by Marie | Jun 9, 2013 | Articles, Essential Reading, Featured Posts, Soap, The Basics
For anyone who makes soap, this whole entry will be fairly redundant. However, I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately from people who say they are scared of lye, and want to know how to make soap without lye. They’re either afraid of working with it, or they think it will make a bar of soap that will be highly irritating/dangerous. I’m going to address both of these concerns, and hopefully I’ll be able to talk you into making your very own soap—with lye!
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by Marie | Jun 8, 2013 | Chewy, Featured Posts, Lip Makeup, Make Up, Projects with Videos
I can’t tell you how totally thrilled I am with this recipe. I’ve been trying to devise a recipe for lip stain for months. I have thrown out so much pink and red goop since January that I was beginning to lose hope. But then, a new colourant (that was always the problem), and success!
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by Marie | May 4, 2013 | Facial Serums & Balms, Featured Posts, Very Crunchy
Meredith and I exchange a lot of things—recipes, ingredients, articles, and ideas. Out of all the things she’s introduced me to over the years, Argan oil is far and beyond my favourite (the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day cookbook series is a close second).
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by Marie | Mar 11, 2013 | Body, Body Butter, Featured Posts, Very Crunchy
Whipped body butter is like body butter, but far more decadent. The luxury factor is totally worth the bit of added effort—you feel like you’re frosting yourself, but it a totally non-cannibalistic way.

Whipped body butter makes great gifts that never fail to impress aunts, mothers, and grandmas everywhere. Because of it’s softer, airy consistency, it is easier to over-apply, so I tend to use whipped body butter before going to bed, or before putting on a big ‘ol pair of socks for a few hours. I’m always rewarded with soft feet and silky smooth skin. (more…)
by Marie | Mar 10, 2013 | Articles, Featured Posts, Soap, The Basics, Thoughts
I wasn’t originally going to publish this today, but I received a few comments on yesterday’s entry about the use of tallow in soap making. I’ve also had a quite a few questions over the years about the use of lard and tallow in my soaps, so I thought I’d finally bite the bullet, as it were, and write a full entry on why I use it, and what the alternatives are if you are morally opposed to using animal products.
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by Marie | Apr 16, 2012 | Face Makeup, Featured Posts, Make Up
This is a project my friend Sarah found. She’s on a quest to make some all-natural tinted moisturizer/light foundation, and this was the starting point. So, we ordered up all of the ingredients, and this weekend we made some fleshy-coloured face powder.

It’s simple enough. Mix everything together, and then mix some more. Lots more. We pressed the mixture through a fine sieve about twenty times, adjusting the colour as we went. We started with this recipe. It was a bit off. Very, very pale.
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