Everything You Need For a Girls’ Night In of Beauty DIYs

Whenever the weather transitions, it always feels like our beauty game needs rejiggering. In fact, changing seasons are a perfect time to introduce some new products into the old arsenal. But seriously, who wants to drop loads of cash on a new cleanser, scrub, moisturizer, eye cream, face mask, shampoo, and conditioner all at once?

The solution: Pick up a bunch of natural ingredients and have yourself a party. These items cost just a few dollars, especially when you invite all your lady friends (or man friends, no judgment here) and go Dutch on these. Trust us—there’s nothing more exciting than making your own clean and safe beauty products that actually work! And in the presence of friends, people won’t be laughing at you with turmeric on your face—they’ll be laughing with you.

Here’s everything you’ll need for a girls’ night in of beauty DIYs, including some recipes. Just make everything in large batches and divvy them up into glass jars—if you can resist using them all up on this one wild night.

Carrier oil

Pretty much everything starts with a base oil that dilutes all the rest of the ingredients. It also provides a lot of the moisture in products like scrubs and conditioners. Our personal favorite carriers: grapeseed and coconut oils.

We can’t get enough of how super-softening grapeseed oil is, particularly in this facial scrub: Mix 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/8 cup of cocoa or cacao powder, then little by little, add 1/4 cup grapeseed oil.

Few people can resist the wonders of coconut oil. It works as a great carrier for this brown sugar cocoa scrub and beyond (read: everything under the sun, including a hair mask and as a head-to-toe moisturizer).

Already have olive oil in the pantry? Then no need to buy another oil—it’s also an amazing carrier that can restore moisture to skin, hair, and nails.

Exfoliant

Like the recipe above, every scrub needs some sort of exfoliating agent to do the skin polishing. So make sure you have something grainy on hand, like sugar or oatmeal.

Cleansing agents

No need for sudsy cleansers that can strip skin and hair of moisture. Apple cider vinegar is pretty much a miracle-worker on the same level as coconut oil. It can be used as a cleansing toner for the face, as well as a conditioning hair rinse.

Raw honey is a killer one-ingredient face wash. It’s naturally antibacterial and contains beneficial enzymes and probiotics to balance the skin’s natural pH levels. Literally, just use a dab of it the same way you would any normal face wash and rinse off.

Cream base

To make body and facial moisturizers, eye creams, and conditioners, you’ll need a cream base like shea or cocoa butter. How to handle these ingredients? See this coconut lavender rosemary conditioner and this moisturizer.

For face masks, yogurt is excellent. It contains lactic acid that can dissolve dead skin cells, and zinc, a known acne fighter. It can stand alone as a face mask, but for real radiance, read on.

Boosters

This is the super fun part. Certain ingredients can really take natural skin care to the next level. Case in point: turmeric’s antioxidants can slow cell damage and exfoliate, and its abundant anti-inflammatory compounds help soothe skin conditions such as acne, dryness, and eczema. The best way to topically reap the benefits of turmeric? Combine it with yogurt in this sunburst-brilliant recipe.

Green tea also possesses lots of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. It’s a perfect infusion for a homemade ACV toner. Just mix three parts strongly brewed tea with one part ACV.

Essential oils

The powerful secret weapon for any natural beauty DIY, essential oils do everything from infusing scintillating scents to adding even more potency to products. You can’t go wrong with lavender oil. Just one whiff can bring on a relaxed state; and when used in skin care it’s anti-inflammatory, meaning it can reduce redness and even help diminish pimples.

For hair, lavender oil can stimulate roots and improve circulation in the scalp. Add vitamin E oil to help repair the hair follicles, and vegetable glycerin which pulls moisture from the air, and you’ve got the best conditioner ever.

Rosehip seed oil is basically liquid retinol, plus antioxidants and essential fatty acids, so it’s an ideal addition to any moisturizer or eye cream to give it anti-aging properties. Powerful enough to fade dark spots and reduce fine lines, this one is a must.

One last thing

Uh, what’s a party without snacks? (Not a party.) Make sure to stock up on skin-friendly foods like walnuts, hazelnuts, papaya, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, dried apricots, avocado, broccoli, and kale. Make an irresistible fruit, nut, and veggie plate, or blend up some of the fruit and veggies for revitalizing smoothies. Can you even wait till the weekend?

Want more? Check out these recipes for some luscious DIYs.

Photo credit: Alicia Cho