Bronzing Chocolate Body Butter

I've been experimenting with homemade self-tanners. The black tea and oil was a failure, as it stained my shower brown.
The most recent experiment is a Bronzing Chocolate Body Butter. I made my normal body butter (see older post for recipe), heavy on the Shea Butter, and added in a heaping tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 scoop of bronze mica, 1/2 scoop of gold mica and 1/2 scoop satin white mica. I added these in at the end, when I added in the arrow root powder. The essential oils I used this time were orange and lemon. So basically I smell like a chocolate orange. Yum. And yes, it does actually taste kind of good, but I wouldn't recommend eating it, unless you like mica in your tummy.
It is a little stickier than normal at first, but if you are wearing shorts it is no biggie. It definitely does give a subtle tan, and you will glow like a movie star. I thought my dog would try to lick it off my arms, but he doesn't seem interested. Good. Don't wear anything white against it, it will rub off a little. I try to only wear it with my darker color skirts, and usually only put it on the parts of my body that will be exposed. Make sure you rub it in well to avoid streaks. I don't bother washing my hands after, I just wipe off my palms with a tissue.
So there you go, give it a try!

Skin Care.....Simplified

So after all this lotion making and what not, I have actually narrowed down my skin care products to about 5 or 6 total. While I like lotion, I have found that I hate being cold after a shower, so I now oil up in the shower before I towel off. I don't have to be cold, and the towel takes care of any oil that didn't soak into my skin. I have always had dry skin, and since I have been doing the oil in the shower routine, I haven't had one single patch of dry, itchy skin.

The new routine!

Facial Cleansers:

• Morning: Oatmeal Sugar Scrub (Finely ground oatmeal, dry milk, white sugar)
• Evening: Oil Cleansing Lotion (See previous post)

Moisturizers:

• Wrinkle-fighting/Uplifting Oil (Sweet Almond,Apricot Kernal, and Grapeseed Oils; Carrot Seed, Geranium, and Clary Sage Essential Oils) Carrot Seed and Geranium have wrinkle fighting properties, Geranium and Clary Sage have anti-depressant properties, Clary Sage also helps with controling acne.

Toners:

• Witch Hazel and Rose Water: 1/2 and 1/2 of each. You can also add a few drops of liquid glycerine for softness.

Body Care:

• Liquid Castile Soap: I like the Hemp Almond scent, and I sometimes dilute this since it is a little strong. I use this for my body cleansing, and sometimes for my face.
• Body Oil: Same oil mixture as for face, but I used Orange and Cinnamon Essential Oils for a yummy scent. Orange and Cinnamon can be irritating to very sensitive skin, so be careful.

Ok, so thats it! As you see, it could really be two less, since you could use the Oil Cleansing Lotion for your whole body, or Castile on your face, and you could use the same formula for your face and body oil. You could simplify it even more by using only one type of base oil, say Almond or Apricot. I only use all three so I can have the benifits of the different fats, and to use up the oil I have sitting around. Oil can go rancid, so you do want to use it up.

All of these products were made by me with supplies from Zenith Supplies Inc in the Ravenna area of Seattle. www.zenithsupplies.com. Making your own skin care products is a great way to make sure that your products are personally customized to your skin care needs, and you will save a ton of money.