Sultry Perfume Recipe with Tonka Beans and Essential Oils
If you’ve had the opportunity to work with tonka beans (also called tonkin or tonquin beans), you know they have a heavenly aroma: a blend of vanilla-like essence with undertones of tobacco, pistachio, and musk. They are perfect for perfumery. The dilemma is how to get that delicious scent into a perfume. It turns out, a simple alcohol extraction is the key! Then add pure organic vetiver essential oil and a touch of sandalwood to this aromatic base, and you have a luscious, warm, sultry homemade perfume. Our three-ingredient tonka bean perfume blend is the perfect place to start exploring the wonders of this wondrous South American legume.
Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap with Soap Nuts
I have to admit, it was really difficult for me to believe that soap nuts could actually work. My skepticism caused me to walk by them at my local natural grocery store for years. I liked the idea of an all-natural laundry solution, but I figured soap nuts would not be effective enough to take on the heavily soiled laundry from homesteading and an overall active lifestyle.
That attitude persisted until about six years ago, when I first started working for Mountain Rose Herbs. Colleagues and customers alike raved about these mystical soap nuts (which aren’t actually nuts at all), so I decided to finally give them a try. I’m really glad that I did, and my wallet and septic system continue to thank me daily.
While many people enjoy the common method of using deseeded soap nuts directly in the wash, I prefer to make them into a liquid detergent. It is an added step and requires a bit more forethought, but I have found that you have more control over the concentration of saponins and the liquid disperses more evenly throughout each laundry load.
Citrus Essential Oils: How to Choose the Right Citrus Oil
Citrus essential oils are bright, sweet, and sour and are known to bring a smile to your face. They are energetically uplifting and engaging and pack a punch in DIY cleaning products. But which one should you use?
Organic citrus oils are cold-pressed from the fruit peel of various citrus trees. These lovely essential oils are mostly made up of the same constituents but vary in the amounts that they contain. (+)-Limonene is the primary monoterpene in all of them and contributes to their use in surface cleaners, room sprays, and soaps.
Nourishing Herbal Infusion Recipe—A Tea With Purpose
When it comes to nutritive plants like these four treasured herbal allies, opting for the infusion method will impart your water-based brew with the full strength of the plant material. Certainly, you could steep these herbs in a tea bag for 10-15 minutes. However, you’ll receive exponentially more of the nutritive and tonifying benefits with the infusion method, which employs a hefty volume of herbs steeped for hours. This allows more of the minerals, chlorophyll, and other nutrients to be pulled into the solution.
Think of it this way: Infusions pull more of the power-packed punch out of your dried herbs. Brewing your herbs this way gives you a strong, nourishing brew—deep and rich in color, flavor, and constituents. Just the way you like it.
Cookies and Cream Lip Balm Recipe
Each year around the holidays, I create a new lip balm recipe to share on both the Mountain Rose Herbs blog and with my friends and family. They make a great stocking stuffer and the people in my life enjoy seeing what I’ve come up with for the season. I love that lip balms can be made in bulk for sharing, and I love this fun and useful expression of my craft.
This hydrating lip balm calls in the emollient qualities of shea butter and pairs with the comforting scents of cocoa butter and benzoin resin for an intoxicating chocolate and vanilla aroma. When I have the time, I like to make this balm in two different colors and then marble them in the lip balm tube. This added dimension makes for a fun display of my skills and makes it feel more like cookies and cream. However, you can keep it simple if you prefer and skip the marbling effect. That is the beauty of DIY crafting—you can truly make it your own.
Homemade Playdough Recipe With Herbal Coloring
Now that it’s getting colder, you may be thinking about how to entertain the little ones in your life, and maybe you need some fun gifts for the upcoming holidays, too. Which of course means it’s time for natural, homemade, no-cook playdough that you can easily color with herbal powders rather than artificial food dyes! This DIY dough is simple and fast to make, it’s food-safe, it’s useable within minutes of making it, and in an airtight container, it can last for a couple of months. Vegetable and berry powders are excellent choices for coloring playdough— kale powder makes grass-green, turmeric makes a deep yellow, beet root makes red, cranberry makes pink, hibiscus makes purple, cacao and black teas makes brown, etc. This recipe is a good one to do with kids, too, because there’s no cooking and the powders make it oh-so-easy!
Mulled Cider Recipe With Warming Spices
Mulled wines and ciders have been around since ancient times. Mulling is simply infusing spices, usually through heat, into wine, beer, or cider. In ancient Greece, mulling herbs in wine was a potent medicine-making method, but today mulled ciders and wines are primarily festive drinks that are often imbibed during the winter holidays. We say it’s time to combine old-school wellness-supporting herbs with new-school festive mulled ciders!
This comforting, delicious, healthful mulled cider recipe includes traditional warming spices such as cinnamon, allspice, and cloves with the botanical boost of immune-supporting elderberries and astragalus. Salud!
Four Thieves® Multi-Purpose Spray Recipe
Versatility and effectiveness are two of the most important factors that we consider when it comes to green cleaning. That’s why we love this Thieves® multi-purpose household cleaner recipe! It cuts heavy grease, battles unwanted germs, smells wonderful, and is shelf stable for up to a year so we can make it in advance and have it ready whenever we need it. We think this super-easy Thieves® spray cleaner will become a staple in your natural cleaning supplies!
*Four Thieves® is a registered trademark of Young Living Essential Oils, LC. Mountain Rose Herbs is not affiliated with Young Living Essential Oils, LC in any way.
