DIY: Homemade Lip Scrub

I've been meaning to try this for quite some time, and I finally decided today that I've had enough of these dry, cracking lips. They're not getting along so well with the bright, "Love That Red" lipstick I've been sporting recently in anticipation of spring. (Which, by the way, is actually a lot brighter than it looks in the picture.)

So to remedy this I made a homemade lip scrub that will theoretically prevent me from purchasing the $24 Sara Happ lip scrub I've had my eye on since the beginning of winter. I looked around online for recipe ideas and decided to settle on this one because it is so straightforward. All of her chatter beforehand, however...not so straightforward. So allow me:

I used 1 part brown sugar, 1 part honey, and 1 part olive oil as she prescribed. Next time though, I'll use a little less oil, because it was too runny. I'd also prefer a different kind of oil, maybe almond oil or coconut oil - something that's not as strong as olive oil, because it's a bit odd to taste it along with the other ingredients.

I portioned them into a little spice bowl...

...mixed them together, and voila!

Rub it onto your lips and let it stay on for a few minutes before wiping it off with a warm, damp washcloth. Next time I may also try to heat it for 3-4 seconds in the microwave to help it soak into the skin easier. The results: it was about 95% successful for me the first time. I still had a little bit of dead skin lingering, but my lips were really bad, so it might take a couple of applications for me. I wouldn't recommend doing back to back applications though, because the skin is a bit raw afterwards. Follow up with some thick moisturizer like Vaseline to make sure they stay protected.

If you try it, let me know how it goes! It would be a fun thing to experiment with too - vanilla extract, peppermint extract, different kinds of oils...whatever you want! Isn't it so good to know that the dry days of winter are waning?