DIY BEAUTY

My brother will be getting married in April to an absolutely lovely lady named Liz. After the wedding, they'll have a week-long honeymoon at a gorgeous little cabin on a lake in western NC.

I decided to try and whip up a spa-like gift basket for them to plant in the cabin as a surprise. I recently dabbled in making myself a body scrub (brown sugar + coconut oil = delicious macaroon magic) and thought I could probably make some custom goodies for the two lovebirds.

I was a little nervous about some of the products - I've never done anything involving wax melting, for example. I did manage to be almost bang on with measurements. The body scrubs fit perfectly in their mason jars. I over-produced a bit with the spearmint lip exfoliant 1) and had a bit of beard balm left over.

The bottled products are labeled with some Avery printer labels (template 40151 for the curious). There's also an accompanying “menu” that lists out all the ingredients for each product. Just to amp up the “spa” sensation.

I'll eventually package everything up in one of the simple pine boxes I have that came with a shipment from Olive and Cocoa, probably with (spoiler alert) more kraft paper inside. Just to make it as gift-y as possible.

THE MENU

For Her

  • Lemon and Honey Body Scrub (“To Have and To Hold” tantalizing skin scrub)
  • Lavender Rice Pillow (“That Lovin’ Feel” comforting rice pillow“)
  • Eucalyptus Lavender Foot Soak (“Take Off Your Dancing Shoes” soothing foot soak)
  • Spearmint Lip Exfoliant (“You May Kiss the Bride” softening lip scrub)

For Him

  • Coffee and Brown Sugar Body Scrub (“To Have and To Hold” tantalizing skin scrub)
  • Eucalyptus Rice Pillow (“That Lovin’ Feel” comforting rice pillow)
  • Juniper Pine Foot Soak (“Take Off Your Dancing Shoes” soothing foot soak)
  • Woodsy Beard Balm (“Run Your Fingers Through My Beard” taming beard balm)

SOURCES

Here is a complete Amazon wish list of all the items I used to make everything. There were a few things I didn't buy because I already had them, including olive oil and the pine needles I put in John's foot soak 2) The essential oils were actually purchased directly from the seller's website, since I couldn't find any aromatherapy kits that featured the smells I wanted 3).

THE GOODIES

THE PACKAGE

First, an envelope printed with The Menu and containing two individual “menus” of what ingredients are in which items.


1) oh well, more for me!
2) those I cut from the pine tree that is still in our backyard from Christmas, and yes I am aware that it is February; I am also aware that it's incredibly weird to have a live Christmas tree still in its stand on your back deck two months after Christmas but whatever.
3) juniper, cedarwood, eucalyptus, lavender, spearmint