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.