As a party parting gift, I whipped together two different variations of an all-natural foot scrub for my mama friends. Though they may look all kinds of clever and crafty, it would be misleading of me to not divulge that they're incredibly easy to make or to allow any fanfare over my non-existent pinterest-y capabilities.
In case you want to make some for yourself (they also make thoughtful stocking stuffers and hostess gifts!), here's the recipe along with a bonus organic coffee + brown sugar body scrub that I made due to a spare ten minutes and an abundance of leftover mason jars.
Foot + Body Scrub
(makes about eight 4 oz jars)
The Scrub Base:
2 cups mineral sea salt
2 cups Pacific sea salt
Peppermint Foot + Body Scrub
10 drops peppermint essential oil
10 drops melaleuca essential oil (tea tree)
10 drops eucalyptus essential oil
Citrus Hand + Body Scrub
10 drops grapefruit essential oil
12 drops wild orange essential oil
8 drops lemon essential oil
Mix salts and oil together in a large nonporous bowl (plastic or glass is best) and add in the essential oil combination of your choice. It should have a wet sand-like consistency without an abundant excess of oil like you often see when you buy a pre-packaged scrub from the store. Ration into jars.
*You need to wash your bowl with soap and water after making peppermint-based scrub. Peppermint oil tends to mask any other scent you may want to be using. Also, be sure to not touch your eyes after handling the peppermint oil. It's just as bad, if not worse, than a jalapeño.
**Other great oil combinations would be lavender + ylang ylang + roman chamomile and rose + geranium
Sugar Body Scrub
(makes about 4-4 oz mason jars)
1 cup organic dark brown sugar
1 cup organic coffee*
2 tbsp raw Manuka honey
4 oz organic sweet almond oil (jojoba oil would work just as well)
*a coarse to medium ground coffee works best in this scrub.
**a note on presentation**
Any jar that has a tight fitting lid will work well for this. I bought two of these 12-packs and they worked particularly well. They also happen to be especially cute for gift giving and rather cost effective.
I also bought these cute mini burlap sacks to use in lieu of traditional gift bags and attached craft paper gift tags listing the scrub details. I added one of these ridiculously adorable tiny wooden scoops into each of the bags that I scored on Amazon as an extra little touch because I, personally, can't stand having to use my hand to scoop out scrub; it always gets under my fingernails and irks me to no end. Which is clearly ridiculous seeing as how I obviously have to... you know... use my hands to actually massage the scrub onto my body.