COFFEE SCRUB

Hey Candies!!
Are you people, especially ladies having problems with ugly cellulite? Varicose Veins? Well, for all those coffee lovers out there especially YOU ladies, here's a fun treat for you! Simple, safe, and all natural. Everything you will need is inside the kitchen! Here we go!

Coffee Scrub!!! (:

Before we get started, let me share with you the important properties of our ingredients.

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark, slightly acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee bean. The caffeine content in coffee is much more higher than any other plant that is consumed by humans like tea and as such. The biggest factor as to why coffee is such an amazing scrub is that one, it distributes fat cells on your body and therefore prevents formation of cellulite and also diminish the ones that are already there. Two, Caffeine is a vascular restrictor, it will shrink your blood vessels. So if you have varicose veins, it will diminish the appearance of veins in the surface of the skin. And third, it acts a vascular constrictor which means it tightens and firms the blood vessels as a result your skin will appear firm & smooth.

African Wild Honey is the concentrated nectar of flowers that comes straight from the extractor. It is unheated, pure, unpasteurized, & unprocessed. It's nutritional profile is primarily carbohydrates, water, vitamins & minerals. It is an excellent source of antioxidants, it has inherent antiseptic & anti-fungal properties. Retains & attracts moisture to skin. Stop premature aging/minimizes fine lines and enlarged pores. Works well to ease boils, eczema, bumps & more. And it helps in tissue healing & prevents scaring.

Olive Oil contains 77% Monounsaturated fatty acids, 14% Saturated fatty acids and 9% Polyunsaturated fatty acids and Vitamin E. It is great to use as skin moisturizer, exfoliator, nail and cuticle care, eye make-up remover and great for hair care!

Brown Sugar is used as an exfoliate that gently cleanse the skin without any residue that can clog pores that leads to breakouts & blemishes. It contains glycolic acid & it serves as a dual purpose by tightening pores & adding moisture to the skin leaving it smooth & and soft.

Jojoba Oil is extremely beneficial to your hair & skin. It is a perennial shrub found it Northwestern Mexico and parts of California & Arizona. It has rich contents of Vitamin E.  It moisturizes, develops new hair cell growth, non-irritating to the skin & antibacterial.

So those are the ingredients. For this you will only need a bowl to mix the ingredients in, a spoon or stick & a container to put the scrub.

How to do it? It's so simple! All you have to do is get that coffee grinds that you have (and please make sure that it's fresh) and put it in the bowl. Next pour in brown sugar depending on the amount of coffee that you have I don't have a proper measurement really, mix well. Then you wanna add in your Olive & Jojoba oil both in 2tbsp mix well and lastly add 1tbsp of African Wild Honey. Well any honey will do, but I just used African Wild Honey just so because this is somewhat the purest form of honey. Mix well until you'd get that soft, fluffy, creamy consistency. Once everything is mixed well and done, head to the showers and enjoy your home made Coffee Scrub!! And it does smells great!!!

There are many ways to DIY coffee scrubs. You can go and search more on YouTube and be amazed with how cheap natural beauty can be. No need to buy all those expensive stuffs. They just rob you out!!

And oh! P/S: I wouldn't recommend this as a facial scrub. I do have a separate scrub for my face which is also from my kitchen!! In my next post I'll tell you guys about my Facial Scrub and what I use.

So this is the end of it. Hope I have inspired you all and remember to save those coffee grinds! It works so many wonders!

Happy Scrubbing!


Much Love,
Ivy ♥

SHEA BUTTER FACTS & FAIR TRADE SUPPORT

Hi Candies!

So on my previous post I shared about the Shea Butter and at the end of that post I said there are Ivory, Yellow & White Shea Butter. On this post I wanna share the difference among this 3 butters. Let's get started.

First stop is the Unrefined Shea Butter. This is in Off White/Ivory color. As I have discussed previosly, Shea Butter is a natural fat that is extracted from the nut from Shea Tree also known as Karite. The Karite Tree begins production of this nuts when they're about 20yrs old. But the tree reaches maturity at about 45yrs old. There's a total of 19 countries in Africa that produces Shea Butter ranging from the West, Central and a little bit down to the East. The largest deposits of Shea Butter are from Ghana, Mali, Togo, NIgeria and Uganda.

So what is the color of Shea Butter?
Shea Butter is NOT milk White & it is certainly NOT Yellow. Shea Butter is Ivory or Off White in color. The texture is smooth and creamy and it really melts on your hand and it doesn't leave an oily feel when you apply but of course it goes a little long way, it's oil and fats so when you apply a lot of course you will have that oily feel behind. It has a smokey odor a little nutty. The smell of Shea Butter is very unique. Some said, when you smell the Shea Butter you will never forget the smell because its unique.  (:

My Shea Butter. I got this from Coastal Scents. It's from Ghana and this product is from the Fair Trade. 

What are the properties of Shea Butter?
The reason why Shea Butter is really good for your skin is because it prevents formation and diminishes stretch marks and helps to maintain skin elasticity. It evens out skin tone by reducing blemishes and scaring and enhance skin to it's youthful glow. It softens dry, cracked skin. It hydrates and promotes cell growth. Provides natural ultra-violet sun protection although it only has an SPF6, not that much so if your going out under the sun you still need to lather on some sunscreen. It's an excellent moisturizer for all skin types and it will not clog your pores. It penetrates deep into the skin. It has anti-oxidants that protect the cells agains't free radicals and premature aging. Free radicals could be second-hand smoking or it could be toxins that are produced in your own system. It contains Elastin which is a protein that gives your skin supple and youthful resilience.

If you guys wanna know more check this site American Shea Butter Institute.

If you are allergic to nuts, the American Shea Institute suggests that you should stay away from anything that has Shea or Shea Butter itself. This is because there's still hasn't been any tests done to show how tolerant people allergic to nuts would be with the Shea nut and it is a NUT!

Second stop is the Yellow African Butter.
It is a bright, clear, Yellow butter. The bad news is that this is NOT SHEA BUTTER. The good news is that this comes from a tree also and is similar to Shea Butter! The problem is, the butter has been marketed in the US & Europe as Yellow Shea Butter and because of this they've created a whole mess and confusion about the butter. This Yellow butter is actually called African Butter and it comes from a completely different tree from a completely different environment. The Shea Butter which is an Off white or Ivory comes from a tree that grows in an open savannah and is actually drought tolerant but the African Butter comes from trees that grows in dense forests and the trees prefer wet, shaded conditions. From that you can already tell that the inhabitant environment of the two trees are totally different. The other differences of both butters is that the Shea Butter is more creamy than the African Butter but both butters have great moisturizing & healing properties.

Image of African Butter from the web. 

However, if you want to buy African Butter, be very careful. Coz some merchants in Africa are dying Shea Butter Yellow so it would look like the African Butter.

They are similar but in their fatty acids Shea Butter is much more superior. But both butter are great! But if you want, maybe you can try both butters and see which one is more receptive to your skin. Be very careful however, not all Shea Butters are created equal and not all African Butters are created equal. Due to its popularity, there are people adding some things in it like waxes or some coloring and all this bad things that interferes with the natural properties of both butters.

This is to clear with you guys that Yellow Butters is NOT Shea Butter. It comes from a different type of tree from a different type of environment and it is known as the AFRICAN BUTTER. It has just been marketed wrong in the West world like in the US & Europe thus resulting the confusion.

And lastly, White Shea Butter or the Refined Shea Butter. It is a Shea Butter that has been bleached, deodorized and extracted using powerful substances which destroys the Natural properties of the Shea Butter rendering it virtually ineffective. Plus they add preservatives. In other words, this is completely rubbish. There is no point getting yourself a pleasing Milky White, scented Shea Butter, because of the process that the Shea Butter has gone through being refined and heated up to 400 degrees just to strip all of it's odors and such thus includes stripping away the natural properties of the Shea Butter. It renders useless. You are just paying for the pleasant color and the fragrance. So be careful with this. There is too much chemicals in this butter which is not good for you.
Here's a video of how the Shea Butter is made. It takes 20-30hrs to of labor to produce 1 kilo of handcrafted Shea Butter.

So those are the 3 types of butter that you should know. And I'd just like to add here that whether you will buy Shea or African Butter, please make sure that the butters that you're getting are from those who supports the FAIR TRADE.

Fair Trade is an organized social movement and market based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries making better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price as well as higher social and environmental standards.

This  Fair Trade helps the people in Africa especially the women who handcrafted this Shea Butter to be paid accordingly. The Fair Trade also helps in providing the African Communities the basic commodities such as food, water, education, health care & shelter. For more information please click the link Coastal Scents Fair Trade & Fair Trade Shea Butter Cooperative.

So That's it! Thanks guys! Hope I've given you some useful info.

Much Love,
Ivy ♥

GOODBYE TO LOTION

Hey Candies!

Yes!! I just said goodbye to LOTION!!!!!! Unbelievable??? Oh you've got to believe it! I know I am a lotion junkie but I've stopped using lotion for some time now. Coz it doesn't satisfy me and I just hate wasting my money on products that gives empty promises of moisture, hydration & soft & silky skin! Pui..

So as everybody knows, I'm a lotion freak! I love lotions! And I can't go on a day without slathering some lotion.. I just love lotion!! But, there's a tons of lotions out there and I've tried a lot but some just doesn't satisfy me. Some says that their product gives MOISTURE & HYDRATION and blah blah blah... So in the search for the best lotion, I've searched the web for the one that would give me what I want. And I've come about sometime ago the best! Before I purchased anything online I ofcourse have to read some reviews and stuffs. And  all the reviews were praises. So I purchased online this baby for me to try. I mean every skin is different and some products may not be suitable for every skin types. But this baby is so suitable for all skin types! So let's get to know this lovely baby!

Introducing SHEA BUTTER!!!

This baby is a slightly yellowish or Ivory-colored natural fats extracted from the nut of the Shea Tree by crushing, boiling and stirring. It is widely used in cosmetics as a moisturizer, salve or lotion. It is edible and occasionally, chocolate industry uses shea butter as a substitute for cocoa butter although the taste is different.

The traditional method of preparing unrefined shea butter consists of the following steps:

• Separating/cracking: The outer pulp of the fruit is removed. When dry, the nut, which is the source of shea butter, must be separated from the outer shell. This is a social activity, traditionally done by Women Elders and young girls who sit on the ground and break the shells with small rocks.
• Crushing: To make the shea nuts into butter, they must be crushed. Traditionally, this is done with mortars and pestles. It is hard, grueling work - with the women spending hours lifting the heavy pestles and slamming them into the mortars to crush the nuts so they can be roasted.
• Roasting: The crushed nuts are then roasted in huge pots over open, wood fires. The pots must be stirred constantly with wooden paddles so the butter does not burn. The butter is heavy and stirring it is hot, smoky work, done under the sun. This is where the slight, smoky smell of traditional shea butter originates.
• Grinding: The roasted shea nuts are ground into a smoother paste, water is gradually added and the paste is mixed well by hand.
• Separating the oils: The paste is kneaded by hand in large basins and water is gradually added to help separate out the butter oils. As they float to the top, the butter oils, which are in a curd state, are removed and excess water squeezed out. The butter oil curds are then melted in large open pots over slow fires. A period of slow boiling will remove any remaining water, by evaporation.
• Collecting and shaping: The shea butter, which is creamy or golden yellow at this point, is ladled from the top of the pots and put in cool places to harden. Then it is formed into balls.

Shea Butter has been used in Africa for centuries. It is used to moisture and protect the skin from the sun, heat, wind and salt. It is known as the most effective moisturizer and conditioner because of it's high content of non-saponifiable fats including vitamin F. It is an excellent moistener and is used for aging skin, eczema, and all forms of massage. It is also used to relax the muscles and to treat sprains, wounds and colds. It also helps protect and prevent dryness, irritation and wind burn. Can be used as a hair dressing cream to moisturize a dry scalp and stimulate hair growth. And best of all, it helps to diminish stretch marks!! 

I got mine from Coastal Scents. I got 1 pound of pure, un-refined Shea Butter. It smelled kinda nutty but it smells so damn good!! Some people might not like the smell but I definitely love the smell. It can be applied on the skin as it is or make your own body butter by incorporating some Essential oils and fragrance oils. But it's still all natural! What I did with my own Shea butter was I made my own body butter. So I mixed in half a pound of Shea butter with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Jojoba Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Raw African Honey, and Vanilla Lavender fragrance oil to give me that sweet, chocolate like scent. Smoothed it all over my body, face, hair & especially those areas where I have stretch marks, give it a good amount of body butter and massaging it so the skin will absorb it faster. Instantly, after the body butter sinked into my skin, it felt so smooth, so soft, and it smelled really good!!!

My own body butter.. It has a creamy consistency. And It smells damn good!!

And my God! I am never gonna waste my money again on lotions that promises nothing! Nothing like the Shea Butter can do for your skin! It's totally hydrating and moisturizes, affordable and long lasting! A pound of Shea butter goes a long way baby! And I still have 5 pounds here with me coz I ordered another one! Lol.. Keep your Shea Butter in cool, dry place. 


So there's my little secret! Well, it works wonderful for me. If you guys are interested, go google it now! You can go check out this websites for some reviews. Please click Tonya TKO, Tonya TKO stretch marks solution, & SorrySary. Check out this reviews and see for yourself.


Anyways, you might see that there are some White Shea Butter, Yellow Shea Butter & Ivory Shea Butter. Be aware, the real Unrefined Shea Butter is Ivory in color. Not Yellow & not White! IVORY!! The White Shea Butter that you see is the REFINED Shea Butter. You do not want that! Because it's refined and all the natural properties were stripped out and were being replaced with chemicals! So That is not good! The Yellow one is NOT Shea Butter! I repeat, it's NOT SHEA BUTTER! But don't fret, it is similar to Shea Butter but a very different kind of butter. Tricky?? Not really.. 


In my next blog I will further explain the difference between the Ivory, Yellow & White Shea Butters.. 


Stay tuned!!


Much Love,
Ivy ♥

AFRICAN BLACK SOAP

Hi Candies..

So let me share to you about one of my secrets to healthier and beautiful skin.

First and foremost, before we all start the day, we all take a nice, good shower! Wash our hair, wash our body with soap or body wash & once in a while we do some exfoliating to remove dead skin cells. Well, the last part some may do it, some may not. But anyways, I am gonna tell you what I use to achieve a healthy skin.

Basically, one main point of achieving healthy skin is from our food intake. You eat healthily and you get healthy skin. But sometimes that's not enough. Take into considerations too our environmental condition. No matter how much of a healthy diet one person can be, but if the environmental conditions were harsh like humidity & pollution, sometimes healthy diet is not enough.

Soaps/body washes also plays an important part in achieving healthy skin. That is why most beauty companies market their brands to the public promising soft & healthy glowing skin. BUT, is it really true? Well, maybe they do want their products to have such results, but as we all know, these products are made inside a lab with so many chemicals, preservatives, fragrances and whatsoever stuffs being incorporated, thus making the product not so likely what they promise to be (except for the part that the product smells so good). So, you're paying money for a soap that only gives you good scent but not the part of having a lush skin. Let me tell you a little secret and how this may change your point of view in some things and how you may never use another soap other than this again. Here we go!

THE RAW AFRICAN BLACK SOAP has been the secret of Kings & Queens for dynasties. Hand crafted from Western Africa with the most natural ingredients (not made in labs). Royal brown in color and it's totally something different that you've never experienced. As what Tonya says, ONE INDULGENT WASH WILL TRANSPORT YOU BACK TO THE TIME OF CLEOPATRA OR MENELIK.. YOU WILL NEVER WANT TO RETURN BACK TO YOUR OLD SOAP AGAIN. Lol.. And it's true!

Let's get to know this mysterious soap shall we?!

So The Black African Soap also known as Anago Soap or Alata Soap originates in Western Africa. It is hand pressed & processed by the women in Africa. It contains no scents, preservatives or chemicals thus leaving it as it is, ALL NATURAL.

Let's de-mystify this heavenly soap.. But before everything else, let me share you the ingredients and how they were made.

Ingredients:
Plantain Skins is a kind of banana but it's more larger and it tends to be firmer and low in sugar. Unlike most of the bananas which can be eaten raw, Plantain on the other hand needs to be cooked or processed. An average Plantain has about 220 calories and is good for source of Potassium and dietary fibers. It grows mosty in South America, South East Asia & Africa.

Cocoa Pod Ashes from the Cocoa Tree which is native to the deep regions in South America.

Palm Oil is derived from the fruits of the palm trees. Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of the fruit of the oil palm. It contains highly saturated vegetable fats. It has been long recognized in West Africa and unrefined palm oil is a large natural source of TOCOTRIENOL, part of Vitamin E.

Shea butter is a slightly yellowish-ivory colored natural fat extracted from the nut of the African Shea Tree by crushing, boiling and stirring.

And lastly is bark of the tree called Argo.

How it is made:
It takes a chemical process to make the black soap only that the ingredients they use are all natural.

Firstly, the Plantain skins are all laid to be dried in the sun for several hours until the desired color & texture is attained. Then after this, the Plantain skins are all toasted in a clay oven. This requires constant stirring and constant firewood application to make sure that heat is evenly distributed. The longer they roast the Plantain skins the darker the soap. So if you receive a light in color Black soap it only means that they didn't roast the plantain skins for as long as they roasted the dark ones. Next, they carefully mix the cocoa pod ashes into the Plantain skins ashes and at this point the bark of the Argo tree goes there and this forms the base which reacts to the oils to form the soap. Next they'll add the palm oil and Shea butter and this gives it the moisturizing capabilities and it's left to cure for 2 weeks and then after that you'll have your Black soap!!

Now keep in mind that different communities in Africa will make slightly different Black Soap.

Now this is not just your ordinary soap for it's uses are totally amazing! It's suitable for ALL skin types and since it's all natural it has been used for ages in treating rashes, eczema, acne, dry skin, ring worm, dandruff, & body odor. The African Black Soap helps keep the skin clean and helps against premature facial line. It leaves the skin soft and smooth. It is recommended for both young & old. (:

It is imperative to never leave your Black soap inside the shower as it absorbs oxygen around it to infuse it with your skin. Because of it's highly absorptive nature the soap will become one with the water and disintegrate if left near your shower! A heed of advice, when using the Black Soap as shampoo please do not forget to lather conditioner afterwards or else you've got nothing to comb because of the tangles. LOL..

It comes in this huge size soap. Wrapped in a zip lock bag. Not so fancy but like duh! Who needs fancy wrapping? I'm paying for the soap not the packaging!

So try it guys! Check online. I've got mine from Coastal Scents HERE. For more reviews, you can check out YouTube, they've got tons of vid reviews, here's ONE.

The soap is not not hard so you can just slice off a little bit of chunk and mold it to the size that you want and the rest of the soap you can place back inside the bag and store away in a dry, cool place. 

Pretty cool right?! And like I said, since it's all natural, no fragrance added, the soap really smells like Earth.. I guess that's how Earth's minerals smells like? It maybe a bit strong for you but trust me, once you've lathered it and rinse off, it doesn't smell that bad anymore. In fact, it's kinda refreshing! And it lathers very well. You don't have to use so much of it.

After using this for bathing, it's now part 2 of the regiment. And everybody knows how I can't live without my lotion. I am a pretty vain pot girl. But guess what? I just ditched my lotion for something even much more better and believe me, within the next day of usage I've seen wonderful results!! What is it???

STAY TUNED...


Much Love,
Ivy ♥

ALL NEW..

Hi Candies!

Welcome to my new blog. This blog is created for the sole purpose of sharing my beauty secrets with you. Here, I'll be doing some make-up reviews, and share some tips about beauty and natural stuffs for beauty.

So check this blog out once in a while. Enjoy!

Much Love,
Ivy