Some time ago now I was interviewed for the Metro’s Going Green in the City feature series. Sadly, the journalist went all quiet on me so I don’t think anything is going to come of it. I was talking about how easy it is to green your beauty regime by making informed choices in your shopping, and I also created two bespoke DIY Beauty recipes to show how easy, cheap and effective homemade beauty products can be. The journalist in question had sensitive skin, prone to dryness, eczema and breakouts. She liked to use Liz Earle’s Cleanse & Polish, so I took inspiration from this formula and created my own DIY beauty spin on it. The below recipe is partially based on their ingredients however instead of Cocoa Butter I’ve used Shea Butter as this is less pore-clogging. Ingredients for DIY Cleanse & Polish Cream

• 25g Castor Oil
• 25g Olive Oil
• 30g Shea Butter
• 20g Beeswax
• 12 drops Rosemary Essential Oil
• 8 drops Eucalyptus Essential Oil
• 6 drops Lavender Essential Oil

Method for DIY Beauty Balm

1. Place a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and add the Castor Oil, Olive Oil, Shea Butter and Beeswax. 2. Stir to encourage the wax to melt into the oils. 3. Once the mixture is the same consistency throughout remove from heat. 4. Add the Rosemary, Eucalyptus and Lavender Oils and stir again. 5. Leave to cool before transferring into a sterilised container. Label the container with the product you have made and the date. This formula will last up to four weeks, possibly longer if stored in the fridge! To use, take a small amount, rub between your fingers to warm then gently massage into your face and neck, concentrating on areas prone to congestion – forehead, nose and chin. Run the hot tap and place an organic muslin cloth underneath it. Place over face and gently pat. Repeat twice more, once again with hot water and a third time with tepid water. If you live in the city you may wish to do a double cleanse and repeat the whole process again. Do you have a beauty product you wish you could recreate at home? To be cleaner and greener, or maybe just cheaper? Leave a comment below and I’ll try my best to formulate and create a DIY beauty recipe that’s easy for you to recreate! To give you an idea, Liz Earle’s Cleanse & Polish costs £14.75. To invest in all the ingredients to make the product costs £22 but of the three main ingredients you have enough shea butter to make the recipe three times and enough castor and olive oils to make the recipe four times. The essential oils will last tens of times to make the recipe and these are over half of the initial outlay. To make the above batch costs just £3.13, and makes around 60ml, so it’s about 1/3 of the cost ml for ml! Plus all the ingredients are organic 🙂 I bought my ingredients from Aromantic – I trust their quality and they have a large selection, in fact, I haven’t not been able to get a required ingredient from there yet!