DIY

Crafts for the Uncrafty

DIY Jojoba Oil Solid Perfume

When I was in elementary school, I was always setting up little stands in our building's lobby to sell homemade lip balms, customized friendship bracelets and such - and I was one of only maybe six kids in the entire building, so I actually made out like quite the bandit during these entrepreneurial ventures. (My "lip balms" were made by mixing Fuzzy Peach-scented Body Shop bath oil capsules into my mom's leftover Vaseline and throwing in some food coloring, so mayyyyybe not...oh, I don't know, especially safe to put on your mouth. But I was seven, so I assume liability was less of an issue than it might be nowadays.)

Apparently the desire to make giftable crafts stuck around, because I had wayyy too much fun making these solid perfumes - and they're a really cute last-minute gift idea for kids to make for friends and relatives (so long as you help them with the stove-inclusive part; let's please not burn any tiny fingers in the process of giftable craft-making). They're also 100% free of Fuzzy Peach-smelling chemical pods, hooray!

Note: You can choose whatever essential oils you want, and can combine them as you will to customize your scent - just make sure that the number of drops you use ends up totaling 30. (I was thinking about Tocca Bianca when I made this, so I went for a combo of lavender and lemon, leaning more heavily on the lavender.)

Decor

A Little Holiday House Tour

Kendrick asked me the other day whether it's weird for me to live in a house that I don't own. He knew how important to me it was; the ability to work on a house and make it my own felt like...I don't know, like an intrinsic part of who I was. And the pride that I got from home ownership after many years of not thinking it was anywhere within the realm of possibility for me was enormous.

But you know what I said to him?

"Eh. I kind of love renting."

Makeup & Beauty

You Need To Know About My New Makeup Discoveries

I would like my skin to look like this girl's, please. 

I have very dry skin; I've whined about it ad infinitum over the years. And I've upped my efforts to combat all that dryness - oils and actual (if only intermittently applied) skincare regimens and such - but one thing I've never really given much thought to is my makeup. As an example, I've been using the same MAC powder foundation since I was in college - but recently it's occurred to me that patting all that matte product onto my skin may be having...kind of the opposite effect of what I'm looking for.

But coverage is important to me, because in addition to being dry, I am also an uncomfortably red human being - rosacea, blah blah blah ugh - and have not-infrequently been asked by people who see me without any makeup on whether I am actually, literally sick. (This is a swell confidence-booster, as I'm sure you can imagine.)

DIY

Your Favorite New DIY Scalp Mask

I was extremely not into the concept of rubbing oils into my scalp. I mean, wouldn't that make it...oily? I had visions of that time in high school when I tried one of those olive oil/mayonnaise hair masks (mmhmm, sure did) and suffered the consequences for a cool week.

This scalp treatment - which promotes scalp health and hair growth, and also leaves your hair feeling like angel wings - is a whoooole different beast, and you have to try it. My hair has never, ever, ever been this soft (and said softness has been commented on by three separate people who had no very good reason to lie to me, so: corroborated).

Before & After Renovations

A (Bittersweet) House Tour

You've seen most of my house at one point or another over the years, but as I do not own a wide-angle lens, it's been tough for me to get shots that really show you what the spaces look like as a whole, and how they fit together.

The photographer who came over to shoot the house for the listing did have a wide-angle lens, though, and so I now present to you: A bittersweet little house tour. The only room missing is the master bath, which I'll be photographing myself tomorrow after I put a few finishing touches on it. (As a recap, here's what the house looked like on move-in day three years ago.)

I didn't include product info because there's just so much, but you can click through to the links below for details on each room, or just ask away in the comments.


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