Make a clarifying skin toner

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Clarifying Skin Toner

I was always envious of those girls with luminous, smooth, glowing skin.

Skin that looked refined and buffed.  Porcelain or peaches-and-cream our grandmothers’ might have called it.

That was never me.  I tend towards oily skin and big pores.  Glowing skin?  Yes, I glow.  But more from the greasies than some ethereal internal luminescence.

So making my own skincare has been a revelation for me.

Using the Oil Cleansing Method and Luxe facial oil have really normalized and improved my skin.  (I know, putting OIL on oily skin! Who woulda thunk it?)

And recently I have heard from a lot of readers who are struggling with oily, congested skin with pimples, acne and blackheads.  It seemed like a good time to create a third product we could add to our cleansing routine.  A product especially for the oily-skin prone among us!  (Don’t worry, dry skin types … I’ll describe how you could adapt this recipe to work for you too!)

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Stress Relief Body Cream – Tutorial

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stress_relief_body_cream

I thought quitting my corporate job would eliminate my stress.

Ha!

How wrong I was.  Self-employment brings with it a whole different kind of stress … irregular income, accountants, hustling for business, sitting alone in front of your computer all day with no coworkers…

But I experienced a completely unexpected source of stress this week … trying to make a video tutorial on how to make this body cream!

Oh I had visions of Amanda-as-Nigella creating a luscious body cream in a gorgeously light and airy kitchen.

The reality was dark and dreary, with echoey sound and going on far too long (thank you small city kitchen, London gray skies and trying to film myself!)

Fortunately for me, I was making stress relief body cream, which was almost as good as chocolate to soothe my frustrated nerves.

And you can make some too.  Just follow this tutorial (in photos … while I work up the courage to try filming again!)

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Super Simple Homemade Lip Scrub Recipe

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Homemade Lip Scrub Recipe

When you go out in the evenings, are you more of a dark eyes or dark lips kind of woman?

Generally, I choose my eyes.

But occasionally, when I feel like being totally vintage glam and changing it up a bit – I like to rock a bright, red lip.

For me, doing a smokey eye is carefree.  I know how to do it.  It’s a look that works.  I like my eyes.

But the red lip creates a bit more stress … will I leave lip marks on all my drinks?  Will the lipstick end up on my teeth?  Will I eat off part of the lipstick leaving a strange red lip-liner looking ring around my lips?

And most of all … where did all these little flakes on my lips come from?!

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Home Remedies for Dry Skin: What to Eat

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vintageamanda_dryskin

You know that tight, dry feeling after you wash your face.

The fine lines, flakiness and maybe even - gasp! - crepey skin around your eyes.

So you slather on some thick cream.  Depending on your skin that day it either soaks in immediately and goes dry again, or sits in a greasy layer on top of your skin – not getting the moisture where it’s needed!

If this is your experience with your skin, you’re not alone.

Dry skin and early signs of aging are two of the issues I hear most frequently from our community.  And there is a better way to deal with dry skin, than just finding thicker and richer creams.  We’re going to tackle the problem in 2 parts – what you put IN your body, and what you put ON your body.

First up – home remedies for dry skin that you eat.  Because as you know, what you eat becomes what you are!

Are you eating enough of these foods to moisturize your skin from the inside out?

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Rosemary Nettle Hair Rinse

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Rosemary Nettle Hair Rinse

You know those times when you’re just so busy, your creativity falls to the side? (Hello, Creativity? Where are you!)

This is a super fast project for those times.   To coin a phrase from one of my favorite infomercials, this is a Set it and Forget it project.  There’s no measuring.  There are no rules.  Just stuff some fresh herbs in a jar, cover up and let them steep for a couple of weeks.

This simple project will give you the most amazing rinse for silky smooth and shiny hair.  Only possible drawback?  It’s vinegar.

But once you get over that mental block – vinegar on your hair! – you will positively fall in love with your new hair rinse and never go back to thick, chemically conditioner again.

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Don’t be a victim of the crazy hair cycle!

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break the hair cycle

Let’s talk about hair conditioner.

For years, I thought I needed to condition every time I shampooed.  During my first haircut in Paris, I found it odd that they asked me “Would you like a conditioner?” during my hair wash – I said “yes” and then got a nice additional 20 Euro charge on my bill (ouch!).  Shocked that I got so ripped off for a necessity like conditioner, I remember venting to a French friend about it, and she seemed surprised the other way … she never used conditioner.  Hmmm.

So that made me think – what is it about the way that we’re washing our hair that requires conditioner every time?

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Quick tip to improve your aromatherapy baths

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I love soaking in a hot bath.

I take baths for stress relief, when I’m chilled in the winter, to unwind before sleeping, and when I feel like I’m catching a cold.

It’s especially great to take a bath infused with aromatherapy essential oils.

But at an herbal gathering this summer, I learned a new trick for making aromatherapy baths even more effective.  And the best part is that it only takes about 30 seconds more than just dropping the oils directly in the bath.

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Natural Beauty 101

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Natural Beauty 101

So you want to get started with a more natural beauty routine?

Good idea.   While many of us are careful about the chemicals we put into our bodies, it can be easy to forget about the chemicals that go ON our bodies.

In reality, the chemicals we use in our daily personal care and beauty routines can be absorbed through our skin.  Nice.

So as a starting point, here’s a roundup of my favorite natural beauty recipes, websites and books.

Yes, most of these recipes are easy enough that you can get started at home, today.  So dive in!

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Creating Community: Natural Beauty with No More Dirty Looks

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Creating CommunityOur modern lives are often missing a sense of community.  We all need a community of people for support, for sharing and for learning.  Creating Community is a series on Vintage Savoir Faire where we have a virtual “cup of tea and a sit down” with a kindred spirit.  This week we meet Siobhan and Alexandra from No More Dirty Looks.

I’ve been reading No More Dirty Looks ever since The Year of Beauty Detox in my early days of blogging.

What I love about Siobhan and Alexandra is that they’re all about natural beauty – but they’re also normal women living busy lives.  So they write about what works, what they’ve tried and what they’d use again.  They talk about homemade products, and reviews of natural beauty brands they love.  But most importantly, they teach readers how to think about what’s we use on our skin!  

I also love their Morning Routines series where real women share their real skincare routines.

As a natural beauty fan, it makes me feel a little less alone in the world.  (Whereas most people react like: “You use WHAT on your face? You haven’t used shampoo since…when?!”)

So grab your cuppa, and let’s meet Siobhan and Alexandra…

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DIY coconut lime deodorant

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homemade coconut lime deodorant

I’ve been so curious about this project.  Who is going to be brave enough to try it … and who will just think I’m crazy?

Well dear readers, I am only crazy in an effort to bring YOU natural, healthy solutions to common problems.

And clearly underarm stinkiness is a common problem!

But first, why isn’t my store-bought deodorant, or *gasp* anti-perspirant, good enough?

Have you looked at the ingredients list on your stick of deodorant?

Active Ingredients:Aluminum Zirconium Tetrachlorohydrex GLY (17.8% W/W).Inactive Ingredients:Cyclopentasiloxane; PPG-14 Butyl Ether; Stearyl Alcohol; Hydrogenated Castor Oil; PEG-8 Distearate; Fragrance (Parfum); Talc; Corn (Zea Mays) Starch; Vegetable Oil (Olus); Glyceryl Oleate; Propylene Glycol; BHT; t-Butyl Hydroquinone; Citric Acid .

Them’s chemicals, ’nuff said.

OK let’s look a little more closely.  Here’s the full analysis of this deodorant on the EWG site.

Aluminum is found in most anti-perspirants to physically block sweat from leaving your pores.  It absorbs into your skin cells, causing them to take on more water and swell, thereby blocking the sweat glands – read how it works here.  But isn’t sweating how our body releases toxins?  Yes.  This is why aluminum in anti-perspirants is so controversial.  Speculation is everywhere across the internet about whether it causes breast cancer or Alzheimers or a variety of other  conditions … but the truth is, we just don’t know yet.

Fragrance the big mystery ingredient which could contain anything from safe essential oils (which it probably doesn’t, because they’re expensive) to toxic, carcinogenic chemicals.  Companies are allowed to hide all of these ingredients in their proprietary fragrance.  It’s just a big question mark what you’re getting with this!

Stearyl Alcohol is drying and a potential skin irritant.

Talc is questionable because of risk of contamination with asbestos.

BHT is classified by EWG as causing cancer, endocrine disruption and potential reproductive toxicity.  Awesome!

Plus a slew of other questionable ingredients you can find in the full analysis link above.  And this deodorant only ranks a 5 on the EWG scale of toxicity!

Fortunately, there is a better and more natural alternative.

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