog, the prices for their products were pretty steep. I mean, some people at the party were looking to spend over $300, which is definitely not in my budget. I just can't wrap my head around that one. Spending oodles of dollars on products to defy the aging process. And from the looks of Joan Rivers, it's a losing battle.

One of the products I really liked was the sea salt scrub. Although I purchased it, I couldn't see myself spending that kind of money on a regular basis, even if I think I deserve it. I want it all, to get a spa like treatment without having to pay the overinflated prices. So what do I do?

I take matters in my own hands and make my own homemade version of it.

Over the years I've learned that just because something costs more, it doesn't mean it has a better quality. Oftentimes companies rely more on marketing their product, and when looking at ingredients, they may not have poorer quality and/or in less concentrated amounts.

The company that makes the sea salt scrub I bought won't post a list of their ingredients, just the active botanicals. Sooo...since the only active botanicals on the bottle are sweet almond oil and avocado oil, then I guess the "other stuff" isn't so important for the consumer to know. For all I know they could've put a teaspoon of avocado and sweet almond oil in their product and a ton of vegetable oil. I feel that by making my own batch, I know exactly what I put in it, and how much.

Here's my recipe:

A glass jar with lid
A package of Village Naturals Bath Shoppe Bath Soak (scented sea salt)
Safflower Oil
Sweet Almond Oil
Jojoba Oil
Avocado Oil

Fill the jar 3/4 to the top with sea salt. Pour Safflower oil in until it totally saturates the salt. Add jojoba, sweet almond and avocado oils in your desired amount. Add your oils until there is about a centimeter above the top of the salt. Stir contents around until you feel its completely mixed.

Note: I used safflower oil because the other oils cost more. But if you want to use just those and other specialty oils, feel free to omit the safflower oil. You also can get unscented sea salt and add your own scented oils/fragrances in it. Even though my lavender bath salt was scented, I added a little lavender oil and some french lavendar scented Himalayan salt to it as well.
Oh yeah, DO NOT use mineral oil. It is not good for your skin at all.

I made two batches, a White Tea scent and Lavender scent. I suggest using this stuff before bed, so that it further aids in nourishing and repairing your skin. I took a shower, and let my skin get saturated with water. This helps to lock in moisture from the scrub. Take a small handful of sea salt scrub and massage it on your skin gently. Do not apply pressure, let the weight of your hands and the motion to do the work. In order to get better results, spend more time rubbing gently and lightly. Make sure to focus more on the rough spots, like knees, elbows, feet and hands.

When you are done, there will be a pile of sea salt on the tub floor. I just started a bath and soaked in it for a while. Your body will be covered in a lot of oil, and the sea salt bath helps to detoxify your skin and the soak will rinse away excess oil and dead skin from the exfoliation. When you get out of the bath, pat your skin dry with a towel.

The results were amazing. The sea salt exfoliated while the oils moisturized my skin. The lavender scent relaxed and calmed me. My skin was so soft, supple, smooth and glowing. My husband was so impressed with the results he wanted to try it too.

So, the proof is in the pudding, you don't have to break the bank to get a luxurious spa treatment.