Rejuvenate

Cyanococcus (Blueberry), Citrus limon (Lemon)

Have you ever stopped to think when you were eating these two dynamo fruits about all of the benefits that come from them besides the internal health benefits?  They are vast and wonderful!

Blueberries give us amazing skin, hair and health benefits – Fighting signs of aging, preventing acne, providing fiber, facilitating hair growth, and preventing premature graying just to name a few.

Free radical cell damage in our skin can cause early signs of aging, wrinkles and dark spots. The key to fighting this is overall good health.  The consumption of blueberries can help to promote healthier skin.  It works by antioxidants reacting with the free radicals and preventing damage.  Along with antioxidants blueberries also include Vitamin A, C and flavonoids for overall skin health.

The topical application of blueberries has also been seen to help in damaged and acne-prone skin.  Blueberries have a high concentration of Salicylic acid which is widely used in acne treatment products.  They work in removing dead skin, opening up clogged pores and work at reducing bacteria in the skin. For those of you that are acne-prone, blueberries can help you achieve healthier, clearer skin!

Now the Blueberry may have some health advantages over the Lemon but don’t count this citrusy gem out, especially the lemon’s peel.

Many of us don’t realize all the health benefits of lemons.  They are extremely beneficial in improving bone health, eliminating toxins, reducing cholesterol, promoting weight loss and fighting skin conditions.

The peel and juice of a lemon can be used to help prevent and fight skin problems such as pigmentation and dark spots. They are rich in antioxidants which detoxify the skin. Lemons are wonderful at toning to keep your skin bright and healthy.

Here are three great ways to get both of these power-packed fruits, Blueberry and Lemon, into your health regimen.

Our Soap Orchard Blueberry Citrus Soap Bar contains blueberry extract, juice, seeds, and lemon essential oil & peel.  It is jammed packed with skin benefits to keep your skin rejuvenated and renewed.

 

 

DIY Blueberry Lemon Face Mask

1/2 cup steamed blueberries, crushed

3 T Greek yogurt

1 T Lemon juice

1 t honey

Combine crushed blueberries, yogurt, and lemon juice in a blender/ninja or beat with beaters to smooth. Transfer mixture to a bowl.  Stir in the honey.

Apply the mask to your skin and leave on for 20 to 30 minutes.

Rinse with warm water.

Pat skin dry.

 

There are many ways to use the lemon peel, like grating them into salads and dressings, and peeling pieces into your tea but one of the best ways to get the benefits and make it really yummy is to candy it!

 

Candied Lemon Peel

2 lemons

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup sugar

sugar to coat zest strips

Directions

Wash lemons thoroughly. Trim zest from lemons using a vegetable peeler. Cut wide strips, being careful not to cut into the white pith layer below.  Cut zest strips lengthwise to create thin julienne strips.

Place julienne strips in a small saucepan and cover with cold water. Cook over medium heat until the water comes to a simmer. Continue to simmer for 6 minutes.

Remove from heat, drain strips and then return them to the saucepan.  Add water and sugar to the lemon strips in the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Continue to cook over low heat until the lemon strips turn translucent. The water and sugar should be starting to thicken. Cooking time will be approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

When done cooking, remove strips from the pan and spread out on a sheet of wax paper. Separate the strips on the wax paper so they are not in clumps.

Once they have cooled slightly, roll in sugar until they are well coated. Let them dry and then store them in an airtight container.

So, next time you think of Blueberries and Lemons as just another fruit, remember all of the health and skin benefits you are reaping!

Til next time.  Stay rejuvenated and renewed!

SO

 

Skin Food….

Apricot Oil, derived from the Apricot seed, is one of the most popular oils used in body care products.  It is a wonderful way to feed the skin!  The oil contains high fatty acids, Vitamin A and E which can help nourish dry and mature skin.  Apricot oil gets easily absorbed into the skin without leaving any oily residue which is why you will also find it as the base of most aromatherapy massage oils.  It makes the skin extra soft and smooth.

Natural Apricot seed oil contains gamma-linoleic acid which is useful to firm and tone your skin.  It has nourishing properties and an anti-inflammatory effect.  These properties are helpful in slowing down the aging process.  The texture of this oil is very light so it can be used as a face serum without the greasy feeling, even for normal to oily skin.  It rehydrates which makes it wonderful as a night oil.  Feed your skin while you sleep!

We chose this wonderful skin food for the month of May to highlight not only the products we have available with this wonderful oil but to bring attention to the wonderful skin benefits of the this ingredient:

Apricot Kernel Oil

Rich in Antioxidants, Moisturizing

Anti-Aging, Diminishes Wrinkles

Lightweight, Fast Absorbing

Doesn’t Clog Pores, Anti-Inflammatory

Safe for sensitive skin

 

You can find all of these amazing skin benefits in our

Apricot Orchard Collection 

Soap Orchard Apricot Chamomile Oat Body Oil is a great way to enjoy all the benefits Apricot Kernel Oil has to offer.  This oil is not only soothing to wear all day as a skin treatment but it makes a wonderful massage oil and helps with inflammation of joints and muscles.

Our orchard inspired body care helps you feed your skin by using the wonderful fruits, nuts, and plants from local farms!

Feed Your Skin,

@SoapOrchard

 

 

 

 

WAKE UP, WAKE UP!!

Coffee is usually associated with waking people up in the morning but did you know that coffee can be great for your skin?

The caffeine in coffee has many benefits including helping tone and smooth your skin, reducing under-eye circles and yes reducing the appearance of cellulite!

If you thought your morning coffee was only for drinking? Think again!

Coffee beans are the seeds of berries from the Coffea plant.  It is the pit inside the red or purple fruit often referred to as a cherry.  

The coffee fruit is also called a stone fruit, most commonly contain two stones with their flat sides together.

These wonderful little coffee beans when roasted and brewed make a wonderful Cup of Joe but when taken a step further become a wonderful skin commodity. When these beans are cultivated and expeller-pressed into a coffee bean essential oil – now we’re talking!

Coffee Bean Oil is antioxidant-rich and a beneficial addition to anti-aging skin care formulations.  Containing caffeine makes it desirable for anti-cellulite body care products.  Coffee bean oil is considered safe, non-toxic and a non-irritating oil. When mixed with hydrogenated vegetable oil it makes a rich and luscious butter for your skin.

In a study performed at the University of Sao Paulo, researchers found that an application of skin cream containing caffeine to cellulite reduced the size of the fat cells by 17 percent. Taking advantage of the power of caffeine by adding coffee to your body care regimen is an easy way to care for your skin. Another way to add coffee into your regimen is to use coffee grinds as a regular body scrub at home.

At Soap Orchard we thought long and hard about how we could best harness the power of coffee and caffeine to our body care line and we decided that the best way was all of the ways that coffee could be put forth. Brewed coffee bean, coffee bean oil/butter and coffee grinds!  We used all the parts of the bean to come up with this month’s Soap of the Month and other featured products this March.

Our Hazelnut & Coffee Soap Bar is brimming with all the aforementioned wonderful skin benefits. The base of this soap is made with freshly brewed coffee, coffee butter and then is topped off and swirled with recycled coffee grinds.  Making it the perfect combination for skin toning and smoothing!

If the perfect soap bar isn’t enough we are also featuring our Hazelnut & Coffee body sugar this month. It is made with ground coffee beans, pure cane sugar and highlighted with moisturizing coffee butter for that luscious soft skin.

 

Both of these body care products have the aroma of fresh-brewed coffee, hazelnut and a touch of cinnamon that gives you that warm fuzzy feeling all over and, yes, it will WAKE YOU UP in the morning!

As in all of our blogs, we will leave you with a fun tidbit.  This month it is in the form of a coffee recipe.  Enjoy!

Hazelnut Cinnamon Coffee

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

8 tablespoons ground coffee (for 8 cups of coffee)

2 teaspoons dark brown sugar (per cup of coffee)

1 ounce of Frangelica or Hazelnut liqueur

1 Tablespoon whip cream

1 cinnamon stick garnish (per cup of coffee) 

Add cinnamon to the coffee grounds before brewing. Brew coffee as normal in a drip coffee brewer.

Pour coffee into coffee mugs.  Add dark brown sugar and Frangelica and mix.

Top coffee in mug with whipped cream.  Sprinkle with a little cinnamon, if desired, and add a cinnamon stick for garnish.

Enjoy the last month of winter – March

Stay Toned!

SO

 

The FDA has not evaluated the statements on this website. No claims are made by Soap Orchard as to the medicinal value of any products. The information presented here is for educating our customers about the traditional uses of essential oils and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. 

 

Chocolate, Almond And Cocoa Butter!

Chocolate is made from Theobroma cacao seeds.  The seeds are roasted and ground and then flavored with vanilla.

The seeds of the cacao tree have an intense bitter taste and must be fermented to develop the flavor.   After they are fermented they are dried, cleaned and roasted.  The shell is then removed to expose cacao nibs which can be ground into a cocoa mass, its pure chocolate form. Before chocolate is used with other ingredients the mass is liquified into chocolate liquor.  It can then be processed into two different components, cocoa solids, and cocoa butter. Chocolate as most of us know it contains both cocoa solids and cocoa butter.  This amazing seed that gives us both the solids and the butter is at the heart of two of the most skin-beneficial ingredients – Chocolate and Cocoa Butter!

Chocolate is full of antioxidants to protect you from free radical damage, with its sun protection properties it helps shield your skin from detrimental UV rays.  It is also a wonderful skin detoxifier helping slough off dead skin cells and exposing new fresh skin.

Cocoa Butter is filled with a rich blend of fatty acids and antioxidants that make it ideal for helping with most skin issues like reducing inflammation for psoriasis, eczema, rashes and it acts as a barrier to protect against outside agents that cause irritation and damage to the skin.  Those same antioxidants can also take care of most signs of aging.

What is given to us from the cacao seed is a super beneficial combo!

This is why at Soap Orchard we wanted to put this awesome combo together to make a super skin-loving soap to protect and hydrate your skin. What came out of these wonderful ingredients was our Chocolate Almond Butter Soap!

 

We knew that these two cacao seed ingredients really would have been enough to make this soap super special but we took it a step further and added one of our favorite ingredients Almond Butter.  It added the perfect moisturizing and exfoliating properties to this wonderful soap bar.

 

In February we know how Valentine’s brings chocolate to mind so we thought to kick off February celebrating the cacao seed, and its wonderful benefits was perfect for this month’s blog.  Chocolate Almond Butter Soap on its own is a great way to celebrate the chocolate season but of course, as we always do, here is a D.I.Y. skin recipe with Chocolate, Almond & Cocoa butter.  Give it a try for a Valentine’s Day treat!

 

Hydrating Chocolate Body Mask

 

2 cups of cocoa powder

1/2 cup of sweet almond oil

1/2 cup of melted cocoa butter cooled to warm (if you can’t find this use additional sweet almond oil)

2 egg yolks

Mix all of the ingredients into a paste.  Apply onto clean, dry skin.  Relax and keep the mask on for 15-20 min before removing with lukewarm water.

 

Have a Happy Valentine’s Day and try something new for February a body mask and Chocolate Almond Butter Soap!

Stay Hydrated!

SO

A New Year!

 

2016 is a New Year and brings with it a fresh start!

 

 

 

 

This month we wanted to focus on honey, made in nature and the benefits it can have on your skin!  But before we can talk about its benefits we need to go back a bit and discuss the beginning of honey making.  Honey is made by bees using nectar from flowers, in this case, the Orange Blossom, the most popular type of nectar for honey.   Orange blossoms are among the richest sources of nectar for honeybees.  Under the right conditions and with plenty of warm, sunny weather a strong colony can easily make up to 60 pounds of honey.  Orange blossom honey carries the sweet fragrance of a blooming citrus orchard.

Honey is collected from wild bee colonies or domesticated beehives.  The bees are pacified by using smoke from a bee smoker.  The smoke masks alarm pheromones that can be released by guard bees or bees that may be injured during a beekeeper’s inspection. The smoke creates an opportunity for the beekeeper to open the beehive and work while the colony’s defensive response is interrupted. The honeycomb is removed from the hive and the honey is extracted and filtered removing excess wax and debris. Honey was originally extracted mainly for food.  Then other use cases started to form.  Did you know that honey is the main ingredient in mead, which is a honey wine or beer?  Honey is used as an ingredient because it produces naturally occurring yeast.  As the study of honey progressed it was found that it was also wonderful for the skin.

Honey has the ability to absorb moisture directly from the air, a phenomenon called hygroscopy. This is the main reason I wanted to focus on this lovely ingredient!  Honey is also considered to have trace amounts of compounds implicated to have wound healing properties. For all of these reasons, Soap Orchard has used honey in many of our soaps.

The month of January is our celebration of honey and a fresh start to the New Year!

We are celebrating the honeybee and the orange blossoms it gathers it’s nectar from by featuring our Orange Blossom & Honey Soap.

Orange Blossom & Honey Soap has orange blossom honey blended directly into the soap and acts as an added moisturizer.  Moisturizing, soothing and creating glowing skin are just some of the benefits of honey.  Honey can also be wonderful for acne acting as a natural antibacterial, so it’s great for a treatment and preventer for acne-prone skin.  This wonderful natural moisturizer is full of antioxidants and is said to be great for slowing down the aging process.  Honey is also clarifying because it opens up pores making them easier to unclog during cleansing.  Lastly, for an additional moisturizer to this wonderful soap bar we have added a touch of orange essential oil. The orange’s natural oils can be used to moisturize the skin while also having properties of acting as an anti-inflammatory and antiseptic.  All these amazing skin benefits make Orange Blossom & Honey Soap a great start to the New Year!

We also wanted to celebrate honey by sharing a few natural DIY treatments with you and we hope you enjoy honey this month!

• Try a honey exfoliator once or twice a week by using a gentle scrub made of two parts honey and one part baking soda.
• Spot treat a blemish with a drop of honey on a cotton swab and dab it onto your blemish.
• Enjoy a honey bath by adding two cups of honey to running water in the bath.  Soak for 15 minutes and then add a cup of baking soda for your final 15 minutes.  It will help rid you of dead skin cells without any irritation.

The benefits of honey will make it your skin’s best friend this year!

SO

The Christmas Tree Experience!

It is our first Christmas in Spokane, Washington after moving from the LA, CA area.  We are very excited.  There is snow on the ground and it is really feeling like Christmas time.  This week we decided to go get our Christmas tree and I wanted to tell you about our experience.

Let’s start by backing up to every other year and what the tradition has been:  Every year for the past several years we have gone to Nancy’s Christmas tree lot, in Santa Clarita, CA and bought a Noble Fir tree.  We loved going there because it was locally owned and we love to support local business whenever possible. This particular lot also had a place in the lot to cut fresh trees as well.  Although we never cut a tree because they only planted Douglas Fir which are more like a bush than a tree, so you really couldn’t successfully hang ornaments on them, especially large ones. The only other kind available at Nancy’s were Nobles which are beautiful and smell wonderful.  Thus, the Noble was our annual pick!

The experience of going to this lot was always nice but there was nothing overwhelmingly special about it since it was on a very busy highway/street and was near the freeway with its noisy traffic as well as the loud hum of the electrical towers that were overhead.  However, it was close to the house and suited our needs.  It was much better than going to those pop- up tree lots that try to gouge you because tis the season!  That is a whole other blog….  🙂

So, let’s flash forward to the Christmas tree experience in Washington 2015.

Knowing that the pop-up Christmas tree lots are not for us we did some investigation online about where we could buy a tree and support local business.  After searching the immediate surrounding area we found our place!

My husband, my mother-in-law and myself bundled up, put on our Santa hats, loaded the dog in the truck and we drove 20 min up the mountain to Holly Lane Tree Farm. On the way up we saw the most amazing views of the snow on the mountains and all the beautiful evergreens!

When we arrived at Holly Lane Farm we were greeted by the owner Mike and his Bernese Mountain dog, Hank. Mike is a jolly fella and you could tell he loved his farm and was happy to have us choose their farm for our tree. He explained to us that he had 11 different varieties of trees on the farm and how we would go about finding our perfect tree, cutting it and getting it brought up to be prepped for us to take home.  Then, just like family, he invited us back up to their Christmas shop to have a cup of homemade hot chocolate or hot tea. He told us to enjoy and sit by the fire pit to warm up while their staff would bring up the tree we cut.

Mike handed us our saw, our tarp and our measuring pole, offered us bottles of water for our walk/hike and we began on the mountain to hunt out the perfect tree.

I have never seen so many varietes and the views we could see from this mountain top farm were beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We scoured the farm.  Around the pond we finally found our perfect Blue Spruce tree!  It is 9 ft tall and not too full, as to not take up our whole living room.  It is wonderful!  There were many others that were more fragrant or were taller but this one was the perfect one for our large ornaments and the smaller corner of our living room.  Now the only downside to this beauty was its scent was more subtle, but I knew how to fix that little issue – We will talk later on that pesky problem….. 🙂

We did just as we were instructed.  My husband Dee lay down the tarp provided and he used the saw to begin the cutting of our first Christmas tree in Washington!  The tree was so fresh he cut thru it in an instant.  We took the next step of putting our provided tag on it and laying it down in the nearest walkway.  The Holly Lane Farm staff would be by to pick it up in their truck and haul it up to the prep and shop area by the parking lot.

We took a moment to take in the beautiful views one last time and then began the beautiful hike back to the shop area for our hot chocolate and to warm up by the firepit!

When we arrived back at the shop area there was a roaring fire in the pit which was in a comfortable patio area.  On the patio there were also many beautiful handmade wreaths and bundles of boughs that were created by the other owner of this wonderful farm, Paula, Mike’s wife.  They both take pride in not only planting and growing the trees on their farm but in all of the wonderful things they make there as well.

We went into the quaint Christmas shop where Paula had hot chocolate waiting for us.  We enjoyed her company, information, merchandise and her awesome hot chocolate. Here is the recipe if you would like to try it:

Ingredients
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa (Dutch-process preferred)
2 1/2 cups powdered milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 pinch cayenne pepper, or more to taste
Hot water

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and incorporate evenly. In a small pot, heat 4 to 6 cups of water.

Fill your mug half full with the dry mixture and pour in hot water. Stir to combine. Seal the rest in an airtight container, it keeps indefinitely in the pantry. This also works great with warm milk!

After leaving the shop, with more than the tree (more like the tree, wreath, boughs and our annual Santa ornament) we went out to the firepit area and spent some time enjoying the sights, smells and people at the farm.  They loaded up our truck with our goodies and we proceeded back down the hill.

Once we arrived home and got our “mother load” of goodies inside, I spent the next 2 hours getting the tree decorated and listened to Christmas music while my sweet hubby took a Christmas nap.  Well deserved after all that cutting of the tree, wouldn’t you say? 😉

Here is what transpired from our wonderful Christmas Tree Experience:

We are enjoying every moment of it and the wonderful day’s memories that came along with it!

Now, remember earlier that the one thing about this glorious tree was that it wasn’t as fragrant as I would have liked it to have been?  The solution is very simple when you are a person who owns a bath and body company – Candles and Room Spray!!

If you have the same issue I had or you have a fake Christmas tree but still want that glorious Christmas tree fragrance all season long, you don’t have to own a bath and body company, you can just purchase these from us:

Christmas Tree Jar Soy Candle

 

Christmas Tree 4 oz Room Spray

I hope you and your family have your own wonderful Christmas tree traditions and if you don’t, then there is no time like the present to start one or invent a new one!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from me and Soap Orchard.

Evelyn@soaporchard

SO

 

 

 

Pear and Wine for Fall! Happy Thankgiving!

Pears (Pyrus) are known to have over 3000 known varieties and are normally propagated by grafting a selected variety onto a rootstock, which may be of a pear variety or quince.  The flowers can be cross-bred to preserve or combine desirable traits.  I found it amazing after studying about the pear and it’s benefits that this same process is used in wine vineyards when the grapevines are propagated. This little known tidbit is just another reason why the pairing of Pear and Chardonnay Wine for this month’s soap recipe is perfect!

The recipe for our Walnut Pear Chardonnay soap, which is our November soap of the month,  was born of my love of Walnut Pear Salad, with Chardonnay dressing.  It is truly one of my favs! The crisp sweet aroma of the pear and the oaky, pear scented overtones of the Chardonnay wine are beautiful.  It’s a subtle aromatic sensation before you ever take one bite of the culinary combination.  The Chardonnay scent really has your mind wander to thoughts of the vineyard in fall, enjoying tastings of the golden liquid, filled with oak, green plums, apple and pear.

I think describing this is calling me to a wine tour and soon ; )  

Make November the month for all things Pear and Chardonnay!  Try our
Walnut Pear Chardonnay products for yourself and let your guests enjoy them through the fall holidays.  Try the Walnut Pear Salad with Chardonnay dressing this year at your Thanksgiving table, along with your favorite variety of Chardonnay wine to toast your special occasion.

Photo: Ellen Silverman; Styling: Toni Brogan

Walnut Pear Salad

1/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

Cooking spray

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

4 cups torn green leaf lettuce

4 cups chopped romaine lettuce

4 cups chopped radicchio

1 ripe red Anjou pear, thinly sliced

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

1. Place sugar in a small, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until sugar dissolves, stirring gently as needed to dissolve sugar evenly (about 1 minute). Continue cooking 1 minute or until golden (do not stir). Remove from heat; carefully stir in nuts to coat evenly. Spread nuts on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; separate nuts quickly. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Set aside until cool; break into small pieces.
2. Combine lettuces and radicchio; top with pear and candied walnuts.

Chardonnay Vinaigrette Dressing

1 cup olive oil

1/2 cup champagne vinegar

1/4 cup chardonnay

1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

Salt & Pepper

Combine the oil, vinegar, wine and mustard in a shaker or resealable plastic bag and shake/mix thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper to your taste.

Drizzle dressing evenly over salad; sprinkle with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Toss gently to combine.

jessicaburns.com decor

From our family at Soap Orchard to Your Family, where ever you may be.  Have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday!

SO

Fall in Spokane!

I wanted to take moment for a personal indulgence.  As many of you know we moved to Spokane Washington back in April and there were many questions about why we chose Spokane.  There was a laundry list of reasons we wanted  to move to Spokane and have a change in lifestyle, but some of them included enjoying nature, beautiful landscape and the four seasons Spokane had to offer.

Greenbluffs Farms. There are 50 different farms in one small area. Awsome! Harvest House in Greenbluffs is where we are selling Soap Orchard products for the Harvest Festival Season.

To show you what it was we were talking about I wanted to post a few pictures from around our neighborhood.  Below is a small sampling of what we see in our area on our morning walks. Enjoy!

This is a shot coming down our street.

One of our neighbor’s trees.

One of our neighborhood greenbelts.

Harley enjoying a romp in the leaves!

Another beautiful greenbelt.

Half Moon Park on a cloudy day, a couple of blocks from our house. The leaves are just starting to turn.

We miss all of you in LA but we also love our new home 🙂

Now we will need to see if winter will be just as beautiful or if we just freeze our booties off 😉

e

Fall Harvest Festival

Soap Orchard is now officially in Washington!

We wanted to make sure that our first exposure to Spokane and Washington was in line with what our product and brand is really about, so of course we started where?  In an orchard!  We had our booth set up at Beck’s Harvest House and Orchard for their annual Fall Apple and Harvest Festival.  It is six weekends of Fall Fun!  They have many varieties of apples and pumpkins u-pick with your family.  We picked them and juiced the apples and pumpkins right into our soaps and made them available at our booth.  We even made soap with their famous Beck’s Apple Cider, which they make and sell right on the orchard grounds.  If you haven’t been out there it is worth the trip!

If apple or pumpkin picking isn’t for you, come out for the freshly made sugar coated pumpkin donuts.  YOU WILL LOVE THEM!

It’s a great day in the country and we are happy to be part of the festivities!

http://www.greenblufffarms.com/fall-harvest-festival-in-green-bluff.php

If you aren’t able to make it to Washington for this event you can enjoy the fruits and cider in our soaps on soaporchard.com.  It’s an another way to participate and start Fall off with those wonderful Fall scents!

SO

September Apples!

Apple’s Apple’s everywhere.  It’s September and it is the season of the Apple.  And here in Washington we definitely know about the Apple!

It’s an exciting time of year filled with color, abundance and variety.  There are more than 7,500 known varieties of apples.  And did you know that the first apple tree was planted in Boston when it came to North America from the colonists?  But the most famous apple of all was the one referred to in religious traditions as the forbidden fruit.  The apple is definitely not forbidden anymore since 80 million tons are grown worldwide. That is a lot of apples!  Most of these apples are used for consumption in foods and baked goods but we took it a step further at Soap Orchard and soaped with them to create one of our popular apple soaps Golden Applejack!

There all many wonderful things you can do with apples and besides sharing our Golden Applejack soap with you we want you to experiment on your own with apple and try this Apple Wheatgerm Face exfoliator.  It is wonderfully gentle and the wheatgerm will exfoliate to remove dirt and impurities while the apple puree will provide a glow to the skin.

Apple Wheatgerm Face Exfoliator

1 T of 100% pure applesauce/puree

1 T Wheatgerm

To puree your own apple, remove skin and core then puree in a blender.

Mix the apple puree and wheatgerm in a bowl to form a paste.  Apply the paste to your skin and allow it to set for 10 min then rinse.  Follow by a toner (your favorite apple cider vinegar toner recipe would be great here) and a moisturizer.  Soap Orchard Unscented Lotion makes a great face moisturizer.  This paste works best on washed and steamed skin if possible.

Enjoy September, Fall and Apple this month.

Stay glowing and healthy!

SO