Moisturizer for Acne Prone Skin

This recipe came as a bit of a shock to me because it’s mainly one product and it’s an “oil”  Jojoba Oil. However it’s really not an oil Jojoba oil is a liquid wax and it is really good for acne prone skin. To make this a little easier on me I mixed it in the bottle I got the Jojoba oil (I could only find it in 4 ounce bottles) I didn’t do it on purpose it was all the store had.

• 4 ounces (113.4 grams) of jojoba oil
• 30 drops lavender essential oil
• 10 drops tea tree oil

Again I just mixed it all in the bottle the Jojoba oil came in added the essential oils and shake well. I only use a drop or two for my entire face then I have to let it absorb into my skin before I apply my make up — so in the am after my shower I use my toner then my moisturizer then I do my hair and get dressed then start on make up.

This is also from the book “The complete Idiot’s guide to making Natural Beauty Products” and Sally Trew has given me the permission to post it.

Facial Toner

Again from the book “The complete Idiot’s guide to making Natural Beauty Products” this is the facial toner for acne prone skin. This is will make 4 ounces

• 2.6 ounces (73.7 grams) of Witch hazel
• 1 ounce (28.4 grams) of Aloe vera gel
• .4 ounce (11.3 grams) of Polysorbate 20
• 4 drops each of Lavender, Rosemary and Lemongrass essential oils
• .06 ounce (1.7 grams) preservative (I used Optiphen)

mix together in a sterile bottle, label and date bottle.

Facial Cleansing cream

Since I have permission from Sally Trew to post these recipes for some of the things I use from her book “The complete Idiot’s guide to making Natural Beauty Products” I figured I would post the ones that we are using on a daily basis. So here’s the one we are using for our problem skin – I’m still fighting with my son to get him to use it but for me I get my monthly breakouts and am cursed with permanent blackheads on my nose and chin. I’ve been using this for just over a week – 2 times a day and man oh man I had hardly any breakouts from my monthly visitor and my blackheads are almost gone on my nose (YAY) I’ve been dealing with these since I was a teen and nothing has ever worked till this cream.

• 2.6 ounces (73.7 grams) of jojoba oil
• 10 ounces (283.5 grams) of distilled water
• 2 ounces (56.7 grams) of aloe vera gel
• .3 ounce (8.5 grams) of stearic acid
• 1.1 ounces (31.2 grams) of emulsifying wax
• .2 ounce (5.7 grams) of lemongrass essential oil
• .24 ounce (6.8 grams) of preservative (I used Optiphen)

1. on the stove over medium low heat warm the Jojoba oil and emulsifying wax, until the wax is melted
2. add the water, aloe vera gel, stearic acid stir well until this mixture is 110 degrees F
3. Remove from heat and add the essential oil and preservative mix well
4. Pour into sterilized container and let cool, it will thicken as it cools. Once cooled cover and use. Label and date bottle.
5. To use – rub cream all over your face (avoid your eyes and mouth – trust me it doesn’t taste good). I wait until it starts to tingle a little then rinse off with a warm washcloth or in the shower. Then I follow with toner and moisturizer.

According to my research Jojoba oil is not an actual oil but a liquid wax and is excellent for oily/acne prone skin. I chose the Optiphen for the preservative because there it is formaldehyde free and paraben free, this is strictly a personal choice I don’t want that stuff on my skin, my theory if I”m not going to eat it I don’t want it on my skin either.

Pintrest and Chocolate

I have a love hate relationship with Pintrest — I typically only find stuff on there when I’m bored and when we’re broke so I can’t make it cos we don’t have the stuff on hand (really I’m not crafty so to have much of anything on hand craft wise would be a waste of space and money) tho I do have my fair share of some basic things. So I found lots of things I want to do but then people are pinning foods, and sweets and darn it CHOCOLATE — dang it why do people do this to me — so I came across these 3 layer brownies — I guess they are all the rage in Utah and at BYU – funny none of my Utah friends have said anything to me about them. I look up the blog with the recipe on it and I’m thinking “Hey we have all this stuff here — I can actually make them”  So my son and I start to make them then we realize we have no green food coloring, but we have red and really I associate peppermint with red anyways, so it all works out in the end. We make them, we bake them, we frost them (with a couple of freezer times so I can watch “Once Upon a Time” on ABC– cos well I won’t miss that show for anything lol) then we eat them. And boy howdy are these things good, seriously a small piece will do ya. They were made in a 13×9 inch pan and as you can see – my family has made a serious dent in them they are not gone – regular brownies (you know from a box) gone in a heart beat. And yeah don’t mind the fact that the only camera I have is on my phone — sorry for the crappy picture but you have the idea right.

An attempt to de clutter and organize our home

As I was playing on Pintrest the other day I saw this posting on a friend’s board about how to de clutter your home in a year – simple tasks for each day. This is one of my goals for the year. I think to provide the motivation to do it I will add daily posts on how and what we did each day. Hopefully it will be as simple as it’s saying because heaven knows I need the help — here is the blog.

The task for today was to set up a “donation station” basically it’s a place to put transitional items in your home. They suggest using banker’s boxes or laundry baskets, we don’t have the room for something like this in our house so in our hall way to the garage – which is also the laundry room the owner’s of the house had put up some coat hooks type racks where we have been hanging misc bags we use (church, diaper, my work bags etc) so we put the bags in a different place and then used the reuseable grocery bags (since I can’t seem to get enough of them lol) and put the box labels in a plastic page protector and safety pinned them to the bag.

There are 4 containers -

Donate – these are items that are to be donated to the local thrift shop – we actually used a blue Ikea bag because I figure we will be putting a lot in them while we are de cluttering and it’s a huge bag then when it’s full you take it to the thrift shop.

Gift – these are the gifts that you keep around for birthday’s or for whatever. We don’t usually keep gifts around the house – if we are going to a birthday party or need a hostess gift we stop on the way to the event. So we didn’t do this one — maybe in the future when I’m more organized we will

Deliver – these are things that need to be returned to someone or someplace -  returns to a store, something you need to give back to a friend. things that need to go to the post office etc

Library – books, videos etc that will need to go back and aren’t being read or used at the moment.

I would like to have one like what is shown in the other blog and have it moved to our front closet one of these days so maybe once it’s done being organized I can lol.

 

Oily skin Masks

Since David and I both are acne prone I’m opting to go with the “oily problem skin mask”

Mix 2 ounces each, this will be enough for about 20 masks but use only once or twice a week.

fuller’s earth, Moroccan rhassoul clay, and finely ground oatmeal

when ready to use the mask, mix 2 teaspoons of the dry mix in a bowl with one drop each

clary sage (I’ve only found it under sage, clary), juniper, rosemary. patchouli and ylang ylang essential oils

then add a few drops of distilled water and mix well (I had to add more distilled water to make it spreadable)

spread it all over your clean face and neck – avoid your eye area

let it sit for 15-20 minutes (perfect time for a cup of tea and read your book or magazine – RELAX- us Mama’s need all the relaxing we can get)

once the mask is completely dry, rinse with warm water (I used a wash cloth to get it all off really well), pat your face and neck dry then follow with your toner and moisturizer.

I’ll probably use this just during “that time of the month” when I’m breaking out bad then the one listed below the other times.

The one below is for oily skin without the acne problem

Mix together

1 ounce finely ground oatmeal

2 ounces fuller’s earth

3 ounces kaolin clay

then mix with 2 teaspoons of the dry mix 2 drops each of Clary sage, lemon and rosemary essential oils and enough distilled water to make it spreadable – then follow the directions above

 

Again this is all from the book “the Complete Idiot’s guide to making natural beauty products“

 

My goals for 2012

I wanted to make some goals for the new year — get some things accomplished that I’ve yet to get done because well I sit in front of a computer all day at work then I come home from work and sit in front of our computer and play on Facebook and pintrest and blog. They aren’t unreasonable and hopefully I will be able to actually get them done. So here’s my list -

1. Daily Family scripture study time
2. Finish Megan’s first year frame – I have the pics and the frame – just need them together lol – It took me a year to get the pics all printed lol
3. Become more active – personally and as a family
4. Become more self sufficient – meaning make more things at home and not purchasing these things
5. Declutter – I found a great calendar on pintrest yesterday so I printed it and will use it to declutter — luckily Sundays are a break day so I don’t have to start today lol — it’s a little late and we gotta get ready for church – there’s also a group you can join but there’s a charge and that’s another goal about following the budget an I know that’s not in it lol
6. FOLLOW THE BUDGET – we just really need to buckle down and do it – it’s going to be hard I know but we just really need to do it – we seem to do good about April thru September then in October it all just hits the fan
7. 72 hour kits and food storage – I want the 72 hour kits done by April and working on our food storage through out the year and have at least a full 3 month supply by the end of the year

Hmmm I am sure I will think of more – I will add to the list as soon as I do lol