DIY Perfume/Vanity Tray

Small Lime Regency Frame

Perfume trays always look so pretty and elegant, but they are so expensive. For a really long time I had been searching for a nice perfume tray that would tie in with the vintage style in my bedroom. However I could only find ones priced for nearly £20, and I thought this was far too much. So, I turned to YouTube and the world of DIY. I found many different tutorials that all seemed to use the same thing: a photo frame. So then the search began to find a really pretty photo frame for a reasonable price. This proved difficult. Rummaging through charity shops and second hand furniture shops, I found nothing. By this time I'd given up hope in finding the perfect frame for my project, until I wondered into Urban Outfitters one day with no intention to buy anything and there it was, the perfect frame. Although the colour was a little off putting, I knew I could just paint it. The great thing about using a photo frame is you can change the bottom image easily and as often as you'd like.

As you can see, all I've done to this frame is paint it white. I used a paintbrush and really quite like the paintbrush marks but if you don't, you could spray paint it or use a sponge. You can also use any photo, collage or patterned paper to be the background image, I used just plain white paper because all though it's quite boring, I thought it might look quite nice and classic. You also dont have to use this as a perfume tray, you can put anything on this, a nice idea would be use it as a bedside table tray and you could put things like hand creams and night moisturizers on it so you can keep your nightly products organised. 

To get mine the opaque colour that it is, I had to use a couple of coats of my white (acrylic) paint. This meant that it took quite a white to dry, but I really recommend waiting for it fully dry before you add another coat of paint or touch it because otherwise it will smudge and you'll have to re-paint over that making it take much longer. Be patient;)

 

I'm now more determined to grow my perfume collection! Next on my wishlist is either Valentina by Valentino, Marc Jacobs Daisy Sunshine or Rihanna's Nude:)

Thanks for reading and good luck if you try out this DIY!:)xo

DIY Lip Scrub

Do your lips feel chapped? Dry? Like there's a hard layer of skin covering them? They probably need a good scrub, just like your skin needs to exfoliated to remove dead skin cells in order to brighten up your complexion. Well, it's much the same with your lips. Applying lip balm is good, but probably not quite good enough. I used to own one of the Lush lip scrubs (in 'Mint Julips') but I wasn't really too keen on the scent or consistency. I felt that the strong smell of mint was not only overpowering, but it made my lips tingle a little too much. The consistency was very dry and crumbly and didn't seem to moisturize at all. So, I cleaned out the little pot that the Lush lip scrub came in, and decided to make my own! You don't have to use oil, you could use just petroleum jelly, but I find the olive oil has a lovely, moisturizing effect.

You will need:

• Sugar (depending on how abrasive you want your lip scrub, you use different types of sugar. I used Caster Sugar because I wanted mine to be quite gentle) ~ 2-5 tbsp
• Olive oil (most other oils work as well) ~ 1tsp

Optional:

• Petroleum Jelly ~ 1 tsp
• Flavouring (I used vanilla and mint) ~ a few drops
• Colouring ~ a few drops

Step 1

Gather your ingredients, measure them out and put them in the bowl, except the colouring and flavouring if you are using them. Mix them together, and put in the microwave long enough for the petroleum to melt (this is optional but I find otherwise, sometimes you get little lumps of petroleum). I put it in for around 20-30 on 850W.

Step 2

Once the petroleum has melted, mix again, leave to cool for around a minute.

Step 3

Add the flavouring or colouring. Mix until all the ingredients are evenly mixed. You can leave it in the bowl if you'd prefer, but I wanted to put it into the little pot instead. I ended up making quite a lot of scrub and after filling the pot, I still had some leftover so I just put it in a sandwich bag and I put it in the fridge. Voila!

I used quite a lot of sugar because I didn't want my scrub to be too runny.

I only used 2 drops of pink food colouring and it turned out this very nice peach colour:)

My dry, chapped lips before..

Use your finger to apply the scrub in small circular motions, then you can lick it off or remove with tissue. 

After removing the scrub and applying a little bit of my Burt's Bees Honey lip balm (which I love!)

Thank you for reading, and good luck!xo