A Note From Kristin:
Happy 2015!
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and new year’s celebration. During the busy holiday season, I decided to take a ten day break from blogging here at Live Simply. I spent my days with family, shooting a food campaign for a real food company, working on projects (I now have my own office/studio in my home!!!), and planning for 2015. I’m so excited to share another year with you here at Live Simply. I look forward to sharing life with you as we simplify the world of real food and natural living!
One of my goals this year is to spend more time relaxing. Not the Jamaica vacation kind of relaxing (although that would be amazing…amen?!). More like the kind of relaxing that involves going to bed by 11:00pm each night (no small feat for a mom of two small kids) and enjoying a weekly bentonite clay mask with a glass of white wine. We’ll call this whole relaxing habit, “Mom luxury.”
Contributor Marie shared this super simple recipe idea for DIY French Toast Lip Scrub a few months ago. At the moment, I couldn’t think about taking the time to scrub my lips (or hands) because the whole relaxing-mommy-time wasn’t very high on the priority list. Fast forward to January 1, 2015. Let’s just say the relaxing habit (AKA: “mom luxury”) is high on the priority/goal list.
I can’t think of a better time to share this pampering recipe with you! Thank you, Marie, for motivating me to take some time to relax and enjoy. Marie…
This delightful lip scrub combines two of my favorite things—soft, hydrated lips and maple syrup.
Living in Calgary, Canada is like signing up for a subscription to dry skin. I was about 12 when I vowed to never be without homemade lip balm, and while that’s greatly improved the state of my lips, sometimes a good scrubbing is still in order. This fantastic breakfast inspired DIY french toast lip scrub is just the thing.
I’m a firm believer that a DIY lip scrub should always taste nice, so the base of this one is mostly organic white sugar, which is nicely scrubby as well as straight-up sweet. If you don’t have white sugar on hand you can use any other granulated sugar with a similar grain size (that means no icing sugar or rock sugar). I spike the sugar with some ground cinnamon and nutmeg for added deliciousness and scrubbing power.
Pure maple syrup, coconut oil, and a few drops of homemade vanilla extract hydrate the mixture so you can mash it into a brown, scrubby concoction for your lips (or your for toast, if you’re so inclined). If you don’t have maple syrup on hand you can use runny honey instead, but the maple syrup really is a lovely addition.
All that’s left is a quick buffing and a rinse, and you’ll find yourself the proud owner of a set of smooth, hydrated lips.
DIY Homemade French Toast Lip Scrub
Ingredients
- 1 tsp organic cane sugar
- 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp pure maple syrup or honey
- 1/4 tsp coconut oil
- 2 drops pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Stir the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a small dish.
- Add the maple syrup/honey, coconut oil, and vanilla extract, and mash everything together. At first it'll seem like there's not enough moisture to get everything to combine, but keep mashing—you'll end up with a thick, fragrant, sugary paste.
- To use: take a small amount of the scrub onto your finger. While leaning over a sink (to catch the fall out), massage the sugary mixture into your lips, buffing off any dry skin.
- Once your kisser feels sufficiently scrubbed, simply rinse away the remnants of the scrub with some warm water. Follow up with some lip balm (I love this one) and enjoy your freshly polished lips!
Note: You’ll want to use this scrub within an hour or two of mixing it up or it’ll dry out. If you want to keep it around longer, add ½ teaspoon of a liquid nourishing oil like sweet almond when you blend everything together. Store the mixture in a small container with a sealing lid.
Kristin’s Note: I love to double Marie’s recipe (pictured), add my favorite nourishing oil (jojoba) and use this as a lip and hand scrub. If you choose to use this as a hand scrub, you’ll need to dry your hands with a towel to remove any leftover brown-colored spices. Follow-up with a simple moisturizer or my favorite homemade lotion.
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