This year has been a bit of a whirlwind for me with so many changes. Last summer I decided to take a break from my retail business to focus on my first love perfumery with the view to writing a book. I have always loved teaching and sharing my knowledge so when I spotted an opportunity to teach the make your own cosmetics classes at The Make Lounge I jumped at it. Really it was just for fun while I worked on my perfumery book and classes, I didn’t dream that I would be approached by a publisher and have a book out by this year! We have now added a new workshop for Christmas so check it out if you want to make some bath treats as presents for the festivities.

The book has been very well received and I have been getting lots of lovely emails from people all over the world. Here is a Body Scrub Recipe from “A Green Guide to Natural Beauty” as featured on the Daily Mail website Barbados Ready Body Scrub

If you like the recipe and want to try more, grab yourself a signed copy of the book here. I can also personalise it if it’s a gift.

Here is the recipe for a lip balm in a twist up tube that I promised a few people I would put up.  We did this at a recent workshop at Bermondsey Fayre. Its really important to let the mixture cool slightly and put the tubes in a tray of cold water when you fill them, otherwise the mixture will leak out of the bottom before it has time to set!

Spearmint Lip Balm Stick (10×4.5g tubes)

• 14g Beeswax
• 10g Cocoa Butter
• 30ml Almond Oil
• 20ml  Jojoba Oil
• 10 drops spearmint essential oil or flavouring of choice

Melt all ingredients in a double boiler. Place tubes in a tray of cold water. Fill ¾ , cool slightly then top up. Leave to set before putting lids on.

Tubes can be found at The Soap Kitchen or Gracefruit

This fabulously decadent cleanser can be used morning and night to remove make-up and give your skin a pampering treat. If you can’t stretch to rose absolute then add a few drops of geranium essential oil instead.

ROSE & RED CLAY CLEANSER

10g COCOA BUTTER

20g COCONUT OIL

10g SHEA BUTTER

10g OLIVE WAX

20g CALENDULA OIL

10g HONEY

10g RED CLAY

5 DROPS ROSE ABSOLUTE

Melt the solid ingredients in a bain-marie or bowl over a pan of hot water on the hob. Add the Calendula Oil and Honey and stir gently until everything is liquid. Remove from the heat and add the Red Clay stirring the mixture gently as it cools to mix in the Clay. Add the Rose Absolute and pour into a clean 100g jar to set in the fridge.

Its a little known fact that I have a bit of an obsession with honey – it goes in pretty much everything I make. Its so fabulous for cleansing, moisturising, in masks and scrubs as well as in drinks and on oatcakes with peanut butter!

I made a lip balm a few weeks ago which everyone loved. Its started out as a basic formula but I couldn’t resist shoving a bit of honey in at the end.I think it was about 20% in the original batch but it was scribbled on a notepad minus the honey so I have reworked it here for you. The ingredients add up to 100g so they can be easily translated into percentages and scaled up or down:

HONEY BEE LIP BALM

Ingredients

45g Almond Oil
18g Shea Butter
14g Cocoa Butter
14g Beeswax
9g Honey

5 drops Honey Flavour (optional)

Melt the Beeswax, Cocoa Butter and Shea Butter in a bain-marie or bowl over a pan of hot water on the hob. Add the Honey and stir gently until everything is liquid. Remove from the heat and add the flavour if using. Keep stirring the mixture gently as it cools to mix in the Honey as this will not totally dissolve with heating. As you mix you will notice the mixture getting thicker and the honey will start to blend in. You can help this along by placing the bowl in iced water or put it in the fridge for a few minutes.  Once it is a thick but pourable consistency, pour into a clean 10g jars to set (makes approx 10)

This luxurious balm can be used as a hot cloth cleanser, a massage treatment or as an intense, rich moisturising treatment for dry or ageing skin.

INGREDIENTS

10g Jojoba Oil
10g Almond Oil
10g Rosehip Seed Oil
10g Hemp Seed Oil
10g Borage Oil
Note – You could use different oils to the above as long as the total adds up to 50g
20g Beeswax
30g Shea Butter
10g Manuka Honey
6 drops Rose Otto
4 drops Patchouli

METHOD

Melt the Beeswax and Shea Butter in a bain-marie or bowl over a pan of hot water on the hob. Add the remaining ingredients except for the essential oils and stir gently until everything is liquid. Remove from the heat and add the essential oils. Keep stirring the mixture gently as it cools to mix in the Manuka Honey as this may not totally dissolve with heating. As you mix you will notice the mixture getting thicker and the honey will start to blend in. Once it is a thick but pourable consistency, pour into a clean 100ml jar to set. If you want to make less then just halve all ingredients. Please note that measurements are weighed on a scale in grammes as this is more accurate than measuring out in millilitres.

Ingredients

10g Cocoa Butter

10g Shea Butter

15g Coconut Oil (solid)

5g Jojoba Wax

10g Witchazel

a few drops lavender oil

Method

Melt the Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter, Coconut Oil & Jojoba Wax in a bain-marie or a bowl over a pan of hot water. Once everything has melted, remove from heat and leave to cool slightly. Gradually stir in the witchhazel (or if you are making a bigger batch use a stick blender), continue to stir while the mixture cools. You can put it in the fridge for a few minutes, then stir some more until all of the witchazel is mixed in.  Once its a thick but pourable consistency add the essential oils and pour into a clean glass jar. Refridgerate to set it completely.

To use, massage a small amount over the face to dissolve make up and remove with a muslin cloth or face flannel that has been soaked in (not too) hot water.