Tag: self care

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herbal skincare plant wonder collective

Linden & Lavender Body Wash

Linden makes a lovely, calming, skin replenishing ingredient in botanical recipes in the form of an infused oil! It also complements the scent and properties of lavender infused oil very nicely. I decided to incorporate both into a homemade body wash recipe using simple, natural ingredients!

Homemade herbal recipes that contain water can have a short shelf life, so it’s best to make them in small batches. However, if you make a larger amount of infused oil in advance—infused oils keep longer than water-based products—then it is easy to store the oils in glass jars and mix up batches of the body wash as needed. An additional option is to add a bit of natural preservative, such as leucidal liquid—made from fermented radishes!

Linden & Lavender Body Wash

Materials:

Infused oil—

Double boiler or saucepan

4 pint jars

Dried linden

Dried lavender

Jojoba oil

Sweet almond oil

Body wash—

⅓ cup castile soap

4 Tbsp linden-infused jojoba oil

2 Tbsp lavender-infused almond oil

1 Tbsp raw honey (optional)

⅓ cup water (or less!)

1 tsp leucidal SF complete

40 drops EO (optional):

20 drops lavender

10 drops chamomile

10 drops lemon

Method:

Begin by infusing your herbal oil. Do this by filling one jar about ½ full of dried linden, then filling with jojoba oil until the dried plant material is completely submerged, using a chopstick or wooden spoon handle to remove any air bubbles. Do the same with the dried lavender and sweet almond oil, filling the jar about ⅓ full with the lavender. Place both jars into a saucepan or bottom of a double boiler pan with about 1 ½ to 2 inches of water and place on the stove over low heat for 3-5 hours, watching closely to ensure that it doesn’t get too hot (you don’t want to cook your herbs!) and making sure the plant material stays submerged. Remove from heat and allow to cool once the oils have changed in color from the herbs and smell fragrant. After cooling, strain through a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth into clean jars. 

To make the body wash, find a soap or body wash pump bottle to repurpose; remove the old label and clean well. Add the castille soap, herb-infused oils, honey if using, and water (decrease amount if you want a thicker body wash; you might also want to add small amounts of water at a time and test the consistency till you reach your preferred thickness). Cap and shake, and you might also want to stir it with a chopstick to ensure the honey is fully incorporated. Then add essential oils and leucidal liquid and shake/stir again. 

Use in the shower or bath, shaking well each time you use. Enjoy the relaxing scent and the nourishing properties of the linden and lavender oils!

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For educational purposes only. Not intended for medical advice. Always consult your physician.

*This post contains affiliate links, which means if you choose to buy something from a link that I share, I will make a small percentage of the sale *at no extra cost to you*.

Categories
herbal skincare Recipes

Green Goddess Foot Scrub

Sometimes you just need to treat yourself to a pampering session at home. These late spring days when the weather is just starting to warm up enough to wear sandals is the perfect time for a cozy home pedicure! Natural ingredients can make this a luxurious and healthy experience, and when the recipe is quick and easy to whip up, that’s all the better!

Coconut oil makes a great base for skin exfoliators. Its thick and whippy texture and moisturizing properties are the perfect vehicle for a sugar scrub. Add in nourishing and moisturizing sweet almond oil (or another botanical oil of your choice), nourishing French green clay, circulation-boosting ginger, and tea tree oil with its skin (and antifungal) benefits, and you have a recipe fit for a self-care goddess.

Green Goddess Foot Scrub

Materials

½ cup coconut oil

2 Tbsp sweet almond oil

1-3 Tbsp white sugar

1 tsp French green clay

½ tsp dried ginger powder

Optional essential oils:

8-10 drops tea tree oil

4-6 drops ginger oil

Small glass jars

2 small mixing bowls

Spoon

Whisk

Method

Combine the sugar, French green clay, and ginger powder in one small bowl with a whisk. You may choose not to use all of this mixture in your end product; it depends how much grit versus moisturization you prefer in your scrub. 

In the other bowl, combine coconut oil, sweet almond oil, and essential oils, stirring well to combine. Sprinkle in the sugar mixture and stir well, testing the feel with your fingers as you go to decide how much you want to add. 

Spoon into small glass jars for storage. Use this on rough feet before a diy pedicure, or on rough elbows and knees in the shower. This makes a lovely gift, too!

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For educational purposes only. Not intended for medical advice. Always consult your physician.

*This post contains affiliate links, which means if you choose to buy something from a link that I share, I will make a small percentage of the sale *at no extra cost to you*.

Categories
herbal skincare Herbs and Herbalism Recipes

Flower Garden Tea Party: Perfume Oil

Are you as ready as I am for spring? Late February seems to always be like that for me, with sneaky early warm days making me itch for the real thing. And the fact that the first crocuses are beginning to pop up doesn’t help!

Between that and reading books about Beatrix Potter lately, I am in a distinctly flowery-tea-party mood. Not the fancy or stuffy kind, however; the unfussy, cozy, enjoying the bounty of nature and the comforts of home with friends kind. The sort with lavender Earl Grey in mismatched cups and a fresh-picked garden bouquet in a jam jar on the table. The type of flowery tea party I think Miss Potter herself would have enjoyed.

Imagining this scenario brings me to the simple little perfume oil I recently made to capture that feeling. I combined lavender-infused almond oil that I made recently with a few essential oils: geranium, bergamot, cardamom, and benzoin. This combination of scents is dreamy and floral, with a hint of sweet vanilla and warm spice. It’s nourishing to the skin and has a lovely calming effect.

The particular botanicals I chose also relate to this tea party I dreamed up. Geranium figured prominently into Beatrix Potter’s gardens and especially window boxes, with their cheery flowers and lovely rose-like scent. Bergamot, of course, is the key ingredient in Earl Grey tea, which was a bit of a special-occasion luxury to those in the Lake District at Beatrix’s time. Cardamom is more of a personal addition, but it’s my favorite and is the spice that I think ties florals, fruits, and musky scents together just right. And benzoin resin oil is an affordable alternative to vanilla with a distinctly vanilla creaminess; it also is traditionally used in incense to lift the spirits.

If you are also interested in folk and spiritual associations of botanicals, here are a few of the many associations I found for these:

Lavender: love, protection, calm, peace, insight

Geranium: uplifting and protection, balance, joy, beauty

Bergamot: happiness, harmony, love, courage

Cardamom: creativity, strength, focus, healing

Benzoin: purification, prosperity

If you’d like to join me at this imaginary tea party, here is the recipe!

Materials

One 10 ml essential oil roller bottle

Lavender-infused almond oil, or your carrier oil of choice

3 drops geranium essential oil

2 drops bergamot essential oil

2 drops cardamom essential oil

1-2 drops benzoin resin essential oil

Method

Add lavender almond oil to the roller bottle until it is half full. Add the drops of essential oils. Top with more lavender almond oil, leaving about 1/4 inch head space. Securely place the roller top and lid on the bottle, then shake to mix. I like to let a perfume oil sit and infuse for a few days before using so the scents develop fully, but you wouldn’t have to.

Wear this perfume oil where you’d normally place perfume, and dream about springtime tea parties on sunny days! Just don’t forget to send me an invitation and let me know when teatime begins!