True Beauty

It is said that beauty is in the the eye of the beholder.  When you look in the mirror every morning do you feel beautiful?  How a woman feels about herself truly determines how she carries herself, respects herself and treats others. It is not something that can always be seen in a woman's outer appearance or specifically put into words, it radiates from within.

I love this quote below by Sophia Loren, it is so accurately stated. The belief of who we are is so much more powerful than what others think of us or tell us we are, or are not.

 

If you haven't had a chance to read my previous post on the Price of Beauty, be sure to check it out. Named after Jessica Simpson's VH1 show I share one of the women whom she meets and what she was willing to do all in the name of outer beauty.

I hope you are having a BEAUTIFUL day! :)

Image sources: (1), (2)

Natural Beauty: Homemade Body Scrub

I don't know about you, but the winter months always leave my skin so dry. Living in Florida this is generally never a problem but we've had an unusually cold winter this time around. In order to keep my hands, feet and skin all over feeling soft and supple I rely on this super easy and natural scrub. I love it because it contains no artificial fragrances, no dyes or color or the worry of parabens and other toxic ingredients. It only contains two essential ingredients straight from your kitchen!

HOMEMADE SCRUB

1 tsp-Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I always by the kind in glass, no chance of BPA)
1.5 tsp- Sea Salt (you can also use plain sugar as an alternative but be sure you use 2 tsps as it dissolves)

OPTIONAL: 1 drop of 100% Natural Essential Oil (such as orange, lavender, peppermint, etc.)

*You can easily increase this to a large quantity to cover your whole body while in the shower by using 1/2 cup of olive oil and  3/4 cup sea salt with roughly 6 drops of the essential oils. Be sure to make a new batch every time instead of creating a batch ahead of time. TIP: Always keep your olive oil in a cool, dark place to keep it's many health benefits from being destroyed.

I'm not super fancy when I do this and I typically do the hand scrub in the kitchen. You just pour the salt into your hand then the olive oil and a drop of orange essence oil and  mix it all together for about 2-3 minutes. Once you are finished, your hands will be oily so you can just rinse them with warm water and an all-natural hand soap into a lather and pat dry.

Your hands will be soft and silky afterwards. For additional moisture or overnight repair feel free to add some hand lotion or try 100% pure jojoba oil afterwards. You can follow this up with some cotton sleeping gloves or a pair of socks. This is especially great for feet!

On a side note I'm a bit of an extra virgin olive oil junkie. To help combat dryness from the inside out, consume more of it by drizzling it on top of your salad and existing dressing, use it on top of pasta, use with balsamic vinegar on tomatoes, the list goes on! My favorite no-fail combination for ANY recipe is extra virgin olive oil, a pinch of sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper, freshly pressed garlic cloves. You can add it to any pasta dish, chicken, fish, salad, and it always tastes great. Try it out, I think you'll like it!

Happy Moisturizing!