Blend-It-Yourself Lip Balm To get you started, here’s one of the simplest things you can make for yourself: a natural lip balm. It’s a particularly important element of your self-care because the skin on your lips doesn’t produce its own oil (making it a unique part of your body) – that’s why lips can get…
10 fantastic skincare recipes using Houseleeks Houseleek was one of the most cherished cosmetic herbs of Ninon de l’Enclos who, up to her death at the age of 91, was still called ‘the woman who never grew old’ and who, even in her 80’s, was managing to attract ardent young lovers. She almost committed incest…
A really quick and simple treatment to sort out flaky lips. Pound a houseleek leaf in a pestle and mortar. Add 1 teaspoon of honey, 1 teaspoon of oil (almond, olive or sunflower oil) and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Scrub your grainy mix in small circles over your lips then gently wipe off with a…
The moisturising properties of houseleek can help counteract the drying effect of shaving. Use it in a shaving gel and in aftershave. For an effective shaving gel, combine 3 parts blitzed and strained houseleek with 1 part coconut oil. Add the contents of a vitamin E capsule and a few drops of lavender essential oil.…
For your aftershave, blitz a houseleek in a blender and strain the resulting juice. You’ll want about 50ml. To this add an equal amount of rosewater and about 10ml vegetable glycerine plus a few drops of essential oils – eucalyptus and peppermint are good. There are lots more blend-it-yourself recipes using the benefits of houseleeks…
Cooling house leek gel is combined with the anti-inflammatory and anti-itch properties of chickweed. Take 50g of houseleek along with a handful of chickweed and blitz them using a hand-held blender, food processor, or good old-fashioned pestle and mortar. Spoon the mixture into ice cube trays and freeze. The cubes can then stay in the…
The recipe I have based this on claims to be close to what Cleopatra used as a cleanser, so if it can remove all that khol it’s worth trying. I have other recipes that add a decoction of houseleek leaves to a basic cleansing cream recipe but personally I prefer a more liquid cleanser as…
Roughly chop a quarter of a small cucumber. Put this into a blender with three to five houseleek leaves and process until smooth. Strain the mix through a sieve to extract the juice, you’ll want 50ml of this in the next stage. Separately, put 25ml witch hazel in a pan. Add a white or green…
A recent report said that ‘masks’ are the most searched-for skincare term on Google, they’re certainly hugely popular as a way to care for and soothe skin and as a simple self-boosting treat. I’ve suggested using green clay (otherwise known as fullers earth) but you could also use other clays (white kaolin, pink clay or…
A traditional recipe for chapped hands. Take a whole houseleek and liquidize to express the juice. Strain this through a sieve. Shred two lady’s mantle leaves and then pound them with a pestle and mortar. Gently warm 1 teaspoon almond oil with 1 teaspoon honey until the honey has dissolved. Beat in the pulverised lady’s…
