Homemade Coffee and Coconut Body Scrub.

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When I was pregnant, I had to make some major changes in my lifestyle and diet. I've been fairly careful of what I eat and drink, but there was one thing I really couldn't give up. Coffee. For the first few months I was literally living of organic, chicory caffeine free drink, desperately trying to replace that glorious, aromatic, black liquid and pretending that
I could live without it. Luckily, towards the end of my pregnancy, caffeine wasn't as much of the threat for my unborn baby,
so I could get back to my daily cup of coffee routine. 

That innocent addiction, topped with other bad habits from the past and pregnancy, have left me with something what, sooner or later, every woman will struggle with - cellulite, commonly known as orange peel syndrome.
I'm not gonna go into details of what's causing it, but I will say just one thing. It's a giant pain in the ass. Almost literally.
So I had to figure out how to get rid of that thing without spending ridiculous amount of money and putting nasty toxins on myself ( i.e.  'magic' anti-cellulite creams,gels and heavens know what else ).
I went off to ask almighty uncle Google for advice and found out that one of the solutions to my problem was - surprise,surprise - caffeine.

The best and easily accessible source of caffeine is coffee, of course. So, I put together my two favourite things - coffee and coconut oil - and that's how I created this lush body scrub.

It's quick and easy, it will leave your skin smooth, bright and smelling nice and as all homemade products, it's very cheap.
You're gonna need equal amounts of ground coffee and coconut oil. Coffee doesn't have to be fresh, you can use one from the coffee machine, this way you can enjoy lovely drink and amazing beauty products ( what makes it even cheaper ).

Melt coconut oil ( 30 seconds in the microwave will do the job ) and mix it with ground coffee. Equal quantities will create a nice, smooth paste. You can alternate it to create a consistency that is right for you.

When you're mixture is ready, take a hot shower to cleanse your skin and open pores. Then rub some of it all over your thighs and bum, massaging gently. Ideally, you should leave it on and wrap your legs with cling film to let it do its job and 'penetrate' your skin. Well, as I said before, I can't afford the luxury of long showers or time consuming beauty treatments, so I just rub it for few minutes and then rinse it off. And that's it. You will be surprised how amazing your skin will look and feel just after one use of this stuff.
The best thing about it is that you can use it for the whole body, even face. It brightens the skin, gets rid of dead cells, stimulates blood flow and on top of that, it smells heavenly! Also, addition of the coconut oil will moisturise your skin, so you don't need to use any extra products.
You can keep your ground coffee/ready mixture in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, but it's best made fresh.
Just be careful if you have sensitive sensitive skin, as ground coffee can be rough and may irritate it.

Enjoy!
 

What you need to know about coconut oil

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I love coconut oil. I could definitely say that I'm addicted
to it. I was looking for some new ways of using it and I found this quote on my beloved Wellness Mama's website - " (...) I am with coconut oil like the dad in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” is with windex". That's me. And for all those who haven't seen this classic rom com, well...let's say I use
it for pretty much everything. There's nothing you can't fix with a bit of breast milk and
a coconut oil. And as much as I would love to go into details of 101 uses
of breast milk, I will stick to the coconut oil for now :) 

When I say I use it for everything, I really mean it. It's great for cooking and baking, fantastic
for frying veg with rice! and absolutely amazing on toast (instead of butter). It can easily replace majority of the content of your first aid kit, boost your immunity system and supplement your diet and, of course, it's a main ingredient in many beauty products. 

So I put together this list of my favourite uses for coconut oil...

BEAUTY

1. In a bath melts and bath bombs
2. As a body moisturizer
3. As a shaving cream ( it's better than any 'real' product I have ever used )
4. As a make up remover
5. As a hair conditioner
6.  In homemade toothpaste ( yes, you read it right, here  is a reciepe )
7. As a natural sunscreen ( SPF 4, not very high, but I've been using it on Son pretty much all summer and it worked great )
8. As a nightcream
9. As a nappy rash cream
10. In body scrubs (like this one )
11. To soften cuticles 
12. To prevent stretch marks
13. As a lip balm 

HEALTH

1. To help with baby's cradle cap
2. To help heal several skin diseases, including acne, fungal infections and eczema 
3. To kill candida fungi
4. To support immune system
5. To lower cholersterol

And I've recently discovered myself another great benefit of this 'sort of' liquid gold - it's great for treating cold sores. Just put it on few times a day and it will get rid of it quicker than any other commercial cream  or patch ( believe me, I've tried many of them ;) )

There are loads more uses of that amazing oil and on top of them all....it smells heavenly! 

To start benefiting from goodness of coconut oil, you can try this easy and delicious recipe for Strawberry and Vanila Coconut Smoothie, courtesy of Free Coconut Recipes:

1 serving

Strawberry Vanilla Coconut Smoothie
Prepared by Sarah Shilhavy
Photo by Jeremiah Shilhavy

 2/3 cup coconut or organic whole raw milk*

1/2 cup plain organic yogurt (Greek or goat's milk is best!)

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

8 large strawberries, fresh or frozen (if using fresh add ice cubes to taste)

1-2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

Blend everything except coconut oil. Slowly pour coconut oil in while blender is running. Pour into a glass, garnish with some dried coconut or a fresh strawberry if desired and enjoy!

 

  

What's in the cupboard?

We all want to look beautiful and all the pressure from the media isn't doing us any favours.
I'm sure all of us, at least once, felt guilty after spending ridiculous sum of money on the beauty products. Then we spent hours putting on our bodies tons of scrubs, moisturisers, facials and other 'amazing' products that will make us look like a movie stars. In my case, most of that stuff ends up on the bathroom shelf, forgotten and covered in dust. Every now and then I will make a resolution to pamper myself and use all those abandoned products, which obviously never happens. Mainly because of my laziness, but I blame it on being a busy mum ;)
Besides growing amount of bottles, jars and tubes and worryingly increased debt on the credit card, all those products have one more huge disadvantage. Most of them contain harsh, toxic chemicals, that can cause allergic reaction and long term health problems. You can find list of ingredients to avoid here. I'm gonna write more about in my future posts. Some of them are also tested on animals, which is cruel and unnecessary and in my opinion if something has to be put on the rabbits skin or in cats eyes to check for possible side effects, well...I would rather stay away from it.

But here's a good news. We can still be beautiful without having to rob a bank and spending hours searching for safe, cruelty-free products.

Go to your kitchen. You will find more than any drug store can offer. Here is a list of few products you most definitely have in your cupboard or fridge and they can replace your expensive beauty products.


LEMON

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/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

• Brightens skin, nails and hair
• Helps to control dandruff
• Weight loss aid
• Helps with acne
• Great skin cleanser
• Strengthen nails
•  Conditions dry and damaged hair

CUCUMBER

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/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

• Reduces swelling and dark circles under eyes
• Skin cleanser 
• Soothes inflammation and irritated skin
• Helps with treating sunburns
• Anti - ageing remedy  

HONEY

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/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

• Anti - ageing agent
• Moisturises 
• Cleanses skin and helps with acne
• Great for dry and damaged hair
• Natural hair remover
• Has anti fungal and antibacterial qualities 

 EGG

Image courtesy of Simon Howden
/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

• Skin toner
• Refreshes tired, puffy skin under eyes
• Hair conditioner
• Firms skin pores

These are only few beauty qualities of four most popular products 'from the cupboard' (or fridge for that matter ;) ). Beside beauty benefits, all of them have many health benefits as well. 

Over next few weeks, I'll be testing facials, masks, scrubs and cleansers made with these products.Also,  I would love to hear from you about your experiments with natural, beauty products, so please share your thoughts!

Lemon Sugar Exfoliant

After Son was born, I quickly realised that long, relaxing showers and beauty treatments aren't new mum's privilege. Unless Other Half was looking after him and I could get some 'me' time, although that didn't happen very often ( Other Half is not equipped with boobies ;) ). I had to come up with new, quicker beauty routine, that fits around Son's schedule.
One night, during his third, endless night feed, I was exploring Pinterest, which by the way is an amazing source of all kinds of ideas, and found a great recipe for Lemon Sugar Exfoliant.
It's an amazing time saver and will also save you money you would normally spend on a body scrub, shaving gel and a moisturiser.  It contains only three ingredients and I bet you have all of them in your kitchen already, so you actually don't have to spend any extra money.
Brown sugar is a great exfoliant and gets rid of the dead skin. Olive oil will moisturise your skin and protect it from harshness of sugar. Lemon juice not only will brighten and refresh your skin, but also make it smell lovely and put you in the great mood. 

Unfortunately, website I got this recipe from has been deleted for some reason, so I can't give you an actual source.  
It is very easy and takes literally 30 seconds to prepare it.

You're gonna need:

1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 of olive oil ( you can use any type of oil, like coconut, almond or grapeseed )
2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice.

Put everything in a jar or plastic container, cover up and shake well until sugar and oil are mixed up. At the end of your shower, when skin is nicely warmed up, put a handful of this mixture on your legs and rub it gently in circular movement, going from the bottom to the top.  That will get rid of the dry skin.

Now, you have two options:
You can rinse it off with warm water and pat dry. You won't need a moisturiser, as olive oil will do the job,

or

you can leave it on and use instead of shaving gel. Olive oil will protect your skin from razor burns and make your legs nice and smooth.  

Personally, I prefer to rinse it off and then shave my legs, otherwise sugar gets stuck between blades and ruins the razor.

Either way, this will save you time and money as it combines three products and treatments in one.

Be careful though when getting out of the shower or a bathtub, as this mixture will make it slippery. 

It's time to say hello.

After many hours of deciding on the name, design and all sort of little details, my blog
is finally here.
So let me introduce myself. I'm Kasia (but most people can't pronounce it, so they call me Kate). Originally I come from Poland, but I live in Manchester with my Other Half and beautiful Son.
I've always been a huge fan of natural living and try to choose carefully what I put in and on me.
Couple of years ago, I found some information (here) about cosmetics, food and drugs tested
on animals and I was absolutely horrified
when I realised that majority of the content of my 'beauty cupboard' comes from evil companies,
who support animal testing. Unfortunately,
knowing all that didn't make my life any easier,
as I quickly realised that evil companies
are everywhere and it's hard to find cruelty-free stuff, without any nasties and on the budget.
When I was a teenager, my sister bought a book with recipes for home made beauty remedies.
At the time, making my own make -up
or moisturiser seemed like a waste of time and too much hustle, but now I would love to have that book again. Making my own stuff seems like
a great idea now and according to all Polish grandmas, the best place to find ingredients
for your handmade beauty products is your kitchen.

So that's the idea behind this blog. I'm gonna share with you my (and not only) attempts to create
a guilt and cruelty- free, natural, cheap(ish) products that will make you look and feel beautiful. At least, that's the plan ;) 

Watch this space.