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“Relax, it’s Soy Wax!” Lavender and Geranium Aromatherapy Candle
Lavender & Geranium

I admit I cheated here and bought a kit. Lavender, as we know, kicks butt at making us chill out. Geranium is a floral scent which sooths tension, uplifts moods and reduces stress. I say mix them together for a sensory mood booster after the chaos of Christmas and New Year!

In my 10-candle kit from All Australian Candle Making I got:

♥ 10 little glass candle containers with lids
♥ 1kg soy wax
♥ Wick assemblies (wicks with a metal disc at the bottom)
♥ You’ll also need pegs from the washing line and essential oils

In a double boiler, or in a big metal or glass bowl over a pot of simmering water, melt the soy wax by stirring continuously. When it has all melted, add your essential oils. I kept adding my lavender and geranium until it was strong enough for me.

Tricky bit #1: Getting wax into containers, not all over kitchen bench. I ended up using a ladle to fill them to about 1.5cm from the top.

Now, let them sit for a little but keep your eye on them. You’ll notice the melted wax, which looks similar to egg whites, will start to solidify and turn white.

Tricky bit #2: Setting the wicks. When the bottoms of the containers have about 1cm of white wax, carefully place a wick in the middle and squash the metal disc into the “muddy” wax at the bottom. You can use a wooden skewer to help push the metal disc down, and if you do so it’s easy to see the wax encasing the disc. Once you’ve got the disc in the solid wax, peg the wick so that the peg rests on the edges of the container, keeping the wick straight.

If the wax solidifies at the bottom too much and the wick won’t set, pop the candle (without wick!) into the microwave for a quick blast, or dip it in some hot water.

When the candles are completely white, you can remove the pegs and cut the wicks.

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Make sure you pop a glass plate or coaster under the candle when you burn it. If the aromatherapy doesn’t relax you, surely a candle lit room will!

By Gemma Clark, an 8-hours-a-night sleeper with soft lips whose entire house smells like a lavender bush.

Be well,

xoxo

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Citrus Buzz Beeswax Lip Balm
Grapefruit, orange & mandarin

This one is for those who can’t leave the house without a stick of Burt’s Bees, the citrus is lip-smackingly yummy and refreshing.

You will need:

♥ Orange essential oil
♥ Grapefruit essential oil (I used pink rather than yellow)
♥ Mandarin essential oil
♥ Cosmetic beeswax pellets (1/2 tablespoon for every tube/tub you want to make)
♥ Carrier oil – I used sweet almond oil (1 tablespoon for every tube/tub you want to make)
♥ Lipstick shavings from your favourite colour (use a paring or peeling knife to keep the lippy in shape)
♥ 5mL plastic lip balm tubes or tubs (you can use an old lippy tub or buy new)
♥ Pipette or small funnel
♥ A glass jar with a metal clasp fastener, not a screw lid

Put the beeswax and carrier oil in a jar and snap the lid closed. Pop the jar in a pot of water on medium-low heat and the wax will start to melt. Once all melted, remove the jar from the water and pop it on a tea towel. Stir the mixture with a metal spoon and add your essential oils until the scent is strong enough for your liking. Stir in the lipstick shavings until you’ve got the colour intensity you’d like.

Use a pipette or funnel to transfer the mixture to your tubes or pots and let it set for an hour with the lids off.

Eat your heart out, Burt’s Bees!

By Gemma Clark, an 8-hours-a-night sleeper with soft lips whose entire house smells like a lavender bush.

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I’ve always been intrigued by the senses we have, and losing even one would be life changing. No tasting mum’s cooking, no watching your favourite trash TV, no cuddling with your dog and feeling how soft his ears are, no listening to your girlfriends re-cap a bad date, no smelling the roses/the coffee/clean laundry.

Which is why I think we should make the most of our senses and push them to the sensory limits.

My grandad went blind a few years ago. He was a computer nut, a woodworker and loved watching the cricket at the WACA. Fast forward to now, his life is completely different. Really, all he wants is a good nights’ sleep because the sun no longer controls his body clock.

This got me thinking about ways to relax and calm the mind to drift off to sleep when you’re limited by the senses you do, or don’t, have. I always breathe very deeply to fall asleep, so to enhance the benefits of focusing on breathing for relaxation I started to look into aromatherapy.

After all my research, I ended up realising I’d get more bang for my buck making a few different natural products if I was going to invest in essential oils and other aromatherapy supplies. The three below work out as nice cost-effective Christmas presents if you make them in bulk (around 10 or more of each) and use similar essential oils in each.

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“Dream On” Pillow Spray
Lavender, orange & lemongrass

According to Smell Boffins & Researchers, lavender produces calming, soothing and sedative effects when the scent is inhaled. Lemongrass revitalises the body and relieves the symptoms of jetlag, clears headaches and helps to combat exhaustion and stress-related conditions. Just what grandpa ordered!

You will need:
♥ Lavender essential oil
♥ Orange essential oil
♥ Lemongrass essential oil
♥ Water
♥ 30-50mL plastic spray bottle (re-use an old hair product container, or buy new)

This is dead easy. Fill the bottle up to about 1cm from the top (excl. where the cap screws on). Either straight from the bottles, or using a pipette, add:

6ish drops of Lavender
4ish drops of Orange
4ish drops of Lemongrass.

You might need more if you’re bottle is bigger than about 50mL, or if you want a bit more oomph!
Shake well, spritz on pillows and bed linen, sleep tight all night!

Stay tuned for 2 more posts and yummy recipes to try! x

By Gemma Clark, an 8-hours-a-night sleeper with soft lips whose entire house smells like a lavender bush.

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Lately I have been going through some kind of nail-painting mania, so I was excited when asked to review a range of products by Revitanail. The pack consisted of nail strengthener, ridge filler, base coat, hand and nail cream, cuticle remover gel and a French manicure kit.

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I decided to try the nail strengthener first. I am constantly washing my hands throughout the day due to my job, and as a result have weakened nails that tend to peel at the ends. The first thing I noticed about this product was the overwhelmingly strong smell, and the message ‘CONTAINS FORMALDEHYDE’ on the bottle. I decided it was worth smelling like a mummy if I was going to have long, strong nails – and within a week the peeling was no more! I was definitely happy with the nail strengthener.

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After a few months of neglect my cuticles had grown quite long and shaggy, so the cuticle remover gel was a godsend. You apply it to the nail beds, leave for 3-5 minutes and wash it off. The gel made them very easy to push back and they looked great!

Onto the French manicure set. This consisted of a cream coloured polish, pale pink polish, a top coat and stencil-type stickers to place on your nails to get the perfect white-tip. It was so easy to do and they looked amazing, better than a professional in my opinion! Due to my careless and sometimes clumsy ways I tend to chip my nail polish within a day of putting it on, but the top coat that came with this kit kept my nails looking good as new for at least four days.

After using many a cheap $2 bottle of red nail polish I did have a slight yellow tinge to my nails. Ew! After trialling the base coat in this pack for a few weeks I no longer have tobacco coloured nails, and I have decided to make it a rule – if I’m going to continue to use $2 polish always base coat it first!

At first I wasn’t too impressed with the hand and nail cream, I didn’t find that my hands felt any less dry (due to constant washing). However after about a week of using the cream the skin around my nails was no longer dry and peeling like before, hurrah! Although they still felt dry, my hands and nails definitely looked better.

All in all the Revitanail range that I trialled was great, all the products did their job (except the ridge filler which I didn’t try as I don’t have any ridges in my nails). I will definitely continue to use them and can recommend them to anybody with weak nails or dry hands. Or just for a great-looking DIY French manicure!

Review by Katy Lock, proud owner of pretty nails and the best DIY French Mani I’ve ever seen! – Ed.

Be well,

xoxo

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I’ve recently found a new friend on my wellbeing journey, he goes by the name of Dr Russ Harris. The good doc often chats to me in bed at night, and while this sounds like something that could make my boyfriend jealous, I’ve occasionally brought Dr Harris along when the boy has stayed over and he has been more than accommodating of his presence. 😉

Before anyone gets too carried away, I am of course I’m talking about a CD!

Dr Harris has put together his Mindfulness Skills (Volume 1!) CD and it’s the perfect accompaniment for anyone who leads a busy or stressful life. That’s most of us right?

So what exactly is mindfulness and why should you be interested in it when there’s a million other things on your plate?

Dr Harris defines it in the following way:

“Consciously bringing awareness to your here-and-now experience, with openness, interest and receptiveness.”

At the outset he makes an interesting point that relaxation is not the aim of listening to the CD, although it often is a by product of working towards mindfulness… tricky tricky.

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So why do I love this…?

♥ There are 4 different tracks that you can listen to depending on how you’re feeling and what you’d like to cultivate.

♥ Mindfulness of Breathing: As the name suggests, this track focuses on getting you to be mindful of your breathing through a variety of exercises.

♥ Mindfulness of Emotions: Ever get anxious about being anxious? I do. This track helps you to see and accept your emotions as they are, that even though they may be uncomfortable, they are just emotions and will pass. This is perfect to listen to when you feel overwhelmed by any particular negative feelings.

♥ Leaves on a Stream: My favourite track and the one I find myself listening to the most. Place any thought, feeling, sound, or vision that comes into your mind onto a leaf and let it float away down a calm river, even if that thought is “this activity is ridiculous!”, you can place it on the leaf and send it away. I love this so much, my river has a lot of leaves 😉

♥ The Observing Self: Probably the trickiest mindfulness exercise on the CD, this one requires you to notice that you’re noticing something. A really useful exercise that is mostly too brain-bending for me at night, so I recommend working on this during the day when you have some time out.

♥ I feel peaceful afterwards. Despite being told not to expect relaxation, it often shows up and I’m happy to let it snuggle right next to me as I drift off to sleep.

Could you do with some mindfulness in your life? Ever tried it? If you have any tips or questions I’d love to hear them!

Mindfulness Skills Volume 1 by Dr Russ Harris is available for purchase through Exisle Publishing for $24.99 – a bargain price for the benefits that it delivers.

Be well,

Annette

xoxo