At Home Beauty Treatments For Girls On A Budget!

Everyone wants to look great all the time right? Right. Well in today's economy, it's harder than ever to keep up with all your spa trips and salon visits! So I have compiled a list of beauty recipes made from things you can find in your fridge!!


Banana avacado hair mask:
Ingredients:

1. 1 medium banana
2. 1 egg
3. 1/2 avocado
4. 2 Tbsp honey
5. 3 Tbsp buttermilk
6. 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Mash banana, egg and avocado in a small bowl.
2. Add remaining ingredients and stir until well combined.
3. Apply to hair from roots to tips.
4. Leave in for 30 minutes and then wash out with a moisturizing shampoo.
   
5. Double the recipe for long hair.
6. Use twice a month to maintain healthy hair.

Honey & Apricot Deep Conditioner
This treatment works especially well on African-American hair. The ingredients will help tame the frizzies and hydrate dry hair. It's also great for the scalp. Use once a week throughout the winter for best results.

Ingredients:

• 1 small apricot
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp apricot oil

Directions:

1. Remove pit from apricot.
2. Blend ingredients until smooth.
3. Apply mixture to freshly washed hair.
4. Wrap hair with plastic wrap.
5. Leave on for 30 minutes.
6. Rinse with cool water and style as usual.

NOTE: WHEN APPLYING A CONDITIONING TREATMENT OR HAIR MASK, FOR BEST RESULTS, APPLY TO CLEAN DRY HAIR. DRY HAIR ABSORBS MORE BECAUSE IT IS NOT WATER LOGGED!

CUCUMBER HAIR RINSE:
If you swim in a chlorinated pool for exercise on a regular basis, the same damage you've noticed happening to your skin and bathing suit, is happening to your hair, as well. Try this treatment at home to keep chlorine damage to a minimum.

1. 1 egg

2. 1 eggshell's worth of olive oil

3. 1 quarter of a peeled cucumber

Blend the egg, olive oil and peeled cucumber. Spread evenly through your hair, leave on for 10 minutes, then thoroughly rinse. For the best results year-round, continue this treatment monthly.

COCOA BUTTER HAND AND NAIL TREATMENT

In a double boiler heat and melt the following items:

• 2 Tablespoons Beeswax
• 2 Tablespoons Cocoa Butter
• 4 Tablespoons Jojoba Oil
• 1 Tablespoon Anhydrous Lanolin

When melted remove from the heat for several minutes until it is only warm. Add 20 Drops Sandalwood and Rosemary Essential Oil and stir again until it is completely mixed. This mixture can then be stored in a jar for up to 4 months and requires no refrigeration. In cold climates it may harden slightly but can be warmed and will soften prior to use. A jar of home-made hand and nail cocoa butter treatment would be a wonderful addition to a gift basket filled with nail polish, file, cuticle scissors, nail buffer or nail clippers.

brown sugar body scrub:

It is often described as yummy and soothing. Certainly, it is not caloric, so if you are on a diet, you can freely enjoy it without worrying about gaining weight :)

Brown sugar is full of molasses which makes it brown and moist. Its grains are smaller than of regular, white sugar which makes it a perfect exfoliant. It is not too harsh on the skin, it is gentle and easily sloughs off dead skin cells. It smells great, warms the skin up, and leaves it smooth and luscious.
Brown sugar body scrub

Ingredients

2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground oats
2 tablespoons aloe vera gel
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon almond oil (in case you don't have almond oil, use olive oil, it is a great substitute).

Preparation

• Before you start preparing this scrub, grind the oatmeal using a coffee grinder or food processor. It has to be of sandy consistency, flaky and light otherwise it will scratch the skin.
• Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. Mix until it resembles a paste
• It should be applied on moist skin, the best time is after you took a shower. It will help the skin cells slough off faster.
• Use circular motion and massage gently using your fingertips.
• Rinse off with warm water.

AT HOME QUICK BEAUTY FIXES:

1. To remove puffiness from the eyelids, massage a drop of very fresh castor oil on to them.
2. To cool your eyes, make eye pads using thick slices of cucumber. Another option is to use cotton pads soaked in cold milk. Lie down and place them on your closed eyes and relax for a while.
3. Putting a drop of rose water into each eye just before you sleep can also refresh you eyes.
4. To prevent your lips from chapping, use hot water fermentation on your lips and then apply a mixture of vaseline and honey. Apply this mixture about three times a week.
5. To prevent your lips from drying you can use a ground mixture or rose petals and milk butter.
6. To delay age spots on your hand, use a piece of lemon and rub all over your hand, before washing. This will delay onset of age-spots.
7. If you have no time to shampoo your hair before going out, then brush 1 tablespoon of talcum powder or corn flour through your hair. Try this out first when you are not in hurry to make sure that it works the way you want.
8. To prevent hair loss you should have a biotin rich drink. Blend bananas with honey, yogurt and low fat milk. Drink this for a few weeks.
9. While blow drying and setting your hair, blow-dry at hot on the roots of the hair. Roll your hair inwards or outwards at the ends. To improve the setting make sure the ends are evenly rolled in or rolled out. Heat the hair for a second and then let it cool. This process of setting the hair will last longer and make your hair look beautiful.
10. To condition your hair, after shampooing your hair take some conditioner on your palm and rub it with both hands. Apply from the hair shaft moving downwards. Do not apply on your scalp. Rinse your hair after 5 minutes.
11. To add extra shine and glow to your hair add 2 tablespoons of malt vinegar. Use it as a last rinse and towel dry your hair.

I hope this helped some of you out!! If you ever want more recipes, or want to send me a question or comment..just email me at katiecouturexo@yahoo.com

Weak/Brittle Nails

Hi everyone!

So here is my first product review for this blog!

Everyone loves having great looking nails. Hands/nails are one of the most noticed features when meeting a new person, seeing family, meetings, basically anything you do!

As a nail tech, I get a lot of people telling me that they love having acrylics or gel nails, but upon removal, their nails are weak, soft, and paper thin.

Well..There are a few things that can be done. First one being, DON'T GET ENHANCEMENTS AND LEAVE THEM ON FOR YEARS AT A TIME! I suggest keeping them on for a few months ( a good rule of thumb ((no pun intended! lol!)) is when your natural nail is as long as your enhancement) . When you remove your enhancements, SOAK them off in 100% pure acetone. DO NOT POP/RIP/BITE/CHEW your enhancements off. Doing this will rip layers of your already thin nail off with the acrylic.

After removing enhancements, I also suggest getting regular manicures. They're cheap, and you get a hand/arm massage included in the price!! If done right, this should be veryyy relaxing!

If regular manicures are out of the question, I recommend investing in a nail strengthener. The good ones can be a little pricey (around $16 for OPI nail envy which now comes in 6 different formulas)

The salon formulas are usually better, try O.P.I Nail envy, or Nail Tek . You can also pick some up at the drugstore. I have tried sally hansen products and seen ok results from them.

Anyway..My personal favorite is the OPI nail envy line! I have not tried all of the formulas, just the original and it has taken my nails from tissue paper thin, and hurting, to strong and healthy looking!

I hope this review has helped out the many of us who have weak brittle peeling nails!!