Homemade Strawberry Lip Scrub

Hello!

In December I was in the shop Lush and came across their lipscrub range and although I was super tempted, the prices they were for a tiny little tub, I was just not willing to pay. So I went on my way and completely forgot about it, until recently. My lips have been dry the majority of my life, whatever time of the year I just always seem to get horrendously bad skin everywhere. Lips, hands, face, legs, everywhere! To be honest, my dry skin hasn't really bothered me until quite recently and I just seem to really hate it, especially on my lips because lipstick and lipgloss just looks awful on my chapped lips. So I have been using lip balms quite frequently which have really been helpful but I just felt like I needed a little bit more, which is when I started thinking of the lip scrubs again. So I looked on Lush, still too expensive. Ebay, even more expensive! Etsy, well let's just not go there. I thought to myself, how hard can it be to make? I knew they were just made out of sugar and some other stuff but I didn't actually realise just how very simple it was to make. It took me 5 minutes max! I am not joking. And cost me roughly £3 to make in total because most of the stuff you need to make it, I had lying around my house anyways.

So here's how I did it...

What you will need:

Sugar, castor or brown

Olive oil

Aloe Vera juice or fresh (optional)

Natural flavouring (I chose strawberry)

Food colouring (Optional)(I chose red to match the strawberry taste)

Vaseline (Optional)

Small mixing bowl

Small container to put your lip scrub in

Really all you need to make this product is sugar and olive oil, everything else is just an added extra. Before I start, I just want to say that this is completely just a trial and error recipe and its all about personal preference. This is how I made it, but you can totally just play around until you end up with the lip scrub you feel is best for you. 

First what I did was poured one teaspoon of aloe vera and one and a half teaspoons of olive oil into my mixing bowl. Then I added one teaspoon of the strawberry flavouring, I think next time though I would add less of this as it turned out to be quite overpowering. I then added a whole lot of castor sugar! I'm not sure how much in total I used, like I said its all trial and error. What you want is after you've mixed it together for your lip scrub to be quite solid, you should be able to hold your mixing bowl upside down and for no product to fall out. Next, I added the red food colouring until it was the colour I wanted it to be, then I added a small amount of Vaseline. I added the Vaseline just to add to the colour and also to add to the conditioning treatment of the lip scrub. Then mix until all the ingredients are completely incorporated. Once its of the consistency that you require, you can put your lip scrub into your container. If the mix becomes too much of a liquid consistency add more sugar, if it becomes too thick add more olive oil.

And voila! It really is that simple, and most of the ingredients, you will already have in your home! I hope you try this out, and let me know how you get on!

Ignore my horrible freckly face. This is my lip scrub on. Whats great about it is that after you've finished exfoliating, you can either wash your scrub off or eat it! Mine tasted so yummy and left my lips feeling so soft and hydrated :) 

Easy To Make Homemade Almond Milk

I am always on the lookout for new interesting things to make, so I decided to try my hand at making some homemade fresh almond milk! Did you know that humans were not built to digest cows milk and we are not actually meant to drink it? I did not know this, so naturally when I found this out I started looking for a healthy alternative. I chose to make some almond milk as I love trying anything new, and I love creating things in my kitchen! Almond milk is especially good for you and here are a few reasons why: 

- It helps with weight management

- It keeps your heart healthy due to their being no cholesterol or saturated fat in almond milk

- It keeps your bones strong

- It keeps your skin glowing as it contains 50% of the recommended daily amount of Vitamin E 

- It barely impacts your blood sugar

- It contributes to muscle health and healing

- It keeps your digestion in check 

- It doesn't contain lactose so a great alternative for those who are intolerant!

- Some say it tastes better than cows milk

- It's easy to make (and I can vouch for that!)

So lots of reasons to choose almond milk as a supplement or even just a once in a while change from dairy milk! 

So here's how I made my almond milk. It was so quick and easy! 

Ingredients:

1 cup raw almonds

2 cups water, plus more for soaking

Sweeteners like honey, sugar, agave syrup, or maple syrup, to taste (optional)

Equipment:

Bowls

Strainer

Measuring cup

Blender or food processor (I used a blender)

Fine-mesh nut bag or cheese cloth (I used a muslin square cloth)

Instructions

1. Soak the almonds overnight or up to 2 days. Place the almonds in a bowl and cover with about an inch of water. They will plump as they absorb water. Let stand, uncovered, overnight or up to 2 days. The longer the almonds soak, the creamier the almond milk.
2. Drain and rinse the almonds. Drain the almonds from their soaking water and rinse them thoroughly under cool running water. At this point, the almonds should feel a little squishy if you pinch them.
3. Combine the almonds and water in a blender. Place the almonds in the blender and cover with 2 cups of water. 
4. Blend at the highest speed for 2 minutes. Pulse the blender a few times to break up the almonds, then blend continuously for two minutes. The almonds should be broken down into a very fine meal and the water should be white and opaque. (If using a food processor, process for 4 minutes total, pausing to scrape down the sides halfway through.)
5. Strain the almonds. Line the strainer with either the opened nut bag or cheese cloth, and place over a measuring cup. Pour the almond mixture into the strainer. 
6. Press all the almond milk from the almond meal. Gather the nut bag or cheese cloth around the almond meal and twist close. Squeeze and press with clean hands to extract as much almond milk as possible. You should get about 2 cups. 
7. Sweeten to taste. Taste the almond milk, and if a sweeter drink is desired, add sweetener to taste.
8. Refrigerate almond milk. Store the almond milk in sealed containers in the fridge for up to two days.

credit to: http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-almond-milk-at-home-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-189996

So thats it! It may seem like there is alot to this recipe but it really takes no longer than 10 minutes once your almonds have been soaked for a few nights. The almond milk has a very sweet taste. I put some on my cereal one morning and found that I couldn't finish it, so I find that it is best in small doses. I will have to find a way to make it not so sweet! But other than that it is a really lovely alternative to cows milk and I recommend you all give it a go! :)