Homemade Goodness

The rate at which I have started new projects has reached a new high as of late, and this was further enforced after reading Angry Chicken's Post on Homemade Deodorant. It was then that I decided to revisit the idea hatched in my head long ago about making my own beauty products so as to know what exactly I am slathering all over the largest organ in the human body - my very sensitive and highly irritable skin!

I ordered my products from Mountain Rose Herbs as recommended, and am currently waiting in anticipation for the crazy hippie party that will ensue (a faint shout-out to my long-gone Obie days). That is because I noticed when choosing my scents for the deodorant (orange and citronella) that those scents in combination with other scents could also work as a good mosquito/insect repellent. This is perfect for my apartment, as we don't have AC and just keep the windows open at all hours of the day... yes, I know that's a crazy thing to do, considering the fact that NYC is one giant and polluted sauna... nonetheless, I followed up on my impulsive thought by looking up recipes for natural insect repellent, and was happy to find a couple, all of which are pretty much the same:

2 1/2 teaspoons total of any combination of the following essential oils: basil, cedarwood, citronella, juniper, lemon, myrrh, palmarosa, pine, rose geranium and/or rosemary

1 cup 190-proof grain alcohol, rubbing alcohol, almond or some other kind of oil (or water, if you don't like or have any of those things)

Shake up the ingredients and spray/apply, once doing a patch test to make sure you aren't allergic to anything. Add a few drops of peppermint oil to fine-tune the fragrance if you don't like what you smell.

Sounds easy enough! We'll see if any of this actually works. The items are supposed to ship in couple of days... As usual, I got carried away and feel the twinge of buyer's regret - instead of making one thing that I set out to do (the deodorant), I have now expanded my purchases and ambition to also make peppermint lip balm, insect repellent, as well as use the excess oils to make moth repellent for my yarn and sweater stash! Yikes. Only time will tell. More on this at a later date~