My friends have a dog named ruby and for some reason when I try to type her name in a text it autocorrects to Rubysaysrelax. WTF is that? That has nothing to do with this scrub, but it literally just happened and I had to share it with the world. I literally can’t stop laughing. My phone thinks it’s cute.

So you may have noticed that I’m on a DIY binge lately. I’ve also been on a cooking binge lately too. It’s kinda cold out and I’m a total hermit in the winter so I’ve been filling my time making stuff. It’s really fulfilling actually. But all these beauty DIYs do serve a purpose, I’m trying to focus on making them into things you can give as holiday gifts! I mean these handmade beauty items might not cut it for close family members, but they’re great for all those cousins and aunts you don’t know what to buy for. You can make them in bulk and give them out, and it will work out to a lot more wallet friendly than getting everyone a bath and bodyworks set or a yankee candle or some sort of singing santa that will just collect dust and get re-gifted. Plus they will be like “damnnnn ‘so and so’ is a regular Martha Stewart!” Saying so and so makes me feel like an old lady.

 

 

• White Sugar
• Kosher Salt
• Vanilla Extract
• Peppermint Oil OR Peppermint Extract
• Coconut Oil
• Red Food Coloring (optional)
• A Cute Jar

Combine 1 1/2 cups of your white sugar and 3/4 cup Kosher Salt in a bowl and stir them together. I like using both salt and sugar because I feel like it makes it more “scrubby”. But if you don’t want to do both, then it’s all good baby baby, just use what you got. You may be wondering why I used kosher salt, and I have two words for you: Alton Brown.

Once your sugar and salt are well combined add 1 tsp of Vanilla Extract and 1 tbs peppermint extract or oil. Peppermint oil is preferred here because it doesn’t contain alcohol, but I had a hard time finding it in a store which means you might have trouble finding it too. Of course if you have a few days to wait you can always find it online.

If your coconut oil is solid, pop it in the microwave and warm it up at 30 second intervals until it’s liquid. Then add 1 1/2 cups of your melted oil into your sugar salt and flavoring mixture. If you find that this mixture is too dry or too runny for you, you can always add more sugar or more oil until you get the consistency you prefer.

 

 

I prefer mine to look a little something like that. Still chunky.

Now you can either bottle it up as is or if you want that candy cane stripe effect in the photo at the top of the page you can take these next steps.

Split your mixture in half and add ONE single drop of your red coloring to one of those halves and mix it well. You don’t want any more than that, unless you like turning pink in the shower. You can also use more natural coloring like raspberry or beet juice, but since it’s less concentrated it might water down your scrub a little so beware of that.

After you have mixed your color in you can go ahead and start layering your colors into the jar. It’s like a very christmas colored version of those sand bottles your parents paid too much for you to make on the boardwalk when you were a kid. Side note: I used one spoon for the white and one spoon for the red to avoid making the colors muddy. I recommend you do the same.

 

 

Yours should look a little something like that when you’re done, except not in front of my fireplace. We’re all friends here but let’s not get carried away.

 

It reminds me a lot of the twisted peppermint scrub that Bath&Body discontinued because the world is full of disappointment. That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I wish they still made it because it was bomb. Make it, use it, gift it do whatever you want with it, and let me know how it goes! And don’t forget, Ruby says relax.

Tags:  Body diy gifts holiday peppermint scrubs skincare