Most stores now have a line of “natural” beauty products. Unfortunately, they often come with a big price tag attached too. Often times many of these products are not actually “natural” so it does pay to do your homework to ensure you are getting what you pay for.

Fortunately actually making beauty products yourself isn’t too difficult. So if you want beauty products that you know are natural and are also inexpensive, just make them yourself. Here are quick and easy recipes you can make at home yourself.

Face Mask
Eating good food helps give you the right nutrients you need to look good.  You can get more of these vitamins and minerals by putting the good stuff right on the skin.

Combining a mashed carrot, mashed avocado, and a beaten egg with a half cup a few tablespoons of honey creates a great face mask that provides vitamins, and improves the tone and texture of your skin. Just stir well, apply, let sit for about 15 minutes, and then wash off with cool water.

After you’re washed and nourished your skin, you can use grated cucumber or diluted lemon juice as a toner to help tighten your skin and close up your pores to close your pores and keep your skin looking great.

Hair Conditioner
Many people pay a lot of money for a conditioner that actually makes your hair look and feel good. Here’s a great natural recipe to save you money and help your hair.

Just mix an egg yolk with a tablespoon of castor oil and apply to hair. Let sit for about ten minutes and rinse out. You can use this every so often as a conditioning treatment for healthy shiny hair. If you like being experimental, you can try mixing other kitchen items, herbs, and natural items with eggs for healthy, shiny hair.

Hand and Foot Cream
A quick face mask will help make you look great in not a lot of time, but hands and feet require extra care.

Use ½ cup of olive oil mixed with natural sea salt and massage into your hands and feet. Leave a few minutes to soak and then rinse off with warm water.

When it comes to natural beauty products, these recipes are just the start.  You can find hundreds of different combinations in natural beauty books, magazines, and on the internet. Or you can go to your kitchen cabinet and make your own special creations.

Coffee, with its therapeutic qualities, has many uses as a beauty ingredient. Needless to say, coffee itself has added benefits for your skin that many body scrubs do not provide. Coffee, which contains magnesium and vitamin E, acts as an antioxidant, as well as having antibacterial, exfoliating, and stimulating properties. Did you know that coffee, when applied topically, helps to redistribute fat cells and aids in decreasing the formation of cellulite? Not only does coffee help with cellulite, but I was also surprised to learn that coffee is known to shrink and tighten blood vessels. Which means, in other words, that coffee helps to eliminate varicose veins.

When using a coffee scrub, or other type of body scrub, we are basically scrubbing off the top layer of dead skin cells. It is this layer of dead skin cells that makes our skin look dull and lifeless. However, the use of a body scrub not only leaves our skin smoother, but also helps to prevent ingrown hairs and breakouts. If we scrub in a circular motion moving towards the heart, we are actually helping to increase circulation.

Coffee Scrub Recipes

Now that we have a better idea of just how great coffee scrubs are for our skin, let’s move on to a few coffee scrub recipes. I’ve posted five (5) wonderful coffee scrub recipes for you to try over at Bath and Body Recipes. To make it easier for you to find them, I’ll list the names of the coffee scrub recipes here and link them to their recipe pages on the Bath and Body Recipes website.

1. Hazelnut Coffee Scrub Recipe
2. Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Scrub Recipe
3. French Vanilla Coffee Scrub Recipe
4. Chocolate Silk Coffee Scrub Recipe
5. Basic Coffee Scrub Recipe

As you might be able to tell, I’m a Folgers kind of girl… lol. Once you’ve tried these coffee scrub recipes, please come back and let me know what you thought of them. Also, if you have any questions, please feel free to post them as well. 

TTFN!