by Marie | Jun 7, 2018 | Foamy & Lathery Things
I will happily admit that I motored through my Unicorn Bath Parfait very quickly—the luscious, silky bubbles and bath water was far too lovely to pass up if there was still some parfait in the jar! So, when Ivan from YellowBee dropped by with some very cool screw-top test tubes I knew what had to be done—more bath parfaits, with a fresh, summery twist 😄For some reason I’ve had Five Alive on the brain—I think I made a Five Alive soap back in 2011, and something got me to thinking that I should make more Five Alive things. For those of you who might not know, Five Alive is a blend of five citrus juices that usually comes in a blue can covered in dancing fruit—according to Wikipedia it’s widely available in Canada and the UK, but less so elsewhere. Anywho—the gist of it is “yay, citrus!” plus bath time delight. Let’s dive in!
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by Marie | Apr 9, 2018 | Body
Every year from April 10–15 I observe what I call Titanic Week; the anniversary of the maiden voyage and sinking of the RMS Titanic. It’s not much of an event, but it is a thing I remember, and have every year since I was about 11. In honour of Titanic Week 2018 I thought I’d make and share some Vinolia-inspired bath bombs. Vinolia was the luxury soap given to the first class passengers on the Titanic, and was scented with lemon and rose. A few years ago I made a soap inspired by Vinolia (I even gave a bar to Robert Ballard!), and I adored the scent combination—sweet and bright, but not at all cloying. It’s fantastic and highly deserving of being turned into a batch of Vinolia Lemon Rose Bath Bombs.
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by Marie | Feb 19, 2018 | Cleaning, Recipes with Videos
If you’ve been using liquid dishwashing detergent, prepare to have your world rocked. Seriously. Solid dishwashing paste kicks dishwashing butt in ways you didn’t think could happen. It’s so amazing that I was actually excited about washing dishes as I was developing this recipe. Solid detergent blows liquid detergent out of the water and I will never understand why it’s not more readily available in North America. But no matter, because now you can make your own super concentrated lemon dishwashing paste!
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by Marie | Jan 25, 2018 | Body
I’ve always loved Robbie Burns day, so when January 25 fell on a Thursday this year I knew I wanted to make something Scottish inspired. I’ve been loving bath bombs lately, so that’s where I started. As far as themes go, haggis seemed… unappealing… as did Chicken Tikka masala. So, I settled on milky tea. A British friend of mine once told me my Scottish ancestry was apparent in the vast quantities of milk I put in my tea, which I thought was rather amusing. Scotland by no means owns milk tea (it’s delicious, of course lots of other places have figured out it’s wonderful!), but whenever I think of Scotland I’m reminded of the lovely little cafe I visited when I was last in Edinburgh. The Edinburgh Larder served the most wonderful oat scones with clotted cream and jam, and beautiful milky tea. I was there in September, and it was rather prone to rain and chills throughout my visit, and so warm milky tea always makes me think of Scotland. Hence, these lovely bath bombs.
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by Marie | Apr 27, 2017 | Face, Recipes with Videos, Very Crunchy
Have you ever stumbled across a for-sale skin care project that was so simple, yet so expensive, that it made you downright mad? That was my initial reaction to the product that inspired this DIY. $70 for mostly clay, some salt, some inexpensive herbs, and some spices I have in my kitchen. $70!?! And that’s US dollars, too, so that’s nearly $95 Canadian with the exchange rate these days, and… what!? Anyhow, I guess I like to channel my rage into making things (who is surprised?), so I did. I made myself a bunch of Cleansing Mud Mousse for a whole lot less than $95, and now you can, too.
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by Marie | Feb 6, 2017 | Body, Mother's Day Gift Ideas, Very Crunchy
I’m feeling really tired and overwhelmed these days. I don’t know if it’s because it’s winter or what, but I feel like I’m running around like mad, barely managing to keep on top of my to-do list. It feels like everything is piling up and all I want to do is turn off my phone and watch Netflix in bed. I did a dumb yesterday; I was filming videos, so I temporarily turned off the furnace so it wouldn’t be whirring and groaning in the background audio. Then I went out for the night and forgot to turn it back on, and when I got back it was 8°C (46°F) in the house. Brr. I remember making a mental note to turn it back on before leaving, but I clearly didn’t, and boy did I feel like a dolt when I waltzed inside and wondered why it didn’t feel as warm as it should. Duh. And ugh. I spent the rest of the day hanging out in my jacket and toque and feeling like a proper idiot. Anyhow, that led to the need for these London Fog bath salts—so I could take a nice hot bath and crawl into my pre-heated bed and hopefully fall asleep without feeling like I was winter camping.
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