Julie Gabriel - Green Beauty Recipes: Easy Homemade Recipes to Make Your Own Natural and Organic Skincare, Hair Care, and Body Care Products

You are reading the much asked-for sequel of my first book, THE GREEN BEAUTY GUIDE: Your Essential Resource to Organic and Natural Skincare, Hair Care, Makeup, and Fragrances (HCI 2008). My first book gives you quite a lot of theory: it tells you about artificial ingredients to avoid and why, which natural ingredients to look for, what makes them superior compared to synthetic counterparts, which organic products are truly green, and what makes them effective and enjoyable to use.

This book is all about practice. I am very proud and anxious to share with you my findings about how organic beauty course of things really works; what makes natural cleansers so gentle, and how do the organic moisturizers actually moisturize - and whats more exciting, how can you create them all by yourself, at very little expense at home.

The Green Beauty Guide revealed some of the most dangerous sides of conventional, artificial, junk food beauty products. It told you what not to do. A collection of natural recipes and a manual in one, this book provides you with a blueprint on how to make the green leap and formulate your own cleansers, toners, moisturizers, and body products from scratch. You can use the finest organic raw materials, all-natural bases premixed by conscientious organic labs, or use kitchen staples directly from your cupboard. Its all up to you. No matter how much or how little you invest in your natural beauty ingredients, I am absolutely sure that the result will be gorgeous, green, and amazingly beneficial for your health and for our planet.

In 2007, I have founded Petite Marie Organics (www.petitemarieorganics.com), a lovely line of natural beauty products formulated by me and loved by thousands of people worldwide. During my work, I have triple tested each of the recipes. Many of the recipes presented in this book are currently used to make Petite Marie Organics cleansers, moisturizers, treatments, and baby products.

Green beauty is all about ingredients, not the media hype or sleek packaging. Thats why using pure, raw, or minimally processed ingredients is very important. While it is tempting to me to give you a shopping list with some of the most expensive essential oils, peptides, and vitamins that could easily cost up to $1000 per ounce, I understand that this seemingly easy way will not work for all of us.

Some of the most effective recipes in this book cost only a few cents to make, and the ingredients are right there, in your kitchen cupboards, in your local grocery store, or maybe in your garden. My favorite facial oil is made from jojoba and tea tree oils; my favorite body polish is nothing but olive oil and fine sea salt with a sprinkle of mandarin essential oil for that uplifting fragrance; the most effective hair rinse and shine booster I have tried is simply apple cider vinegar. I make my own shampoos and baby bubble baths with castile soap and a few affordable botanical ingredients.

Most of the recipes include a few optional ingredients which add value and aid performance but may be more expensive. You can add them or skip them; the result will be just as good. Remember: you dont need to spend lots of money to look pampered, healthy, and gorgeous.

Ten Things that Make these Recipes Different

If you choose organic, you do that because you care for your health as well as the wellbeing of our planet. However, with the abundance of organic frauds and gimmicks it may be hard to tell the genuine organic or natural product from green-washed wannabe that puts a word organic on the label without any true relation to the contents of their tubes and bottles. Today, a company can call their products natural even if they use 0.01% of natural ingredients in their product! Many of the recipes in the natural realm are full of artificial ingredients.

Here are ten things that make these recipes and the resulting products different from organic recipes out there:

1. I want you to be able to create environmentally friendly, toxin-free beauty products that will make you healthier and improve your wellbeing. Theres not a single artificial or harmful ingredient suggested for use in these recipes.

2. Whenever possible I recommend using raw or minimally processed ingredients that have been grown without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and stored without use of irradiation.

3. Whenever possible I recommend using ingredients that have not been genetically modified, especially when it comes to vegetable oils and soy-derived ingredients.

4. These recipes rarely contain ingredients from animal sources, such as gelatin, collagen, animal-based emulsifiers, and animal fats. Some of the exceptions include milk, yogurt, and beeswax.

5. At Petite Marie Organics we do not support or commission testing of raw materials and finished products on animals. If possible, you should not purchase cosmetic ingredients from companies that do not have a clear policy against animal testing.

6. The recipes in this book contain absolutely no ingredients derived from petroleum.

7. I do not recommend using synthetic preservatives, penetration enhancers, talc, artificial dyes or fragrances in any of these recipes.

8. Some recipes in this book call for the use of alcohol. I do not recommend using rubbing or denatured alcohol because of the presence of highly toxic and carcinogenic substances such as isopropyl alcohol and acetone required by law to make ethanol undrinkable. I recommend using pure ethanol, distilled grain or grape spirit such as vodka or grappa. Please make sure you have reached the legal drinking age for your country before purchasing alcohol to use in recipes in this book.

9. Each recipe contains a recommended shelf life. To extend shelf life you may refer to the segment on natural preservatives. Do not use the products that are past the expiry date which you should clearly indicate on the packaging of the product, even if you plan to use them yourself.

10. These recipes have been thoroughly tested; some were approved by a dermatologist (doctor-vetted recipes are used in the production of Petite Marie Organics beauty products, yet I cannot offer you exact formulations for these products; theres such thing as copyright.)