Rose-Infused Ice Cubes, An Icelandic Secret For Amazing Skin

 

Bring the beauty of your garden indoors, and if you don't have a garden, fear not, dried floral petals and buds are easy to get your hands on. My favorites are rose, basil, parsley, sage, and lavender, but I'm also partial to lemon balm, which reminds me of my childhood patio.

Great tassels of drooping, bright fuschia flowers, clary, blue sea lavender and argyranthemums—the floral equivalent of your granny—are begging to be put gently into ice cube molds. Yup, faced with all these blossoms, I'm reminded of something a new mom said to me: "Once you've had a baby, you can't put it back."

Just think about where all the possibilities that your literal or online foraging could take you. Like lip stains made from cherries and beets, blush from marigolds, or rinses from nettles and chamomile, herb and floral ice cubes are a fun way to infuse your beauty rituals with a unique and truly potent touch.

In Iceland, using flowers and herbs in ice cubes is part of day-to-day culture for pore tightening, inflammation-reducing, and skin-brightening benefits. Herbalist Anna Rosa Robertsdottir's encyclopedic tome, Icelandic Herbs and Their Medicinal Uses, is a brilliant and comprehensive anthology about the medicinal powers of 90 native herbs in Iceland. Reading it is like being driven around breathtaking fjords, up through icy waterfall-plunged cliffs growing herbage you'd want to pick in a heartbeat, and down into fragrant shrubs lying breathlessly by the ocean. But back to reality.

The best part about this DIY adventure is how easy the ice cubes are to make. And remember, if you have any leftover herbs and flowers, I'm thinking specifically mint, then you're all set for the most delicious chocolate petals you ever did taste!

Ingredients List

• Ice cube mold
• 1 cup rosewater
• 1 cup dried rose petals or rosebuds
• 3 drops rose essential oil
• 1 cup distilled water
• ½ cup aloe vera

How-To

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, stir gently, and then pour the liquid into each of the ice molds. Top each one with your chosen herb/flower before you place the trays in the freezer and patiently wait until your concoction is solid.

When you're ready to use the cubes, just pop the ice blocks out and gently roll one all over your face and neck, paying special attention to the eyelids and sides of the nose. Finish with a spritz of floral water like rose, chamomile, or lavender. You'll smell so good and look so sparkly, people will want to know your secret. This time, you should definitely tell them.

by Kayla Jacobs, mbg Beauty & Style Editor

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-25864/rose-infused-ice-cubes-an-icelandic-secret-for-amazing-skin.html