by Marie | Nov 30, 2017 | Body Butter, Vanilla Spice
If you’ve ever wanted to schmear yourself in spiced vanilla frosting and have it render your skin soft and glowy instead of sticky and covered in lint, I’ve got good news for you—Vanilla Spice Whipped Body Butter. Awww, yeah. This stunning butter smells divine and has a consistency similar to that of marshmallow spread, but without the moment of “why on earth do I own this?!” when you find it in your cupboard next to some old vegemite and nuts from a 2008 Christmas basket. You will always know why you own this because it is wonderful. You just might wonder why you haven’t used it all yet 😃
(more…)
by Marie | Nov 20, 2017 | Conditioner, Projects with Videos, Vanilla Spice
When I was in university I had the most wonderful roommate in second year. Harriet and I started as roomies and are still fast friends to this day. There were many things that made us fantastic roommates, including our shared appreciation of pizza nights, clean door handles, quiet nights in, and removing our possessions from the shared shower. You see, Harriet’s first year roommate owned approximately thirty different bottles of shampoo, conditioner, shaving cream, and heavens knows what else, and they all lived in the shower. There was barely room to stand in the middle of the asteroid belt of bottles ringing the perimeter of the shower, like some sort of packaging-themed art installation. Anyhow, the point of this tale is that bottles are sort of silly, thirty of them definitely is, and I really like using shampoo and conditioner bars instead. This Vanilla Spice Conditioner Bar works perfectly with my desire to have next to nothing in my shower.
(more…)
by Marie | Nov 13, 2017 | Lip Balm, Projects with Videos, Vanilla Spice
Most of the vegan lip balms I’ve tried share the characteristic of being quite glassy and thin—they lack that rich creaminess of beeswax lip balms. With a beeswax lip balm you can really schmear it on and it’ll stay there and lock in moisture for ages (especially this recipe). Vegan lip balms made with candelilla and carnauba wax are pretty much the opposite of that, though; they tend to “slick” on quite thinly, leaving a thin, glassy coating. Now, this isn’t a straight-up bad thing (it can be great in the summer!), but in the midst of a dry winter I find glassy vegan balms are pretty much useless. That’s the problem I wanted to tackle with this Vanilla Spice Vegan Lip Balm recipe.
(more…)
by Marie | Nov 6, 2017 | Hand & Body Washes, Vanilla Spice
I’m a bit hooked on making hand washes these days. They’re fun and easy, and something I’ll likely end up using 10–20 times (or more!) in a day, depending on what that day looks like. So, unlike something like lip balm or lotion, which tends to take a while to use up, I feel like I absolutely torch through hand wash. Some people would consider that a problem, but I’m just stoked that I get to make more things! This Vanilla Spice Hand Wash is all kinds of lovely, with creamy, fluffy bubbles, and makes all the hand washing I do a pleasure. Plus, who doesn’t need hand wash? It’s an awesome homemade version of something that’s usually purchased at a store, making it a great gift!
(more…)
by Marie | Nov 2, 2017 | Body Butter, Projects with Videos, Vanilla Spice
It has been far too long since I’ve made a body butter bar, and this year’s Vanilla Spice theme was absolutely begging to be body-butter-barred. I also wanted to play a bit more with some silky, lightweight cetyl alcohol to create a luxxy body bar that was a bit lighter and more satiny than some of the ones I’ve made in the past. As with all body butter bars it comes together in a flash—measure, melt, stir, and pour, and that’s it! Perfect for gifts 🙂
(more…)
by Marie | Oct 9, 2017 | Bar Soap, Projects with Videos, Vanilla Spice
Welcome to the start of the 2017 Christmas DIY season! As usual we’re kicking off with soaps so they’ve got plenty of time to age while we round off our gift sets with other goodies like lotions, lip balms, body butters, and other varieties of pampering goodness. The Vanilla Spice theme is one you’ll be seeing carried through to lots of other delicious projects, so if you like it, make sure you’ve got the essential oil blend on hand—it will definitely be making some repeat appearances! But for now, let’s make some Vanilla Spice Christmas Soap.
(more…)
