You guys ever see those pregnant ladies that just glow? I'm not one of those.

It's been 3 months and I've been hoping this time around I could be a glower, but nah.

I'm coming to terms that I'm just not a glower. Ohh how I wish I was the type but I'm the preggo lady that suffers throughout the entire 3 trimesters while bub sucks every available nutrient from my marrows and everything else it can suck, from wherever it can suck.

So aside from my knee problem, I also have a face problem. I'm breaking out like a pubescent teenager right now and good lord it's a combination skin nightmare. I've got oily patches and dry patches and itchy patches.

It's so bad, I took and looked at my esential oils unboxing video and deleted it straight away. That is not going up on the blockchain.

Not one to waste time or put up with things for long periods I figured I'd start trials last night and whip up a face scrub.

What do we have here?

Certified organic Coconut oil
Great for moisturising, conditioning and softening skin. It also has antibacterial properties which means it's awesome for those pimples.

Certified organic Camellia oil
Light and fast absorbing, it penetrates the skin faster leaving it soft and hydrated. It also contains vitamins A, D, E & K, and known to help with age spots and skin pigmentation.

Certified organic Ylang Ylang essential oil
Great for oily and acne prone skin (ohh hello!) and stimulates cell growth. Plus the smell... 😍

Certified organic Frankincense essential oil
Also helps with pigmentation, and known to tone and tighten skin.

100% Pure Tea Tree essential oil
Anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-acne, antiseptic- tea tree oil is the most recommended oil for acne, as well any cuts, respiratory problems and even bug problems. If you only ever have 1 essential oil at home, let it be this one.

Epsom Salt
Coarse, it makes for a great exfoliator/scrub. It's also a known source of magnesium ~ though I'm not sure how much magnesium I can get out of this via face scrub, but via foot soak or bath is said to be the best way.

Method to my madness

You can see from the list that it's a mixed bag of mostly organic materials. More importantly the carrier oils are organic.

As much as I'd like everything to be certified organic it's just impossible between availability and cost. But what I do try to do is make sure my carrier oil is certified organic because most oils need to be diluted and the carrier oil ends up being at least 50% of a 10ml roller bottle, and that's the recommended dilution amount for teens and adults.

Babies, pregnant ladies and the elderly require a much higher dilution ratio eg: 3 drops of essential oil and the rest carrier oil in a 10ml roller bottle due to possible sensitivity.

It's really important to remember these oils are highly concentrated thus the absolute need to dilute. Yes, even in the diffuser.

Steps!

First thing's first, sterilise my container via boiling.

Once the container was done, I placed a glass in the hot water and a generous teaspoon of coconut oil in it to melt.

While that was melting I added 5 teaspoons of epsom salt in the dried container.

I then poured the coconut oil in the mix followed by 3 squirts of camellia oil (roughly 1 teaspoon), 2 drops of tea tree, 1 drop of ylang ylang, 1 drop of frankincense and added a pinch of certified organic lavender just cos.

After mixing I realised it was too moist and added a couple of teaspoons of salt just to balance it out, then more camellia oil because it was too dry.

This is the whole purpose of trial runs peeps! 😁

In the end I got this.

My dilution rate ended being 1 drop of EO per 1 tsp of carrier, spread across 6 teaspoons of epsom salt.

Feedback & Day After

Lucky for me Hubby just got home and still had work dirt on him.

Being an alarm installer he sometimes has to crawl through roof cavities to run cables and his biggest peeve about his job is doing that and the fibreglass he encounters up there, so he's all about scrubs and anything to get all that out of his pores he's all for.

After testing it on myself first to show him what to do, I left the bathroom to him and the mix.

After some time later he came out pleased and happy. He loved the coarse salt and the way his skin felt afterwards. He did say it helped to wet his skin first to allow the mix to move and that it needed more oil.

I scrubbed twice last night. Once to show him, then again before bed time after following his suggestion by adding more camellia oil and wetting my face first.

This morning I'm very excited to say the pimples I had on my temple all week are smaller (almost dried
& gone actually!!) and no longer painful to touch. My skin is also softer, smoother and less oily!!

I think I have a winner here!!

I'm actually really REALLY pleased with the mix itself and the immediate result.

Of course I still need to fine tune my recipe and honestly this small container is laughable now that I think about it, but it's perfect for samples and trials!

Today I think I'll work on my lip balm. We don't need it yet but it'll be good to have on hand for when we do.

This is my entry for the Natural Medicine fortnightly competition. The theme for this challenge is Home Remedies! Check out the other entries here for some natural medicine inspiration xxx

Happy Friday everyone!