"Amber colour, almost no scent Castile Liquid Soap is a natural soap made from high quality, high oleic and virgin cold-pressed vegetable oils using a traditional recipe and requires maturing. 

Castile Soap been used for centuries and now it is back in fashion!

People are more aware of harmful detergents and how it can be dangerous for us and our planet."

Perfance Castile Liquid Soap made from Virgin high oleic Olive Oil and Organic, Raw Coconut Oils and potash (Potassium Hydroxide). Making a small batch of Castile Soap requires 15 hours of non-stop work, protective equipment and skill. After it's made it has to mature for 3 months. As longer Castile Soap matures as better quality it gets. We store our soap only in glass jars as it helps it to mature. Castile soap does not contain preservatives as naturally alkali product (an environment where bacteria do not live).

How you can use Castile Soap?

- Shower gel

Just use it on the sponge or splash onto skin, Castile Soap is a little runnier than a commercial shower. You can add essential oils to Castile soap and use it for a milky bath.

- Hand Wash 

Castile Soap is naturally antibacterial it is the best Hand Soap! Pour it into a pump bottle and place next to your sink!

- Face Wash?

No, Castile Soap is a bit strong for using on your face, I have seen a recipe like adding Glycerine and Water to use it on the face, but Castile Soap has to be diluted quite well.

"I wouldn't recommend using pure Castile Soap direcltly on your face as every day face wash - it is too cleansing! Just to give you an idea: skin on the body is cardboard, skin on the face is a paper and skin under eyes is a thin paper tissue. Be mindful choosing a different products for face, body and eye area!" - Alina Perfance

- Shampoo?

I have tried using Castile soap for hair but it does leave residue on hair and you have to wash it off with vinegar. So it is entirely up to you. I had couple of clients who bought a bottle of my Castile Soap just because it is biodegradable product and does not cause harm to the environment. 

- Laundry Soap for Delicates

Let's be real things like bras, silk scarves, lace lingerie, expensive swimsuits you wouldn't just chuck in the washing machine. It will lose shape, detergent damages delicate fabrics. Soak it overnight and let it dry naturally and good clothes will serve you longer. 

- Baby clothes laundry soap

Soak overnight in hot water and wash in the morning - baby clothes are clean and soft! 

- Wash fruit and vegetable

This is the only one Soap you can use for washing your food! Washing off the wax from Lemons, washing apples and celery sticks, 

- Cleaner for Cafetiere or Kettle

I have this glass Cafetiere and sometimes I like to make Fruit teas, but if it's used for coffee it has a strong coffee scent. Pour a bit of soap and fill it up with boiling water, leave to cool and wash it afterwards - the scent of coffee gone along with dark coffee residue!

"How to clean Kettle: add 5 teaspoons of citric acid, fill it up with water to the top and boil. Rinse! Now your kettle is sparkly clean!"

-  Kitchen cleaner

Wiping kitchen surfaces, fridge, cupboards and not been afraid harsh chemicals. toxins. Plus Castile Soap destroys scents as it is naturally antibacterial.

"Apply Castile Soap of the damp cotton cloth or sponge and wipe dry afterwards. It works better than washing up liquid as you don't need to rinse it as much, Castile soap doesn't produce as much waste foam that you have to keep on rinsing."

- Cleaning white trainers 

Apply a generous amount on the shoe damp brush or a damp sponge, brush the shoe, wash sponge and remove soap with damp sponge or cloth, leave to dry outside on a sunny day. Soak shoe laces overnight and rinse in the morning - cleans better than any expensive detergent and no damage.

- Floor Cleaner 

Adding just a splash of Castile Soap to a basket of water will make a difference how clean your floor will be plus you don't need to rinse, the floor won't be sticky or have any residue - Castile soap is so natural so foams just slightly.

- Bathroom cleaner

Use hot water and a sponge, Castile soap will me your sink and bath shiny clean! 

Considering how much uses Castile soap has you can really save money on the cleaning as you don't need to buy a lot of cleaning products.

Declutter your life by having one product for every room in your house and no plastic bottles scattered under your kitchen sink. 

How much does it cost to maintain an average beauty basket? £300 per month? More?

Talking from my personal wallet experience if you buy cheaper cosmetics - you end up replacing it much often - Mascaras drying out quicker, some say mascara has to be replaced every month.

Let's count average beauty products we need to purchase every 2 to 4 months and these are just the basics:

Shopping List

1. Skincare: 

Daily cream: £30-65 

SPF protection: £15-25

Face Serum: £35-55

Eye cream: £25-45

Lip Balms: £15-20

Make Up Removers:  £15-25

Facial wash: £15-25

Face Toner: £15-25

Face Mask: £15-25

2. Make up:

Foundation: £30-40 

Powder: £15-30

mascara: £15-30

eyeliner: £15-30

lipstick: £15-30

Seasonal eye palette: £35-55

3. Body products:

Shower gels/Bath foams: £10-15

Body creams: £15-25

Hand creams: £15

4. Hair products:

Shampoo: £10-15

Conditioner: £10-15

Hair oil £18

Thermal protection: £10-15

Hair mask - £15-20

5. Fragrances:

Seasonal fragrance: £35-100

Deodorants: £10-30

Total: £453 - £793

Remember these are just basics, I have included things like Night Creams or Beauty Balms, Make Up Primers, etc.

If you buy High-end beauty products you are expected to spend on average £793, or £198.25 every month for just bits and pieces.

Sounds about right, £60 spent in Boots, £80 in Debenhams, adds up very quickly.

"I have realised that a long time ago, and to be fair this is one of the ways to become a salary slave, you'll always want more.

Do you think we need too many things to maintain beauty?" 

There is a solution to how you can save on Beauty products without compromising on your beauty routine. 

1. Handmade soap instead of commercial Shower gels. 

Opt to a good quality handmade soap that made from good quality cold-pressed oils and only natural ingredients. If you have Dry skin try Cold Soaps which are more super fat and you'll see that you won't need to squeeze out that plastic body lotion tub every day!

2. Buy a bigger size.

Even though I'm not buying any skincare products anymore as I use my own I always buy a bigger bottle of shampoo, 1L bottle will last you from 6 to 8 months even if you use it together with your partner.

3. Buy versatile products.

Choosing an eye shadow palette with eye liver in it can reduce space in your handbag and time to get ready.

Shea butter can be used as Lip Balm, Overnight Hand cream, Body Cream and even as an emergency make up remover (as most of make up oil-based, and oil attracts oil).

Most of good quality handmade Body or Facial Oils can be used as make up remover as well.

4. Choose smart shopping. 

Choose independent beauty brands out there, buying a small bottle of shampoo from a supermarket can become quite expensive over time.

Buying things online on special offers or some items on eBay can really make a difference in price. Many things you can buy in TK Maxx, as for myself I always buy my toothpaste, shampoo and all Hair Products from there! And the price is awesome and I always happy with the quality. 

I have noticed how quickly run out even High-end skincare products: you buy a serum and it is so lovely, you use it every day, one month and it's gone! It is all because of "empty ingredients" - texture enhancers, dimethicone, silica. Since I have started using my own Handmade products - my skin and wallet both happy. Plus no matter how much you pay for a face cream there is no guarantee it will do the job.

"As for myself, every face cream made my shiny and I couldn't apply makeup with face cream on, face powder was my daily friend! That's because the main problem of my whole skin routine was face wash that contained surfactants (detergents) and over-washing my face and then applying light face emulsion my skin had no choice but producing more oils to moisturiser itself.

Now I'm using only fat soap bar Facial Bar which has very little to do with the soap that you can buy from the shop. 30% of this bar are Oils and Butters that haven't turned in to soap, the rest 70% is a natural alkali soap, that cleanses skin without disturbing natural skin balance."

Mindful and conscious shopping in a trend right now.

Think big: we do not need to accumulate things to show our status or feel more special.

There are so many beautiful brands out there, online and in retail shops - all you need is an open mind and even a simple, not fancy packaging product might turn up your the most favourite thing in that world. 

Try to google a recipe online and see what comes up in the top search: bloggers that have never made it and have no clue how to do it..

I got fooled after plugging out petals from dandelions for over two hours and the recipe didn't work - I had a sugar syrup that tasted of citric acid! 

One of the reasons I have decided to write this blog - to share a real experience of making Dandelion vegan honey!

Main points for making Dandelion honey:

- pick up Dandelions flowers: take pair of scissors and cut just he flower hat only leaving the whole plant in the grass;

- pick up flowers far away from the main roads or any roads as fumes have toxins and can get onto plants easily, try to pick up Dandelion flowers in the parks, where there is less car traffic, in the fields, local paths or even abounded allotment - you would be surprised how many Dandelions grow in the seasons in your local area;

- the best time when you should pick up any flowers is noon on a dry and sunny day - this is the best time when flowers in full bloom and realising the most of nectar;

 

- picking up Dandelion flowers is not a big deal, the big deal is plucking out petals before all flowers close, then it would be more difficult;

- make Dandelion honey in small batches as much as you can manage in one day - for example, 1.5 litre Parex jar of petals makes is 380 g of petals and 2 hours of plucking dandelion petals from the flowers; 

- you don't need a special sugar for making Dandelion honey but you do need citrus - Orange or Lemon - whole fruit with skin and zest, the skin of citrus is important - it will turn your water and sugar into thick runny honey, if citrus fruit replaced with citric acid - honey won't work;

- you don't need special preserving jars - just use the glass jar with lids were used to be stored supermarket honey, jam or curd - just wash them perfectly and dry them properly. You'll be using a lot of sugar in the Dandelion honey recipe - and sugar is a preservative;

- you don't need to cook Dandelion honey for long hours but you do need a whole day dedicated to it: when you pick up the flowers you have to pluck out the flowers straight away, make honey and jar it the same day; 

- keep the honey to mature from 3 to 6 month from the day you made it - as longer it matures as the most flowery and incredibly good properties it has for health;

- store Dandelion honey in the cupboard in the dark place far away from heat and sunshine.

- some leftover petals I have layered with sugar in the jar (approx. 1cm on sugar and 1cm of petals and repeat, store only in the fridge). Sugar will preserve the petals, after 3-6 months use it as a remedy from colds and flu - add petals to your tea  and you'll recover in no time. 

Dandelion Honey Recipe:

350g - Dandelion Petals

1 kg of any Sugar (you don't have to use preserving sugar)

1 litre of tap water 

2 sliced Oranges (I use oranges as it gives a sweeter taste)

Jars with tight lids 

Method:

1. Picking up the flowers: I just cut the Dandelion heads with scissors and put them in the roomy cotton bag or basket, do not use a plastic bag as your flowers will go damp and will lose nectar. Try picking up bigger flower heads as you will end up with more petals and leave smaller flowers. 

2. After you have collected the flowers - start plucking out petals straight away as Dandelion flowers will close after 2-3 hours and it will be more difficult to pluck out petals.

3. Put the flowers into a basket or big bowl with lots of water so the small insects will come out off the flowers. Remove the water leaving petals on the bottom of the bowl. 

4. Add water to petals and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain petals, add sugar and oranges. 

5. Simmer for 1.5 hours until water will turn into golden bubbly amber golden syrup, similar when you make a caramel sauce, test with a spoon by leaving it to cool down and if honey will create a set drop - honey is ready if you are not sure - leave it to bubble for another 10 minutes on low heat. 

6. Turn off the honey leave to cool down and jar it. Store in the at room temperature in the dark cupboard away from the sun.

You can eat it straight away but it might taste sour-sweet. 

 Write down the date you made it and leave to mature for 3- 6 months for the best taste!

Hey, guys!

Welcome to my Stories!

From now on I will be posting my Stories here on my website.

Why? On the 30th of June Instagram will not allow me to share with my products in my IG posts, I will have to pay for it! Plus all the images you have downloaded on IG technically is not yours anymore but the property of IG. It is a difficult subject to copyrights and my website trafficking.

I figured I'll share everything that's going on in my life and everything that will be useful for you here.

When the government says Stay at home or work from home, some of us are furloughed you gotta find that balance not to lose your mind, you need to find things to do to give you that motivation so afterwards you'll feel like you are ready for more productive things than just baking Banana Bread. 

Routine is very important: otherwise, you sleep god knows when and eating god knows what. I work regularly from Monday to Friday on my business - website, formulating, designing..

On my days off - sorry I'm not available!

I have made some homemade snaps and photos of my rented apartment in green Cheshire and my personal #lockdown stories that really inspired me to carry on my business and think less about the pandemic.

Now sharing with you! 

Let's dive into it: My lockdown days, NB: they do not include tips like doing online shopping or spending more time with your family (as many of us probably already do a lot!). 

1. Paint

These materials I have bought from The Works ages ago, I had a holiday and I have taken time for myself in 2016, I was fancy painting as I love the beach where I use to live back in Tywyn, Wales. Sandy beach, driftwood and tall grass, I have been paining all morning and that was the most amazing solitude, that when I get inspired to open my business and make my own handmade skincare. 

So I have decided to paint again - the second time in my life since I was five probably.

I'm more of a Picasso rather than Turner, but I enjoy the process and my masterpiece I can hide in the loft later :D 

2. Bake

I love French Tarts but I have never made French Tart properly, I was always in the rush..

Baking has to taste and look good so it won't be embarrassing to share it on Instagram! I made time and made shortcrust pastry properly: leaving to chill for 30 mins and took the time to arrange apples.

It made me feel proud for a moment! Try it! With Merry Berry's and Nigella's recipes you will never go wrong: easy to make and effortless to cook.

3. Upcycle

I have a fabric sack where occasionally I add clothes that I plan to recycle, once during cleaning I looked through it and realised that lots of things there are really good soft fabric, everything washed and clean. You know things like old hoddies and joggers, cotton t-shirts. I love cushions in every corner of my room and while I was shopping I looked inside the cushion that was sold for £15 and I was shocked - plastic filler more like a poor quality duvet, it is all plastic! I thought about why I can't make my own cushion but use filler with cotton upcycled clothes?

So here is how it's done: cut jersey cotton clothes in small pieces discarding seems and zips and buttons; get a piece of thick cotton - I used my IKEA old curtain, you can try using a tablecloth or maybe old cover that soft and nice to touch, maybe even old fluffy sweater? 

I don't even possess a sewing machine, so it is literally handmade! Worried that seams will look a bit messy - check out a hand sewing techniques online and find something that you really like. 

4. Walk

Walk in the park is not the most exciting things to do, but watching ducklings and fish in the lake, collecting pinecones and wild flowers to bring into your house  -  can be a real thing, maybe it will bring you back into childhood!

5. Garden party 

We all miss pubs, cocktail bars and restaurants.. Me and my partner had this tradition of Friday pint and Sunday coffee mornings. We decided to make our own celebration: adding sliced fruit to favourite drink, arrange a couple of fancy snacks, add a bit of deco: a fancy vase of flowers and a luxury tray, turn on Reggies music and just enjoy and talk.

6. Foraging

I have made Dandelion honey once, it was amazing after six months maturing in a glass jar in the dark cupboard! Plus this honey like Vegans as technically is it a syrup rather than stolen work of poor bees :D

"I have found tons of recipes online, but I was shocked that so many bloggers basically lying about making Dandelion honey and just added pretty pictures of usual honey jars and a cotton twine.. Those recipes never worked as one ingredient is missing, can you imagine that plugging out petals from Dandelion all day and it is all to waste?.. 

Dear bloggers, please write posts genuinely! Something you really done and you know about, but not because your website missing a blog and you need to add some useless info to it.

Dear Goggle, please stop pushing fake blogs into a top search, we all rely on you! When the recipes does't work and content is not genuine -  you have to work on it"

So I have said everything I wanted to say, now I can surely say - making your own honey is bringing your household to a higher level! It is like meditation - plugging out petals for two hours in a row slowly puts you into a trance.

Don't believe me? Ask your Japanese friends - they do it all the time, it develops patience and discipline.

I promise I will make a full blog devoted to Dandelion honey recipe and share it next week.

I'm incredibly grateful to all Key workers: my internet works, water is running, electricity is working and I have food in the fridge.

To NHS: I will owe you for the rest of my life, job that you do is priceless, we stay at home for you. 

I will see you next week! If don't want to miss anything - subscribe to my mailing list and Feedburner will send you a notification every time I post a new Story!

Stay safe!

New skincare brand is born every day! So many choices and you have to get the right one, and you wonder does every skincare crafter knows his stuff?

Here are some things you might consider before buying handmade skincare:

1. All skincare that contains natural products has to be packed into amber glass jars or bottles, not clear jars (jam jars) or plastic (unless it's commercial then it might have inner sunlight protective coating), as amber glass jars protect skincare product from sunlight.

When product exposed to sunlight (even on the dressing table or very lit bedroom) natural ingredients like essential oils, botanicals extracts are starting to break down and lose its natural goodness. It is similar if you heat oils that are heat sensitive (Avocado, Jojoba Oil etc.) their polyunsaturated fats changing their molecular structure and give no effect to your skin, some oils if affected to sunlight become toxic and poisonous  

Some skincare crafter using jams jars or clear jars for their face creams and salves, even serums. The reason - jam jars or Kilner jars are cheap and easier to buy then a real professional cosmetic packaging. 

2. 100% Natural or Anhydrous skincare (does not contain water)

80% of newborn handmade skincare brands making Anhydrous products, you have seen them a lot: whipped shea butter lotions, 100% Natural Content face creams, only because they do not contain water so therefore do not require a preservative, but are they good for your skin?

Let me explain the basic purpose of face cream.

What is a face cream? - it is a mixture of oils and water, emulsifiers needed as the cream will not happen.

Why do we need to use water and oil for our skin? - to replenish and feed natural skin barrier - a natural protective skin mechanism that keeps skin healthy and protects the top layer of our body and face from the environment. If you remember this basic knowledge it will give you an idea of why our skincare routine has to be consistent. 

Anhydrous face cream does not contain water, it is usually whipped shea butter, with other butter or oil, Vitamin E (to keep oils stable), pretty much nothing else. 

So what happens if we use only oils on our skin and now using oils?

Skin becomes dehydrated, even dry over time and you feel that you need to swap to something else. 

My skincare products are in amber glass jars and bottles, similar to how old fashioned pharmacies kept their medicine. My face creams contain water as it is essential for skin in any form: spring water, flower water (hydrosol). Simply because I make products purely for myself. 

Choose carefully and have knowledge in mind and may your choices will make your skin happy!