Leila
What better time than summer to enjoy a cocktail? Cocktails are typically high in calories, though, especially with the alcohol content. This summer, enjoy some super cocktails without ingesting the unnecessary calories. Read on for a few low-calorie cocktail recipes.
Sangria Sparkler
750-milliliter bottle dry red wine
1 cup light orange juice
1/4 cup brandy or cognac
1/4 cup orange liqueur
2 tablespoons sugar
2 medium oranges, sliced
2 cups club soda, chilled
Crushed ice and/or orange peel curls (optional)
In a large pitcher, combine wine, orange juice, brandy, orange liqueur, sugar, and orange slices. Chill at least 2 hours. Add club soda before serving. Serve over crushed ice and/or with orange peel curls, if desired. Continue reading
When the summer season arrives, you probably want to spend more time focusing on your beauty. Instead of using more makeup, you tend to want to wear lighter makeup and have the sun-kissed look.
To achieve this, you need to improve your complexion, which can be done by using an exfoliator.
There are many amazing exfoliating products in drug stores, but they don’t always use ingredients you recognize or that you want on your skin.
Another option is to make your very own exfoliator, allowing you to have full control over what is used and get some additional benefits from these ingredients at the same time.
Benefits of Exfoliating Your Skin
Why should you exfoliate your skin? Easy, it removes the dead skin cells on your skin. If you just use regular foam cleanser every day, it will clean your skin, but these skin cells remain on the surface. You need to gently scrub them away with an exfoliating product.
The dead skin cells eventually clog your pores, leading to complexion issues and acne. Exfoliating your skin naturally can also help it to glow, appear healthier, and improve the blood circulation.
Why You Should Use Natural Ingredients
The reason you should consider making some of the natural exfoliators listed in this report is because they contain no additives, dyes, fragrances, or toxins. You want your skin to be naturally healthy, without anything added that can cause irritation or breakouts.
1 – Honey Sugar Exfoliating Scrub
This first exfoliating scrub is a simple one that will only take you a few minutes to make. It includes some ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. You can make a small amount just for one use, or make a little more to add to a container and use whenever you need some good exfoliating.
Why Honey and Sugar
The main benefits of this exfoliating scrub have to do with the honey and sugar that you use. The reason honey is so beneficial in the scrub is because it has anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties. This allows it to reduce bacteria in your skin while also lightening your skin tone.
It also uses white sugar, which is going to provide the coarseness you need to exfoliate your skin naturally. This can also brighten your skin, which is often desired during the summer.
Ingredients
For this honey sugar scrub, you will need the following ingredients:
White sugar
Raw honey
Carrier oil (your choice)
Essential oil (your choice)
You should use the same amount of honey, sugar, and the carrier oil, so you can choose the amounts based on how much of the scrub you want to make. With the carrier oil and essential oil, use your own preferred types. Some good carrier oils are olive oil and jojoba oil, while essential oils can be lavender, rose, peppermint, or any others you have on hand.
How to Make this Scrub
All of these exfoliating scrubs are very easy to make! It is just a matter of combining the ingredients. Grab a bowl that will fit the amount of ingredients you are using and start by pouring in the sugar, then adding in your honey. Pour in the oil and essential oil drops, and mix well. The honey is a bit thick, so it might take quite a bit of mixing until all the sugar is coated evenly. Make sure you keep mixing until there are no more clumps.
Store this and all exfoliating scrubs in an airtight container. When you are ready to use it, get a small amount from the container and rub on your skin. You want to scrub your skin and you can leave it on for a few minutes if you like. Rinse with cool or warm water.
2 – Rose and Lavender Sugar Scrub
The next type of exfoliating product that is good for your skin is this rose and lavender sugar scrub. It is a pretty sugar scrub that looks just as good as it smells! Plus of course it provides some excellent exfoliating power for your skin.
Why Rose and Lavender
Both rose and lavender are wonderful ingredients to use for a sugar scrub. The lavender is soothing and relaxing, helping you to sleep if you use this scrub at night. It also smells fresh and feminine, without being an overpowering scent. You will then use some rose essential oils in the sugar scrub, which also has a soft and light scent, plus some added benefits for your skin.
Ingredients
For the rose and lavender sugar scrub, the following ingredients are required:
Lavender essential oil
Rose essential oil
Carrier oil
Coconut oil
White sugar
You can use any carrier oil you like, but sweet almond oil and jojoba oil are best for this combination. The coconut oil will add moisture to your skin, which is why it is also added. You can also add some rose petals as well.
How to Make this Scrub
For this exfoliating scrub, start with the sugar again, then add in your carrier oil and essential oils. This should mix very easily since there are no thick ingredients. Once you have done that, add in some rose petals if you decide to use them.
3 – Coffee Body Exfoliating Scrub
This next exfoliating scrub is a fun one, since it uses coffee. Yes, coffee! Coffee has been hitting the news recently because people aren’t just drinking it, but using freshly-ground coffee beans for beauty and health purposes. You can use this coffee in the morning or any other time of the day. It is also an amazing gift to give to others.
Why Coffee for a Scrub
You might be asking yourself why the coffee grounds are used for a body scrub. The reason is this: finely-ground coffee is the perfect consistency for an exfoliator. It is completely natural, always available, and easy to use. Plus, coffee has some other health benefits too. It is really wonderful for helping with dry skin, can nourish your skin, and is super convenient.
Ingredients
Three simple ingredients are used for the coffee body scrub, including:
Finely-ground coffee
Sugar
Coconut oil
At this point, you have a few decisions to make. You can use brown sugar or white sugar, though for coffee scrubs, brown sugar is usually preferred. You can also choose to replace the coconut oil with another type of oil if you want. It is best to use coffee grounds you made fresh, not instant.
How to Make this Scrub
To start making this scrub, you first need to prepare the coffee grounds. It is best to grind them yourself, but at the very least, use ground coffee and not instant. Brew a pot of coffee in a regular coffee pot, so don’t use a Keurig machine for this.
Once it is brewed, remove the coffee grounds from the pot and let them sit out to cool. When they are completely cool, you can pour them into a container, adding in your sugar and oil. Mix well, then put the lid on.
As with all these scrubs, it should be in an airtight container with a lid, and left in room temperature.
4 – Healthy Green Tea Scrub
How about trying out an exfoliating scrub that uses green tea? You probably know how beneficial green tea is for you, but not just for drinking. It happens to be excellent for your skin.
Why Use Green Tea
Green tea is one of the very healthiest teas you can drink, but it is also wonderful on your skin. Green tea is naturally anti-aging, so it can help smooth out fine lines and wrinkles, as well as provide antioxidants naturally. Green tea can help reduce the signs of age spots and sun damage when using this scrub on your face.
Ingredients
For the healthy green tea body scrub, you want to use the following ingredients:
White sugar
Matcha green tea powder
Green tea bag
Essential oils
Carrier oil
Like many of these scrubs, you are going to add in oils to the scrub. It adds more scent and some added benefits. For the green tea scrub, use a light scented essential oil, like chamomile or lavender. You don’t want it to be too strong.
The matcha green tea adds even more health benefits, and the green tea bag or loose leaf tea just adds overall toe the power of this scrub.
How to Make this Scrub
As with the coffee skin scrub, you want to first brew your tea, since the tea bag is going to add to the scrub. Once the tea is done, remove the bag and let it cool. Open it up and add it to a bowl with the matcha powder, sugar, carrier oil, and essential oils. Mix it well and add it to an airtight container.
5 – Vanilla, Rose, and Lavender Scrub
This final skin care exfoliating scrub it a nice, feminine scrub that is perfect for the entire body. It is really great to use in a relaxing bath with chamomile and lavender oils or bath salts. Not only will you get the benefits from the scrub, but the bath water at the same time.
Why Vanilla, Rose, and Lavender?
These are some of the best ingredients for a scrub. They are easy to find, provide relaxation and stress-relief, and are wonderful for your skin. The vanilla is added mostly for scent, while the rose and lavender are oils that provide moisture for your skin and can also relieve any irritation you have.
Like all these scrub recipes, you can of course add in any other ingredients you want.
Ingredients
Here is a list of the required ingredients for the lavender, rose, and vanilla exfoliating body scrub:
Lavender essential oil
Rose essential oil
Vanilla extract
Sugar
How to Make this Scrub
Combine all of these ingredients in a bowl, mixing them well. Transfer it to an airtight container and use as you would any other body scrub.
Final Thoughts
Now you have an arsenal of body scrubs that you can use all summer that will prepare your skin for the challenges of the fall and winter seasons. Use them now and on into the cooler weather to ensure healthy looking and feeling skin for when we may not so aware of how our body is doing since it is not as visible, and therefore, obvious as it is in warm weather.