Whitening Body Scrub at Home

Our skin gets damaged day by day due to UV rays and pollution. Our inner health also affects the skin and makes it looks lifeless and dull. We all should first take care of our inner health, should purify blood by drinking more water, should increase fruit and vegetable intake in order to achieve healthy glowing skin. Few homemade skin recipes can also remove long time sun tan gradually, removes dirt and dust from deep and gives a flawless skin. Today I am gonna write here about an effective BODY SCRUB recipe which lightens skin, which we can prepare within few minutes from your kitchen items :) Read below

OATS LIGHTENING BODY SCRUB (Removes tan, rejuvenates and lightens skin) 

INGREDIENTS

• Oats - Half cup
• Tomato puree - Half cup
• Curd/yogurt - 1 tablespoon
• Lime juice - 2 teaspoons
• Honey - 2 teaspoons

METHOD

• Grind oats to powder in a mixer. It shouldn't be powdered finely because it will lose the scrubbing effect if it is smooth and fine.

• Mix tomato puree (Pasted raw tomato) and lime juice with this oats powder and blend well.

• Finally add the curd and honey. Mix well to form a smooth paste. If the mixture is too thick, you can add some rose water to it but keep in mind the paste shouldn't be too thin.

• Our body scrub mixture is ready now! :)

HOW TO APPLY

• After taking a shower, or finishing your bath apply this paste allover your body over the clean and wet skin surface. (Can also be used on face)

• Allow it to sit there for 10 minutes. (Skin absorbs the ingredients and rejuvenate)

• Now scrub your body with a LOOFAH pad (Available in super markets) gently over the thinner skin areas and rough over the knees and elbows. Scrub well for 10 minutes. If you don't prefer to use a loofah, you can also scrub with your fingers for a mild scrubbing effect. But loofah works really best to lighten the skin and remove tan :)

• Once the scrubbing process is complete, rinse your body with clean and cold water thoroughly. Pat dry with clean cotton towel. That's it :)

RESULTS

You can see instant results, your skin becomes more soft,smooth and radiant after this scrubbing bath. Following this scrubbing procedure once or twice in a month will remove all the sun tan, improves overall complexion and offers you a flawless radiant skin within fewer uses :) :)

Feel free to submit your doubts and feedback :) All the best for your glowing skin!

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Potato Skin lightening Bleach at Home

Hello readers! I think most of the people are tired of using chemicals bleaches and spoiled their skin finally. Chemical bleach simply bleaches your skin, makes it too sensitive and thus causes bad skin even if you go out in sun for an hour. The bleaching effect also disappears within few days and gives you a dark and rough skin! What can we do at home to lighten our skin and vanish black dark spots? Which is the natural product works best for bleaching our skin safely? A simple answer for this question is POTATO :) Yes! Potato is an excellent bleach which can improve your complexion faster than any other chemical products. It's a natural skin lightener which we can use at home. I am going to give you all an excellent bleach recipe for all skin types! Enjoy! Go to your kitchen and collect potatoes :)

POTATOES IN MY KITCHEN

INGREDIENTS

• Potato
• Rose water
• Lemon juice (Optional, for oily skin type)
• Honey (Optional, for dry skin type)

METHOD

• Peel off the skin of a potato and grate it.
• Add a little amount of rose water and grind the grated potato to make a paste. This is the base of our bleach cream.
• Add lemon juice to this paste if you have oily skin and honey for dry skin. You can also simply use this paste without adding anything, if you are a normal skinned person.
• Now, you can use this paste over you skin and wash it off after 15 minutes.

RESULTS

• Instantly brightens skin. A best before party bleach to use at home.
• Regular use of this natural facial bleach will remove the sun tan completely to give you a fair complexion.
• This bleach removes blemishes, dark spots, acne scars and lightens your skin fast.

NOTE : For best results, use twice or thrice in a week. This potato bleach recipe may cause a light tingling sensation but this is perfectly normal, it means it's working on your skin to remove the dead cells and unwanted tan.

Let me know your experience, write your feedback to me after trying this bleach recipe at home! :)

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Improve Skin Complexion in 30 days at Home

A proper skin care regime is needed to achieve bright healthy complexion and prevent it from pollution, dirt and other skin enemies. Good moisturizers with SPF (Sun protection factor) would help us in developing and preventing the complexion and hence moisturizing is compulsory for all skin types. Oily skin needs moisturizers too. Some people needs a quick skin fix before a party, or a wedding to look bright and beautiful. It's not necessary to go for costly skin care products and cosmetics to achieve brighter skin. We can even brighten our skin with natural things available in our kitchen to enhance the skin color and look beautiful. In this post, I am going to give you step by step instructions to improve your complexion to an extent within 30 days. Follow the below skin care regime and become a skin beauty! :)

     I am not going to give you loads to work this time. A simple natural exfoliating fairness facial scrub and a nourishing fairness mask is going to be your routine for these 30 days. The exfoliating scrub should be followed thrice a week for normal and oily skins and if your skin is dry, you are going to do it once twice because it might strip of the moisture from your skin leaving it more drier. Hey wait! Don't escape dry skin girls and guys! :D Only the exfoliating scrub is twice, but you surely need to follow the nourishing mask everyday or in alternate days. This is to nourish your skin and remove the dullness which is caused by dryness.

With the above procedures I would also mention some skin care and diet tips to follow, to get better results on your skin. First, I'll give the recipes of the exfoliating scrub and nourishing face mask.

Exfoliating Fairness Facial Scrub

Ingredients

• Orange Peel Powder - Two teaspoons
• Rose water - Required amount
• Dry skinned people keep in mind : Rose water is for oily skinned girls and guys, if you have normal to dry or extremely dry skin, I suggest you to add raw creamy milk instead of rose water. Additionally, you can also add milk cream and honey to this scrub (to prevent a stretchy feel and dryness)

How to Use

• Wash your face with a good face wash or soap depending on your skin type.
• Mix the orange peel powder with rose water (Oily skins), or milk (As I said for dry skins) and blend well to make a paste. The paste wouldn't be fine and it can't act as a exfoliate if it is fine, so don't worry.
• Apply this paste on the surface of your face and neck evenly. Leave on for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Let the ingredients work well on your skin to lighten it, just relax. You can place 2 cucumber slices or cold water dipped cotton pads above your eyes for a refreshment in this mean time.
• Now comes the important step, cleanse your hands and make your face wet by dipping your fingers in water and tapping. Now gently scrub your face and neck with an upward circular motion for about 10 minutes with your finger tips.
• After scrubbing, wash off with cold and clean water. Pat dry and moisturize, a heavy creamy moisturizer for dry skins and a light one for oily skins.

Results and Benefits

Orange has lots of antioxidants and citrus properties which are very essential for one's skin. It not only naturally bleaches your skin, it also acts as a wrinkle remover, spots and tan remover and skin lightener. So, following this above scrub regularly bleaches your skin in a natural way, removing dead cells, tan, giving a natural radiant glow which even skin lightening serums cannot give. Orange peel powder with rose water scrub removes excess oil while the same peel powder with the milk and honey mixture prevents skin from drying. So, the benefits and glow is same from the both scrubs, just the ingredients differs a bit as per your skin type. This scrub is recommend for brides also as it would make them look glowing and beautiful in their wedding day :) I recommend every girl or guy who craves for bright complexion to follow this scrub and get faster results.

Nourishing Fairness Mask

Ingredients

• Almonds - 5
• Oatmeal - 2 teaspoons
• Honey - 1 teaspoon
• Milk cream - required
• Rose water - required
• Oily skinned people keep in mind: This mask contains moisturizing ingredients which suits only dry skins well, so it is better to avoid milk cream and use lime juice instead to prevent excess oil secretion.

How to Use

• Soak almonds overnight in milk or water. Peel them and paste them in the morning.
• Mix this almond paste with oatmeal, honey, milk cream and rose water and blend well to form a smooth creamy face mask.
• Cleanse your face and apply this pack covering face and neck, avoiding the areas around eyes.
• Allow the mask to dry for 15 to 20 minutes and wash off with plenty of clean water. Moisturize!

Results and Benefits

Almonds makes skin smooth, soft and radiant while the other ingredients moisturizes the skin and provide required nourishment to the skin. Honey is also a natural skin lightener. This pack effectively cures acne spots, blemishes, tan and clogged pores. You can use this mask on the very same day when the previously mentioned scrub is performed, to nourish and calm down the skin and to retain it's natural oils. Dry skinned people are suggested to follow this mask once in two days or even everyday to achieve good results in these 30 days of skin regime :) Oily guys and girls, twice a week is enough. :)

Other tips: Drink plenty of water and use a high SPF sunscreen in these 30 days to prevent the fairness you gained or else the results will be lost. A good 8 hours sleep maintaining your skin clean these days is also very important for good results.

Hope you liked the skin regime package. Drop your comments for doubts :D I am here to help!

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Get Fair Complexion in Ten Days

In countries like India, fair skin has become a huge craze among people and everybody wants to get fair. It cannot be done overnight but it is possible gradually with some home remedies. You need to follow a good skin care regime, diet and fitness exercise routine to achieve that clear glowing skin! Just don't run behind fairness creams and lotions filled with chemicals and preservatives because all you get is a bleached and ugly looking skin. Most of the fairness creams cannot provide your skin a natural glow at all. Go to your kitchen and find some natural ingredients that can help your skin to become more bright and clear! Use them everyday as advised and you can notice results gradually. Other than these fairness remedies, some preventive measures should also be taken in order to prevent your new glowing skin. If you follow the rules perfectly, glowing fair complexion is all yours! Today, I will be giving some ideas and tips to improve your skin complexion,especially for brides. Note them down, follow them and let us know how it works. It might not show dramatic results on your skin, but it is sure you can notice a good difference on your skin texture and complexion within ten days.

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The More Sun - The More Sunscreen

What does it means? It is not that you need to apply sunscreen only on  hot summer days. Don't allow those clouds to fool you, sunscreen is also important in cloudy days. The more you be out in sun, the more sunscreen with a good  SPF is needed. Make sure to choose a sunscreen with high SPF, so that you get a longer protection. It is recommended to reapply your sunscreen lotion once in every four hours. This is the first step when it comes to the treatment of getting fair skin, because you need to prevent your new fair skin. Alright! This is the very important step, so don't skip it.

Fairness Bath Body Pack

How many times do you bath everyday? Hope it is twice because of this hot sun nowadays. It is best to bath once in the morning and once in the evening, soon after returning home from your work/study place. Leave the morning session, because you would be in hurry of getting ready. Let us have a relaxing bath in the evening. Open your refrigerator and take some tomatoes and a lemon. In a blender, add a cup of besan (Gram flour), few tomatoes, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice. This mixture should be blended well to a smooth paste by adding required rose water. You can also add some green gram flour if available, though it's just optional. Now collect this smooth paste in a bowl and go to bath. Use your daily soap/body wash to have a mild bath, using a loofah and scrubbing skin gently would be much better. After you cleanse up the body skin, apply this fairness body pack on your wet skin. Leave on for 15 to 20 minutes. Now wash away this pack with plenty of fresh water and towel dry the skin. That's it! This body pack natural whitens skin, removes tan and eliminate those dead skin cells naturally. This should be followed everyday for ten days, in order to see astonishing results. However, you can make it in alternate days as per your convenience. 

Leisure Time Facial Skin Foods

So what can you do to improve your complexion in your leisure time? Is your skin oily? Mix equal amounts of rose water, lemon juice and potato juice. Using a cotton ball, gently apply this over your face and neck and allow it to dry. You can do your own works like watching tv, or cooking meanwhile. After it dries, splash fresh water and wash away. For dry skinned people, a mixture of milk on honey can be applied to improve the skin. A face mask made with almond paste can also be applied everyday on your face for dramatic results!  By these simple tit bits, you are helping your skin get out of tan and become bright faster.

Water.. Water.. Water!

Water is everything! When your body is dehydrated, you can do nothing on your skin. No topical treatments work  when you have inner health issues. Drink at least 3 liters of water everyday to notice extraordinary results on your skin complexion and texture. Water is an all rounder remedy when it comes to skin. Not whole month or a year, just try this for 10 days. After that you will stick to drinking water and recommend your friends to do this. Not only inside, your skin needs water too. So whenever possible, especially after sun exposure, splash fresh cold water on your skin to heal and calm it.

Hot Oil Body Massage

Resting in weekends? Here is a task for you. Select a base oil of your wish. (Eg. coconut oil or olive oil). Crush some Neem and Tulsi leaves and add them to this oil and heat it. When the mixture is warm, switch off the stove and apply this oil all over your body and start massaging. You can also ask someone to do this. This hot oil massage can be followed twice in a week to achieve fairer complexion. Do you know how this helps? This improves overall body blood circulation and removes old tan. Thus, your body skin glows like a diamond! This really works, don't skip this too. In our ten days fairness skin routine, follow it for at least four times.

Moisturize Daily

Last but not least, a good moisturizer is important to make all the above things work. Wondering how? I will tell you. Whatever you do for your skin, moisturization is important to retain moisture and keep skin soft and glowing! Have you ever noticed your skin after bath, those white patches or some dryness? if you use your finger nails to draw a line on your skin, those white lines would be visible. You should never ever allow this thing happen if you want glowing beautiful skin. Moisturization is needed for extremely oily skin types too, however it should be light. So, use a good face and body lotion after every bath or face wash to retain skin's moisture. This would not show you overnight results, but the results are just fabulous if followed regularly. So keep the word "Moisturization". Never skip it!

That's all. These are the things you need to perform these 10 days. Of course this is not a get fair quick routine, but it really works if you follow in a proper way. You can notice the brightened and softened effect on your skin after these ten days. This routine will be very helpful for brides, so take a challenge, follow it for ten days and let us know how it works!

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5 Best Winter Beauty Fixes at Home

5 Best Winter Beauty Fixes at Home [Do it Yourself]

Hello everyone!
Are you enjoying the chillness in the air? It is the turn of winter now and we need to make some changes in our skin and hair care routines to stay beautiful. It is not that though actually; all we need to do is to choose skincare, hair and makeup products which suits our skin type. Not just the over the counter products, if we go for a kitchen raid in our home, we can find many skin friendly ingredients to use in our winter beauty care regime. Today, I am going to share with you five best beauty fixes at home to make use of this winter.

• Read: Ten Home Remedies for Winter Dry Skin

•  Read: Winter Fairness Face Packs for All Skin Types
  
  

1. Vaseline for Chapped Lips

Vaseline has been widely used by people for ages to cure chapped lips. This remedy is well known already but still I am mentioning here; a small tub of petroleum jelly can save your lips from winter damage very effectively. So next time when you go for shopping, pick 5-6 small tubs and give one to each in your family. You can carry petroleum jelly in your handbag whenever you step out as this may help you a lot when you forget to carry your lip balm.

• Read: VLCC Daily Protect Honey Lip Balm Review
  
  

2. Hot Oil Spa Bath for Dry Skin

Take half a cup of olive oil and heat it in a double boiler. Wear a bath towel or some short dress and apply this warm olive oil all over your face and body. Massage skin with gentle circular motion for 5-10 minutes. Now have a relaxing bath in lukewarm water. If preferred, crush some rose and tulsi petals and put them into your bathing water along with few drops of sandalwood oil. This hot oil massage come spa bath every weekend beautifies your skin like anything in winter! Olive oil help you say goodbye to winter skin dryness where as the other ingredients in this DIY spa make your skin smell fresh throughout the day.

• Read: Winter Skincare Recipes for Dry Flaky Skin

3. Moisturizing Rose Body Mist

Fill up a clean old spray bottle with 1 cup of rose water. Pour in 2 teaspoons of sweet almond oil and some crushed rose petals. Shake well and store the bottle in refrigerator (not in freezer) Soon after you finish your bath or soon after you return back home from work, when your skin craves for moisture, spray this calming body mist all over, including your face if you wish. This DIY rose body mist instantly soothes the skin and provides moisture without any harsh chemicals.

• Read: The Nature's Co Passion Fruit Pineapple Body Mist Review

4. Butter as Hand & Foot Cream

Yes! Butter works great as a heavy moisturizer. Before you go to the bed every night, wash your hands and feet with warm water and a gentle cleanser. Take a scoop of butter and massage your palms and feet well for 5 minutes. Now put on your cotton gloves and go to sleep. Wake up early in the morning to see your magically soft palms and feet! Butter is a great skin friendly ingredient to challenge winter dryness.

•  Read: Nourishing Winter Pedicure at Home

5. Mixture of Oils for Dry Scalp

Dry scalp causes several head aches such as dandruff, flaky skin, hair fall and itchiness in winter. To combat this problem, mix equal amounts of coconut oil, almond oil, olive oil and castor oil together. Pour this oil mixture in a clean container. Now take 5-6 vitamin E capsules and poke them to extract the thick vitamin E oil. Pour this oil into the already prepared oil mixture and shake well. Store this DIY winter hair oil in a cool dry place. Use this oil to massage your scalp twice to thrice a week and leave it on overnight. This oil usage will bring dramatic changes to the health and texture of your hair in weeks. So winter? It can never damage your hair with this powerful home made nourishing hair oil.

•  Read: Parachute Advansed Ayurvedic Hair Oil Review

Did you find these 5 Easy Winter Beauty Fixes useful? 

Which one did you like the most?

Image source: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Top Two Acne Scar Removal Treatments at Home

At Home Acne Scar Removal - Does it Really Work?

Does acne scar removal home remedies really work? This would be the popping question in your mind right now. Acne scars usually develop after the occurrence of acne bumps. When we suffer from acne, the acne bump irritates us a lot both physically and mentally. It develops irritation in the acne developed area and of course it lowers our self esteem and confidence if we are about to step out of our home for a party or an occasion. Moreover, these acne leave UGLY marks on face which are called the acne scars. Practically speaking, we cannot remove these acne scars overnight with home remedies, like the laser acne scar removal treatments do, but yes we can actually speed up the FADING PROCESS. You got it? Acne scars naturally fades day by day and using these at home acne scar removal treatments speeds up the process.

Facial Acne Scar Removal - Why is our face affected by acne often?

Our facial skin is the main area which is affected by acne and leftover acne scars, hence we need to take extra attention to our face if we want to get rid of these ugly looking acne scars. One may also experience body acne and back acne, which can be cured by regular exfoliation and other natural remedies. Our facial skin is delicate, sensitive and usually oilier than our body skin and this becomes the main reason for the appearance of acne. Maintaining our facial skin clean, clear and dirt free is very essential when it comes to preventing acne scars.

Top Two Acne Scar Removal Treatments at Home

Lemon Juice Acne Scar Removal Treatment:

• Cut a lemon and squeeze the juice from this. Dilute this raw lemon extract with 1/2 parts of pure rose water.
• After cleansing your face, dip a cotton pad in the lemon juice and dab your acne spots with this cotton pad. 
• You can either dab this juice overall your face for an instant brightening effect or just dab your acne scars with it to fade them. This is one of the most heard popular acne scar removal treatment at home, but hence it helps a lot in clearing out those ugly acne scars. 
• The citrus extracts helps bleaching the dark brown or red acne scars naturally while the rose water balances the acidity of the lemon juice to protect our skin from any harm. After leaving the juice in your facial skin for 15-20 minutes, wash off face with clean cold water. Pat dry and moisturize. Do this everyday for a faster fading of acne scars.
  
   

 

Chickpea Flour Acne Scar Clearing Face Pack Treatment:

• Chickpea powder helps in cleansing skin deeper which actually helps in fading the dark acne scars. Take a small bowl and add 2 teaspoons of chickpea flour, a teaspoon of orange juice, a pinch of turmeric, few drops of glycerin and required rose water to it. 
• Blend this mixture well to make a creamy paste. If required, add few more drops of rose water but make sure not to make the pack too thin.
• After cleansing your face, apply this face pack evenly over your facial skin concentrating on the acne scar affected areas well and leave on for 10-15 minutes.
• After 10-15 minutes, splash cold water and wash off this pack from your facial skin without leaving any residue. This pack can be used up to thrice a week for maximum benefits. If you have dry skin, add milk instead of rose water to this recipe.
  

Follow the below recipes without fail as instructed. Do the lemon juice acne scar removal treatment everyday or every other day and follow the chickpea flour acne scar clearing face pack treatment atleast twice in a week. This will double up the speed of the natural acne fading process and the result is your clearer glowing face!

Also Read:  Natural Ways to Remove Acne

Post Acne Scar Removal - Must Follow Ideas

Removing your acne scars is a just not enough, you need to prevent the future acne bumps from occurring. By now you would have realized the hardness of removing acne scars. It is actually better to remove the acne before it leaves a scar isn't it? It is even more better to PREVENT acne first of all right? Hence, maintain a good eating habit and avoid excess oily snacks. Avoiding junk foods is the first rule when it comes to post acne scar removal tips. Maintain your skin clean, moisturized and healthy to avoid further popping of acne bumps and that is what all you want to say goodbye to acne scars in future!

Image Source: Google Images

Homemade Facial Kit with Kitchen Ingredients

MABH 400 Followers Celebration Contest Entry Post 5 by Chand

Facial is one of the most important skin care regime. Facial massage treatment helps blood circulation, skin elasticity, reducing age wrinkles and increase skin glow. It also retains the moisture in the skin. Facial massage is the best method to get rid of black heads and white heads.

There are so many facial kits in the market. Many kits perform well and are very efficient on the skin. Yet, there is something more efficient and worth believing in its performance on the skin. All the items from your very own kitchen shelf make into a great facial kit.

I usually follow the kitchen shelf items facial massage routine. My Facial Kit comprises of

•         Milk
•         Milk cream
•         Crushed almond powder
•         Tomato juice
•         Few drops of honey

Done. These items are readily available at any point of time in any body’s kitchen.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Step 1: Cleanse & Massage

Milk forms an excellent skin cleanser. Massage a spoon of milk on to your face for about 2 minutes and wipe it off with a wet cotton or tissue. Milk cream forms a great massage cream. The hydration it provides to the skin is excellent. I take a coin size of amount of the milk cream to massage my facial and neck. (Yes, do not forget to massage your neck as well.) Massage for about 10 minutes. [Editors Note: This process provides hydration to the skin and also cleanses the dirt, makeup residues and dust effectively]

Step 2: Scrub

My scrub is the almond powder. It is a perfect scrub granule for the skin. It is not harsh on the skin. Since it is mild scrub, scrubbing can be carried on even up to 10 minutes. But lazy, I do the scrubbing only for 5 minutes.

Step 3:  Steam

After the scrubbing I give a hot steam treatment for my face and neck. I use a vaporizer for this method. A thick towel dipped into hot water and drained can also be used for this treatment.

Step 4: Facial Pack Treatment

A pack on the face will complete the facial treatment. I usually prefer a thin layer of the face pack on my face and neck. So, I use 3 spoons of tomato juice, 3 drops of honey and quarter spoon of almond powder. If you need a thick paste, reduce the amount of tomato juice and increase the amount of almond powder. Apply evenly on face and neck and wash after the pack dries.

There….. You have saved lots of your hard earned money.

Editor's Note: That's a fabulous post Chand. I am surely trying this facial soon. 

So how about you girls? Leave your feedback below.

Important Note:  The person with highest number of giveaway entry posts will win a surprise goodie hamper in this MABH 400 Followers Celebration Giveaway Contest! Enter now and win exciting prizes!!! 

Top Five DIY Beauty Fixes at Home

Everyone has their own 'beauty fixes'. We do follow some practices when we run out of our favorite skincare/makeup product. Most of them are common among everyone and some have always been 'secrets'. We are going check five common and more beneficial beauty fixes that many of the women swear around the world! Some of them might be natural, some budget-friendly, some quick and overall, beauty fixes are beneficial to every women out there. After reading the post, do not forget to share your beauty fix(es) below in the comment section!

Beauty Fix 1:
No Pimples Anymore
Mix together the Neem leaves and Tulsi leaves (basil). Paste them and apply this paste over your pimple affected skin before going to bed at night. Wash off face with cold clean water in the morning. Do this for 3 days to see the 'pimple free' face magic


Beauty Fix 2:
Out of your Toner?
It is not a very big worry if you ran out of your toner. Get some rose water, refrigerate it and use as your natural skin toner. Rose water cleanses out the leftover residues and softens skin with a nice cooling effect.

Beauty Fix 3:
Quick Nourishing Lip Balm
Ran out of your regular lip balm? Leave your worry. Get yourself a small box of Vaseline. Melt it in a double boiler and add 2-3 drops of Vitamin E oil [Extracted from the capsules] to it. Allow the mixture to cool down and your lip balm is ready to use now! Vaseline and vitamin E are two great sources of moisturizes. If you need some fragrance, add any of your favorite essential oil to this lip balm. Need some tint? Beetroot is there. Pour 2 drops of raw and thick beetroot juice to it. That's it, you're all done with your homemade lip balm.

Beauty Fix 4:
Skin Brightness in a Week?
Soak poppy seeds [Khus Khus] in water for 7-8 hours or overnight. Drain them and paste them to creamy paste. Mix two teaspoons of this paste with one teaspoon of fresh cream and blend together. After cleansing your facial skin, apply this smooth cream all over your face and neck. Gently massage for 10-15 minutes in upward motion and leave on for 10 minutes or until it is dry. Wash off with fresh cold water.

Beauty Fix 5:
All-in-one Overnight Face Pack
Get some fresh green fenugreek leaves and paste them until smooth. Use this paste as a face pack before going to bed every night. This removes pimples, blackheads, wrinkles and improves the skin complexion with regular usage. If you have dry skin type, add few drops olive oil to this face pack to prevent tightening of skin. You can see visible results within 10 days of usage.

Hope you liked the above beauty fixes. Now, its time to share girls! Share your favorite beauty secret(s) below and help the other divas out there. Let us make this a  'beauty secret sharing' space. And don't forget to enter our current running giveaways. We are planning to end those within 2-3 days. Hurry up! Quick.

How to Make Shikakai Hair Wash Powder at Home?

Day before yesterday, we checked about the making of homemade hair wash cream, with a base 'shikakai powder'. Many of you asked about the shikakai recipe as it is not available ready made in most of your cities. Finally, here comes the shikakai recipe of my mom. She has been using this shikakai hair wash powder for ages to maintain and pamper her hair. I guess you all would have seen my mom's hair. If not, go to this post. Believe me, she is really 54 and has no gray hairs :) I am the first person to be jealous of her long black hair. Okay, let us move on to the shikakai powder recipe now. All you need are few natural ingredients and some patience.

Things you will need:

• Shikakai - 1/2 kg
• Fenugreek - 1/4 kg
• Greem Gram - 1/4 kg
• Curry Leaves - 1 bunch
• Tulsi Leaves - 1 bunch
• Reetha - 100gm

Ingredient Benefits on Hair

  

 Shikakai

• Contains abundant amounts of Vitamin C and D which are essential for good hair health.
• Provides enough nourishment to the hair follicles with its micro nutrients.
• Doesn't strip of the natural oils from hair.

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Fenugreek [Methi]

• Contains nicotinic acid and proteins to nourish hair roots.
• Replenishes dry and damaged hair to add the bounce. 
• Replaces the store bought hair conditioners.

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Green Gram [Mung Bean]

• Rich in B vitamins and Proteins. Nourishes damages hair and prevents split ends.
• Cleanses scalp gently without stripping off excess moisture and promotes hair growth.

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  Curry Leaves

• Adds a natural shine to hair and prevent tangles.
• Controls and cures premature gray hairs.

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Tulsi Leaves [Basil]

• Cools down the body to prevent hair fall due to heat.
• Helps in removing dandruff and lice.
• Reduces hair fall and thickens the hair.

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Reetha [Soap Nut]

• Provides the lathering effect and cleanses out excess oil.
• Removes dirt and other impurities from the scalp well.

 

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There are no such hard steps in the preparation. Just make all the ingredients dry in hot sun for 12 hours. Make it two sunny days and part it to two 6 hours. When the mixture is completely dry and crisp, grind it to fine powder and your shikakai hair wash powder is ready for use. This can be stored in a clean and dry container for months. Regular use gives you a gorgeous healthy hair. One can simply mix this shikakai powder with some water to make a paste and use it instead of your shampoo or make a homemade hair wash cream recipe for more shinier hair, with this powder as a base.

Optional ingredients such as rose petal powder and hibiscus flower petal powder can be added for a pleasing fragrance and lustrous shiny hair. Share your views about this shikakai powder recipe and let us know if you have any experience or idea about this. In case of doubts on preparation, do drop a comment!

Top 4 Facial Scrub Recipes from Your Kitchen

Day by day, our skin shed dead cells that forms a dark layer over the epidermis. This results in dull and lifeless looking skin, so you might need some exfoliating scrubs to get rid of these dead skin cells. Whether it is an expensive or a cheap priced scrub, everything matters about result is proper usage. You should be very careful during the scrubbing process as it may result in rashes if over done or simply a waste of time if done very gently. The sensitive skin areas such as face should be scrubbed off gently while a little more pressure is needed in rough knee and elbow parts. It is recommend to scrub off your dead skins at least once a week, however you can follow scrubbing twice every week if it is prepared with your simple and natural kitchen ingredients. How often we can run behind those attractively packed chemical scrubs? Don't you think they are filled up with artificial and chemical ingredients? Just stay away from them for a while and take a tiny visit to your kitchen to bring out the lovely and skin friendly ingredients! They naturally scrub away your dead skin cells to bring out that radiant glow. Let us check today, some interesting scrubbing recipes for dry and oily skin types. These recipes have the ability to remove dead cells, tan and improve your skin complexion.

Image source: Google Images

Dry Skin Scrub Recipes

Scrubbing may be a little tricky task for people whose skin type is dry. Don't you agree? It is because some overpowering scrubbing particles may scratch your dry skin resulting in rashes and scars. So make sure to choose ingredients that are gentle and mild. Your scrub recipe should also include some natural moisturizing ingredients to balance the moisture loss which happens during the scrubbing process. Well, are you ready? Check these following recipes and add glow to your dry skin by removing those dead cells and adding some nourishment.

• A teaspoon of honey mixed with a teaspoon coarsely grounded oats and milk powder makes a perfect dry skin scrub. The oats gently scrubs of the dead skin layer while the milk and honey provide nourishment to your dry skin. Who wouldn't love to experience this yummy facial scrub? So hurry up! Take a small bowl and blend the mentioned ingredients. They can do wonders on your skin which you can find through the visible glow after every usage.

• Some fruits can also nourish your dry skin well. Avocado, Papaya or Peach? Mash any one of these fruits and blend along with honey and a teaspoon of olive oil. Stir well until it turns into a thick pack. Now we need to add some khus khus to this fruit mixture for exfoliating effects. That's it. Blend well, spread on your cleansed face and start scrubbing gently with your finger tips. After ten to fifteen minutes, wash off with clean water and moisturize your skin.

Oily Skin Scrub Recipes

Not just improper maintenance, even regularly been cleansed and maintained skin has dead cells covered. This is all because of the dirt, pollution and oiliness. Oily skin types are hard to maintain in summers, hence they needed to be scrubbed off at least twice a weak to maintain an even complexion. Honey, milk powder or these kind of nourishing ingredients are not for your oily skin as they may increase the oil secretion and aggravate those angry pimples. Scrub recipes for oily skin types should be mild, as well as effective. Try these scrub recipes below to pamper your oil skin with fruit vitamins and to get rid of dead skins causing dark uneven skin tone.

• Squeeze juice from half a lemon. Add two teaspoons of rose water and a teaspoon of rice powder to this juice mixture. Blend well to form a thick paste. Spread this scrub on your facial skin and let it sit there for 5 minutes. After that, wet your finger tips and gently start scrubbing in circular motion. Scrub for 5 minutes and allow the mixture for more two minutes and wash off with plenty of cold water. Rice powder acts as a dead cell and tan removing scrub while the lemon juice naturally whitens skin.

• Tomatoes can also do the trick on oily skin types. Simply puree a tomato and add two teaspoons of grounded oats to it. Blend this mixture well and spread on your facial and neck skin. Scrub gently for a while and wash off. This scrub not only removes the dead skin cells, but also clarifies your skin and improves the natural complexion. Regular usage would result in spot free, patch free radiant skin!

Hope these recipes are useful! Make use of these natural scrubs and forget those chemical ones! Do you have any scrub recipes to share with us girls?

Remove Sun Tan at Home {Summer Beauty Care Series Part 2}

As promised earlier, here comes the next part of our Summer beauty care series. We discussed about few very simple summer skincare ideas in Summer Beauty Care Series Part 1, because of the reason even beginners should follow. Now, we can check some interesting facts about Sun tan and their curing methods at home. Most of us know what is sun tan, if you don't know much about sun tan, don't bother. Being a skincare beginner, these things are just common. Sun tan is nothing but an uneven darkening of skin due to the over exposure of sun rays. Have you ever noticed your wrist darker than your arms and shoulder? Aren't your fully covered legs and thighs brighter than your hands? This is a great example for suntan. When our skin is exposed to the sun light, the UV rays of the sun affects the skin and gives an uneven tan. You can easily notice in people who do field work etc. It is hard to get rid of long time sun tan or completely remove it. But for sure, we can speed up the healing process and get back our original skin colour with a good skin care routine and patience as well. So, don't go behind those attractively packed chemical whitening lotions or bleaches. They may harm your skin and give you an older skin very soon! All you want is inside your kitchen. Gain some ideas from this post and make your own tan removing recipes for a tan free, bright and clear skin. 

Image source

Cucumber and Honey Face Pack for Dry Skin Types

Cucumber is a fresh and juicy summer fruit which has been used as a great skin cooling and refreshing ingredient in wide range of cosmetic products. This cucumber, when mashed and mixed with pure honey can act as a great face pack on sun burnt or tanned skin. This effectively calms down skin and removes tan with the whitening properties of honey. Simply mash few pieces of cucumber, add honey and smoothly apply on your facial skin. Leave on for 15 minutes before washing. Honey has skin nourishing properties too, hence your skin's moisture won't be stripped off. If your skin is extremely dry, add few drops of olive oil with this pack.

Lemon and Papaya Face Pack for Oily Skin Types

Does your skin tends to become oily on hot summer days? Leave your worries. Lemon is here to solve your problem. Squeeze half a lemon, add a teaspoon of papaya puree and blend well to form a thick paste. This paste should be used as a face mask leaving the sensitive eye areas and left on skin for at least 15 minutes before washing. This summer fruit mask controls oil secretion and whitens skin with regular use. For excellent tan removing results, follow this thrice a week and don't forget to add a few drops of rose water to this mask if you have sensitive skin.

Yogurt and Tender Coconut Face Pack for Normal Skin Types

Yogurt is meant for healing sun burns and tender coconut water is an excellent skin tonic. After a hot sunny day, mix both the yogurt and coconut water and blend well. Smooth on your face and relax for 20 minutes with cotton pads dipped in water over your eye lids. Wash off with plenty of fresh water and wipe off. Smooth and tan free skin is all yours if followed this pack regularly in the evening, after returning home.

Tit Bits to Remember

• Prevention is better than cure, so wear a high SPF lotion before stepping out in sun.
• Re-application of your sunscreen lotion is recommended once in every 3-4 hours.
• Instantly calm down skin with fresh aloe gel if you experience any sun burn.
• All the fruit masks mentioned above should be prepared freshly and used instantly.

 Hope you enjoyed the post! Let us know your opinions about it. Feel free to drop the skin problems you experience in summers. Our next part on this Summer Beauty Care Series may give you ideas on that. Waiting to hear!

Dont Forget to Read Other Parts from this Summer Series..

Part 1 : Beginner Tips

Blemish Clearing Masks for Oily and Dry Skins

Strawberries are excellent sources of Vitamin C and folic acid, which helps to make your skin blemish free. It's antioxidants rejuvenates dull skin to bring out it's original glow. Making your own facial mask at home with fresh and juicy strawberries will be a lovely and yummy nourishment for your skin in all the seasons. Dry, normal or oily, whatever your skin type may be, usage of strawberries in your regular skin care regime, cleanses dirt, removes excess oil and fades blemishes naturally in a faster way. It also gives a really pleasant feel while wearing a strawberry facial mask because it delivers a wonderful flavor unlike other chemical masks which you do in salons and parlors. In this post, we are going to see two main facial mask recipes with strawberries, depending upon your skin type, one for dry and one for oily guys and girls. Normal skin types can use anything with light moisturizing agent like milk cream or honey (Read the note below the recipes). As this is a very natural homemade blemish cure mask, even sensitive and combination skinned people can use this without any fear of side effects :) Lets move on to the recipes!

Strawberry Blemish Clearing Mask for Oily Skin

Ingredients

• Strawberries     - 3 or 4, as much as required
• Fuller's earth     - 1 teaspoon (Don't get confused :P Fuller's earth is just Multani Mitti)
• Lemon Juice     - Few drops
• Rose water       - Required

Method and Application

• Wash strawberries and put them in a blender. Blend till they are smoothly pasted.
• Gather this paste in a small clean bowl, add fullers earth, lemon juice and required rose water. Mix well. This is our face mask.
• Cleanse your face with an oil clear face wash, spread this smooth mask covering all the skin surfaces, including neck and allow it to work on your skin for 15 minutes. Rinse with cold water. 

Strawberry Blemish Clearing Mask for Dry Skin

Ingredients

• Strawberries - 3 or 4
• Milk Cream  - 1 teaspoon
• Honey          - 1 teaspoon
• Glycerin       - 2 drops (Use glycerin only if your skin is extra dry)

Method and Application

• It's a very simple procedure :) Put all the ingredients in a blender. Wait till the mixture forms a creamy paste.
• This is our mask and apply it as said above for oily skins, but remember you should use an hydrating face wash or soap to wash your face before applying this mask hence your skin is dry.
• You can wait for 20 minutes and rinse your face with fresh and cold water. Moisturization after mask is must for dry skins, use a good branded moisturizer.

Note for Normal Skins : Hey don't worry that I didn't give you a facial mask recipe. Your skin is normal, so you can use anything according to your wish. Just rememer onething, if your skin is "normal to dry" you need to add some milk cream or honey to it and if "normal to oily" forget about the milk cream and use lime juice or tomato juice instead, that's the trick :)

Results of this Blemish Clear Facial Masks

However the ingredient list differs according to your skin type, the mask has it own strawberry properties :) So you do get the same wonderful results if followed regularly. I suggest everyone to use this mask at least twice a week to achieve faster results on your skin. You can feel your skin is so much cleared, became blemish free and acne scar free after including this mask in your skincare regime. It removes oil, dirt, dead skin cells and scars to give out a lovely glowing complexion! You can see your skin is lightened, brightened and toned without any blemishes like never before! Enjoy! :D

How to Make Kajal (Kohl) at Home - For Bright and Healthy Eyes

Most of the women love wearing kajal on their eyes everyday as it highlight eyes and gives a bright look :) I got an idea of making my own kajal long before and successfully made it today! :D It really came out well and I wanted to share this secret procedure with you all. I hope you will like this post. Kindly note down the steps, make your own natural kajal and wear it everyday. This cools eyes and refreshes it, thus your vision gets better with regular use. I also suggest you to use this kajal every night before going to bed for bright and beautiful eyes. I have never felt such a cool feeling in my eyes like I felt today, I am really in love with my natural kajal. Let me tell you how I made it..

This is how it looks on my eye:

Things you will need :

• Almonds
• A long needle (A compass would be better though)
• 2 same sized flat bowls ( Nice if not a conductor)
• A long steel plate
• A small container (To store the Kajal)
• A drop of clarified butter or almond oil

Method:

1. Take an almond and carefully pin the needle into it's center, without breaking it into half. It should be like this..

2. Now you need to arrange the bowls and plates. Place two bowls in a straight line, there should be little distance in between them. The bowls are our stand. I used a steel bowl as I don't get a wooden one :( you can better use a wooden box or even a fireproof stand. Now place the steel plate above the stand.

3. After arranging, take the needle or the compass in which you pinned the almond, and wrap it's end with an holder or rough cloth carefully. As needle (iron) is a conductor, the heat will pass and you may burn your skin. Now you need to light the almonds and make them burn. Almond has oils and so it will act as a fuel for burning. I just simply switched on the gas stove and showed the almond in the flame for few seconds, it started burning. You should now gently and carefully hold the burning almond in between the bowls and below the plate, where there is free space. Take a look at this picture to make sure. (Sorry for the clarity :( )

4. A single almond will burn for about 2 minutes, after it stops burning and throw it off and do the same procedure with 4 to 5 almonds or as much as you need. You can see a black ashy layer forming on the bottom of the plate. This ashy layer which is formed by almonds oils, is gonna be our super natural kajal :) Take a look at the picture below, this is how the dark black ash of almond looks.. ( I am gathering it to store in my kohl container :D )

5. Now you have to gently scrap off the ashy layer with a knife or a steel scale as I did. Gather it and put it in a paper. Now carefully, drop this whole ash mixture into your container. I used an old empty Vaseline jar. After you stored the almond ash in the jar, add only a single drop of clarified butter(ghee) or almond oil. Mix well with a teaspoon's back side. Store it in a cool dry place. We made our own natural kajal now :)

The Shades on my hand

First one - Two swipes 
Second one - Single swipe

My Take on this Homemade Almond Kajal

I never reviewed my own prepared cosmetics before and this is the first one :) and my favorite one too. I really loved this kajal as it doesn't irritate my eyes even a bit as other chemical ones do. I had a great cool feeling soon after I applied it. It's my darkest known kajal ever. Yes! It is really so dark. It has almond properties which are good for the eyes, I heard that with regular use it will even make your vision clear. For beautiful, clean white eyes everyone should prepare this one and use it everyday, at least at nights.

Things which I liked about it:

• Dark shade which many girls will like.
• It is chemical free, so no need to fear about side effects.
• This one can even be used on baby's eyes as it's very cooling and mild.
• Cheap to do, beats even many expensive kohl's in worth.
• More than all the things, it is healthy for eyes and makes the vision clear.
• Refreshes eyes and cures dark circles with regular use, as it has cooling sensation.

Things which I don't like:

• As this is homemade and chemical free, it might smudge. You cannot expect this one should be smudge free but it doesn't smudge much for me. I felt this is same like the other kajals in smudging.
• Very very dark in shade, so it might be tough to remove it even with makeup removers.

Really no other cons! It's a great homemade recipe which I made :) and I wish to use it throughout my life. It's very cooling and makes my eyes healthy. I am in love with my natural almond kajal! I strongly recommend everyone to make your own and use everyday. Share it with your friends in Facebook and tweet it (It's my kind request) and help them to get beautiful bright healthy eyes!