Toner and Sugar Scrub

     Fall is the season I come alive both figuratively and literally.  I was born in October in the wee hours of the morning.  It seems to have set the pattern for my life. I am a morning person.  I wake early and create what I need to before most people (or most people in my house) are awake.  That may be cleaning, cooking, medicine or beauty products.
     Saturday morning I was up making a fresh batch of toner and vanilla sugar scrub.  For the toner calendula flowers need to steep in hot water a few hours.  The water is deeply colored from the orange blossoms.  I mix it with witch hazel.  I use this daily as part of my beauty routine.

     The sugar scrub is a combination of coconut oil and sugar.  I usually add a few drops of essential oil but this time I used vanilla sugar.  Any time I use vanilla beans I take the pods and stick them in a jar of sugar.  This infuses the sugar with flavor and a heavenly scent.  I often use this in cooking for added flavor.  In one of those middle of the night inspirations I thought to put it in the sugar scrub.  Yum!  It smells divine.  The sugar makes it a gentle exfoliater as opposed to a salt scrub.  It can be used any where on the body.  I'd use a little caution on the face though I tend not to use it there.  Friends who have tried the sugar scrub have come up with additional uses. I have one friend who uses it on her bikini line after shaving to prevent those little red bumps.  I must say I was skeptical at first but it really does the job.  Another uses the scrub on his dry itchy psoriasis patches.

      I also started three batches of tincture.  These will be steeped for six weeks and are part of a menopausal formula.