DIY Bath Products

Strawberries are a favorite on Valentine's Day, but it is now after Valentine's so if you have a couple of strawberries spare take some time to whip up these DIY products and indulge yourself.

DIY Lip Scrub 

My lips are always so dry and chapped. I have tried every lip balm and chapstick out there. Then I found out using chapstick frequently can be bad for your lips. They are also not self exfoliating, so in fact they need to be exfoliated. Which is why I came up with lip scrub.

Ingredients:

Coconut Oil
Sugar (I used sugar in the raw but you can use white sugar)
Peppermint extract
Honey
Strawberries

First melt down about a tablespoon of coconut oil.

In the mean time put about a tablespoon of sugar into a small bowl and add the peppermint extract.
I used the strawberries for their juice. I added the juice to the sugar mix for dye purposes. Since it is Valentine's Day I wanted to dye the scrub pink. I also add a drizzle of honey to the mix. The final step is to add the melted coconut oil to the sugar mix. Give it a mix. I transferred the scrub to the little plastic container you see in the pictures.

After it is all done I popped the finished product into the refrigerator to cool and harden a bit.

Then rub a small amount over your lips. I left mine on for a couple of minutes and then wipe off. Your lips should feel smooth.

DIY Face Mask

This mask is full of good properties for your face. Strawberries have natural Salicyclic Acid, Vitamin C, and Alpha Hydroxy Acids that can help lighten hyperpigmentation and clear up skin. The Greek yogurt is filled with lactic acid, which will gently exfoliate your skin and help clear it up. Heavy cream and sour cream can be substituted for the Greek yogurt. The heavy cream is nourishing and can be used for dry skin. Honey is amazing! It is wonderful in skincare treatments. It will help naturally heal your skin. It is antibacterial and anti-inflammatory. With this said it should help with acne problems or irritation.

*Remember everyone's skin is different, so what might work for one person may work for another. Find out what works for you.

Ingredients:

Strawberries
Honey
Plain Greek Yogurt

 I used 4 large strawberries and cut them into fourths.

Next mash up the strawberries with a fork or puree them in a blender.

Add a tablespoon of Greek yogurt if you have oily skin, heavy cream if you have dry skin or sour cream if you have normal skin.

And then add a dollop of honey. Mix this all up. Apply to your face for 10-15 minutes. Be sure to avoid your eye area.

If you have an allergy to strawberries you can substitute raspberries.
Any excess can be stored in a jar in the refrigerator for up to a week.

DIY Body Scrub

Ingredients:

Strawberries
Sugar
Coconut oil
Olive oil

First melt down a tablespoon of coconut oil.

Next mash up about 7-10 strawberries.

Transfer the mashed up strawberries to a bowl. Add a tablespoon of each oil to the mashed up strawberries and enough sugar as needed to make the mixture gritty. Apply this scrub to your entire body in a circular motion. Then rinse off.

This would best be done in the shower since this mixture is pretty sticky and can get messy.

Here are my final products all packaged up.

xo

*Shine like Glitter*
These products were fun to make. And even better to use. They left my skin feeling soft and rejuvenated.
Let me know if you try these out. I'd love to see pictures.
Tag me either on IG (vintageglitterxo) or on Twitter (vintageglittrxo)
Happy creating glitterites!

Yoga Pose of the Week: Locust Pose

This weeks pose is Locust Post or it's true name Salabhasana.

Locust Pose

This pose is grouped in with the backbends such as Dhanurasana (Bow Pose). This pose may seem simple at first but it may be more challenging and more interesting than it appears at first.

Salabha = grasshopper, locust

Locust Pose is used to effectively prep beginners for those deeper backbends and works at strengthening the back of the torso, legs, and arms.

I realized when doing this pose for the pictures that it is more challenging than it looks. But it does work to your butt, legs, arms and back.

Cautions

• Serious back injury
• Headache
• Students with neck injuries should keep their head in a neutral position by looking down at the floor; supporting the forehead on a thickly folded blanket may also help. 

On the yoga journal website (where I get most of my information) there are tips for beginners and for deepening the pose if you have been practicing yoga for some time.

Therapeutic Applications

• Fatigue
• Lower-back pain
• Indigestion
• Flatulence
• Constipation

Benefits

• Improves posture
• Strengthens the muscles in the back of the torso including the spine, arms and legs, and the butt.
• Stretches the shoulders, chest, thighs, and belly
• Helps relieve stress
• Stimulates abdominal organs

A variation of this pose, if students are having trouble, is Makarasana = "sea monster". In this pose the legs are raised exactly as they are in Salabhasana, but the fingers are clasped and palms are pressed against the back of the head, index fingers are hooked underneath the base of the skull. The upper torso is lifted, open the arms out to your sides.

Here is a video I found of Ester explaining the pose. I think she does a nice job with her videos. I used another one of her videos for Dolphin Pose. If you missed that post you can click here. Or you can do a search on YouTube for Locust Pose.

Now go out there and try this pose for yourself. 

However be sure to always practice safe yoga. Consult a doctor before you being any yoga routine. And only do what your body allows you to; do not push your limits. Yoga should hurt but it shouldn't be painful. If you are feeling pain switch up your practice. You do not need to impress anyone with your yoga. It is for you.

Yoga isn't about self improvement, it is about self acceptance. 

xo

*Shine like Glitter*

All of the information taken for this pose is from yoga journal.

You can find more information about this pose on the yoga journal website, including step-by-step instructions or the video above does a nice step-by-step as well.

Working on Crescent Moon Pose last week helped me deepen my lounges. And worked on stretching my legs. This will definitely come in handy with my rock climbing. 

Je m'aime

Translates to: I love myself.

*found on google

Just because you are alone on Valentine's Day doesn't mean you have to be alone. So this Valentine's Day take time to focus on yourself. Give yourself a spa day or relax and watch chick flicks with a bottle of wine or champagne, a box of chocolates, maybe some strawberries dipped in chocolate, and a box of tissues... you know for when the tears start during those soppy movies. Or grab a couple or a group of girlfriends, go out and celebrate your friendship. 

I have never really celebrated Valentine's Day even when I had someone to spend it with because I never thought of it as an important holiday. Why do I need a day to show/tell the person I'm with that I love them? I think that should be everyday. I will agree it is nice to go all out once in awhile and it is nice to recognize the holiday with a card or a small token of love, but me personally I never found this day to be a big deal. It is just all too much.

I found this photo on google and I thought it to be perfect for this post. It really is true. If you don't know how to love yourself how can you begin to love another person?! Whoever made this did a beautiful job.

This year I am spending it by myself house sitting with two big pups... so I guess I really won't be alone. At the beginning of the year I said I was making 2015 all about me. Instead of wishing I had someone to spend Valentine's Day with I'm celebrating ME with a bubble bath including a bubble bar from Lush, a bottle of pink bubbly, 2 boxes of Ferrero Rocher, a couple of chick flicks and some diy masks/scrubs I whipped up. (I will share those with you later *wink*)  Sounds like a pretty good Valentine's Day to me.

All my goodies waiting to be devoured!!

Time to put on a movie and hop on in!!

These 2 were my dates for the evening *grin*

So this Valentine's Day if you are feeling down about not having a significant other to spend it with, Love yourself because YOU are beautiful inside and out. Never let anyone tell you different. And if they do tell them to piss off. Take time for yourself, unwind, and be happy. Do not let some holiday make you question yourself. If you think there is no one out there that loves you remember you have the love of your friends and family. There is someone out there who loves you. And remember I don't even know you and I think you are beautiful and I love you.

*found on google

xo

*Shine like Glitter*

Power to me!
Power to you!
Empower your friends to love themselves!
Share with me @ IG: vintageglitterxo or Twitter: vintageglitterxo #VGXOLove

Cooking with Julia

Yes it is that time again. I cracked open my copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Today I decided to make Beurre Blanc or White Butter, which is a hot butter sauce. In the movie Julie & Julia, Julia Child explains beurre blanc to her sister Dort as a creamy, light, frothy... with, with a kind of a fantastic... subtle kind of... (At this point she is lost for words, she cannot find the right word to describe this, as she says, fantastic sauce. This is when her wonderful husband chimes in...) Paul Child: Tangy. It has a tanginess. Julia and Paul were a match made in heaven. A true couple. They are how I picture couples should be.

Anyway back to the sauce. I whipped some up and put it over a filet of salmon and asparagus. It was delicious to say the least and I ate it all up. It definitely had that tanginess to it. *grin*

    For about 1 cup 

    The flavor base
A 6-cup medium-weight, stainless saucepan
2-1/2 Tb white-wine vinegar
2-1/2 Tb dry white wine, vermouth, or lemon juice
1 Tb very finely minced shallots of green onions
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 Tb butter

Boil the liquid, shallots or onions, and seasonings with the butter until reduced to a syrupy consistency - about 1-1/2 tablespoon should remain.

   The butter-Added the classic way
A wire whip
8 ounces (2 sticks) best quality unsalted butter, well chilled, and cut into 16 pieces
Salt, pepper, and lemon juice as needed

Remove saucepan from heat and immediately beat in 2 pieces of chilled butter. As the butter softens and creams in the liquid, beat in another piece. Then set the saucepan over very low heat and, beating constantly, continue adding successive pieces of butter as each previous piece has almost creamed into the sauce. The sauce will be thick and ivory-colored, the consistency of a light hollandaise. Immediately remove from heat as soon as all the butter has been used. Beat in additional seasonings to taste.

There is also an Adding butter - The fast-boil way but I chose to do it the classic way. Maybe next time I will try the fast-boil way.

*Recipe taken right from Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Make sure you have all of your ingredients together ahead of time since this is a quick process. 

And yes those are all empty bottles of wine. *wink* What can I say I enjoy wine. I prefer in red: Malbec and in white: Riesling.

Just look at that tender filet of salmon with that wonderful tangy sauce.

A fantastic dinner overall, my glitterites.

xo

*Shine like Glitter*
My beurre blanc turned out a little thinner than I expect it should be.
Probably because I stopped to snap a few pictures here and there.
I need to get a live in photographer.
Yeah right if only.
I also used lemon juice instead of dry white wine or vermouth. I think next time I will try it with one of those.
If you have tried this recipe before and have any tips for me let me know. I would love to hear them.

Yoga Pose of the Week: Crescent Moon Pose

This week I will be working on the Crescent Moon Pose.

The true name for this pose is Anjaneyasana.

This is a good lengthening lunge, it is a good warm-up for all other backbends. According to one of the yoga books I own (picture below) in this pose there are two directions of movement of energy. "The movement from the back of the waist down extends out through the back foot and allows the hips to descend. The upward stretch beginning at the waist radiates energy upward." This passage taken right from the book.

I use this book along with the one I previously mentioned on my Dolphin Pose post.

Start in down dog

Place the right foot in between the hands

Arch the back, left knee should then be dropped to the ground, press the hands up towards the sky, tilt head back... be careful on the spine.

In yoga it is important to balance each side of the body, so what you do to one side make sure you do to the other. With this pose do the right first and then the left or vice verse.

This pose takes a lot of balance, for me. I fell over the first time trying to get into the pose for the picture. I know this pose is one that I am going to have to take slow and work at. But failure and struggle is apart of the growing process.

So when I was looking back over the pictures of this pose this morning I realized that I forgot to drop my left knee before my pictures were taken... I have added a photo from the yoga journal website of what the final pose should look like.  The picture of my final pose is more Warrior I. I apologize for this mistake *whoops*

Therapeutic Applications

Sciatica

*this taken from yogajournal.com. I will reference this website often.

On the Yoga Journal website you will find a beginner's tip plus step-by-step steps on how to do the pose... so if you are still new to yoga you can start out the pose this way. http://www.yogajournal.com/pose/low-lunge/

Go out and make something happen!

xo

*Shine like Glitter*

Dolphin pose last week was not easy. 

My legs are sore, but I am going to continue to work on it. 

However my arms and shoulders feel much more tone.

Dolphin pose will also help in my rock climbing.

Remember comments are always welcome.

I hope you will still continue to follow me on this journey.

I will be on the ride along with you.

Namaste my friends.

Books, books, and more books

I have not been keeping up with my books postings and book reviews, I apologize. Mostly it's because I finish one book and then immediately start a new book. By this time I completely forget to write a review for the previous book I have read.

So today instead of doing a review for one book I am going to do a list of books that I have finished with a short little synopsis of each and how I felt about each.

Crane: Modern day Headless Horse man in which it is the descendant of Ichabod Crane who has come to haunt the town of Sleepy Hollow.  This is the first book in a series. I loved this book. It is an easy read and one that will keep you reading. I did not want to put the book down.



Fractured Legacy: Sisters Kaylyn and Nicole love abandoned places with dark creatures. This fascination led them to work as paranormal investigators. They get a chance to investigate an long-abandoned hotel, the Teague Hotel. But it is a task that will not come easy and what they find will boggle their minds. Kaylyn is dealing with a distorted reality that has her questioning her every move. A dark entity in the hotel has taken an interest in Kaylyn. She must face her fears and convince her sister and co-workers that she has not lost her mind. This was book has a slow start, but kept my interest during the end. However it was not one of my favorites.



The Bone Season: Clairvoyance, future, underworld, syndicate... All of these words describe this book... Paige Mahoney is a gifted clairvoyant more specifically a dreamwalker... a rare breed. This book takes place in the year 2059. Being a clairvoyant in this time is considered to be treasonous. A series of unfortunate events leads Paige to her kidnapping and is sent off to a secret prison. Here she is put under the supervision of her keeper. Paige longs for her freedom and is willing to do anything to gain to back. But she finds that this is not an easy task and must learn to trust. I loved this book. I found it hard to follow in the beginning, there are a lot of made up words, but the author has included an index in the back of the book for reference. After getting past all of the confusion, which did take some time, I could not put this book down. This is a science fiction book that kept me on the edge of my seat. I pre ordered the second book and now it is sitting on my bookshelf waiting for me to read it.



Sweet Designs: In this 15 chapter book Amy Atlas includes different dessert table ideas for every occasion. She includes baking ideas, styling ideas, crafting ideas, and ideas for the time crunched people. All of her ideas are beautiful and the treats... OMG so many of them. She is a sweet lover, of course since her book title is Sweet Designs and she is the sweets designer, just like me. This book is for the creative or design lover. I recently got my degree in Event Management, so I picked up this book to give me inspiration when needed. I really enjoyed reading through this book. It is not one I had to rush through. Amy's writing is so light-hearted it's like a friend giving you tips on how to make a party beautiful. 



*all book images were taken off of Google, however I do own all of these books.

xo

*Shine like Glitter*
I love to read, if you haven't noticed.
Books take me away to another world.
Currently I am reading As Always Julia and Zombie Fairy Tales... which is quite interesting.
I will try to keep up with my book reviews.
I'd love to hear if you've read any of these and your thoughts on them.
I'd also love to hear about any good books you've read recently... I can add them to my never ending pile of unread books.

Yoga Pose of the Week: Dolphin Pose

I apologize... this was supposed to be posted last Sunday and for some reason it did not get posted. I will be posting a new yoga pose tomorrow.

I want to start something new not only on the blog but in my life as well. Each week I am going to pick a new yoga pose to work on. I am going to work on it throughout the week and then implement it into a yoga routine. I am starting this because I want to further my yoga practice and I want to learn more yoga poses. I will also read about the pose to learn the benefits of that pose and then share them with you. I am giving myself a week to work on the pose little by little as not to exhaust myself. I hope you will follow me along on this journey. A journey that will help guide me to bettering myself physically and mentally. I urge you to try these poses even if it's to do just that, try. Yoga has many health benefits and does not require you to go anywhere. Because if you are like me I hate going to the gym, with yoga you can do it in your living room.

This week past week in yoga class we worked on handstands, with a partner. The exercise was so much fun, yet a little bit terrifying (I did not want to crush my face on the ground.) However once I got into a handstand, with a little help from my partner (who happened to be my brother), it was exhilarating. I wanted to keep going, but also did not want to exhaust myself. I have had the idea to start a yoga pose of the week for awhile now but never got around to it. After this exercise I thought this would be the perfect time to start.

Dolphin Pose

After doing some reading about the pose in the book that I use (picture below) and by reading online at www.yogajournal.com I found:

Dolphin Pose works to strengthen the core, arms and shoulders as well as the legs. It helps to improve upper body strength and will be useful when moving into arm balances. I picked this pose because I want to continue with working on not a handstand but a headstand and Dolphin prepares the body for headstand. Dolphin also has some great benefits, ones that I know will definitely help with a lot of issues I suffer from. I have listed the benefits below.

I am using a blanket in these photos that I use strictly for yoga. I like to use my blanket when I do yoga at home or when I am doing yoga in the grass. I use a mat in class. You can use which ever. 

*Benefits*

• Strengthens the arms and legs
• Stretches the shoulders, hamstrings, calves, and arches
• Calms the brain and helps to relieve stress and mild depression
• Improves digestion 
• Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause
• Relieves menstrual discomfort when done with the head supported
• Helps prevent osteoporosis
• Relieves headache, insomnia, back pain, and fatigue
• Therapeutic for high blood pressure, asthma, flat feet and sciatica

*These are taken from the yoga journal website. I have included the link above if you wish to read the whole post about Dolphin pose or for any other yoga poses.

If you go onto the Yoga Journal website you will find step-by-step instructions on how to do the pose or there are many videos on YouTube on how to do Dolphin as well.

I found this video on YouTube that uses Dolphin in the routine. I like it, this is the video/routine I am going to use this week.

xo

*Shine like Glitter*
I am looking forward to this new chapter in my life.
Like I said I hope you all follow me along on this journey.
Motivation is appreciated and I will be here to help give you motivation.
Leave me comments and we will share this together.