DIY Bath Scrub **Updated**

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It's a long, dry winter and I use lots of sugar scrub so I don't have the alligator thing going.    I like the combination of exfoliation and oil - lots of oil!    As I finished my last tub, I thought I could probably make the stuff lots cheaper and without all those unpronounceable chemicals. 

Pinterest is full of sugar scrub recipes.  I wanted to make some with what I had on hand, which left out ones with a fancy oil base or  essential  oils for fragrance ( I do have some patchouli oil, but while I still love the occasional trip back to the  70s, patchouli is a bit much for every day).  So I was happy to find a recipe at Freutcake using stuff I already had. 



Lots of scrub recipes call for brown sugar, but I like a coarser scrub and this ones uses Turbinado sugar that has a  much coarser grain than brown sugar.  

The recipe:

1/2 cup granulated (white) sugar

2 cups Turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw)

1 Tablespoon honey

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon Vanilla extract (or your favorite essential oil)

Directions: Combine the two sugars in a bowl and mix to incorporate. Add olive oil and stir. Mix in honey and vanilla. Store in an airtight jar.

Again, this is a coarse scrub, so if you'd like something less vigorous, you can substitute brown sugar for the Turbinado.  I wouldn't use this as a face scrub.

I doubled the vanilla and added extra oil after packing the scrub into jars.  I let the oil settle down into the scrub and added more - a couple of times.  ( I told you I like oil).  The scrub looks and smells good enough to eat, but let's not.

I packed the scrub into some small recycled glass jars.  Even though all the pictures on Pinterest showed the scrub in glass jars, I'm not sure that glass jars filled with slippery oil  are the smartest idea for the shower.  I'm on the lookout for some small metal tubs - seems safer.

I've already tested my scrub and love it.  Think I'm going to try grinding some lavender and using lavender essential oil for fragrance in the next batch. 

This scrub would make a great gift - packed in a nice tin and finished off with some fibers and a cute tag.  I think I have an idea for the  office gifts for next Christmas- I even found a site for the tins.

**UPDATE**  I finally made the lavender scrub.  I ground about two tablespoons of dried lavender in the coffee grinder and added it and lavender essential oil to the sugar/ oil/ honey mixture.   Most recipes calls for just a few drops of oil, but I add much more - probably a teaspoon or two.  The smell is divine!

 

Product Love

 

 

Hello.  My name is Deborah and I am a addicted to products.  Today was like a holiday for me - my November Birch Box came, and Ulta opened nearby.  I don't  wear much make-up,  but I l love any kind of lotion that promises the forever end to dry skin, nail polish and all the removers, conditioners and implements that go with the polishing, but most of all, I love hair products.   I believe all the advertising hype, so my bathroom and linen closet are full of purchases that shockingly haven't lived up to their promises. 

 

I love my Birch Box gift subscription from California Daughter.    What's not to like?  A box of products is delivered to my door every month.   I get to try all kinds of things I might not  would never try.  I rekindled my relationship with perfume, thanks to samples in my box.  I have fun stuff for my girls to try, plus  lots to take when traveling.  Here's this month's box:

 

 

 

Perfume, hair product, several moisturizers - whoo-eee!

 

Then off to the new Ulta store  Aisles and aisles of products, friendly staff who obviously have been trained to spot a product - addict!  There are hundreds of brands- the old stand-bys and some I'd never heard of before.  So what do I do?   I ask if they carry  a brand I don't see!  The salesclerk asks if it's a "premium brand - you know, expensive"?  When I say that it is on the pricey side, she announces, "well, then we don't carry it".  Curious, since they sell  Butter nail polish that goes for $35.00 a bottle.  Imagine that response isn't quite what the Ulta people would like!

 

 

New store openings are fun because of all the free stuff.  My only purchase was the Juicy Couture perfume (again, thanks to Birch Box) - all the rest was in my gift bag.  I can only hope it was accidental that that I got  two super-hold hairsprays !

 

I'm also a sucker for pretty packaging.  Metal hand cream tubes, funky graphics, vintage type and I'll buy whatever it is you're selling.  Like these moisturizing wipes from Gap:

 

 

Metal-ish wrapper, meadow full of flowers and type-writer font with wipes that promises to be moisturizing - sold!

 

Life is good - easy access to an abundance of products, right next to my other dealer - Barnes and Noble.