NO SMUDGE HOME-MADE MASCARA

Honestly, I didn’t think this will work. After I had read (as it felt) about 1 trillion web sites and books I was very discouraged before even starting to try my own. The recipes either called for some frickingly toxic stuff (please, please, please don’t use dissolved shellac…that stuff is for cars!!) or they were reported to make you look like an escaped mad(wo)man. Well, in the end I gathered all my scientific logics and designed my own formula with ingredients I had at home. Problem to solve: The mascara should be non-toxic, non smeary, non- crumbly, rather gooey, strong in color and long lasting, but it should not harden before I can apply it….

Hahaha…well, challenge accepted! I was soooo surprised and absolutely did not expect my second result to come out just great!! I am fascinated! It makes my lashes look just like with any good volumizing black mascara.

The consisteny is of a paste. So, what I do is I apply it with one brush and with a clean macara-brush I separate the lashes by brushing through once more. It doesn’t even come of when rubbing your eyes or with plain water. Use make up remover or oil to take it off.

Let me know what you think!!

1 Tsp Tegomuls (combines the fat phase and water phase. Yes, you need it.)

½ Tsp bees wax

1 Tsp castor oil (or jojoba oil)

½ Tsp hydrous wool fat (Lanolin)

3-4 Tbsp Rose water (or distilled water)

¼ Tsp Agar-Agar

3 Tablets active charcoal (from the pharmacy), ground in a mortar to fine powder

In one glass combine Tegomuls, wax, oil, lanolin. In a second glass combine rose water and agar-agar. Place both glasses in a pot filled with 2-3 fingers high water. Bring water to a boil until the wax and lanolin is molten. Take both glasses out of the water bath. Now under fast stirring movements mix in the water phase into the fat-wax phase and mix until it has a creamy consistency. Mix 2 Tbsp of this cream into the charcoal powder one table spoon by a time and mix to the consistency of a paste. Fill into small containers or with a syringe into a cleaned mascara bottle. That is it! J

No time, no time….over-slept and no time to wash your hair or just too lazy but still wan’t to look fabulous? Well, here is an easy, cheap and awsome trick (best for blondish hair) to make your hair look fresh and smell yummy! Bye, bye bad-hair-days!!

BABY POWDER DRY SHAMPOO

Sprinkle a bit of baby powder on your fingers, turn your head down and rub into your skalp and your hair roots. Repeat throughout the whole head. Brush your hair and style.
That is as easy as a good-hair-day goes!?

I have been longing to make my own facial cream for a long time. The ingredients in facial-creams were the initial reason that I started to make my own products. When I saw a facial cream containing formaldehyde, an agent that we use in cell culture to kill cells, I was shocked. With growing interest (and disgust) I read more and more about other toxic and alarming ingredients (e.g. EDTA, Parabens) in the list of my facial-cream. It took me about 6 month of experimenting to come out with a product that is just as good as a commercially available one. Just for you….

ROSE FACIAL CREAM

10 ml oil (almond, jojoba or rape-seed)

5 g Shea-butter

4 g Tegomuls (emulsifier made of a palm-oil; you will need this for the cream to become smooth)

40 ml Rose water

20 drops 100% essential oil, as desired

Put rose water in one heat proof vessel (water phase) and shea-butter, tegomuls and oil in a second one (oily phase). Place both vessels in a water filled pot and heat until the oily phase has molten and is translucent. Take out of the water bath and fill rose water under a constant stream, constantly stirring into the oily phase. Stir, stir, stir….stir until the cream has become hand-warm. The cream goes through different phases. First it becomes stiff like a pudding, then more liquid and with more stirring the cream becomes creamy. This process takes about 5 minutes. Now add the essential oils and keep mixing. Then place into a cold water bath and keep stirring until cold. Now you can scoop the cream into clean containers and close them with a lid. At room temperature the cream can go bad in a few weeks. If you keep the cream cool it stays good for a very long time.

I have been looking for a non-toxic, inexpensive eye makeup remover that really works. I have never been satisfied with the commercially available products. Either they were full of toxic detergents or they didn’t work. Of course as a DIY junkie I started to try different recipes. I bought expensive ingredients and mixed and did experiments…well, again I wasn’t satisfied. One day where I had almost given up I really found it! It is ridiculously easy…but, believe me, it even works with water proof makeup and leaves your skin so soft!!!

ALMOND OIL MAKEUP REMOVER

Almond oil (you can also use jojoba oil)
Makeup remover pad or cotton, or whatever
Wet the pad with warm (winter)/ cold (summer) water and drip on a few drops of almond oil. Hold it to your closed eye lid for a few seconds and wipe downwards.

Please try it and tell me how it worked for you!

Rubby scrubby…this peeling makes you feel as clean and soft as a new born baby!!

NICI’S SUGAR-OAT PEELING

Makes 5

100 g cocoa butter

50 g bees wax

60 g olive oil

200 g sugar

100 g oat meal

30 drops 100 % essential oil (I like Tonka-bean extract)

Melt cocoa butter, wax and oil in a water bath. Mix with sugar, oat meal and essential oils and fill into silicon muffin molds (or whatever form you want them to have). Chill or let stand at room temperature until they have hardened.

Done! You can also add food coloring if you like.

Use under the shower and scrub and rub your skin with it. Wash with soap and feel how soft your skin is!!

Today was the first Natural product workshop of THE NICI FARM!!

Eight wonderful and inspiring ladies participated in making lip balm, 2 different deodorants, coconut massage bars and sizzling bath bombs!! Most people where surprised how easy it was to make your own cosmetics.

I thank you all and especially Caitlin from ACTIVE ENGLISH IN GRAZ for the great time I had and for the wonderful thoughts and comments! It was such a pleasure to get to know so great people!

I hope you will enjoy your self-made natural cosmetics at home and try to make them yourself.

See you at our next workshop!!