This is the best eye cream I’ve made so far. The others I’ve made previously with carrot seed oil did not turn out so well. You can read more about the benefits of rosehip for skincare here.

The eye cream goes on nice and smooth.  I’ve been using this for about 1 month and find it’s great for the delicate area of the eye. And this one even has extra virgin coconut oil, so it smells like real coconut too.

It’s a nice natural product with no preservatives or chemicals. And all the plant oils nourishes and protects your skin. The shea butter and beeswax is what holds it all together - naturally! 

I used an old container from another cosmetic company. I never finished their cream as the texture and smell was just too odd.  At least I got to re-use the container.

If you would like to make this eye cream, the recipe is listed below:

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I’ve always love having candles around, especially in the winter time. Candles add a nice ambiance to a room. The sight of a candle flickering makes me feel comfortable and at ease.

Over the past years, I’ve been spending lots of money on soy and palm candles.  Most of the time I become disappointed with the scent.  So I decided it’s time to make my own soy candles. 

Mine are very lightly scented or unscented.  This one I scented with blackberry fragrance oil. I also use a lead free cotton wick.

Although I would love to use beeswax candles, they are just too expensive.  In our family, beeswax are usually used for religious or special occasions. But hand rolled beeswax candles can be used anytime and they are lots of fun to make and use.  They are also very clean burning.

Below are some benefits to burning soy candles:

* Soy wax is very clean burning and produce less soot then paraffin wax.

* It also burns longer then paraffin wax.

* Soy is vegetable based and biodegradable.

* Non-toxic, safe to have around for children and pets.

* In case of spills or to reuse containers, simply clean with soap and water.

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Last weekend I got to make soap with my new soap mold.  I made two batches, this Honey & Almond along with the Ginger Citrus.  But the Ginger Citrus that hasn’t turn out yet.  So I will post about that later.  There were some issues with the fragrance and my recipe.  I have to wait another 2 weeks to see what becomes of it.

But in the meantime, I am especially happy with these cute  “Honey & Almond” loofah bar.

The lighter color is just just honey and beeswax while the tan one has extra almond meal (ground up almond).  I think this would make a neat body bar as the loofah help stimulate new cell growth while getting rid of the old ones.  Along with the all vegetable handmade soap, it gives you softer and smoother skin too.

I ended up adding almond meal to the rest of the soap as I wanted to make a nice facial and body bar with honey, pure beeswax, an almond.  The honey is good for the skin and the almond meal will add to extra exfoliation.

Loofah starts out as this tasty vegetable.  Once it’s mature and dried, it’s made into loofah.  When I was younger, my mom used to grow some of these in her garden.  They taste slightly sweet and are good in soups and stir-fry.  Photo from Wiki.

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I was looking for a beekeeping store in Northern California and was happy to find one located in Sacramento.  So on my latest trip to the city, I was able to stop by and see it for myself.  The only downside to the shop is that they close at 5:30 pm so I really didn’t have time to look around or ask much questions.

As I walked in, I could hear one of the staff (or owner of the shop) discussing something about beekeeping with two fellow shoppers.  It was fun to eavesdrop on that as I have been so intrigued by bees lately.

Some of the cool supplies I got at the Bee shop for making soy and beeswax candles.  Notice my “hand-rolled beeswax candles”?  Also got a jar of Buckwheat honey.

I was also glad that had a selection of soap making and candle making supplies too.  Although the soap making oils were a bit pricey.  Either way I was in “craft heaven”.

I have always wanted to make my own soy wax candle since I learned about how clean it burns.  Beeswax is also great, clean burning and smells great.  But soy wax is more economical.  So I bought 1lb bag of soy wax to make my own candle.  I think this would be a good project to make since boutique soy wax candles are so expensive.  The instructions are really simple, just put the soy wax in the microwave, add 1 oz of fragrance or essential oil to it, then pour into a good container.  And of course don’t forget the wick too.

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