Lemony Scrubby

I've been working out a lot lately. Well, I've always been a huge fan of the gym, but recently I amped it up to going about two times a day. After a while, I started noticing a weird layer of skin that would come flaking off in the shower. Grosss, right? 

We've all seen those home remedy beauty supply pins all over Pinterest. I highly doubt that most people who pin them actually do them. But I decided to try out a scrub that is made out of sugar, oil, and lemon because, well I'm too cheap to go buy a scrub at CVS. I found this recipe from Gluten Free Navy Wife. 

-2 1/2 cups sugar

-1 cup oil (I used coconut oil, but you can use any kind of cooking oil)

-5 Tablespoons of citrus juice (I just squeezed 2 whole fresh lemons)

Mix all of the ingredients together. Take a hot bath and relax. Shave your legs like normal, with shaving gel or soap. Rinse off and grab a handful of your scrub, and proceed to rub it all over your legs. Shave again. At this point, I took it a step further and used the scrub on my entire body. It felt a little strange at first, but it was nice to have a whole body scratch. Ha! 

To get all of the oil and sugar off, I took a normal shower and used soap. The oil will stick on you, which is ok, just not too much. After the shower I used lotion on my legs. My legs were sooo smooth and it felt wonderful to get all of the old skin off of me. 

Project Nails

I don't often spend a very long time on my looks. I think I'm about average on the fashionista scale. But, there is something lovely about having my nails decorated that makes me happy. I can be wearing a T-shirt and running shorts with my hair in a sloppy bun, no makeup, and still I feel a little dressed up when my nails are painted well. When I am typing on my Mac or texting, I feel a little fancy with seductive red nails. So I am trying to take time to make my fingernails look presentable. 

I have had some free time lately, so I decided to try out two techniques that I've pinned on Pinterest. I have to admit, they did not come without any issues. I seem to have shaky hands when it comes to painting my nails, even though I love to paint on canvas, go figure. 

 My first experiment was making my own glitter nail polish. I used some fine glitter from a craft store and a spare bottle of clear nail polish. Rolling a peice of paper into a funnel, I simply poured a bit of glitter into the clear polish, put the lid back on and shook. I repeated this step a few times until I felt like there was an adequate amount of glitter mixed in (I put a lot, because I sure do love me some glitter). 

The first nail looked amazing. It looked like I had literally just put a layer of glitter on my nail. The rest began to look like a red polish with some glitter on the side. Not exactly the outcome I wanted, but still fun and glittery. Tip: I painted about 3 or 4 layers. It looks better each time because the glitter is layered. Also, the glitter will begin to settle at the bottom, so make sure to shake the bottle extensively before using.

   

 My second experiment was also from a pin from Pinterest. Basically I just painted my nails pink, and then used a Sharpie to create a design. 

What I learned from this: you might want a friend to Sharpie the design for you. It's pretty easy when you're using your writing hand, but difficult when using the hand that you use the least. Also, after about a day, the Sharpie marks began to smudge and even came off on some clothing. I would suggest applying a clear top coat after creating your Sharpie design. This is a really cool way to have a more edgy look, without needing to be an amazing nail artist.