August break no. 1

EXPERT SECRETS | DIY Sugar Wax

{Image from this etsy shop where you can buy sugar wax if you don't want to make it. We are not affiliated. I just like the way they look. Let me know if you buy the wax!}

Hello lovely reader. If you have questions after reading this post, see my follow up post on DIY Sugar Waxing with answers to the most common questions asked... leave a comment if you have more questions... we'll answer it!AND We'll be putting together a video for you as well so you can see it in action! Stay tuned. We'll post here when the video is live on the site.

DO YOU ever make your own beauty products? I do, when the mood strikes or I'm bored out of my skull and don't have anything else to do (not often)... hair oil, greek yogurt and avocado face mask, calendula toner (with flowers from my garden, natch), lavender water, baking soda and coconut oil facial exfoliant... 

My favorite, though, is homemade sugar wax or DIY sugaring (whatever you cal it).

It's so quick and easy, dirt cheap (you have all the ingredients stocked in your pantry already, swear), non-toxic, hurts less than both strip and hard wax, and rinses clean off, so you don't have sticky spots on your skin when finished; it doesn't clog your pores (Hello?! It dissolves in hot water), and if you have a spill, it's super easy to get off the floor/carpet/clothes (unlike regular wax).

My little sister (the boxer-nail tech-college student) gave me this recipe after a moment of insipration struck while watching the movie Caramel.

Sugar Wax Ingredients

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup lemon juice

Seriously. That's it.  [I'm as liable to drizzle it over a slice of cake as I am to use it as a depilator.]

MAKE IT

Simmer all ingredients in sauce pan on medium-high heat until amber, but don't scorch.

Cool until you can handle the wax without it being too runny or sticky.

USE IT

• Clean yer skin where you're planning to wax. For real. Unless you want infections or spots or any number of things.
• When the sugar wax has cooled to the non-runny/sticky point, scoop about an 1/8 of a cup out of the pan and start to work it between your fingers until it has a bit of a pearly sheen to it and a texture like taffy (you'll know what I mean when you do it). This makes it pliable and easy to work with, which you need since you use the same piece repeatedly.  
• Rinse off hand you're not using to wax (you'll need that to hold your glass).
• Take a sip of wine/beer (you poured yourself a drink, right?) and make sure you've got the TV tuned to 30 Rock. 
• Get comfy on the couch with your sugar wax in one hand, drink in the other. 
• Load sugar wax onto thumb or index finger on non-drink hand.
• Next, apply the wad of sugar wax directly to hair, smoothing and smooshing it away from you in a bit of a ribbon in the opposite direction of hair growth (unlike traditional wax products).
• Then quickly (no sitting around) pull the sugar wax off your skin in direction hair grows. Be sure to work closely to the skin, not pulling the wax up and away from the skin.
• Keep doing the same thing all over using the same ball of sugar wax. This amount works for one full arm or one half leg (depending on how hirsute you are, sister).
• Take sip break.
• If necessary, repeate waxing in the same area (unlike with regular wax, this stuff doesn't irritate or pull off your skin).
• Sit back and marvel at your amazingly smooth skin.
• Decide what you're going to do with the $50 you saved on that salon leg wax.
• Pour a second drink to celebrate your clever DIY skills.

Frankly, that sounds like a better night, to me, than a night on the tiles... 

My age is showing, isn't it?

TRIED AND TESTED | Madara Decocare Tinting Fluids

IT'S ALWAYS a bit surprising to me that so many beauty brands are only available in specific markets even in our global age. It's one of the advantages of being a trans-Atlantic beauty writer -- I know about so many products, brands and services before they hit new markets, giving me a fantastic edge in the cut-throat world of freelancing.

But it's also a disadvantage when I find myself in one country for a long stretch and happen to run out of something that I can't get there.

That was the case recently in the US with my Madara Decocare Moon Flower Tinting Fluid.

It's only available in 16 stores coast to coast, and I needed it that day.

Turns out that the one nearest to me -- 30 minutes by car on the highway -- just started carrying a tiny cross-section of the brand consisting of only the Tinting Fluids and Tinting Lipglosses.

HA-LE-LU-JAH.

I love the product so much I didn't bat an eyelash at an hour-long round trip drive (even with current petrol prices) to buy it. Um, so, my verdict is clearly pre-mature (as the review is below). I think both the brand and this product are swell.

Perhaps I have a future in franchising Madara stores? Surely, at the very least, as a blog spokesperson!

DESCRIPTION

Latvian brand Madara bleeped to life on my beauty radar when my business partners and I were contacted about carrying the range on the website we were then setting up. And I've been hooked in the four years since.

Madara is the Latvian name for wild madders, which are abundant in local meadows.

The brand is certified organic (ECOCERT) and has several product lines: ecoface, decocare, ecobody, ecohair and ecobaby.

The Moon Flower Tinting Fluid (50ml) has a slightly lighter and more liquid texture than tinted moisturiser. It goes on slightly slick, like a light lotion, and gives very sheer flesh-toned tint/coverage and all-over highlighting that's great for summer usage or those looking to gently even out their complexions with a product that can double as a light moisturiser.

The active ingredients are: Baltic algae, chamomile, plantain, rose water and St.John's-wort, as well as cocoa, jojoba. Colour and shimmer are obtained from natural plant minerals and mica.

Full ingredient list:

Aqua, Alcohol, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Oil*, Rosa Damascena (Rose) Distillate*, Glycerin*, Theobroma Cacao Seed (Cocoa) Butter*, Cetearyl Alcohol, Hypericum Perforatum (St. John's Wort) Extract*, Calendula Officinalis (Calendula) Extract*, Chamomilla Recutita (Camomile) Extract*, Algae Extract, Plantago Major (Plantain Leaf) Extract*, Cetearyl Glucoside, Capryloyl Glycine, Stearic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide***, Xantan Gum, Aroma**, Citral**, Eugenol**, Limonene**, Linalool** [+/- (may contain), Mica (CI 77019), Titanium Dioxide (CI77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499)]***

* ingredients issued from Organic Agriculture;
** natural essential oils;
*** inorganic substances and/or pure mineral pigments;
99,875% of the total ingredients are of a natural origin;
13,86% of the total ingredients are issued from Organic Agriculture;
Natural and Organic cosmetic certified by ECOCERT SAS – B.P. 47 F-32600 according to ECOCERT Standards.

THE GOOD

Wonderful coverage and evening out of skin tone even though it's incredibly sheer; 99.9% natural; smells like a forest; does indeed minimize the appearance of fine lines due to its illuminating and highlighting properties.

THE MEH

The price is a bit steep for 50ml so don't go wild with pumps per application or you'll find you're spending like 3 quid each time you use it. One pump should be enough to cover the face and the neck.

Also probably not great for those with super oily skin as I bet it won't stay put.

THE VERDICT

It's what I've been using as my sole foundation since I ran out of my RMS un-Cover Up, and before then I used it almost daily anyway because it's awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Particularly great during the spring and summer when you want to use as few products as possible as it multi-tasks as a highlighter, illuminator, foundation and moisturiser.

THE DETAILS

Madara Decocare Tinting Fluids (50ml) available from $49.95 in the US and £23.00 in the UK