Homemade Shea Butter Lotion Sticks

Shea Butter Lotion Bar Stick Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons raw organic shea butter
• 1 tablespoon unrefined coconut oil- solid at room temp (can use extra shea butter if allergic to coconut)
• 2 teaspoons olive oil OR castor oil
• 2 teaspoons beeswax
• 20+ drops of essential oil of choice (optional) I used chamomile, geranium and orange

What to Do:

1. Slowly melt all ingredients, except essential oils, down in a double boiler or sturdy glass bowl over a small pan of boiling water. (TIP: I found an old double boiler at a thrift store that I use for skin products only).
2. Remove from heat and add essential oils.
3. Pour into lotion bar tube.
4. Let cool for several hours or overnight. I put mine in the fridge to speed the cooling process.

Note: This recipe makes enough for one 4-ounce lotion bar tube. For a firmer lotion bar stick, use more beeswax. For a smoother lotion bar stick, use less beeswax and more coconut oil or olive oil.

Crazy Cheap Beads And Findings and a TEN DOLLAR Coupon

Ahhhhhhh blisssssss...... Keomi Handmade Organic Soaps aka: yoga in a bar

When I was sent these, I thought I wouldn't be able to keep from inhaling the scent with my face in the bag, breathing in, breathing in. Um, still kinda doin' it. Wow. These smell absolutely amazing, and there's no artificial fragrances; this is the real deal. Pure oils, pure ingredients, pure everything.

 *  Organic & Vegan 
*  No Animal Testing 
*  No Colorants 
*  No Preservatives 
*  Sulphate Free
*  No Petroleum Byproducts
*  Nut Free
*  No GMO
*  Made in USA   

Everything comes from nature! All of the natural oils infused in each bar leave your skin so soft, I honestly don't even need lotion afterwards. I have very sensitive skin and this is so soothing and calming. Where were these when i was covered in mosquito bites all summer? 

I love handmade stuff, but I also love how professionally these are packaged. I would expect to find these in Whole Foods or Central Market, quite honestly. I've got Sea Breeze, which is scented with lavender, oak moss and fir. Golden Crown infused with calendula flowers and oils of orange, fir and frankincense. Green Tea Goddess with organic green tea, nettle, shavegrass, comfrey root and oils of clary sage, orange and clove. And the oh so Luscious Lavender with a blend of three lavenders. 

The scent clings oh so subtly to your skin, allowing you to reap the aromatherapy benefits but it doesn't hit you over the head. The abundance of oils, the obvious care, the natural healing properties..... I can't recommend these enough. 

I think the sampler is a great place to start so you can try a number of blends to find your favorite (or in my case, that would be all of them). The sampler makes a great gift too, all pretty in it's lil bag! 

Indie A Go Go - Where are they now? CandleAbracadabra Updated W Video Review of new items and DISCOUNT CODE!

10% off with discount code REVIEW10

YAY!!! Another one of my indie loves that is alive and well!! 

CandleAbracadabra makes wonderfully scented candles with high quality soy wax. I'm particularly partial to soy wax as it's clean burning and disperses scent well. On top of that, the low melt temperature makes it perfect for sexy shenanigans, massage or plain old moisturizing of the skin. I have arthritis and I love to dip my poor painful fingers into the wax pool for a mini spa treatment that helps to relieve some of my joint pain. The cucumber melon is a lovely, light clean scent. It's excellent for small spaces or to clear out musty odors. Also great in the kitchen!  

And then there's the adorable chocolate lab candles :-)  

These are 

A: Super cute

B: Smell AMAZEBALLS

I can't even begin to express how good these smell. Like you live in Willy Wonka's factory. Nummy........

You can also get custom made candles and there are dozens of scents to choose from. If you're looking for candles, why get the generic stuff that everyone else has when you can support handmade and have something unique in the bargain? Long live handmade! 

Indie A Go Go - Where Are They Now? Paper & Place

SO previously I featured Paper & Place on my blog:





Paper  & Place
Paper & Place makes absolutely ADORABLE stuff! You can get customized pieces where you get to choose what you want on your jewelry and I SOOOOOO need to get one that shows Dallas! The charms! The cuff links! Seriously original, seriously handmade, seriously awesome. When you check out, you just let her know what location you want on your piece (the map pieces) and easy breezy, puddin and pie, there you go!  I have a few of her hairpins that I like to wear on an almost daily basis because they're not just beautiful and unique, but also sturdy. Go take a browse through the store and see what you think!


So imagine my delight to see that they are still going strong! Yay! I SOOOOO need these drawer pulls.....



So visit Paper And Place and let her know that The Beauty Pirate sent ya- you will be blown away by the gorgeous pieces that wait for you there! There's even a huge clearance section at the moment, so it's a perfect time to go visit. SUPPORT HANDMADE!!!!

Indie-A-Go-Go : Where are they now? SBS Teas

This is a company that I raved about (and ordered from constantly for years, and here's a story I wrote about them. So where are the now?


I don't drink a lot of coffee, because I've seen what it does to it's dedicated adherents. My poor husband is so addicted that he'll get a raging headache if he goes without, and I know when I've had it more than a few days in a row, I was sluggish and unable to wake up without it. Tea however- oh am I ever a tea gal. I generally go back and forth between rooibos, tisanes, and caffeinated. Today is a caffeine day, so I turned to my beloved SBS Teas Ice Wine black tea.
To make ice wine, Vidal or Riesling grapes are left on the vine until after the first frost hits: usually in late November. The grapes area picked on freezing cold nights when the temperature is less than 17 degrees. At this temperature the frozen grapes are as hard as marbles and thus during pressing, water is driven out as shards of ice. This leaves a highly concentrated juice very high in acids, sugars, and aromatics--the required elements for perfect ice wine. This premium high grown Ceylon tea, infused with natural flavors and Ice wine captures the romance and flavor of this exotic treat. There are beguiling sweet pear notes with hints of berry and caramel. YUM!!!

I love that they also sell a Personal Tea Bag, an environmentally friendly paper filter specially designed for loose-leaf teas. Simply put tea into bag, fold the flap and smooth and use just like a regular tea bag. There is even a string with a paper tab for easy manipulation. These are great for me to keep on hand at work for my loose teas since it's a pain to clean out a tea ball here. (though I DO still need to get a few new ones, just in case.)

Not only are SBS Teas prices supremely low, but they also have awesome gift sets and their grab bags ROCK! These make for super  presents and at the same time you get to support an independently owned business! Right now they're having a blowout sale on their beautiful stoneware and porcelain mugs- only $1.50 each! One of these with a $5.00 tea grab bag and you just put together a gift that looks like it cost WAAAAAAY more!


So where are the now? Well, since then, the owner Barb put the company up for sale and my awesome tea needs had to be sent elsewhere. I miss the variety, the personal service and the amazing prices on hand blended, small batch teas.


So I did do some looking and found what I hope can be replacements- I found a gourmet icewine tea here-

And some very promising disposable and biodegradable tea bags.





RIP, SBS Teas. Don't forget, support handmade so we don't lose our favorites!

Meadow Muffin Gardens "Beauty Is Only An Herb Away"

These all natural and organic products are made in small batches by a family that started out with herbal gardening and is now making these amazing products on a farm that is recognized by the National Wildlife Federation as a certified wildlife habitat! I highly recommend that you visit them at their website to find out more about this fantastic company. If you read my blog or watch my videos, you know how I feel about small batch, handmade products!


This picture from their website is one of the many gorgeous photos of their fantastic garden. Wouldn't you like to use products made from herbs grown like this? Well I certainly do, and highly recommend the ones I've tried.



Their Holiday Home Air Spray was a lifesaver for me this Christmas. My fiance had to work Christmas and I was stuck at home all alone. This blend of vanilla, frankincense and sweet orange gave the house a feeling of cozy warmth and took me back to holidays at home. I spritzed some of this, made a big mug of eggnog and cuddled up on the sofa with my dog to watch Santa Claus VS The Martians. Made with essential oils and a carefully distilled vanilla tincture, this spray not only cleared the stuffiness of artificial heat from the house but also cheered me up immensely! (Thanks, sweet orange for being such a happy smell!)

Another downfall of winter is the dreaded chapped lips. I keep a tube of balm in my purse, at my desk at work, by the bed, and downstairs in the living room for when I'm watching TV. I seriously have that many different tubes going at once, but I have to say that their Honey Bee lip balm is something special. No parabens or artificial gunk being swallowed into yer gullet every time you lick your lips or take a drink and a combination of honey, sunflower oil and lemon essential oil creates a moisture rich protective barrier that provides lasting relief.

Two thumbs up!

Shaped By Hand handcrafted jewelry

A while back I received these sterling silver and czech glass earrings from Shaped By Hand in a sampler box. Very well made and quite striking with the hair worn down, they became one of my go to pairs. Recently I rediscovered them while unpacking and realized that I needed to check out their Etsy store and see if they were still around. Lucky me, they are! Whoo hoo! FINALLY I don't have to mourn the door shuttering of another indie business.

There is SO much gorgeous stuff on this page, I highly recommend you check them out. 

I want this necklace so hard it makes my face hurt. Mama needs to stop having an overdrawn bank account first..... Losing three months of work because of spinal surgery kinda puts a crimp in the old financials. 

Support Handmade!

It makes me so sad when I go back to visit a favorite seller and they're gone :-( I realize that's the nature of the game; people move on, pick up new hobbies or sadly just give up. Because of my current invalidism, I decided to stop by The Button Bowl to pick up some more cute barrettes because I am trying to keep my hair out of my face while I wear my neck brace only to find them sadly hasta la vista. I had previously bought the barrette below from them and was hoping for more girly vintageness to keep me looking my best (er, better? Um, not like a hobo, anyway?)




So instead of saying, Oh I want some new hairpins, I'll get these Goody hairclips at Walgreens, why not take a few extra minutes and get something unique and handmade? When there's a handmade option out there, pay the few extra quid knowing that you're keeping the independent spirit alive. Keep America funky, one purchase at a time!

A reminder of why I love Zibbet's Sample Zbox

For those of you "in the know" about the indie handmade community, there's a lot more out there than just Etsy. Etsy may dominate the market, but there's other venues out there where you will find a whole slew of talented artisans just waiting for you to discover them. Thanks to the awesome ZBox Sampler, you can discover many of them in one fell swoop by receiving a box full of samples of their wares. The box is amazingly inexpensive and you will ALWAYS get your money's worth and then some. Some full sized items are generally included and for the jewelry lover, you'll be in heaven. I have been introduced to some of my absolute favorite handmade artists via this box, and can even call some of them my real friends now! Ah, the power of handmade! (Hi girls, you know who you are ;-) )



Just to give you a taste, here's a group of sellers that were included in a typical Zbox and a sample of their wares.To see an actual box itself, you can see my unboxing videos here.

I'm showing a full piece from their stores so you can see the sellers themselves.

Dancing Rainbows 

Rock Paper Scissors 

A Crafty Arab

Xquisitely Lady M

Izzy's Place

Body & Soul Natural Beauty Products

Rebecca's Jewelry

BreitWerk

All About The Buttons

Black Creek Crossing

Handmade Fuzzy

LOC Design Studio 

Hawks Nest Creations

Texas Eagle

Jewelry By Vee

Spanky Luvs Vintage

A Stitch And A Prayer

Homemade Body wash for only $4.50 compared to $39.95 for comparable

Thanks to Little Seed Farms for this awesome recipe! 

Our Homemade Lavender-Lemongrass Body WashWhat do you put on your body every day? By the time I’ve finished my morning routine I’ve used shampoo, conditioner, body wash, face wash, toner, moisturizer and sunscreen for my face, and lotion for my body. Somehow, it took me close to a year before I started wondering what the heck was actually in those bottles in my shower. Isn't it odd that we’ve become so conscious of what we put inside our bodies, and somehow managed not to give any thought about what we were putting on them? 

All of that changed a few weeks ago when a friend recommended The Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Database which rates products according to the chemicals they contain and how harmful they are. I searched the items in my bathroom and found that all of them except for what I put on my face (Alba Botanica and Kiss My Face) had a moderate to high hazard score. Scary!

I decided to replace some of the items in our routine with safer, natural products - preferably something homemade (well, yeah!). The first to run out was body wash. We had been using Dove's Go Fresh Bodywash which is a 5 on the 0-10 hazard rating system. I am a huge fan of a nice creamy bodywash and an exfoliating pouf and felt a tinge of dismay thinking about the future of my suds, sure that I would have to give up this little luxury for a bar of something filmy and a washcloth. Little did I know that I was about to make the best bodywash EVER. I’m serious.  

I searched out different recipes and ingredients that would be good for my skin -not so easy when you have been fighting a lifelong battle against hypersensitive skin. I went with an infusion of oats and rosemary to soothe and tone, coconut oil to moisturize because we had it in the house and it’s one of the few oils that doesn’t make me break out, and the essential oils of chamomile, lavender, and lemongrass for their properties and scent.

 It smells amazing, produces a great lather, gets you clean, and actually leaves you moisturized. It’s an amazing shave gel for legs. I should also mention that this batch that made 24oz using all organic (and local where available) ingredients cost only $4.50 to make - half the price of the scary stuff! Here's the breakdown:

Give it a try! Swap out oils and infusion ingredients to make a recipe that’s perfect for your skin. This would be a fun project to try with kids too.  

• 1 Tbs steel cut oats (optional - to infuse)
• 1 sprig of rosemary (optional - to infuse)
• 1 c. distilled water
• 1 Tsp citric acid (to prevent bacterial growth in your bodywash)
• 2 Tbs coconut oil (can swap out with olive, grapeseed, almond, jojoba, apricot kernel or any other oil)
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1-1/2 c. liquid castile soap (I used Dr Bronner’s)
• 1 tsp guar gum (you can find it in most markets that carry natural foods with the Bob’s Red Mill grains)
• 30 drops essential oils (your preference - I used a blend of lavender, chamomile, and lemongrass)

1. Boil water in a kettle and once boiling pour over the oats and rosemary (or whatever you decide to infuse). Cover and let sit for an hour, then strain to remove oats and rosemary bits from your infusion.

2. In a bowl whisk your oil, honey, infusion, and citric acid together.

3. Sprinkle in the guar gum, whisking to combine, and then immediately afterward whisk in the castile soap (if you wait too long the guar gum will thicken and you’ll have clumps) until blended and smooth.

4. Drop in your essential oils and fold in with a spoon or spatula. Store the mixture in a bottle that you have sterilized (opaque is best) out of direct sunlight and shake before each use.

PLEASE NOTE: As this recipe only contains mild natural preservatives (citric acid) and has not been created by a chemist, you may want to store the finished body wash in your refrigerator or make a batch small enough to use within 3-4 days. It is very important that you sterilize (boiling water or the dishwasher will do) all implements that will be used to avoid introducing any bacteria into your bodywash. We personally have not had any issues with bacterial contamination and are still using a bottle from a large batch that was made over 6 months ago that has never been refrigerated.  

Handmade Goodies Extravaganza!

I always like to give support to handmade sellers-  I think that handmade items are great because they have tons of personality and tend to be unique. Who wants the same stuff as everybody else?

Sadly, sometimes all the support in the world doesn't help. I've been raving about Cherry City Bath & Body for years, but when I tried to contact Amy, I never heard back and the Facebook page hasn't been updated in a loooong time. This makes me super sad since I had intended to stock back up on her fantabulous leave in conditioner spray. So that sucks, because she had awesome products and I have never seen a detangler/conditioner spray as awesome as this one. Let this be a lesson to ya- if you like a seller, shout it from the rooftops! Send business their way! Let them know what you like about their stuff. Don't let them go the way of the dodo.

Lucky for me, there's still other wonderful sellers out there. For instance:



If you watch my videos, then you've seen me wear her jewelry constantly. (Like here and here) Her prices are awesome and I love the way she mixes whimsical, fun and funky.

I recently purchased this set:
  which has gotten tons of raves. I actually bought a ton of stuff from her, I'll do a dedicated video soon! In the meantime, you can get a mystery bag of jewelry from her for a great price!




Owl Say designs makes some of the coolest stuff on the planet. Diaper bags, wallets, passport covers, you name it! I love the adorable retro designs.

I have this rucksack which I got an incredible deal on because it was an oopsie (not quite centered.) No biggie to me, I still get TONS of compliments on it and it's so unique and original! You can even pick out what color threads you want! And did I mention how inexpensive they are? Crazy!
 





Blessed Beads specializes in handmade rosaries and rosary bracelets, but has other items, too, including the beautiful keychain that I show off in the video. She uses gorgeous semi-precious stones, so these are not your cookie cutter, store bought pieces. She'll also do custom orders! 

I think this rosary bracelet is stunning!

  What can I say? I'm a sucker for spicy scents in general, and high glycerine soaps in particular, so this one really twirls my skirt! A 4oz bar is only $5.99 and this leaves your skin oh so very soft! Between the high moisture and the mild exfoliation, you won't be able to keep your hands off of yourself . Now I need to try the bath salts in the same scent! There's also a spiced goat's milk soap that has me intrigued........Yum.......





Okay, so ridiculously adorable, right? From plain old cuteness to the most awesome dress-up gear like, EVER- this is the shop for you. Whether you have kids or are just a kid at heart, you can't beat the super cool goodies and the even more super cool prices. And I SO know a lady that will be wanting this here good doctor....

And the Snow White mask? Seriously, where were these when I was a kid? And surely ya'll wont judge me for wanting to wear this on my adult noggin, will ya?





Here we find jewelry that's both classic and classy. I love the beads that she uses and the sturdy build of the pieces (yet they look so dainty!) Below are the earrings I'm wearing in the video, and I'm particularly partial to the textured beads on either side of the Murano glass.




Ohhhhhh, but this bracelet- I'm in love! Absolutely stunning with a gorgeous art deco sensibility.


So where are you doing your holiday shopping? Why not give your bucks to indie artisans instead of throwing your money down the corporate gullet this year? Let 'em know The Beauty Pirate sent ya!