Witchy Recipes

Over the years Christina Blume has developed and collected dozens of
herbal recipes for a variety of skin-care products, which she shares in
her "All Natural Face Care" course she teaches at Denver Botanic
Gardens. Here are some of her favorites:

Basic Cleansing Cream (recipe from Dina Falconi)
7 ounces almond or apricot kernel oil
3/4 ounce beeswax
10 ounces distilled water
1 teaspoon borax
25 drops rosemary essential oil
15 drops lavender essential oil
10 drops orange essential oil

Place beeswax and base oil in a heatproof measuring cup in a hot water
bath. Stir occasionally until the beeswax is melted. Remove from heat
and let cool to body temperature. Meanwhile, dissolve borax in distilled
water that you have heated to body temperature and add the essential
oils to this borax / water blend. Pour the oil mixture into a bowl and
begin beating using a one-blade hand mixer. Slowly add the borax water,
beating until thick and creamy, about 5 minutes.

Adjustable clay mask
Blume's clay base is a mixture of bentonite clay and powdered herbs and
seaweed. She grinds chamomile, peppermint, lavender, seaweed and rose
petals and adds 1 part herbs to 3 parts clay.

To make the mask, mix 2 tablespoons of clay base with 2 tablespoons of
liquid (from the following recipes).

Oily skin
2 tablespoons clay base
1 tablespoon witch hazel
1/2-1 tablespoon organic cider vinegar
2 drops citrus essential oil: orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit or a
combination

Normal skin
2 tablespoons clay base
1 1/2 tablespoons yogurt
2 drops essential oil: rose, lavender, chamomile, ylang ylang, rosewood,
geranium or a combination

Dry skin
1 tablespoon clay base
1 1/2-2 tablespoons jojoba oil
2 drops essential oil: rose, geranium, rosewood, lavender, chamomile,
palmarose, rosemary, clary sage or a combination.

You can turn any of these recipes into natural alpha hydroxy masks with
the following substitutions:

For oily skin, use 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed citrus
juice in place of the witch hazel / vinegar.

For normal skin, use 2 tablespoons of pureed kiwi, strawberry, apple or
peach in place of the yogurt.

For dry skin, use 1 1/2 tablespoons of pureed kiwi, strawberry, apple or
peach and 2-3 tablespoons of jojoba oil.