I keep seeing things about summer winding down and getting things ready for fall, but here I certainly can’t feel the changing of the seasons because it’s freaking hot.
It’s the kind of sticky heat that makes you feel disgusting within minutes of setting foot out of the front door, even if you JUST showered.
And so after a while I got tired of it. And since I’ve been using this stuff like crazy I thought I’d share my little recipe with you. So if you, like me, have sweat rolling in between your boobs, you can give yourself a spritz of this stuff and feel less like you’re going to spontaneously combust at any moment.
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To make your own spray you will need:
- Aloe vera
- Green tea, strongly brewed
- Peppermint essential oil (in these pics from H.E.B. but I normally use what I’ve linked to)
- Little spray bottle (look in the travel section of health and beauty)
To brew my tea I put a tea bag into a ceramic mug along with a few fingers of water microwaving for a minute or two and allowing to steep for 15-20 before actually using. This produces a crazy strong tea that I have found is great for my skin.
Put a bit of aloe vera into your bottle. Here I used two squirts from my big ol’ bottle. Use as much or as little as you please.
Pour your tea until the bottle is 3/4 to mostly full. Add between 10-30 drops of your peppermint essential oil. Now – this is an essential oil not peppermint extract from the baking section of a grocery store. Start of with just a few drops and shake your bottle until everything is well incorporated. Give yourself a test spray and wait at least five minutes. Did it cool well enough? Then leave it alone! If it didn’t add a bit more until you’re happy with the cooling efficiency <– doesn’t that sound all fancy? “cooling efficiency”.
After you get the hang of your essential oil, you can use the same number of drops each time for a fairly consistent cooling spray!
And here is my spray, but I figured I could do a heck of a lot better than what I did above…
… so I busted out my Silhouette Cameo and knocked this out. To get the file to use yourself, click the image above or click here. P.S. I used vinyl to knock my bottle out super quickly.
Ah, much better! And very refreshing and cute enough to gift!
Written by Allison Murray - Visit Website
The tea won’t spoil? Does the essential oil help preserve?
Hi, Jennifer. I assume that the tea will eventually spoil. To be honest, I tend to use mine up so quickly I haven’t had a problem. I know just from forgetting about tea in the pitcher that when it starts to go bad it will get kind of slimy and thick which you wouldn’t be able to spray. I’d make just a bit at a go to be sure to not have the problem of spoilage. These little sprayers don’t hold much at all, really!
In Asia we have a rule of thumb of never using/drinking tea left overnight, especially during the summer! You could try leaving the container in the fridge to make it last longer =]
Great idea! I may just try this out. The summer seems never ending here in humid Florida.
We are already deep in fall apparently (I have wool socks on. In mid-august. Excuse me?!). So I probbaly won’t need this anymore this year, but I will pin & save it for next year. I am really not a summer person and hate heat, so I will take everything that cools!
Portland is hitting another heat wave this week (and we don’t have AC!) so I am DEFINITELY making this!
I have no idea where can I find aloe vera gel on my country, can I use real aloe vera instead? like scooping the slimy part of the plant and use it?
Absolutely. Even better!!