The many uses of COCONUT OIL…* an infographic for Holland&Barett

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coconut oil, eco oils, Holland&Barret, multiple uses, natural ingredients, review

That I’m a big lover of coconut oil it’s no surprise for anyone, anymore!

I use it to cook but I also use it in face masks, as a cleanser, as a makeup remover ( and I recently recommended it to one of my girls, she uses it and simply loves it as well! ), as a bath oil, as a hair ( mostly in masks as it tends to weigh down the hair if used otherwise, because it’s so rich ) and body oil…

One of my first articles here on annie’s beauty… was precisely on coconut oil, with detailed benefits and how I use it. So for more “technical” details you might want to check out that post as well!

What about you, my lovelies? Do you like coconut oil? How many of its uses above were you aware of and how many are you using yourself?

Let’s talk about it!

See you soon, Beautiful!

xx, Annie

* This post IS NOT sponsored by Holland&Barrett in any way

** NO affiliate links are present in this post

SPA AT HOME – DIY 1 – Body

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apricot oil, body, body mask, body scrub, camomile oil, coconut oil, diy, olive oil, santal amyris oil, skincare, SPA

Last week I shared with you my own version of a SPA AT HOME – Luxury Products 1 – Body. For that post I chose the high-end products I use and love at the moment. For my SPA session this Sunday I plan to use only products everyone has at home, that are not that expensive and they are healthy and organic. It is going to be a do-it-yourself kind of post that I am sure anyone can do and enjoy.

For my SPA at home I am going to need some basic ingredients: natural essential oils ( Camomile and Santal Amyris oils ), cold pressed apricot oil, coconut oil ( review here ), olive oil, sea salt, brown sugar, coffee, honey, yogurt, cornflour, barley flakes… You are allowed to use whatever ingredients are good for your skin that you can find in your kitchen.

First of all, same as I did in my previous SPA post, I like to prepare my bathroom. I light some candles, some oils. I fill my bath top with hot water, I add simple sea salt, some oatmeal and I also add a few drops of Camomile and Santal oils. The Camomile Oil ( Anthemis Nobilis ) is a calming and relaxing  pure essential oil which helps reduce  stress and chronic insomnia, muscular tensions, skin allergies, helps healing eczema and scars. The Santal Amyris ( Amyris Balsamifera ) is a pure essential oil that helps decongest the lymphatic and the circulatory systems but it also helps reducing the cellulite. The sea salt helps detox the skin and relax your muscles and the barley flakes can be used to heal skin affections.

To clean my skin I use a scrub I make myself out of: coffee, sea salt, brown sugar, olive oil, apricot oil and a few drops of camomile oil. I rub my skin gently to remove any dead skin cells then I clean my skin with warm water.

After that I often use a body mask. That is right! You can also use masks for your body not only for your face and neck! We often forget to take deep care of our body’s skin. We don’t exfoliate enough, we don’t give our bodies the moisture it often needs. Me included… But when I do, this is what I use: I mix in a bowl one cup of cornflour, one cup of Greek yogurt and three tablespoons of organic honey from my grandfather’s bees. I apply that mixture all over my body and go on with my routine for another few minutes, then I rinse it off.

After the scrub and the mask my skin feels so soft and smooth that I don’t even need to apply a body lotion. Nonetheless, I like to apply an oil to be sure my skin feels moisturised for a long time. And for that I use cold pressed coconut oil, that I gently massage into my skin insisting on my very dry areas: elbows, knees, hands and feet.

I usually prepare enough scrub and body mask for a one-time-usage. But sometimes I happen to do more, so whatever is left I like to keep it in a dark colored glass jar with a lid that seals the recipient for safe keeping. I am careful not to keep the product too long though because since it is made out of natural ingredients without preservatives, it can easily go bad.

This is my SPA at home affordable DIY version. I like natural ingredients and I like mixing them.

But tell me, do you like such natural remedies? Do you use any of these? Please share with us some of your “recipes”!

See you soon, beautiful!

xx, Annie

 

TRIO VERDE – coconut and apricot oils

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apricot oil, coconut oil, cold pressed, eco oils, hair, help, mask, nature, organic, raw, review, romania, skincare, trio verde, winter

First of all HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY beautiful people!

I have been in a healthy kick lately. I exercise more, I’m more careful with WHAT and WHEN I’m eating and I’m drinking more water… Also, I’m trying to use more organic skincare and makeup products and I’ve discovered that even my hair likes better, shampoos without as many sulfates, even if there are less bubbles involved! And you should know that I have this thing for bubbles! They make me happy!

In my quest to be healthier I made a lot of research. But I remembered that the simple things work best! “Less is more”, they say… So I remembered I liked a page on Facebook that proposed healthy products: oils, body butters, natural waters enriched with plant extracts… It was TRIO VERDE‘s page.

I wanted some coconut and apricot oils. So I ordered some coconut oil and apricot oil. But on their website, they have a variety of bio oils: argan oil, avocado oil, apricot oil, coconut oil, jojoba and macadamia oils, almond oil and carrot oil with a helpful description for each product – what is it for, how was it made…

The package came in 48 hours ( Oh, joy! ) and when I opened it… There they were! My Cold Pressed Coconut Oil and my Apricot Oil.

The coconut oil smelled ah-mazing. The benefits of the coconut oil are well known: rich in saturated fats ( 90% concentration ), lauric acid and vitamin E it is a good antioxidant and prevents premature aging but also helps cure some skin affections like dermatitis, psoriasis, eczema and other skin infections. It’s a good hair treatment helping it regenerate, grow faster and ads shine to it. Helps with dandruff too.

But the apricot one smelled like a regular oil – this let me down a little. But not for too long because when I applied it on my face and lips, my skin felt so soft and smooth… I loved it! Enriched with vitamins A and E, this oil is found in almost every care product for children. It’s emollient, but not greasy. It has lots of linoleic acids that fight against aging, dryness and skin irritations. 

HOW I used this oils:

– COCONUT OIL: I incorporated it in a handmade hair mask. I took one tsp of coconut oil, heated it in the microwave to make it more “liquid” I added one tsp of castor oil ( or Palma Christi – Ricinus Communis ) and one egg yolk, mixed all together and applied it on my dry hair. You, guys, don’t want to see how ridiculous I looked!… After 30 minutes I washed my hair as I usually do and let it air dry by itself… My hair was soft, shiny and easy to brush. And the smell… OH! the smell… If you like coconut scented things like I do, you know what I’m talking about.

– APRICOT OIL: I used it as a treatment on my face, at night and also in a scrub I made myself. The scrub was made of a few tsp of grounded coffee, a pinch of sea salt, some olive oil and a lot of apricot oil… Rubbed everything on dump skin, rinsed it all clean and after that my skin didn’t felt dry nor itchy anymore.

I still use this scrub every other day and the hair mask once a week.

The retail price for these oils is 5-6 euros for a 100 ml of coconut oil and 4 euros for 50 of apricot oil. For the apricot oil I found an offer with buy one get one free so I got 100 ml of pure organic cold pressed oil for an infinitesimal price.

I hope you enjoyed my experience with these oils. Please tell me if you used it, and how…

Have fun today with your loved ones!

See you soon!

xx, Annie