“You smell… edible.” He said. Now that’s what we’d all like to hear when we step out of the shower, isn’t it? Knowing that I’m scrumptious, desirable, and alluring is downright sexy and empowering.
This Cinnamon Vanilla Spice Body Scrub not only smells delicious, it really is edible! And I use it on my skin instead of soap.
Why? Because a few years ago I had an epiphany. I decided I wouldn’t put anything on my skin that I wouldn’t also eat.
Your skin is your first line of defense.
Did you know that your skin can absorb 70% of all the oils, toxins, and chemicals you slather on it? According to research done in the UK, the average woman absorbs 5 lbs of toxic chemicals through her skin each year!
I didn’t want to be that woman anymore. I wanted to take care of my skin.
With this Cinnamon Vanilla Spice Body Scrub, you can luxuriate in homemade, organic, beautiful skin-care, too!
You can pamper yourself.
Or better yet, pamper your friends & family! It really would make a lovely gift.
Cinnamon Vanilla Spice Body Scrub
This recipe is taken from one of my new favorite e-books, DIY Organic Beauty Recipes.
The author of this beautiful e-book is a friend of mine, Heather Dessinger. In this photo of us, she’s the lovely lady smiling brightly on the right.
Heather blogs at Mommypotamus. If you haven’t read her stuff, you should! She’s smart and funny and engaging. And she takes the most stunning photos of her family that always touch your heart and make you smile.
She also poured countless hours into testing, testing, and testing homemade recipes for skincare until she found the ones that really worked. She compiled all these recipes into a fabulous new e-book called DIY Organic Beauty Recipes.
About the scrub, Heather writes:
You’ll love everything about this scrub: The ease of making it, the aroma of warm vanilla in a steamy shower, and of course the smooth, polished skin! As a bonus, sugar contains naturally occurring glycolic acid which dissolves old, dead skin and makes your task that much easier. Enjoy!
Now, without further ado, the recipe.
Cinnamon Vanilla Spice Body Scrub Recipe
Ingredients
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons sweet almond or apricot kernel oil*
- 2 tablespoons jojoba oil (or substitute extra sweet almond/apricot oil)*
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract**
- 1 teaspoon Vitamin E (optional)
To Make
1. Place brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and mix thoroughly.
2. In a separate bowl blend oils, vanilla extract and optional vitamin E.
3. Pour oil mixture into sugar mixture and mix thoroughly. Spoon into an airtight container and store out of direct sunlight.
To Use
Scoop a tablespoon of the scrub into damp hands and rub them together. Apply to body and scrub in a circular motion until most of the crystals dissolve, focusing on rough areas such as elbows, knees, and heels. Rinse and repeat if desired. Follow with moisturizer.
Shelf Life
If only sweet almond/apricot oil are used, up to 6 months. If the other more stable jojoba oil is incorporated, up to 1 year
Notes
This scrub is not appropriate for delicate facial skin.
* If you’re wanting to use what’s already in your pantry, olive oil can be used. However, the fragrance can overpower the vanilla/cinnamon scent of the scrub.
** Make sure your extract contains alcohol. Alcohol-free extract will make the mixture vulnerable to spoilage.
Why give this as a gift?
A. It’s handmade.
B. It’s consumable.
C. It’s indulgent.
Think about it. Most of us have too much stuff cluttering up our lives anyway.
When you give a consumable present, you give a pleasant, memorable EXPERIENCE rather than something that will likely end up on a trash pile within a decade or two.
When that same present is handmade, it spells work and sacrifice on your part. So when your loved one experiences your gift they know they are LOVED.
When that hand-crafted experience is indulgent, well… all bets are off. People feel special. Unique. Valued.
Want even more luxurious handmade gift ideas?
Consider buying Heather’s DIY Organic Beauty Recipes.
It’s an e-book, so delivery is instant. You can buy it now and be reading it 10 minutes from now, then start on making your handmade gifts tomorrow!
It’s also packed full of more than 50 recipes for homemade beauty products like shampoo, deodorant, perfume, make up, and MORE. (And they really work!)
Plus, she even includes a few bonus videos to help you master the basic techniques involved in making some of these goodies.
Click here to buy DIY Organic Beauty Recipes.
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Seems the honey is missing? You mention honey in the instructions but I don’t see it in the ingredients list.
Whoa. Total typo! I accidentally pasted the wrong instructions there. I fixed it.
Thanks for commenting!
This sounds lovely! I think I’m going to make some for the auction at our church’s Women’s retreat!
The issue I have with most sugar scrubs is they end up being such a mess that I have to scrub my whole bath afterwards. Would that be in issue here you think?
All oil-based, grainy body scrubs are inevitably going to leave a bit of a mess behind. Here are a few suggestions that may help mitigate the problem, as well as prevent slips and/or injuries due to same:
1) Do not apply scrub to soles of feet.Scrub soles of feet with soap or shower gel and loofah, pumice, or other dead-skin removal device.
2) Always perform your weekly body scrub one day in advance of scheduled weekly bathroom cleaning.
3) Place a large towel or oversized rubber bath mat inside the tub or shower stall prior to commencing exfoliation.
4) Keep a plastic spray bottle filled with distilled white vinegar in the tub/shower, and saturate oily surfaces immediately after exiting. Later, aim shower head or massage nozzle toward any visible leftover scrub remnants and rinse debris down the drain.
5)Spray feet with same bottle of vinegar, then dry feet with washcloth or towel, prior to exiting tub/shower.
6)Step out of tub/shower onto dry floor towel, mat or rug.
7)Use Lysol Dual-Action Disinfecting Wipes to quickly and easily eliminate oily residue.
As an herbalist, I would recommend cutting down on the cinnamon , even Ceylon, for a few reasons. One is that if people have scrubbed their natural protective body oils off, high essential oil content of a fresh, quality cinnamon (Vietnamese, Ceylon) could be irritating to the skin, and particularly certain areas, including mucous membranes.
I am wondering if 1 T vs 3 would work just as well?
Would definitely as well make a warning against almond “essential oil”, in case someone incorrectly thinks this is what is called for (I know you mean regular carrier oil! but… ) – that , too is caustic. There are so many things mislabeled these days, even on honest searches, which is why I throw in my two cents… I just did some searches and found several mislabeled and poorly described almond oil products.
Well, the notes *do* say that the scrub is not appropriate for delicate facial skin.
While that’s not a warning specifically about the cinnamon, I’m pretty sure that it’s there because of this ingredient. That’s because the e-book does provide other scrubs and bars for facial use.
Having used this scrub, I can say that the cinnamon is not overpowering at all. It’s really not too much! Just enough to give it a really pleasant scent in use. It’s actually quite mild.
I wouldn’t recommend cutting it down. I think if you did, you may find that you can’t smell it all when actually in the shower.
Would coconut oil work in place of the almond oil or olive oil?
Thanks!
Using coconut oil (ideally, cold-pressed organic extra-virgin) should work just as well as the others listed. It also boasts a colossal 2-year shelf life (or you could use fractionated coconut oil, which has an indefinite shelf life but is less nutrient-dense due to processing). Just bear in mind that coconut oil does possess a strong fragrance (which could potentially either overpower or not marry well with the fragrances of the other ingredients). Then again, it may end up smelling divine!
Thanks! I think I’m going to make this as part of Xmas gifts and my mother in law LOVES coconut so she will be pleased if it has that scent. I’ll comment when I do to let you know how it works out, if I remember lol!
Thanks!!
Tried it with coconut oil (organic unrefined Hain brand from Sam’s Club, very lightly scented and flavored). My only complaint is that there didn’t quite seem to be enough oil to make it look like yours! The mixture is drier and the sugar was a little clumpy. It could also be that it’s too cold in here, because my coconut oil was hard as a rock and I had to melt it before I could mix everything in.
It does in fact smell divine (and taste ok, too!). The dryness of the mix doesn’t seem to be a problem – I gave it a try in the shower and it’s lovely! Thank you for a great, easy recipe. 🙂
thank you i love it youre the best!!;)
@ Cherie: Using coconut oil (ideally, cold-pressed organic extra-virgin) should work just as well as the others listed. It also boasts a colossal 2-year shelf life (or you could use fractionated coconut oil, which has an indefinite shelf life but is less nutrient-dense due to processing). Just bear in mind that coconut oil does possess a strong fragrance (which could potentially either overpower or not marry well with the fragrances of the other ingredients). Then again, it may end up smelling divine!
I was in the process a scrub like this the other day, and my husband came and reached in the bowl and nibbled on it before I could stop him! I was about to tell him, “It’s a body scrub!” when I realized that yes, everything was edible, and that’s what is great about it. I keep it in the shower and tease him about snacking on it in there. 🙂
Mine was a little too oily though. This recipe sounds great!
Oh, and I put cinnamon chips in mine rather than powder. It leaves plenty of smell while not penetrating the whole scrub with cinnamon. The little pieces look pretty in there.
I also agree that it is kind of messy in the shower. It kind of greases the floor and would make me nervous if I had kids who could slip in there.
Hi Kristen, This recipe looks and sounds amazing! I have to make some soon because I love green beauty products that are homemade and good for your skin. Thanks for sharing the book and recipe.
You are welcome!
anyone out here tried sucanat in place of packed brown sugar?
I thought this was such a great idea and made it almost as soon as your email popped into my inbox! Only problem was my scrub didnt quite look like the picture (which seems to have some excess oil around the edges). Did anyone else have this issue? What did I do wrong? I think I measured everything correctly but the sugar seemed to soak up all the oil.
Thanks!
It sounds like you did it right. Mine didn’t have excess oil either. I think the photo is just especially sharp, so the oiled sugar looks quite oily because of all the reflected light.
This sounds awesome! I’m always looking for homemade beauty recipes! Pinning…
It looks like this book is great for beginners as well as experienced fermenters. The high level of detail in the book, as explained by other reviewers, is going to be very helpful in trying out something new.
How much does this make? I want to make it as a gift for people but would need to know the amount so I can buy packaging…