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| eléa body scrub by Stella Crown |
“Eléa Skin Care Products” was created by us a few years ago in Innsbruck of Austria, in order to “transport” our friends there to the marvellous Greek Civilization. Because Greece is not only famous for the Parthenon Temple or the beautiful greek islands. Greece is also famous for its tradition in aromatherapy and cosmetology since antiquity (read about Cold Cream and Galen of Pergamon, here), for the rare herbs, the sea, the sun and the mineral wealth.
One of the projects I presented back then, was a body scrub that it really "smells" like Greece, using mostly greek ingredients.
So I mixed early harvest olive oil from Kalamata, barbary fig seed oil from Mani, thyme honey from Kythera and sea salt from Messolonghi Lagoon. I added some drops from orange, grapefruit and neroli essential oil to remind us something of Ancient Greece and a new recipe was born:
what will you need for ~ 600 g | 21 oz
200 g | 7.1 oz white crystal sugar
140 g | 4.9 oz sea salt from Messolonghi Lagoon
110 g | 3.9 oz early harvest olive oil from Kalamata
40 g | 1.4 oz apricot kernel oil
15 g | 0.53 oz Sal butter
1 g | 0.04 oz barbary fig seed oil from Mani
30 g | 1.1 oz aloe vera gel
20 g | 0.71 oz vegetable glycerin
18 g | 0.63 oz thyme honey from Kythera
13 g | 0.46 oz olive seed powder
5 g | 0.18 oz provitamin B5 (d- panthenol)
2 g | 0.07 oz vitamin E
1 g | 0.04 oz vitamin A
3 g | 0.11 oz natural preservative
15 drops orange essential oil
15 drops grapefruit essential oil
8 drops neroli essential oil
- Before start making the scrub, sterilize tools, containers and work surface. Do not forget to wear your gloves.
- In a stainless bowl, mix the sugar, the salt and the oils. Stir thoroughly until the mixture is homogenised.
- Put the Sal butter in a beaker and melt it with the bain marie method. When the butter is melted remove it from the heat and add it into the mixture. Mix well. Add the remaining ingredients. Mix now with a hand mixer. Your scrub is ready!
- Firstly, take a shower and apply the body scrub in the end. Use small amount every time and massage your skin in circular moves. Rinse only with water to keep the scent and the hydration.
- Be careful not to slip into the bathtub due to the oily nature of the scrub!
- Sugar is a source of glycolic acid and as it penetrates the skin, it stimulates the process of natural exfoliation while Messolonghi sea salt removes accumulated dirt and detoxifies the skin.
- Early harvest olive oil rich in vitamins, provitamins, minerals and polyphenols, protects the cells from oxidative stress, active oxygen and free radicals while the apricot kernel oil gives glow and softness to the whole body by enhancing the skin's hydro-lipidic film.
- Sal butter: It comes from the Shorea robusta tree, and its composition is similar to mango butter. It is not easily oxidized, it gives stability to the products and can be used directly on the skin like shea butter. It hydrates deeply, tightens and tends to fill lines and wrinkles.
- Βarbary fig seed oil neutralizes the free radicals to an extent that no other oil has been shown to have such an effect because it contains unusually huge amounts of vitamin E, sterols and unsaturated fatty acids.
- Aloe vera gel and vegetable glycerin soften and moisturize, honey keeps the skin fresh and shiny while vitamins and d-panthenol feed deeply and regenerate the damaged cells.
- The effect of essential oils enhances the skin elasticity while the floral sweet essence raises the mood by working antidepressantly.
- The preservative is necessary. Adding ingredients such as aloe vera gel reduces the scrub's lifetime and not just that: the scrub is used in the bathroom which means that water will inevitably fall through. So we do not want mold and bacteria on our skin.
- Enjoy!
Stella Crown©
