I’ve been gifting homemade lip balm to friends and family for so long now that people have told me they just hold out for Christmas rather than buy more—and I’m definitely not going to let them down! This year’s holiday lip balm is Sugar Plum themed (it seemed much more lip-compatible than Christmas Tree!). It is softly purple, deliciously fragrant, and it has got staying power that’s suited to colder winter temperatures. I think you’ll like it!
I’m having a hard time deciding if I can give this Sugar Plum Conditioning Body Butter away. I mean… it’s just so nice. I really want to keep it for myself. I really should give it away. I am a one-woman skin care stuff factory and I am not due to need another body butter until sometime in 2026, and yet… it’s just so lovely! Rich and creamy, with a velvety skin feel and a shockingly fast absorption speed. It leaves my skin feeling all kinds of smooth and soft and protected in a way that’s noticeable for hours. It’s just… you should probably just make it and see. And then you can agree with me—I shouldn’t give it away.
This is our second Sugar Plum recipe for holidays 2018 making, and it makes for a delightful gift (or, you know… keep it for yourself!). It’s easy to make, can be dressed up with a pretty bottle, and feels really quite expensive and posh. The recipe is easy to scale, so you can make a big batch, bottle it up, and have yourself half a dozen or more gifts in well under half and hour. Booyah!
When I was in Montreal last year I visited Coop Coco, a local DIY supplier, and poked around, looking for things I didn’t have that would fit in my suitcase. I ended up picking up a bottle of Sucragel, a cold-process emulsifier I’d never worked with before, brought it back to Calgary, and then pretty much forgot about. Until now! Ewelina sent in a recipe request for a very intriguing oily cleansing gel, and when I read through the ingredients, there was Sucragel, right in the thick of things. It was definitely time to pull Sucragel out of the pantry and start playing.
After returning from a week in Toronto earlier this month my lips were a mess. Toronto is wonderfully humid whilst Calgary is… not… and my lips had been spoilt with all that decadent, skin-loving humidity. The return to Calgary saw my lips pitching a very uncomfortable hissy fit. Thankfully, I’d whipped up a batch of this creamy, occlusive, tinted lip balm before leaving. I’ve been loving softer, thicker lip balms lately—the type that you can really build up if need be. I’ve been trying such a lip balm from La Roche-Posay and figured I should try making one of my own (plus a tint because… 😍), and here we are!
This soft, sweet Sleepy Time Lavender Benzoin Lotion has become a fast favourite of mine. I look forward to smoothing it down my arms and legs before tucking into bed and drifting off with sweet vanilla-frosted lavender floating around me. I also find the oats in the lotion really help soothe my dry winter hands—between dog pets and cold prevention they sure get a lot of washing these days. So, between pre-bedtime and daytime use I’ve been carting my wee tub of lavender lotion around the house with me so it’s available for all my assorted dry skin/sleepy time needs. High praise indeed!
