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This year I've been making an effort to fill my home with much more natural and pure products. Both Reuben and I suffer with eczema and sensitive skin, we are constantly covered in redness and rashes and I think that turning our home into a much more natural one is one step closer to not only contributing towards a more eco-friendly environment but to live better & healthier too! I'm focusing on simple changes to hopefully avoid some of the chemicals that may be causing our skin to come out in all of the random allergic reactions that we seem to get constantly. It can be quite overwhelming with all the hidden chemicals in products these days and this is where Simply Earth comes in to help...
Simply Earth is a company that offers an essential oil recipe box, this is basically a subscription box that gets delivered to your door every month and it contains a mixture of essential oils and recipes for what to make with them, all curated by the Simply Earth team. Each month has a different theme, so July's was focused on things for little ones, and contained recipes like natural lavender scented bubbles for the garden, natural slime, scented stress balls, a natural sleepy bath soak... and so on. To be honest I'm upset I missed out on that one as it sounds perfect for Reuben, we would have loved making all of those recipes together and they would be amazing for his delicate skin! August's theme however, (the one I'm chatting about in this post) is focused entirely on the skin. The monthly boxes contain four essential oils, 6 recipes as well as extras and even some stickers - so you get plenty to keep you going each month!
Included in August's box is a Clove Essential Oil, Frankincense Essential Oil, Rosemary Essential Oil, Clear Skin Essential Oil Blend and Lavender Hydrosol. There's a 6 step natural skincare routine to give you healthy & glowing skin, so if you're wanting to trial putting more natural products onto your face then this is the perfect place to start. You also get a little compressed face mask in this month's box, which you simply add a bit of water to until it unfolds. The stickers are for using when you've created your skincare solutions so you remember what each one contains, so they've really thought of everything you'll need. It's the perfect box for those who are just getting into essential oils too!
The first recipe in the box is the Frankincense Face Scrub, it uses oatmeal, brown sugar, honey, almond oil and 2 drops of the frankincense essential oil included in the box. I absolutely loved this one. I'm obsessed with sugar scrubs as I think they work amazingly for my dry skin and I'm always googling homemade recipes for them so this suited me to a T. It left my skin feeling so smooth and it's really helped combat the hormonal breakout I've been going through recently! The second recipe is a Rosemary Facial Steam which is so refreshing and smells beautiful, this one is insanely easy to do as all it requires is a bit of hot water, the rosemary essential oil that's included in the box, and a towel. I also have a humidifier that I could add this to which would work perfectly!
The third recipe in the box is the Skin Renewing Face Mask which is where the compressed mask that you will find in the box, comes in. You pour some water over the compressed mask in a bowl and it will start to expand. This recipe uses aloe vera gel, the clear skin essential oil blend that again is included in the box, some distilled water and of course the compressed sheet mask that's actually reusable which is amazing! This recipe creates a sheet mask that gives your skin a bit of TLC which is exactly what mine needs at the moment.
The fourth recipe is a Hydrosol Facial Toner which I was super intrigued by as I am really into my face toners. This one uses the lavender hydrosol, distilled water and some apple cider vinegar. Of course you'll need a container to put it in too, this is why I save moisturiser pots and things as they always end up coming in useful. The fifth recipe is a moisturising face cream which is a bit more of a complicated recipe using quite a lot of ingredients and a variant of the essential oils that are in the box, but I'll definitely be trying it out when I have a bit of time to spare, as it sounds lovely and I'd love to make my own natural moisturiser.
Last but not least, the sixth recipe is a Clear Skin Roll On, this is another really simple recipe that requires some of the clear skin essential oil blend included, some almond oil and a little roll on bottle for the mixture. This is a roll on intended for use on the face for acne affected areas, so as soon as I get a bottle I can use, I'll be making some up as I'm covered in breakouts at the minute and could definitely do with something more natural to apply to them to hopefully shift them. This is a really easy one to do and the roll on bottle will be reusable so it's very eco-friendly too! There's also an extra recipe card thrown in for a Feel Good Morning Diffuser which is a little blend of the essential oils in the box that you add to your room diffuser to help wake you up and basically just feel a bit more alive on a morning, it sounds lush!
So that's what August's Simply earth box consists of, it's a pretty fantastic box for anyone who's wanting to introduce more natural products into their life and home, like I am. There's plenty of skincare recipes to keep me occupied and I'll be using the scrub for the foreseeable future as I'm addicted! Next month's box is going to be all about making soap so it will tie in nicely with the August box. It says you'll be able to decorate your own soap bar with dried flowers and leaves which sounds quite dreamy if you ask me. Imagine how instagrammable it will be!
If you fancy making your home more natural and subscribing to Simply Earth, you can use the code GEMMALOUISEFREE to receive a $40 eGift Card with your first recipe box. If you subscribe today you also get a bonus box as well as your monthly box too!
Disclaimer: This post is a paid collaboration with Simply Earth.