A Favorite Lotion Recipe from Mountain Rose Herbs

photo credit Mountain Rose Herbs Blog

This is by far my favorite lotion recipe yet. It's called Silky for a reason! This lotion is so soft and luxurious - and smells heavenly (if you like the smell of roses). I can't say enough about the wonderful texture! When I read the recipe I was delighted to discover I had all the ingredients on hand, having purchased the Aphrodite Oil earlier this fall as a special treat for myself. The only ingredient I was missing was the Peru Balsam essential oil so I substituted Lavender as the article suggests. I made a half batch since I was running low on jars, but am ready to make this again. It's yummy! Click here or on post title for the recipe. As always, ingredients may be purchased by visiting Mountain Rose Herbs.

I mentioned I had all ingredients on hand, but I rarely follow a recipe as written. Instead of Grape Seed Oil, I used my own infused Calendula Oil (see earlier post). For more information on Carrier and Essential oils - see Know Your Ingredients on the upper right sidebar. I've compiled a handy resource that lists commonly used ingredients, their properties for skin care and such, as well as what they blend well with. As always, your comments are welcome!

Homemade Herbal Remedies

What a fun adventure this is becoming! As it turns out, I'm really glad that Mountain Rose Herbs was sold out of the tea I wanted to order, which meant I just had to buy all the ingredients and play with some blends on my own. They arrived in heavy zip lock bags, certainly not nice enough to have on display, so I used my

inventory of canning jars. Luckily, the labels on the bags came off easily and I was able to transfer them to the jars. They make a nice addition to my kitchen!

I've been wanting to create some spreadsheets of ingredients where I can easily look up the properties of say, all carrier oils, in one place without having to read about each one separately. I thought I could do one for essential oils too, and start with the oils I have. With this in mind, and my new found interest in other homemade remedies, I figured it would be time to start another Blog devoted just to that. So here it is, Homemade Herbal Remedies, and my first spreadsheet of ingredients is posted there. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Homemade Bug Spray

The U.P. is famous for it's bugs - mainly mosquitoes, but they really haven't been too bad this year.  On our camping trip we were bothered by flies, thankfully not the biting kind - just the pesky ones that hover around.  I bought a few more oils and concocted my own version of a bug spray that's pretty effective - even on flies. It has a pleasant odor (my friends tell me it smells great), can be used generously and best of all - contains no toxic ingredients!  One word of caution though - it's always a good idea to disclose your ingredients if you're giving it away.  A friend just mentioned an allergy to cedars and decided not to try it due to the Cedarwood essential oil.  My version starts with distilled water and oil of Citronella, Eucalyptus, Cedarwood, Rosemary, Lemongrass and Lavender.
I've been adding to my essential oil collection over the past year or so since I started making my own face and body lotions.  I just purchased Clary Sage - it has sedative and euphoric properties that will be a good addition to the sleep pillows I plan to make.

For complete information including properties and benefits of essential oils, I recommend Mountain Rose Herbs.  In addition to their organic essential oils, they offer a beautiful assortment of bulk teas, spices, and other herbal products.  Their website is a wealth of information and my favorite place to while away an evening.

Skin care with Aloe

Have you ever squeezed gel from an aloe leaf?  That stuff is gooey!  I had to sacrifice three fairly good sized leaves today for a new recipe I tried.  It's on page 114 of Organic Body Care Recipes by Stephanie Tourles,

It's called a cleansing cream but doubles as a face and body cream.  It has most of the same ingredients in the other recipe I use daily on my face, but instead of cocoa butter it has aloe vera gel and vitamin e oil.  Can't go wrong with those ingredients!  The best part was that I already had every ingredient, although my aloe plant might not be real happy tonight.  1/4 cup is a lot of aloe!  Used lavender, geranium and a bit of ylang ylang essential oils for added benefit.

Household Cleaning Recipes

The Mountain Rose Blog has recipes for surface cleaners, floor mop solutions, furniture polish, and a carpet deodorizer using safe products like distilled white vinegar, baking soda and essential oils.  I'm going to try the surface cleaner for the boat.  It's just distilled water, white vinegar and oils of lavender, tea tree and lemon.  Here's a list of oils that have anti-microbial properties:

Basil, Bay, Bergamot, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Clary Sage, Clove, Eucalyptus, Fir, Ginger, Juniper, Lavender, Lemon, Lemongrass, Myrrh, Nutmeg, Orange, Oregano, Patchouli, Peppermint, Pine, Rose Geranium, Rosemary, Sage, Savory, Spearmint, Spruce, Tea Tree, and Thyme.

Rosemary Oil - everything you want to know and more...

Awaiting my order of Rosemary oil from Mountain Rose Herbs.  I've been using a thick, creamy oil blend from Organic Body Care Recipes that is simply Sesame base oil (cosmetic grade, not culinary) and Shea Butter.  With the addition of Rosemary oil, it will help with aching muscles and circulation too! Thinking about a Lavender/Rosemary blend for balance.
Here's some interesting tidbits of info about Rosemary:

• "Hungary Water" was made by the Queen of Hungary by adding rosemary sprigs to wine.  It was said to "renovate vitality of paralyzed limbs".  
• Rosemary also has a reputation for improving memory. 
• The results of a study suggest that an ingredient found in rosemary  "may shield the brain from free radicals, lowering the risk of strokes and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's".  
• Another study showed it may have anticarcinogenic properties.

I'm gonna get some, and you can too.  Click on the Mountain Rose Herb banner for more information.

Skin Care - knowing the ingredients

If you're like most women I know, you use some kind of skin care product on your face and body. Take a minute and look at the ingredients in your moisturizer and see how many you can identify. Some people spend a lot of money on these concoctions, especially anti-aging face creams. I've been buying a commercial line of anti-aging face products for several years now, and I'm still not sure what the main ingredient is. So, I've been reading about ingredients in the Organic Body Care Recipes book I posted about earlier and deciding which recipes I'm going to make.

Rose Hip Seed Oil is good for mature skin and extreme weather exposure. Macadamia Nut Oil is another carrier oil that penetrates well and is used in creams for mature skin and skin that's sun or wind burned.

Choosing the essential oils has been an education too. In addition to having therapeutic value, the aromas are known to have certain effects on the central nervous system. Lavender has always been one of my favorite scents, and come to find out it has many versatile uses for skin care too. It has sedative, antispasmodic and antiseptic properties. It can be used for sunburns, insect bites, cuts, headaches, muscle aches, menstrual cramps and to induce sleep! The aroma is known for its relaxing and calming effect.

The almond meal/yogurt face scrub is working great! My face is very smooth and feels soft, not dry. I plan on following it with a Rosewater and Vegetable Glycerin toner. Then with one of the moisturizers I'll be mixing up. One that looks promising is the Rich and Royal Regeneration Flower Cream. Ingredients include macadamia nut oil, rose hip seed base oil, beeswax, rose water, vitamin E oil, and lavender, sweet orange and ylang ylang oils. I'm going to experiment a bit with other essential oils too. I purchased Bergamot, Rose and Frankincense oils, along with Lavender, Sweet Orange and Ylang Ylang. All 6 of these oils are listed as stress reducers and can be blended. It'll be fun coming up with my own "signature" scent.

These ingredients are inexpensive and can be purchased at Mountain Rose Herbs, along with other bulk products like teas and spices. Just click on the banner to the right for a look.

The Mountain Rose Blog

The Mountain Rose Blog has another Holiday giveaway this week - five different teas, a great tote bag and a beautiful tea pot for the lucky winner. I associate tea with sailing, being on the boat on a dark, rainy night, wet and cold headed for our destination. Sounds pretty miserable until we go below, light up the stove and brew a cup. Warms us from the inside out and all's well. Wish me luck...

Making my own skin care products

I became inspired this weekend while visiting a new friend. She makes her own face creams using recipes from the book Organic Body Care Recipes, and supplies from Mountain Rose Herbs. So I've ordered the book and am putting together my shopping cart - can't wait to start concocting! Hey, it involves cooking, good smells, and will save me tons of money. I've already started with a cleanser and exfoliator that's just ground almonds (almond meal) and a dab of yogurt. Things I always have on hand and it works great. Next, on to a cocoa butter lotion with sweet orange oil. Really need the moisture in this cold climate!