Posts Tagged ‘home’

FLORAL WATER SPRAY

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photos/post/design: Kristin Ess

What’s the best thing about Spring? Flowers, obviously! Especially the ones that can be bottled up and sprayed all over. Today were going to show you how to make your own floral water.

You will need: A large metal pot with glass dome lid, a ceramic ramekin, flowers, cutting board, knife, bottled water, turkey baster, ice.

  1. In the center of your large pot, place ceramic ramekin as your “catch bowl”. This is where the floral water will fall. Some people use bricks below their catch bowl but I’ve always thought that makes my water smell a little dirty. Instead I use a ceramic ramekin that can withstand higher heat. I’ve never had a problem with the ramekin getting too hot and “cooking” the fragrance. But if you want to put a brick under as a buffer, go for it!
  2. Pull the petals off of your flowers and give them a little chop. Not too much– I just do it to help release the fragrance.
  3. Pile the flowers around the ceramic ramekin as you see in photo 3. Add 1 1/2 cups of water for each cup of flowers. Note: Depending on where you live, I suggest using bottled water. If there’s any unwanted bacteria in your tap water, you certainly don’t want to bottle it up. Could get gross, fast!
  4. Place your glass lid upside down on the pot. Add a tray of ice on top. Without going into too much detail- the cold temperature of the ice will help procure condensation underneath the lid.
  5. Place it on the stovetop on low. I used a turkey baster to clear away the ice as it melted. Watch your flowers– once the color is gone from the petals, lift the lid. You should end up with a small amount of clear liquid inside  your ramekin.
  6. Use a turkey baster to transfer the floral water into a bottle. You may have to repeat the process to get an entire bottle full. Tighten the lid and spray away!!  

Here’s my hilarious little illustration of how the process works. Uh– don’t judge.

My favorite flowers to use:

  • Rose (particularly Sterling Silver if you can find them)
  • Jasmine
  • Chamomile (any tea for that matter)
  • Lemon Thyme
  • Lavender
  • Orange blossom
  • Honeysuckle
  • Champaka
  • Sage
  • Verbena
  • Coconut
  • Peony
  • Frangipani

Sadly I haven’t been able to make gardenias work for this yet, but luckily all of the ones above have worked really well.

OFTEN OVERLOOKED: THE TOOTHBRUSH

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Sometimes we focus so much on what’s new that we forget how many tools we have hiding in the drawers at home. A spare toothbrush comes in quite handy in the hair world and I always keep a couple in my kit. The two best uses I’ve found for this ol’ thing are:

Smoothing down annoying fly-aways + baby hairs around the hair line. Spray a little strong-holding hairspray directly on the bristles of the toothbrush and smooth those little buggers down. On fine hair, I spray it directly on the toothbrush. With thick/coarse hair I usually spray it straight on the little hairs and then smooth over with the toothbrush because with coarser hair you usually need a bit more spray that what you’ll get off the toothbrush.

Cleaning out the vent on your blow dryer is important! Okay, you know when the blow dryer starts getting hotter than normal or even shorts out? It’s probably caused by a build up of lint or dust in the back of your blow dryer. The fan and motor have to work insanely hard and they get really hot if the back isn’t clean + clear. Cleaning that vent out isn’t usually very easy, but with a toothbrush it is! Just run the bristles of the toothbrush back and forth across the metal mesh on back. I like to remove the vent on my ELCHIM dryer, blow the remaining dust particles through using the front end of the dryer, then re-attatch it. The more particles you keep out of the vent, the cleaner it will run and the longer it will last.

What beauty uses do you have for a spare toothbrush? Let’s exchange ideas below!

DIY COCONUT + ROSE BODY SCRUB

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Few things smell better than coconut and rose so let’s combine them, shall we? In this Kitchen Beautician DIY, we’re making a “Spring Time Scrub” to help you exfoliate and get your skin super soft for the coming summer months. Bathing suit season is just around the corner and nobody wants to be the ashy girl! Here’s my new favorite way to get rid of dry skin caused by winter dryness: (more…)

ORGANIZATION STATION: GET YOUR HAIR STUFF IN CHIC ORDER

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photos & post by Kristin Ess

If you’re a girl on the go, you’re probably familiar with the magical mystical “bathroom tornado”. It comes through scattering everything everywhere, leaving no bobbypin unturned. No one knows how it happens, but it’s a huge bummer when you return home from a long day to find this natural disaster has struck your bathroom counter once again. Luckily there’s a way to keep your hair stuff (or makeup brushes) all together in one super chic place. These holders are made from Mason jars which are incredibly cheap and easy to find. Below are instructions for turning these regular old jars into counter top eye candy…

You will need: blue painter’s tape, paper towels, gloves, white flat spray paint, gold metallic spray paint, mason jars in various sizes… (and I used a vintage shot glass for the bobbypin holder, but that’s optional.)

  1. Remove the lids from your mason jars.
  2. Put painter’s tape along the edge of a paper towel or two.
  3. Wrap the jar. For the first color, I wrapped the tape straight across as you can see in photo 3.
  4. Tuck the excess paper towel inside the jar so no spray paint gets inside.
  5. Put your gloves on, go outside, put a piece of newspaper or cardboard down and spray your jar. I applied very thin layers of paint instead of one thick layer. It dries faster, won’t drip and gets better coverage.
  6. Remove the blue tape and paper towel after the first color dries completely.
  7. If you’re sure the first color is dry, wrap the jar with the tape + paper towel again, but this time in another direction. I wanted to do mine diagonal.
  8. Put your gloves back on and go back outside. Spray the second color and wait for it to dry. I LOVE the matte white with the shiny gold combo but you can use any color that you think will look good in your bathroom. Remove the tape when it’s dry and you’re done!