Yah, for Friday…tell you what I love more than many things? DIY beauty recipes…so here we have miracle homemade face scrub…I have always had a fascination with these…and love me some mixing up some potions…
When I blogged about Garnier Skin Perfector a month ago, lots of you gave feedback with your fave basic beauty products, what came up time and again was Cetaphil cleanser…one shabby chick said it was a go-to product, Mellie Lang gave it the heads up after seeing one of her fave singers Tweet about it, Laura Ingalls Gunn from Decor to Adore swears by it, Victoria Hopkins from Vintage Girl blog has been using it for twenty years and it was also recommended by Tami C, Jennifer N, Kathy Dunaway, Tammy & Kristin.
…so seeing as, in my opinion, there is nothing like an unbiased, unsponsored blog post by real girls for great recommendations I thought the next time I was at the store I would pick some up. And the first time I got to the shelf to buy it, the cleanser just happened to be sold out. In my book, another good sign.
The next time I went to the supermarket I was in luck, and bought myself some plus threw the moisturiser in my trolley too and that night I used it for the first time…
Yes.
This stuff is lovely and with your eyes shut, for sure, you would think this was some fancy-shmancy high-end couture cleanser rather than the budget product next to the canned soup ailse.
I must say here I am not a huge cleanser user…I errr on the side of good old soap and water but this makes one’s skin really soft and just, I dunno…nice…and in my book, at my age, as they say in Tescos…
Every little helps.
Then I remembered that Tami C and Tammy (a popular name around here ) also recommended using it with baking soda as a homemade face scrub
and then one of the lovely Beach Cottage Facebook Gals who is a make-up artist Marnie and blogs here , suggested the bi-carb trick with the Cetaphil and how it would be lovely for skin…homemade face scrub…oooh yeah Marnie, I love nothing better than a bit of potion playing…
So, I tried it.
OMG!
Mind-blowingly amazing skin after this…you know those products I bang on about that call themselves ‘magic’ or ‘wonder’ but do nothing of the sort? ….well mix some of this up in your hand, or pop some in a little container and write your own homemade face scrub label…ladies this stuff is amazing!
So, all you do for this little miracle homemade face scrub
Get some of your fave cleanser,
and if you haven’t already tried it I think tossing a Cetaphil in your basket wouldn’t go amiss
put a blob in the palm of your hand, or a little dish, or container….and then add enough Bicarbonate of Soda to it until it forms a smooth paste….
Now pop this all over your face and gently scrub…wash off & feel your new silky, soft as a baby’s bum forty-is-the-new-thirty skin.
I promise you, this is a miracle product, Beach Cottage style.
(oh and if you need something to make you have the softest feet on the planet, try this… my Origins copycat DIY Foot Scrub recipe here ….soooo good and so very good for your budget…just don’t blame me if you start licking sugar off the shower door )
OK, happy Friday, I have a lot to show you, I’ve been pretty busy…we have a new front door, the Summer House is well on the way to being finished, just waiting for the roof now, the bathroom will be started soon, though we are still waiting for the bathtub (gotta love those suppliers who tell you the product is in stock and then, once you have paid them a deposit, all of a sudden it is in Europe) will hopefully be here next week
…oh and yes we have Thanksgiving going on here (a new to me celebration that is right up my alley..third year I think we are joining this year) and dare I even mention it…the big ‘C’ word…I am giving it some Beach Cottage Coastal Blinging this year…our new deck will be decked out (boom boom) with Christmas gone coastal aka fairy lights and shells….and I made my first homemade Christmas gift…will be blogging it…it’s super super easy & makes you look like a Beach Cottage Crafting Goddess
I am so outta here…
p.s. I am going to lg’s for dinner this weekend…she’s making me a Dump & Go chocolate cake that apparently is to-die-for…yep we talk about what chocolate cake we can eat while exercising down by the sea…she reckons even I can make it and more that you will love it. Will report back. With Christmas bells on. xo
If you are reading this and are a victim of domestic violence or a child, or witness of domestic violence please, please, please talk to someone who can offer you support and assistance. Talk to someone…. you deserve to live free of the shame and secrecy of domestic violence, including emotional violence.
it is vital for children to live in a safe and healthy home
Dear Sarah ,
I had worked with children who have been exposed to domestic violence and it broke my heart to see a child feeling unsafe and unprotected in his/ her own” home “…Thank you for raising awareness on the issue and thank you for stoping by and writing a kind comment !
Voted! I can’t guarantee every two hours but I’ll be there a lot So need a little pamper right now. Parent-teacher interviews until very late this evening and then again very early in the morning.
I’ve been using baking soda for several years as a scrub. I just keep a box next to the shower, reach out, pour a little in my wet hand, add a small dab of my favorite face soap (whatever happened to be on sale the last time I purchased) and scrub there in the shower. Here in the desert, dry skin is epidemic, but this takes care of that problem so well. I love it! Still, it hasn’t scrubbed away the wrinkles showing up
Blessings,
Marcia
Oh Sarah… I already was using Cetaphil and after seeing this, I tossed some baking soda (we get Whigfield’s here) and did exactly as you told. DUDE!!! This is a winner. Thanks for sharing! I’m sharing this in my blog. This has to reach to all the ladies…this has to be an infection ( a good one) and a viral.
You can tell I’m excited.
Also, any updates on the voting thing? I don’t have a FB account. And I soooo want to vote for you
Baking soda sure is a miracle powder isn’t it? It takes care of not only y household cleaning but also personal hygiene too….I mix it with honey as a scrub and use honey as a cleanser. When our son got acne going through puberty, cleansing with honey with the only thing that seemed to work and trust me we tried a lot of different products. Manuka honey is the best but as it’s a NZ honey I buy whatever I can get my hands on here.
I also clean my hair with baking soda and rinse with a cider vinegar wash to condition….it sounds weird I know but I wanted to move away from commercial products and with having extremely curly hair was sick and tired of having to spend so much on products to keep it tame. Aside from the greys of motherhood my hair is in great condition
I’ve been using honey, salt, and sugar as a scrub for a couple of years now, and it works pretty well, but I’ll have to try baking soda! Probably less expensive, and I won’t have to worry about the soda dissolving into syrup.
G'day! I'm Sarah, I live in a tatty old cottage, near the sea in Australia with a battered old deck & a big old fig tree out the back...stripped wooden floors, old sash windows & a jumble of vintage furniture. [Read More …]
Beach Cottage ladies, we have some vintage linen and some wood/twig washed up on the beach today here in Beach Cottage Land….don’t say I don’t keep you entertained now will you . Come on in. So, yep I have posted about colanders on this blog, about things sourced from the side of the road, about [...]
G'day ladies, let's have a Too Easy Beach Cottage recipe yeah? The original place for Too Easy Recipes on the web ;-)
So, after my last salad went down a storm in my inbox, that's here if you missed it, I had to do this one seeing as I make it most weeks.
There is a problem with this salad and kiddos though...it looks, well, it looks, kinda yucky...but once they try it, they'll ask if and when they are next having it....at least that's what happens in this ratty old cottage...but I must interject here that my kiddos are 'good eaters'? ...they didn't get a choice in that ;-)
Now, stop, don't start running and hitting that next on your blog reading list, pulses are your best friend in the Too Easy Dump & Go kitchen for the busy mum, or busy anyone for that matter...that reminds me I must blog the garlic canneloni Go To for when you forgot to do dinner, feel like a bath but have three ravenous young Beach Cottage Kiddos on your hands...another day.
I am almost embarrassed to tell you how easy this is, we have it so much that I always have a couple, make that six, cans of lentils around and a jar of goat's cheese in the fridge...the great thing about this is that it's all too easy to get ready in just a few minutes, but it looks, tastes and seems like you did oh so very much more than that.
You can obviously too change it up a bit depending on what you have to hand in your kitchen, and I must say that is how I settled on this version...because one day when I made it I didn't have enough Parsley in the garden and so I chucked in some basil too, and liked the Summer feel it added.
I think of this as being a rather posh salad, not sure why, because it couldn't really be further from the truth...the great thing is that it works so well for an average run of the mill day, (when I did this for this blog post, it was a hot Sydney Sunday and I did it just simply to go with Rosemary & Garlic stuffed pork, you can see that pork here),
...but just as easily it works on a regular old Wednesday night when you have lost all enthusiasm for rustling up yet another meal, or indeed on Saturday night, when your friends are on their way over for dinner and you my friend, are in your new vintage inspired clawfoot bathtub (that's me in a few weeks time, k?) without any clothes on, a tipple and no idea what to cook for dinner...
I have a complicated and ever-changing relationship with goat's cheese...it never fails me in its performance and it never fails to impress me (you can find out a bit more on what I like in food here if you like) and I kinda collect it...because it's very easy to collect and has a fairly long fridge-life, I love trying out different ones and there's not many things I love more than goat's cheese on sourdough...but I think the best thing about it is not thinking about it exclusively in the toast/salad department...I've stuffed it in chicken and all sorts of things as a last minute and it's been fab.
But let's get down to the nitty gritty of this super salad that makes you look like an angel who has been on her knees all day scrubbing the front step when really you are in the digital world and spent most of ...
G'day Beach Cottage ladies, howdy, howdy howdy today for a Beach Cottage Too Easy recipe.
If you like cake, cream, sugar and chocolate, make this.
This is, rather than a recipe, a putting it together...as you know I am no dessert maker, but, I do make quite a few sweet things, because, somehow I have ended up with kiddos, who in their roles as offspring, believe that part of the deal, is that not only do I feed them a home-cooked meal with a few homegrown ingredients in there, yes, they also believe that dessert and not the kind that comes out of a packet is included too in this All-Inclusive Deal they call Parenthood.
So, this, for sure, is no culinary masterpiece, but if you are looking for something that is so very easy, dump-able, uses everyday ingredients and at the same time makes you look like you spent hours pulling things together plus tastes good....well, then this is for you.
Best though, you don't make this for yourself, if you have spent the most part of your week sitting on your derriere reading blogs...this my friend ain't low in the calories department...if, however, you are treating yourself to a delight in a mason jar, this is so for you.
I first had a version of this when at dinner back in Old Blighty with a girl, I once, in another life, caught the train up from our village to London with...she was a funny thing really...I am not quite sure how we got on...she was kinda prissy and a bit bothered by too much...I would run to the train flustered, having got up late, and she would have a spreadsheet on the train times, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, a few years later when we both had bambinos, I bumped into her again and we met up for playdates and dinner sometimes....this particular night, after a lovely meal she served up little bowls of creamy, cakey fruity stuff topped off with chocolate flake...it was delicious!
She didn't serve hers in little jars like this, hers were in a champagne glass and not quite so layered as these ones, plus she used tinned fruit not fresh or frozen.
Years later when said offspring kept requesting dessert, one day I wangled together somehow these from what was around in the fridge and they've been with us ever since.
Most likely, if you ever come here for dinner, and shock horror, you dont' bring the dessert with you, this, if you are lucky, will be what you will get.
Throw it all together, sprinkle a lil bit of chocolate on the top and the blog reading past-time you so rudely left in order to make this, is my friend, your oyster.
Beach Cottage Too Easy Layered Raspberry, Cream & Sponge Dessert
1 small maderia or butter cake or a pack of cupcakes (or of course make your own)
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
8 tbsp fruit
1 x chocolate Flake or chocolate bar for grating
1. beat the cream cheese until it is soft
2. whip the cream until soft peaks form
3. combine & add the sugar through
4. cut your cake into portions
& layer into the bottom of your jar
5. add a tablespoon of fruit
6. layer on top the cream combo
7. repeat
8. grate chocolate or Flake on top
*Beach Cottage Recipe Notes : this is just a guide really, you can use any cream that you have on hand...I have made this with clotted cream (don't even go there unless you want to seriously get these babies on your thighs), with double cream and I have even, in desperate times squirted in that, ...
G'day Beach Cottage ladies, well I thought it was time for some blogging tips here today, alongside a few nice flowers and shells ;-)
I was recently part of a blogger discussion group over at Kidspot and a couple of hours later had a few questions from girls who couldn't make it to the live chat, one was on my Facebook page and one via email, the Facebook one I will deal with in another Real Girl Blogging Tips post...the email one asked me what essentials do I think every blog needs?
Well I have been around here for a while now doing the blogging thing, so I should know this, yeah and I mused this on my walk by the sea this morning I thought well what do you only need?
...I think it is really very easy when blogging, whether or not you are blogging up there in the lofty heights of the Super Bloggers or you are just dipping your toe in the water, to get side-tracked by 101 million different things that are 'essential' to your blog and if you are someone like me who actually gets a thrill from reading blogging tips then you are in an even worse place because you will find yourself literally buzzing with these essential things to add/do/implement on your blog.
However, walking along, gulping down that brisk sea air today (no sunshine & clouds) I thought you actually don't need any of that professional blogging stuff to be successful...but there are a few things that are pretty much crucial ...and once I started to think about it I got it down to about 5 - these are the only things that you need to concentrate on...once you have read through take a look at some of the big girl's blogs...you'll see that actually they don't have bundles of stuff on their blogs...but they do have all of these...
So here are my top things that your blog must have
1. About Page
There are all sorts of About Pages out there, and if you search on it there are many different tips and ideas for what to have on yours
Whatever blogging platform you use, adding an About Me Page is easy, quick and simple and will do everything to grow your blog.
I like a long-ish About Page, I am inherently nosy and I like to know a bit more about the person but at the least you should have on it your name and where you are located. I also think a photo is good too...over the last year or so I think this has become more important in blogging - if you are hesitant about that as I was, you can try using sunglasses or a behind shot until you get comfortable.
There is nothing worse than stumbling upon a new blog and going to find out more to only be faced with a piddly little one liner About Me Page...well there is something worse, not having one at all!
2. Contact Page
The chances are someone, somewhere will want to contact you and you will be surprised what lands in your inbox once you put yourself out there on the world wide web with a blog.
Many bloggers also use this page to include details for PR's/brands that may want to contact them and some bloggers put their stats on there too.
A short, to the point and simple Contact Page works really well...whenever I have wanted to contact another blogger I am often very busy and have limited time so I don't want to hang around sifting through information looking for an email address, so concise and clear ...
G'day lovely Beach Cottage lovelies.
So, yeah, so on a roll people, so on a roll.
I feel kinda home accessory wired right now.
I am always telling people, if anyone ever listens, that blogging is all about passion, not that sort of passion, but about passion that makes one tick.
Things like this make me tick tick boom.
I love finding things that suit my budget and let me treat my home but look amazing too.
So without further adieu I introduce you, ladies of the beach, to the blue vintage glasses that I have been stroking for about a week or two now...
These glasses are from a little boutique I sometimes happen upon, this boutique sells also pet accessories, carpet cleaner, bras and compost...it's quite unique though.
And, thanks to my friend Marnie (she blogs over here, go take a look at her praying position, interesting), who just so happens to be one day having me over for a lil' Greek dinner, has let me in on the fact that we call Kmart....The KMart...with an accent ....as in 'I love The KMart'...just like her MIL does. Oh yeah. Love that.
So I have had my eye on reproduction vintage glass blue wine glasses and being trying to find real true vintage blue glasses for like ever.
Oh yes I have spied them in Frenchy boutiques, I have lusted after them in stores that I shouldn't even enter and I have put them back pretty quickly in those shops with the hand-written price tags. C'mon, you know the ones.
And, though all of the above have tempted me, muchly, really, even with my wardrobe stashing skills I just thought that, actually, I'd rather be saving that casherooni for our next trip overseas..
Hello The KMart.
Tick Tick Boom
Vintage style blue wine glasses.
Do not come to my old place and think you might pick up one of these and smile with pleasure at their handblown quality, their weight, and be secretly jealous that my wine glasses cost more than your car...friend, that would not happen...these do not feel like that...indeed these in a funny way reminded me of my baby girl, she was a tiny little thing, with stick legs, the tinsssssssiest ankles and wrists you ever did see, she slept sideways in her cot wedged in between rolled up blankets and would only settle attached to Mr Beach Cottage or I or a (dirty) pj top of mine scrunched up under her nose...the first few times I picked her up to cuddle, being used to Honeymoon Baby who weighed in at 9lbs at birth and has never really stopped growing, I nearly threw her little bird-cum-rat down covered body over my shoulder.
These glasses are like that...be careful or you might lose your wine down the front of your shirt.
But oh baby, we are not talking picking up here, we are not talking quality, we are not talking house accessory snobbery.
Beach Cottage ladies, we are talking aesthetics.
And this is what I need in my cottage.
Blue vintage style glass, paired with coastal / nautical / beach stuff on my deck.
It's The KMart.
Tune in tomorrow, tomorrow, I have more budget foofing for your home, or maybe it will be the dress that wraps me up in supermarket-chic and makes me feel like me again.
Good Day to you my friends, wanna come hang out on my deck, talk house accessories, The KMart and drink some wine from blue glasses?
Sarah
) also recommended using it with baking soda as a homemade face scrub
Right, that’s on the list for the next time the fella is away with work. A little face mask joy is great for the pampering
Dear Sarah ,
I had worked with children who have been exposed to domestic violence and it broke my heart to see a child feeling unsafe and unprotected in his/ her own” home “…Thank you for raising awareness on the issue and thank you for stoping by and writing a kind comment !
Sarah, the comment above is mine and i am really sorry for being published as anonymous
Voted! I can’t guarantee every two hours but I’ll be there a lot
So need a little pamper right now. Parent-teacher interviews until very late this evening and then again very early in the morning.
I’ve been using baking soda for several years as a scrub. I just keep a box next to the shower, reach out, pour a little in my wet hand, add a small dab of my favorite face soap (whatever happened to be on sale the last time I purchased) and scrub there in the shower. Here in the desert, dry skin is epidemic, but this takes care of that problem so well. I love it! Still, it hasn’t scrubbed away the wrinkles showing up
Blessings,
Marcia
I can’t use Cetaphil (gives me hives) but I’ll try baking soda with honey.
Sarah-I’m seriously excited to mix a batch of this stuff up!
You now have us mixing & dumping cakes & face scrubs!
Thank you!!
Melissa x
PS-thought you were going to pop in a mid-scrub pickie
Oh Sarah… I already was using Cetaphil and after seeing this, I tossed some baking soda (we get Whigfield’s here) and did exactly as you told. DUDE!!! This is a winner. Thanks for sharing! I’m sharing this in my blog. This has to reach to all the ladies…this has to be an infection ( a good one) and a viral.
You can tell I’m excited.
Also, any updates on the voting thing? I don’t have a FB account. And I soooo want to vote for you
Baking soda sure is a miracle powder isn’t it? It takes care of not only y household cleaning but also personal hygiene too….I mix it with honey as a scrub and use honey as a cleanser. When our son got acne going through puberty, cleansing with honey with the only thing that seemed to work and trust me we tried a lot of different products. Manuka honey is the best but as it’s a NZ honey I buy whatever I can get my hands on here.
I also clean my hair with baking soda and rinse with a cider vinegar wash to condition….it sounds weird I know but I wanted to move away from commercial products and with having extremely curly hair was sick and tired of having to spend so much on products to keep it tame. Aside from the greys of motherhood my hair is in great condition
x
Tammi
Do you just massage the dry baking soda over your scalp and through your hair? I’m intrigued!
alison
Alison I mix about 2tbsp into a paste with a bit of water and massage from the scalp down
I’ve been using honey, salt, and sugar as a scrub for a couple of years now, and it works pretty well, but I’ll have to try baking soda! Probably less expensive, and I won’t have to worry about the soda dissolving into syrup.
Important than a good product. That is enough sleep your body needs.
take care your self
thanks for share information
Cetaphil is harmful to use……