Beautifinous.

Hey guys! Now that the title probably has your attention, you might be wondering where the heck I'm going with this post, but no fear! I'm going to be going back in time a bit to do something that I haven't done on the blog for a while and that is to talk about DIY beauty.

A couple of months ago I was at a festival and whilst I was browsing the local business stands I stumbled across a couple of awesome women selling some herbs and natural homemade beauty items. One of the items for sale was some oat tea bags that can be used in the bath. They were tea bags filled with oats and a variety of flowers; one was oat and lavender, one oat and rose and the other oat and chamomile.

We struck up a conversation about the tea bags and what they can be used for. She explained to me that they're great to be used in the bath; the oats really help to soften your skin, reduce irritation and to even out skin tone. They're great for use on the face and in hair too. The different flowers have different effects also, with lavender being relaxing and perfect for night time alongside being good at boosting the mood and easing tension in the muscles. Rose petals are great for calming skin irritations, hydration and toning and chamomile is fab for soothing the skin and helping to minimise marks. 

I bought a bunch of the tea bags and tried one out as soon as I got back. I'm going to be writing about how I found them and also how you can create your own if you're interested at the end of the post. 

So how do you use them? They're super simple! Whilst the bath is running, just throw in the tea bag and allow it to absorb water. Eventually it will look like a little pillow, and at that point you can give it a squeeze and lots of the oaty goodness will come out from it. You can keep repeating this process whilst in the bath to make the water as milky as you wish, but other than that you can also squeeze the tea bag over your hair, dip your hair in the milky water or even apply it to your face for a quick face mask (my favourite bit as it really helps to give your skin a glow!). If you squeeze it over your hair or face, remember to rinse it off with warm water (side note: this paragraph has been so difficult to write with the title as it is).

But do they work? Yes! I've become a little hooked on them. They're such a simple idea and yet they're really effective. They've been leaving my skin feeling super soft, my skin tone is more even and I have a bit more of a glow, my hair feels softer and looks shinier also. I love them so much that I began making my own too.

I've been using the lavender and chamomile ones the most as the lavender is great at bed time and the chamomile in particular seems to work best on my face, especially if it's irritated at all (hey UK heatwave!). Scent wise, the rose one is the nicest if you want a rosy smelling bath that leaves a faint hint of roses on your skin (depending on how many roses you include). It won't last all day and it's a subtle fragrance, but it's comforting - especially for rose lovers out there. 

So how do you make them? They're really as simple as they sound. I ordered some tea bags from Amazon, bought some oats from my regular supermarket and I ordered my lavender, roses and chamomile online (some bigger store examples of where you can buy some are Amazon and Etsy, or you may prefer to find a local online or offline store).

Open a tea bag and add your desired ratio of flower to oats. I like to do roughly 2/3rds of oats and 1/3rd of the chosen flower. Tie them up and voila. You're done! 

So far I have stuck to just the three flowers that I bought in the original tea bags at the festival, but depending on what you want to use them for, perhaps you could experiment with using other flowers or herbs (responsibly of course! Remember that some can cause irritation, if you're unsure of where to start then there are some books available such as the Neal's Yard series (this is not a sponsored post) - Healing Herbs and Natural Beauty could be of interest). Additionally, you could make a bigger bag with a muslin cloth and mix the flowers for extra benefits and perhaps even add some Epsom salts.

And there we have it! A quick, easy and effective DIY beauty trick for you to give a try at home.

What are your thoughts on the oaty teabags? Will you be trying them yourself? Do you have any other DIY beauty tips and tricks?

Let me know in the comments below!