Aromatherapy to control Mood Swings {Health}

So, few days back, I was having my share of mood swings and wasn't feeling up to the mark. So, I thought of using the diffuser I got some time back. I have been using the diffuser for quite sometime and let me tell you, its one of the most amazing things I have ever used.

Since I wasn't feeling too good, I decided to get a bit of aromatherapy. And, the results were damn great (read AWESOME-ST). Its one of the best ways to get your mood better immediately and even if not better, calmer, at least, and it also relieves anxiety.

I love essential oils. I haven't used fragrance oils yet. I prefer essential oils because they are multi-purpose and last longer (I guess that applies to fragrance oils as well). I have used Patchouli, Cedarwood, Neroli in my aromatherapy. Totally loving Patchouli right now.

Well, let me share other advantages. Your room looks cozy (diffusers and tea light candle add to the home decor), the essential oils act as natural room fresheners, the essential oils are also great as natural insect repellants. Lemongrass, Cedarwood and Citronella are amazing for that purpose.

Next time you feel low, you know what to do? So, don't forget this natural remedy to relieve anxiety and feel refreshed and take care :) And, don't forget to switch off the lights!!

Related Posts:

How do I use Essential Oils?

My current scent

Essential Oils for Hair Growth {Hair Care}

Since I have started putting up posts on Essential Oils, I have received so many queries regarding essential oils amazing for skin and hair and acne. So, I decided that I shall do a post on them. This post would contain essential oils I have explored as of yet which are amazing for hair growth.

For all hair types

• Ginger: It stimulates the hair follicles, makes the scalp feel a little warm and helps promote hair growth. It may also tingle the scalp. Ginger is mostly suitable for all hair and scalp types. It needs to be only applied on scalp. Helps with dandruff too.

• Cinnamon: Similar to ginger in all properties, but it can be a little irritating for the sensitive scalps. It helps warm up the scalp and should only be applied on the scalp. Suited to all scalp types.

• Rosemary: More suitable to oily scalps and hair but doesn't dry out the dry hair either so can be used for all hair types. Helps in controlling dandruff, promotes hair growth by helping in scalp stimulation and also conditions the hair and makes it look darker. Brings shine to the hair as well over long term use.

Oily Hair

• Lavender: Suitable for oily scalp. It helps control the oil production in the scalp. Conditions the hair and promotes hair growth. Also, makes the hair shiny in long run. 

• Ylang Ylang: One of my most favorite EO's, it helps a lot with oily hair and scalp by not only promoting hair growth but also making the hair smell really awesome and controlling the oil on the scalp. 

• Cedarwood: I haven't yet used this EO so I have no idea how it works. Its supposed to control hair fall and thus, aid hair growth in reverse. Also, its great for preventing dandruff and hair lice and other fungal and bacterial infections!!

Dry Hair

• Myrrh: Probably the only EO suitable for dry hair. It helps promote hair growth and stimulates sebum production as well. I haven't personally tried this product so I have no idea how it works.   

Related Posts:
Hair Types and their Hair Care Routine 
Hair Textures

My current scent {DIY}

Remember the perfume oil DIY series I had done long back?? Yes, I am back with another one on that and today I shall share the current EO blend I am using which is completely flowery and summery and springy all in one. And, I adore it and the best part of this is that its a universal blend which you can customise accordingly later on even if you end up making a lot!!! I did that and now, I am trying out adding spice and musk scents to it. Anyway, lets go with today's blend.

Ingredients

• Bergamot EO
• Neroli EO
• Ylang Yang EO

Blend

• Add 10 drops of Ylang Ylang to a clean dark glass bottle. (base note)
• Add 5 drops of Neroli. (middle note)
• Add 10 drops of Bergamot. (top note)
• Let it stand for a month or two in the dark. 
• Add 18 drops of the blend to 60 drops of almond/jojoba oil to make the perfume oil. Again, use dark amber-colored bottles.
• Let this stand for a week to blend well. 
• And, your perfume oil is ready :)

My Opinions

Its a beautiful citrusy flowery blend and instantly lifts up my senses and I am absolutely in love with ylang ylang!!! I did make a whole bottle of this blend (around 15ml) and now, I am experimenting with some other scents. Don't make the mistake of making a huge amount of the blend. You really need a drop or two at a time and this lasts way many days and you will get bored by the time the quantity gets over. The whole fun of this DIY is in experimenting :)

Image Courtesy: etsy.com

How do I use Essential Oils? {DIY}

When I had posted my haul last week, many of the requests were on how to use the essential oils. The answer to that is that I use EO's practically in everything. So, let me just share some of my tips.

Skin Care

• I use couple of drops of EO's if I make my own scrubs any time. For example, today I made one - yogurt + besan after long long time and I used 10drops of ginger and 10 drops of Bergamot. But, that's actually a lot. Limit it to 10 at max. 
• I am using Fig and Honey moisturiser currently. So, I added a couple of EO's to it. I have around 150ml bottle of the moisturiser left so I could add up to 3ml of EO's (that's 60 drops of EO's). The math is done here. I added Patchaouli, Lavender, Ylang Ylang, Rosemary, Cedarwood, Frankinscence in equal drops (10 each). And, that's a lot, trust me. You can see a layer of oil over the moisturiser when you add. So, don't go overboard!!! 
• I add at most 10 drops of any EO to my bath sometimes if I want to relax. I have used Lavender, Neroli and Ylang Ylang till now. 
• I have made a toner using the EO's. I will post the recipe soon. 

Hair Care

• Let's start with the hair oil. I have added ginger, cinnamon bark, rosemary to my hair oils as they help in hair growth.
• Moving on, the next product is shampoo. I had added 20 drops of Rosemary EO to my Dove Shampoo and now, I have added 20 drops of Rosemary and 20 drops of Ylang Ylang to my Pantene shampoo. 
• Similarly, I added essential oils to my Liz Earle Botanical Shine Treatment and L'Oreal Total Repair 5 Masque. Though, I haven't used them since I have added the EO's coz of the treatment. 
• Also, check out my DIY aloevera scalp gel for hair growth which is entirely based on the efficacy of the essential oils. 

So, those are some of the tips on how to use essential oils in day to day life. And, of course, my perfume oils too. So, how do you use the EO's or plan to use them??

My Haul and Other Things

So, I am back to Hyderabad and wallowing in sadness :D And, as you all would be probably aware that my camera had not been functioning properly so I got my other camera this time from home. And, now that I can again take many snaps, I wanted to share some of the hauls in the past months and some other things. Do check out till the end :)

Kara Wipes and Neutrogena new sunscreen from New U and got a nail buffer free :)

Neev soaps from naturalmantra, Parachute body lotion dry skin and body shop haul :)

A word about the above products - Neutrogena new sunscreen is pretty light and oil free but extremely expensive (400 for 30 ml), Kara wipes good as always, Parachute body lotion is good but not for summers obviously ;), ginger body butter is not at all worth the cost (I am regretting it) and I love, love and love the Polynesian Monoi oil.

Essential Oils - rosemary, lavender, neroli, frankincense, bergamot, patchouli, cedarwood, ginger, cinnamon bark

 and, cocoa butter from moksha lifestyle

Loving the essential oils but undecided on the cocoa butter. And, now, a very very very special thanks to Taps for this sweet gift :) Well, remember the huge Glossy Box debacle??? Yes, Taps of Beauty Through my Eyes (she has her first giveaway on so don't forget to participate) sent me this wonderful gift as a substitute for the giveaway win even though I told her not to many times. Thank you sooooooooo much, Taps :)

 

I have been hearing such good things about the chocolate mask that I was very much tempted to get this but I restrained myself as I have so many products to finish. Now, I'm gonna use it ASAP, yippeeee :) And, that's another Neev soap to the collection. And, the third is the fresh line Blue Chamomile mask which was also one of the products I wanted to try. So, this weekend is gonna be a pamper session for me :D

Sugar Body Scrub with a twist {DIY}

Ok, let me confess that making a DIY every week is really not easy for So, today's recipe is almost a copy of the sugar body polish which I have posted long back. I could think of nothing else and I have so many products to finish that it simply discourages me from whipping anything up. So, I have decided that next week I shall bring you a different series of DIY's which will include Essential Oils because currently, I am a lot into them.

Sugar + Multani Mitti

Ingredients

• 3 table spoon sugar
• 1 table spoon fuller's Earth or multani mitti
• 1 table spoon rose petals powder
• 1 tablespoon spices (mixture of nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves)
• Honey (as required) 
• Essential Oils (optional) 

Rose petals

Method

Mix all the ingredients except EO and honey. Add honey and make a gooey paste. Add 1-2 drops of your favorite drops of EO's and, scrub and rub a dub :)

Mixture of Cinnamon, Cloves and Nutmeg

Results

Awesomely soft and instantly glowing skin. Moisturize well and sleep off to protect this glow and it will last you for days together. Do this once a week for a good scrubbing.

The rose petals provide luxury and spices provide a spicy edge to the scrub. And, you will like the smell too. 

Hope you like it :) 

Mistakes and Improvements in Perfume Making (Part IV) {DIY}

So, last three weeks, I had discussed and elaborated on my efforts on perfume making at home. Today, I wanted to talk about some of my mistakes and shortcomings in the whole process and what I have learned from them. 

Profiles of Essential Oils

This is a very important point. Whenever you are going to buy EO's or in fact, going to blend them, always make sure that all the EO's you are going to use do blend with each other harmoniously. For example, when I decided to buy the first 5 EO's, I had checked out their profiles very carefully from MountainRoseHerbs.com [go to the Essential Oils and click on Learn More for further information]. 

I got for myself - Bergamot, Rosemary, Neroli, Ylang Ylang and Frankincense. And, then, I decided to do a blend of all the 5 EO's together. After I had made the blend, I sensed that something was wrong because nothing was blending well and then, I checked out the profiles once more and found out that Rosemary doesn't go with any of the others so the blend was fruitless. 

So, when you are going to try any new blend, you should definitely keep this in mind.

Ways to try out new blends

EO's don't really come cheap so there are a few tips which might help you. 

• If you think about a promising blend, take those EO's and open their caps and inhale their scents together and see if you find the aroma promising. This is a little of hit and miss so I tried out the next tip. 

[Source: adriennescatholiccorner.blogspot.com]

• Use cotton ear buds. Fit them in the EO's nozzle and take out a drop of the EO. Put it in a small glass tub. Do the same with all the EO's you want in your blend. Use separate buds for each EO. You can also cut the buds in the middle. Keep all the buds in the glass jar and keep it ina  dark place for 48 hours. Take it out and sniff the aroma. If you like it, you can proceed with the blending. 

Either of these methods save the wastage. 

Disadvantages of Homemade Perfume Making

Ok, what I found out was that the longer you keep the blend, the stronger the perfume becomes. But, application of perfume oil is really difficult. You either need a dabber or a roll-on otherwise the oil doesn't get applied smoothly. So, always think about packaging before hand. Same problem went with the solid perfume too. The applicators are easy to apply otherwise you have to use the fingers to apply.

Another issue which I faced was how long the perfume stays on me. And, this is quite a concern. And, I really need to work on making my perfume oils stay long enough. As of now, I am not really happy with it because a lot of factors affect this. But, still I do want to keep the perfume oil on my skin for entire day or at least half a day and I am not yet sure how far have I come in this endeavor. 

So, this finishes my DIY series on perfume making. I shall keep updating whenever I find something significant to report. And, hope you liked the series and it has intrigued you enough to try out this interesting DIY for yourself :)

Previous Posts in the series:
How to make Perfume Oil at home? (Part I)
How to make Perfume Oil at home? (Part II)
How to make Solid Perfume at home? (Part III)

How to make Solid Perfume at home? (Part III) {DIY}

So, last two weeks I mentioned a little about background in perfume making and how I went about making my first blend. Today, I wanna talk about making solid perfumes.

Ingredients

• Essential Oil blend (I used the one I talked about last week)
• Vaseline / Beeswax (I used vaseline so I shall outline that)
• Almond Oil / Jojoba Oil
• Glass Jar / small tin box

Method

• Melt vaseline till it becomes completely clear. Same goes with beeswax. Use a double boiler for safety.
• Take a tablespoon of the melted vaseline and pour it into the glass jar or tin box.
• Add a tablespoon of almond oil.
• Follow with a tablespoon of Essential Oil blend.
• Let the mixture cool and your solid perfume is ready!!!

The idea here is to divide the vaseline / beeswax, almond oil and the essential oil blend into the ratio of 1:1:1 depending on the amount of the perfume you want. But, from personal experience, a single table spoon of each would last really long. So, try out smaller batches only.

Which is better - Perfume Oil or Solid Perfume? Many factors decide this answer.
- Ease of Application
- Strength of Perfume
- Duration of Stay

Solid Perfume is easy to apply but Perfume Oil is more strong (probably). How long does solid perfume stay really depends on your own body chemistry. So, you can try both and choose one which suits you the most.

How to make Perfume Oil at home? (Part II) {DIY}

So, last time I talked about a little background information necessary to know when going to make perfumes. Today, I shall be talking about how to make a perfume and how to blend the essential oils.

[Source:shidon.com]

Process of making a Perfume Oil

Ingredients

1. Essential Oils (your favorites)
2. Droppers for each
3. Dark amber bottles
4. Journal / Book 

Method

1. Mix the base, middle and top notes in your own desired ratio by putting some drops of each in the dark bottle. Use separate eye droppers for each EO. Very Important: Write down your recipe. This is called an Essential Oil blend. You can use it in making your lotions or massage oils or body oils too. But, don't forget to follow the guidelines to use EO's.
2. When you are going to mix a recipe, always make sure that your EO's blend well with each other otherwise your whole blend will get spoiled.
3. Do not shake the bottle to mix the EO's. Roll the bottle gently between your palms, instead. 
4. Leave this blend in a dark and warm place undisturbed for 48 hours. That gives the EO's time to 'marry' each other and either enhance each other's fragrance or degrade each other's fragrance depending on the EO's you have used.  
5. After 48 hours, take the bottle and open the cap. Let the fragrance rise from the bottle and sniff it. Write down your observations and notes on the fragrance. If you do not like it at all or if they are not blending together, you might want to add another EO which can allow the different fragrances to blend. It's a lot of fun doing it and it's just like an experiment which might pass or fail.  
6. Do all hit and trials and always remember to keep a record of whatever you are doing including the dates too - date on which you made the blend, the date of observations and even the date on which you are happy with the blend. 
7. Now, once you are happy with the blend you are going to make, you can make it in large quantities and store it for a month or two to let the blend 'cure'. The fragrance of the blend changes overtime so you should keep on observing the changes for a month at least. 
8. After the curing period is over, the EO blend is added to the carrier oil (almond or jojoba oil or even coconut oil) in a ratio of 15-30% depending on the strength of the perfume you want.
9. And, leave the oils to blend again for at least a week. And, after the period, your perfume oil is ready!!!

So, those are the steps to make the perfume oil. Now, I am going to talk a bit about my own experience. 

What did I do?

• When you are going to create an EO blend, always remember to take the EO's which blend with each other. So, reading the profiles of each EO is very essential. I consulted MountainRoseHerbs (google it) database mostly. They mention everything pertaining to the EO information. 
• Also, I want to mention beforehand that many EO's are concentrated and have their own side-effects so read the information carefully before buying them. For example, almost all the citrus EO's like Bergamot, lemongrass, etc. are phototoxic, many EO's specially spice ones like connamon, cloves, etc. are irritating to the skin, not all EO's should be used during pregnancy. 

So, I chose 5 EO's which I bought keeping in mind everything - 

1. Bergamot (the top note which is probably phototoxic but I am not sure entirely), 
2. Rosemary (middle note and should not be used during pregnancy),
3. Neroli (middle note which is floral and exotic and is safe to use anytime), 
4. Ylang Ylang (base and middle note, should not be used during pregnancy and gives headaches too if used in excess) and
5. Frankincense (base note, entirely safe to be used anytime)

• After you have your stock, you should take each EO and sniff its aroma and write your own observations on each. For example, Neroli is a very strong scent and generally overpowers everything but its lovely. So, I took notes about each EO. That also gives me a general idea about how I should go on blending it depending on what kind of fragrance do I want. 

My First Blend

• Frankincense - 10 drops (base)
• Neroli - 10 drops (middle)
• Ylang Ylang - 15 drops (bridge)
• Bergamot - 10 drops (top)

Always add the base notes first, then the middle and then the top notes. I kept the fragrance for 24 hours (because I was impatient, don't be!!) and didn't really like it so I added 15 drops of Ylang Ylang again!! Don't make that mistake. Excess of Ylang Ylang gives headaches but strictly speaking, I love the fragrance of Ylang Ylang but I am growing fond of Neroli now. I kept the blend for 15 days around and added it to almond oil in the ratio of 1:3 (again a mistake!!) [add 45 drops of almond oil in a dark bottle and then, add 15 drops of the EO blend] and kept it for a day or two before using (need it to keep it for a week). But, I loved the blend a lot. It was dominated by Neroli though. And, what I learned from this was that keep the strong fragrances concentration less if you don't want them to dominate. 

So, that was the story of my first attempt at perfume making. And, seriously, it's addictive, especially when you can get all kinds of EO's!!! Next week, I shall follow up with more of the blends and some other lessons I learned.

How to make Perfume Oil at home? (Part I) {DIY}

Note: This post is a lot personal and I am describing how I went about making perfume. I am not sure if I have entirely succeeded so I shall just recount my experience and my knowledge of all I have read regarding the subject. So, please bear with me. The series is divided into four parts as I could not make a huge post. Hope you like it. And, let's get on :)

[Source:peacefulmind.com]

So, last Sunday, I sketched up a guide on how to go about using essential oils. Coming down to business, I was always interested in creating a perfume for myself because, as a general rule, perfumes don't suit my nose and end up giving me headaches. Of course, I haven't tried Dior and Chanel as they are quite out of my range.

And, then, sometime in last few years when I started this blog, I came across the idea that you could make perfumes at home using essential oils. But, I wasn't sure if EO's available in the market were really pure or not. And then, one of my friends and bloggers, Leon introduced me to this great wholesale site in India which sells EO's and other amazing products. Check it out here. For the record, I am not asserting their purity but I found them to be better than others I have tried (I haven't yet tried Forest Essentials, though). So, let us delve into some background of perfumes.

Perfume and its Notes

A perfume is a blend of notes of fragrances. I am talking about ones you get in the market. But, if you are going to make it personally, you can combine a fragrance for yourself using just a single fragrance as well. That's entirely up to you. But, in general, a perfume has three notes:

• Top Note: which is the first smell you get when you smell the fragrance. They are the lightest group of essential oils which evaporate very quickly because of their small molecular size. Generally, all the citrus and fresh EO's come under this category. For example, lemon, orange (sweet and bitter), mandarin and many more!!!

• Middle Note: which is the heart fragrance of your perfume and it starts developing just immediately before the top note is going to die away. It has lesser evaporation rate than the top note and thus, last longer than them. It also helps to blend away the base note more pleasantly into the perfume. This category includes a lot of EO's like the floral genre or the oriental EO's. For example, neroli, vanilla, rose, lavender and many more. 

• Base Note: which is the base of the perfume and lasts the longest as it has least evaporation rate and largest molecule sizes. Some of the base notes can last for days on the body. It starts developing almost after the heart of your perfume goes away. The base notes combined with the heart notes give a certain depth and character to your perfume. So, if you are going to use only single essential oil for your perfume, always use the base note. These scents are mainly woody or spicy. For example, cinnamon, frankincense, patchouli and many more.

• Bridge Notes: which help bridge the scents of the middle and the base notes with the top notes. The middle and the base notes contribute a lot to the top note so you can say all the three notes blend in harmony. So, there is nothing as such separate called the bridge notes but this is just for reference. I don't even know if perfumers really consider these notes either. As far as I have read, there are only three bridge notes - vanilla, lavender, neroli and Ylang Ylang. Yes, these notes are not categorized separately but are from the middle and base note family. Thus, if you are going to use Ylang Ylang, you can as well use it as a middle note and combine it with a spicy base note. Ylang Ylang is both a middle and a base note.

These are the notes which make a perfume. So, when we make Perfume at home, the various essential oils from all notes are taken and blended together.

What I did?
So, before you start making perfume, you want to buy Essential Oils from various notes which can be blended together. So, I bought five EO's - Bergamot (it is a top note), Neroli and Rosemary (which are middle notes), Frankincense (which is a base note) and Ylang Ylang (which is both a base and a middle note and can also be categorized as a bridge note).

Now, we blend these EO's in proportion to create a blend for the perfume. We shall discuss that in the next part. Pin It

Guide to using Essential Oils {Beauty Products}

[Source:shivanismakeupblog.blogspot.com]

So, as I promised to you all that I shall be spending the DIY series of this entire month on my exploits using Essential Oils, I thought it would be prudent and informative to give a little theoretical background on how should an EO be used. And, we shall have practicals from next week :)

Skin and Hair Care

Essential Oils are very concentrated so they have to be diluted to be used in the regular routines otherwise they can cause skin sensitivity and many such problems. So, what is right proportion to dilute the EO's when using them in your skin or hair care routines. 1-2% at max. Do not exceed this ratio at any costs. 

Well, personally, I used like way too much of EO in one of my oils and when I applied the oil on my face, my face burnt for a few minutes before it settled. So, beware of this and you really don't want to go through that. 

How does EO help the skin and hair?.

EO's gets absorbed very easily into the skin as compared to anything else because of their small molecular size. That's why concentrated doses are pretty harmful.

The Essential Oil Desk Reference, 4th Edition tells us that “essential oils are lipid soluble and can penetrate cell membranes bringing an increase of 21% oxygen to the cells within 20 minutes of application.” [Source]

Ok, yes, they increase the oxygen supply and improve the blood circulation consequently and that is why more nutrients are delivered to the cells. It also improves the absorption capacity of the nutrients. Not only that, they are rich in anti-oxidants and can fight the free radicals. And, the EO's can also prevent cancer. So, you see they are pretty much effective in their own way but then excess of everything is bad. 

And, now, the fun part begins - we shall make perfume next week :)

How do Essential Oils affect our Health? {Health}

I have been interested in Essential Oils since quite a while though I had not an idea how could I lay my hands on good quality essential oils. More about that in some other post but I wanted to discuss today about how Essential Oils affect our health. 

What are Essential Oils? 

I have already discussed a bit about Essential Oils in one of my previous posts. So, when we think about EO's, the thing which automatically comes into our minds is fragrance or the aroma and its therapeutic effects on our health.

Essential Oils have a huge amount of impact on the health of a person not only the skin and hair. So, one can use essential oils for simple problems ranging from insomnia and migraines to beating cough and cold and bronchitis and some other respiratory problems. 

How Essential Oils affect our EQ?

Whatever else EO's may be good for, the main usage of essential oils comes to help you with your emotional quotient. Some EO's are great to relive stress, anxiety, some are great for improving confidence in person, some improve the energy levels in the body and some are great for depression treatment and many more. Why is this so?

It has more to do with the sense of "smell". Human beings have five senses - smells, taste, see, feel and hear. But, only one of these senses links to the brain directly and that is the "Smell". The sense of "Smell" directly goes to the emotional center of our brain and controls our emotions. The other side effects of this "Smell" are that the brains sends signal to another part of the brain which controls the heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, memory, stress levels and all those physiological needs of the body. So, consequently, when you "Smell", not only it affects your emotions but also the physiological needs of the body. That is one of the main uses of perfumes as far as I can garner - to uplift the senses and the spirits.

So, I hope, I did clear out certain things about why Aromatherapy works? Looking forward o your opinions!!! And, yes, I am gonna bug you on the DIY Thursdays in February with some DIY's using Essential Oils. You have been forewarned :)

My Hair Diaries - January 2012

Technically, I should put up my hair snap but my camera conked out!! [Source:ayushveda.com]

Hopefully, you have read the "About Me" page I had put up a few days back and are aware of all my complaints with my hair. I was thinking that I shall maintain an online monthly journal entry in which I shall catalog my entire month's hair care routine - all products I use, all my DIY's related to hair and everything I do to my hair.

My Goal - " To keep my hair soft and making it more shiny and trying to keep it conditioned and hydrated as much as possible."

What did I do in January?

• My hair had become pretty much rough and sun-exposed and had not be subjected to a trim since almost 4 months, I had to get a hair cut. So, I went ahead and got that done. I didn't really lose a lot of length but the cut makes my crown look more full.
• I incorporated Rosemary Essential Oil in my hair care routine. If you are not already aware, Rosemary Essential Oil is very helpful in promoting hair growth. I add the Essential Oil to my hair oil. 3 drops per treatment. I do try to do the Hot Oil Treatment but never quite succeed so I just heat up my oil a bit and apply it to my scalp and cover my hair with a shower cap to preserve a little heat.
• Shampoo - Dove Nourishing Oil Care Shampoo which keeps my hair soft and doesn't dry my hair. 
• Conditioner - Wella Kolestint after-color Shine Treatment
• Leave-in Treatment - Biotique Bio Almond & Cashew Fresh Replenishing Serum + Dove Nourishing Oil Care Vita Oil Serum
• Hair Oil - Groundnut Oil + Apricot Oil (homemade blend) 
• Combs - The Body Shop Detangling Comb, Lass Cosmetics Neem Wood Comb, The Body Shop Wooden Quill Brush
• DIY - Homemade Green Tea Hair Spray
• I always sleep on satin pillows. It allows the hair to glide easily and doesn't suck out the moisture out of the hair.  
• I simply ignored the deep conditioning :(

Hope this helps :) Pin It

Green Tea Hair Spray {DIY}

I have been dying to make a hair spray at home because of many many reasons. First, it is free of chemicals and I can use anything I want which will improve the shine, impart a beautiful fragrance and help in its growth. And, I did give this a try. I am not really sure of the results but if not good, they wouldn't turn out to be bad, that's for sure. Green Tea is a versatile ingredient with amazing benefits for hair, skin and health. So, this can double up as a toner too :)

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon Green Tea Leaves
• Distilled Water
• 1 tablespoon Glycerin
• 1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)
• 25 drops Rosemary Essential Oil (EO)

Method

• Prepare green tea and set it aside to cool down
• In a spray bottle (100ml), add glycerin and ACV
• Add the Rosemary EO
• Pour the green tea in spray bottle to fill it (I used the Body Shop Aqua Lily Body Mist bottle)
• Voila!!! Your hair spray is ready and you can use it as a toner too as all the ingredients in it are skin-friendly

What do you think? Pin It

PS: Btw, do you like the new layout??? Hoping that it doesn't hurt your eyes!!! If it does, do tell me. And, another thing was that don't forget to check out the "About Me" page :) And, don't forget to drop your comments!!!

Homemade Vanilla Oil {DIY}

Vanilla Pods

So, I have a very interesting DIY today :) And, this one is making me pretty happy. I just hope the results turn out as good. I was on a trip to Kerela last year and I got vanilla pods from there (only 6)!! I was entirely unsure of how to use them. And, then, I decided to make some toner or some skin care product but discarded the idea. Then, I checked out online and I needed Vodka to make a perfume from that so I decided on this finally. I infused the oil with vanilla pods. 

Ingredients

• Vanilla Pods
• Carrier Oil (I preferred almond oil though apricot oil is better, I read somewhere)
• Knife

Method

Split the vanilla bean pods length wise and cut them into small pieces

Put them in a clean glass jar (preferably sterilized and entirely dry)

Pour oil over the pods. Store it in a dark warm place for a month or two. Occasionally, take it out and shake to maximize the infusion.

My Notes

The color of the oil is already dark in just half a day of infusion. Compare with the second snap above.

• I did this yesterday night so the results will be out in one or two months when I shall put up a post to tell you about how it went. 
• While you are infusing, you have two choices - either put the glass jar in a dark place or in sunlight. I wasn't sure which one to choose so I chose dark place as I don't really get much of direct sunlight here. 
• One more thing I goofed up on was to use almond oil. Actually, I read somewhere that apricot oil is good at absorbing plant essences so if you are making infusions, use apricot oil instead. And, I do have apricot oil. I forgot all about that and remembered it the moment I finished pouring almond oil. Anyways, I shall remember this the next time.  
• I am so excited about it that I have shaken it 2-3 times till now :D
• The smell is divine. I can't explain it. And, we are talking about real vanilla smell, not the food flavorings.

What do you think?

Essential Oils and Plant Oils {Beauty Products}

Well, reading one of my reader's comments, I came to know that probably not all are really aware of the difference in the plant oils and essential oils. So, I shall try to clarify that a bit. 

Plant Oils

Body Oils are made of blending 2 or more plant oils

All oils under this category come as vegetable oils. They can be used for culinary purposes or even for skin care. These oils are generally extracted from the fruits like almond nuts, hazelnut nuts, coconut fruit, etc. Some of the oils are extracted from the waste part like the rice bran oil comes from the rice bran which is generally used as a fodder for cattle. These oils can be used directly for any purpose and there is a danger of these oils going rancid over a period of time. 

They are extracted by cold process or a heat processing method. Cold pressed oils are best as the nutrition is intact and the oil goes through the least amount of processing.

Essential Oils

Essential Oils

Essential Oils are extremely concentrated essences of the various parts of a plant. For example, Essential Oil can be extracted from roots, leaves, barks, stems, flowers of a plant. The oil is extremely concentrated and can not be used directly on the skin or hair. Not all essential oils can be used for culinary purposes. To use these oils, one needs to dilute them with the carrier oils (which are the plant oils).

Essential Oils are extracted using the steam distillation or solvent extraction. Steam Distillation gives the best quality of the Essential Oil. To produce an ounce of Essential oil, huge amount of the plant might be needed and that makes these oils extremely costly. For example, a pound of Jasmine flowers give 1 ounce of Jasmine Essential Oil. So, cost is determining factor of the purity of the Essential Oil. One more thing which characterizes essential oils is its strong fragrance which is generally missing in plant oils.

These oils are extremely delicate and come in very small quantities of 10ml or 50ml and mostly, you will find them in dark-colored bottles. The reason why they are put in dark colored is that the composition of the essential oil may be altered by the sun's rays so it is always advised to store these oils in the dark. That preserves their stability. Generally, these oils have long shelf life and can be used as preservatives also in homemade cosmetics. 

Have your used Essential Oils? Pin It

Also read: Are essential oils good or bad?

Make your own colors for your Rangoli

Made from flowers and leaves only. Is it not beautiful?

Rangoli is an integral part of our festivals. While in North India, people generally make Rangolis only during festivals where as it is a daily routine in South. Every morning you will find ladies waking up, cleaning their porch and making a beautiful Rangoli with rice flour. Of course, they do not bother to color it every day but yes, we do love colors. Right?? Diwali is almost there and of course, your designs for Rangolis would be improvising day by day. So, have you decided on how will you color your Rangoli. No, not the Holi colors please!! They are chemically processed making them unhealthy not only for the skin but also they can cause asthma and cancer. Skin allergies from Holi colors is nothing new. I stopped playing Holi because of the very reason and many of you must have too.

So, how do we go about making our own colors? I am sure many of you must already be aware of it. But, for those who do not, I'll recount certain things and your own imagination will also give you exquisite results on the D-Day. Lets start with things already available.

• Turmeric - yellow. Mix turmeric with rice flour (off-white in color) or even maida (all purpose flour) and create different shades of yellow. Besan can be used for pale yellow too. 
• Orange peels are already lying for your daily scrubs. Use them for orange color.
• Sindoor can be used for maroon. The orange shade of tika is also available. It will do beautifully for orange.
• Beetroot - shade of magenta. Dry the peel or a single beetroot cut into pieces and then grind them for a beautiful and vibrant shade of something ranging from pink to magenta. You can vary the color using the white flour.
• Pomegranate - something between red and orange. Dry the peel and grind it. 
• Carrot - Peel it, cut into pieces and dry and then, grind. Carrot red.
• Rose Petals - which ever color is your rose. General colors are pink and red. Dry the petals and grind them or you can use them as they are.
• Marigold petals - a vibrant orange. Petals can be used as they are.
• You have a wide array of choices for green. Go for mint, spinach, fenugreek, corainder leaves or leaves from the plants from your garden or you can dry the peels of your green veggies from the gourd family and powder them. 
• Blue is a difficult color. You can go for small blue flowers which is the best bet. Or, if you can get indigo, you can create blue color of your own. But, this would be rare. So, I am giving this a miss!! You have lavender flowers. They would do beautifully and impart fragrance too. 
• Hibiscus flowers - would again give red. 
• You can use cinnamon and other spices for brown. I would go for cinnamon because it has a fragrance too. 
• Use mustard seeds (rai) for black. I know black is not used or preferred but using mustard seeds in the middle or small pockets of your Rangoli would give a different look to it.
• Jasmine flowers, jasmine buds, rose buds can also be used (as in the pic). It is just made of all the flowers you can get at the florist shop. Why not use them? The green color is made form the ferns stems.

I am not able to think of any more colors but I am sure you can make out some from your own imagination and kitchen and beauty ingredients. There are some tips which I can give on your Rangoli decorations:

•  Mix rice grains with the respective colors to make them look more appealing. My mom had made a complete Rangoli from the rice grains mixed in different colors and believe me it was fabulous. It was in a competition she participated and won the first prize!! Using rice grains makes your Rangoli stay for longer. 
• Do not have the time to dry the ingredients and powder them. Just crush the things, make a paste and mix with rice. You will need more quantity and little patience to mix with rice because it takes time.
• You can use essential oils in your colors to make your Rangoli smell exotic. 
• Use the diyas for decorating and illuminating your Rangoli strategically.
• I do not have to tell you this but make Rangoli at a strategic place where it is visible to all but not in anyone's way so that no one disturbs your hard work.
• You can place small Ganesh ji's in your Rangoli. That looks chic and will utilize the numerous Ganesh ji's coming your way. (We do get lot of Ganesh ji's during Diwali and I love it!!)

Wish you all a very Happy Diwali!! May it bring you and your family all the prosperity and happiness you wish for.

[Do you have any tips on Rangoli decoration or color making?]

Essential Oils: Good or Bad

Have you ever bought essential oils in the market? Do you know that there is an FDA regulation which allows the companies to say an essential oil is 100% pure if it has 10% pure oil in it. So, unfortunately, the essential oils available in the market are not at all pure. If you are absolutely sure of the brand you are using, then it is fine for you to use it. But, in case, you are a new user, it is better you do the brand research properly. Today, I would discuss how to create your own essential oil at home but it definitely would not be as strong as the original essential oils.

Take a transparent glass bottle with a screw top. Fill it with your favorite choice of herbs like rose petals, jasmine flowers, lavender flowers, orange peels or any other herbs you like. Fill them up to 3/4th of the glass bottle. Now, pour a base oil like almond oil, coconut oil or any other oil of your choice into the bottle up to half of the bottle. Now, close the bottle using the screw top tightly pressing the herbs in the bottle as much as you can. Put it in direct sun light for three days. Make sure the screw top is closed as tightly as possible. Keep on closing it even more tightly every day. After three days, you can strain the oil and use it anyway you want. Make sure you finish it before a week. So, make small batches every week.

You can also infuse your oils with herbs instead of going for essential oils. This way you will have pleasant smelling oils in the house and reap the benefits of the herbs along with the oils.