Green Mermaid Cottage

 This body recipe works well for my dry and sensitive skin.  INGREDIENTS - Castile soap  - Pure organic honey - Organic sweet almond oil (you can also use jojoba oil, avocado oil or olive oil - Essential oil (I chose Lavender oil).  MAKING THE PRODUCT Mix in a bowl: - 1/3 cup of Castile soap - 1/3 cup of honey  - 1/3 cup of almond oil  - 30 drops of your chosen essential oil. Once mixed pour the content of your bowl into a pump bottle.  That's it! your DIY body wash is ready to enjoy.  Remember to always do a test for any product you create on a small area of your skin to make sure that it won't cause you any irritation/allergy. 

I have had some issues with dry and sensitive skin, so one of the product I was really keen to make myself was a body butter that would help soothe and moisturise my skin.  This is the simple recipe I use: INGREDIENTS - 500g Organic coconut oil - 500g Organic shea butter  - Essential oil (I chose Lavender oil) - 350ml Organic almond oil.  MAKING THE PRODUCT - Mix the shea butter, coconut oil and almond oil together in a bowl - Heat the mixture using a Bain Marie technique: this means placing the bowl in a saucepan of  warm water, which surrounds its content with gentle heat - Once the mixture has melted remove the bowl from the heat and add 30 drops of your chosen essential oil  - Allow the mixture to cool down and to start to solidify. To speed the solidifying process I usually put the bowl into the fridge and regularly check its consistence. You don't want it to get too hard as it will make it difficult to whip in the next step of this...

THE 'GREEN TAX'  I decided to start making my own beauty and cleaning products because I simply could not afford to buy the type of products that I wanted in shops.  As an animal lover I only want to use plant-based products that are not tested on animals and preferably organic. I noticed that those type of products are always more expensive and therefore out of my reach.  DROWNING IN PLASTIC In addition I was increasingly bothered by the amount of packaging I was left to dispose of every time I used shop-bought products. I liked the idea of recycling these plastic bottles and glass jars as containers for my own products.  BAD HAIR AND SKIN DAY: ITCHY AND SCRATCHY... I hoped that making my own products would also help me calm my sensitive skin and scalp, made worse by the high levels of stress and anxiety I was experiencing. I even had to see my GP when I woke up covered with red, inflamed, incredibly itchy spots all over my belly, chest and parts of my back. After...