6 DIY Skin Care Recipes (2024)

You are all in for a treat today: my dear friend Gabby from Essentially Eclecticis here with a round-up of some of her amazing all-natural skin care recipes. Now, don’t be surprised if you get hungry while reading this post. (I did!) She uses all natural ingredients like oats, cocoa, and honey in her recipes…because she’s awesome like that. Take it away, Gabby!

Happy Monday friends and readers of The Thinking Closet! I am beyond thrilled to be guest posting at Lauren’s blog today–my heart is all a-flutter with excitement!!

My name is Gabby, and I blog over at Essentially Eclectic, an eclectic crafty / DIY / cooking / lifestyle / whatever-I-feel-like blog that was born after a cross-country move from Arizona to the great state of Massachusetts {#BostonStrong!} left me feeling like life could use a little more creativity.

I first stumbled across this beautiful piece of blog-land that is The Thinking Closet one fateful January afternoon when Lauren’s 10 Tips for New Bloggers literally changed my blog-life. I rebuilt my blog from the ground up and have had an amazing blogging experience since then, one I almost certainly wouldn’t have had otherwise. I left my first-ever comment on that 10 tips post; little did I know it would grow into a much longer series of emails and finally into a lovely friendship. {Smile.} I am so happy to be here, and I’m even happier to be meeting all of you, dear readers!

Lauren and I thought it would be a good idea if I introduce myself by sharing with you a round-up of the body care products I’ve made over the last few months, since DIY skin care is my favorite kind of DIY! I’m not sure what it is, but I find there is something very satisfying about all-natural, homemade skin care. Who doesn’t like getting Lush-like products for a fraction of the cost?? Here are six quick and easy skin care ideas that you can make at home:

LAVENDER LOTION BARS

I LOVE these little guys. Lotion bars are pretty much exactly what they sound like: bars of solid “lotion.” The heat created by the friction between the bar and your skin softens the bar, leaving a thin layer of lotion and leaving you skin extremely moist.

The recipe calls for a 1:1:1 ratio of three simple ingredients, and just about each ingredient can be substituted for others if you have allergies or just want to give your bars different healing properties. For example, I added lavender essential oil to these bars to give them a calming, relaxing scent.

Inexpensive and easy to make, these bars make great gifts. For Christmas, I gave out mini-bars to my aunts and friends, and they were a huge hit! Even my aunt’s boyfriend was asking for more! And these bars seem to last forever, too. I may have been a little overzealous in my lotion bar making last fall, and I have some bars left over that still feel just as good as the day I made them.

If you have dry summer heels, I recommend rubbing these guys over your feet before bed and sleeping in socks. You will love the results in the morning! I have also heard of some moms using lotion bars to treat dry skin conditions like eczema. You can view my post on lavender lotion bars here.

SWEET ALMOND HONEY OATMEAL GOAT’S MILK SOAP

This soap is probably my favorite DIY beauty experiment so far, and next to the lotion bars, it is one of my most-pinned projects on Pinterest! I have always wanted to try making my own soap, but to be honest, I’m rather terrified of using Lye, an ingredient in soap that gives it its cleaning properties. Lye can burn your skin on contact, and the fumes involved in making soap are not child-friendly, to say the least.

So, when I learned that there was a thing called melt-and-pour soap, you bet I was all over it! Melt-and-pour soap bases can be clear or opaque, and there are a variety of different kinds. So far, I have used regular glycerin soap base and goat’s milk soap base, but you can also get aloe vera bases and shea butter bases. Once you have your base of choice, add your colors, scents and other additives to create gorgeous, luscious bars of soap! You can see how I made a sweet almond honey oatmeal goat’s milk soap here.

DIY EDIBLE “MUD” MASK

Okay, so you got me. This face mask isn’t really made of mud. It’s made out of ingredients you probably have in your fridge and pantry!

After doing a little research on the benefits certain foods have when applied directly to the skin, I decided to throw together some of those ingredients and see what happens when you rub them on your face. My husband Josh gave me weird looks as I walked around the house with food smeared on my face for 20 minutes, but I must say I was both surprised and impressed with the results! This mask left my face feeling fresh and clean {once I washed it off, of course}, and when it dried it actually felt the way store bought masks feel!

I think the best part about this mask, however, is that you can eat the leftovers! My mask ended up tasting like a chocolate smoothie. {Smile.} You can see how I made this delicious “mud” mask here.

PEPPERMINT COCOA LIP BALM

I started out this post with a confession: I am Minty Kiss Lip Gloss {by Victoria’s Secret} addict. I was going through more tube after tube, and I needed a cheaper, more natural DIY substitute. Hence this lip balm! I’ve made this balm twice, once using shea butter and once using cocoa butter. Although it works with shea butter, I had a much better experience with the cocoa butter–and who doesn’t like the smell of peppermint AND cocoa?? No one, that’s who!

This balm was WAY less expensive than the Vicky’s Minty Kiss, significantly more moisturizing, and it lasts forever, too. Plus, it’s all natural! Gone are the days of wondering what Polyethylene Terephthalate is and why Victoria’s Secret is putting it in your lip gloss. If you can’t pronounce it, it probably shouldn’t be going on your lips. You can see how I made my new addiction lip balm here.

LAVENDER AND LEMON OATMEAL MUD MASK

This mud mask is actually made with mud this time. {Smile.} Technically clay, but when you get it wet it’s basically mud, right?

The special kind of clay used in this mask is often used in masks like this because of its unique properties; when wet, the clay produces an electrical charge that is supposed to draw out toxins from the skin. Um, yes, please!

I paired this mask with an interesting combination of doTERRA essential oils. Lemon is great for the skin, while lavender is calming and soothing. Unlike the “mud” mask from before, this mask can be made in advance and stored in powder form, so it makes a great gift. When you’re ready to use it, just add milk or water and voila! You can see how I made this actually muddy mud mask here.

P.S. Don’t eat this one!

JASMINE DEAD SEA SALT SOAP AND BODY SCRUB

This soap project was almost a disaster. The funny thing about Dead Sea salt is that if you’re not careful, it can totally “ruin” your soap. When I made this soap for the first time, I didn’t have the foresight to recognize that if you put a soluble substance {read: Dead Sea salt} in a warm, wet liquid {read: hot, melted soap base} it will dissolve. {*Facepalm*}.

This wouldn’t be a problem except for that there is something about Dead Sea salt {and what that is I am still not sure} that will keep soap base from solidifying when there is too high a concentration of salt in the soap.Before I wade deeper into the murky waters of chemistry, suffice it to say that the soap bars with the greatest amount of sea salt in them never solidified and rather became chunks of sludge. MMmmm yummy. Sludge chunks.

Now, I put “ruin” in parentheses above because this soap project actually turned out to be a surprising win. The soap bar “sludge,” when whipped up with a spoon {thereby removing the chunks} actually turned out to be a surprisingly delightful body scrub! And fortunately, many of my bars of soap did end up solidifying just fine and both the soap and the scrub smelled divine. Gabby: 1, Universe: 0.

You can check out how I overcame this almost-soap-fail here.

Well, there you have it! I hope you enjoyed reading about these projects just as much as I enjoyed making them, and if you decide to give making one a try, I would love to hear how it goes and what you think of the finished project. And when you’re done here, feel free to stop by and visit me at Essentially Eclectic to say hello!

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