Beef tallow? Really?

I stumbled upon the 100 Day Project while scrolling through my Instagram feed. It seemed like a great idea ... good motivation for doing 100 days of cards. I'm on day 35 - almost a third of the way through. I love the fact that I have a growing stack of cards. Even better is what is becoming a routine of getting into the workroom and making a card.

Just one example of what is keeping me busy for a couple of hours every day. I can't make up my mind about using the cards ... should I start now? Should I wait until day #101 and see what it's like to actually hold that many cards in my hand? Hmmm. Such weighty decisions.

But what I really wanted to share is a very interesting ... no, unusual recipe I found on Food52 for face moisturizer. For a person with sensitive skin finding products that work is a major undertaking. You have to read ingredient labels, cover labels, do the smell test (fragrance added?), and finally, consider your schedule to determine if you have several free days to recover from a disaster caused when you applied an offending product to your face. Oh yes ... and then there is the itching.

So when this recipe showed up, it seemed like a great idea. All natural ingredients - I could even eat most of them if the moisturizer thing doesn't work out! Not the vitamin E, but everything else is ok in the kitchen.

After getting the ingredients together, I picked out a glass jar at Hobby Lobby and went to work melting everything. It wasn't a complicated process and didn't take long to have the hot liquid ready to pour into my jar. (I did NOT add the suggested fragrances. Fragrance has rarely been my friend, so I went for basic cream.)

As of today, I have used the moisturizer for several days. The first two days were great. No negative skin reaction. Yay! Then the cream started to harden - more like coconut oil in winter - which made it a bit more difficult to get out of the jar. But I managed. Today is the third day of dealing with skin that is red and feels rough ... kinda like dry hands in winter. Thankfully, it's not so noticeable that I have to hide in the house and wait for the healing to come.

I have decided to give it a few more days. I'm hoping my face will stop yelling at me and settle into the routine of natural products with pronounceable ingredients.

I'll be sure to register the final decision right here.

Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face. Psalm 5:8