Happy Tuesday to you and happy weekend wrap up! I hope your week, your day, and your month have all been amazing. We’ve been doing a lot you and I: Twitter parties, launching an app, catching up… and slowing it down to get ready for the holidays! Yes, I said the H word! Can you believe it’s only TWO more Thursdays until Thanksgiving and SIX more Thursdays until Christmas!?!?! The red cup is out and everything (praise to PSL all day with sprinkles of nutmeg).
So I’m wrapping up the weekend and the week’s happenings.
If you love hosting parties, love football season, or just love awesome gifts, then you’re not going to want to miss out on our LIVE #Techgating Twitter party happening this Wednesday, 11/19, with our friends at AT&T @FanForAll. Sign up here . RSVP with your Twitter handle and be sure to use the hashtag #Techgating to participate and for a chance to win fun prizes! We’ll contact the winners after the event. I can’t wait to chat with you all, share my hosting skills secrets, and talk about how tech obsessed we all are!
As much as I love writing, I also love creating videos – whether they are, my video blogs or my sketch comedy, all are up on my channel now! Click here to check out my latest video blog where I take you around my #Techgating party with my closest friends, show you my DIY tech stations that I’m so proud of, and introduce you to my party’s signature hostess drink! It’s complete with photo booth props and game day shortcakes! For all of the recipes you see in the video and my game day DIY how to’s, click here for that post! I hope this inspires you to get creative with your parties and make them your own with your personal style. Please share your blog posts and photos in the comments so I can check them all out!
Comedy really is my creative outlet. Some people meditate or bake. I write comedy sketches and web series. My latest sketch shows all of my fellow football ‘noobs’ just how to fit in with the cheering and celebrations by throwing the best party ever! It goes through all of the things you’ll need on game day to stay connected to the game and to your friends enjoying it somewhere else. Oh technology, such a beautiful thing. Except when my parents try to Facetime us and aren’t sure how to use that feature on their phones! Ha! So click here to laugh out loud at my dance skills (errr lack there of)!
And for some knee slappin’ good time giggles, check out the video Corrine and I did together. It’s our mother/daughter ‘favorites’ video. You KNOW Corrine doesn’t love the camera as much as I do but she rocks it! Click here to check it out. She steals all of my things like my makeup and my clothes, so it’s no wonder they end up in our ‘favorites’ video as her own! Awww parenthood…gotta love it!
And last but definitely not least; if you love a sense of community, would like to be a part of some awesome collaborations, and would like to be featured here on my blog or over on my YouTube channel, then please download my FREE mobile app! It’s totally fun, totally free, and I totally love being a part of all the conversations that are happening over on the app between you all, myself and the rest of our community! So click here to join in on the fun. I’m running a contest right now – #10DaysOfJessmas haha I’m so cheesy! So I pick a winner a day to get a handmade holiday ornament from yours truly. Oh, and I’ll be filming myself making them for you so you can be a part of the moment when I glue my fingers together 😉
So that’s the week and weekend wrap-up! Please leave a comment below if I’ll be seeing you at our live Twitter #Techgating party. (Sign up here) and let me know what’s new and exciting with you! I respond to comments so leave ’em all!
Have a superb week and thanks for stopping by for a read!
Hello! I hope your week is going amazingly! I have some exciting things for you. Yes YOU! So I’m super excited to announce that I’ll be hosting another Twitter Party ahhhh!!! Yes I’m a pro now at this Twitter Live thing! This time I’m bringing on some friends to host with me! My amazingly hilarious and talented friends Nikki Limo and Sean Klitzner will both be joining me and we’re so excited to get to chat with you all!
So the prizes given will be:
(1) Samsung Galaxy S5 phone
(1) Samsung Galaxy Note 4
(1) Miroir portable projector
(1) Portable Speakers
(1) $500 AT&T Gift card
(1) Portable phone charger
The Twitter party will take place next Wednesday, November 19th at 5pm PST (two games are on this day and we’ll get a chance to talk about it!) So mark your calendars! We’ll talk about the game, tailgating, and of course #Techgating and how you’re implementing tech into your game day! I mean I did share all of my hostess secrets with you all in my last video (click here if you haven’t seen it). I really want everyone to partake in our party so I’m so happy to announce that we have SIX amazing prizes to give to you all during the event, all courtesy of our sponsors @AT&T @FanForAll! Yes you’re correct, that is another form of love. Gifts=love. Makes sense.
I mean whoa! Pretty awesome right?! So all you have to do to enter for a chance to win one of these rad prizes is sign up for our Twitter Party in the form I’ve provided below. You’ll list your ‘name’ as your Twitter handle (i.e. @jess_lizama) and your URL as your Twitter web address (i.e. http://twitter.com/jess_lizama). Leave us a comment after you’ve signed up I love responding to comments.
You’ll have to be RSVP’d to the Twitter Party in order to be eligible to win, and at the end of the party we’ll DM all of the winners for their information. You’re going to want to participate in our party where we’ll be asking you some fun questions, challenging you to participate in some fun interactive games, and testing your DIY skills! Just kidding, no but really what are you making for your game day? Perhaps a recipe from my #Techgating party? (hint hint). The games will be a lot of fun, you’ll be sharing with us your game day parties, how you’re techgating and implementing tech into your game day, all while entering for a chance to win these amazing prizes listed above.
Be sure to use our hashtag #Techgating so we can see all of your responses. Be sure to follow myself, Nikki (@NikkiLimo), Sean (@SeanKlitzner) and AT&T Fan For All (@FanForAll) so you’re sure to be included in all of our conversations. I’ll be passing some questions and games over to them during the party so you won’t want to miss out!
I really can’t wait to chat with you all, check out all of your photos from your game day, see your game faces (literally), and give you some cool prizes that we teamed up with @FanForAll to send you home with! So please RSVP below, follow us all on Twitter, and use that hashtag! Easy like 1, 2, 3!!!! Ready set go! 😀 Cheers and I can’t wait to chat with you all LIVE! All the hugs, Jess
Why yes, my title would make an amazing hashtag! Sooo if you know me personally then you KNOW I’ll take any reason to get dressed up and host a shindig of my own! The football season is upon us and I may be THE walking definition of a ‘footbal noob’, but I still throw the best darn football party anyone’s ever seen! I even made a video about it, 2 of them! I’m so excited to share that I’ve teamed up with AT&T for their #TechGating campaign, which takes tailgating, technology, and social media, and marries them all together to bring you the most interactive and fun social experience, while enjoying the game! Below is a still from our shoot, it’s a sketch I wrote for my YouTube channel where I show you how to throw your very own #techgating party, while giving you all the things you’ll see and experience at every.single.tailgating.party. Ever.
I mean look at those faces. I love them, I literally have the most awesome friends who also just so happen to be L.A.’s best actors! So we filmed 2 videos in 2 days and they’re so fun! Check out my video blog here, I invited all of these lovely people back the day after we filmed my sketch and we watched the game and did some techgating of our own. Check out the video! My sketch will be out next week and I can’t wait for you to see it!!!! In the mean time, I’ll share with you some of the goodies I made for them..and you..and the video, of which you’ll see in my video blog up on my channel 😀
So techgating is tailgating, just integrating your technology- which we already do with Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook -updates and statuses. So tailgating and techgating is being brought to you in the most ultimate way- the Fan Zone Tour Truck, which will be traveling the nation, bringing fans the game while giving them awesome swag, and featuring interactive ‘stations’! Stations like the t-shirt canon, pre-gaming paparazzi, and mobile DJ! So what did I do? I recreated these fun stations in my own home (umm can you say DIY queen over here?! lol) and we filmed the party on day 1 and then we had a party of our own- watching the game on day 2 (click here to see the video on my channel). Win win!!! I love hosting parties but I really love winning and lets just say I totally won that day. Go team go! <—- I’m also a cheerleader!
Here are a few of the stations I set up in preparation of our big party!
I know what you’re thinking, ‘Jess, how did you make these awesome stations!?’. Well admittedly I am not the most enthusiastic DIY- do it yourself-er. I mean I get hot glue just everywhere. But these were all so easy to put together that I was so excited to complete them! And get this…..I didn’t glue any of my fingers together y’all! So some features you’ll find on the Fan Zone Tour truck that you can totally recreate for your own techgating party with friends among other things?
Well, I created a really fun and colorful photobooth similar to the ‘pre-gaming paparazzi’ you’ll find on the trucks. My ‘charge-ing station’ (see what I did there? Charge-ing….charge….football?…you get it) I made out of a shoe box and got really crafty with making a ‘football field’ and cutting out a place for all of the chargers to be installed, and my ‘mobile DJ’ features my phone and a speaker in a box to give you a literal DJ box! I know….so cauuutte! I’m so stinkin’ proud of these, but wait there’s more (I’m like that infomercial you can’t peel your eyes away from at 3am lol) I also made some signature foods and goodies for our party! 1st thing though, lets go over how fun you can make your photobooth!
I haven’t been to one party or event where a photobooth wasn’t present. I mean, if you don’t take a picture than it didn’t happen right?! So set up a fun photobooth and create your own hashtag so that photos from your party can be easily found! My hashtags were #LizamaPartyRama, #Jessknowsbest, and #TechGating. Why yes I do love hashtags! lol Check out those photos under the hashtags btw when you get a chance..we are ridiculous and fun! So my photobooth was a wall of metallic fringe and the most fun props evarrrrr (see below for the proof).
My charge-ing station was made out of a shoe box and I mod podg-ed (word?) some textured color paper onto it, took a wooden post and cut them into equal parts and painted them yellow to be the ‘goal posts’, and drew the lines in place onto the football field. If you cut out a small square in the front of the box, the cable can be fed through the front to charge the phone, and the charging unit itself can be hidden in the box and then plugged into the wall via the other square hole you cut into the back of the box. Now all of the wires are hidden and you have the world’s cutest charging station. Every party is in need of some jams so I created a special Fantasy Football playlist for my party and plugged it into the DJ Box which is a jewelry box from Michael’s actually, and I spray painted the outside silver, like a helmet, and then hot glued some festive stickers onto the outside. Just like most people aren’t allowed into the DJ booth at parties, no one was allowed to change my music in my DJ box! lol We had a dance party and that WILL be in the video so stay tuned. Awkward dancing is alive and well people! Here’s a closer look at the charging station I made. You have to try this! It’s so much easier than it looks!
So now that you’ve seen my awesome stations….there is one station that isn’t tangible..it’s the ‘Fight Song’ which you’ll see and oh Lordy, HEAR me perform in the video. Haha prepare your ears! Now on to the foodssss!!!
I may or may not have a passion for feeding people. I’m a mom, it’s what I do! I decked out my entire apartment to be the most fun football themed lady’s apartment you can imagine, and this is just 1/4 of the food that was waiting for my guests. Complete with finger foods, sugary goodness, traditional favorites like chicken wings, and cotton candy, and then there were some special treats I made to bump up the WOW factor…like my very own techgating signature beverage! The Lizama-party-rama fruity and fun drink, it had equal parts of coconut, pineapple, and orange juices. It was very refreshing, tropical, and totally me!
I got this chalk label at Target and it made the perfect accessory to this perfect party punch! But wait there’s more…I told you I went all out! I also made these football shortcake minis! The perfect game day dessert! It’s sweet but not too sweet, the guys loved that they didn’t need a plate to eat it haha and the ladies loved that it’s a childhood favorite! I was winning them all over, t’was the best!
These were SO yummy that it was hard to believe that it was under 5 ingredients! I took the guys favorite: the pound cake much like the taste palette of a lady finger cake, combined it with the ladies favorite- the strawberry, and macerated the berries in a mixture of 1/4 cup coconut sugar, 1 tablespoon finely chopped mint leaves, 1 cup heavy whipping cream, and the fresh juice of half a lemon. I topped them with fresh whipped cream and BAM! Best dessert ever! (see below for the full recipes)
I have to say, I don’t mean to toot my own horn but ‘Toot toot!’ lol we had such an amazing time filming for my channel and then enjoying some game time on game day. Two days with friends isn’t a bad way to spend the weekend I tell ya! Try making these recipes and DIY #techgating stations at your next party, and please let me know in the comments- what about throwing a #techgating party of your own do you think you can most easily recreate? And what do you most look forward to this football season?!
The Fan Zone Tour truck will feature all of the stations I created, so be sure to check out the site here for the schedule to see where the trucks will be at a school near you! Then you can stop on in and take some pre-gaming paparazzi photos and tag me!!!! The hashtag is #LizamaPartyRama and I’m going to pick my favorites by Thanksgiving week and send you some fun prizes! Also hashtag #Techgating so I can easily find you and others using the hashtag can share in the fun with you also!
I saved the best for last, if you want a chance to win a trip to the 2015 College Football NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP game, simply share your #TechGating photos, videos, or tips on Twitter and check out the site here for more information <3 I can’t wait to see all of your parties, your posts, and your game day recipes!
Thank you for sharing part of your day with me and I’ll see you right back here very soon!
Yes, I dare say yummiest! This dish is a creamy Italian sweet sausage pasta sauce over al dente rigatoni, and it’s the comfort food to end all comfort foods. Deeeliishhh! It’s day 3 of our 6 courses in 6 days and this won’t fail to impress! So grab your vino and meet me in the kitchen!
This dish takes you all the way to Italy and back again! Thanks to Fr. Leo for creating this 6 course meal in 1 day! So today is day 3 and you’ll find that the creaminess of this sauce meets the savory notes of the Italian sausage, and your taste buds and house guests won’t believe it’s real! It seems too good to be true, but it is… mind blown, I know. So for the sweet sausage pasta sauce you’ll need: – sweet Italian sausage– 1/2 cup of finely chopped white onion – one clove crushed fresh garlic – white wine (compliments the sweetness of the sausage) – pinch or two of crushed red pepper – 2 tablespoons of salted butter – 2 tablespoons of flour – 1/2 cup finely cut fresh parsley – 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream – sea salt – fresh cracked black pepper – rigatoni pasta (cooked al dente) Cut each Italian sausage length wise just deep enough so that you’re able to remove the outer casing. Drop the sausage into a sauce pan and cook on medium heat. As it cooks it will crumble a part, when you see the sausage is just about done, add in the onion and garlic. Stir. Then add in JUST enough white wine into the pot to cover the sausage and let the wine cook out over HIGH heat. It will boil, let it cook for about 7 minutes and then lower the heat. Slowly add in the flour (dusting it in) and stir, this will thicken the mixture. Add in your butter and fresh parsley, and then add in the heavy whipping cream and turn the heat to LOW so that you don’t cook the cream out. Sprinkle in the salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and allow the mixture to come to a soft boil over LOW heat. Remove from heat after a few minutes of boiling, and then pour on top of a bed of al dente rigatoni pasta! Try not to get too addicted to this sauce and want to put it over everything! I know I did! Sending out a big ol’ hug to Fr. Leo for making my bday night so incredible with all this food! 3 more days of this! Be sure to check out Grace Before Meals for more recipes and I’ll see you right back here tomorrow for another mouth watering recipe! Have a delicious kind of day yo! xoxo
Oh it tastes even better than it sounds! Welcome to day 2 of our, 6 courses in 6 days, menu extravaganza! Today we’re making a bacon wrapped pork tenderloin with rosemary and cumin, a top a bed of creamy coconut rice, and then topped with mango chutney! Mango chutney! I mean, I can’t even describe how delicious this dish is! When people came over I kept blurting out what it was before Fr. Leo even got a chance to plate it! So wipe the drool and grab a fork, here we go!
So start the rice first so that by the time everything is prepared, you can just let it sit in the pot or in the rice cooker until you’re ready to plate this amazingness! The coconut rice is so complimentary to the savory bacon wrapped pork tenderloin, and the sweetness of the mango chutney just puts it right over the edge. This is great for a dinner get together, or in my case, a birthday dinner!
So for the coconut rice:
-2 1/2 cups cooked basmati brown rice (you can use whichever rice you prefer)
-1/2 can full fat coconut milk
-1 teaspoon sea salt
-1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
-1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Cook the rice how you normally choose to do and then when it is done, add in all of the spices and coconut milk and stir. Set this aside until everything is ready.
For the bacon wrapped pork tenderloin:
-Pork tenderloin
-4-5 slices bacon
-1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
-2 teaspoons rosemary (adds the woodsy- piney flavor)
-salt
-fresh cracked black pepper
Crack the pepper over the pork tenderloin, sprinkle on the cumin, rosemary, and sea salt, and rub it all into the tenderloin.
Wrap the tenderloin in the bacon by laying out the bacon horizontally next to one another and then placing the rubbed tenderloin at one end of the bacon, and wrapping it to the other end until the tenderloin is fully wrapped in bacon.
Pre heat your oven to 500 degrees and allow the tenderloin to cook for about 10 minutes and then drop the temperature to 350 degrees and cook for an additional 20-25 minutes until the bacon is nice and crisp. Set aside.
Now it’s time for the topping, the mango chutney! You’ll need:
-2 mangoes
-2 oranges
-red wine vinegar
-1/4 cup of VERY finely chopped red onion
-freshly chopped cilantro
-freshly chopped parsley (this combined with the cilantro will be about 1/4 cup)
– 2 teaspoons sea salt
-cracked fresh black pepper
– 1 tablespoon olive oil
– 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar (this cooks the onion down)
Cube the mango and scoop out the squares into a bowl. Add in the finely chopped onion, and the rest of the spices and herbs. Almost done!
Now for the plating of it! Slice your tenderloin and place a few slices on top of a mound of coconut rice, and then top it with a generous scoop of the mango chutney and enjoy devour! This is what it will look like! Mmmmm mmm mmmmmm!!!
This dish was sweet and savory, had a tropical twist with the coconut notes in the rice, and filling but not enough to where you’re gonna want to un button that top fly button! Give this a try and when you do tag me on Instagram and Twitter so I can drool over this food porn photo! I mean, I think this is by far one of my most favorite dishes ever. So tropical, so yummy, so enjoy!!!
Big huuuge thank you to Fr. Leo for coming out and cooking for us all, check out his site, he’s the best cook! I mean he beat Bobby Flay!!!!! haha 😉 http://gracebeforemeals.com/
It’s cook out season! The air is cooler and fresher, and it stays warmer out longer, thanks to Mr. Sun not going away too quickly these days. So what better way to kick off the weekend than with an Asian slider recipe on toasted buns, and home made cilantro aioli! So it was my birthday last week and our dear friend Fr. Leo came by to treat some friends and I to this incredible 6 course meal! So grab your appetite and lets start cookin because today is day one of six!
I’ll be giving you one recipe daily so that each night you’ll have a treat to cook! These were incredible! I mean Fr. Leo did beat Bobby Flay!!! Haha, can’t wait for you all to make these! 6 courses in 6 days! So hold on to something because these are amazing! They were crunchy yet moist, salty yet sweet, refreshing AND satiating!
So what’ll you’ll need for the Sliders:
1 TBLspoon Olive Oil
1/2 White Onion
Sea Salt
Cracked Black Pepper
1 TBLspoon Garlic Powder
1 tspspoon Ground ginger
2 TBLspoons brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
Ground beef (I used 80/20 lean portion)
Saute half of a finely chopped white onion in olive oil, then roll it into the ground beef, add in all the spices, and fry on a pan. You’ll fry them dry since there’s fat in the beef so no oil is necessary.
For the bun, simply take some hot dog buns and cut them in half, this makes them ‘mini’ buns. Then drizzle the inside halves with olive oil and lightly sprinkle them with sea salt, and bake them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 7-10 minutes. Just until they are crisp (not burnt) and set aside.
For the aioli:
2 cups mayo
3 TBLspoons sea salt
Sprinkle of fresh cracked black pepper
1 1/2 TBLspoons old bay seasoning
2 Teaspoons garlic powder
Fresh Cilantro (de-leaf whole, you’ll want the leaves to top off the sliders)
Mix all of the ingredients (except for the cilantro) together in a bowl and whisk well. Put each slider onto a toasted mini bun, swipe on some aioli, sprinkle with the fresh cilantro leaves and ENJOY!!! Badabinggg badaboom!!!
This recipe is so incredibly delicious and if you make it for a dinner party or get together you WILL be the coolest and best cook at the party! So give these a try and let me know what you think!
Tag me on Instagram and Twitter when you do! Here’s another photo of the yumminess you’ll put in your tummy, and of the night Fr. Leo cooked for myself and 9 of my loves! Check out the site for more recipes including the original one of this one!
When I say tonic I don’t mean the beverage type unfortunatley. Leaving that for another post oh don’t your worry, but when I say tonic I mean skin tonic. A spritzer for your face. A natural, home made, DIY toner that smells fantabulous (that’s fantastic married to fabulous), and leaves your skin feeling refreshed and looking brighter! Spring time is in full force here in LA, the air is colder and my skin is more dry than ever, so if you need a pick me up, this one’s for you!
I chose to use a few ingredients that I already had in my kitchen, you can literally make so many different toners and spritzers with the fruits and veggies in your fridge. Next time we’ll make a green tea with vitamin E one!
For today I used cucumber, lemon, aloe vera gel, and rose water. Each of these ingredients individually have so many benefits to them and the smell was so refreshing thanks to the cucumber, and the feel was incredible, thanks to the rose water, aloe vera, and lemon! I was all kinds of glowy!
What you’ll need:
– 1 small cucumber (skin tightening, improves complexion, gives you a glow, and the seeds are rich in Vitamin E & potassium which reduce fine lines, wrinkles, and blemishes!)
– 1 teaspoon lemon juice- just the teeniest of squeezes (skin brightening, anti bacterial and anti fungal properties great at treating blemishes)
– 1 teaspoon aloe vera gel (hydration, soothing, aids in hyper-pigmentation, natural moisturizer)
– 2 TBL spoon rose water (rejuvenates, tones, full of antioxidants, natural moisturizer)
What you’ll do:
Once you’ve peeled your cucumber, toss it into the blender until it’s blended enough to strain the juices from. I used a napkin and poured the cucumber mesh into it and then strained it into a bowl using my hands and one tight grip. Then add in the lemon juice, aloe veral gel, and rose water. I poured everything back into the blender to give it another mix, and then poured the mixture into a spritzer bottle and vualaaaa!
Refrigerate and enjoy!
You can omit the lemon if you’re going to be in the sun all day, the sun and lemon don’t mesh well together, so save the misting for when you’re inside and need a good pick me up! Try making this, as I did or with lavender and vitamin E. I think later this week I’ll make a green tea with vitamin E and rose water one. Hmmmm.
I’ve been on a smoothie kick lately, just throwing everything I have into my blender and enjoying these yummy treats for breakfast or as post workout recovery fuel. Today’s smoothie recipe is my new all time favorite. I used Pitaya which is a super fruit… dragon fruit! We’re getting fancy! This antioxidant rich, vitamin packed, energy boosting recipe will leave you feeling refreshed, refueled, and re-energized! Isn’t the color just so pretty!? Go grab your blender and run to the kitchen!
I had some Pitaya packets in my freezer and decided to make a smoothie with this superfruit.
The yummies:
– 1 packet of Pitaya (superfruit, purges harmful toxins from your body, high in fiber, low in sugar, jam packed with antixidants, vitamins, and promotes healthy skin)
I put everything into the blender, blended until smooth and then topped it off with some more coconut shreds and mint leaves. No ice was needed since the Pitaya packet came straight from the freezer and I freeze my bananas so they make my smoothies extra creamy! Try that trick out! The smoothie was sweet enough as is, but if you wanted to drizzle in some agave for added sweetness, I think it’d be the bees knees!
This was really yummy, filling, and the mint made the taste even tastier than I thought. Try it out, let me know your thoughts, and if you make this or make a version of it, tag me on Instagram or Twitter 😀 Jess_Lizama
Sugar scrubs are an amazing way to exfoliate, hydrate, and calm your skin, but they can get pricey! Have no fear, Jess is here, and I’m gonna show you how you can make a variation of scrubs with what you already have in your kitchen! In under ten mintues, and less than ten bucks, if you have some of the ingredients already, you’re set! Today we’re making a peppermint lavender sugar scrub, oh la la. Read on!
First, why would you want to make your own sugar scrub besides the fact that’s it’s much cheaper this way? Well I’m a huge advocate of skin care. Most of my posts will be about skin care, hair care, good food, blah blah, and exfoliating your skin is right on up there with the list of priorities you must do before bed time, beyond just washing your face. Fellas out there, I know you want to believe you just have to splash your face with water and go but there’s more to it!
Exfoliating improves your skin’s texture by prompting the cell renewal process and thus improving your skin’s texture. It’s all about the collagen! We need it to have plump young cells! Scrubbing away dead skin cells will unclog your pores, make your pores smaller, and help with any breakouts. Still not a good enough reason? Well I bet getting old and having your skin look saggy AND agey (agey is a word) is a good reason to exfoliate! Yup, as we get older it’s just more time for layers of dead skin to accumulate. Ewwww, scrub a dub dub those nasties away is what I always say!
Sugar is a great exfoliant as it’s milled finely enough that it will scrub away the dead skin, but not harsh enough to cause scraping or scratching on your face the way an apricot scrub would. Just be gentle. The olive oil you’ll use in this recipe is packed with antioxidants, and while you’re scrubbing, you’re also moisturizing your skin and it isn’t stripping your face of it’s natural oils.
Speaking of oils, I went with Vitamin E as it’s extra moisturizing, you can skip this step you have more oily/ acne prone skin, and it also has anti aging benefits, as it speeds up cell regeneration – which lets face it, I need – as I’ve been breaking out like crazy lately, thank you Mother Nature.
The peppermint not only smells invigorating and relieves stress, but it also has antiseptic and antibacterial properties, and will help to cool your skin. You’ll feel a nice cooling sensation with this scrub, I happen to be obsessed with this recipe btw.
Lastly, I chose to use lavender as my essential oil of choice though you can go with whatever your heart desires. Lavender though is the most valuable oil in treating acne, as this time of month calls for some real action! Lavender also helps to rebalance your pore’s production of oil, and it smells amazing which could be why it’s great at relieving head aches and anxiety. I pretty much just want to dip my entire body into a vat of lavender oil.
So grab your apron and a smile and lets get to making that Peppermint Lavender Sugar Scrub!
What you’ll need:
1/2 cup sugar ( I used coconut sugar)
1/4 cup oil ( I used organic olive oil)
10-12 drops of Vitamin E oil
1/4 teaspoon Peppermint Extract
12-15 drops of Lavender Essential oil
What you’ll do:
Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl, and what I did was then package them into those little travel containers that you put lotions in. I got them for $1.49 at Target and filled up 3 bottles with this mixture. You can make more or less of this recipe depending on if you want less for your face or double up on the recipe for your body. You can also add as much or as little of the extract and oils depending on your personal preference, I loved the smell of this using these proportions.
Makes a great gift, smells amazing, and your skin will be glowing after! If you make this please tag me on Instagram or Twitter: jess_lizama
