Crunchy Betty Honey Challenge-It's Been Two Weeks (almost!)

   So as you may know, I took the Crunchy Betty Honey Challenge as of 7/18.  We were instructed to wash our face with (raw) honey every day for two weeks and it has been a rather gooey, but enjoyable, journey.  Perhaps I am guilty of overly inflated expectations, but my results did not end up quite as I had hoped.  Previous to the honey cleansing I had been doing oil cleansing, which my face seemed to love.  Granted, I do have temperamental skin, but I had not expected how drying the honey would be.  I've used honey as a mask before, with good results, but just straight honey every day made my skin dry and spotty.  Within the past few days I have switched over to adding a bit (1/4 teaspoon or so) of honey in with my cleansing oil mix and this has taken care of the dryness issue.  I'll follow up after a bit (another week or two) to let you know if I have found my golden mean so to speak.  I'm definitely a believer in the benefits of honey and I certainly welcome a way to incorporate it into my daily routine.  Another way besides eating it that is!

So Much Pun

I had to share this because, well, this is exactly the way my brain works.

The Lovin List: True Blood Edition

I don't know about you, but I'm a sucker for vampires.  They are a long running fascination of mine, ever since taking a Gothic novel class in college.  In honor of the newest season of True Blood beginning not too long ago, I thought I'd include a little list of vampire related merchandise.

Target - Fangtasia

Whitewash Sundries - Vampire Wine Glasses

HBO-Tru Blood Poster

Tarte-Tarte for True Blood™ Limited-Edition

MazzyJewelryDesigns-Vampire Bite Choker

Lemongrass Tea

After enjoying some lemongrass tea from our local farmers market I thought I'd try my hand at making some.  I picked up a lemongrass plant this summer and I'd noticed it was getting quite tall so it seemed a good opportunity to make some tea.  If you don't have a lemongrass plant, you can usually find the stalks for sale in the produce section.  The lighter colored base has the strongest lemon-y flavor, but you can use the green leaves as well.

What you'll need:

Lemongrass (approx 1/2 cup chopped up into 3-inch pieces)
Water (about 6 cups)
Sweetener (if desired)

Boil your water, drop in the leaves, let them simmer for about 20 minutes.  Strain out the leaves, sweeten to taste. ( I used stevia)  Pop into the fridge and enjoy it iced.

Lemongrass goes well with a lot of other teas, I love to pop in a couple bags of pomegranate or orange tea herbal tea.

P.S. I didn't include pictures because, well, lemongrass tea isn't very photogenic.  It smells good, it tastes good but doesn't make for anything lovely to look at.

Oil Cleansing

After a particularly unpleasant few weeks where my face decided to rebel, I thought I'd do some research and see what I could find that may help to calm my skin down.  Enter Crunchy Betty and her awesome site with all sort of awesome recipes for natural health and beauty products.  I had picked up some jojoba oil last time I was at Trader Joe's but I wasn't really sure the best way to use it.  She gives a bunch of different suggestions as to the best oils and amounts for your skin type.  I found the best combination for me was 2/3 castor oil and 1/3 jojoba oil.  I also add a couple drops of lavender essential oil.  It's super easy, just combine the oils in your palm and massage onto your face for a couple minutes.  After that, wet a washcloth with hot water, cover your face let it steam for a bit, then wipe off your face.  Repeat as necessary until all the oil is gone.  I usually dab on a couple drops of jojoba oil after I'm done.  It took a few days for my skin to get used to, but over all it's worked wonders for my face.

I'm Taking The Crunchy Betty Honey Challenge

I've used honey masks many times before, so when I saw this on Crunchy Betty's website I thought it was right up my alley.  With the Honey Challenge you just wash your face with honey once a day.  Yup, that easy.  She has detailed instructions on her website-along with a super cute little video of her doing a demonstration.  I'll be doing this for at least two weeks and I'll let you know how it turns out at the end.  How about giving it a try along with me?  Just click the button above for instructions!

A little humor for Monday

Picture courtesy of The Meta Picture