My Very Own Sugar Scrub

My sister-in-law made me a homemade sugar scrub last year that made my skin so smooth and, I have to admit, was tasty when it'd get on your lips.  I ran out awhile ago and have been meaning to make my own for quite some time.  Well, today I woke up after several days of no sleep between the baby on the inside and the baby on the outside and looked horrible!  No really.  The dark circles were unbelievable and I decided I was going to make a scrub for my face so I would feel rejuvenated.  That turned into me wanting to add caffeine to the scrub for my dark circles.

Immediately after use I asked my husband what he thought and he said that although it didn't completely take the dark circles away, it absolutely helped lessen their appearance!  So here it is, my very own caffeinated sugar scrub for all you tired momma's (or daddy's) out there.  By the way, this scrub comes out dark so if you get strange looks from your husband, yes it does look like you smeared mud all over your face.  Don't worry. He'll like rubbing your face afterwards.  ;)

I'm assuming you could use coffee instead of tea, but we have a Keurig so I didn't have any coffee other than K-cups around the house.  And, I happened to have an enormous amount of black tea that we never use because someone ~AHEM!~ always thinks she has time to make things like Kombucha when, in reality, she doesn't.  I'm glad I finally found a use for all that tea in the cupboard so I could stop feeling guilty about it just sitting there for the next 5 years.  Anywho, now on to this super easy, 5 minute recipe!

1 cup white sugar
45 black tea bags/ almost 1 cup  (you could use any tea but I wasn't about to use my Chamomille or holiday teas for my face :p)
2 Tbls sea salt
2 Tbls orange peel
2 tsp lemon extract
2 cups olive oil
peppermint extract: I added this because this preggo couldn't stand the bland smell.  Just add until you like the smell of it- you shouldn't need too much!

Now, I don't know about long-term effects of this scrub making a mother look more "with it" but I was honestly impressed with the immediate outcome.  Also here are some little facts about black tea:
Black tea is known to be good for you for so many things, like preventing heart disease, stroke and cancer.  It has also been known to fight the aging process so why not try it in a facial scrub, right?!  It also boosts the metabolism.  I wonder if it would help make my face not look so puffy with this enormous baby growing inside me?  Hmmmm......  One may never know.....