sugar scrub - orange vanilla delight
I have been in search of a great, inexpensive gifts this year for Christmas. Out of my recent affinity for Pinterest and a desire to be 'crafty', I've adapted some ideas I found there. The first of my Crafty-Christmas posts is for a wonderful sugar scrub!! I mean, what girl doesn't want soft & smooth hands for Christmas? I borrowed a recipe from a blog "Condo Blues: 4 Homemade Sugar Scrubs" and adapted it to my own needs. I'll give you the tutorial from start to finish to make it a great gift!
Ingredients...
Sugar (white or brown): Either of these sugars will work, just note that the brown sugar has a heavier scent (that could affect the other scents you use) and will be a darker scrub while the white provides a nice background for most scents. You could also mix them!
Oils: You can use many, many different kinds of oils depending on budget & the feeling/look you'd like. I started off with Vegetable Oil just because I'm making a lot of these scrubs for gifts and it's inexpensive and does the trick nicely! Other sites I've looked at suggest olive oil, almond oil, jojoba oil, coconut oil...and the list goes on. These you can find at places like Whole Foods or even on Amazon etc. Just know that each oil will have a similar effect but some may work better with your skin. Olive Oil will definitely color your scrub that kind of yellowish-green color so just be aware of that.
Scents: As for scents, the options are endless! I happened to be a little sick and was at Whole Foods for some Singers Saving Grace (amazing stuff by the way) and ran across their very intense scent section. I was a bit overwhelmed by the prices but my motto is: Find a way to do it cheaper! I discovered that the orange scent was only about $5 so I decided to work with that. I'm sure you can find other scents at craft places like Michaels or online, I just happened to be there and went with it. Another site also suggested using body spray or perfume - also good options but the strength of these scents could be more potent - make sure you start with less rather than more.
Other needs...
Jar: I happened to be in Home Goods looking for inspiration a few weeks ago (before I'd decided on the sugar scrub idea) and came across these great jars! They were $1.99 with the classic rubber sealed lid and metal working thingey (technical term) so, on a whim, I bought a bunch of them. I knew I'd figure something out and, as it turns out, I did! They work great but if you're in a pinch there are a few other ideas I had.
Online - Amazon has a great deal for cute little jars.
Walmart - they have cute little Ziplock Brand glass containers with colored plastic lids in various sizes.
Grocery Store - Pretty much any grocery store will have canning goods and you can find the small (4oz) sized jars for a good deal - especially if you're making a lot of scrubs. I've even seen them online 12 for $8! These are fun because you can use fabric under the metal ring and it adds a nice decorative accent.
Spoon: During this same trip to Home Goods, I ran across a set of 6 wooden spoons made of Olive wood and thought... $8 for 6 spoons is a great deal!
I ended up getting them and they are perfect for scooping out the scrub and the wood benefits from the oil which moistens it and keeps it from cracking (double deal!). There are many options for scoops: wood spoons, small scoops, or even a coffee scoop! Amazon has some great deals for larger quantities of spoons or you can find one scoop that's a little more expensive but also more decorative.
Recipe Card & Ribbon: I went with the 'recycled' theme and cut up the small bag from Whole Foods that they had given me the orange scented oil in. I ended up cutting a rectangle out of it, folding it in half, hole-punching the corner, writing on it with a brown pen, then attaching a festive ribbon to it. Other options are card stock, an actual recipe card, index card, or even a holiday gift tag.
As you can see on my card, I included a simple recipe for the scrub I made but I also included directions for using it, a 'warning' that the scrub wont last long (it is all natural) and that the spoon would benefit from having the oil on it. You can word it however you like, but let your recipient know about the scrub!
Down to the nitty-gritty...
Once you've collected your ingredients there are a few ways you can create the scrub. I chose to do most of mine individually (a tailored scrub per-person) but you can feel free to mass produce, just make sure you keep the ratios equal and then divide it up by your jars.
For one Scrub:
1 Cup Sugar (white or brown)
1/2 Cup Oil (of your choice)
10-20 drops of scented oil or perfume (until desired aroma is acquired; could vary if the scent is very strong or if you use perfume)
Take your jar and pour in the 1 cup of sugar (I used white for Orange Vanilla Delight -OVD- as I affectionately call it). Then pour in 1/2 cup oil. Take your spoon (or, if you went with a scoop, just use a regular spoon) and stir it all together. Then, once all the sugar is moist, drop in your scent (for OVD I used about 10 drops of orange and about 8 drops of pure vanilla extract).
Since mine was orange scented, I decided to zest some orange peel and put it on the top - it adds color and a fun accent. You can mix in more with the whole scrub or just leave it on the top.
Zest: If you're doing a lot of scubs and you want them all to be orange, I'd suggest zesting beforehand. This way, you can have a bag of dried orange or lemon zest you can pull from at any time!
Once it's all mixed, tie a ribbon around the jar, add your recipe card, and you're done!
Ideas: As I was making my first scrub I had a few ideas and I thought I'd share...
*Do a Lemon Drop Scrub - substitute lemon for the orange, leave out the vanilla (unless you like the added scent) and add lemon zest!
*Make a Sweet Brown Sugar Scrub using only brown sugar and vanilla scent!
*Make a Rose or Lavender scrub by using those scents and adding dried rose petals or lavender buds
*Add essential oils like Vitamin E or lavender oil to your scrub for a super moisturizing scrub
*For more ideas, check out the "Condo Blues: 4 Homemade Sugar Scrubs" blog - the Peppermint scrub is next on my list!
Ingredients...
Sugar (white or brown): Either of these sugars will work, just note that the brown sugar has a heavier scent (that could affect the other scents you use) and will be a darker scrub while the white provides a nice background for most scents. You could also mix them!
Oils: You can use many, many different kinds of oils depending on budget & the feeling/look you'd like. I started off with Vegetable Oil just because I'm making a lot of these scrubs for gifts and it's inexpensive and does the trick nicely! Other sites I've looked at suggest olive oil, almond oil, jojoba oil, coconut oil...and the list goes on. These you can find at places like Whole Foods or even on Amazon etc. Just know that each oil will have a similar effect but some may work better with your skin. Olive Oil will definitely color your scrub that kind of yellowish-green color so just be aware of that.
Scents: As for scents, the options are endless! I happened to be a little sick and was at Whole Foods for some Singers Saving Grace (amazing stuff by the way) and ran across their very intense scent section. I was a bit overwhelmed by the prices but my motto is: Find a way to do it cheaper! I discovered that the orange scent was only about $5 so I decided to work with that. I'm sure you can find other scents at craft places like Michaels or online, I just happened to be there and went with it. Another site also suggested using body spray or perfume - also good options but the strength of these scents could be more potent - make sure you start with less rather than more.
Other needs...
Jar: I happened to be in Home Goods looking for inspiration a few weeks ago (before I'd decided on the sugar scrub idea) and came across these great jars! They were $1.99 with the classic rubber sealed lid and metal working thingey (technical term) so, on a whim, I bought a bunch of them. I knew I'd figure something out and, as it turns out, I did! They work great but if you're in a pinch there are a few other ideas I had.
Online - Amazon has a great deal for cute little jars.
Walmart - they have cute little Ziplock Brand glass containers with colored plastic lids in various sizes.
Grocery Store - Pretty much any grocery store will have canning goods and you can find the small (4oz) sized jars for a good deal - especially if you're making a lot of scrubs. I've even seen them online 12 for $8! These are fun because you can use fabric under the metal ring and it adds a nice decorative accent.
Spoon: During this same trip to Home Goods, I ran across a set of 6 wooden spoons made of Olive wood and thought... $8 for 6 spoons is a great deal!
I ended up getting them and they are perfect for scooping out the scrub and the wood benefits from the oil which moistens it and keeps it from cracking (double deal!). There are many options for scoops: wood spoons, small scoops, or even a coffee scoop! Amazon has some great deals for larger quantities of spoons or you can find one scoop that's a little more expensive but also more decorative.
As you can see on my card, I included a simple recipe for the scrub I made but I also included directions for using it, a 'warning' that the scrub wont last long (it is all natural) and that the spoon would benefit from having the oil on it. You can word it however you like, but let your recipient know about the scrub!
Down to the nitty-gritty...
Once you've collected your ingredients there are a few ways you can create the scrub. I chose to do most of mine individually (a tailored scrub per-person) but you can feel free to mass produce, just make sure you keep the ratios equal and then divide it up by your jars.
For one Scrub:
1 Cup Sugar (white or brown)
1/2 Cup Oil (of your choice)
10-20 drops of scented oil or perfume (until desired aroma is acquired; could vary if the scent is very strong or if you use perfume)
 |
| The finished scrub with zest on top |
 |
| Orange zest drying on wax paper |
Since mine was orange scented, I decided to zest some orange peel and put it on the top - it adds color and a fun accent. You can mix in more with the whole scrub or just leave it on the top.
Zest: If you're doing a lot of scubs and you want them all to be orange, I'd suggest zesting beforehand. This way, you can have a bag of dried orange or lemon zest you can pull from at any time!
Once it's all mixed, tie a ribbon around the jar, add your recipe card, and you're done!
Ideas: As I was making my first scrub I had a few ideas and I thought I'd share...
*Do a Lemon Drop Scrub - substitute lemon for the orange, leave out the vanilla (unless you like the added scent) and add lemon zest!
*Make a Sweet Brown Sugar Scrub using only brown sugar and vanilla scent!
*Make a Rose or Lavender scrub by using those scents and adding dried rose petals or lavender buds
*Add essential oils like Vitamin E or lavender oil to your scrub for a super moisturizing scrub
*For more ideas, check out the "Condo Blues: 4 Homemade Sugar Scrubs" blog - the Peppermint scrub is next on my list!
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