Lavender and Rose Revitalizing Body Lotion: An Andrew Kenshin DIY

Lotion. It's awesome. And for me, it's an absolutely CRUCIAL component to my beauty routine. The dang Irish in me leaves me with super dry skin if I don't lather on moisturizer EVERY SINGLE DAY.

And as I have become more and more aware of all the icky and harmful/completely unnecessary petrochemicals, preservatives, fragrances, and carcinogens that are so prevalent in the majority of mainstream skincare, it has become a no-brainer to me to simply make my own! This way I get to control the quality of ingredients and I can customize my products to suit ME.

Here's some skincare ingredients you want to AVOID like the plague:

• Parabens (Used as preservatives. Make your hormones go all out of whack.)
• Artificial Fragrances (The one word "fragrance" could be made up of hundreds of different chemicals. Yikes!)
• Sulfates (This is what makes products "foam" and are very harsh on the skin.)
• GMOs (Genetically modified organisms. These are NOT safe and most are carcinogens. The only way to avoid these is to look for the GMO-Free certification on the label or to buy Organic.)
• Anything you can't pronounce or that is a series of numbers and letters. (These are most likely created in a lab and WHO KNOWS how safe they are.)

Remember we absorb more than 50% of what we put on our skin right into our bloodstream!

Ok, now for the fun part! Let's make some lovely nourishing lotion!

Lavender and Rose Revitalizing Lotion:

What you'll need (organic if possible):

• 1/2 cup Grapeseed oil (Or olive, hemp, almond, whatever you fancy.)
• 1/4 cup Coconut oil
• 1/4 cup Beeswax (Make sure it is cosmetic grade! I grated mine but you could just chop into small pieces if you prefer.)
• 1 teaspoon Vitamin E oil
• 2 tablespoons Shea Butter
• Essential Oils (For this version I used 15 drops Lavender and 15 drops Wild Rose. But you can use whatever combination you'd like!)  
• Cute jar (I used the same 22 oz jar I used for the Lavender Purrrr Scrub. This recipe will fill this jar halfway so if you want to fill the whole thing then double this recipe.) 

Directions:

1. Combine all your ingredients minus the essential oils into a Pyrex glass measuring cup.
2. Fill a pot with a few inches of water and place your Pyrex into the pot.
3. Boil the water and stir your ingredients together as they begin to melt. (The beeswax takes the longest to melt as it has the highest melting point.)
4. When everything is melted together, remove your Pyrex from the water. Careful it'll be hot!
5. Add your essential oils to the melted oils and stir.
6. Pour your concoction into your clean and dry jar and allow to cool/solidify.

Enjoy your new luxurious and uber-nourishing lotion! Massage into your skin after exfoliating with your Lavender Purrrr Scrub for the ultimate skin-indulging experience! This recipe is VERY emollient so allow yourself some time to let the oils absorb before putting on clothes.

I've found this works wonders on sunburns! After one application my sunburn is already almost gone! AND it has helped diminish my pesky stretch marks! Seriously nothing else has worked as well! MAGIC!

What combinations of essential oils is YOUR favorite?