I am moderately settled in at our friend’s house. Enough so that I bought groceries and fixed a nice lunch for us all on Saturday.

For the salad, I prepared sliced, raw yellow squash, zucchini, sweet onion, and sliced mushrooms to toss into a salad base of sweet buttercrunch lettuce and baby spinach leaves. I topped my salad with extra virgin olive oil and a splash of Balsamic vinegar, along with a pinch of salt and pepper. Yum!

I keep a variety of olive oils on hand - extra virgin, virgin, and light - for various cooking and eating needs. Olive oil is good for your heart health, too, so that’s a real bonus. I love the floral fragrance and flavor of extra virgin for both vegetable and fruit salads. It’s a lovely thing, to be sure.

I have even used olive oil as part of a beauty mask by mixing it with beaten egg yolks and a dash of lemon juice. This really helps my dry, aging skin to feel revitalized, though it may not be the best acne treatment for those who have that problem. However, by mixing only egg whites and olive oil, your problem skin could benefit. I’m not saying it can cure acne. It certainly can’t. It just makes the skin feel good.

Technorati Tags: groceries, lunch, salad, beauty mask

Cosmetics covers more than just makeup. It includes those things you use to make your skin soft, clear up skin problems, and things you use on your hair. Most of us only need a few basic items - bath soap, body lotion, shampoo, conditioner. Others may have more problems with dry skin, oily skin, chapped skin, or other problems that only skinceuticals can alleviate.

For instance, my feet tend to be extremely dry which means I have to use rich creams on them to even stay comfortable. But I can use something as simple as pure cocoa butter on the remainder of my skin and it works just fine. I like to steer clear of anything that contains alcohol since it seems to further dry out my skin. Read your lotion labels to learn if they contain alcohol.

Technorati Tags: Cosmetics, cocoa butter, alcohol

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything related to beauty items you can create from things on hand. So, I thought I’d share with you the shower scrub I made yesterday.

Shower Scrub

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup sea salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 bar Ivory soap

Method

Place the Ivory soap in the microwave until it “grows” and becomes crumbly. This should only take about a minute. Add the other ingredients and stir it together with a fork, making sure to blend it very well.

To use this, just dip your wet washcloth or bath scrunchie into the mixture and scrub away while you’re showering. I used this all over including on my face. It exfoliates without leaving your skin in the least bit dry feeling.

This recipe makes enough for one shower. I don’t recommend using this at every shower since you could actually wind up with sore skin from too much exfoliation, but this is great to use about once or twice a week. You can add fragrance to it if you wish. I used mine as-is.

Oh, and be sure to wash out the shower when you’re done so the next person doesn’t slip ‘n’ slide!

Technorati Tags: shower scrub, Ivory soap

I have been using mineral oil to remove my eye makeup. Then I started thinking about that. Mineral oil is not a plant based oil. It’s a petroleum based oil. Why am I putting that on my face?

After more thought, I decided to try coconut oil instead. I have it on hand for a few particular cooking needs anyway. So, I got just a little on my fingertips, then massaged it around my eyes and all over my face. Then I washed my face in warm water and soap.

All the eye makeup came off just fine. But the best thing is that now my skin feels very soft but not at all oily. Even my hands are soft!

Try it for yourself and tell me what you think.

Technorati Tags: mineral oil, coconut oil

One of the things I swear by is cocoa butter. Now, I don’t mean a lotion you buy at the drugstore. I mean the real thing.

Cocoa butter is hard, like a bar of soap. But when you rub it on your skin, it literally melts in and softens the skin. I believe it probably seals in moisture, though I’m no cosmetician so I don’t really know. I just know that my skin is soft without feeling slick or greasy.

A chunk or stick of pure cocoa butter goes a long way, too. Even if it seems pricey at the start, it really lasts so it winds up being a bargain in the long run.

Awhile back, Brandon touched my face. I don’t remember why, now. Probably just being silly. He stopped and said, “Your skin is REALLY soft!”

Thank you, cocoa butter!

Technorati Tags: cocoa butter, soap