AU NATURAL BEAUTY

Forget fancy creams and expensive potions, green girlies are whipping up their own cosmetics. For some women a natural shampoo with Castile soap and water, a vinegar and floral water conditioning rinse, and a salt and olive oil body scrub, is all part of the average morning beauty routine. There is a growing trend these days for toiletries made from ingredients that come from our kitchen cupboards, and, these ingredients are so natural that you could actually eat your body lotion - as it's often made from just rosewater and jojoba oil. More and more green-minded beauties are throwing out conventional shampoos and soaps in favour of creating their very own homemade cosmetics. The recession has definitely made everyone think twice before spending flippantly, but the long list of foreign ingredients on many beauty products (hormone-disrupting parabens or skin-irritating sodium lauryl sulfate) has also got many people thinking twice about the cosmetics they buy. In fact, this recent interest in DIY toiletries encouraged natural beauty enthusiast Richard Phillips in the UK to set up Cosmetics At Home (www.cosmeticsathome.co.uk) - a web site providing lots of recipes for homemade natural cosmetics. "If you look at the ingredients on a packet of soap, you see nothing but a huge list of stuff you've never heard of," says Phillips. "When you make your own, you start to experiment with the ingredients and tailor your toiletries to your very own needs." Opponents to the beauty-DIY regime often argue that buying store products, while potentially nasty for one's health, are still cheaper and more time-efficient than slaving away over a water bath melting shea butter to make a face cream. But Phillips argues that all it takes is a little interest and practise. To measure just how easy and worthwhile some of the recipes out there really are, we swapped regular store products for ones we could knock up at home. Try them out yourself... Almond and lavender scrub * 2 tsp sweet almond oil * 4 tsp almond meal * 1 tsp cider vinegar * 1 drop lavender oil * Distilled water Method: Mix all the ingredients into a smooth paste, adding distilled water as needed. Massage gently into the skin, then rinse off with lukewarm water. Verdict: "This is probably the best scrub I have ever used on my face. The almonds left my skin feeling smooth and exfoliated, while the oils left it feeling light and moisturised afterward. I didn't even need to use lotion, which was a shock - usually scrubs leave my face feeling tight and dry." Body scrub * 4 tbsp table salt * 1 tbsp olive oil Method: Mix the ingredients together and use as an all-over scrub in the shower. Verdict: "I have really dry skin that's quite rough on the elbows and feet, so I was amazed at how easily this body scrub smoothed over those areas and left them soft and conditioned. I've since tried the same measurements with sugar and lemon juice instead of salt and oil, which is a nicer and lighter scrub - it's good for a morning wake-me-up if I want to exfoliate." Relaxing bath soak * 1 handful of oats * 2 tbsp dried lavender or camomile * 1 square of muslin or cheesecloth * 1 piece of string Method: Place the oats and lavender or camomile in the muslin, and tie together with the string. Place the soak either under the running tap or into the bath for a luxurious and nourishing soak. Verdict: "I loved bath time with this soak. The oats made the water nice and soft, and I was able to use the oats afterward as a face pack. My skin has felt really soft and healthy-looking since!"