DIY Coconut Lip Gloss

As the goddess Mindy Kaling once said, "Sometimes you just have to put on lip gloss and pretend to be psyched." 

This seriously works. It's a secret weapon - when our hair's doing its own thing entirely, or we're tired, or just not having it altogether - a little bit of red goes a long way. That being said, my boyfriend won't bring his lips anywhere near mine when there's lipstick on them, so wearing a tinted lip gloss is a compromise. 

Making your own lip products is great for a few reasons: one, you know exactly what's going in them and two, you're in control of how much flavor and color is going in, so you can get the taste and tint just how you want it. You can also change the ratio of oil to base, so the level of gloss is to your preference - for this tutorial with Bramble Berry, I decided to go with avocado oil for its soothing qualities, and added just enough to create a bit of shine without being a liquid. 

Using ingredients from Bramble Berry, I made three different shades of coconut lip gloss: coral, merlot, and clear. The coral and merlot shades look pretty pigmented, but go on as a slightly tinted gloss. A tip from Bramble Berry is to put a spoon in the freezer before you begin, which you can dip into the hot gloss while mixing to test the color - the mixture will harden automatically on the spoon, which allows you to test the shade before it hardens. I found this very helpful! 

Shopping List:

16 oz Avocado Oil

(2) 4 oz Nourish Lip Balm Base

2 oz Coconut Flavor Oil

1 oz Coral Mica

1 oz Merlot Sparkle Mica

10 sets Non-stackable Clear Lip Balm Pots

2 droppers

1 tsp sugar (optional)

I made two tins of the clear shade, to wear on its own or over a matte lipstick. I added a small amount of granulated sugar to this mix to make it into a slight exfoliant, and it tastes kinds of amazing. 

Clear Coconut Lip Gloss 

Ingredients:

1 oz Nourish Lip Balm Base

2 ml Coconut Flavor Oil

2 ml Avocado Oil

1 tsp granulated sugar

Makes two pots of lip gloss

This shade has a pretty red sheen, and can be worn on its own or used throughout the day to refresh a red lipstick.

Merlot Lip Gloss

Ingredients:

2 oz Nourish Lip Balm Base

3 ml Coconut Flavor Oil

4 ml Avocado Oil

1 tsp Merlot Sparkle Mica

Makes four pots of lip gloss

The coral is perfect for summer, when you want just a little bit of color to add to a beachy or brunch look. 

Coral Coconut Lip Gloss

Ingredients:

2 oz Nourish Lip Balm Base

3 ml Coconut Flavor Oil

4 ml Avocado Oil

1.5 tsp Coral Mica

Makes 4 pots of lip gloss

The process for each is very simple: 

1. Melt the lip balm base in the microwave in 20 second increments, stirring in between, until fully melted.

2. Add flavor and stir until mixed.

3. In a separate bowl, combine color mica and oil until fully mixed.

4. Add color mixture to base mixture. Stir until fully incorporated, then pour into lip gloss pots and allow to harden. 

In the case of the clear gloss, I added the sugar at the end. Again, you can tweak these recipes as necessary, depending on how much flavor or pigment you want. I gave a few away as gifts, but will be using these throughout the year when I need a little bit of color! 

lavender dreams

I'm becoming my mother and I don't care who knows it.

My mom loves lavender. Growing up, our yard always had a huge lavender plant in front, warming in the sun and housing hundreds of bumblebees. She was always drying tiny purple bouquets in the kitchen window, gathering the petals and scooping them into little bags to hide in drawers or on shelves. A few months ago, she thrifted some hiking boots for me and when I got them in the mail, I stuck my hand inside the boot to find one of these little bags of purple fragrance.

That being said, I wasn't very fond of the scent as a kid. Too soapy, I thought. I never understood why my mom and others liked it so much. But then, as all things tend to go, I grew up and became my mother and realized the appeal of this little violet floral. I bought my first lavender plant a few months ago and loved watching the stalks appear and flower - every day I would point out the new blooms to Evan, who lovingly pretended to care every time (thanks, boo). 

The next step was to hop on the Essential Oil craze that I keep hearing so much about. This Hungarian Lavender Essential Oil is wonderful - a bit lighter and more green than the usual scent, and perfect for so many uses. I'm still learning about essential oils, but lavender EO can be used for anything from calming & sleep aid to bath oils to minor cuts & burns and on and on. I've also seen recipes for Lavender Lemonade with a few drops of essential oil, which sounds kind of amazing. Have tips or ideas for using this little cure-all? Leave a comment or send me a link!

Thanks to Bramble Berry for this Essential Oil sampler pack.  

Vanilla Latte Body Scrub

Because why just drink coffee when you can slather it all over your body?

My first project with Bramble Berry is this Vanilla Latte Body Scrub, complete with deliciously exfoliating coffee grounds & brown sugar. This was ridiculously simple to make, which is fantastic for someone like me who can be a bit of a quitter when DIYs get at all complex...and it smells heavenly, and looks cute in its packaging, and would make an excellent gift, and is really just a win. 

Though this is great to use now, I think this would make a perfect Autumn gift, whether to a friend or to yourself. It's both exfoliating and moisturizing, and the scent lingers perfectly. It's nice to know exactly what you're putting on your body, too! 

Obviously starting craving some iced coffee while making this - you probably will, too. Any excuse, right?

Find everything you need to make this sumptuous scrub below! 

Vanilla Latte Scrub:

Ingredients:

Two or Three 8 oz. Bail Jars

1/2 cup Coffee Grounds

1/3 cup brown sugar (optional)

16 oz. Foaming Bath Whip

5 ml Turkish Mocha Fragrance Oil 

5 ml Vanilla Fragrance Oil 

8 oz. Coffee Butter

Droppers

Using a mixer, combine bath whip & coffee butter until fully incorporated. Add coffee grounds and brown sugar, mix until just combined. Slowly add fragrance oils, using droppers and mixing in between so you can moderate the fragrance level to your liking. Scoop into jars, seal, and enjoy! 

waxing sentimental, or where home is, or an introduction

I suppose it's a rite of passage, a strange surge into adulthood, when your parents move from the house, town, and even state you grew up in. Their new city, while filled with your family, the carriers of that real heart-home, isn't yours exactly. Perhaps the town you grew up has been marred in some way, so you won't call that home. Maybe you're like me, and you've made a few small, temporary homes in places you've inhabited since moving from your parents. I've been wondering lately about where home is for me, because LA doesn't quite feel like it and San Diego, while forever one of my favorites places, wasn't quite it either. For me, deep in my soul, my sleepy college town in Washington was, and still feels like, home.

Though I've left and most of my close friends are gone too, passing the university on to the next set of twenty-somethings on their own for the first time, Bellingham holds an intrinsic, essential hold on me. In my time there, everything changed and formed and broke and was put back together in a way that confused and awed me. I guess that's unremarkable; normal happenings in the time between 18 and 22 years, but nevertheless that is home for me, for now.  

I could go on waxing sentimental about that town and it's memories, but I digress. All that to say that I am very happy (in the sappiest of ways, as you can tell) to work with a company that is located, driven, and fully staffed by the beautiful people of Bellingham, Bramble Berry. I actually worked at Bramble Berry for my last summer before moving to San Diego, so getting to play with and photograph these supplies was a nostalgic time, and one I am grateful for! 

Bramble Berry is a huge supply shop with everything you need to make things like soap, candles, body butter, all-natural makeup, essential oils, and on and on. I have these soaps in my kitchen and bathroom and they are oh so soft and also fill the room with the slightest, yummiest scent. From ombre soap to coconut milk or avocado oil soap, I kind of want one of each.  I have a few tutorials coming up with them, including a sumptuous coffee scrub - check back later this week, and visit their site to learn a little more! Oh, and a thanks in advance to Angela for being the best hand model/fellow DIYer a girl could ask for.