Heliotro.pe » DIY

Mountain Rose Herbs giveaway

Virginia (Heliotro.pe) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:08:02 +0000

Mountain Rose Herbs, my favorite hippie skincare and herb supplier is doing a very cool giveaway for the best herbal recipes of 2011. Check ‘em out — not only do they have great ideas there and a killer prize, but these guys sell extremely high-quality, well-priced DIY skincare items. I use them to purchase all my [...]

Cosmetics case MIA :(

Virginia (Heliotro.pe) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 05:20:52 +0000

I’ve been using the same Coach black leather makeup bag since like 2003, and I LOVED that thing. I got it for a decent price at the factory outlet, and it’s held up well and was the perfect size and dimensions to cram into even my smaller purses. I didn’t love how skinny items like [...]

Trouble in paradise

Virginia (Heliotro.pe) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 14:11:10 +0000

OK, so we bought ourselves a brand new house. Like, a really nice one. Nice enough that I can’t afford to shop at Sephora ever again. We’ve had a really fun and monumental beginning of the year, with the new home and a big move all right after a trip to Rio for a friend’s [...]

DIY goals for 2011

Virginia (Heliotro.pe) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 02:45:34 +0000

The time is now! For several years, I’ve been wanting to make my own naturally-pigmented lip stains. I had always assumed beet powder was the only option I had, but a cup of Tazo Passion tea recently reminded me that, in addition to beets, there’s also hibiscus, red cabbage, saffron, and turmeric. (How did I [...]

Chicken skin begone!

Virginia (Heliotro.pe) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 23:05:20 +0000

In recent years, I’ve started to notice keratosis pilaris on my upper arms, and a teensy bit on my tush and the backs of my thighs. The latter two don’t matter AS much, since my hubby thinks my skin is smooth is butter (and it IS compared to his). But I really wanted to eradicate [...]

The post-marital fuglies

Virginia (Heliotro.pe) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:44:02 +0000

Well, the big day has finally come and gone! The day was lovely, but now it’s time to get ugly. Don’t get me wrong — I don’t view marriage as an excuse to completely let myself go or anything. But this wedding has involved an INSANE amount of primping and stress and spending on our [...]

Beta Hydroxy Standstill

Virginia (Heliotro.pe) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:27:17 +0000

I’ve been wanting to add a good beta hydroxy acid product to my regime, but I’m having a lot of trouble finding the right one. I’ve read before that salicylic acid (the main BHA in cosmetic formulations) is only soluble in alcohol or oil, and I’m not interested in using alcohol-infused products on my sensitive [...]

With new territories come new… smells

Virginia (Heliotro.pe) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 06:30:26 +0000

Turns out, tagetes is STINKY! My package from Nature’s Gift arrived recently, and I mixed up a little vial of tagetes essential oil in a neem and avocado oil base. I started anointing dear Grant’s toes with it, and I was wowed by how smelly it is. Not like anything else I’ve smelled, and certainly [...]

Search for the Perfect C Serum

Virginia (Heliotro.pe) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 08:13:10 +0000

I’ve been wanting to try a vitamin C serum ever since I read about people’s glorious results on EDS. But it’s a tricky substance: most C serums apparently oxidize really quickly, which means the highly unstable C “turns” and can actually do your skin more harm than good. It can be really hard to find [...]

Tagetes to the rescue?

Virginia (Heliotro.pe) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:50:52 +0000

I’ve always considered myself fairly savvy with essential oils, but I’m learning more and more as I go. I had the basics down, but now I’m delving into some lesser-known oils, like manuka (below) and, this time, tagetes.

Tagetes is the oil from a type of marigold, and it has powerful anti-fungal properties. I’ve been [...]