Easy homemade body scrub recipe

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Apparently summer is around the corner (doesn’t feel like it here in England yet, but I’m holding out hope!).  Here’s a SUPER easy recipe for homemade coffee body scrub to get your skin soft and glowing for warmer weather!

We brew a pot of coffee every weekend morning, and I wanted a fun way to use up the grounds.  This quick mocha body scrub recipe has no preservatives, so it’s meant to be stirred up and used immediately (you could keep it in the fridge for 2-3 days, but no longer).  So it’s a great weekend morning project.  Just stir some up with whatever you have on hand, jump in the shower, and scrub away.

The key ingredients are coffee, sugar and oil – everything else can be changed around based on how creative you’re feeling and what you have available.  You’ve probably read differing opinions on whether caffeine can reduce cellulite – and surely this scrub would be a cheap way to give it a try.  I’m a bit skeptical about all that, but it does make your skin really soft and smooth, and smells great!  If you’ve tried this recipe, or something similar, let us know in the comments!

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The ultimate indulgence: customized beauty booty

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I admit I’m a beauty product junkie.  I used to work across the street from Sephora, and was too frequently tempted to pop in during lunch and pick up a few items.  That was a fun but expensive habit.

On my continued quest to learn how to make stuff, I’ve turned my attention to beauty products.  I recently wrote about using honey as a face mask.  Creating homemade beauty products is a lot like cooking – you can start with a recipe to learn the basics, and then embellish as you get more confident.  But most importantly, you can customize the products to your own skin type (and use really high-quality ingredients, without paying retail prices!).

Making creams is a lot like making mayonnaise. It’s a bit of a miracle, getting oil and water to mix together in a beautiful emulsion.  The first time I saw it happen in the herbal medicine class, I was amazed!  (Almost as amazed as when I made yogurt!)

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